John s. Mccain iii good morning. The Senate Armed Services Committee Held a confirmation hearing for several Defense Department nominees. Among them was mark espers to be the next Army Secretary. Other nominees included the defense undersecretary for intelligence and for personnel and readiness and the assistant defense secretary who advises on weapons of mass destruction to i would like to say that ive been pleased with the reaction of the secretary of defense and the administration being cooperative and responding to our questions and to our ability to carry out our responsibilities on the Defense Authorization bill. I think most members were happy with their briefing that we received concerning reactions on the uss mccain and others so we are glad to begin this hearing. We thank all of you for joining us this morning. We welcome your family and friends here with us today. As is our tradition at the beginning of your testimony we invite you to introduce those who are joining you. Sta