For defense of democracies about the armys moderation and readiness efforts. This is about an hour. Well, welcome to the foundation for defense of democracies, a special welcome to viewers online and those watching on cspan today. Im cliff may, im the founder and president of fdd, and im pleased to welcome you to the event, ruthless prioritization, the arms realization of the National Defense strategy. Were honored to host acting secretary the arm ryan d. Mccarthy. Thank you for coming together. As secretary jasper and millihighlighted earlier this year, the area confronts a Global Security environment that is increasingly competitive and volatile. We see great adversaries working overtime to erode americas military power in order to threaten our interests and those who are our allies. In the light of these challenges and to support the National Defense strategy, the army has achieved tremendous progress on modernization and reform over the last couple of years. But the threats remain significant and the budgets remain finite. Theres much more work to do. And fdd stands ready to perform world class analysis to reform this effort. As many of you in the audience know fdd as a restriearch groupe focused on and this event is hosted by the fdd military power. Which seeks to operate on the basis of National Strat eyes . And range of diplomatic defense, intelligence and other capabilities necessary to secure the United States, its citizens and its allies while promoting peace, promotie ining prosperitd cnfe works closely with fdd on financial power and the center on cybertechnology swelling gration with the goal of integrating all tools of American Power to achieve Better Outcomes for america and for our allies. Cnpp also features fdds long war journal, an online journal, most of you probably know it, if you dont, do look for it. It provides original and accurate reporting and analysis on ongoing conflicts, as well as professional development we do here and Research Opportunities for active duty military personnel. Thats also part of fdds National Security alumni network. Cmpp is led by former National Security adviser lieutenant journal h. R. Mcmaster who served as cmpps board of advisers. It is led by cmpps senior director brad bowman who will moderate the session. Brad certainlies as National Security adviser and was for years an active u. S. Duty officer. During that time he was both a black hawk pilot and assistant professor at we have point. Probably not simultaneously. Cmpps board of advisers includes leon pan net. Kelly ayotte, ambassador eric adelman and other leading thinkers. Todays program is one of many we host throughout the year. For more information on all of our work and areas of focus, we encourage to you visit our website fdd. Org. We invite all of you to join in the conversation today which will be live streamed and recorded. Well also be live tweetin tweeting fdd. I look forward to this conversation and many more to come. Again, thank you for being here. May i now ask that you please silence your cell phones with that, we turn it over to brad. Thank you, my name is brad bowman. I want to welcome all you of new the audience, as well as those online and cspan. Most of all, its an honor to welcome you, sir, thank you for being here with everything on your desk. Im grateful. The plan for the time together is to give the secretary here in a moment to provide remarks. He and i will engage in about a 30minute discussion and then well open it up to you all for questions. With that, lets get started. You should have bios on your seats or table. Ill be brief just by way of introduction, Ryan Mccarthy assumed his duties as agenting secretary of the army, Top Army Official on july 23rd. From august 2017 until then, about two years he served as under secretary of the army. That position he was the senior civilian in matters of management and operation of the army including Army Development and budget. Prior to that, he worked in industry on capitol hill and a variety of positions in the pentagon. Earlier in his life from 1997 to 2002, he served in the army, including a deployment to afghanistan, during freedom. I suspect that experience as a soldier helps explain in my view his focus to make sure our war fighters have everything they need to return home safely. Sir, the floor is yours to deliver any remarks you want to give. I appreciate that. Sorry cliff stepped out we were actually texting with his son backstage who just graduated from the university of chicago and hes going to go into the infantry, and reports this fall and he was texting us from italy. Hes going to have a very different fall. Excited to have extraordinary young men like that in our formation. Brad and i met over a decade ago in afghanistan. Have worked together in the past. A great opportunity, nice to see you again. A great opportunity for us. A lot of transition in the department. And till transitioning. I will have to go through the Senate Confirmation process this fall. But over a week ago, general James Mcconnell assumed the duties of the former chief of staff of the west area. Were extraordinarily blessed to have an officer of dynamic breadth of experiences. The senior command of the division for years. Engineering back. He was a g1. Theres not a portfolio that the general does not have extraordinary depth, both in experience in combat operations, but also operating and maintaining complex weapons systems. So, at this unique time, with the efforts under way with modernization, with still having 180,000 troops deployed in 140 countries we have nobody finer to be the senior officer in uniform. General joe martin moved up from the director of army staff to the vice chief. Another extraordinarily talented officer. His command in combat has seen every echelon as a captain. So, were very excited about that. I have the Senate Confirmation process coming down