We will bring to order the senate of Armed Services committee. We receive testimony on global challenges in the National Security strategies to meet those threats. It is my honor to welcome our distinguished witnesses. Farmers secretaries of state Henry Kissinger and george schulz, and the former deputy secretary of state richard armitage. Your careers of service have been unbelievable and great, we are so honored to have you folks here. I want to begin by reading a brief welcome from our chairman mccain, who regretfully is unable to be here for todays hearing. I am quoting him now. With the rising global challenges and increasingly complex and competitive strategic environment, America Needs leadership, wisdom, and experience that only statesman of this stature can provide. This committee and this nation thank you for your service and we are grateful for your continued voices of reason during these troubling times. We look to you for the lessons of history as we all seek to secure a safer, freer, and more prosperous world. I guess one of the most enjoyable Committee Hearings i have experienced before was three years ago when we had a hearing of the same with kissinger and schultz were here, a lot of the comments that you made were very prophetic. Here it is three years later and a lot of these things have happened. So we are looking forward to this. Speaking on behalf of the entire committee, we look forward to having the chairman back and im sure he will be. Now more than ever the challenges of todays world require strategic vision. Each of you is uniquely qualified to help this committee thinks through not only our present challenges, but also the strategy needed to meet them. The insights and wisdom you offered then were discerning. They have borne out in the years since. The Trump Administration recently released a new National Security strategy and a National Defense strategy, which emphasizes the priority of competition, the danger of rogue nations, and the enduring threat of terrorism. The National Defense strategy is a frank and realistic view of the global strategic environment. It offers the blueprint for protecting our National Interests and reestablishing americas position as the undisputed leader of the free world. And it shows a commitment to restoring our military advantage across all domains, and strengthening and expanding key alliances. So we just ask each of you to help us think through the strategy. The members of this committee are well aware that the keys to success of many strategies require resources, we need to cast aside partisan politics and pass an appropriation bill while finding a way to fix the defense spending caps that have disseminated our military in terms of readiness and modernization. We thank you for your service and what and look forward to your testimony. Sen. Reed thank you very much, mr. Chairman. I would like to welcome dr. Kissinger, dr. Schulz, and dr. Armitage. Certainly a distinguished panel and we are grateful you are here. Each of you have played a very Important Role in some of the most monumental foreignpolicy decisions in our nations history. On behalf of all the members of this committee, we look forward to your testimony. This mornings hearing on global challenges in u. S. National security follows the release of the new National Defense strategy. This strategy, which supports the president s recently released National Security strategy, states that the central challenge facing our nation is the reemergence of longterm strategic competition with russia and china, and that this competition replaces terrorism as a primary concern in the u. S. National security. Without question, russia remains determined to reassert its influence around the world, most recently by using a maligned influence to undermine the ourican peoples faith in election process as well as other western election. It continues to threaten the rulesbased order in the asianpacific region by economic coercion over smaller neighbors and undermining the force of navigation. Given the experience of our panel, i would welcome their assessment of the strategic threat posed by both russia and china, and what recommendations they have for how the United States can counter these powers, both militarily and by utilizing other critical elements of national power. Great power competition may be the current geostrategic reality, but we must not neglect other equally complicated challenges. North Koreas NuclearBallistic Missile efforts are a great a grave National Security threat. Iran continues their aggressive Weapons Development activities, including Ballistic Missile development efforts, while pursuing other destabilizing activities in the region. The United States must stay focused on countering security threats from isis in iraq and syria as it has spread beyond the middle east region. Also building the capabilities of afghan National Security forces and denying any safe haven for extremists. In the coming weeks, this committee will hear directly from secretary mattis and Senior Leaders at the Defense Department on how the National Defense strategies will address the threats facing our nation. Review, it would benefit this committee to begin with our witnesses assessment of the new strategy and whether it strikes the appropriate palette between great power, a petition, and the threat posed by rogue regimes, terrorist