Transcripts For CSPAN Defense Secretary Esper Discussion On

The readiness of our u. S. Armed forces. Nearlywe are joined by 1000 who have registered for this very important event. Despite our attention being focused on other things and the lead up to the election, there may be no more vital of a topic were our country than this. Americans have had the good fortune of living in unparalleled freedom and prosperity for nearly two it or 50 years. 250 years. By a gifts are maintained ready military preventing our adversaries from destroying what so many of us as americans have had the opportunity to experience. President Ronald Reagan said that a truly successful military is one that because of its strength and ability and dedication would not be called upon to fight because no one would dare provoke it. Peace through strength. And that is how we won the cold war against the mill the biggest enemy in history. Yet, at a time when this nation diseaseng from a deadly outbreak, racial in just an economic up evil, of people, upheaval but, we know we cannot do that. Our adversaries are looking to grow stronger. North koreas threatened missile strikes. Iran continues to be the largest state sponsor of terrorism in the world. Russia and china, their governments have attempted to influence our elections, invaded our allies and spread propaganda throughout our media. They also continue to build up their militaries to use for aggression, not to maintain peace. The u. S. Has maintained military superiority for so long that many take it for granted. Far from guaranteed. If we do not continue to invest ships,acing decades old planes, tanks, and other equipment, we will soon fall behind. Too late to may be catch up. Given that our forces may also we need tombered, look at every option to ensure that they are well trained, well prepared for the rigors of combat. And finally, we need to always consider what we can do to take better care of those willing to put their lives on the line for this country. The department of defense under the stellar leadership of secretary asper has pledged to rebuild u. S. Military readiness and they have made quite progress but there are challenges that still remain. The secretary is here today to tell us what we as a nation must do to preserve americas founding promises of peace and prosperity and freedom for this and for future generations. And how we might help. But first, let me give you a little background. Per saw combat in the gulf war with the 101st airborne of screaming eagles. Division of the u. S. Army. He later commanded a Rifle Company in an airborne battalion combat team. After leaving active duty, this highly decorated veteran chose to join us here at the Heritage Foundation and serve as our chief of staff while continuing his military service in the National Guard and the army reserve. He eventually left heritage and became a senior staffer on both the Senate Foreign relations and Senate Government affairs committees. He also was a policy director for the House Armed Services committee and the First National security advisor for former Senate Majority leader bill frist. He also served as a Deputy Assistant secretary of defense under president george w bush. Later, he would work in a number private sector positions including chief operating officer and executive Vice President at Aerospace Industries association, executive Vice President of the u. S. Chamber of commerce, and Vice President for Government Relations at raytheon. 2017, he was nominated by President Trump and confirmed as secretary of the army. In 2019, he was nominated and confirmed as secretary of defense. It is truly an honor and a privilege to welcome to the Heritage Foundation and welcome home, i might add, one of our distinguished alumni and a dear friend of this organization, secretary of defense mike as for esper, secretary esper. Sec. Esper good afternoon, foryone and thank you kay that generous introduction and a big thank you to the Heritage Foundation for hostessing this discussion about the successes of the department of defense and the challenges in this era of great power competition. Our strategic competitors, china and russia, are attempting to a road our hardearned gains as they under Main International undermine International Norms and use score should against other nations for their own benefit. We continue to see this behavior globally from beijings predatory aggressions in the east and south china seas to. Ussias violations when i was confirmed as secretary of defense in 2019, i made my top priority the irreversible implementation of a National Defense prodigy. Work toategy guides our protect our advantages and to defend a free and open global order along three lines of effort. Improving the legality and readiness of the force. Second, strengthening allies in building partners. The departmentg for greater efficiency and accountability. I also added a fourth personal priority. Taking care of our Service Members and their families. We have made great progress on all of these rents which we distilled into 10 targeted goals to drive change across the entire Defense Department enterprise. From focusing the department on china to developing coordinated guidance to strengthen allies in the partners. From modernizing the force by investing in Game Changing technologies to reforming. And from reallocating, reassigning and deploying forces in accordance with the nds to developing a new joint were fighting concept just to name a few. I havent weeks, discussed our progress and several of these areas including modernization and our plan for our future naval fleet of over 500 chips. Today, i