Transcripts For CSPAN Hearing Examines National Security Space Assets 20170519

Witnesses who are leaders in our National Space program to join us here today. Before i introduce them, i want to take a moment to acknowledge that while i cant imagine there being a better place to work than for the Strategic Forces subcommittee, apparently somebody thinks theres a better job in washington, d. C. We this will be the last hearing that steve cotay will be in his current position. Hes leaving to go to work for the secretary of defense, to be the assistant secretary of defense for space policy. Our loss is the secretarys gain. Mr. Rogers i know hell do a great job for our country in his new capacity as well. Ood luck, buddy. Today we have some witnesses that are very familiar to this committee and do a great job for our country. General j. J. Raymond, lieutenant david buck, ms. Betty zap, director of National Reconnaissance office and robert cardillo, director of the National Intelligence space agency, mr. John hill, acting secretary of defense for space policy. After we finish this unclassified testimony and question and answer well adjourn to a closed session to continue our oversight in an appropriately secured fashion. In secretary mattis confirmation hearing his official testimony stated, quote, while our military maintains capable air, land, and sea forces, the cyberand space domains demand an increasing share of our attention and investment, close quote. I fully agree with the secretarys statement. Our military and Intelligence Leaders have been clear in their warnings, some going back many years, that our use of space could be taken away from us in the next military conflict. However, we have not moved with the conviction and urgency to respond to these warnings, which has left with us a growing crisis to confront in outer space. While i have the full faith and confidence in in each of our witnesses here today, i do not have faith in the tangled bureaucratic structure they must work with. China is rapidly advancing in space and counterspace and established a new military organization to focus its space, cyber, and warfare capabilities. Dr. John hamry eloquently stated in an earlier hearing to this subcommittee, quote, we are not well organized to deal with the new challenges we face in space. The old structure may have been sufficient when space was an uncontested area of operations that time has passed. Gain, i couldnt agree more. Now is the time for reform, even if its disruptive today. With that, i look forward to hearing your perspective on space priorities and posture and thank you for being here and working with us on this important topic. I recognize my friend and colleague from tennessee, mr. Jim cooper. Mr. Cooper thank you, mr. Chairman. I would like to add my note of congratulations to steve, well done. I thank you for this hear, mr. Chairman. I appreciate especially your focus on strengthening americas Space Capabilities. Theres no more important goal. There are many issues before us and before the air force in particular but im glad were addressing them and i have in a bipartisan, joint, substantive fashion. I look forward to the testimony of the witnesses. I now recognize our witnesses, the witnesses were asked to summarize their prepared statements which will be submitted for the record, without objection, so order. Take your statements and keep them to five minutes or less so we can get to questions that would be awesome. Genere monday, youre recognized. Genere monday thank you. Let me also say congratulations to steve cotay, we look forward to having you sitting here next to us next year. Distinguished members of the subcommittee, thank you for the opportunity to appear before you as the commander of air force Space Command. Its my distinguish my distinct privilege to lead dedicated airmen providing resilient and affordable Space Capabilities for the nation. Its also a distinct privilege to testify with my friends and panel of experts and close partners. This is an exciting year for the air force and Space Command. In september of 2017, our air force celebrates our 70th birthday and air force Space Command celebrates the 35th birthday. Although as the air force we have been involved in space since 1954, since the beginning. We have come a long way. Today there is nothing we do, and i repeat, nothing we do as a joint force that isnt enabled by space. Integration has been our strength. Nevertheless, we find ourselves at the intersection of high reliance and vulnerability in the space domain. Today, in no uncertain term, space is a war fighting des moines just like air, land, and sea. Potential adversaries are developing capabilities to deny us access to and the benefits of the space domain. Let me be very clear. We do not want a conflict that extends into space. But one way to keep that from happening is to make sure were prepared for it and be able to fight and win that conflict if it were to occur. I think it shouldnt be lost on anybody that our Space Program is the envy of the world. My near term priorities are four fold. First in partnership with betty sapp, operational at the space center and provide them with command and control capability to operate in a contested domain. We must improve space Situational Awareness, transforming from a cataloging focus to a war fighting focus required of this domain. Third we need to transition our Space Architecture into a defendable Space Architecture, to provide resilient and dependable capabilities for the challenges we face and we need to continue to develop air force Space Command airmen. I thank you for your support, your active leadership, and look forward to continuing to work closely with you and i look forward to your questions. Mr. Rogers thank you. The air recognizes general. Members of the subcommittee, thank you for your steadfast support of our men and women in uniform, the space intervise and this nation. We have turned an educational corner of sorts. Space is a way of life this compounded with understanding the threats of space is the platform to evolve our National Security Space Enterprise. We dont need a clean slate approach. Certainly an overhaul is necessary to guarantee our freedoms in, through, and from space. This is a challenge because our National Security Space Architecture and processes were largely conceived to provide services or commodities during an era when our most significant coorbital threat was debris. Given the emerging threats, we no longer approach space with simply a Service Provider mentality. A foremost responsibility is to gain and maintain space superiority. This is a prerequisite to protecting and defending space joint operating area and for providing space for combat engagement with the joint forces across the globe. Over the past year, we have made substantial progress, especially with respect to all Domain Operations and our ability to protect and defend the National Security Space Enterprise. We are better war fighters. There are, however, areas that require continued focus and vigilance. We must continue to normalize operations across the enterprise. This includes space sitchation Situational Awareness as well as improving foundational intelligence and the ability to provide robust indications and warnings. We also must continue the full court press to deliver next generation battle space awareness and command and control capability. At the same time we must review and update the associated authorities and rules of engagement for operations in space. And we must continue, we must continue to push on fielding required capabilities on operationally relevant timelines. Looking