Transcripts For CSPAN2 Confirmation Hearing For Space Force Chief 20220914

Good morning. The committee today to consider the nomination of the lieutenant general. Thank you for your decades of service and willingness to serve in this a very important position. I would like to welcome your son, john and daughter, sarah and while not present but we acknowledge the parents randy and belinda. I am know they are very proud of your nomination. Recognizing the increasingar importance of the space domainm and growing threats to the critical space assets by china and russia, congress established the space force on the fiscal year 2020 National Defense authorization act. , legislatively transferring ino 2020. First of the space force must develop, train and equip guardians. Space is a remote domain that is contested and have to have thean ability to integrate digital digitalinto their advanced techs to accomplish their mission by a strongan background. The Space Training and Readiness Command i will want to know your views if confirmed how they will train future guardians in the space domain. Second, you will have to foster a Service Culture that can succeed in the dramatically evolving space environment often called news base. We are witnessing an enormous surge with some satellite constellations that a few years ago now are having thousands in low earth orbit all interconnected. Rockets that ones were disposable or reusable. Lowering the course of the launch to a fraction of what it used to be. The space force of today and tomorrow must adapt to this change in piece of innovation and utilize it to protect and defend our assets in space and on the ground. The organization and its guardians need to reflect the changing environment. Third, in response to the adversarial threat in space, congress not only created theth space force as a war fighting entity but it also reorganized the way we acquire Space Systems the way we formulate the policy and fight for the new combatant command. If confirmed youem will leave te space force in its defense enterprise. I want to know what you foresee as ifco she was you expect to fe and how will you will ensure it can respond to them. Most importantly, an integral part of the surface is the culture and mission when the space force was established most guardians unnecessarily transformed the surfaces and have had to adapt to be a new culture. I was pleased to learn in the meeting last week successful recruiting efforts have ends who wouldve had to sue and one third of the space force will never have served in another service. General, im interested in how you intend to create the unique culture with a blend of transfers and new recruits. Thank you for your willingness to serve the nation and i look forward to the testimony. Let me recognize member and a half. I would also like to extend a welcome to the general. I appreciate the time you spend with me giving you an idea but if you have in your mind and also you have your family here today. We appreciate that very much. The National Defense strategy isnt shy about the scope and scale and threat from china and the speed of the advances. There is no better example of that fan space. The United States has gone from the unquestioned leader in spac to one or two peers in a competition. There is a lot of china and russia are doing we can talk about today but even what we can is very concerning. For years weve kept noting everything in the military relies on space. So we have a different environment altogether. Thank you mr. Chairman. Thank you, senator you are recognized for your Opening Statement. If wese could bring the microphone as close as possible. I am honored and deeply humbled by the opportunity to be with your. This morning. Id like to begin by introducing my family. With me today are the most important people in my life first my wife, jennifer. Im proud to announce just yesterday we celebrated our 30th wedding anniversary. Jennifer has been steadfastly by my side for this entire journey through 15 moves nearly 200 overnight alerts, countless late nights and trips away from home and most recently in the years separatedes while i deployed to the middle east. Shes taken on all these challenges with a smile on her face and warmth in her heart but whthe most amazing accomplishme has been raising our two children and the fine young adults that you see here. Our son as a director of the social media content for the Sports Marketing firm and our daughter, sarah recently completed a masters degree in Public Administration with a perfect 4. 0 gpa. R jennifer and i couldnt be more proud. They followed mom and dad all over the country and have been successful at every turn. They meet the challenges head on and show optimism and a contagious weight. My home and family are my a bedrock and art at the center of any career success that ive enjoyed. I go all of that to these three and i will be forever grateful to the love and support theyve shown and sacrifices theyve made. I would also take the opportunity to offer a special thanks to general the families go back and weve benefited greatly from their mentorship and friendship. Concluded 38 years of service to the nation but the last three have been critical to the establishment of thehe space force. A passion, dedication and divisions set on a solid foundation. If i have the good fortune to e confirmed, jennifer and i will work hard to build on their success and continue to push to inew heights. I would also like to express my appreciation to the committee for your support and advocacy for the space force, its guardians and their families. For the last two years ive had ethe privilege of serving with thesend guardians and i can attt they are the finest men and women in america has to offer if confirmed it would be the honor of my life to lead them at the second chief Space Operations for the United States space force. Not quite three years ago congress established the space for us to provide freedom of operation for the United States and, from and to space to conduct operations and to protect the interest of the United States into space. In a few short years since the space force was established the number of satellites on orbit has doubled and the global space economy is approaching half a trillion dollars. Space is truly a critical demand for u. S. Interests so we must be d,ll clear in our understanding that our strategic competitors have invested heavily in Fielding Systems capable of disrupting, degrading and even destroying our Space Capabilities. If confirmed i will work to ensure the space force is ready to protect these vital interests from these threats. Its an honor to be nominated to serve as the next chief of Space Operations. Im excited about the opportunities ahead for the space force and if confirmed i look forward to working with the committee, other members to continue to ensure the space force fulfills its mission as part of americas joint force. I look forward to your questions. Thank you very much, general. Before i begin the questioning, there are a series of standard questions for nominees and you can respond. Havebe you adhered to applicable laws and regulations governing conflicts of interest . Yes. Have you assumed any duties or taken action that would presume the outcome of the confirmation process . No. Exercising that oversight responsibilities makes it important that this committee and subcommittees and other appropriate committees of congress receive testimony, briefings, reports, records and other information on the executive branch are in a timely basis. To do you agree if confirmed to appear and testify before the committee when requested . Yes. Do you agree when asked to aggive your personal views evenf your viewshi differ from the administration . Yes. Do you agree to provide records, documents and communications in a timely manner road when requested by the subcommittees or other appropriateag committees of congress and to consult with the requests regarding the basis for any goodfaith delay or denial providing such records . Yes. Will you ensure that your staff complies with the h deadlines established for the production and reports, records and other information including timely responses to hearing questions forit the record . Foyes. Will you cooperate providing responses to congressional requests . Yes. Will the witnesses be protected . Yes. In my comments i talked about the design the spaces . Force mut lead. The intent in congress is centralized and of the Senate Version of the 2022 National Defense authorization act deemed to be the first divine architect for space for the armed services. I know different in many ways as a designer for the navy. The conference bill required the secretary special operations as a force Design Architect and the august 17 letter sent to the wcommittee by the secretary dos indeed designate the chief as the Design Architect except for all of the other authorities the armed forces and secondary defense that are rather extensive. Do you think that this is a workable designation . And that it follows the intent of congress . Yes sir, i do. Ive had extensive discussions with the secretary and the general the current