Our meeting will come to order consistent with policies to start on time. Well be doing that. Good morning today were considering the nomination of mark esper to be secretary of defense. We thank all for being here today. We anticipate doing your opening remarks, dr. Esper, introduce any members of your family here and other support groups. It is standard we have the eight required questions to respond to audibly to get that in record. Adhere to laws governing conflict of interest. Yes, sir. Assumed duties taken any actions that would appear to presume the outcome of the confirmation process . No, sir. Exercise legislative oversight responsibility makes it important that this committee, its subcommittees and other appropriate kmtsz if congress received testimony, reports, recordings and other information from the executive branch on a timely basis. Do you agree, if confirmed, to and and testify before this committee when requested. Yes, sir. Do you agree to provide records, document, E
Marshall, who became a virginian, like dr. Esper. He spent the majority of his life in the armed service, the u. S. Military academy at west point. He continued through his carrier in the Army Active Guard reserve, service to the white house, service to this body. In fact, dr. Esper has seen it all as an active guard and reserve member. Work in the private sector, think tanks on National Security policy, service to house and senate committees, service to individual senators, and service to republican administrations. You are familiar with his biography, but i wanted to share two instances of working with dr. Esper, which has led me to the conclusion he is the person of character who should lead the department. One of the first phone calls i received after introduced legislation to address challenges with the and with the unacceptably high Unemployment Rate of Military Spouses was from then secretary esper. He thanked me for the legislation, and talked about his own concern about this a
The theme this year was the 75th anniversary of dday. Next, on american artifacts, we visit an exhibit about world war ii soviet soldiers. Craig my name is craig hall. I basically consider myself an amateur military historian. I do various impressions. This impression here today is to represent the contribution of the soviet union as an ally of the americans and the british, to helping them win world war ii. We have to give equal credit to our allies. Some would say, we couldnt have done it by ourselves, but the point is and people ask me why do i do this impression. I think because the reason is that we need to tell the story about the eastern front. If you dont understand what happened on the eastern front, you dont understand world war ii. The soviets made a significant contribution to winning that war. Now, for example, what i normally do is, on my display on the table over here, i have a National Geographic magazine dated may, 1944. The first article in it has to do with the liber
January. Mr. Esper, currently Army Secretary, was asked about u. S. Policy toward iran, cybersecurity, and Nuclear Deterrence, among other topics. This is just over 2. 5 hours. Requirede the 8 questions you will have to respond to audibly so we can get that in the record. If you would hear to the regulations of interest . Yes sir. Have you taken any actions that would appear to presume the outcome of the confirmation process . No, sir. Exercising your responsibility makes it important that this committee, subcommittees, and other appropriate committees if congress received testimony briefings, reports, recordings, records, and other information from the executive branch on a timely basis. Do you agree, it is confirmed, to testify before this committee . Yes, sir. Do you agree to provide records, documents, Electronic Communications in a timely matter when requested by this committee, subcommittees, or other appropriate committees of congress, and to results with the request or basis of
Boy, 18,small town 19yearold from montana, survived the war effort and came lost two thirds of his squadron, and came back to a cattle ranch in montana. He had this amazing name that totally fit what we were doing. It shows that we are interested in honoring the world war ii history, so we are to make some history with it. We spruced up the nose art a little bit. We are happy to share some of that history with the rest of the state and anybody around the world who would like to listen. So this airplane, to get it airborne after 18 years, luckily, we were able to keep it in the hangar here. So corrosion issues were not a weathered flight controls. We knew when we decided to take this project on that we would have to set our sights at half to do the restoration we want . 5 million to do to bring the airplane up to modern standards, with the avionics and most importantly, the engines, to be able to safely take the airplane and its crew across the Atlantic Ocean not once, but twice. Know,