Let me call the hearing to order. Good morning. The Committee Meets today to consider the nomination of general c. Q. Brown. General, congratulations and thank you for stepping forward to lead at this critical time. I would like to welcome your wife and thank your son sean and ross. I would like to thank the current chairman milley. He has served this nation honorably and led the joint chiefs with skill and vision. We are grateful for his service and congratulate. You are well qualified to serve as chairman of the joint chiefs of staff. You have led this service as it goes through a rapid Global Security environment. You bring a record of successful leadership and command experience at all levels of our military. This expertise will serve you well. If confirmed, you will serve as the principal military advisor to the president , secretary of defense and congress. You will be expected to be an effective strategist, adviser and manager and counsel will be relied upon them as we go through multitude of issues before us. We face significant challenges. First and foremost as the National Defense strategy makes clear. China is our major competitor and has the intent and capability to challenge the interests of the United States and allies and partners. Iminterested to know how you develop joint capabilities to make sure we are the preliminary mere fighting force. And we need to equipment sailors, soldiers, marines and guardians. You will be responsible for identifying capabilities to ensure services are procuring the right capabilities needed for the joint force. The chairman must look across this total force which can conflict with the priorities of individual services. The committee will be interested to learn how to manage this dynamic if confirmed. The National Defense strategy, National Military strategy and risker assessment are vital documents this committee relies upon to perform its oversight functions. I would like your assessment of the implementation of the National Defense strategy and National Military strategy and whether you recommend any changes or updates to those strategic documents. Further, it is imperative they be submitted to congress on time. I look forward to work with you to ensure these statutory guidelines are met. The joint force is about people as the senior most military officer, it will be your responsibility to understand the needs of americas servicemembers and be their greatest advocate. Our military is facing most difficult recruiting environment. Fewer and fewer Young Americans are eligible for or interested in service. And issues such as discrimination and harassment too often push current members out. While recruiting is one of the primary duties of the military service if confirmed, you will be responsible to advising the secretary on comprehensive joint readiness which includes assessing the affect of manpower shortfalls. Therefore, i would like to know your thoughts on the current recruiting and impact it may have on the readiness of the joint forces. You will be the most visible military officer in the nation and will be critical to represent the force with total professionalism and trustworthiness. I am concerned about the nation political and Civil Military relationships. More and more the military is being dragged into public fights and trust is being eroded. This is a sacred duty that must be carried out responsibly and not exploited. How will you improve relationships. General brown, if confirmed, you will lead the joint force at a momentous time i am thankful for your willingness to meet this challenge. Let me recognize senator wicker. Senator wicker general brown, welcome to this committee. I welcome your nomination to serve as chairman of the joint chiefs of staff. Its great to see you are accompanied by your wife and the chair has also acknowledged your sons who are supporting their daddy throughout the confirmation process. As you testified before us and prepared to assume the seniormost position in the u. S. Military, you are continuing with a profound concept that dates back to the founding of our republic. Dates back to before our constitution, to the days of George Washington where we established and maintained the proposition that the military and our country is andsable to the civilian elected leadership of our country. You have been nominated by our commander in chief for the seniormost position and i believe you are exceptionally qualified for this position. And we certainly need, mr. Chairman, an exceptionally qualified officer during this perilous national moment. Mr. Chairman and members of the committee, multiple senior National Defense leaders have told us this committee were in the most dangerous Global Security environment since world war ii. I agree. During that time, our country faced two great political powers across different oceans with the capability and intent to threaten domestic American Security directly. We see a similar dual threat today, which the chair has alluded to. The Chinese Communist party is conducting the most Rapid Military development surpassing our own military in many places. It is a military built for a single purpose to undermine independentopacific and American Security and prosperity by expanding the communist party totalitarian influence through the entire globe. In europe, the kremlins brutal war in ukraine is the most dangerous crisis we have faced in half a century and selfdefeating war of agetion has brought china, north korea and iran all closer together. This dangerous moment demands an exceptionally competent set of uniformed leaders. There is less confidence in our Senior Leadership which had been very high. We may debate