Today that works well as a joint force. However, i do believe that given the change in our strategic environment, particularly in the last three or four years, that it is time to do a review. With reference to your specific question, i dont know that theres a need for the change. I report to the secretary of defense and if if confirmed ill report to the secretary of defense and the president. But i think what we need in this environment is we also, and i think what general dunford was suggesting, is we need the ability to have agility in our Decision Making and deployment of assets. Very few of these challenges today are limited to one cocom. There are multiregional, multifunctional, multidomain and challenge the structure we have today and our ability to be as agile as our challenges or adversaries are. Mr. King we have to be sure that allows our agility . Mr. Scaparrotti yes. Mr. King general robinson . Ms. Are binson the most important part of this is the agility and ability to work with each other. Mr. King my time is up. I hope youll supply your thoughts, perhaps in writing, after the hearing because this is a topic of active consideration by the committee and having people of your experience and wisdom would be very 4e7ful helpful to us. Thank you. Thank you, mr. Chairman. Mr. Inhofe the questions i was going to ask were asked by senator graham. I would ask you, general scaparrotti, in your memory, in your history , in your service, have you ever seen a time when this country is more threatened than they are today . Mr. Scaparrotti no, sir, i havent. Mr. Inhofe general robinson, all you have to do is repeat the performance you gave us and this do a great job in new position. I want to mention a few things to make sure, because i wasnt here until just now, to make sure theyre in the record. First, due to the proliferation of technology, the number of countries possessing Ballistic Missile capability continues to increase, with countermeasure, greater range and accuracy. General mann testified last week, quote, nearly 30 countries possess Ballistic Missile capabilities with approximately 50 different variants of Ballistic Missiles and currently 13 new intermediate range and eight intercontinental Ballistic Missile ranges under development. Since signing the iran deal, which was a disaster, iran has conducted at least three sets of tests on Nuclear CapabilityBallistic Missiles. The lastest test had, quote, israel should be wiped off the earth, end quote, inscribed and had a range of up to 1,250 miles. General vogel, sentcome commander testified that centcom commander testified that iran has been more aggressive since the nuclear deal, i think we understand that. En 9 february, James Clapper assessed, quote, that north korea has taken initial steps toward fielding road mobile icbm. Let me ask you, general robinson, we talked about this before. Number one, do you think there should be a restructuring because there is some confusion as to who is in charge of Homeland Security. Do you think some of the changes should be made . Ms. Robinson i know, if confirmed as commander of northcom, that id work closely with the interagency, the department of Homeland DefenseHomeland Security, if confirmed mr. Inhofe so youd be in constant contact. Ms. Robinson yes, sir. Constant contact. Mr. Inhofe in light of everything i said, are you confident in the intelligence were getting on north koreas and irans capability, Ballistic Missile capability . Ms. Robinson given my recent experience, time i spent in the pacific and focused on north korea, im confident and comfortable with the intelligence were getting. Sir, i would have to come back to you about iran because i have not been focused there to give you an accurate answer, if confirmed. Mr. Inhofe ive never been all that confident. Its a scary thing when we know all these things i mentioned, thats reality. Thats today. General scaparrotti, let me ask you a question. Ive been concerned for some me about the capabilities, a lot of our presence historically on our side are now kind of in a position with russia due to the fact that they control, russia and ireasonen iran between the two of them control the Energy Capabilities that we have in this country. Now, we have passed the lifting the ban and unfortunately the ban was lifted at a time when the price of national gas is down so low it didnt have the results that we anticipated and we hoped would be there. But what is your thinking right now about the capability that were going to have . How is this, lifting this ban going to help us in some of these areas that wed like to be working with us as opposed to russia . Mr. Scaparrotti we talked about the hybrid warfare russia practices they use all the instruments of power to influence our allies and particularly the use of energy. And its to our benefit, i believe, to assist our allies in any way we can to relieve them of hat dependence as a form coercion. Mr. Inhofe do you believe we should do everything we can . I believe you just said this in a different way to correct the situation, to be able to allow them to get their energy from us, that this is a Great National security benefit we would have when that happens . Mr. Scaparrotti i havent delved into this but to me its reasonable that if we provide energy to them it would assist both them and us in our security. My questions of have been answered. General scaparrotti, mr. Erness talked to you about turkey. They are an important nato ally but id like you to talk about the complexities of dealing with turkey, given the internal politics of turkey, especially the kurds. Kurds have been wonderful partners for the u. S. In the antiisil mission in iraq, obviously and the kurdistan and iraq has traditionally had a pretty Good Relationship with turkey. But weve also found strong partners in the kurds in Northern Syria and thats created significant tensions with turkey. We cant abandon a strong antiisil