Transcripts For CSPAN3 Deputy Secretary John Sullivan Testif

We ask you all to take your seats if you will. Today we hear from deputy secretary of state John Sullivan on the proposed reforms that he and secretary tillerson are working on for the state department and for the agency for international development. I dont think there are many that question the need to improve the operation of both agencies. A more efficient and effective state department in u. S. A. Id would better promote our National Security and our many other interests around the world. So i have welcomed the administrations undertaking. Secretary state Rex Tillerson has started a process here as those that state will tell you where hes focusing on listening to the diplomats and listening to the employees. Our Foreign Service officers. I think this is very commendable. He has sought feedback from the bottom up. Many employees, he reports, have asked, and i think this speaks volumes, theyve asked for more responsibility and in turn more accountability for their performance. They also want better training in a modern it infrastructure. And i think they deserve these tools and we would be all better offer if they had them. So i welcome secretary tillersons efforts to address the departments aging Technology Infrastructure and to strengthen the diversity of the departments work force, including increased recruitment. He has focussed specifically on veterans and minority candidates and this is a goal the committee here has long supported. But as a country with global challenges and opportunities, i do have continued consrntz about whether our diplomats and Development Specialists will have the resources they need. Yes, there is room for savings. We need savings but we should not, we cannot lose sight that our diplomacy and assistance improves our National Security, improves our economic well being for a relatively small amount of money. Consider this committees word to strengthen rogue regimes like iran or north korea, it takes skilled, properly resourced diplomacy to build International Support for sanctions enforcement. In the same is true when it comes to convincing nations to turn away cheap labor from north korea for example. Takes our diplomats going out and explaining. When youre doing an arrangement, youre only feeding them and sending the check, the foreign currency to the regime. That money is going into the a Nuclear Weapons program. That has to end because of our sanctions. That has to be explained by our Foreign Service officers or working with us to counter hezbollah or granting our Health Specialists access to halt an emerging pandemic in its tracks as was done in west africa with the ebola virus. Robust diplomacy is also needed in conflict zones to defeat isis and defeat other threats and that is what we hear from our generals who understand the critical need for our country to have successful political and not just military strategies. But this leadership requires us being present. And im concerned about reports of closing embassies in consulates. Where we depart we create a void for unfriendly actors to step in and promote interest hostile to our interests. Where there is a diplomatic void, we have no eyes, we have no ears to detect the next threat or the next opportunity. And so i want to thank the department, i want to thank the department specifically for starting a dialogue with congress on these reforms. And on its policies. And on its management more broadly and some of the proposed reforms that we see here will require legislation. While others can be undertaken administratively. But in both cases the committee has a significant oversight role to play. As we are doing today. And after our successful work last congress to get the first state authorities bill signed into law in well over a decade, the committee continues to have reform ideas of its own which we look forward to sharing and i will now turn to our Ranking Member for mr. Angles opening remarks. Mr. Chairman, thank you very much for calling this hearing and mr. Deputy secretary thank you. Thank you for your service and your time this morning. I was grateful you hosted the chairman and myself yesterday to discuss your reorganization effort and theres no doubt that state department should be as effective as pallable. Seize there are plenty of good ideas to theyre working in a bipartisan way i believe there was an announcement of a 32 cut to our International Affairs budget. I know we discussed it yesterday and i will try to ask you to repeat some of the things you said that more optimistic about that. I worry about starting with the budget and doing things in reverse. To me it makes more sense to lay out a vision for what modernization looks like, clear priorities to bring in our diplomats and other experts and then determine the right budget to get the job done. I hope in your testimony and afterwa afterwards, youll clarify why the decision was made to start with the dollar figure and work backwards from there. I worry about the reorganization process. I wanted to be more transparent and collaborative. I dont think it goes against anything you told us yesterday. The department has called this an employeedriven process and i have no doubt they have totally honorable intentions but i understand those involved are not allowed to discuss the plans involved with their colleagues and have kept tight control over documents related to the plan. The administration committed that there would be consultation with Congress Every step of the way and obviously we have more questions. So i hope we can talk about some of that today. And overall i must ask what is the