or nations, and other actors. The importance of allies and partners. The esteemed panel before us knows better than most that Robust International alliances are essential to keeping our country safe. The National Defense strategy unveiled last week puts a premium on bolstering current alliances while pursuing new partners. As i have stated many times, i am deeply concerned about statements from the president to that have undercut americas position in the world, and dismissed the position in the world the United States has established following world war ii. These actions isolate the United States and reduce our influence in the world, leading to uncertainty. At the same time, the administration has proposed dramatic cuts to the state department. I am concerned we may seek to counter the strategies pursued by russia and china simply by reinvesting in our own military advantage at the expense of Necessary Development in diplomacy and development as essential tools of national power. Given the experience of this panel in cultivating diplomacy, i welcome their assessment on sustaine can be done to these political relationships and the importance of nonmilitary elements for our National Security. I want to thank the witnesses for being here and for their lifetime of service and dedication to the United States of america. Thank you, senator reid. Normally we ask our witnesses to confine the remarks to a certain time. I would not be so presumptuous. Talk as long as you want to. [laughter] dr. Kissinger, you are recognized. Thank you so much for being here. Dr. Kissinger it is a great honor to have this opportunity and i would like to say one word about our chairman, who i have known for 50 years, since he returned from vietnam. Inthat time, i had been hanoy and they had offered to let me take him on my plane back to the United States. And i refused on the ground that nobody should get special treatment. And when i met him here at the white house, he came up to me and said, thank you for saving my honor. And senator mccain has preserved the honor of our country as a great warrior, but also as weakne who, whenever the were threatened, he made it clear that america was on their side and that he was not simply a warrior, but a defender of our values all over the world. So thank you, particularly for this occasion. You have asked me to review the International Situation, and i have taken the liberty of submitting a statement to the committee, and i will use my time here just to make a few general points, and then reply to your questions. I would also like to say how meaningful it is to me to sit next to my friend and mentor, george schultz, from whom ive learned so much. And mr. Armitage. I will deal with your query in three points. The urgency example five other Nuclear Challenge from north korea, the immediate, exemplified by the middle east, and thely iran, longterm exemplified by great power relationships and by the reentry of great power politics as a key element of the international faith. The International Situation they sing the International Situation facing the United States is unprecedented. What is occurring is more than a coincidence of individual crisis. Rather, it is a systematic, systemic failure of world order which is causing momentum. And which has led to an erosion of the International System, rather than its consolidation, a rejection of territorial acquisition by force, expansion of mutual trade benefits without are then, which hallmark of the system. Compounding this dynamism is the pace of Technological Development whose extraordinary progress threatens to outstrip our strategic and moral imagination and makes the ategic equation a tenuous tenuous, unless efforts are made to sustain it. The most immediate challenge to interNational Security is posed by the evolution of the north Korean Nuclear program. Paradoxically, it is only after pyongyang has achieved nuclear and intercontinental breakthroughs that measures to deal with it have begun to be applied. That has raised the possibility that, as in the case of iran, an International Effort intended to prevent a radical regime from developing a Nuclear Capability will culminate at the very point that that regime is perfecting its capacity. For the second time in a decade, an outcome that was widely considered unacceptable is now on the verge of becoming irreversible. My fundamental concern about the Nuclear Program of korea is not the threat it poses to the territory of the United States, significant as it is. My most immediate concern is the following. If north korea still possesses a military Nuclear Capability in some finite time, the impact on the proliferation of Nuclear Weapons might be fundamental, because if north korea could maintain its capability in the face of opposition by china and the United States, and the disapproval of the rest of the other countries will feel that this is the way for achieving International Prominence and the upper hand in international dispute. So therefore, i think the denuclearization of north korea must be a fundamental objective, and if it is not reached, we have to prepare ourselves for the proliferation of weapons to other countries, which will create a new pattern of International Politics which will affect our concept of deterrents and our possibility of deterrents, and it will have to be carefully examined, in which this committee