this fall, so im anxiously awaiting going through that again. But from a transition standpoint, were very blessed with martin moving up from the desk, the device combo chief. Weve all had a lot of experience with each other so were managing a very unique transition. And our secretary going and our chiefs going to be chairman of the chiefs. A lot of movement in the army corridor. With that, what weve really worked very hard on is the remaining focus on the priorities that weve set as an institution. But what youll hear us talk a lot more about in the future is the people. Investing in our people, so they can reach their potential. But also taking a very hard look at how to manage challenges that we face with suicide and Sexual Assault and sexual harassment. The types of things that tear away the fabric of an allpeople organization like the u. S. Army. We are a people organization. So, weve buckled down and very focused on our priorities. Weve been on a very unique journey for the army over the last two years. Weve conducted one of the most extraordinary management, restructuring changes, that weve made in over 40 years, with restructuring our enterprise, our modernization enterprise, where we bring all of the stakeholders together to achieve unity of effort and unity of command all under one roof. So over two years ago, we started a process at looking at how we conduct modernization, and what does it take to reduce the span time to develop requirements, to experiment with the prototype system. And ultimately by tranches of capability in the formation. If you look at it historically, it would take us about 20 years to fill the capability into a formation. Five to seven years to get requirements, three years to test it. Ten years to buy enough of the capability to field an organization that has over 1 million people. Its like having a 19yearold kid that can throw a 100mileperhour fastball and they dont make the majors until theyre 39, in professional baseball terms. It took too long to bring the Relevant Technology to the field and have it utilized in a formation. So, when we went down this process, we knew we had to lock in against Investment Priorities we had to look at where all of the stakeholders were in the institution. And how they were spread across different large organizations, Army Commands or across the Headquarters Department of the army. We went and looked at ourselves and said how do reduce the time spent . Because it really was a business problem. How do we make an informed decision, an informed decision with speed. Over the time of this process, we realized we had to put an enterprise or organization leading this effort. We created an armies futures command. A four star entity putting it n par with other commands. And what this organization does is it fuses futures and concepts, combat development and then dotted line combat systems in the Acquisition Community working shoulder to shoulder with them. So, with all of the problems that weve had, particularly, with the armys challenges from Technology Development over the last several decades, the requirements, definition and the discipline of sticking with requirements. You have to make up your mind very quickly, and stick with it. And then develop a technological road map where you can cycle in new increments of capability over time. But you had to have the same type of discipline like auto manufacturers in the United States and others where if you want cooling in the steering wheel, you got to wait for that increment to come in later. You cant stop the production line, come around, it costs money, youll lose time. And this constant fluctuation confuses the vendors that youre working with, with development capabilities. So weve empowered the community through different policy directives. We created a fourstar administration and put it in the middle of an american city. We needed an organization to get close to academia business and work side by side to develop capables. Over time, we developed longrange precision fire, next generation comcombat, future vertical list, aviation, network, and soldier which we referred to now as we head into 21, investing against the future. If you are will to look its about 57 billion. Across the features defense plan. As we head into fall, and i know we have a budget deal on the table, it is a great. Its going to be very helpful to have that. But we have to slap the table and recognize that potentially theres going to be resolutions as they smooth out the specifics. Its very important that we get that the deal done early in the fall. Continued resolutions create uncertainty and a lot more conservatism, in the Business World it prevents them from producing, it creates mass confusion. Were working hard with congress to get this deal done. And whats going to happen theyll be for budgets in a row where the u. S. Army was very specific about what they wanted and they put their money where their mouth is. The challenges youre going to see a lot of these prototypes landing this fall. Some will work and that some will not. For the leadership and the army in particular were going to have to communicate. As long as we can learn from the prototypes, and adjust , and you work with these vendors, we can continue to progress and bring new capability into the system. A lot of people are going to see if youve made the right bets or if youve gone too quickly. We need to buy time to work through these processes. Weve had a lot of success and we worked very hard on the prototypes and this 2021 budget vehicle will have the funding required to create these prototypes, we will test them in the field rigorously. And thats going be the window where we can see the opportunity to buy production and testing them in the units. A larger scale thats really the Tipping Point i believe of how we will be successful as an institution in this modern effort. Its very