forward, we are focused on maintaining freedom of action in space. It is an imperative of our joint force. As a learning organization, we will continue to learn and review our approaches and organizational structures. We can accept no less because the speed and complexity of future fights demands operationally agile organizations. Every challenge is an opportunity and we have many opportunities in space. Freedom of action in space is not a birth right. It must be secured and must be preserved. This requires constant vigilance, strong partnerships and active participation. I thank the committee for your leadership, and for your advocacy. I look forward to our continued partnership. Mr. Rogers thank you. Thank you for the opportunity to be here on behalf of the National Reconnaissance office or n. R. O. The n. R. O. Is responsible for operating the overhead surveillance architecture. We are the foundation of global Situational Awareness. While simultaneously assisting with National Policy and achieving diplomatic goals. We provide direct support to u. S. War fighters, help protect u. S. Borders and contribute significantly to the fight against isis and other Counterterrorism Operations worldwide. The foundation of this is our people. Our people are behind every Missions Success and enable the direct result we provide to combatant command, and deployed tactical units. The work force is not just dedicated to mission. The talent and empowered to innovate. We instill a culture of innovation an risk tolerance in everything we do. This comes in many forms to include using existing abilities differently, developing new apps, and developing new capabilities critical to closing intelligence gaps. We are working with our Mission Partners to ensure we fully leverage commercial products, services and capabilities. The n. R. O. Is a small, flat, endtoend organization fully capable of successfully delivering resilient and affordable architecture. We have control of every function required from the r d that enables us to stay ahead of threats to the acquisition of new space and ground capability to the operations required to use, adapt and upgrade those capabilities to respond to new and changing Mission Imperatives in the field. Were performing extremely well. All 15 of our major system acquisitions are green. Meaning they are meeting or exceeding cost, schedule and performance metrics. This year we received our eighth consecutive clean Financial Management audit, demonstrating our ability to manage resources entrusted to us. We continue to improve our collection capabilities and the resiliency to stay ahead of targets an threats. Staying ahead of the adversaries who threaten our Space Capabilities is a challenge. Those adversaries are making space a priority, accepting the risk necessary for rapid progress. The u. S. Has the u. S. Has not been keeping pace. I believe we have not made the investment that would indicate space is a priority or fundamental to the u. S. Our requirements budget and acquisition processes are diskecked and none of them moves quickly. Failure is not well tolerated even in the research and Development Activities required to keep our Space Capabilities relevant and vital, or to mprove their resiliency. National security space is a team sport and everyone on the team, those in the executive branch and in congress, must to all they can to advance capabilities and improve its resilience to threats. We must have processes that are integrated that move faster, and that demonstrate greater risk tolerance. We must recommit to space as a National Priority and imperative. This committee has been out in front trying to drive the hanges required. The inroads made to the n. R. O. Is addressing this change. The n. R. O. And broader Space Community have people with the talent, commitment and passion to take us forward. We only need to empower and enable them to succeed. Mr. Chairman and members of the subcommittee thank you for your continued support of the National Reconnaissance office, ts people and its mission. Mr. Rogers thank you. We recognize mr. Cardillo for five minutes. I too am pleased to testify before you here today with my distinguished colleagues as a member of the team of National Security professionals. N. G. A. Is the primary provider of Geospatial Intelligence or geoint. Our support to military services, combatant command and war fighters include safety of 1 2 fwailings, precise target, Disaster Recovery and tailored intelligence support to name a few. I strengthen the overall enterprise by making sure combatant command needs are met through specific architecture. The geoint enterprise serves as a framework to translate those into Key Enterprise functions and capability ours we require to solve our most vexing challenges. Global persistent geoint provides a framework to monitor these, enables n. G. A. To provide tactical leaders, the intelligence and Early Warning needed for decision advantage. It leverages the exquisite capabilities to allow combatant commands to hold strategic targets at risk. It also enables our partners to fill gaps in our enterprise. The explosion of data has driven this beyond the limbs of human interpret eags and understanding. By combining all the data with the use of algorithms, machine to Machine Learning and Artificial Intelligence we blove we can automate 75 or more of the rote tasks we perform today. This will free our analysts to spend more time on and foe couns the hard intelligence problems. Getting to that point will require significant investments in our i. T. Architecture as well as is as well as in our research and development. Not only is the data explode, conservative estimates predict that over 9,000 commercial satellites will be launched, compared to few than 1,500 in the last 10 years. Accordingly, n. G. A. Will partner with the n. R. O. To engage with and access the most mature of these new space via the commercial geoint activity. Through it we will evaluate emerging commercial geoint data against those needs we capture and maintain. In closing, the National Security Space Enterprise is vital n. G. A. s ability to provide advantage to war fighter commanders and policymakers. To give them the decision space and operational time they need to do their job. Timely, relevant, and accurate geoint is only possible through the combined efforts of the department of defense, emerging industry and alryed partners. Im happy to address any questions you might have and im pleased to be here. Mr. Rogers thank you. Thank you, chairman rogers, distinguished members of the committee, thank you for the opportunity to testify here today with my distinguished colleagues. In the months ahead, understanding and addressing the implications of the growing threats in space is critical as this administration prepares the new National Security strategy and National Defense strategy. As congress carries out its responsibilities for oversight and funding of the programs and activities necessary to realize those strategies. Requires anrtant it end to Defense Budget caps, an end to the years long pattern of continuing resolutions and a return to strategy focused resourcing. Today we consider Space Security in an era when russia and china present antiaccess area denial strategies intended to prevent or counter u. S. Intervention in crises or conflicts and to undercut our ability to secure our interests. Diplomatic solutions remain our preferred option to settling the differences that divide nations. But american diplomatic influence rests on the credibility and capability of our military power, which is fundamental to deterrence and the confidence of