general of the spatial operations and its my understanding that the exemptions that yousi mentioned really are not about authorities associated with of the force Design Architect in fact the responsibilities the secondary defense gave to general as the chief of Space Operations is sufficient to accomplish the intent of congress and if confirmed to make the space force ase capable as possible. General, if confirmed, your job will be to present training and equip forces to u. S. Space command primarily but also you will have the duty to support others. Is there any distinction between the two were the different commands you will support . No, senator. The responsibility of the chief of Space Operations is to make sure they are ready forces that have the flexibility, agility, training and experience necessary to support all combatant commanders. I would noterc the u. S. Space command has primary responsibilities for that area of responsibility as well as key missions for the joint force and so while over 90 of the space force capabilities are presented to the Space Command if there are critical capabilities, regional capabilities that are also presented to the other to fulfill their missions as well. Thank you. General, the administration has sent a legislative proposal to createyo full and parttime spae force military personnel in lieu of a separate reserve element as other services and this i think originates because the space force is relatively small and the elements would be smaller still. Do you support this proposal . Senator, the most important aspect is that there are critical capabilities and expertise that currently reside in the air force reserves as well as the interNational Guard. The primary responsibility of course is to make sure we have complete access to that experience, the expertise and capabilities so from the readiness perspective i can tell you as the chief of operations currently that is high on my list to make sure that we have unfettered access toes the capabilities. We are also looking at the flexible and innovative ways to make sure that we have viable and flexible career paths for the guardians and its important that we retain the talent for an extended period of time to get the most out of them and having the ability to seamlessly and have a permeable way to move between fulltime and parttime capacityan inside the space fore we think is a tremendous benefit to the guardians and ultimately to the force to maintain that tr readiness, so if confirmed i would certainly welcome the opportunity to continue to work with members of this committee and other stakeholders to make sure we get the right organizational structure to take advantage of these capabilitiese thank you. Again one of the very challenges you have facing you is creating a culture in the space force as a fighting force and one that is highly technical and innovates constantly andon we find it soms cultures are more determinative than a lot of other factors so thats something i think you will be working on and we hope to Work Together with you. Now let me recognize the rankig member senatorrk inhofe. General, let me get the two required questions out of the way. What worries you the most and why do you intend to do about it and secondly what would be the first challenge that you go after . The most immediate threat in mywh opinion is the pace with which the strategic challenges first and foremost the chinese aggressively are pursuing capabilities that can disrupt, degrade and even destroy our satellite capabilities and disrupt overground infrastructure. Theyve watched how we perform the joint force operations and they know how critical the u. S. Spaceha capabilities are to the joint force. They learn from that and recognize its an asymmetric advantage of theirs to go after an hour Space Capabilities and deny them to the joint force and theyve invested heavily and demonstrated capabilities that can deny this, so its one of my earliest priorities to make sure that we are on track to build and a a field effective capabilities and train the guardians to operate in a contested domain so we can counter the activity by the strategic competitors. Thank you. Thank you very much senator. Senator shaheen. Congratulations, senator on yoursa nomination. Now i hope that for your 30th anniversary youre doing something other than bringing your wife to this hearing. [laughter] the pearls are the gift for the 30th anniversary so i hope thats on the list. Youre getting me in trouble i appreciate that. Seriously i appreciate the opportunity to meet with you and especially appreciated the conversation that we had about the risk thats involved with our Space Capabilities and i wonder if you could speak to how to have the is programs with our Small Businesses that are able to assume more ofo that risk and whats your assessment is if the programs are discontinued because we dont get to reauthorize this year the size of the space force and wecriticality of the missions means we have to innovate helping provide a some of those innovative and creative capabilities that we can leverage to build the full spectrum response to what the adversaries are trying to do. So i firmly believe we ought to lower the threshold to make it easier for Small Businesses to offer their capabilities to take into. So i assume you would agree with me that if we do not get the programss reauthorized, that its goingng to be a real loss n terms of the innovation the Small Businesses are providing to the Space Program and also to the military. If confirmed, i am certainly committed to any authorities, responsibilities that help pull the maximum numbers in as possible. Thank you. Can you also talk about the risk issue in terms of the procurement process . I think the general talked about the bureaucratic hurdles that impede the ability to procure the capabilities we need as we are looking at the adversaries in early china. So, what do you see in terms of policy changes that would help us address the procurement issues that we got . We have a very deliberative process to make sure we are using the taxpayer dollars. Did you bring up an excellent point is that the urgency, the sense of urgency that theyve imposed on us require us to move quickly to develop these capabilities. So i am certainly committed to making sure we streamline the processes. Congress has helped with the establishment of the architect in the cso and the chief of Space Operations and i think streamlining the requirements into being clear about what we need innovating to pull in as many ideas as possible to solve the problems will streamline the effortss and deliver operational capabilities faster. The m cultural piece of this sometimes we get focused on the fact that we need to purposely build capabilities to provide Space Capabilities for the nation. In the Space Systems command theyve adopted a mantra about exploiting what we have come a body and what wewe b p can and y building what we must. And i think having that opened the thought process and how best to bring the capabilities to bear will actually streamline the process and make us do a better job. Thank you. I appreciate that. During the meeting, you also talked about, and you did as you did in your Opening Statement the importance of the people and our space force and they will make a difference in our success or failure. One of the things i understand the space force may be rethinking is some of the requirements. Can you speak to what we ought to be thinking about as we are thinking about how to get more of those into service . They were brought in to do these missions for the space force. We also have an advantage by being small that we can sit on a casebycase basis precisely the right people, the right skill sets and diversity of thought in the space force to optimize the capabilities. So, by being able to consider this on a casebycase basis, i think we dont have to put a blankett restrictions on types f people and qualifications that bring the space force, so they have an opportunity because of the numbers that we need to bring in to be more individualistic and if confirmed i would want to expand that and actually broaden us out to as manyal people as possible. I look forward to continuing the discussion. You are well suited for that and having served ive heard it said by some that once any asset goes into space and becomes strategic intelligence and hshould therefore it would seem to conflict with the space for us, so could you explain how it should relate and how that showed a look and function . I learned to fly satellites as a commander, so i speak from a personal basis, and insider if you will that that mission is critical to the United States but there are differences in the requirements and the customers althat they support. Although there are differences the collaboration between the organizations is essentialir for success. Thinking through how do we exploit what we have and by what we can and build only what we must is the mantra to underpin the collaborations. We need to look as we examine where they start to overlap. Topa them not walk all over each other and not be redundant because we cant afford to be so i think through