the reasons, i believe that the lack of accountability for failures among military leadership, being thrust in the spotlight of politically divisive issues like Critical Race Theory and abortion have contributed to this decline and trust. General brown speaks of accelerating and recognizes the difficulty in an entrenched bureaucracy and open about how he has learned in his job and improved his approach, that candor should serve him well in this new role including as to other officers. I am hopeful general browns focus on innovation and culture change will bring new thinking and action to the massive problems of our joint force faces. I hope general brown will focus on restoring a culture built on merit in the u. S. Military that continuously fosters new approaches to readiness in war fighting. The next few years will be critical to National Security. As general brown has stated we cannot wait for a crisis to drive change for our joint force. Years of lackluster budgeting for our National Defense has put us far behind where we need to be. We have a bureaucracy and Industrial Base that is clunky. And military Promotion System geared toward risk averse. It will take risk and threat assessments from our senior uniformed leaders to empower lowerlevel personnel to fix the many problems we face. I expect general brown will offer his most frank military judgment both to the president and to congress if confirmed. During a similarly decisive moment for our National Defense in 1980, then candidate reagan spoke of the need for a renaissance in American Military superiority. American military superiority to avoid war with the soviets. Reagan said our best hope of persuading them to live in peace is to convince they cannot win at war. We avoided war then only because we had leaders that were bold enough to pursue wisdom of p peace through strength. That advice applies today and i am hopeful that our nominee agrees. Thank you, mr. Chairman. Thank you, mr. Chairman. I would like to take a few moments to acknowledge my family. Joining me is my wife of 34 years. She has been committed to our family and my journey and advocated for the families of us. And proud of our two sons sean and ross. Outstanding young men. I would not be here today if not for the sacrifice love and support. My father retired as a United States colonel. And grime grateful to stephanie and younger brother kevin had on me and our family before his passing. I want to express gratitude to this committee and the congress for your continued support to our men and uniform, d. O. D. Civilians and their families. Thanks to your advocacy that we remain the most Capable Military force in the world. I come before you today having served the last few years as a service and joint chief. 11 years prior, i served in seven assignments across four combatant commands. I held leadership positions, china, russia, north korea, iran. I arrive you having spent as a officer and more time with our forces, allies and partners either in conflict or preparing for conflict. Having led the war fighters abroad shapes my thinking. As a result, i am mindful of the security challenges and need to accelerate to stay ahead of the growing threat. The department of defense must implement the National Defense strategy and prepare a joint force that can win the next war if called upon. Today and in the future to maintain peace. If confirmed, i commit to provide the president and the secretary of defense my military advice informed by the joint chiefs and our military leaders. Throughout i will collaborate with the civilian leadership, agency and with our allies and partners. And if confirmed, i will have open communication to this committee and the congress and work closely to invest in our National Defense and strengthen our National Security. I commit myself to sustain faith and confidences with our soldiers, sailors, airmen, guardians and d. O. D. Civilians and their families and work to sustain faith with the American People and elected officials. I will dedicate myself to this proposition that the american should understand and know their military and its servicemembers solely unwavering are defenders of the constitution and our nation and thank you for the opportunity to appear before you today and i look forward to your questions. Senator reed thank you very much. There are a series of questions that are addressed to nominees. You can respond. Have you adhered to the laws and regulations regarding conflicts of interest . I have. Senator reed have you taken any actions mr. Brown this committee and subcommittee receive testimony briefings, reports and records and other information from the executive branch on a timely basis. Do you agree if confirmed to appear appear and testify before this committee when requested. Mr. Brown i do. Senator reed do you agree to give your personal views even if your views differ from the administration . Mr. Brown i do. Geed screed provide documents and records in a timely manner when requested by this committee, subcommittees and consult with the request to provide any such records . Mr. Brown i do. Senator reed will you ensure that your staff will provide documents and records including timely answers. Mr. Brown i will. Senator reed will you provide requests. Will those witnesses and briefings be protected for reappliesals . Mr. Brown they will. Senator reed we are facing a challenging environment and one of the aspects is the challenge of recruiting with fewer and fewer americans eligible because of many factors including health and other aspects but also what actions will you take to make sure it becomes successful and enhances readiness . General brown i have had