Transcripts For CSPAN3 Air Force General Paul Selva Testifies At Reappointment Hearing 20170719

Filled in. Sen. Inhofe this meeting will come to order. First of all we all have on our minds and in our prayers senator mccain. He is going through some recovery right now and will be back this week. That will change the way we are doing business in a little bit, but nonetheless we hope he is back very soon. And our Committee Meets this morning to consider the nomination, the renomination of to bel silva selva vice chairman of the joint chiefs of staff. I think we have been through this round of questions. We will forgo that. Assuming you have changed your mind from last time, is that correct . Any family you would like to introduce . Gen. Selva i will do that in my opening statement. Your record is wellknown. The first two years as joint chiefs of staff has been marked by great challenges the ofionals 30 in the events crisis in the middle east and russian aggression, actions korea, nuclear and longrange missiles. Men and women continue to serve in the battle in afghanistan, the country never again a safe haven for terrorists. Looking at your leadership in the department of defense and Armed Services, it presents renewed opportunities are Armed Services as we work prepare for the threats of the future, crises around the world that will multiply Service Members. A diverse array of local conflicts since world war ii. Jury ating military challenging times requires strong leadership. The committee looks forward to your testimony about how you plan to guide our men and women gen. Selva . Thank you very much, mr. Chairman. I want to join you in wishing senator mccain a speedy recovery and rapid return to responsibility. This might be one of the few navy becauseay go i certainly do, i want to say him back. See him back. We noticed the first three here on time were all three army. Thank you very much, mr. Chairman. Welcomingjoin you in as we consider reappointment by the joint, we think you for your many thank you for your many years. I went to recognize your wife for many years of support. The United States faces a wide range of challenges. If you are reconfirmed, you will be an integral player in the complex International Issues facing the national interest, influencing active measures aimed at undermining the American People in election processes and others. Russia continues to threaten neighbors and nato allies. There complying with commitments on the minsk ceasefire agreement. They have support for the assad regime. North korea is a Grave National security threat, and the Community Grapples with the idea there are no quick options. There have been sanctions against north korea and threatening the rulesbased order in the asiapacific region by economic and portion of the vulnerable neighbors and undermining the freedom of navigation. Iran continues development of Ballistic Missiles as well as other destabilizing measures. While we continue to make Standing Military progress against isis, they have get to articulate a broad Government Strategy the issue that gave rise to isis. , the committee looks forward to hearing from you for these issues. The vice chairman is given a number of responsibilities, the joint requirements. By making the vice chair the vice principal, i join requirements. Given acquisition programs to necessary, i look forward to the effectiveness of the new authorities and whether you believe the changes are warranted. The vice chairman is courageous, working with senior policymakers and the National Security council in issues. In light of the strategic challenges earlier, we look forward to the effectiveness of the current interagency process. And you have been a part of the deputy secretary at work, forcing the innovation strategy. Office,tegic abilities Defense Innovation, and other special projects. A second term, you will provide final continuity between the last administration and the present administration. It is imperative that secretary mattis continue to use the most dynamic sectors of the economy. Selvayou again, general for your willingness to serve our nation, and i look forward to your testimony. Gen. Selva you are recognize sen. Inhofe you are recognized, general selva. Gen. Selva thank you. I would like to recognize general mccain senator mccains service. I hope he is back here at work. Ranking member read, distinguish members of the committee, it is an art to appear here before you. I am grateful to the president and secretary of defense for their continued trust and faith in my ability to serve. I would like some brief points before a continue. I look forward to your questions. I want to commend those who wear the cloth of our nation. I have had the opportunity to visit Service Members and their families around the globe, and i am continually impressed by their dedication, service, and talent. It has been my honor to serve in the United States armed forces as the vice chairman of the joint chiefs of staff, and i will strive to keep a with them. ,econd as you already mentioned it is important to acknowledge the complex challenges that face the joint force today. The domination of external challenges presented by adversaries and competitors and internal challenges like readiness or modernization amplified the continual budget instability are all issues with which this committee is very familiar. Value the dialogue i and other senior military members have with this amity, and i think the committee for your work thank the committee for your work with the servicemen. I hope through my work and our discussions i made to you the seriousness i take of my responsibilities. I would like to recognize my wife, the love of my life, who is here with me today. Know, she was a classmate when we attended the air force academy. She is not only a lifelong friend and partner but provides me with the help only someone in her physician can, and her position can, and i will be grateful. Members of the committee, thank you for the opportunity to appear before this committee to. E considered for a second term i look forward to your questions. Thank you. i would like to start off with one that has been foremost on my mind and the minds of most of the members here as well as the uniformed. I applaud people for being straight forward but the threat we are facing now, that would be north korea. They successfully tested a Ballistic Missile on the fourth of july. The country also completed a successful military test may 14. The experts consider north 4reas missile test on july to be the most significant advancement towards Nuclear Capability in the intercontinental Ballistic Missile. We have had a lot of witnesses talk about this. We have a lot of what that would mean to the United States. If you look at the protected range, somewhere around 5000 miles which would put personal that United States into range. It is a scary thing. We have the Armed Services Committee Hearing on the asiapacific strategy on april 25. We had a panel of experts, and they were good. They agreed with me north korea represents the most imminent threat to the National Security. I thought we could go ahead and start with three questions concerning them. One, two you agree with the experts that came to that conclusion concerning our National Security . And secondary, north korea is strategyexport nuclear to countries like and thirdly, what is your level of confidence in terms of our intelligence communitys ability to monitor what is really going on there. Those three things can start of thought. Thank you. I agree the North Koreans are moving quickly. Not saying the tests on the fourth of july demonstrates they have the capacity to strike the United States with any degree of accuracy or reasonable confidence of success. What the experts tell me is that North Koreans have yet to demonstrate the capacity to do the guidance and control but would be required. Was only referring to range. Referring tonly range. Sir, we will have to watch carefully G Developments on those capabilities. I agree with the intelligence communities and the others that the democratic peoples republic of korea is an arms proliferator. There is no evidence they have engaged in proliferation of longrange missiles but they have proliferated every other Missile Systems that they have invented so it is a Clear Pathway to potential proliferation of these kinds of weapon systems. And the capability of our intelligence . I am relatively capable i of thetively confident capability. Kim jongun and his forces are good at concealing and deception. We have a ceiling that would be happy to talk about it in a classified session. And militaryilians that monitor those activities. It has been said outside because behind hearing that the thehe has been doing nicest thing i can say about kim jongun is he is totally unpredictable and the most unpredictable of anyone i have ever had any kind of experience with or even read about and that is what is scary. Do you agree with that . Yes, sir, i do agree with that assessment. This committee has received uniformsmony from the and the experience people outside of the uniforms that only one third of our Army Brigades are ready. Ourear about