partner that has been very, very valiant as the kurds in Northern Syria have been, but by the same token, we need to manage the relationship with tur so theyll step up on Border Control and help us in the antiisil fight. How do you see your role in ucomm in trying to work with the turkish relationship so we can keep up the antiisil fight, keep our partnership with the kurds alive and yet manage that important relationship with our nato ally . Mr. Scaparrotti enge you outlined the challenges there very well. If confirmed, ill build a close relationship with their military leadership and with my intent, their civilian leadership as well. They look at counterterrorism and they look at the p. K. K. As the threat. We talk counterterrorism and primarily we think isil. Its those dynamics that both of us have to realize our interests and find areas that commonly we can Work Together. And i think in turkeys case, theres areas where we can support them and encourage them to help us in the overall effort within the southeast flank of nato. You talked about goldwater nichols, im interested in the seam between northcom and southcom and we talked about this in the talk about drug traffic, some of that starts in mexico, but some of it starts elsewhere. Whether its drug trafficing or human trafficing or the my grant flows driven by violence in central america, that border between mexico and the countries to the south is really important. Talk a little bit about the kind of working relationship that you would hope to form with the admiral on that bored en border between northcom and southcom . Ms. Robinson me more we can push everything down toward that border, guatemala and belize, the less people will migrate across our southern border between us and mexico. The admiral and i are very good friends. If confirmed i know he and i will dialogue on a regular basis to Work Together to ensure that seam is as seamless as possible. It is incredibly important that we do that. And that we Work Together to support the mexican military in that in their efforts with that southern border. Mr. Kaine thank you very much. Thanks, mr. Chairman. Thank you, mr. Chairman. Its been a great confirmation hearing. I appreciate both of you alls service and general robinson, as your service of 34 years, i know youre a resident of new hampshire. Im not rushing you to retire but when you do, i hope youll consider North Carolina as a winter home. I lived in new hampshire, i guarantee the winters are better. But one quick question for you, the i want to go back, i sometimes think we lose sight of the fact of the number of victims that have been victims of narcoterrorism. Mr. Till liss were talking about the mr. Tillis were talking about the Opioid Epidemic but we have to remember that hundreds of thousands of people have lost their lives. Is im not going to go become and cover the landscape except to say it would be helpful for us to shed light on it. If you were to equate this to what were dealing with in the middle east, we have a lot of specific targets that we could go after that we simply dont have the resources to go after. We know a lot of times where theyre starting, where theyre ending, and we simply do not have the resources to interdict as many as we could. First, do you agree with that . And what kinds of things can we do to step up our game there, not at the expense of other important priorities but this is a critical priority. This is killing more americans than just about any other terrorist activity going on today. Ms. Robinson if confirmed, i think its incredibly important for me to understand the border. I think its incredibly important for me to walk the landscape and also if confirmed very early on too as i work that is to work with the agencies and interagency to understand the problems that youre just talking about. I know interdiction is important and i know getting after the networks is important. And so where is the interagency, where is d. H. S. , where are Law Enforcement agencies trying to get after that for me to understand that and if confirmed to be able to support their activities. Mr. Tillis im glad you recognize that working with the mexican military and much of the pressure on the northern border of mexico can be relieved by taking care of the challenge on the southern border of mexico. That can only come with good partner cooperation. So i appreciate your commitment to looking at that. Its to me its one of the most pressing things we need to do in this hemisphere. General scaparrotti you mentioned earlier about stepping up Partner Relationships with europe. Can you give me just a brief synopsis of the state of our partnerships in terms of their countries specific efforts to budget and fund the things that we need to do to make it very clear to russia that this will not end well if they continue their aggression . And thirdly, just the general messaging within the region, the words that the countries are conveying to their people and to the region consistent with what you think our object i haves should be in that area. Mr. Scaparrotti first, with respect to our partnerships, we have very strong allies in europe. Ive served with many of them. As you know, they provided about a third of the force in afghanistan and suffered 1,000 casualties alongside of us. I think thats an indication of how good they can be and what we share. I do believe that as a part of the alliance and partners, we should meet our commitments and provide our fair share of the defense because we do, we are strong. Do you feel they have work to do there . Mr. Scaparrotti we do have work to do there. Out of the alliance of 28, theres five that have or more of g. D. P. And nine increased their spending. As you know from the wales summit and looking ahead to the next summit, that commitment is one thing were focused on. In terms of communication, i feel confident to say that those on the eastern flank are communicating