the collaboration right now its solid. I think we just need to keep it up. To ensure the space force can do that . Im not tracking any changes now as i get into the position i will welcome the opportunity to come back and evaluate or make any requests that need to be modified. You said space is they were fighting demanding and i think most people understand the troops on the ground are using our space assets to help fight their domains but you also said space itself could be a war fighting domain. So the timeless principles that stood the test of time from alexander to washington to defoliant and grant are just like the apply and one of those principles is the priority of the offense of can we talk a little bit about what this would lookt . Like . When i think about the space superiority which is the phrase we use to contest the domain too make sure we have access to the capabilities part of that also means we will protect the joint force from the adversaries ability to use space to target them. The best way to achieve this is through deterrence, denying if the capabilities but the best way to detour is to have the resilient capability and often severe defense of capabilities that creates an incredible force where youth get them. Thank you, general. Thank you mr. Chairman. Congratulations and congratulations to your family. The federal government has struggled to recruit a cyber and digital professionals both in thean civilian and military service. The challenge is also seen in other hightech fields to address the challenge ive worked with the senators on proposing the creation of the cyber and Digital Service academy to recruit and train next generations labor professionals given the space forces work should congress consider integrating into the academy and using a potential Digital Service into Space Academy as the Service Academy conditioning force for civilians . Senator, theres no way the space force can be successful without capable professionals. We simply rely too much on the Ground Networks and on the links that connect to the ground. The distribution of the data that is required to meet the goals relies on the highly capable and highly technical cyber professionals. So, in the pursuit of finding elend of training and continuing to provide training for them i would be open to any institutions or capabilities that can add to the portfolio to make sure the cyber operators are trained and continue to be at the leading edge of technology and if confirmed this would be one of my priorities. What do you think some of the challenges will be for space force and have you been able to recruit and maintain the workforce that you need and where are some of your current shortfalls . We are currently in not seeing the recruiting shortfalls that some of the other services are facing. Primarily, that is because we do not require as many in the space force. We have that good fortune of being smaller so the recruiting numbers are lower. But that is highly skilled and highly technical so we have to reach out and find just the right people, train them to do with the specifics and sometimes military unique missions inside inspite of the domain which then means its important to retain them over the course of the career to continue to benefit on their gathered experience. Thats going to be i think more difficult than theth opportunits in the private sector to use the skills that we provide them. sin my mind this is about culte and about giving them challenging work and respecting their inputs and making it a place they want to show up every day to protect the nation. Thats what im committed to if confirmed is getting that culture right. How will you ensure the Air National Guard units are able to fully execute these missions . As i mentioned that capabilities are critical. We organize and stumble. Each of these are slightly different its important to evaluate all the second and third order effects. The retaining come of the recruiting, the retention oflo that expertise. And if confirmed the chief of Space Operations i would like to work with the committee, work with the other stakeholders to really evaluate all those nuances to make sure we optimize the organizational structure. Basically you would choose a space units that are part of the Air National Guard is your feeder . I think those capabilities are important to the success of the space force. Understood. Also all the space to force direct commissioning begin this spring with the cyber Constructive Service board in order to acquire cyber professionals. Can you speak to what specific are needed this initiative to Commission Cyber professionals can help fill . And how is the process gone so far . We are recognizing to get the midgrade officers the 15 year technicians takes to grow if we start from scratch. We are able to take advantage of the expertise they gain in the private sector and pulled them overow when to give them credito they can lead our organizations and not started the bottom of the organization. We are seeing a lot of positive interest in that. The Pilot Program is going successful sowe far. I give your testimony thank you for your service. Ve i do hope you to meet the former heads of space force including steve carell. [laughter] thank you very much. Senator tuberville please. Thank you general, you and your family. Just a couple of questions here. Do you believe the National Security launches should remain on u. S. Soil . Quick sir, assured access is a national imperative. Making sure and put any kind of payload, any type of payload into any of the orbits that are required. This will take establishing a number ofwe launch providers. Th a number of launch locations to maintain the kind of agility and flexibility we need to ensure that missions continues. I am open to exploring all options to make up the most flexible capability possible. If confirmed, what would you do to protect the dod and u. S. Contractors from intellectual property theft . Which is a huge problem as we know. Yes senator. If confirmed, again i think about this in terms of Cyber Defense. A lot of times that is how they are gaining access to our capabilities but as we mention we cannot do anything with other Cyber Networks or cyber professionals defending those networks. What i would commit to is looking at the tools they need, the training they need, the experience they need to make sure they are the most capable force in defending our intellectual property and our networks from actions of her adversaries. What would you say our percentage of cybersecurity is in the spacer force . The percentage of your people . How much would that be ten, 15, 20 . Editor i dont think i have a specific number. We only have five officer categories equal number of unlisted categories. So all of our personnel are really focused on operations. One of those subsets is cyber. Im happy to take that for the record and get back on the specific number per. Thank you. Previously been told space force is not looking any new launch requirements for phase three the space launchch program. Given chinese developments, just this last week dola you believee should explore establishing new requirements . What clear still developing phase three. Refill trying to bend the requirements also find room smaller launch Service Providers its of kind of flexibility we need prayers about getting the requirements that just right. If confirmed to be committed with looking at stakeholders to get that balance just right big. You know our supply chains remains a challenge. Especially for National Security space ecosystem. How will the space force address these new requirements for Future Systems question what can you thoughts onn that . Senator what we are learning we have to supply chains the veracity of the supply chains is with her acquisition process. I think our Space Systems command the other providers in the acquisition system of done a great job of characterizing that part went to characterize it effectively you can make sure your defending it. Making up as robust as possible the other areas to go. If confirmed i will continue to promote that. s thank you general. Good luck. Going to be aai tough job but thanks for being here today. You and your family this is quite anue honor. Second head coach basically of space force. Thank you very much. As National Peanut its opera the in front of everybody from alabama. So thank you sir. Thank you center tub are real you for the peanuts. Thank you, mr. Chairman and thank you for the peanuts. A general welcome to you and your family. To ensure the fitness of a nominee for appointment of senior positions within any of the departments. I asked the following two questions all nominees in any of the nominees of the eye sit on. Oscar these initial questions but since you became a legal adult have you madeti unwanted request for sexual favors or s committed any verbal or physical harassment or assault of a sexual nature . No per cooks of your face disciplinary to settlement related to this kind of conduct . No. In general, over the past several years the regional has experienced a significant amount of mood growth is the armed forces have become more reliant on Satellite