the 62 of f18s that the marines have been using do not work. We recognize that what were going through the last few years, the first thing to go is maintenance and then of course, modernization. So i would like to have your assessment of whether or not you do agree with the gentleman who said for example, he testified before this committee that 50 of the air force, kforce are sufficiently ready for a highly contested fight against adversaries. Going beyond equipment, going to individuals. Secretary wilson, another wilson, and a general told us they would be short 1500 pilots, most of them fighters, by the end of the share. Do you agree with these assessments . You want to elaborate on anything they said . I agree with both assessments. Both speak to the availability of funding and resources to make what wees ready for call highintensity combat against a fierce competitor. The budget in 2017 is helpful. The proposed budget for 2018 is down the pathway to being able to restore much of the training, but it will be a twoyear process before receiving readiness. I agree with that. Senator reid thank you general for your service. One of the issues in terms with dui theyg were hoping for knowledge on these satellites. Inexpensive i should say. And also exploiting them with Artificial Intelligence, something we really need. Particularly in korea. We are told they are about to run out of money and we have not received reprogramming yet. I would say this is an urgent need. Can you explain why they are in this distress and what we could do . Gen. Selva yes, sir, i can. We put great emphasis on the experimental project they are working on for us. We were notified last week by the director that we have a reprogramming proposal in staff as we speak that will address the balance and requirements for this fiscal year and we will begin some of the funding for programs that will extend into the next fiscal year year. They will be able to do that with yearend money. One of the areas of concerns is a situation in iraq. I was there about her weeks ago. The ground. Ess on general townsend is doing a great job as the commander on the ground along with, when i was at key west, the second brigade was leading the advisory for. Effort the issue now becomes as we reduce their affect on isis, the longterm crisis. O, i heard there was according to the revolutionary guards ever ran, they are decimating a retaliation group. Can you give us any insight . Frome fighting is far over. Isis has lost the sanctuary of mosul but they still have a lot of small towns they control. There is a plan with the Iraqi Security forces to begin a campaign. In move those towns into on bear province to secure the border with syria. Important work because that will deny isis sanctuary on both sides of the border. I share your concern. I read this morning about the iranian public parts making a statement that if they are declared an International Terrorist organization they will retaliate against our forces in iraq and. We will have to take that into consideration. To i. In another area in your policy, you indicated which is something that has been said by so many that our adversaries in Technology Savvy eroded what used to be h amend this over max by the United States. The question is, what are we doing to get back way ahead. Not just a few inches and metaphorically. Gen. Selva you alluded to the work weve been doing over the past couple years and the advanced concepts arena as well as working with former deputy secretary called the third offset strategy. Those are concepts that would allow us to contest what we call the antiaccess area denial strategies that many of our adversaries have attempted to impose on us by making our bases and forces more resilient and able to survive under the kind of tax associated with the area denial strategies. Particularly china and north korea. It allows us to eject force that in otherwise would be presumed denied. Finally quickly, we have been working for several different congresses on acquisition reform. We have passed legislation. We have a long way to go. We both recognize that. As chairman, you have been given additional responsibility both actual and referential, symbolic. Can you tell us what you are doing to kind of help them jumpstart acquisition and get it so we can deliver systems . If anything, they have had tough luck at getting systems from the drawing board into the field. Can you comment . We are implementing last years nba. There is more flexibility. The advisor to the chairman for readiness and the deployment of systems that support readiness. The second is building the relationship was serviced use and service to censor a secretary is in their Acquisition Authority roles. We are now requiring service directly to acquisition authorities, not only for the basic design and Integration Capabilities going into systems but actual performance on the line of buying systems. One really striking example of the capability was a piece of work we did to move counter Unmanned Aircraft Systems Technologies into iraq from idea to fruition measured in months. On delivery to deployment measured in weeks. Those are numbers that are actually quite useful. Thank you mr. Chair. Mrs. You general selva and apple. Thank you for your service to our nation as well. In your answer to our advanced policy questions regarding southeast asia, you suggest shortterm stressors can be managed within the alliance construct and a few weeks ago referring to the will of been specifically, secretary mattis testified that in 2014 we canceled our named counterterror operation with a premature view of success, causing us to lose funding lines we would have otherwise been able to offer. Agree with me and a secretary mattis that reestablishing a named operation is something we should consider as part of our alliance obligation in order to make sure that those shortterm stressors do not turn into a prolonged or longterm catastrophe . Gen. Selva yes maam. In every case where we see the resurgence of terror networks, particularly in the southern philippines i think it is worth considering whether we reinstate a named operation. Not only to provide for the resources required by to get the specific command commander and field commanders in the philippines the kind of authority they need to work with indigenous Philippine Forces to help them be successful in the battle. Thank you. I hope we can work with secretary mattis on this issue. You have been moving on moving on to another topic, you have been overly critical of congress about the budget tosses. I agree it is long past time for us to break the cycle of the continuing resolutions. Were not doing ourselves any favors. However, budgets are a twoway street. The dod has not been able to conduct or pass a clean audit for a very, very long time and so that is not helping our cause either. What specifically were you doing your next few years to achieve a clean audit that you have not maybe been able to accomplish in the last two years . Gen. Selva i have found of the last couple years that achieving a clean audit is a vexing journey. In particular, the discussions over the valuation of rope property are in obstacle in the way of getting that work done. The debates over what we own and what it is actually worth. That inhare with you advance of his confirmation, the newveral hours with deputy secretary of defense Patrick Shanahan discussing how we might get at this issue of valuing Capital Property is said that we can in fact clear a clean audit. We will commit to working not together to the Defense Management action group to come to a resolution. Ever shake up. I hope we can move forward especially when it comes to real property. We have to on this. We absolutely must get this done. To know how the dollars are things spent so we can reassure our taxpayers that we in congress and you as the dod are doing the right. So thank you, i hope we are successful. You also support providing assistance to ukraine, something ive been pushing for a number of years as well. Other than being actively engaged with the interagency on this issue, what specific steps to make thisin dod happen . Gen. Selva we are working very closely to put requirements on the table for a inventory of what the defense of aid might look like. It might be more than just a military recommendation, this will be a policy choice on whether or not we are going to give the tools they need to defend themselves against what we believe to be a russiansupported insurgency movement in the mosque. Reported recently attempt to deny montenegrins succession to nato, what steps should we be taking to reconfirm our commitment to nations like ukraine, kosovo, and other candidates just in reassuring them that we will assist them should they wish to become nato members . One of the tools i think we can bring to bear as the joint staff and military team and contacts with chiefs of defense and leaders of their militaries to make sure that all of those countries, in spite of what is going on internally with or without the interference of the russian government, actually are able to make the military reforms that are necessary so they can move towards a path to