our allies in knowing that they do not have to submit to the coercive pressures of large and powerful neighbors. Americas space posture underwrites deterrence by enabling the u. S. Military to project power globally, respond to crises rapidly, strike swiftly and precisely and command forces in multiple theaters simultaneously. Potential adversaries know well our reliance on Space Systems that many perceive as vulnerable. Leading to an unstable situation in which some have condition colluded that in times of conflict, attacking u. S. Military Space Systems may make an irresistible and most tempting choice. Disabusing them of such misguided notions is a strategic priority. That is why in the department of defense we are making such a concerted effort to strengthen the in addition assurance of our Space Capabilities and deny aggressors the benefits of attacks in space. We are changing our investments and operations and increasing our partnering with commercial entities and allies. More importantly, we are changing attitudes by recognizing that space is a war fighting domain and preparing ourselves to deter conflict in space and prevail if deterrence fails. Finally, i want to recognize this committees priority on strengthening National Security Space Organization, management, and leadership. This question has the attention of the secretary and deputy secretary of defense. They expect to be presented with sound analysis and a full range of options and they mean for us to meet the deadline of reporting to congress this june. In conclusion, i want to thank this committee for keeping the challenges of securing space before the public. I look forward to working together to ensure that we have the right strategy and resources and the necessary programs, posture and organizational structures to sustain deterrence, to prevail if deterrence fails and to increase the incentives nations have to settle their differences by peaceful means. Thank you. And i would add, as a person acting in the job that mr. Cotay will be doing, nobody is happier to have him come into this than i am. [laughter] mr. Rogers thank you, mr. Hill. I recognize myself first for questions. This will be a question for anybody thats willing to swing at it. We passed a law about 10 years ago that developed how the operationally Responsive Space office would be run and i heard that instead of being streamlined, o. R. S. Options are still forced to go through the traditional pentagon processes including the Defense Space council. There have been a small number of decisionmakers working on moving past that. The recent decision meeting include over 60 attendees with 54 more than we had envisioned. To me this is an example this example is indicative of the extremely fragmented Space Organization and bureaucratic kudzu thats my word, youve got to be from the south to know what kudzu is that strangles out the life of the Space Program. Its a situation where everyone can say no but no one can say yes. So how do we fix that . Ill swing first. Thanks for the chairman. 60 people were not involved in that decision. As you stated the common law is pretty clear. Theres six members by law. Pdsa has the ability to designate others that are critical to that decision. In this case i wasnt in the room but my understanding is those six were the voting members plus two or three others, that was it. Its under the framework of a larger d. S. E. But the decisionmakers were the eight or nine person level, those were the voting members. And it actually went quick. Mr. Rogers i understand there were six voting members, but werent there 60 people in the room . Yes. They didnt vote, didnt influence the decision and after those folks make that decision, a lot of those folks then have to be the ones that go execute that decision and make sure they have a common understanding. It was a very small number of folks that was consistent with the legislation that was passed for a small, tight Decision Making progress for process and im comfortable that it was a pretty rapid decision. Mr. Rogers so six people were the decisionmakers. Six by law, then a couple of others that were added by the mr. Rogers so eight people . I wasnt in the room, but yes. Mr. Rgers six to eight people then. Do you have to have six oto eight people to make decisions . I have two people, oner of the i. C. Side, one on the d. O. D. Side. Theres a lot of people who review the package before it gets to those, theres a lot of staff on the i. C. Stide and on the d. O. D. Side. A will the a lot of people look at it before it getsen the calendar before the decisionmakers. Mr. Rogers do the people who look at it have the authority to stop it or say no . They have the authority to stall it. Mr. Rogers is that the case with the o. R. S. , genere monday . Those other people, can they slow it down or stop it . My understanding is that they do not have a vote in that process. They have the by law, the six that are by law mr. Rogers how about the leadup process to get in that room . Pdsa scheduled the schedules the defense council. Its done relatively routinely. It was done so in this process, i didnt sense a slowdown. Ill give you a comment as one they have nonvoting people who was in the room. What the principal advisor did was she used that to tee up the decision that is also necessary which is the longterm solution for it. O. R. S. Is an important gap, the program before us, an important gap for whats been put forward that went pretty quickly. The discussion also said to everybody, are we also moving on the requirements process for the longer term . She used that effectively in that respect. Mr. Rogers great. In the testimony earlier this week, general goldfein talked about the need to integrate space and the joint staff is who is responsible for overall space integration forces. On that joint staff, there are 11 air force general officers. Of those 11 general officers, how many space professionals are included . Anybody want to guess . It would be zero. You know how many are pilots . Nine. If we look at the specific Combatant Commander, or command, there were 28,000 u. S. Air force personnel supporting ucom. How many are dedicated to work space issues . Two. We do need to integrate space, i agree on that, with air, land, sea and cyber obligations. Thats what Combatant Commanders do. But theyre also fighting and winning wars. So how do we integrate this better. To me it starts with people. Im interested in your perspective. Thank you. I agree with you, i would like to give more space officers, general officers on the joint staff. The chief is focused on developing joint officers. Thats a focus area for us as well. When we look across the enterprise, look at the United States strategic command, we have two space officers working in joint jobs u. S. Strategic command. Im in a joint bill myself as hief commander jfcc space. We have reachback authority to get those space effects out to theater. As far as developing joint operations, i think were doing a pretty good job and thats a focus area Going Forward. I would say you bring up a great point. The challenges we face as a nation today are transregional, if not global. Multidomain, multifunctional. They dont theyre not confined to a line on a map. Its not just one geographic commanders responsibility. Its pretty much all the Combatant Commanders responsibility. Each has whats called a coordinating authority for space. Each of those Combatant Commanders has delegated that authority down to the air component of that. And air components around the globe, we probably have, as senior space officer, called the director of space forces, general goldfein said