important , 8024 months ahead of us as we face this modernization effort. Modernization is and all about material. Its about the operating concept that you apply. They army has taken the air and land battle that weve used for decades and we are applying space and cyberspace. How was i going to change the operating model of the army over time . A lot of it is the doctrinal concept that we developed and put into these of formations. We have doctrine, training, logistics. Bringing all of these pieces together so that the team operates as one. Changing the operating concept, it will change the structure over time. Looking very hard at that, maintaining taskforces and other formations that will help us to look at ourselves and how were going to operate in the future. This is an extraordinary time for the army. Over the next 1824 months in particular were going to learn a lot about ourselves and getting up to come to venues like this we learn from all of you. And we communicate about where we are trying to go, and we get the help from businesses, think tactics. I appreciate the opportunity to be here. Thank you. For those comments. You mentioned transitions. The army is going through a big leadership transition and you are central part of that. Transition from under his secretary to acting secretary. You are confirmed in the senate. For those not versed in the workings of the senate that means it was unanimous. You have the unanimous support to be confirmed as undersecretary im interested in how you view the transition from undersecretary to acting secretary . How do you see your transition from one role to another. Those are two very different positions. I love working with details of issues. I have driven the budget largely, shifting gears now you have everything. The way you approach the day, the behaviors, everything is different. If confirmed , not knock on wood three times you just have to adjust. Ive seen it already with the general. Is already made the adjustment very quickly. He is extraordinary experience assuming command positions. Its making that adjustment and checking yourself, and editing yourself each day how you approach each meeting and every engagement with privates, sergeants, generals, it doesnt matter. Its a big adjustment and i rely heavily on my teammates, and i have wonderful teammates. Another member of our board is eric adelman. He was cochair of the National Defense strategy commission. That Commission Found in the report that the u. S. Is confronting a crisis of National Security, that they might struggle to win or lose a war over china or russia. I think americans adhere that might be startled to hear that. If they dont do this day in and day out. To hear that they would come to such a conclusion or some might view that is fear mongering and undo alarmism. Do you agree with that finding . Weve made strides in the last two years but where do we stand in tours of defeating russia and china if we had to fight them today we would beat them at extraordinary costs. And it would change our way of life. The challenges the trajectory of their investment in the Energy Behind the growth in their National Space is breathtaking. Its focused and that has the attention of serious ambassadors. We are trying to live and breathe out as a gospel in the army. Theyve grabbed a hold of it and its a longterm pacing threat to the United States. You can see by the way we have invested, the way we are approaching operations as a force. We are putting our shoulder to the wheel to make sure that we can stay ahead of pace, and be the best and deal with that threat. It seems to me that one of the central challenges or questions for the army is how do we shift to focus on china, russia and addressing the persistent threats from iran , terrorism, and north korea. How do we walk and chew gum at the same time . And the addressees processed and threats in the middle east . You to be very clear about National Objectives . What are we trying to achieve . Where do we compete against competitors worldwide. We need to be hard in our reform efforts. We need to be aggressive with every dollar that we invest. Its where can you take a risk for the army while we continue to grow modestly at about 2000 yearoveryear we are 60 . We still need a lot of people. The challenge with that we have to continue to grow, train , thats a 60 of our balance sheet. So then youre very fixed about what you can invest against. You used the word ruthless and we were. And we will continue to be. And with that comes divestiture. Were going to have to continue to cut programs that are not the highest priority. Night court is the army staff pointed out two years ago. During tough times. We will continue that , and that is the reform efforts. Its going prime time now, and we will continue to do that for years to come. Based on the extraordinary contributions and sacrifices of the army since 2001 and iran and afghanistan. It seems to me that they army is facing a large adjustment moving from a focus on counterterrorism and Stability Operations to this great competition. So how do you think about that adjustment . Are there things that we can learn, best practices from those are tough experiences that apply to that gray zone conflict with china and russia . We know its a global competition. Counter insurgency operations are not going away. That demand will remain for decades to come. Under the generals leadership we focused on creating Security Force brigades. Organizations that would advise and assist operations worldwide. These are second command opportunities for officers and senior enlisted folks. Very seasoned personnel. We are institutionalizing those behaviors and trying to protect the large formation that we had to support these missions. And we have that are crossed all the verticals through the larger collective work. Going from individual to large collective. The armys rol