leadership in nato. I appreciate that. There are a lot of Partnership Programs out there and those countries need our help. Thank you. Hello. Thank you for being here and thank you for your service. Welcome to your family. I want to talk to about where we china combat and military Sexual Assault. In 2013, thenchairman of the chief of staff, general Martin Dempsey said a majority expressed a lack of confidence in our ability to solve this. We are currently on the clock, if you will. The prison of the United States and was in december, you have got a year to review this thing and show me to make a difference. We understand just because senator gillibrands vote was defeated yesterday it does not mean a year from now it may not be reintroduced and if we have not been able to demonstrate we are making a difference, you know, then we deserve to be held to the scrutiny and standard. This is now four years later and we do not see a change in the overall numbers. We do not see a change in the rate of prosecution. We do not see a change in the reign of conviction. And we do not see a change in the rate of retaliation. So i am really worried that in these measurable swear commanders are entirely responsible for outcome, they have not met the level of scrutiny and oversight that is really necessary to really tackle this problem effectively. So, do you agree that more needs to be done to create environments where it comes and bystanders can be report and not be retaliated against . Senator, i believe survivors of Sexual Assault and bystanders should begin an environment where they can report what is happened and we can provide an unbiased investigation and possible prosecution of the perpetrators of the crime. Do you agree we have not achieved enough progress . I do not agree we have not progress butgh perfection is the only achievement and can be allowed in this case. Sexual assault is contrary to the notion that we treat all soldiers, this sailors, airmen, and reads with the dignity they respect because they wear the uniform of this nation. Forere not going perfection. Were going for a climate where men and women can be served can serve without being sexually assaulted. Where they can report crimes they know it will be prosecutors. Where they can report crimes and know it will not be retaliated. Were not even close. The estimate lester was 15,000 Sexual Assault, unwanted sexual contact, and rape. That is nowhere where we need to be. Almost 60 ve an retaliation right and the rate of conviction has not moved in five years. So, i do not think we are achieving enough progress. Weve done a lot of good things in terms of Getting Better evidence sharing records. Getting better evidentiary standards. Making sure there is special counsel for the individuals who our rate of unrestricted reports, where you are willing to put your name and make it public, is going down. Our rate of restricted reports is going up. So the confidence in the system is not there. So, i really hope you will commit to me to do a full look into this issue. Look for new solutions. Look for untried solutions. Because what were are doing today is not working and we have done every small recommendation we could do by every many that has offered them. I will commitam, to take a deep dive into all of the programs implemented and look at whether or not they will be effective in supporting the survivors of Sexual Assault and making sure we get to unbiased investigations and prosecutions. Thank you. I would now like to talk about our transsexual Service Members. Twice as likely to serve, according to one study, then me general population but i am concerned about the recent six im an month delay the department has approved before leading transgender people and listen services will have unintended consequences. What have you learned so far in your review of this issue hand how is the implementation going so far . Gen. Selva thank you senator. Am all for every person that can meet the physical standards for our Armed Services to do so. Our decision to delay transgender person into services was largely based on a disagreement on the science of how Mental Health care and hormone therapy for transgender genderedll help solve dysphoria. There are a host of other problems with potential physical standards that the Service Chiefs ask for additional time to excessive they can make necessary changes to infrastructure as well as training curricula for our basic trainees who come in in the transgender status, particularly those who have not undergone gender reassignment surgery and while they present as their tyga gender are still physiologically still in their first gender and those issues have to be dealt with before we can begin to access except those individuals into service. Thank you general senator gillibrand. Senator cotton. Senator cotton congratulations on your reappointment. I would like to discuss the intermediate range missile Treaty Service between the United States and the soviet union, now russia, that prevents from 500550sile kilometers. Russia has been known to be cheating on this treaty. The state Department Found that three years ago. You testified that to your knowledge, russia is not intending to return to compliance. Do you remain of the same opinion today . Gen. Selva i do. There is no new intelligence and says the russians are inclined to return or abrogate the treaty. They are trying to walk the middle line. Senator cotton i have to say i president putin change. Even if its much more from the prohibition on intermediate range missiles that europe. The one country that could produce those missiles and point them at the United States is restrained. Nothe other hand, i do think he likes the fact that countries on his periphery can produce and deploy them. Him get away let with that, there is no reason for him to quit cheating. Is there anything in your mind we could do to put pressure on russia ring them back into comp . So gen. Selva within the boundaries of the treaty, it is our assessment that the russians have gone beyond that and fielded an intermediate range Cruise Missile which could be nuclear capable. So we do have some options to put pressure on the russians not only diplomatically but also within the military realm. You raised that because the iron of treaty act would raise money just for that. Fact, the Senate Passed the administration put out a statement in policy last week that had some issue with that provision. I suspect we are working on it. In the end, since we all want to see russia come back into compliance. Putting aside its impact, i want to bring your attention to admiral harriss testimony a few months ago when he stated that over 9 of chinas landbased Missile Forces all between the range of 500550. But china is not a signatory, only the United States and russia. We do not have matching capabilities. Do you interpret this imbalance as a potential problem in the asiapacific . Gen. Selva it would be easy to interpret that as an offensive and balance but were not restricted from building Ballistic Missile systems that can be launched from ships or airplanes in the intermediate Nuclear Forces treaty. It is specific to landbased missiles. So with respect to whether or not we use the imf treaty to say targets inside china might not be held atrisk, i think is a bridge too far. I believe we can assert that the deployment of Missile Systems would allow us to hold those targets. They do. Although the obvious disadvantage of ships and aircraft as they are awfully small to land which is why china has 90 of their Missile Forces and not range with land. We are limited by our ships and aircraft. Do you think we should consider extending offensive capabilities to allies in the asia and civic not bound by this treaty to help counterbalance chinas offensive capabilities . Gen. Selva i think that his options we should look at as people provide sound advice to military leaders. It would be a sound advice on whether or not to use that leverage against the chinese. Cotton general millet and general mcmaster in his previous job of testified the army was arranged and outgunned. And outgun. There talking about missiles, correct . Mile range . Gen. Selva added as the argument. Many of our multiple launch rocket systems are out ranged by the russians within the ranges stipulated. Kotten but below the 500 kilometers which we addressed, also that we cannot go beyond the range . Gen. Selva yes, sir. Senator cotton thank you. . Senator kaine sen. Kaine i want to thank everyone who has mentioned hopes and prayers for senator mccain to get back so we can harass the witnesses as we are accustomed to do. Selva, i know you are interested in innovation and that is an important part of innovation and getting where we are. I am concerned that Small Companies in Silicon Valley for example will not even interact with the pentagon because the process is so cumbersome and lengthy and burdensome. And now we are at a point where a significant majority of defense funding goes to four or five major contractors. How do we deal with the system itself, and the structure, the infrastructure of acquisition so that we can open up to greater innovation coming very frequently