this, we have a director of space forces, he has a staff of about five. In every Single Division we have space professionals embedded in those divisions. What we have done is prioritize putting the weight of effort in those a. O. C. s where the Combatant Commander designated that authority to and thats where we do multidomain integration work. Thats the hub of the multidomain integration work. General goldfein was the space advise space advisor at one time . They was the air forces Component Commander for cent sent come. In that role, sent come commander delegates to him the space coordinating authority. Is a. O. C. Is the multidomain that integrates air, spice, and cyber into that fight. Thats where we focus a significant portion of the operation. You looked like you were going to Say Something . Probably in sent come we have e prepend in zent in centcom we have the preponderance of space ruferses. We probably have eight, maybe 10 officers and the director of space offices there. Its a real win for us when not just we have a director of space force office there but when we d c space officers in isr pd. Thats a win. When we start not being an addon but were baked into the processes over there. And i think were doing better. Our focus is on centcom but were Getting Better across the board. Mr. Rogers the chair recognizes the Ranking Member for any question he is may have. Thank you, mr. Chairman. I would like to focus on how crowded space is and how its going to get more crowded. Mr. Cardillo mentioned in his testimony on page 5, we saw Something Like 1,500 satellites go up. In the next five years, Something Like 9,000. Thats 2. 5 satellites a day going up in space. Thats amazing. But weve seen launches like in india recently they put up 100 sats just in one launch. Mr. Cooper so as space gets more crowded, its gets more stretch russ. Treacherous. General buck mentioned, used to be the main threat we faced was debris. Now we face traffic and may face threats. Im particularly interested in this idea of the nonmilitary space Traffic Management thing and i understand genere monday youve embarked on a Pilot Program with the f. A. A. On that . Thank you, Ranking Member cooper. We have. As i testified before to this think space is congested. They track about 23,000 objects a day to cope track of all that. Act as space Traffic Control for the world. And keep the domain safe for all. Its very important, and i think general buck will agree with me, but its very important for National Security purposes that we have the ability to have radars, to collect the data from those radars, to be able to maintain the awareness we need for that domain. However, i dont think we need to be the organization that makes the notifications around the world and acts as the traffic cop. So ive met with the f. A. A. Administrator a couple of months ago and asked if he would join us in developing a Pilot Program, if you will, to see if we could inform this Going Forward. General buck as the lead on pulling that together. Do you want to give an update on where we are . Im proud of how far weve come. I talked to dr. Neil directly, jointly to begin jointly to be that Pilot Program. I expect that Pilot Program to begin this summer, probably in the august time frame i feel do agree with genere monday, there are some aspects of space Traffic Management that are not inherently military. And we could load them to civil agency. Safety of flight, debris management, norms of behavior. I dont think those inherently military. I think its important to make a distinction too between what is space Traffic Management and what is space Situational Awareness. For me, as a war fighter, what i need is space Situational Awareness. I need to know what an object is, where its going, what its capabilities are, what its vulnerabilities are, those types of things. What i dont need to be doing, i dont think, are things like notifications for conjunction assessment and norms of behavior. I think thats better suited for a civil agency and i think thats where were going. Let me add some color to your remarks. Genere monday said in a very calm fashion, we keep space safe, or Something Like that. We are protecting other countries billion dollar satellites from a piece of shrapnel that might be traveling at 33,000 Miles Per Hour that could destroy the machine. For that we get not even a thank you note. Its kind of amazing that we provide this magnificent Worldwide Service and little appreciation. Plus, as you said, when we consider load shedding, its a burden on our folks, doesnt necessarily need to be borne by them. Not all countries, some countries do send us thank you notes. Others dont. What were really doing were really doing it because we want to keep the space domain safe for all to use, including us. Thats the emphasis behind that. We need to build operating space. Its our way of helping to make sure we can do that. Its also an essential truth telling function. If you look at the downing of the malaysian airliner over the ukraine, there was worldwide debate, dispute other what caused that plain to crash. And even though we have excellent air Traffic Control in most parts of the world, there was still a significant dispute. When it comes to separating news from fake news and propaganda, you know, i think in the space domain it would be nice if we established a sort of Gold Standard of truth so we would know if it was debris, we would know if it was something less benign than that. So im worried that while i hope the Pilot Program gets off to a good start this summer, i hope it will soon be able to establish a standard but even with air traffic were having difficulty isolating causes when it should be with all of our plain radars and things like that, an ease injury thing to prove than it is in space. I hope we will get on that task. Thank you, mr. Chairman. Mr. Rogers the chair recognizes mr. Ran drew for any questions. Mr. Landrieu for any questions he may have. Im going to follow up on a question we touched on yesterday. With bmc i remain concerned about the prospect of repeating questions whereby efforts were prioritized over commercial capabilities which unfortunately led to huge schedules and cost overruns. Mr. Lamborn can i get your commitment that youll prioritize the utilization of commercial capabilities to the maximum extent practicable first and then fill in with Government Development for the truly unique military requirements that dont reside in the commercial marketplace . Im a big proponent of commercial data. Ive said for many years in front of this committee that we need all sources of day tark we need from commercial up to high end intelligence data. And our strategy Going Forward on the command and control system you referenced is to do just that. To use commercial companies in a consortium to help us develop hose requirements, and its analogous to the iphone. You have the iphone and then apps. We want to have open consortium so all players can feed us data and do so quickly. We have to get it on the floor, get it in the National Defense center as quickly as we can. Therefore what we did was, we switched the program and i gave that to the air force Rapid Capabilities office who has already done this. They have already taken the capability, built an open architect system, has a consortium approach and has worked very well. Were fast forwarding this capability by giving it to the folks that can move rapidly, that have done it in another capability and what this will allow us to do is let us get at the multidomain integration. The purpose Going Forward is to enable a lot of commercial data and other source data to be