goal of the process. Whats the administrations vision for American Foreign policy . For americas role in the world . For how the state department fits into that vision and how the process will make the state department more effective. The only consistent answer weve gotten is the department is finding efish aficiencies and iy when they talk about efficiency that its not a code for budget cuts. Cost savings that undermine effectiveness make america less safe and as the department focuses on redesign i worry the critical day to day work is suffering. Far too many senior positions remain vacant, depriving the department of leadership and making it harder for allies and adversaries alike to know who to call and whos calling the shots in washington. So i wish you could explain some of that today. Overseas diplomats jobs are getting harder because they dont know if establishing Foreign Policy will be reversed. Morale as the department continues to suffer as senior career officials flock to the exits. Uninterested in the input and expertise of our most seasoned professionals. Taken together, americas credibility around the world is wobbling. Our Global Leadership seems to be wayning and most importantly without a strong functional state department with a clear Foreign Policy vision, increasingly at risk. And let me be clear i support modernizing the state department. I want to see it leaning American Foreign policy. Civilian leadership that center of National Security policy is integral to our democracy at home and our leadership abroad. For Years Congress has sat on the sidelines when it comes to the state department and what do we have to show for it . Personnel shortages make it harder to address crisis or allow for professional development. Traditional responsibilities of a department moving to other agencies like the pentagon distracting from its core diplomatic mission. Im glad that the president sees the necessity for more funds for dod. But we dont want it at the expense of the state department. The expense of diplomacy, the expense of making sure our embassies are safe. In 2020 the Foreign Service act will be 40 years old. It was written during the cold war and the world has changed. We do nide to modernize the department. Thats why ive consulted staff and other experts to be in thinking about what states should look like the next 40 years. I would value the imput as we move forward and again mr. Deputy secretary, i look forward to your testimony and hope you shed additional light on this process. And before i yell back, i ask unanimous consent to place in the record the documents dealing with the state department and u. S. A. Id. First is a report about modernizing foreign assistance. Second is a report from the u. S. Global Leadership Coalition entitled opportunities for reforming and strengthening diplomacy and development. The third is a report from the service for Global Development. A practical vision for u. S. Development reform. One is from Refugees International called honoring a process in government reorganizization. And finally calling on the state department to structure staff and resources for the Refugee Bureau War Crimes Office and global womens issues office. So i thank you, mr. Chairman and yield back. Subject to the lengths limitations in our rules, without objection we will put those reports include themnt. Thank you. We now go to our introduction here of deputy secretary John Sullivan. Prior to this position, mr. Sullivan was a partner at the mayor brown law firm. Co chaired its National Security practice and previous to that served in senior positions at the Justice Department and then at the Defense Department and the commerce department. Without objection, the witnesss full prepared statements will be made part nof record. Members are go having to five calendar days to submitical any questions or extraneus materials they want to submit for the record here and we would ask deputy secretary sullivan if you would please sums are your remarks. Then well go to questions. Thank you. Thank you, chairman, royce. Thank you all for inviting me secretary sullivan, lets make sure you push that and get it very close right there. Perfect. Thank you, mr. Chairman, Ranking Member, members of the committee. Im thankful to be here today to discuss the redesign of state department. We appreciate the interest the committee has shown in becoming more efelfective in serving the American People. On secretary tillersons first day committed to harnessing all the Institutional Knowledge of our work force to do that. So he went straight to those who know best, our state department and u. S. A. Id colleagues to determine where reform was most needed. From the very beginning our reform effort has been employee led. We commissioned a listening survey that produced feedback from more than 35,000 employees, nearly half of our entire global work force. Hundreds more took part in inperson interviews. We also set up state and u. S. Id for staff to provide regular input. Weve received more than 1400 s submissions to those portals. After hearings from so many of our own colleagues, we convened a Cross Section of our rising leaders and seasoned professionals to create a rising reform plan. I want to stress its not an empty slogan. The secretary wanted employees to drive this prauocess from th beginning so the department and u. S. A. Id can better serve them, even as they serve the country. The executive committee i chair is composed of a balance of u. S. A. Id and state department leaders. Similarly the groups that drafted the proposals that fed into the reform plan were comprised almost entirely of reform staff in the u. S. And abroad. 