would like to highlight our efforts on another top 10 goals. Achieving higher levels of sustainable readiness. Defineit is important to what readiness really means for the u. S. Armed forces. Simply put, it refers to our militarys ability to answer the nations call and to fight and win any time, anywhere. The traininged of and equipment we provide our soldiers, sailors, airmen, marines, and professionals as well as the deployment and the maintenance schedules that drive our operations in the way we keep our Service Members physically strong in mentally tough. The bottom line is that each part of the readiness life sequence is vital to preparing and enabling our men and women in uniform to successfully execute their mission. The question we must answer is this if called upon to fight tonight, are we ready . Today, given our efforts over the past few years, i am fully confident that the answer to that question is a resounding yes. I will explain why in a few minutes because first i want to show through historical example how we learned the hard way the cost of not being ready. 1950, at the beginning of the korean war, and understrengthed battalion and toillery battery of close 500 american soldiers rapidly deploy to the outbreak of that conflict to a position north of osan, south korea to delay the invading north korean forces. These then known as Task Force Smith arrived about the standard kit of a Regimental Team defenses. Tank air they had little ammunition and their training was inadequate. Few of them had any combat experience. And their antitank weapons were ineffective. Yet they would soon encounter thousands of enemy forces and dozens of north korean tanks. Outgunned why heavy armor and outmaneuvered, Task Force Smith was forced to retreat suffering heavy casualties in the process. Osan demonstrated the failure to understand the mission and their responsibilities leaving american troops unprepared with obsolete equipment and heavily outmanned. To include my, time on active duty as an infantry officer in the 1980s, the training imperative of the army was no more Task Force Smiths. That must remain our mantra today. Our security apartment looks much different 70 years later but the lessons we learned about the importance of readiness remain with us. The u. S. E nds requires military to focus on repairing for a highend fight against adversaries. To do so, we must acknowledge that for the past two decades, attention wasour focused on low intensity conflicts against insurgents. Years of insufficient budgets and sequestration cuts caused significant damage to our readiness until 2017 when we were able to begin reversing course by adding over 200 billion dollars to our budget for fiscal year 2019. Over the past few years, the onartment has refocused readiness along three major categories. People, policy, and performance. Each of which i want to outline in greater detail. The the permit has made department has the aim of creating more ready forces with greater readiness and less on verdict ability. We recognize the need to balance modernization within the bands of current operation. Have a pool ofst available resources and deploy them with greater agility. Finally, we must be more disciplined in how we manage this ready supply from the services with the requests of combatant commanders. In addressing this challenge, the department has undertaken two major policy shifts. First, implementing Dynamic Force employment deployment to introduce operational uncertainty into our adversaries calculus to take advantage of Global Opportunities and emergent situations, and to test readiness. Second, increasing the number of highly ready Immediate Response forces and contingent units, and providing greater Central Authority to use them globally the force. O tailor combined, these policy shifts have enabled us to think and act globally with speed unencumbered individualon of combatant commands. This construct has also allowed us to be much more confident in force preparedness while also creating predictability and efficiency within our programming and budgeting system. A particularly salient example is the Bomber Task Force concept. In april of this year, i approved an air force construct to improve the readiness and strategic flexibility of our bomber force, moving away from a presence on guam. This change was necessary to complement beijings decisionmaking and to stop them from targeting our assets. The impact of the Bomber Task Force concept extends beyond the pacific and offers a range of options in multiple theaters. In august, bombers supported by a robust tanker brigade over flu over ato countries flew over all 30 nato countries in a single day. This robust show of force by gooad coalition did not unnoticed by moscow. A strong message of our commitment to our allies and partners. Moreover, the air force continues to maintain a heightened roster of readiness to deploy fighters on short notice, as we did last year to support saudi arabia following irans attacks on its soil. Another example, the aftermath against iranrikes backed malicious sites last year. On december 31, pentagon leaders were informed of a protest outside the u. S. Embassy in baghdad followed hours later by the notice of a possible embassy breach. This triggered and deployed and immediately response force, which was successfully accomplished within 19 hours of the incident. Over the next three days, the equipmentrigade and were deployed halfway around the world to secure american lives and property in iraq. Have also executed multiple short notice movements under Dynamic Force deployment. This includes deployment of the