integrated to give general buck the data he needs to have to do the mission hes responsible for. If i could just make a comment along the same lines, Ranking Member cooper stressed the importance of domain awareness. Its really important that we ingest nontraditional data into our Space Surveillance Network as well. Thats a hard thing to do. But were making progress. And i think this summer sometime were going to bring on a capability called the nontraditional data preprocessor that will begin to allow ingeston of commercial data into our Space Surveillance Network. I think thats a move in the right direction for domain awareness and nontraditional awareness of commercial sensors if you will. Thank you. Changing gears, ive mr. Lamborn thank you. Changing years ive heard about changes in the fiscal year 2018 request, what are we doing to keep this Important Program on track . We have not submitted the 018 budget Going Forward. We have in my opinion a Pretty Healthy g. P. S. Constellation in that weve got 31 operational satellites on orbit. Actually 37 on orbit, 31 are operational. We are moving forward with the o. C. X. Program although that, as many folks testified peevesly, would not be the Model Program that we would hold up as the standard. And we are clearly not out of the woods yet. I wont be comfortable until that capability is operational on the ops floor for general bucks team to be able to operate. Im pretty comfortable with where we are with a relatively healthy g. P. S. Constellation on orbit and progress being made on the ground criminal system. What does that mean for the budget for next year . The budget is going to be released next week. So id prefer not to speculate on what might be released in the budget until that gets released. Mr. Lamborn ms. Sapp in 40 seconds im going to give you a huge question but you referred to how we dont have the commit. We need for space Going Forward. What can we do better as a country to show that commitment nd that resolve . I think we need help on the budget side, not just investment in space but the ability to use the investment. As were fielding new things to improve our resiliency, its hard to move ahead with new things under a continuing resolution. Its not allowed. So that is just slowing the pace of progress. Even after we get it out of the executive branch, which is no mean feat. So you can help a lot on that process. Mr. Lamborn thank you so much. I would echo that as well on behalf of air force Space Command. Mr. Rogers the chair recognize mr. Garamendi for any questions he may have. Mr. Garamendi im going to forego the usual g. P. S. Backup, i assume thats moving along, if not, therell be a piece of legislation to move it along perhaps even faster. Not exactly sure how far to go with this. I represent biel air force base. There are certain activities going on, im not sure we should be talking about them here but i would like to take that up. I think it integrates with much of what is being discussed here. Just in general, the integration of information from a variety of sources, i think this is something that is happening, just in general. Your views on that progress . In general, i think its going really well. In fact, is largely the model that i use to make the decision to go with the approach we talked about in the Battle Management command and control conversation we just had with congressman lamb born. I would be more than happy to talk more in the closed session with you. Mr. Garamendi i think ill let it go at that point. No, i have one more. We picked this up yesterday. Oing on. Plans for the next decade of critical assets that need to be developed and deployed. And the approximate cost of those. I think we need to have a longterm vision here about where were going to deploy, perhaps the most essential asset of all which is our financial resources. Of not seen such a display of of those things that we, that you, the military in general, need, want, must have. I think its really essential that we look at that. There will be insufficient money for everything. Particularly if the tax cuts are real. And so were going to need to make some tough decisions about prioritization and that needs a long view, 10 years, minimum, so that we can say, ok, these things will be funded, those will not. Or were going to fund all of it but not fund something else. So mr. Chairman, if we could move in that direction so we can have that longterm vision. Could i id welcome the opportunity to come back to you and walk you through the Space Enterprise vision. Thats you are longer term vision for space. Its done in very close partnership, its an integrated vision with the n. R. O. I want to take a moment, i do they havething i can, a great staff. I would be more than happy to walk you through that vision. Mr. Garamendi we heard some of this yesterday from general goldfein about Different Directions or at least a different set of priorities for the future. Much of it involves your work. So i wanted to get a fix on that and other things that we may not put as as a priority. Didnt mean to cut you off. I didnt want to take your time, i wanted to see if you had more questions. Mr. Garamendi thank you. Mr. Rogers when you talk about the b. M. C. 2 piece, that consortium is trying to rapidly develop a capability where were currently maybe lagging behind and of course i think everybody on this committee fully supports that effort. In the meantime, is there an s. S. A. Gap that needs to be filled that could be that commercial could help with, and maybe general buck if youd like to answer that as well. Thank you, sir. Good seeing you again. I mentioned the nontraditional data preprocessor. I think thats a tep in the right direction. The ability to ingest some of hose nontraditional items that helps. And we have sbss online right now, thats being extended. The life on that is extended past its, i think the dates are classified but thats going to be extended, plus we have the gap capability as well. I think those three things together give us the capability to fulfill that gap. Just as a general statement, more data is better. More data is better. We need data across the full spectrum. And we do get that across the full speck rum. The other thing weve done is developed partnerships and weve got, dont quote me on the numbers, over 50 or 60 s. S. A. Sharing agreements with partners. Its largely oneway share bug there are twoway sharing pieces of that. Id like to make that stronger when we get the new system up with more capacity and more ability to ingest that data, that will take off. Ut more is better. Mr. Bridenstine id like to continue on what Ranking Member cooper was talking about, the partnership with the f. F. A. For space Situational Awareness, specifically. Can you share with us how that is being funded . Is it coming out of your budget . Is it coming out of their budget . Is there Something Congress should do here to help . My understanding is theres going to be an f. Y. 2018 budget request coming out of the f. F. A. But i hesitate to say that because im getting in the bit, but ane a little i think theres a question coming. Mr. Bridenstine thats good to hear that. I know thats not your lane, dont want to get you in trouble, but i think this committee would be supportive of that partnership. We have heard testimony over and over again about how were providing free Situational Awareness to the entire world and to all the commercial partners. At the same time the tasking that it has imposed on our war ighters at the jspa has been problematic. To the extent i hear this from some other members of congress that they want to, and i heard you use the