Communications. Unfortunately regional com sent support certificate has not seen corresponding manpower increases to handle this additional work. With our meat satellite set to be consolidated under space force in the near future, when you consider increases to the space force at manpower levels to ensure every unit is able to keep pace with its visions requirements . Senator, when the most important things the space force has done since its inception is consolidating military set column, Satellite Communications under a single service. It gives us a lot of authorities, responsibilities and opportunities to do just what youre saying. Increase the readiness of those units. So they can provide critical capabilities. We are redesigning currently how we reassess and force the president readiness all of our arguments first and foremost our new units going from across services. The short answer is if confirmed as i would take the readiness of these units very seriously. The manpower element of readiness is a key concern. It sounds like a yes. Youve been asked a number of questions about the chairman and senator gillibrand with the role of National Guard and space bar spray recently met with members of the interNational Guard discuss their concerns about the potential transition of Space Missions away from the interNational Guards to the space force for these menrd and women have committed and dedicated their time and training to building their expertise in electronic warfarel remaining assigned to the airport were carrying out space for submissions has resulted in budget gaps in training delays. They are evaluating three potential actions to resolve this issue including the establishment of estate space National Guard. Was expecting a report on how it space force was going to be constituted in march and we do not have that report yet. So until the decision is made as to how the space force is going to be constituted, how will we assure such National Guard units, which by the way exist ii a number of states that would be california, colorado, florida, hawaii, ohio, guam and alaska. How do ensure ensure such National Guard units are adequately resourced and have access to the training requiredd to carry out the Space Mission . Thats concern for your Space Command we are involved in those discussions for the air force and the air guard provide this capabilities. Readiness again ise my primaryre concern from having access the Expertise Department of the air force if concerned as cso ibmy n thosee deliberations to make sue those forces are as ready as possible to meet those requirements per. If confirmed would you agree the National Guard should be consulted on any decision or cost estimate related to creation of a space National Guard . Some of the concern is creating is too expensive in creating an entire other to constitute the space force a number of states i mentioned. I would like your commitment you will be consulting with the National Guard going forward. Senator i commit to climate with the National Guard and the host of issues, this being one. Thank you, mr. Chairman. Thank you, senator per. Thank you, mr. Chairman. The morning general thank you to you and your family for your years of service. I pressured the comments. Recognizing we are in an unclassified environment. Russian Space Capabilities where the space nation the space for skipping those we can provide to the joint force are extremely capable. I still put us at the head of the table. Unfortunately our adversaries are investing heavily to close that gap and supersede us. Im worried at the pace which theyre making those changes. China first among them but russia also committed to investing heavily in the capabilities are going to disrupt the grade and destroyer on orbit capabilities. It is a pace of change and commitment to disabling it thats most concerning to me, senator. Ask if you look at the existing capabilities we have all seen whats happening in ukraine. And yet if russia capabilities in space that are good perhaps advancing, how do we account for the repeated failures for relative and timely information to strike Ukrainian Forces on the ground . Them not to comment on operational failures. They may be a little early tot say complete Lessons Learned were important. For example the use of commercial Space Capabilities to augment National Capabilities of been effective. The consolationsti theyre using and shown a resilience the degradation attempts that are noteworthy. Finally i think im portas to defend her Cyber Networks. The Cyber Networks create vulnerabilities is an attack to space capability. I see important lessons we should take to heart in terms of building our space force design. Journal the new advance in battle a bms will be a critical piece of our commandandcontrol the battlefield. I understand moving away from jays stars. Detert survivability issues in a contested environment. An alternative might not provide the same level situational or in targeting capabilities to our troops onte the ground the radar is able to provide. Part of what we look at what we talked about the a bms is a broad picture. Also specifically the need for Commanding Officer on the ground to rely on good, specific and very timely data and Close Quarter Battle situation. Do i have your commitment that if confirmed joint requirements valid requirements forar this system the capabilities they need on to win on the battlefield. Quick senator, william important responsibilities given the chief of Space Operations through dod integrator for joint space requirements. It is just that kind of concern which i think we take seriously by establishing that critical position. And soit as we evaluate the eracquirements we have taken all the perspectives into account for that ground commander has to make the final decision is one of those key inputs. Give my commitment our car probably committed i stakeholdes we make whether michigans mission should be migrated into space or other platforms and domains. In ukraine, russia clearly has good Space Capabilities and yet they are not able to implement them and to use them effectively. There is not the line of command down to the local commander. The last thing we want to see when we moved into a bms system is one which gives a broad informational situationalt awareness. Not capable per brought providing what we do today to that commander on the ground. We do agree with that . D i agree closing that last tactical mile to make for the right Decision Maker is the right information at the time appointed operationally relevant is important. Thank you, thank you, mr. Chairman. Thank you. Think it was her chair general congratulations on your nomination. I want to ask you some questions about leveraging commercial Space Technology to ensure usbased dominance. In the runup to the russian invasion of ukraine ric doubled its procurement of satellite imagery to help prepare and provide intel to our ukrainian allies for the i see was also able to leverage satellites operated by Virginia Company hawkeye 360 to detect jamming efforts that were being undertaken by the russiante military. This is not the first time at work commercial technologies have been leveraged and effective ways. I think it is really hitting a warp speed. In your view how important is leveraging innovative commercial technologies to preserve usbased dominance . Is critically important senator. The idea, the mantra we are using to exploit what we have to get the most of the systems we have already paid for. But then also to consider how commercial capabilities a Broad Spectrum of commercial capabilities can contribute directly to our mission set and perhaps do it more cheaply than us building our own systems is essential. Now final element would be when there are still gaps as we look at our mission set up or if there are still gaps we might need to consider specificsp military solution, military unique solution. But the commercial Services Commercial capabilities are profoundly growing part we take advantage of her quickly ask about what example of this. Lester the space force approved experimentation and prototyping for a new tactical space layer that would leverage commercial satellite imagery to provide battle space awareness and bolster targeting capacity. What is the timeline for the development of this capacity so thate our fighters might be able to use satellitebased information in realtime to make battlefield decisions . Ask senator i do not have a specific time im part of take that for the record to get a iospecific time im back to but its important capability we consider very seriously per. Excellent, i will ask that for the record. Over too another topic, the increase in the number of commercial space launch providers, together with a substantial reduction in the cost of access to space and the proliferation of commercial constellations, could create a traffic jam in the demand for launch services. I imagine that could place specific challenges on launch ranges like vandenberg and state canaveral. The mid atlantics virginia that are being used significantly not over by private sector space operators, but by nasa and others. What could the potential