from Smaller Companies . Gen. Selva senator, for large ingrams or Small Companies Silicon Valley, they are probably not going to be the competitors we are looking for. With that said, two important programs are underway as we speak. The first is a Venture Capital incubator at National Defense university that helps learn the ins and outs of the Venture Capital business. Enter capital is what runs Silicon Valley. It is the willingness to take risk on new programs, new technologies, rapid motor typing that might or might not deliver at relatively small amounts of money and that is the recently established in part the Defense Innovation unit experimental in Silicon Valley. Not only to have a point of presence to interact with these new Technology Companies but to have a funding vehicle where we can engage in rapid prototyping and venturecapitallike activities. Heinz is that far enough in long to determine whether not it is working . Gen. Selva i think so. We have expanded the concept to Technology Centers in boston and austin, texas, as well. Were finding the kind of companies that can bring is the innovative ideas that can be scaled to programs. The thirdtalk about set. The first two are focused on the warsaw pact and the soviet union. Talk about the third offset is a would relate to the multiplicity and diversity of threats we face today. Gen. Selva thank you senator. The threats we face today are largely based on mimicking our command and control philosophies, but adding to them long grade strike that can deny us access to the areas that we previously had free access to. The projection of power is fundamental to our ability to fight wars. As we look at the third offset, the principal things we were examining and continue to examine our Artificial Intelligence and the ability to team humans and machines to speed our understanding of the complex battles represented by these new adversaries and competitors and react inside of that space pastor then they can respond to our actions. It also involves building around our bases and forces a degree of resiliency through camouflage concealment deception as well is and prevent our opponents for being able to hold the whole force at risk using their ballistic and Missile Systems. I assume part of this is resiliency and defense against cyber. I would assume that if a conflict was to begin, the first phase would be cyber to take out Communication Systems and those kind of things. As a part of the thinking . Yes, sir. thinking is the partnership between humans and machines. In that space, machinetomachine defensive Cyber Networks is an explicit tax. If we cannot defend our networks at machine speed, we are giving our opponents maneuvering space in that domain to defeat us in detail. Proxy can take this for the record, i recently finished general mcmasters book about vietnam dereliction of duty and critical. Vertical i would like your thoughts, not now, but in writing on what the role of the joint chiefs are in a situation where the Political Leadership is either not listening or taking a position that you feel is contrary to the countrys interests in terms of capabilities. General mcmaster does a masterful job of outlining the problem, but i am interesting thesome thinking of what is answer to the problem he illuminates a brilliantly and not book. Gen. Selva in short, i would say our responsibility is to provide. Com on us military advice. In the absence of a role of forces, to follow that advice. We continue to give it. Thank you. Senator warren thank you mr. Chairman. Like my colleagues, went to state for the record how much we him senator mccain and wish a speedy recovery. I also note that senator reid and senator kaine talked about dui x so i wont go back through that. I express my strong support for what you are doing there and how much more we can do. I wanted to focus on general silver. I heard you publicly describe the main Global Threats that we face as challenges. Russia, china, iran, north korea, and violent extremism. I want to ask you about another global threat, Climate Change. Since the report from two years ago and i quote, Global Climate change will have wide ranging implications for u. S. National security interests over the foreseeable future because it problemsavate existing such as poverty, social tensions, environmental segregation. Ineffectual leadership and weak political institutions. In short, this dod report described Climate Change as a threat multiplier. So, general selva, what impact you believe the change in climate will have on the military services and what do you believe the department of defense should be doing now to prepare for this impact question mark gen. Selva thank you, maam. Willynamics are happening drive uncertainty and will drive conflict. I would just provide one example of how that can happen and this is a manmade problem. The dams along the nile river control the flow of water into what was the fertile crescent of egypt. What are flowthe causes the egyptians to become more hostile to their neighbors, who are putting dams upstream of the egyptian stretch of the nile river. I could build that argument in a friday of countries around the world and those are manmade problems. Not directly related to Climate Change but related to how we as humans change our environment. If you extend that argument to the kinds of things that might happen if we see title rises, if we see increasing weather patterns of drug and flood and forest fires dropped and flood and forest fires and other national disasters, we will have to be prepared for what that means in terms of instability in regions of the country where those impacts happen. Particularly in places where there is massive food and stability. Africa is a classic example, where a small drought over a theted time can decimate crops and cause instability and make that an area fertile for recruitment of extremists because they see no other way. Similarly, you could look at the decimation of the fisheries off of somalia that contributed to piracy because the fisherman could not make their livelihood best,ng what they do which is fishing on the fishing reels off of somalia. We have to be prepared. It will cause as to have to address questions like humanitarian Disaster Relief and it will also causes to have to focus on places where climate instability might cause actual political instability in regions where we had not previously had to Pay Attention to. Senator warren Climate Change is an ongoing problem. Climate change will have a profound impact directly on our military and on our military infrastructure end on how military is able to carry out its mission. I really hope in addition to all of these local challenges that you have in front of you, and i know they are are many and they are serious. We need to lead today on this challenge, general. Tomorrow may be to late. I want to followup in the little bit of time i have remaining on senator kaines question about the third upset. Upset. I know you have made it a priority in your first term. But, what i am concerned about is we do not seem to be moving very fast. Many of the technologies we are talking about are still in the development phase. Meanwhile, our competitors are continuing to improve their capabilities. It can take years, sometimes decades from the time we first sign a contract for new technology to actually make it out into the field. And you can take this for the record, what can we do about this to speed up our Response Time . I would make to quit points. Rapid prototyping. We have to be willing to invest and fail in systems that might not work. We cannot be bashful about bringing new software into our architectures. We have worked very closely with companies in Silicon Valley to do rapid prototyping testing and the climate of software that helps with things like automatic target recognition and change detection. I think those are two things we can do right now and be quite successful. Senator warren thank you. I know you share my concern about being outpaced by technology. Thank you. Mr. Chair. U forme begin by thanking you your service to our country. Your previous work before you took your current position, you were the commander of the u. S. Transportation command and i know in your statement for the record you straight at our military strategy is predicated on the ability to deploy and sustain forces. They stun your previous position, you understand the need to be able to get to where the fight is at. I understand you appreciate the reliance we have on commercial air carriers in order to do that within our current plans. As you already know, right now extend themeans to Cyber Protection to the critical commercial carriers. We have talked about this and a few hearings, including just last week. My question for you is, if you were an adversary nation how would you explain this and how would that impede the ability of the United States should deploy forces question mark i realize that you may be limited as to what you consent about this in an open session, but i think it would be really good for this committee and the American People to hear a few general comments on the issue because unless we continue to focus and