uss dwight d. Eisenhower earlier this year, which forced the ike to remain at sea for seven months to continue Maritime Operations in the middle east. It also includes the Rapid Deployment of the comfort and Mercy Hospital ships to the east and west coasts of the United States in march to provide medical support in covid hospitals to support the american people. , the department has trained for competition, to ensure that people are less likely to serve in backtoback deployments all while improving the quality of life. On path forward also relies Service Level training and professional military Level Education that develops the expertise of our force on Chinese Military systems, tactics, and doctrine, much like my generation did when we studied the soviet armed forces during the cold war. As part of our top 10 goals on china, i directed the National Defense university to refocus its curriculum by dedicating 50 of the coursework to china by Academic Year 2021. I also tasked military services to make the Peoples Liberation army the facing threat in our programs,al schools, and training. Another critical factor is the size and composition of our force, which we now track in ways we never did before. We have added 30,000 military personnel to our ranks since 2016 and made great gains by maximizing the number of servicemembers we are able to deploy at any given time. Close seniorult of level Senior Leadership attention to needed reforms such medically resolving conditions to enable Service Members to get back to service. Ultimately, we passed our goal of 5 of the force, increasing readiness by returning tens of thousands of personnel to fully deployable status within months. The nondeployable population has decreased well over 50 , meaning many more soldiers are available for a potential highend fight if called upon to go. Since 2017, the air force has recruited and trained 4600 additional maintenance personnel , which, coupled with additional investments, drove a 19 increase overall. The number ofme, sailors operational is at its highest point since 2014. Meanwhile, we are doing everything in our power to balance the inexorable demands of overseas deployments with readiness in our Service Members commitments at home. One of our first tasks is to determine how deployment will impact worklife timelines. By increasing and monitoring these thresholds, we are making sure every war fighter and unit has adequate time to recover from their last deployment while training to prepare for their next one. , we aree personal note supporting personal moments in families lives. We aim to generate enough readiness for today and tomorrow. Key to our peoples ability to execute their mission is their resiliency and wellbeing. This is why we continue to take steps to improve Service Members quality of life, including by expanding the availability of childcare, helping spouses sustain their careers, improving housing, and providing Mental Health resources. Focusedso why we remain on reinforcing Ethical Leadership across the force, fostering trust in the chain of command and promoting inclusion and equal opportunity for all. Performance,rding the department is working alongside Industry Partners to improve maintenance and investing inhile highend training and exercise to increase the proficiency of the force. Many of our aircraft have undergone extended maintenance and much needed upgrades over the past few years to substantially increase readiness levels. This includes the f18 hornet, has increased to 80 as of last year. The navy to vested from the oldest legacy hornets and harnessed more than 14,000 repairable items. Managements were made to the aircraft undergoing depot repair and increase workforce deployment as a result. We now have more ready aircraft on the pipelines and pilots with greater efficiency and experience. The 2021 budget aimed to strengthen war fighting readiness with a balanced mix of fighter aircraft, including f35s, to ensure american readiness. As we transition to new platforms, we continue to restore and maintain legacy items, such as the heavy lift transport helicopter. The marine corps has improved its Mission Capable right rate since 2017 and returned 30 helicopters to full Mission Capable status, supporting the execution of more than 400 thousand flight hours in training and operational flights. Overall, Navy Readiness has been on an upward trend thanks to increases in readiness funding and improvements in processes, including the hiring of hundreds of additional shipyard personnel. Shipresult, on time maintenance rates have increased considerably, which i was pleased to see during my visit to shipyards in virginia and connecticut. Further, the navy is investing 20 billion over the next 20 years to modernize our aging shipyards, recognizing the impact these improvements will have on our goal for battle force 2045, the modern navy i outlined last week. Forcer force and space have also made significant progress across satellite constellations and mission stats. We have actively included the development of integrated systems. Key to this has been our investment in weapons sustainment, with a 9 funding inrease in improvements training opportunities. And first, frontline units have seen increased readiness as high as 45 over the past two years. Meanwhile, we have enhanced byund combat capabilities converting to Ronald Reagan<\/a> said that a truly successful military is one that because of its strength and ability and dedication would not be called upon to fight because no one would dare provoke it. Peace through strength. And that is how we won the cold war against the mill the