relationship be between space of force in space launch facilities in the future . Senator assured access to space is in national imperative. As simple as that. I believe having agility, having flexible in the type of capabilities that provide payloads to orbit to all of the orbits is essential. That means of maximizing the number of launch providers as mailed launch locations that are available to the nation. Currently our capacity on our ranges meets the governmental needs. But with the proliferation of smallab satellites, that is goig to change rapidly. I think the number of launches is going to go up dramatically were going to need to look at other opportunities we were currently engaged interagency approcess look at a national str sports strategy. Capabilitieses will naturally be part of that discussion request should you be confirmed and im confident you will be, i would love to carry that discussion further. Let me ask about one other topic for this is when im a nerd about my favorite government publication is orbital quarterly news od queue and published by nasa is getting more and more important is currently 4500 active satellites in orbit. Spacex has deployed more than 1700 sterling broadband satellites into low earth orbit. And then at last of the scc received from Companies Like amazon, astra and boeing petitions to put as many as 38000 more broadband satellites in the lower earth orbit. Are you concerned about how the proliferation of commercial investments could interfere or complicate National Space needs . And do we need to look at International Rules of the road both about commercial use of space but also about the handling of debris small amount of orbital debris can wreake havoc on the superexpensive satellite platform. I am not concerned at this point about the traffic as you mention it. Im always concerned about debris. We are committed to making sure we lead and model responsible behaviors in space. Think that willi help reduce te amount of debris associate with launch and other kinds of operations per. Thank you very much. Thanks mr. Chair per. Thank you set her cane. Senator cramer please. Thank you, mr. Chairman. Thank you general, that if are good to see your and your family here its a really great day. Congratulations. Senator cain brought up the issue of commercial companies. I would to emphasize small commercial. You are in the innovation business if anyone is in innovation business. Somebody asked maybe three questions and one. So piggyback again on senator kaines point, could you elaborate a little bit on small commercial space seems to be going great guns, thank goodness and having access. Were coming up on october 1 which is at matter of legislative policy Space Development agency Space Development agency is their autonomy, their, independence. That has allowed that innovation to grow. At the same time they and space force in all of us will benefit from the discipline, the oversight and the collective if you will of the space force. The collective opportunities the strategies if you will as part of the reason we stood up space for sprint at the same time was already been talk ofrt cyber. Once again the coming together of commercial and government becomes all the more critical. Could you elaborate on those specific things small sta and its autonomy under your jurisdiction and all of that. You hit on the key principle thats innovations going be critical to the success of space force. I will start the Small Businesses. One thing i can say for certain is that with regard to ideas, the more the better. You can look across the broad space ecosystem and pull in as many ideas as possible regardless of the size the vendor promoting that idea, you are going to be more successful at putting solid innovative ideas on the plate. With regard to space develop meant agency i could not agree more for their innovative Business Model if you will, has been very successful in the early efforts associate Missile Warning, space data transport layer et cetera. When they come over to the space force, one october weve already been working with them. Weve been planning for months to make that transition seamless, to make it smooth. We went to make sure we do not violate that secret sauce which is the innovation while of Space Development agency. So confirmed i will be confird make sure im committed we do not lose the goodness may bring them over pivoting to integrate them make sure theyre partt of the force design thats going to make an effective force when its finally fielded. But i do not want to lose that innovation while. Nothing requires staying at the technical forefront than cyber. It is such a fastpaced changing environment that innovation, our ability to stay engaged with the leading edge of technology is going to be essential. One of the innovative ideas of all super coders. The idea we take our guardians especially the ones who do coding as hobbies quite frankly and pulled them in. Give them advanced training and put them back into the units so our operational units have direct connection to people who can code and develop applications that support the mission. It is already payingg off. We are seeing some new tools being developed how to monitor our systems and how to do crew logging activities for example. Those are the innovative ideas ascend the forefront of cyber. In the last minute lets talk about my favorite space topic. He space force station has a beautiful old gigantic piece of concrete. I watch as space and Missile Warning and of course for several decades. Modernization isce important. Some has taken place already and we appreciate that. Where else but 5 million the fiscal year 20 through and hopefully that survives. Maybe we can share a little bit in the closing seconds your vision for that . What do you know for us and missile tracking going to be just as important with hypersonic for what theil writes provide is not just Missile Warning that the space domain awareness. Five no idea going on in space. The more data we can collect the more well have her space awareness the better ones build our mission for. Thank you general good luck look forward to supportingn you. Senator king please. Thank you mr. Chairman are we on . Federal, i have to toe the outset ive early been as impressed with witness preparation grasp of the issues as you have demonstrated here this morning. You have really thought deeply about a lot of these issues. Want to start with the more conceptual question. The conventional political position the 80s and 90s do not want to militarize space. This Administration May still be holding onto that concept to some extent. That train has left the station has it not . Space its already taken place by our potential adversaries. Senator what a primary objective is to make sure a war does not extend into space for that is not a good day for the United States. I believe the best way to create a deterrent capability for diete benefits of this action and impose costs where necessary. That creates doubt in our adversary mind that its a good idea to start attacking capabilities for. Implication of what you just said is yet to have both offense and defense of capabilities in space in order to have au defective deterrent is that correct question it because we need to defend what we have. Before going to protected joint for some of the adversaries of already put into space, there space enabled targeting going to have them counter capabilities for. I appreciate that. And hope youll argue that effectively within the administration. This training has actually pretty well left the station. One to follow up on a question center cotton asked and tied up in a bow. General raymond said the joint effort unity of effort between the space force and nro has worked well. The two entities should remain separate. Is that your position . I think because there are two organization that allows them to focus on different requirements and different customer bases. The key will be how they collaborate how their missions get close. It is in that collaboration we make sure the right lane is in the road the right authorities, the right funding so we are not overly redundant, thats what happened in detail collaboration. Orcs during formal process which that collaboration is insured . Are there monthly uncharted monthly meetings or communication back and forth . You can say collaboration but if youre not talking eight going to happen. Yes, sir this is an executive committee that meets routinely. Parties and members of the spact Acquisition Council but theyre calling the Program Integration council which is a lower level immediately gets together to talk about requirements, acquisition strategies. To make sure we are meeting the Mission Requirements on both without being overly redundant. Thank you. If at a lot of discussion this morning about innovation. Thats actually critical to the mission of your agency. Perhaps more so than any agencye and our government. We have also talked about smaller businesses. We have had testimony before this committee and innovative Smaller Companies jake lee Silicon Valley who says given up responding to the pentagon rfps it is too burdensome. The process is too