will go on to address. We face thee east, International System as it existed at the end of the First World War and at the end of the second world war. Every country in the region is either a combatant or a theater of conflict and, to me, the overriding concerns at the moment are these. We have successfully defeated isis, but the question now is the success of what happens next, and i am concerned that in the occupied the territory once occupied by isis, iranian will becomeforces see a beltd we will emerging that goes from tehran to beirut and undermines the structure of the middle of the region and creates a longterm challenge. And finally, i want to refer to what has been identified by the administration as the dominant element now, the relationship, the great power relationship between the United States and china and russia. There is no doubt that the military capacity of china as well as the economic capacity is growing. And there have been challenges from russia which have to be met, especially in ukraine, crimea, and syria. And this raises the fundamental question, what is the strategic relationship between these countries, visavis the prospect of peace . Strength comparable enough to reduce the restraint . Our their values compatible enough to encourage an agreed legitimacy . These are the challenges that we face. The balance of power must be maintained, but it is also necessary to attempt a Strategic Dialogue that prevents the balance of power from having to be tested. This is the key issue in our relationship. Let me conclude by stating that i think that the fundamental situation of the United States is strong, that we have the capacity to meet these challenges. China has to deal with adjustmentsdomestic and it is possible that we can balance those against the that can be exerted outside. Russia is domestically also in considerable difficulty. And my basic point is that we can maintain a favorable balance of power, but we must couple it with a political structure in which the issue of war and peace as a diplomatic, as well as a military expression, because the evolution of the weapons is so great and the challenges of thatology are multiplying both elements of our National Strategy must be stretched. And i am confident that we can achieve these objectives in that spirit. Thank you. Sen. Reed thank you very much. We pause for a moment. We have a quorum. And so, i ask the committee to 1056 pendingst of military nominations. All of these nominations have been before the committee for the required length of time. Is there a motion to favorably report this list . There is a motion, is there a second . All those in favor say aye, all opposed say no. The ayes have it. Secretary schultz, thank you for being here. Dr. Shultz thank you mr. Chairman. First, i would like to pay tribute to senator mccain. Like henry, i have known him a great long time. He fought for his country in combat. He endured terrible suffering as s a prisoner of war and he managed to handle himself with dignity and pride. Then he has served as senator and president ial candidate. I remember those dates with the slogan country first. That is john mccain. Country first, always. Senator, im sorry you are not here. How mucht you to know i admire how you have served our country. I would like to appreciate my express my appreciation to be testifying alongside my friends Henry Kissinger and rich armitage. And i take the occasion to particularly underline one of the things henry brought out in his testimony. That is the concern we must have about Nuclear Proliferation. As you remember in the reagan period, president reagan thought Nuclear Weapons were immoral. We worked hard to get them reduced and we had quite a lot of success. In those days people seemed to have an appreciation of what would be the result of a nuclear war if they were ever used. I fear people have lost that sense of dread. Now we see everything going in the other direction, Nuclear Proliferation, the more countries have Nuclear Weapons, the more likely that one is going to go off somewhere. And the more materials lying around, the more people can make a weapon very easily. This is a major problem that can blow up the world. So i think we have to get at it. The right way to start is what henry said, to somehow be able to have a different kind of relationship with russia. After all, russia and the United States have the bulk of all the weapons, and then start something. I will have some comments to make about russia in a minute. I distributed two things, number one is a little demographic outline, and i want to speak about that. And i also distributed a prepublication book, and im going to talk particularly about two of the articles in the book. One is by a retired marine corps colonel who was at the National Defense university. The other is by lucy shapiro and her husband. Lucy is a biologist and her husband is a physicist at stanford. Lucy is the smartest person in any room she is and, and she is also fun. If you were looking something really good to get lucy to come and testify, you will learn something. Im going to draw on these two papers. So you have that book. I think my main point is that there are four major forces acting in the world that are going to disrupt it greatly and rapidly. And anything we do has to be aware of these disruptions. The first is tomography. See the blue lines are 20