Of our destiny. Watch sunday night 8 00 on cspans q a. Michae Navy Vice Admiral l appearing at his confirmation hearing today to be chief of operations. He took questions and was asked about some of the challenges facing the u. S. Including russia, china, and iran. This is chaired by senator jim inhofe of oklahoma. Good morning. Thank you for being here, also extending a welcome to your family and want to invite you to introduce anyone at the time that you are recognized for an Opening Statement. Have our eight boring questions that are required so if you would please audibly respond to them so that we can have them in the record. Have you adhered to the regulations governing interests . Yes, senator. Will you ensure that your staff complies and including questions for the record and hearings . Yes. Will you cooperate and providing response to congressional requests . Yes. Will those witnesses be redacted for reprisal . Yes. Do you justify upon the request before the committee . Yes. To theou agree constituting committee or to consult with the Committee Regarding the basis of any good faith delay or denial and providing such documents . Yes, senator. Have you assumed any duties or undertaken any actions which would appear to presume the outcome of the confirming process . No, i have not. Strategytional defense directs our nations military to prepare for the return of strategic competition. This means we must be prepared to deter and if necessary nearively defeat potential adversaries like china and russia. It is a different world now that we have had before. I mean most American People just assume that we in america had the best of everything and we have watched whats happened over the last decade in fact, thats not true. Alarming speed and monetization of both conventional and nuclear forces, china and russia present formidable threats to america and our allies. One example of this is according to the office of naval intelligence, the chinese navy is going more than 20 times faster than our navy. 20 times faster than our navy. At a rate of about 11 ships annually and the capability of those ships is increasing as well. The stuff they have is new stuff and that is pretty scary. Playavy has a key role to in this competition, however i am concerned that the navy may be out of balance in each of these areas. Our ships appear under undermanned with destroyers manning roughly 85 , under maintained with more than 6 of ships running along and maintenance and more than 1. 8 billion in maintenance needs are unfunded, and the third area under equipped, the key capabilities like fully functional glass carriers and missionst ship are significantly delayed. Overall it seems to me that the navy is having trouble maintaining todays fleet of 291 ships and the challenges will only grow as the fleet surpasses 2022hips by 2020, 310 by on the way to our 355 ship navy. Not just the is problems that we have. You have had an operational career so you are not involved in all of this stuff but you are inheriting it with this physician. The navy must First Sustainable our currentain fleet. Technical risks must be better understood, major new systems without better acquisition performance in relation to competitive advantages that they will accelerate. This is a critical time for our navy, and your leadership is coming along just about the right time. Thank you, sir. Thank you cspanwj very much, mr. Chairman. Thank you very much mr. Chairman. I want to welcome admiral gildr ay. You have served the nation and the navy with Exemplary Service for many, many years and we thank you for that and we thank you for your willingness to continue to serve. Exemplaryou have an have nd i believe you if you are confirmed, you will be tasked with recruiting and maintaining a quality force and ensuring that force contains the necessary structure and readiness levels and are able to respond to tomorrows threats. Withavy is already tasked the compounded challenge to recapitalize the Ballistic Missile submarine fleet that was built in the 1980s. The navy is struggling to support the ships and aircraft we already have in inventory including have some submarines unable to conduct operations. In addition, if you are confirmed, you will face the challenge of lamenting programs for readiness and professionalism in the navy fleet to avoid preventable accidents like the mccain and fitzgerald. I am interested in your vision of the navy and how would you go about making that vision a reality. You also be responsible for ensuring that the navy quickly provides acceptable housing for all of it Service Members and changes the navy system for overseeing Family Housing to ensure that Navy Commanders assume a sense of ownership of the housing situation and prevent a repeat of the poor conditions that we found. We live in Tumultuous Times and many core values are being tested. I am concerned that such times can have a corrosive effect on our military personnel. It has never been more important that our navy has principal leaders that adhere to a moral code that can serve as an example to all. Demand, we expect and and i am confident that you will be that leader. Thank you for your commitment to the nation. I must apologize because i must go to a hearing at the appropriations committee, but i will return. I shall return, thank you. Thank you, senator. We will await your return. Admiral, it is nice to have you and we would like you to proceed with your Opening Statement. Your entire statement will be made a part of the record. Proceed. Lray thank you for the privilege and the opportunity of appearing before you today. It is deeply humbling and an honor to be here. I am grateful for the confidence of the president of the United States, the secretary of defense, and the secretary of the navy in nominating me to be the next chief of naval operations. Most americans associate the