gain public support for what i think we need to do with regard to Cyber Protection, it is going to be very difficult to get to where we have to be and we have to have the commercial air carriers available in times of an airlift. Can you comment about what that means and how our adversaries might exploit the Current Situation . Gen. Selva i am caution cautious other than echoing what you said and an open session. I will out the following, it is not just our air carriers that make us successful. Merchant air carriers, marines, rail and trucking industry, all three together land, sea, air art the capability we bring to be able to deploy forces around the world. All of those capabilities i just theribed are dependent upon quality and veracity of data they use to move our forces. Those, that data, networks, are just as important as the trucks, trains, ships, implants that move our soldiers, sailors, airmen, marines. Thank you. This publicprivate Cyber Security solution would give us experience to build the betweenk to use organizations and and outside government. Can you give me an update, at least in general terms, on how the security gap is being addressed today . Ofarly, it is not a case where we are just planning for the future. We have rings and waste today. Can you give us some reassurances . Gen. Selva based on experience in my previous job, the transcon j six director of communications is given the authorities and responsibilities of protecting not only the transcontinental network but extending through contract vehicles through our civilian providers, those data standards and Network Standards that allow them to subscribe to many of the protections afforded to the transcontinental network which may be a model upon which we can build the continuing Publicprivate Partnership into Critical Infrastructure in other sectors of the economy. Thank you, sir. Any minute or so i have remaining come in your experiences two years enough time to maximize the vice chief potential to provide optimal strategic guidance as well as maintain continuity for a large portfolio . No sir, it is not and that is why im glad to see the work done in the 2017 Defense Authorization act that makes the chairman and feist chairman positions fouryear towards with only one central renomination for a twoyear extension. That fouryear term will allow the chairman and vice chairman to have the authority you expect of uniformed members and those position. Thank you, sir. Thank you mr. Chairman. Thank you. Sen. Peters thought senator peters great to have you here before us. The opportunity to have discussion with you here as well as in my office, thank you. I want to thank you for your focus on advanced technologies and or understanding of how we need to be on the forefront of that to keep our competitive edge. I would say before adding a question that we afford about Silicon Valley and boston when it comes to advance technology, but we have all of that in michigan as well. When the u. S. Patent Office Opened their First Field Office outside of question 10, they did it in detroit, michigan, because more patents are filed their then any worlds given the fact that we have more engineers the any other place in United States per capita. I hope you are continuing to focus on a wide geographic space and understand we have incredible capabilities throughout our country. I recently met with general put trias, the acting director of Capabilities Center and dr. Thomas russell from acquisitions and technology of the army to discuss the Army Robotics and Autonomous Systems strategy. During that meeting we discussed the challenges of building these capabilities with entry efficacy ofd the employing a thomas and semiautonomous in future topics. Over the next five years, autonomy in robotics, Artificial Intelligence, common control. Hear yourke to assessment and analysis as to the status of each of the services and the department in researching and utilizing particularly autonomy and robotics. Gen. Selva thank you. All of the services are quite engaged in a campaign to understand where advanced Artificial Intelligence and autonomy can be inserted into current concepts of operations and how they might he used in new and imaginative concepts of operations to help the feet adversaries across the spectrum of potential conflicts we might find ourselves in. I am very careful in public settings about the discussion of the very specifics of some of autonomyinitiated things especially as they relate to advanced air defense and areasing in denied because they will actually expose some of the father we believe our opponents have and he will actually expose some of the tools we think we can bring to bear. If you will allow me to use shorthand, it is very compelling one one looks at the capabilities that Artificial Intelligence can bring. The speed and accuracy of command and control at the capabilities that advanced robotics might bring to a complex battle space, particularly machinetomachine interaction in cyberspace where speed is of the essence. I will stop there at the risk of exposing things we are doing. I fully understand, general. The approache of to a thomas weapons system is due to be renewed this year. This directive specifically assigns responsibility for the development for autonomous and semiautonomous platforms. In doing so, the department has stated it will not allow any rubber machine to take legal action without a human operator empty decisionmaking loop. Aware of thee moral and ethical issues associated with that, however our adversaries often do not consider the same moral issues we consider each and every day. Russia withently aia Neural Network people believe identifying and neutralizing targets and suggesting russian weapon makers see robotics and aia as a key for future sales for adversaries of hours around the world. So given the dod directive scheduled to update and renew this year, can you give a short thoughts regarding what seems to be russian developments in ai targeting . Gen. Selva yes, sir, i will. There will be debate in the department about whether or not we take humans out of the decision to take lethal action. I will type in this forum i am an advocate for keeping that restriction. Because we have values and many of the things we do are governed by the laws of war which say we must take proportional and discriminate action against an enemy to achieve our this. Reasonableink it is to put robots in charge of whether or not to take a human life. That does not mean we do not have to address the development of those kind of technologies and potentially find their vulnerabilities in its fleet those honorable eddies exploit those vulnerabilities to our benefit. Something onnleash humanity something we do not know how to control. That is way off in the future but it is something we need to deal with right now. Thank you, and general. You senator inhofe. General, wind you expect the to be complete . Might expectation is it will take several more months to complete the Nuclear Posture review and the Ballistic Missile defense review will follow it. The Second Review is informed by posturing. Strategic you said the npr would be examining Response Options to russias violation of the inf treaty. As i correct . Do you mean the npr will describe potential options or will it contain a decision that we pursue a particular course of action . Gen. Selva the design of the npr is to provide the president with option so we will provide a set of options that maybe reasonable responses to the russian activity with respect to the inf. Decisions, just options . Gen. Selva yes, maam. And i know we conferred with the russians about the violation and what has there response been . Gen. Selva may have been wrote on how they they have been moot on how they intend to respond. Greg said they said they would come back into compliance with the treaty . They had they said how intend to come back into compliance with the treaty which mark gen. Selva no, maam. Aggression activities are part of the environment with them with which we will present options to the president. If they would all of a sudden step forward and begin a dialogue with is, would that change than the options you present . Gen. Selva it would likely change those options but if the russian stepped forward and said they were work willing to return to compliance with the inf we would have to have a method to actually confirm that with the weapon systems they have deployed. Greg so you would anticipate the options to contain they have not responded . So you would anticipate the options would contain that they have not responded . Gen. Selva yes maam. So there is no option that it groundmploy with the missile . Do you agree with that . Gen. Selva nee do not gain any advantage in europe and that is as close as i will get to agreeing with that. Do you believe there are broader strategic implications when it comes to confronting relations of the arms control agreement and that feeling to respond can have a negative consequence on those broader implications when it comes to nonproliferation . Gen. Selva i think, maam, with regard to any treaty of nonproliferation the inability to enforce the standards to