biggest enemy in history. Yet, at a time when this nation diseaseng from a deadly outbreak, racial in just an economic up evil, of people, upheaval but, we know we cannot do that. Our adversaries are looking to grow stronger. North koreas threatened missile strikes. Iran continues to be the largest state sponsor of terrorism in the world. Russia and china, their governments have attempted to influence our elections, invaded our allies and spread propaganda throughout our media. They also continue to build up their militaries to use for aggression, not to maintain peace. The u. S. Has maintained military superiority for so long that many take it for granted. Far from guaranteed. If we do not continue to invest ships,acing decades old planes, tanks, and other equipment, we will soon fall behind. Too late to may be catch up. Given that our forces may also we need tombered, look at every option to ensure that they are well trained, well prepared for the rigors of combat. And finally, we need to always consider what we can do to take better care of those willing to put their lives on the line for this country. The department of defense under the stellar leadership of secretary asper has pledged to rebuild u. S. Military readiness and they have made quite progress but there are challenges that still remain. The secretary is here today to tell us what we as a nation must do to preserve americas founding promises of peace and prosperity and freedom for this and for future generations. And how we might help. But first, let me give you a little background. Per saw combat in the gulf war with the 101st airborne of screaming eagles. Division of the u. S. Army. He later commanded a Rifle Company<\/a> in an airborne battalion combat team. After leaving active duty, this highly decorated veteran chose to join us here at the Heritage Foundation<\/a> and serve as our chief of staff while continuing his military service in the National Guard<\/a> and the army reserve. He eventually left heritage and became a senior staffer on both the Senate Foreign<\/a> relations and Senate Government<\/a> affairs committees. He also was a policy director for the House Armed Services<\/a> committee and the First National<\/a> security advisor for former Senate Majority<\/a> leader bill frist. He also served as a Deputy Assistant<\/a> secretary of defense under president george w bush. Later, he would work in a number private sector positions including chief operating officer and executive Vice President<\/a> at Aerospace Industries<\/a> association, executive Vice President<\/a> of the u. S. Chamber of commerce, and Vice President<\/a> for Government Relations<\/a> at raytheon. 2017, he was nominated by President Trump<\/a> and confirmed as secretary of the army. In 2019, he was nominated and confirmed as secretary of defense. It is truly an honor and a privilege to welcome to the Heritage Foundation<\/a> and welcome home, i might add, one of our distinguished alumni and a dear friend of this organization, secretary of defense mike as for esper, secretary esper. Sec. Esper good afternoon, foryone and thank you kay that generous introduction and a big thank you to the Heritage Foundation<\/a> for hostessing this discussion about the successes of the department of defense and the challenges in this era of great power competition. Our strategic competitors, china and russia, are attempting to a road our hardearned gains as they under Main International<\/a> undermine International Norms<\/a> and use score should against other nations for their own benefit. We continue to see this behavior globally from beijings predatory aggressions in the east and south china seas to. Ussias violations when i was confirmed as secretary of defense in 2019, i made my top priority the irreversible implementation of a National Defense<\/a> prodigy. Work toategy guides our protect our advantages and to defend a free and open global order along three lines of effort. Improving the legality and readiness of the force. Second, strengthening allies in building partners. The departmentg for greater efficiency and accountability. I also added a fourth personal priority. Taking care of our Service Members<\/a> and their families. We have made great progress on all of these rents which we distilled into 10 targeted goals to drive change across the entire Defense Department<\/a> enterprise. From focusing the department on china to developing coordinated guidance to strengthen allies in the partners. From modernizing the force by investing in Game Changing<\/a> technologies to reforming. And from reallocating, reassigning and deploying forces in accordance with the nds to developing a new joint were fighting concept just to name a few. I havent weeks, discussed our progress and several of these areas including modernization and our plan for our future naval fleet of over 500 chips. Today, i would like to highlight our efforts on another top 10 goals. Achieving higher levels of sustainable readiness. Defineit is important to what readiness really means for the u. S. Armed forces. Simply put, it refers to our militarys ability to answer the nations call and to fight and win any time, anywhere. The traininged of and equipment we provide our soldiers, sailors, airmen, marines, and professionals as well as the deployment and the maintenance schedules that drive our operations in the way we keep our Service Members<\/a> physically strong in mentally tough. The bottom line is that each part of the readiness life sequence is vital to preparing and enabling our men and women in uniform to successfully execute their mission. The question we must answer is this if called upon to fight tonight, are we ready . Today, given our efforts over the past few years, i am fully confident that the answer to that question is a resounding yes. I will explain why in a few minutes because first i want to show through historical example how we learned the hard way the cost of not being ready. 