strength of the navy with great ships at sea. But the true sources of our naval power are the people and the loved ones who support them. My family is no different. My father enlisted in the navy right out of high school. Today,er, who is here rates five sons along his side until my dads passing a few years ago. Past 24 years, my wife linda has been a constant source of inspiration. Despite moving around the world with me, she has maintained a successful career in both the private and public sectors while raising our two sons. Our oldest is a sophomore at the university of virginia and could not be here due to rotc training. Michael,er brother, soon to be freshman at auburn is here today as well as other members of my family. But like countless military families around the world, my familys love, resourcefulness, and support have made my Naval Service possible. I o everything to them. Navy facey and our many challenges both now and in the future. To ensureed, i intend our navy remains focused on our role within the joint force and protecting the American Homeland an defending american interests. The priorities of the National Defense strategy are clear. Powerue north is great competition in russia and in china. It is our duty to ensure that we can operate, fight, and win across the spectrum from peaceful presence to violent conflict. Thats in all domains. Lethality it is about , producing and fielding a naval credible force with global reach capable of deterring any potential adversary and protecting our nations interest at all time. Sustaining our readiness and modernizing our navy will be my top priorities. Focused decisions to rapidly mature, acquire, and field cutting Edge Technologies and integrating them into joint operating concepts will be key to ensure that our navy always fights from a position of advantage. Among a network of allies and partners unmatched by any rival as the preeminent navy in the world. A commitment to you is navy ready to respond to the nations call both now and in the future. Navy citizensnd remain our competitive advantage. We owe them principal leadership, transparent and accountable processes, and efficient resources to do their jobs effectively. In that was next, i want to thank this committee for your funding. I thank you for your time and consideration today. I am truly honored to be part of the greatest navy in the world and if confirmed, i will work closely with this committee and this congress as we prepare to meet the challenges ahead. I am grateful for your consideration of my nomination and look forward to your questions. Thank you. Thank you. We are going to have a five minute questions round. I am going to begin and im going to ask you a question that will be lengthy, then two short questions that i will ask you to respond, because they would require lengthy responses. I mentioned the uss gerald ford in my statement. The ship was accepted by the nearly twolete, years late in 2017, 2. 5 billion over budget and 9 of 11 weapons elevators still dont work with costs continuing to grow. The ford is a numerical replacement for the uss enterprise, which was decommissioned in 2012. Since then weve had 10 operational Aircraft Carriers, despite the requirement for 12 and this mismatch continues to place a heavy burden on the fleet to do more with less. The ford was awarded to a sole source contractor on a contractplus contract with four new immature technologies that had next to no testing and had never been integrated on a ship. A new radar, catapult resting , gear and weapons elevators, which i mentioned in our Opening Statement. The navy entered into this contract in 2008, which combined with other contracts have ballooned the cost of the ship more than 13 billion without understanding the technical risk, cost or schedule. This ought to be criminal. I first became exposed to this when i was down there, on sight. On site. Its a great ship. Weve got to do it. Weve got to keep up with as we mentioned other countries such as that are creating a problem and becoming very competitive. So we have to do it, but we have to do a better job. I sense at that time that was the sole source, that there was a level of arrogance that didnt really make any difference that the elevators dont work, you know. If youre carrying ordinance in elevators and they dont work, thats not much good in the field. So since that time, the secretary of the navy told the president , quote, elevators will be ready to go when she pulls out or you can fire me. Remember that . Well, they still dont work. At that time, the ford was supposed to pull out from its Maintenance Period this month. The departure has since been delayed to october. Even with this delay, only two of the 11 elevators will be ready in october, nine elevators will not be ready and likely not complete until 2020 or later. The secretarys promise to the president months ago either acknowledges poor facts or poor judgment, the latest example of navy leaders not being straightforward when it comes to the program. Thats quite a charge, isnt it . When you see this happening, and seemingly theres nothing we can do about it. This is going to be dumped in your lap and i would like to have your thoughts on my opening comments about that particular ford class. What are your thoughts . Mr. Chairman did we do a good job . Sir, so i share your concern and i agree with your assessment. Including the fact that we will likely only have two, perhaps four elevators operational by the time ford leaves for availability in the fall. Its still unacceptable. We need all 11 elevators working in order to give us the kind of redundancy and combat readiness that the american taxpayer has invested in that ship. Of course, you know its more than just the elevators . Thats right. The other inefficiencies ive mentioned. We have had 23 new technologies introduced to that ship as