word load shed, they want to load shed the admission but not the funding. I want everybody on the committee to know, the air force was never funded to provide space Situational Awareness to the entire world and commercial operators for free. Thats never been in your mission description. Yet thats what youre doing by default out of the goodness of your hearts. I say the goodness of your hearts but the reality is we need to protect our own assets and we know that. I just want to reiterate the a that if we can create space Situational Awareness environment that can be led by a civilian agency and free your man p. O. W. Er to actually be focused on fighting and winning wars, i think everybody on this panel would fully support that effort and if we need to do an appropriation, i think thats something we should be advocating for. With that go ahead. I agree with everything you said. I just also want to make sure that we state the criticality that the National Security Space Mission needs to make sure that they have the space Situational Awareness. Absolutely. Aa i agree theres a role for others but its critical to our National Security that we maintain the capability of having that awareness. Mr. Bride en mr. Bridenstine of course, they will always do space Situational Awareness. Its not just the conjunction analysis but the warning that takes manpower away. Im with you. Mr. Bridenstine i yield back. Mr. Rogers the chair recognizes the gentleman from washington state, mr. Larson, for five minutes. Mr. Larson i was going to jump on this, but given that were writing the f. A. A. Bill, id be reluctant to have the satellite trafficking dumped on the f. A. A. As well. Youre not saying thats happening, youre not saying that, im more concerned that Congress Gets out over the tips of its skis on this and assigns it without money or help rather negotiating on a solution is a better idea. I think that probably is a better place for it, in fact, but one question im sure the f. A. A. Would have, i would have as Ranking Member, is what advantage does the f. A. A. Get, what can it get from it, from doing the activity, as opposed po just another set of activities. My discussions with dr. Neil and his staff is that they see this as a real opportunity to do hings that are more like aircentric, establishing norms of behavior, establish patterns of safety for flight in space. Not to speak if. If for f. A. A. But my conversations with them have led me to believe that theres they see some goodness in this and are anxious to take on specific aspects of the states raffic management mission. Mr. Larsen thats great. I look forward to getting you all together to discuss this. So we have, i wouldnt call it adult oversight on that i would never accuse of us doing that sometimes, but certainly some oversight. Theres a lot of debate going on right now in the f. A. A. About reorganizing it overall. And tossing this into the mix is its going to get done, putting that in context of all the other things were trying to do at the f. A. A. Is important. Thanks a lot. Yield back. Mr. Rogers the chair recognizes the gentleman from colorado, mr. Coffman for five minutes. Mr. Coffman its been expressed that rocket System Development is a better way to maintain our dominance in space. Therefore is it still the air forces approach to fund the rocket system versus only rocket components . Would you tell us how you see the government collaborating with industry in funding the rocket System Development and what is your vision of how industry should meet the air forces evaluation criteria . Thank you for the questions. The air forces strategy remains threefold. First of all, its critical that we have assured assets in space. You have to have that. Access to space. You have to have that. The second component is we would like like to support the competition, we see the benefits of competition in launch industry. And the third aspect is we would like to get off the rd 180 engine that strategy remains the same. We are investing in launch services. We dont secure rockets, we secure launch services and that strategy remains the same and is on track. Mr. Coffman thank you. I understand that price is an important price in any procurement effort but in my experience other factors are also important. Given the cost of many of the payloads and how essential they are to our National Security, can you discuss how the air force evaluates and include in its procurement decisions qualitative items such as reliability or maintaining the Industrial Base . All that comes into play. Its not just cost based. Its a full spectrum analysis. Theres a high bar we go through for certification that we wouldnt we would not put on contract a launch if we didnt think that that was going to be assured to get into space. Its a full range and its mission by mission. Some missions are more complex than others. Anybody on this could answer this. It is my understanding that the space infrared system is the current and primary method to detect Ballistic Missile defense hreats and we are dependent on this, are there other systems visioned to complement sivvers . That might be for the classified brief. And how about systems that supplement this and how vital is Buckley Air Force base to our mission . Its a National Security priority. It provides Strategic Missile warning for our nation. Its its probably one of the most Critical Systems we operate. The wing up at buckley, the space wing led by colonel dave miller, is a premier organization, extremely critical to the success of that mission area. I was up there a month or so ago and theyre doing great work. As we look to the future, we things more he resilient. I would have further conversations with you in a closed session to get into more specifics. You referenced the transition of training our satellite officers from a technicianbased focus to a war fighterbased focus. I think this depicts the increasing counterspace efforts of our adversaries and the threats they pose to our National Security. Mr. Coffman would you go into detail regarding the training to counter these threats and the transition to a war fighter focus . Mr. Buck what i was referring to is the Space Mission force cons truct. That we have implecament implemented in the wings. The space swing complete with a Space Mission force transition. Currently the space wings are undergoing the same transformation. What this does in the Space Mission force construct, four four months at a time for four months at a time we have space crews that are in the fight, theyre focused on the current fight. While the other portion of the crew force at these wings are focused on advanced training, tactics, techniques and procedure development. For the future fight. And how they can codify those into their doctrine. So thats what i was referring to. Im really proud of the progress theyve made and the way ahead. Mr. Raymond i would also add, its broader than. That were integrating our Space Operators into joint exercises and the exercises called red flag and the war games that are joint in international weve just developed a space flag construct. So theres its developing depth of spacex per tease, but hen also working the multi space expertise, then also orking the multiintegration. Ere tackling both portions. The chair now recognizes the gentlelady from hawaii, ms. Hanabusa, for five minutes. Ms. Hanabusa thank you, mr. Chairman. General ray monday, when i see air force, i think of Missile Defense as well as your role in the triad system. Reading your testimony, its raised a different set of questions for me. First of all, what i couldnt get past was this one paragraph. If