1950, at the beginning of the korean war, and understrengthed battalion and toillery battery of close 500 american soldiers rapidly deploy to the outbreak of that conflict to a position north of osan, south korea to delay the invading north korean forces. These then known as Task Force Smith<\/a> arrived about the standard kit of a Regimental Team<\/a> defenses. Tank air they had little ammunition and their training was inadequate. Few of them had any combat experience. And their antitank weapons were ineffective. Yet they would soon encounter thousands of enemy forces and dozens of north korean tanks. Outgunned why heavy armor and outmaneuvered, Task Force Smith<\/a> was forced to retreat suffering heavy casualties in the process. Osan demonstrated the failure to understand the mission and their responsibilities leaving american troops unprepared with obsolete equipment and heavily outmanned. To include my, time on active duty as an infantry officer in the 1980s, the training imperative of the army was no more Task Force Smith<\/a>s. That must remain our mantra today. Our security apartment looks much different 70 years later but the lessons we learned about the importance of readiness remain with us. The u. S. E nds requires military to focus on repairing for a highend fight against adversaries. To do so, we must acknowledge that for the past two decades, attention wasour focused on low intensity conflicts against insurgents. Years of insufficient budgets and sequestration cuts caused significant damage to our readiness until 2017 when we were able to begin reversing course by adding over 200 billion dollars to our budget for fiscal year 2019. Over the past few years, the onartment has refocused readiness along three major categories. People, policy, and performance. Each of which i want to outline in greater detail. The the permit has made department has the aim of creating more ready forces with greater readiness and less on verdict ability. We recognize the need to balance modernization within the bands of current operation. Have a pool ofst available resources and deploy them with greater agility. Finally, we must be more disciplined in how we manage this ready supply from the services with the requests of combatant commanders. In addressing this challenge, the department has undertaken two major policy shifts. First, implementing Dynamic Force<\/a> employment deployment to introduce operational uncertainty into our adversaries calculus to take advantage of Global Opportunities<\/a> and emergent situations, and to test readiness. Second, increasing the number of highly ready Immediate Response<\/a> forces and contingent units, and providing greater Central Authority<\/a> to use them globally the force. O tailor combined, these policy shifts have enabled us to think and act globally with speed unencumbered individualon of combatant commands. This construct has also allowed us to be much more confident in force preparedness while also creating predictability and efficiency within our programming and budgeting system. A particularly salient example is the Bomber Task Force<\/a> concept. In april of this year, i approved an air force construct to improve the readiness and strategic flexibility of our bomber force, moving away from a presence on guam. This change was necessary to complement beijings decisionmaking and to stop them from targeting our assets. The impact of the Bomber Task Force<\/a> concept extends beyond the pacific and offers a range of options in multiple theaters. In august, bombers supported by a robust tanker brigade over flu over ato countries flew over all 30 nato countries in a single day. This robust show of force by gooad coalition did not unnoticed by moscow. A strong message of our commitment to our allies and partners. Moreover, the air force continues to maintain a heightened roster of readiness to deploy fighters on short notice, as we did last year to support saudi arabia following irans attacks on its soil. Another example, the aftermath against iranrikes backed malicious sites last year. On december 31, pentagon leaders were informed of a protest outside the u. S. Embassy in baghdad followed hours later by the notice of a possible embassy breach. This triggered and deployed and immediately response force, which was successfully accomplished within 19 hours of the incident. Over the next three days, the equipmentrigade and were deployed halfway around the world to secure american lives and property in iraq. Have also executed multiple short notice movements under Dynamic Force<\/a> deployment. This includes deployment of the uss dwight d. Eisenhower earlier this year, which forced the ike to remain at sea for seven months to continue Maritime Operations<\/a> in the middle east. It also includes the Rapid Deployment<\/a> of the comfort and Mercy Hospital<\/a> ships to the east and west coasts of the United States<\/a> in march to provide medical support in covid hospitals to support the american people. , the department has trained for competition, to ensure that people are less likely to serve in backtoback deployments all while improving the quality of life. On path forward also relies Service Level<\/a> training and professional military Level Education<\/a> that develops the expertise of our force on Chinese Military<\/a> systems, tactics, and