lengthy, too expensive. We are losing those suppliers. Take your 20s Smallest Companies you are working with. Pull them together and have a discussion about how they feel about the process. Are there ways that can be improved . The process may itself be an impediment to Smaller Companies even getting into the game. Cited it we afford to lose his contributions. If confirmed i would explore opportunities to get their feedback to make this a better process. Final question youve talked about culture and recruitment. You indicated you wont have any problem with t recruitment. One measure of how you are doing is how many air enforcement graduates when they leave want to join space force . The terms ofhe their view of the future in this area. I said that was the final question. I thought of another one. A lot of your space and capability from the military is based in many gps being the best example. Do you not believe however we need to be sure that our military has the capability to effectively deploy and act without gps . Ly that may be the first thing to go in a conflict. And heard the teaching what to make sure thats the case but we could be blinded in the first day of a conflict and we need to have backup. Military planner at heart. Our job is to prepare for the worst case scenario. So i agreed that we always seem to plan for contingencies when things go wrong or things are not available to us. Thank you, thank you, mr. Chairman for. Thank you, senator king, senator ernst please. Thank you generator and to your family as well for joining you here today. Congratulations on your nomination and your service. I would like to go back to the deterrence discussion. The bedrock of bidensck administration their strategy is socalled integration deterrence. How does this concept account for cross domain . Holding terrestrial targets accountable and at risk to deter attack on u. S. Space assets. The idea integrated deterrence as a whole of government approach to imposing costs and denying benefits of an adversary or to think about taking act actions detrimental to interest. The whole of government approach of the military side of things you look at all of the domains. There is a threat against a particular domain a particular target set we could take asymmetric action to impose costs or deny benefits for its collaboration joint force that brings power to the full set of capabilities for. Very good. Demonstrating to our adversaries that we can respond effectively to their attacks . You bring up an important point about deterrence. If you do not know the capabilities are there its hard to deter specifically address or if they do not know the capabilities. We think too much about revealing capabilities that are vulnerable we might be jeopardizing his capabilities. If confirmed as a cso i would welcome and a classified environment to talk about some of those tradeoffs. I would appreciate that. Going along that the Biden Administration recently announced unilateral moratorium on certain anti satellite test. Do you believe the selfimposed restriction will inhibit or stop china and russia than from conducting antisatellite tests . I think it is a commitment to not conduct test which is currently the most dangerous thing to u. S. Space capabilities. In the form of what the chinese and russians are doing. Cu i dont know if its going to dictate they wont do it. Im not hopeful about her i do think it shows a commitment toi their better ways to test. There are more responsible ways. By demonstrating a modeling thar behaviorally do not give it much because because of otherwise adjuster capabilities. We can lead but they were not going to intentionally create e debris in space. I can appreciate that. Yhowever i did not want to continue to set the United States up by operating from a doctrine of appeasement. I do think it is important because the signal to adversaries we have the capabilities of destroying satellites. Maybe we do not conduct those but maybe in aan classified setting we can talk more about that. Not to urge the country is convinced they can jump on this verse states that it violated . What it means to be responsible for professionals cap next, planet not responsible. Which likeminded nations fromy established behaviors that can createof pressure and below for the International Teamster forward to supporting action. The most important question, raymond had a daughter and take adverts today. Did any of . Their proud graduate of the university of missouri. [laughter] thank you very much there. Thank you ernst. Senator kelly please. Thank you, mr. Chairman. General, welcome. Very nice to meet you and your family. The Administration Fiscal year 23 budget request, requested a growth in space force strength from 8400 8600 guardians. This committees version of the nda supports that request. Military emphasis and reliance on global Space Operations will demand a robust force moving forward. But there are concerns budget for the spaceports are expected to flatline in fiscall year 27. So what type of growth do you foresee in the space force over the next five ten years . Center i would not want to comment on a particular numbers but have not afo chance to dig n and see what appropriate levels would be. However i can tell you in my estimation look at the readiness of the force, there isou substantial capabilities and Test Infrastructure we need to invest in. We have exquisite weapon systems to provide joint capabilities our guardians and operators do not have the skills, the training, the experience they need to make the most of the systems, and if you like we are not really fully combat ready. Ak fully ready just Critical Mission tasks. Person capabilities . We do not have simulators that allow our operators to practice their tactics tickets at the king adversary. Even if the simulated adversary do not good simulators. We do not have ranges where they can routinely practice or tradecraft. We cannot have the ability to link multiple units together as they can practice the coordination that is necessary to do a large force employments if younk will. We have just been operating in a benign environment for so long we did not mean to do so i have those capabilities. And so i think over the next three years were going to have to look at that be as specific as we can. But provide that kind of training and experience to our operators. Having the equipment and the capabilities one thing. Being able to use it is entirely another. Being able to stimulate operations on a range that operate jointly as well but i imagine that something on the agenda. Simulator range that is infrastructure. Is there any other infrastructure capacity you feel you need . We are continuing to build design a more resilient architecture. We have operated for years at a benign domain. Her focus more on the capabilities of the payloads and how long they would less on orbitur. Tried to get the most at the expense of a launch that put them into orbit. Lodge prices are comingti down. Where good distributed architecture because they are morein resilient per try to thik about ways to disaggregate our payload they are not as easy target. All that is new investment and new force design. Its going to come with a transition from her legacy capabilities to these new architectures. That will be work were going to do it a requirements and pays phase look forward to working with that committee as we transition from legacy. Senator king asked about recruiting. You mention from the air force academy you have more volunteers to go into the space force then you have spots. In the enlisted ranks, how is recruiting there . It is very good. Again, despite the facts were looking for highly capable, highly Technical Skills we have more volunteers than we have spots to fill. Fo just again we are lucky. We are a small force at this point doing a very specific mission set. We can hand pick up or getting solid volunteers. It is one thing getting people its another thing get the right people. You felt the need to do any marketing of the space force at this point . Quick slots building marketing for us. It is working out to our advantage but we also very active and going to by their underrepresented populations. To make sure or looking across the board to bring the right people and for the right kind of diversity. The right kind of diversity of thought sprayed the right backgrounds andac skills. So far weve been very successful in doing that. Okay thank you general and i yield back. Thank you, senator kelly. Senator fischer please. Think it mr. Chairman. In thank you general for your willingness to step forward onca again to serve this country. My thanks to your family for their sacrifices and service as well. General, as you know the nexgen op ir Satellite Program is one of the key components of our future Missile Warning architecture. Along with the proliferated constellations. The smaller satellites operating in lower orbits. Pr your predecessor, general raymond testified in support of this approach before this committee in may. Discussion of alternative proposals that have not been developed with input from the combat command and will ultimately greater risk in that mission for