which the parties have agreed whether laterally or bilaterally renders all other agreements less compelling. Can you tell us your opinion on where we go from here . Gen. Selva i think we should use all of the tools that exist within the treaty to negotiate with and try to compel the russians to return to compliance. I am not saying they will. We should also take a look inside of the treaty as we present options to the president in those research and Development Programs that are available to us to actually increase pressure on the russians. Thank you. As you know, russia contains more tactical weapons than the United States and they are deploying more nuclearcapable sea, air, and ground launch missiles. Do believe the line between Strategic Nuclear weapons and tactical Nuclear Weapons is eroding and what implications does this have for any future arms control talks . Gen. Selva as we discussed, nuclear returns with the russians and now the chinese and likely other countries, we need to make clear there is no firebreak between Strategic Nuclear weapons and nonStrategic Nuclear weapons. Suffice advice the standing administration has received . Gen. Selva it is the advice we have given every standing president in history. You agree it must include limitations on tactical Nuclear Weapons . Gen. Selva i think it would be a useful diplomatic exercise and a useful initiative to attempt to negotiate with all holders of tactical Nuclear Weapons. Potentialction and. An exercise . Should be part of the goal we are trying to attain in any treaty . Gen. Selva yes, maam. Let me be clear. I did not mean it as an intellectual exercise, i minted as an actual form of diplomacy to get that done. Thank you. Thank you. Welcome back, and general. I want to follow up on the questions on the third offset that senator king and senator warren raised. Energy. O talk about as vice chair of the joint chiefs, you have unique insight into the Oversight Council which identifies capability gaps for the military and generates requirements to fill those gaps. For the purposes of things like protection, counter rockets, counter artillery, countermortar. Directed Energy Weapons systems have advantages but seem to be able to unable to enter because alternative kinetic options already exist. What do you think is preventing the transition of these technologies to the war fighter . Pursuit of perfection . Or are direct of the Energy Weapons being held to a ifferent standard . Gen. Selva i do not believe they are being held to a different standard. The introduction of directed energy into defensive capabilities has proven a difficult task in order to produce the power and the concert concentration on targets to destroy them. Particularly on Ballistic Missiles, we have had significant progress in the counter Unmanned Systems area and bringing directed Energy Weapons into either defeating these sensors or dvd the actual aircraft themselves. I think the promise is there but it is a matter of the concentration of the energy to have lethal effect. Back to your original point, i do not believe we are holding the erect of the Energy Technology to a different standard. It we continue to investigate whether or not it gives us the advantage that Technology Advocates promise. Specifically with respect to the necessity to kill an incoming and attic missile incoming kineticc incoming missile. I would ask you to take a look at these today. Once you see artillery shells shot out of the sky in an unmanned aerial the local, i think we had a point where this is ready for prime time as opposed to continuing to chase perfection and i think that the solutions it offers avoids many of the Collateral Damage issues etic inherently plague kin missiles. So, i would urge you to stay at the cutting edge of what we can offer right now within this technology. I want to shift a little bit to the issue of russia. You and i have talked a little bit before about that. To me and many of my colleagues i think the pattern of behavior for russia is painfully obvious. They will do what it takes to achieve their objectives with very little limitations. Whether it is interfering in u. S. Elections, european elections, formulating assassination plots like in taigne may grow montenegro. Russia is treating the world like it is the wild, wild west. Should there be consequences for the kind of hostile actions weve seen for russia . Was directed at the United States and our allies in europe . Gen. Selva senator cowan my believe there should be consequences. The russians have developed and we needn procedure and to understand what that strategy means and how to count red and impose the kinds of consequences necessary to event them from being successful or two deter them from the activity in the first place. Part of that is understanding how they are doing what they are doing. Absolutely. Do you have thoughts on what those consequences should look like if we want russia to change their current pattern of he hager . Gen. Selva i think this is going to require that we bring all of the tools of america to bear. Military tools will not be enough particularly given the kinds of circumstances where the russians attempt to cover it below our threshold to respond. And that includes things like the removal of properties that we have seen her in the united alles, we should consider of those things working in concert . Those amongall of others, yes. To having ammit meeting and bringing in the experts who can bring us uptodate to make sure were not missing anything. I would deeply appreciate that. I think there are a handful of projects on the shelf. A great deal of interest in moving forward toward that. Yes, sir. Thank you senator. Sullivan. Senator sullivan congratulations on your renomination. Lets talk about readiness for a minute. From 20102016, did the department of Defense Budget was cut by 20 24 . A quarter of the budget, gone. Did you support that drastic cut . Gen. Selva sir, i was not in the position i am enduring that time. I was the executor of the cuts at the receiving end both the estate field to mander and a combatant commander. Those cuts hurt not only our ability to respond with respect to purchasing new weapon systems and being ready for what we are facing today, but they also caused us to balance readiness and procurement and because acumen is something you can do for to the future, we deferred a lot of training during that time to make the numbers work. I agree with that and i think they are coming home to roost in terms of readiness. Do you believe a lack of readiness can be deadly for our military members . A lack of readiness can be deadly. Is important to understand what we did during that time period was focus on the fight right ahead of us. Make sure forces the article said marineaviation related deaths are going up. We had a horrible accident just two weeks ago. Were killed in that. What are we doing about those kind of training accidents . They are undermining the ability of the forced to operate and risking the lives of the men and women who volunteered to defend our country. Its outrageous. First of all, i mourn the loss of the 16 murrays as well. Marines as well. But it is way too premature to make conclusions about the cause of that accident. In deference to the bravery of those 16 marines i think we should reserve judgment on whether training was an issue on that accident. It is common among aviators, of which i am one, that training does have value in increasing the safety and efficacy of our force. During those times when we compromised on training, we do assume risk. That is a consequence of having to balance with a budget we are given to operate. I think we should be careful about making conclusions about last weeks accident or using a similar article to make allusions about the liability of aviators inside the marine corps. 