doctrine, much like my generation did when we studied the soviet armed forces during the cold war. As part of our top 10 goals on china, i directed the National Defense<\/a> university to refocus its curriculum by dedicating 50 of the coursework to china by Academic Year<\/a> 2021. I also tasked military services to make the Peoples Liberation<\/a> army the facing threat in our programs,al schools, and training. Another critical factor is the size and composition of our force, which we now track in ways we never did before. We have added 30,000 military personnel to our ranks since 2016 and made great gains by maximizing the number of servicemembers we are able to deploy at any given time. Close seniorult of level Senior Leadership<\/a> attention to needed reforms such medically resolving conditions to enable Service Members<\/a> to get back to service. Ultimately, we passed our goal of 5 of the force, increasing readiness by returning tens of thousands of personnel to fully deployable status within months. The nondeployable population has decreased well over 50 , meaning many more soldiers are available for a potential highend fight if called upon to go. Since 2017, the air force has recruited and trained 4600 additional maintenance personnel , which, coupled with additional investments, drove a 19 increase overall. The number ofme, sailors operational is at its highest point since 2014. Meanwhile, we are doing everything in our power to balance the inexorable demands of overseas deployments with readiness in our Service Members<\/a> commitments at home. One of our first tasks is to determine how deployment will impact worklife timelines. By increasing and monitoring these thresholds, we are making sure every war fighter and unit has adequate time to recover from their last deployment while training to prepare for their next one. , we aree personal note supporting personal moments in families lives. We aim to generate enough readiness for today and tomorrow. Key to our peoples ability to execute their mission is their resiliency and wellbeing. This is why we continue to take steps to improve Service Members<\/a> quality of life, including by expanding the availability of childcare, helping spouses sustain their careers, improving housing, and providing Mental Health<\/a> resources. Focusedso why we remain on reinforcing Ethical Leadership<\/a> across the force, fostering trust in the chain of command and promoting inclusion and equal opportunity for all. Performance,rding the department is working alongside Industry Partners<\/a> to improve maintenance and investing inhile highend training and exercise to increase the proficiency of the force. Many of our aircraft have undergone extended maintenance and much needed upgrades over the past few years to substantially increase readiness levels. This includes the f18 hornet, has increased to 80 as of last year. The navy to vested from the oldest legacy hornets and harnessed more than 14,000 repairable items. Managements were made to the aircraft undergoing depot repair and increase workforce deployment as a result. We now have more ready aircraft on the pipelines and pilots with greater efficiency and experience. The 2021 budget aimed to strengthen war fighting readiness with a balanced mix of fighter aircraft, including f35s, to ensure american readiness. As we transition to new platforms, we continue to restore and maintain legacy items, such as the heavy lift transport helicopter. The marine corps has improved its Mission Capable<\/a> right rate since 2017 and returned 30 helicopters to full Mission Capable<\/a> status, supporting the execution of more than 400 thousand flight hours in training and operational flights. Overall, Navy Readiness<\/a> has been on an upward trend thanks to increases in readiness funding and improvements in processes, including the hiring of hundreds of additional shipyard personnel. Shipresult, on time maintenance rates have increased considerably, which i was pleased to see during my visit to shipyards in virginia and connecticut. Further, the navy is investing 20 billion over the next 20 years to modernize our aging shipyards, recognizing the impact these improvements will have on our goal for battle force 2045, the modern navy i outlined last week. Forcer force and space have also made significant progress across satellite constellations and mission stats. We have actively included the development of integrated systems. Key to this has been our investment in weapons sustainment, with a 9 funding inrease in improvements training opportunities. And first, frontline units have seen increased readiness as high as 45 over the past two years. Meanwhile, we have enhanced byund combat capabilities converting to Armored Brigade Combat Teams<\/a>, the armys most lethal and mobile combat formations. Over the past four years, the army has increased the number ready for deployment by 30 while modernizing more than 470 tanks. Thetionally, this year, army conducted its largest Strategic Force<\/a> projection exercise in nearly two decades with defender 20, integrating Armored Brigade Combat Teams<\/a> and exercisesers on the european continent. Among our efforts to further enhance proficiency, the Defense Department<\/a> has streamlined predeployment training, preparations, and medical requirements by returning those decisions to the military departments. In addition, we are integrating efforts to modernize training over the next 20 years. This is a vital step in our goals. This is a vital step toward fulfilling another one of our top 10 goals. Additional training at multiple levels of war. We continue