departments it self describes as no fail. I hope this is something you will take a look at and continue to proceeding under verse architecture of complementary constellations that meets the war fighter needs for capacity and schedule do i have your commitment on that . Yes, maam. Missile warning is no mission bridging that transition for new capabilities to have no gaps in coverage is highpriority for maybury. Thank you. I know these space forces in the process of designing the requirements for phase three of the National Security space launch program. Do you see phase three as being more of an evolution of phase two . Or a a revolution in terms of structuring capabilities . Ill be honest maam i have not dug into the details what that strategy proposes purdue have briefings in preparation for this. There is a great deal of effort going across all the stakeholders getting as many inputs asie possible. I would at least learn the lessons of the previous phases, not ignore those lessons bring those forward into phase three. I think keeping a fair, open competition to make sure providers establish lots providers as well as emergent launch providers was a key element of the strategy being devised. I think there on the right path. If confirmed i look forward to getting input from all the Community Members as well as the other stakeholders is Critical Mission set. Has been criticism of the programming block by its own certified providers. I want you to t know, this committee understands the importance of maintaining assured access to space. Especially for the most challenging orbit. Weg went to take advantage of te private sector innovation. Check that earlier. Or talk about unique and very expensive payloads. If they are not delivered a perfectly, it will result inex capability gaps for our war fightersif. So we understand there has to be a balanced approach to that risk. When you say you want to inclue all stakeholders, give me examples. All the launch Service Providers. Certainly the peoples whose payloads we are putting onto orbit. Certainly the acquisition to belts contracting requirements, cost profiling, all of the key considerations when you put an acquisition strategy, procurement strategy together for it sure all those variables are accounted for so we can thread the deals with the balance you just mentioned righs there is risk commissioners also cost overruns we want to avoid. O spending too much was required mission sets is something that is on my mind. We need to pull as many of those key opinions in the stakeholders together to make the wise decision for the strategy going forward. And how do you balance the risk . It is a challenge but has to be an open competition. We have to build up the payloads we need into that require. The cross that. It is a balance between efficient insurance stability which is always a conundrum for military planners been the best way to do it is to have openwa deliberate debate about what parents are about to make sure you get close to perfect as you can. Last question. Can you talk about how the space the forest is its first about technological changes. With the help of congress to reestablish the force Design Architect the chief of Space Operation joint requirement Oversight Committee gave us response about the deity integrator. This is to streamline the requirements development. Because the requirements just write it to something right path for the major acquisition program. Were also considering exploring what we have in the commercial capability that we can buy as a complement to those major acquisition programs that we have to build from scratch. Through this process as i think we have streamlined at least the early phases of that larger complicated acquisition process. Correct what benchmarks do you look at in order to determine success or measure success . Rm the classic acquisitions are cost schedule and performance. But for me about living a fullss that that gives us both the admission of agility to do thenc job, sustainability over time. Just because it works it in a dynamic environment of the dynamic threat may not work in tithe future. I am looking for always being able to provide capability to the president , to the combat commanders to give them flexibility as the execution of the writing of the person he thought Broad Spectrum of anticipated threat that i am looking for as a measure of effectiveness. Thank you sir. Thank you, mr. Chairman. Senator rosen please provide thank yous chairman read promoting his hearing. Jennifer testifying today, for your service to your vast knowledge of this area. Went to talk a little bit of our tech and cyber judges in space. We know fixing increasingly Cyber Security threats and space from Disruptive Technologies including, the threat of stealig data, jamming daily segments, hijacking satellites and disrupting internet services. Iin have a. So if confirmed, how are you going to work to keep our assets like satellites say from cyber checks . What otherer agencies in departmental or otherwise you need to coordinate to protect that all of government approach cyber we have been trying to work on. Then how are youna using emergig Balance Sheets and all of this . Think a senator print that is an important topic. Watching what happened in ukraine that had Cyber Attacks was states that fedex dismantled to some degree showed there is a large concern for just what youre pointing out. Fireworks Cyber Networks are an avenue to discredit the critical issue for me as well. T we have organized one of our units, consult the sticks is actually dedicated to cyber operations. An specifically Cyber Defense of space and forced systems. We also leverage the authorities to Cyber Command has two monitor and if necessary to defend defend protection of his capabilities. Those mentioned which of the stakeholders . Horribly collaborating with u. S. Is thaton the top of that list certainly. Retraining are cyber operators on our mission unique training they are living daytoday inside our Weapons Networks that feed them and make them work in our monitoring for malicious behavior. Additionally it did in the defenses to make sure they are secure ass possible. I am comfortable theyre actively doing it. Now what i want to give them are some of the tools do the job better. Some the training and education they need is a very dynamic field moves down the road. To keep them at the forefront of that technology to keep the tools, the Monitoring System and our ability to defend our Cyber Networks for. You mustve read my mind for that is my next question. The former Computer Programming very excited to hear talk about super coders. That is very exciting to me. And space force provides an opportunity to make sure our guardians including the space of force unit stationed in my space are fully fully equipped to address evolving threats inn space. I really hope this new branch of the military can also play a role in promoting what i think are exciting stem career fields. And help bridge the technological gaps facing pmilitary industry. It is a collaboration for its why am glad Bipartisan Legislation for to introduce an authors deity to Stem Education and training to junior rotc students. It was signed into law as part. We hope that gives a good price line. Considering how important it is how a going to do things like this stem to Space Initiative . Outer Stem Outreach Program to try to be sure you are really reaching out there and letting young folks, or anyone know an exciting career field this is. Thank you for the support. We agree attracting the right kind of professionals with the right kind of acumen on this stem field of play if you will is critical to our success. Certainly we do outreach. We start in grade schools resen, people out and grade schools and high schools to talk about the importance of space. Is famous for dragging our astronauts who are Space Force Guardians along with them to talk about citing the space domain is. Theres a lot of excitement a lot of buzz that creates. A u. S. Partner program it is expanding. The diverse the highly technical skill set people are seeking in those universes and try to attract them into the force. We are establishing partnerships for Research Since the leading edge of cyber at that Partnership Program with universities. The greasing benefits on the daily basis. If confirmed i will continue to support that. Thank you yelled back. Thank you, senator rosen. Senator scott if you are ready you are next in order. Thank you. First, thanks for being here. And congratulations on your nomination for thanks for your service. And thanks for everybody who works with you. Since the space force is relatively new at the department is still working on its operations, can you describe the roi been nominated for in terms of howti the space force enhancs u. S. Ability to deter it if necessary defeat your enemies, especially communist china, russia but in the that seeks to space force against us or to space against us for. Yes, sir, thank you for that question. Its an important foundational piece the reason there is a space for semi take that very seriously. Every American Benefits from the capabilities that are inherent in