you know. Of those four were immature when we commissioned ford in 2017. We have seen progress in the launching systems, arresting gear and also with the dual band radar. So, the reliability of those systems is trending in the right direction and actually where we want them to be. Its the elevators, i think, that is the remaining big hurdle to get over to get that ship at sea and finally deployed. Okay. On that one, when you are confirmed, i believe you will be, would you agree it would be wise to report to us on a monthly basis as to the progress that is being made . Yes, sir, i commit to that and complete transparency as well as taking what we learned from the ford and ensuring that we dont commit those same mistakes again in the columbia class and other ships that we need in the next few years. Appreciate that. Two for the record. One that we mentioned in the Opening Statement the navy seems , to be out of balance, maintenance delays and unfunded work and major acquisition delays. I would like to have, for the record you to respond as to your , view of the overall state of the navy. Is it balanced . Were positioning ourselves to 355 ship navy, and where we are with that. Many of them will come out in the course of this hearing. And the second question for the record would be by 2023, the fleet is expected to grow 314 ships with several new lead ships. This addresses the lead ship performance problems that weve been under. And i would like to have you kind of give an answer for the record on your view of the recent lead ship performances and what youre going to do differently to adequate to ensure adequate technical prior technical foundations in place prior to the procedure. If you would do that for the record, i would appreciate it very much. Senator shaheen. Thank you, mr. Chairman. Congratulations, admiral gilday, and thank you to you and your family for being willing to consider this position at this critical time in our countrys history. I also appreciated your visit last week. One of the things we talked about is our Public Shipyards. I am very concerned what happens at Portsmouth Naval shipyard. I know that you have been invited by both senator king and i to visit the shipyard. We hope youll do that. But one of the things all our shipyards need is investment. I support the Navy Shipyard opt medication plan released february of 2018, and it focuses among other things on increasing dry dock capacity and improving facility layout. Again, Critical Issues for the Portsmouth Naval shipyard. Do you believe the navys Public Shipyards require significant Infrastructure Investment in order to increase capacity and modernize our force . I absolutely do. It is a Critical Partnership with those public yards as well as the communities around them. So that skilled work force obviously comes from those communities. That partnership runs long and deep from within the navy, our requirements and acquisition specialists all the way to partnerships we have with the shipyards and people that provide the Skilled Labor. And youre committed to doing everything you can to moving forward with that Optimization Plan . Yes, maam. Thank you. The other issue was secretary spencers visit to the shipyard, reassurances that Construction Projects there on the dry dock would continue to move forward despite the president s Emergency Declaration to take military Construction Funding for the border wall. Can you give us an update on the status of any funds that may be diverted for the portable for the border wall . I am not aware of funds now at this point that are diverted to the border wall that effect the portsmouth shipyard. I appreciate that. One of the challenges looking at the virginia last submarines and the need to continue to modernize them is that we dont have the parts that we need to continue to do what we need to for the virginia class. We are cannibalizing parts from other ships to update them. Can you talk about what else the navy can do to address limited availability of virginia class submarine parts . Yes, maam. I think the challenges that we have in virginia extend to some of the other ship classes that we also have problems with parts availability on. It is the focus of the department to ensure we have the right parts and requirements identified well before ships go in the shipyard so we dont have delays. Which is part of the problem with production line the past three years, and trends the chairman indicated in his Opening Statement. I will look at virginia class and other ships, as part of other limiting factors to look at to ensure production line continues to flow as it should. Right. One of the critical elements are our Small Businesses throughout this country, who are suppliers to be bigger companies, but without those Small Businesses we dont have the other pieces , we need to keep construction moving and big part of that is making sure that those Small Businesses have opportunity to get contracts. I hope youll also do everything you can to ensure that that continues. Senator, i will. I consider them part of the team. Your point is well taken on ensuring there are no constraints to being able to contribute to where we need to go. Thank you. Now i would like to ask about one of the conflict areas that we have in the world. As you know, tensions in the persian gulf have escalated, with iran attacking commercial shipping vessels and shooting down our drone. Can you talk about what you think the situation is in the persian gulf and what we might do to deescalate tensions there . Yes, maam. The department of defense is firmly in support of a department of state led effort to bring iran back to the negotiating table on the nuclear deal. The focus of u. S. Central command with the navy in support as well as other services is to have sufficient resources in theater to both protect the forces that we have in theater now