to strengthen the United States<\/a> military readiness for the future, our imperative is to build upon the gains we have made in recent years while adapting to stay ahead of emerging challenges. We know adversaries and malign actors are attempting to attack and jeopardize the networks our platforms rely on to operate. The Tremendous Investments<\/a> we have made in our most lethal capabilities will be rendered ineffective in a highend fight unless we treat cyber capability readiness with the same seriousness we do material or personnel readiness. This is why the department has put cyber on par with the other elements of readiness i discussed earlier, people, equipment, and training. The coronavirus pandemic represents another challenge to our military and Industrial Base<\/a>. However, the department can minimize its impact on the forces by taking immediate action going back to january to stem the spread of the virus in our ranks. We suspended international approach. Shifted the we published 13 iterations of Health Protection<\/a> guidelines since early february when we activated our Global Pandemic<\/a> response plan, and we modified training to mitigate covid risks. We had exercises held only at sea without port calls. At the same time, we provided medical support, personal protective equipment, and other supplies to agencies working in hotspots around the country to support the american people. And we announced over 500 million worth of contracts to sustain essential medical and industrial capabilities. Meanwhile, over 140 dod labs have performed over one million covid clinical diagnostic tests so far. An average of 40,000 plus Service Members<\/a> weekly. Thannumber reached more 54,000 earlier this year due to our monitoring efforts. We also developed a convalescent plasma collection strategy to support advanced illness within the force and collected nearly 11,000 units by the end of the year. The United States<\/a> military continues to protect our people, remaining prepared to deter. Very threat lastly, the success of our efforts relies on the support of congress. In the face of rising strategic threats, we depend on steady fiscal commitment to prepare for tomorrows challenges. Funding few years of have allowed us to yield significant results. 52 of our major combat force elements are able to generate more combat power in face of conflict today than they could in 2017. Now, as i have said many times before, we need predictable, adequate, stable budgets to continue to support the investments of our Industrial Base<\/a> and to further strengthen readiness. I would like to see 3 5 annual real growth for the Defense Department<\/a> to stay ahead of the challenges we face, especially from china. And no more crs. Looking ahead, i am department i am confident that the department and military and civilian leaders are aligned toward that goal. Much of this involves bringing together hundreds of data systems and doing advanced analytics that provide Realtime Data<\/a> and predictive indicators. This tool allows Senior Leaders<\/a> to evaluate readiness at every level, better manage our forces, respond to emerging threats, and make decisions to best address these challenges. Our people are focused on competition from day one. Perform across the full spectrum of operations. It is a vision where we have more planes in the air, more ships at sea, more soldiers prepared to go to contact combat at a moments notice and more assets ready to defend the high ground. Vision in which our people have the resources they need when they need them. Ourust and will maintain decisive over match well into the future. And Senior Leaders<\/a> need the flexibility to move forces and equipment around the globe, enabling us to project power, to reassure our allies, and to effectively respond to emerging crises. Thanks to the hard work of our men and women in uniform and congress,upport of the United States<\/a> military will continue to honor that vision and strengthen our readiness. Come. D in years to thank you. [captions Copyright National<\/a> cable satellite corp. 2019] [captioning performed by the national captioning institute, which is responsible for its caption content and accuracy. Visit ncicap. Org] esper, thank you for those remarks. You have covered a lot of ground. I look forward to covering these topics in detail. I am the director for the center of National Defense<\/a> here at the Heritage Foundation<\/a>. In the next segment, we will pose some questions to the secretary focused on readiness. You talked a lot about the progress this administration has made building readiness. Line number one in the nds. The strategy calls for a multiyear investment to restore war fighting readiness. You gave us some numbers, but what is your assessment on what where the department stands today and what was the rationale for moving away from the 80 Mission Capable<\/a> goal the department had previously established for four of your major fleets of aircraft . As i said god bless the usa from the lakes of minnesota","publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"archive.org","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","width":"800","height":"600","url":"\/\/ia601909.us.archive.org\/32\/items\/CSPAN_20201016_224700_Defense_Secretary_Esper_Discussion_on_Military_Readiness\/CSPAN_20201016_224700_Defense_Secretary_Esper_Discussion_on_Military_Readiness.thumbs\/CSPAN_20201016_224700_Defense_Secretary_Esper_Discussion_on_Military_Readiness_000001.jpg"}},"autauthor":{"@type":"Organization"},"author":{"sameAs":"archive.org","name":"archive.org"}}],"coverageEndTime":"20240716T12:35:10+00:00"}