space. Whether it is the navigation apps on our phones, Satellite Communications, weather reports, Digital Banking access, all of these are critical things you may not see in a daily basis you do not see the salads but those space effects are critical to every american. I think it drives the economy, spurs Technological Advancement certainly underpins military capabilities. We just could not live with outer Space Capabilities for the american way of life is a is linked to Space Capabilities are space force that has to address the emerging threats. China is that pacing challenge. Russia certainly is a challenge. They have invested heavily in the ability to destroy, not just disrupt or disc grade but to destroy or Space Capabilities. Space force wakes up every single day dedicated to protecting our vital interest in space. But also the joint force in the adversary designs capabilities. We are communicated the on orbit assets, the tactics proximate to ask a question. What you said is what i believe also probably communist china and russia are out to defeat us. Their governments, people their governments do not like our way of life. I dozen the know that . What can you what can you do to get people to understand that they actually youre trying to prevent bad acts. Thatswh what you do for a livi. Corrected certainly a matter of scale. Why talk to friends and family back home i think there is a a recognition the world is notsc safe. There is recognition our country salvage on the same ideas we do. They are working actively to try to denies those injured spray from the space perspective its a little harder to give support that something you dont have a daily basis. Satellites elope out of you they dont always make the connection it is the satellite they are trying to attack and that prevents us from doing x, y, ann z. s education process getting output is connected with thee public, its connecting to speeches in academic. To make sure those connections are clear. You think thats part of your role . I do. Can ask another question . I assume youre going to play an active role in budgeting. Can you talk about how the departments going to use the most of any readily available commercial technology or product so you can be more with the money we allocate to you, youre going to be more efficient and get more things accomplished . Yes or with the help of congress, the chief of Space Operation designate the force of Design Architect and for the responsibility of the joint requirement process to be the dod integrator. This gives us an importantnt leadership role in setting the requirements and work with the Acquisition Community to make sure we meet those requirements based on all the capabilities that are available to us. Space Systems Command is convinced we have the ability to exploit existing capabilities. That would be great. Also have to buy commercial capabilities but it might be cheaper to procure whats already available to the commercial sector and only build what we must appear. You feel comfortable youre doing that . I do. If you find problems, think everyone on this committee would like to make sure we are not putting roadblocks in your ability to use readily Available Technology to make sure our tax dollars go further so you can do more. If you would let me know and let this committee know whether we are creating any bottlenecks in what we could do to make it easier for you to use commercially readily available, will you commit to do without question a. Is a top party make sure get the of the commercial private sector. Im sure centers from colorado and alabama think theyre thein best state for spe force. Do you really believe youre doing enough in florida . If you could wave a magic wand you do almost everything in florida . [laughter] center there is no question florida is important and has a rich history of space support. The space coast is vital to our success as a service, now in the guard capability have vital. Florida remains an important aspect. Real quick, how is the space force worker and not just with florida with our National Guad has an interest in the space force were doing a lot of stuff. Is that working . Are you picking National Guard around the country estimate i like everything you do in florida but thats not a so that realistic. Are you doing that now . Awoke the guard very closely which missionon sets need. If confirmed my responsibility would be to define this operation requirements might work very with the interNational Guard to see if theres capabilities that make sense to go to the guard. Search v capabilities are something we dont need on a daily basis. Work very close in collaboration to get that right. Thanks. Senator hawley please . N there we go for it thank you, mr. Chairman general for be there. Lets talk about florida lets talk about missouri. Did i hear you say in answer to ago your children are graduates of the university of missouri . Are awesome there we go up and feeling lot better now mr. Chairman. Let med ask you about the pacig threats pretty mention a second ago the pacing threat the pacing scenario. The secretary of defense is designated china as a department pacing threat pay, is a pacing theater in taiwan contingency is that pacing contingency but let me ask first off do you agree with those designations . I do not see anyone more dangerous more committed to attacking u. S. Interest in thos areas. And very good do you agree the threat of potential chinese invasion of taiwan is something we need to be concerned about this decade in the 2020s . Not just 2030 and beyond . And think the observable shows is a clear indication they are movingt in that direction very rapidly. Let me ask you this than what you commit to making your top party to ensure the space force is ready to help deter china from aggression and pay come generally and specifically with regard to the center it with taiwan would space and forcibly ready would you help them be ready to make sure we are able to deter an invasion of taiwan . If confirmed to be no higher part of the maintain the readiness of our force to meet all of those contingencies the chinese threat first among center. Very good thank you for and in particular to absorb losses from china or russia. I do not believe we designed the systems to operate a distributed architecture t determines fail. I think the best way to answer that is for the Current Conditions i think we have a suitable capability. But i think the security tsituation is changing dynamically and i appreciate the opportunity to talk and classified details. If confirmed what steps would you take to ensure we are doing everything weve got to do to improve our counterSpace Capabilities . If confirmed, i will lean on n the Architectural Congress has given to the chief of Space Operations. We are doing forced design and analysis. This is Data Analytics that show what one constellation against a modeled threat what to do. We won thousands of permutations to see the optimal. To the systems we need and not be overly redundant. Thanks for being here. Thank you mr. Chairman. Thank you, senator holly. Ii want to thank you for your testimony. Senators sullivan ive been told is trying to get here, but that will give me the opportunity to ask another question and if he is not here by the end of my question, then i will call the hearing to a close, but this question has been eluded to and in some cases directly posed to you throughout the hearing. What are the gaps you see on the ground to effectively, or in the air, to effectively inhibit your mission . Yes sir. That analysis is ongoing, but theres some initial thoughts in termss of how do we build in architecture on the ground thats resilient to attacks from russia and china and other actors. We havent had the need to build quite at the level of resiliency or redundancy on the ground in the past as weve seen necessary today. So when i look at the software, the monitoring of the networks, i think there are still some togaps we need to fill. When i think about space domain awareness and the number of sensors worldwide that we are going to need to effectively evaluate and determine what is on orbit and where it is and what its doing and then the tools, the Software Tools on the ground to take the data in and turn it into information and decision quality information, those are nearterm issues i think we have to address from a software and hardware instandpoint. Thank you so much, general, thank you so much for your service and a very compelling testimony today. We look forward to your confirmation as soon as possible. Thank your family again for the support theyve given at the surface theyve also given. With that and indication the senator will not be joining us, i will adjourn the hearing. Thank you, sir. [inaudible conversations] [inaudible conversations] [inaudible conversations] predatory banking practices including Student Loan Services among the topics were buy now pay later and the perceived benefits of earned wage access. [inaudible conversations] the Senate Committee on banking, housing and anothers will come to order. We apologize for the delay this morning. We dont like to start the hearing blade but sometimes we have to