5, marine aviationrelated deaths hit a fiveyear high. And something needs to change. To me, it relates to training. Are they flying less hours right now . Im not disputing that we need to focus on training and safety within all of our aviation services. Dont get me wrong. With reference to the pacific accident thats an example of what is happening too often. I think it relates directly to 25 decline in military spending. Nobody talks about. This Congress Approved that the Previous Administration cut a quarter of the Defense Budget. It is reasonable to draw the conclusion that reductions in training are potentially because of an increase in the risk we take to do the work we do. May ask a followup . The question about north korea. Testimonyed he the is consistently in an open setting. Its the testimony has been an open setting. Its no longer if but when he will have a Nuclear Missile that can threaten not just alaska, my state and hawaii but the entire lower continental United States. Is the goal to prevent kim jong un having that capability. He is rapidly hitting it. Whats the goal and end state and how can we support it . Would we preemptively launch military operations . I think we have to entertain that potential option. It would be to execute or not execute that option. Which would be the authorization or congress, right . We need to think seriously about what it might be. A parallel line would be as he continues along the path that we have a parallel effort with a suitable Ballistic Missile Defense System that can handle the low volume at this point of missiles that could strike us here across all of u. S. Territory, alaska, hawaii and the lower 48 thank you mr. Chairman. Thank you. Thank you for your continuing service. As we sit here discussing the threats posed by russia and north korea there are two very Different Countries we are trying to figure out, what is it going to take for us to alter the behavior would you agree with that . Yes. I think with other partners that targeted sanctions do actually have aenfect. It is harder to figure out what will advise them to provide a Nuclear Power or so. You mention diplomatic approaches. What are your thoughts about what more we can do incentivize china to do more or for us to pursue some other avenues i think the work thats being done to pressurize the situation in terms of economic sanctions is helpful. It is also useful to get the chinese to do whatever they can and use whatever leverage they have. The point thats not lost on me and i dont think on any of you is the fact that kim jong un who has possession of Nuclear Weapons has possession of weapons that could threaten his relationship with china and fundamentally change the power structure in the region. It makes it a threat to china as well. So do you think that our best bet with regard to north korea is to come to a much better understanding with china because you say that economic sanctions has an impact on north korea although its hard to see that as having much of a deterrent effect at all. We all recognize that but its very hard to tell when china will deem that theres been a Tipping Point reach with troord north korea where some kind of a much more concerted effort will come into play. Do we have the kind of relationship that will enable us very quickly to identify what i would deem a Tipping Point and do something in a concerted way with the u. S. And china . I can only give you an assessment as an on server. With regard to Asia Pacific Region some argue or observe that we do not have a strategy to address the challenges in this part of the region which has some of the largest militaries and four of the five most significant threats in the asia pacific area. Do you agree that we do not have a strategy to address the challenges in the asia pacific arena . I do not agree that we dont have a strategy. The question is whether the critics of that should believe it is enough to deal with threats of resergeant north korea and re im running out of time but if we have a strategy what is that strategy . We manage some of our longest standing alliances we have thing that is are putting pressure not to destabilize the region. We are a nation that exists on trade and economic relationships in the region and very strong diplomatic alliances across the pacific. Those are some pieces of the strategy without trying to outline all of it. A lot about partisan ship. I think you know that based on the legislation were putting forward. The senior senator from hawaii serves as Ranking Member of the committee i have an honor of sharing. We recommended to the full committee, and this committee reported language which is contained in the ships act which sets as a policy of the United States of america that we move to 355 ship fleet. The house of representatives this 355 ship requirement, and i hope youll take it back to the joint chiefs of staff. This requirement is not something the shipbuilding industry came up with. Its not something they invented as people in statements that build ships although we would like to see the idea of defending our nation basically they took requirements and it was way more than 355. The considered opinion of the best minds in the military came up with 355. I want to emphasize to you before i ask another question that we take that requirement seriously and we have been in a position this year both in the house and Senate Committees to give you what you need and we want to communicate to you that we take this seriously and we want to be your partner there and actually give substance to what has been stated as the requirement. Please know that. Also in the area of bipartisan ship i want to applaud what senator said about russia. I think im quoting him correctly. Russia will do whatever they feel is necessary and they look at the threshold of what we in the west are sort of willing to tolerate and kind of stay under that threshold. It has been a pretty good strategy for president putin. Im getting tired of it. I hope the American People and the pentagon and this committee are getting tired of it. It threatens interNational Security. Now, you answered a question to senator abiliout providing leth weapons to ukraine. As i understand the government of ukraine has troops there. The they are engaged in con nettic activity, is that correct . Yes, thats correct. And would it be helpful if they had better weapons in which to defend the government of ukraine . Thats policy choice. The kinds of defensive weapons would allow them to defend themselves against those forces supported by the russians. There is a discussion from your earlier answer. Youre working to identify what types of weapons are necessary. So when can we expect a decision about that and how can we be helpful in exhorting our government to provide the kind of weapons i think i and others are advocating . Those discussions are ongoing. I think within the coming months youll have an answer to that question. We have advocated for example. We be who . We being the joint staff. Okay. Months could be 11 months. It could be two months. Can you give us a little more specific idea of when we might actually be able to make a decision and do something that would help these people defend themselves and stand up to the sort of activity that senator was talking about . H in his question . I dont have it with me but im happy to do that. Okay. Thank you very much. Please be advised this senator thinks it is time for us to give these people what they need to defend their own country. Thank you, sir. Let me add that currently the 45th guard is training them. Excellent questions. Thank you mr. Chairman. I want to follow those questions asked by my colleague from mississippi and who endorsed his view and you would agree, correct . Yes, sir. They are defending their sovereignty. But perhaps you can tell us what the difference would make if we provide those kinds of weapons. It would be far more effective, correct . Yes, sir. Let me make sure im clear on the discussion of the policy question. It is not whether or not to provide lethal defensive assistance but the kinds and quantities of that lethal assistance to the ukraineans so they can defend their sovereignty. How advanced would it be and in what quantities would they be delivered is an example of that conversation. Why not give them the most advan advanced why give them second rate . I dont want to be argue mentive. Some have technology controls. We can have reassurances that they wont be exploited. I would agree we should not transfer that could be compromised or captured by our russian adversarieadversaries. I want to join in the expression of impatience i met last sunday who said to me you have been coming to us saying these weapons are going to be provided the is there some kind of barrier and im at a loss to give them some kind of barrier they deserve. I recognize there are other factors at issues here. With respect to russian interference you have no reason to question the unanimous views of the intelligence they have do you . I have no reason but i have no firsthand knowledge of the information they are examining. Would you agree that it seeps full hearty at best . Not having the details of the potential agreement its hard to say they would be anymore reasonable about the cyber pack than they are about any other iron glad. So its worth a conversation. The question is we are having a hypothetical about whether or not they would comply. Their vord one of attacking this nation. Would you agree . Yes, sir. So sharing any information well, it seems hearty to our National Security without the context of the agreement its hard to know what information would or wouldnt be shared. Thank you. Thank you for your appointment and new position. Thank you very much, sir. Thank you. Is air force needs to be bigger and more capable . Yes, sir. I believe thats proposal they brought forward in the last budget. Thank you. Lets talk about iraq. Do you support a residual force if the iraqis would agree . Yes, sir. The ie rain yans are there in fairly large numbers, is that correct . As a consequence it doesnt mean they are continuing to build our relationship with Iraqi Security force i believe the in our interest it is something they want from us. It would give us leverage. Quite possibly, yes, sir. They beginning to support their forces with lift and with aircraft which are very useful in the theater. It is subject to the maintenance woes of old russian aircraft. Yes, sir, to provide long term support. Do you support additional troops going