72 of work stream members were working level employees. Those that deal with the day to day level of business and diplomacy. They proved to be invaluable. The resulting Agency Reform plan incorporates suggestions and feedback from all over the world. We submitted this plan earlier this month, consistent with the president s executive order, 137 al 81. Which calls for effectiveness in accountability for each federal agency. Let me share with you a few key features of our plan. First, we need streamline the policy creation process and optimize and realign our global foot print. State and u. S. A. Id need to be nimble. That means taking imputs from the field, turning them into evidencebased recommendations and executing them as quickly as possible. We will use the same approach to assess our physical foot print around the world to insure our missions abroad align with our Foreign Policy priorities. Second, we must maximize the impact of accountability. We need strengthen planning among the 20plus agencies to provide some type of foreign assistance to make sure our Foreign Policy goals are focussed, integrated and supportive. Third, we need implement a service to reduce operational costs and redundancies, increase efficiency and improve Service Quality for our personnel around the globe. We want to reduce red tape and bureaucratic hurdles by making them do what they were intended to do. Support our professionals as thad change posts and serve our country all over the world. Fourth, we need empower and retain a 21st Century Work Force by optimizing our hr support. Too often employees are bogged down trying to navigate broken processies. We bring hr to a more strategic role to attract aplore diverse work force and invest more in our most valuable assets, our people. We need improve our i. T. Platforms and upgrade our Technology Infrastructure so our employees can work anywhere, anytime, and as effectively as possible. We need to integrate our cyber systems. By modernizing our technology, we can save money in the long run and facilitate better Decision Making in the future. The redesign provides a new foundation for our diplomacy and development professionals. It will also generate significant savings as we increase deficiencies across the department. The proposals will save the american tax pay arminimum of 5 billion over the next five years with a goal of 10 billion. Some changes will require further guidance and approval. Still others will require a change in law by congress and be assured that for all aspects of the redesign, whether or not a change in law is required, we will consult with this committee in congress before any actions are taken. We are working to move quickly on the redesign. The reforms of the department can implement internally will be rolled out as soon as possible after consultation with congress. For example in the coming months we hope to move the state department towards a Cloud Computing platform and increase the number of Foreign Service family members we employ abroad. Let me emphasize throughout this process i commit to consulting closely with this committee. Your input as always is most important as we move forward. Therefore, im grateful for the opportunity to speak to you this morning about our reform plan and hear your feedback and id be happy to take your questions. Thank you. Well, thank you very much, mr. Sullivan. Let me start. As you know the state Department Basic Authorities act requires the department to notify this committee no less than 45 days before closing a diplomatic post. Will the department commit to are bust engagement before you seek to close a diplomatic post because our members have decades of experience and strong views on this. Absolutely, mr. Chairman. I appreciate that and let me emphasize why i think this is key. Just to follow through on the legislation that we pass in this committee, for example the legislation we passed on sanctions in north korea. I explained a little bit of this but our respauonse to that thre is to have our diplomats state they have to cut ties with that rogue regime or suffer the consequences of it. Its our diplomats who have these relationships across the world who follow up and explain directly how serious the United States takes this. There are eyes and ears. In northern nigeria, for example, boko haram arrived seemingly out of nowhere. We have no diplomatic presence in northern nigeria. 140 million people. Because we closed our consulate in the 1990s. The Previous Administration looked and once closed theyre veryense pencive and difficult to open. Nor in the case of the conversations i had with the governor of that state where now boko haram holds sway. Who told me money was flooding into the area from the gulf states. Setting up at that time to recruit. He told me about one across the street from where he got his education. But the new one. Young boys were wearing bin laden tshirts and he explained what the consequences were going to be. And he was right. But we have to have that presence on the ground to see these kinds of things coming. And it has to be our Foreign Service thats engaged there. Let me ask you another question and this goes to this issue of hiring veterans and increasing diversity. The Foreign Service will be the most effective that it can be when it draws on the strengths of the American People. However, its my understanding that the interview is only offered in washington d. C. And in san francisco. Will the department consider an offering the interviews in more places such as on military bases . If i could ask you that question. Yes, mr. Chairman. I met in fact last week with