the opportunity to think deeply about this and number of opportunities to engage with my fellow Service Chiefs on how fast we move forward. As the chairman if confirmed, one of the key areas i think about is ensuring that the yeung people understand the opportunity to serve and great opportunities provided by serving in the military and just based on my own experience being a role model to show the young people there are many great Career Opportunities within the military and many have gone to be successful whether they stayed for one tour. Young people aspire to see or know about and hard for them to be part of an organization or go down a career path that they didnt understand or appreciate. We have a responsibility to talk about the opportunities and all of us interested in National Defense and National Security how we share the stories of what inspired us to join. I joined because of my at that times and his recommendation and because of the opportunities i had in rotc. And i had a chance to become exposed to be able to fly and there are a number of things we can do and those are the things i will do if confirmed as chairman. Senator reed another topic, the development of joint capabilities, services are principally responsible for developing equipment and operational techniques, but you will be the point of ultimate decision in many of these proposals. And historically, this has interfered with true jointness. What actions will you take to inhitter parochialism and encourage operability and get us the best trained people . General brown i appreciate the question and one of the things started by a couple of vice chairmen before is we worked with the oversight counsel, we are a bit more directive to ensure we have the direct capabilities. We need to do it based on analysis to show you this is part of the joint force and there has to be give and take and hard calls that need to be made. That is the responsibility not just with me but the Service Chiefs and joint chiefs and think about what is best for the joint force. Senator reed we are engaged in supporting the ukranian people on a critical battle because my view if they lose, we lose also. Are there any immediate lessons that is taken away from the conflict in ukraine . General brown one of the things i think about is how the value of information how the campaign started before the conflict started and and not only bring nato closer and pri together our allies and partners and how we collaborate and build relationships and help use the information we have availability to help their Decision Makers make those decisions and move forward. I think the other thing is the logistics and i think the russians if you dont Pay Attention to logistics, it is hard to win and move forward. We have learned that the timeline for military operations in the conflict sometimes take longer than you might expect and that is also a challenge. I think the other piece is the will of the fight and one thing about determination and the will of the ukranian people and their leadership, thats something that is hard to measure before a conflict but plays a huge dividend. And for my own perspective the value of air power and having watched what either side has been able to do or not pa do and how it has been helpful to the ukranians. Senator reed senator wicker. Senator wicker thank you, general brown. Let me first mention, statutory requirement you and i have discussed 10u. S. C. 153 that requires the chairman of the joint chiefs of staff to complete a c. R. A. Of the National Military strategy each year. Now we have had a problem with this in the past and frustration from congress in not receiving this c. R. A. Even the National Military strategy itself last time was unseptemberbly late. If confirmed, i need your commitment to carrying out the statutes governing the relationship between the chairman of the joint chiefs of staff and congress including submitting the chairmans Risk Assessment on time. Can i get your assurance that you will do this, general brown . General brown i will do my best to make sure to get those documents on time because it is to allow you to do the things you require to provide the budget for us and the laws. Will being bilk this was signed into law by the president of the United States some years ago. If you and chairman of the joint chiefs of staff need Additional Resources or something within your jurisdiction that keeps you from doing this, will you let us know so we can be on time with this very important c. R. A. . General brown yes, sir. I will communicate with you if there are any challenges. Senator wicker general brown, congress lets talk about the pacific. Congress provided the administration with the authority to provide 1 billion in transfers of u. S. Equipment authority to help taiwan. Is it your best military judgment that the usage of this Drawdown Authority and training would improve taiwans ability to defend itself . General brown yes, sir. It will and help them to procure exaibts to defend their nation. Senator wicker i hope we can move forward with that. I described in my opening statement, i described our defense capacity and our striel base as clunky. You and i also discussed this in our conversation. Do you agree with my assessment that the bureaucracy and the Industrial Base are clunky based on the speed with which technology has evolved and changes as compared to how we are able to access that as a military . General brown we can all improve upon. We have Great Innovation within our nation and make sure we are putting that into the hands of our war fighters as quickly as possible and there is process that there are so many things that are Software