into afghanistan . I think it would be a determination for what they would be doing. As we look at Counter Terrorism would be it would be one of those missions. Yes, sir. Okay. Syria, the day we take iraq back we better have a plan, right . Yes, sir. What term do you think it should play . I think its a bigger task than that. It is the Current Center of external planning for isis and syria. They have already begun a migration. Until we have worked through partners on the ground or it shows a willingness to isis they will continue to be a threat to stability in iraq and in the region. It wont be done. Very good point. Air power being deployed against isil today, right . American and Coalition Air power are being used in iraq and syria today. I was shocked to hear it was pretty small. I would have to look at the numbers to be honest with you. The capacity of those airplanes to service the targets in afghanistan with the help of tankers and bombers from the gulf is act which willy a pretty compelling amount of power. When i left i was shocked at the few we have given the task. Thank you very much. Thank you, sir. Thank you senator gram, senator cruz. Thank you. Ill say that our thoughts and prayers are with chairman mccain. We look forward to that very soon. Thank you for your service. I have very significant concerns with that certification. I want to ask you in your judgment, do you believe iran is in compliance with the deal . Based on the evidence. How serious do you assess the threat of iran developing Nuclear Weapons . Think without the controls iran has the Technical Expertise to be able to continue down the path of Nuclear Weapons. As you know, a similar deal was me gauche yanegotiated with and the clinton administration. It resulted in acquiring a substantial number of Nuclear Weapons. What makes it different . I think there are two substantial differences at the outset. The first is the inspection regime that allows for them to inspect all of the areas which is iran yians use. The second is how much advance note do they get . I dont have the details but we are reasonably confident that the inspectors are able to randomly inspect. The second is on those areas of the iranian economies that are ungoverned by the treaty. Last week we also discovered that iran sentenced an american citizen and princeton student to ten years in prison. Does it concern you that we are in compliance with the deal of imprisoning another american . It concerns me when an american citizen is imprisoned overseas. But again, the specifics of the agreement are directed explicitly at the development and storage of Nuclear Weapons. Well continue this conversation but i there say that i think it is wholly inadequate. It is designed to facilitate cheating. It requires effectively three weeks advanced notice. And they used it to develop Nuclear Weapons. I believe it intends to do the exact same thing. I think the certification was unfortunate and is dangerous. Theres another certification that is due in october, i believe, and theres also an upcoming deadline for sanctions. I would urge the administration, there is no greater threat than the threat of a nuclear iran. I think its very hard to justify. Let me shift to another topic. I do not believe now is the right time to talk about developing a space force. It would also complicate so i believe our time is not right. So how do we do a better job defending ourselves and space given the vulnerabilities on Satellite Technology . Senator, i think there are three things that we need to do. One is two are in progress, one is in work. The first was the consolidation of our National Military defensive space in a single command and control center in Colorado Springs trying to manage it through sub components. Under is leadership has implemented that just in the last few months. It is time to let that play out and see if we can get efficie y efficiencies in it. Thank you mr. Chairman. I want to say on behalf of any of us that havent had a chance to register our wishes that chairman mccain have a speedy recovery and return as quickly as possible. You have had an extraordinary career, very distinguished. I suspect theres not a problem in the world with continuing that service. I thank you for your willingness to be able to do it. You want to comment on the fact that that russia has a history of meddling in other peoples elections going way back as far back as what we saw and what they did in georgia, what obviously seen that they have done in ukraine and using cyber im asking this for your perspective because i think putin understands he cant beat us on land, in the air, on the sea or under the sea and he cant beat us in space. He thinks he can beat us in cyber. You want to comment about how serious this cyber attack, problem from russia is including our own country in the attacks we have seen here . It is the data that represents our system. I think we ought to think about how we protect that data and how we use that date to to facilitate the democratic process in the United States. An example that i used publicly. If youll forgive me and ill use now is its much easier to tamper with Registration Data than it is to tamper with voting data. If i wanted to complicate an election any where in the world i would make it more difficult for people to vote to change the record of their votes. So as we look at our system which is distributed across every state and every in those 50 states we need to be really careful we dont make that assertion that system is protected because of its diversity in distribution. I think we ought to think about the value of the data on all of us. Our voting records in terms hof how we register and how it matters for future elections. That way no one who wants to intervene in an election will have the capacity to change our willinge willingness for the elected leaders of our country. So for example it could be something as simple as going into the registration records and deleting registrations. So a person shows up and they say mr. Jones, im sorry, youre not registered. They show up on election day or something as easy as going in and changing addresses so that it fouls up the Registration System of what precinct that youre in. Yes, sir. It could be something as simple as this. It would hugely complicate especially in a place like florida that has had tremendous complications with its voting, which that has reduced long lines that are some times as lorng as seven hours. You can imagine with people try to go contest the fact that they show up on election day and they say they are not registered and they know they are and they are trying to prove that they are and how that would foul up all of the other voters standing in line. Its an extraordinary and scary thought. Since im the last one here i just want to ask you another question. What is your experience . Would you share with the committee your experience where your own privacy has been invade on your personal accounts . Is that something you feel comfortable in sharing or i think it would be very helpful for the committee to either know that publicly or privately. Yes, sir. I would share this small amount of information publicly. Immediately following the opm breech were significant amounts of information made available through a loss of data about 48 hours later. I was locked out of one of my bank and investment accounts as a consequence attempting to use information that was likely garnered from that information. It was an opm breach. A letter notified me it was in fact part of the breach, so thats an example. I can assure you for to hour and a half it took to make sure my data and investments were secure and my intention was not devoted to the task at hand. And are you aware that that has happened to other high ranking United States military officers . Yes, sir. I think that states it, mr. Chairman, thank you. Thank you. I sat in my wagon with my dog. I watched. There was a Clothing Store called jacks place. I saw a guy come out with ten hats on his head letter rally in a stack and carrying bundles of things, clothes with him. The 1967 detroit rite rooi yachts. American history tv is live from the Detroit Free Press news room. It gave the order, dont shoot, be cool. That was the order. Word got out. Word got out and suddenly theres 50,000 people on 12 streets. The 1967 detroit riots on American History tv on cspan 3. Sunday night how operatives and fake news control what you think and how you vote. So you dont stick up for mccain. You hanld the Washington Post who you feel has not properly reported on this incident as opposed to saying hey, donald trump, why are you smearing john mccain . Number two, im not here to cheer on or defend john mccane. I think it certainly doesnt mean i support him or im cheering him on. It is misread often as you must be supporting him or you must not like x or y because you have said this. It has nothing to do with that. It is what i see as fair or accurate media kof rang. Watch sunday night at 9 00 eastern on book tv. In about 20 minutes the house budget Committee Meets to mark up the budget for the 2018 fiscal year. Until it gets aroundway well show you to amendments expected