you can explain this to me. In your testimony, page three, you talk about the first seven months of your command. You aggressively pushed implementation of the basically the afspc, National Reconnaissance Space Enterprise vision with a new space war fighting construct. The war fighting construct is the framework for turning the Space Enterprise vision into reality. What im interested in is what is this war fighting construct that youre talking about in erms of space . Thank you,s its nice to meet you. The Space Enterprise vision, as i mentioned earlier, is the vision thats a shared vision between us and the National Reconnaissance office. Mr. Raymond ill pass this over to betty as well. Its a shared vision for moving forward on how do you make the our architectures more survivet, to be able to the contested domain that we find today . The war fighting construct really talks about several things that weve talked about this morning. It takes that vision and builds something. How do we plan to operate together . Thats the foundation of this. Weve worked very closely with n. R. O. To develop that concept. We know how were going to work together. Theres another layer thats also the part that we just talked about on developing and training our forces. The Space Mission force construct is part of that. Theres another layer on it. How do you develop the partnerships that we need both interagency a, with our commercial partners, and with our allies, to be able to respond to the strategic environment that we face today. Ms. Hanabusa before you pass me on. Let me explain to you why, why my curiosity. In mr. Hills testimony, maybe ill bypass no offense. But to mill mr. Hill, his testimony speaks about the quoununquote threats we hear about all the time in here. Russia and china. He also speaks about the concerns that we have. And he says both will continue to pursue a full range of antisatellite weapons as a means to reduce u. S. Military effectiveness. So what i thought you were going to tell me about the war construct was that it was in line of that in other words, where we think about the oceans, the lands and so forth, this is another layer of, quote, war, that we must be ready to fight. Quite candidly, im not sure when you have russia and china that can undermine everything in terms of diplomatic this nice kind of cooperation that were all talking about here, i really would like to know to the extent that you can tell me here today you can tell me here today, what exactly does this all means in terms of our military and what do you need when you come to see us in order to fight that battle . Mr. Raymond first of all, we dont talk about a war in space. We talk about a war that extends into space. Were not this isnt space ms. Hanabusa is that something thats unrealistic . Is it conceivable that we could actually have, quote, war in space . In other words, could our satellites be the first target . Because once you take out our satellites, you are basically destroying our Effective Communication mechanism. So could they not be a first line of offense against us . Mr. Raymond if you look at what some of our potential adversaries are talking about, theyre talking about a full range of capabilities that range everywhere from reversible jamming of communication and g. P. S. Satellites like we have seen, all the way up to the direct descent asat we saw in 2007. Posture is, we want to deter that. We have no interest in fighting that fight. One way to do that is be prepared for it. In the space war fighting construct develops the partnerships, plans, concept of operations, the training needed to be able to respond. Ms. Hanabusa the seconds that i have left, mr. Hill, would you like to comment on it . Because its your testimony that triggered my line of thinking. Mr. Hill sure. I say in my testimony, theres scant evidence that anybody is looking for a war in space. It is about the terrestrial issues that they have. Political differences that countries have. And it is their conclusion that if they want a military option, they have to be able to act in space as well. As youre suggesting, that could be early. Ms. Hanabusa thank you. Mr. Chair, i yield back. The chair now recognizes the gentleman from arizona for five minutes. Mr. Franks thank you, mr. Chairman. And thank all of you for being here and all you do for the cause of human freedom. General raymond, just a quick direct question. Do you believe its fair to say that space is being weaponized . Mr. Raymond i believe its fair to say that space is a contested domain. And its a war fighting domain, just like air, land and sea. Mr. Franks do you believe we need a morrow bust defensive Space Sensor Layer to adequately identify the latest in emerging threats to our space assets . Mr. Raymond i think its imperative that we have a level of domain awareness thats required to operate just like in any other war fighting domain. Mr. Franks should the u. S. Space should we treat space as a war fighting domain . Mr. Raymond space is a war fighting domain. Just like air, land and sea. We need to treat it that way. Mr. Franks should the u. S. Develop defensive capabilities to counter kinetic attack against our Space Security architecture . Mr. Raymond it is an imperative in my opinion that we develop resilient architectures to be able to operate in the contested environment we face today. Mr. Franks general buck, do you have any thoughts on that . Mr. Buck space is a war fighting domain. If you look at the other domains, air, land, sea, they have defensive capabilities. They have other capabilities. We cant afford to treat space any differently. Mr. Franks is it fair to say some of our near peer adversaries capabilities have outpaced our ability to defend our space assets . I might ask the two of you. [inaudible] mr. Franks makes sense. All right. Do you see ill throw this out to the entire panel. Do you see value in establishing an annual exercise, sort of the equivalent of the red flag, only say a space flag event for Space Operators . Mr. Buck we have had our first space flag this year. Although its pace inent. Were having the conversation and were moving in the right direction. I see this first space flag as the first of many to follow. R. Raymond i agree. As i mentioned earlier, thats important, but theres the other aspect of it, that its got to be how do you integrate air, space and cyber together. And how do you integrate with it not just air, space and cyber, with the land and the sea and so theres other opportunities in addition to space flag that provides that capability as well. Mr. Buck and those are spacespecific war games. Those are the global series. On and on. Jspoc and others participated in those last year. Mr. Franks mr. Chairman, i think i probably leave the rest of my questions for the classified session. Thank all of you so much. And thank you, mr. Chairman. I thank the gentleman. Jafflet california is recognized for five minutes the gentleman from california is recognized for five minutes. Cash cash thank you, mr. Chairman, and mr. Carbajal thank you, mr. Chairman, and thank you to all of you for being here today. I represent Vanderberg Air force base. Recently had the great privilege of joining general buck on a our of the facility. The facilities there. I guess for my colleagues and just for me, for it to sink in, you could never hear it enough, could you share, general buck, the contribution of the air force base, jspoc to our National Space strategy and capability, and perhaps close with how that relates or what the nexus is to the new j spock in colorado . Jsoc in colorado . Mr. Buck thank you, sir. Good seeing you again. We have