very seriously about the need for strength and defense in light of russia. Mr. Tillis because of the proximity. Mr. Scaparrotti to the south you have a different but just as important threat. One of the important things that, if confirmed, i need to do is recognize all our threats and help our allies to be unified. Mr. Tillis in closing i want to associate myself with senator grahams comments and also just make the point because people watch these hearings and take a lot from them. I dont think theres any serious discussion among any member of congress that would suggest that anyone takes a thinking a withdrawal from nato makes sense and the rhetoric in the political circles now should not be confused with anything that we would seriously consider. I find that unimaginable. Thank you all. I look forward to supporting your confirmation. Senator mccain it was pointed out to us in a meeting that 9 11 was attack on the United States of america not a european country and they joined and over 1,000 of the young men and women that have come from those countries have been killed in action. When we talk about how much money that they havent spent, we should keep the pressure on, i dont think we should forget that over 1,000 of their young, i think all young men, have given their lives because of an action that was taken against the United States of america e. Of america. Thank you, senator. I want to followup on senator kaine because i have been concerned also with the kurds, our support of the kurds, i know there are kurds and now the Northern Syrian kurds seem to be valiant fighters. Mr. Manchin we dont seem to be secondguessing, are they going to turn on us, give our weapons to someone else who will use them against us. Thats the only group i see we dont have that concern with. But looking at the turks are we not giving the support to the kurds that we could even more . And basically, do the iraqi kurds, are they still satisfied with the one state solution and having everything come through baghdad . Or are they still what we understood was very frustrated with that . Mr. Scaparrotti senator, i dont know the answer to that particular part of your question, the last part, about their satisfaction, if i could take that for the record. Senator manchin you can take that for the record. Mr. Manchin if theyre not getting support and rely on the dysfunction of baghdad right now, getting the goods they need and the arms they need to help us defend the terrorists, i think it would be a strain for us not to make sure they get it directly. Mr. Scaparrotti theyve been a reliant and one of the best combatants weve alied with in our fight in isil and syria. If confirmed ill work closely with the combatant command, sent come and socm in support of this centcom and socom in support of that. Manchin i was in argentina, we were talking about the drugs coming thru argentina, have they made a commitment to help us fight the drug raid . Ms. Robinson i dont know the answer to that right at the moment but what i can say is my relationship with admiral tid if confirmed to watch that and again to push things down as far as we can on the southern border. Mr. Manchin you cant go any further south an argentina. If you can get that information, that would be helpful. Our people were get nothing help at all, they were letting it come through. Ms. Robinson yes, sir. Mr. Manchin i think all of us agree we should be part of nato. The bottom line, the frustration is we know the sacrifices they have made and theyve come to the aid in defending the United States but they still havent made a commitment, the 2 of their g. D. P. But theres no quid pro quo, theres no penalty for that. Do you believe that theres a way we can hold them more accountable . If they are not coming up to the 2 . Mr. Scaparrotti i think thats a question, you know, for the alliance and North Atlantic Council to wrestle with. Obviously if confirmed, ill have the ability to give best military advice to the secretary general and the council and i, as i said, i do believe that within the alliance, the commitments that we make are very important for the strength of the alliance. Mr. Manchin on the Ballistic Missile defense and most importantly with canada, i understand theyre going to engage again, be involved in Missile Defense . Ms. Robinson from what ive read theyre in the process of talking about what theyre going to do with that. If confirmed early on, i will engage with my canadian counterparts and my canadian chain of command and see where theyre going. Mr. Manchin if they do, would that reduce our systems to the north . Or would they be reinforcing our efforts . Ms. Robinson i dont have that information right now but if confirmed thats something i will look into early on. Mr. Manchin i have one more, i think, real quick. Russia, the whole thing, i think senator donnelly talked to you about the russia flyover. Ould our ships, were we in the right to shoot down if we desired to do so with their ggression . Mr. Scaparrotti not knowing the complete circumstances i cant answer that. Mr. Manchin turkey has taken action on russia before rks and i think russia understands that turkey would continue to take action. I think theres a concern that we wont and they were wanting to see how far we would go and im not advocating that we should have shot the plane down but i understood that secretary kerry described it as a reckless, provocative and dangerous act. And he was not wrong in saying the u. S. Ship would have been justified to shoot down the russian plane. Mr. Scaparrotti i dont have the detailed information to make that call. It is absolutely reckless, unjustified and very dangerous when youve got our operations oing on as well. Mr. Manchin is russia just pushing the envelope to test the western resolve or the United States resolve . Mr. Scaparrotti i think theyre pushing the envelope in terms of you are resolve and in terms of International Norms an