two primary command and control centers. At Vandenberg Air force base, we have the joint Space Operation center. In this Operation Center we have commercial partners on the ops floor, we have our allied partners, theyre doing the day to day heavy lifting support to the terrestrial fight. When a Combatant Commander needs space support, space effects, they go to the jspoc and they provide military satellite communications, precision navigation and timing, all those space effects and they do it better than anybody else. The National Space Defense Center located at sleever air force base is responsible for looking up, protecting the space joint operation area, if you will. So jspoc and vandenberg and the current fight right now as opposed to the terrestrial fight, the National Space Defense Center and shrever air force base in colorado, responsible for protecting and defending the space joint operating environment. Mr. Raymond i would pile on that today the jspoc is the operational d. O. D. Space command and control facility. They do spectacular work. Ive had the privilege of being tationed there four times. They are absolutely wonderful airmen and not just airmen, but joint partners that keep that for all, provide a critical war lity to all of the fighters around the globe. And is the only operational d. O. D. Space center that we have today. Mr. Carbajal it was extremely impressive. I want to thank general buck for his being so hospitable and giving me an opportunity to interface with many of the troops and many of your command team there. It was a great visit. It was a great learning opportunity. I just really appreciate what you do. Mr. Buck it was our pleasure. Thank you for joining us, sir. The chair would like to ask a few more questions before we go into closed session. Talk a little bit about launch. General raymond, how long do you plan to maintain the delta four . Ill id like for you to differentiate between delta four medium versus delta four heavy. And do you plan to keep the delta four heavy specifically until a new launch vehicle is certify and certified and if so how . Mr. Buck theres three delta four mediums that are left, final launch thatses for the delta four medium is scheduled in f. Y. 2019. Mr. Raymond we have seven more delta four heavies. Six of those are National Security space launches. One of those is a nasa launch and theres an option for one more final launch in 2023 and were comfortable well have a new capability online to be able to support the requirements Going Forward. The gers you just heard reference to the National Security pay load. How important is it to your mission to have the delta four heavy or an equivalent available . Mr. Buck its essential its essential to my mission that theyre available in the near term. General raymonds mentioned the partnership between us in the nsbc and operations. Ms. Sapp we couldnt have better launch partners than we do in the air force. They have taken care of our mission. We buy on their contracts. They made sure we had delta four heavy coverage with a lot of transition margin to get to a new booster. So we have just been very satisfied with their support. Mr. Rogers you heard general raymond say that he believes that by 2023 we will have a replacement certified. I hope so too. But if we dont, do you believe that we should let the delta four heavy go . Before we have an alternative certified . Ms. Sapp i believe we have time to see how the new programs mature. Before we cannot go back on delta four heavy. I wouldnt carry it in the neefer term. Again, weve got near term. Again, weve got them funded through launches through 2023. We have some time here to make the right decision for the nation. Mr. Rogers that was a lawyerly response. As a lawyer, i appreciate that. Separately. General raymond, since the air force originally developed a strategy to invest in the development of commercial viable launch vehicles, theres been another. Blue origin announced it has started to get commercial customers for their new glen launch vehicle. Maybe they will even compete for the launch Service Agreement funding. Has this changed your strategy . And do you think the governments role its the governments role to build a new commercial vehicle launch vehicle if theyre already being built by the commercial sector . Mr. Raymond it doesnt effect our strategy at all. Our strategy remains three things, as i mentioned. Assured access to space, competition and get off the rd180 engine. Our Acquisition Strategy is flexible and it encourages multiple competitors for National Security launch services itch dont see it affecting it at all and were not building commercial launch vehicles. Mr. Rogers what do you know about the be4s testing setback we had in recent days . Was its power pack completely destroyed . How does this impact your schedule . Roimroim mr. Raymond my understanding is that blue origin has announced they conducted a test that resulted in the loss of a power pack test hardware. Obviously that mishap is regrettable but it is unprecedented in the development it isnt uncommon in development efforts. I think this adds credibility to our strategy to make sure that theres multiple engines being developed. I think we have visibility, pretty significant visibility into the processes. Although its their final ultimate decision. And then once that decision is made, obviously the air force is a significant customer of that launch service, will do its own independent review. Mr. Rogers excellent. The chair now recognizes Ranking Member for any final questions he may have. Thank you, mr. Chairman. General raymond in your testimony on page 12, you mentioned that g. P. S. 3, svo1 has been completed and is in storage. With an initial launch capability date set to occur in spring, 2018. That struck me as unnecessary moth beau bawling of a perfectly od mothballing of a perfectly good satellite. Whats the delay . Mr. Raymond were making sure we can command and control the satellite. Which will be up by then. And then also theres work to be done on integration work with the launch provider that will launch that satellite. Mr. Cooper is this customary to have a year or more delay . In the launching of a satellite . Mr. Raymond there are satellites that have been in storage significantly longer than that. Its not uncustomary. Well launch it when its safe and ready to do so. And we can get it onto orbit and command and control it. Today we have a pretty significant g. P. S. Consolation on the orbit as we speak. Mr. Cooper so this is not an issue of assured access to space . Mr. Raymond its an issue of making sure that we can command and control the incapability when its in orbit and working the final details for them to integrate with the launch vehicle provider that will launch it. Mr. Cooper ok. Thank you, mr. Chairman. Mr. Rogers i thank the Ranking Member. The committee will now go into a brief recess as we move to a secure location for the classified portion of this briefing. [captioning performed by the national captioning institute, which is responsible for its caption content and accuracy. Visit ncicap. Org] [captions Copyright National cable satellite corp. 2017] cspan, where history unfolds daily. In 1979 cspan was created as a Public Service by americas Cable Television companieses. And its brought to you today by your cable or satellite rovider. Whether youre going to be a dentist or a lawyer or a teacher or an accountant, let your guiding principle be truth and service. Success is not an entitlement. 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The Washington Post reporting several members leaving the house briefing expressed