Thank you. I am the junior senator for the great state of iowa. I have the great honor of serving my constituents in an area of course that i think many of us are concerned about and thats exactly why you are here today. Again, thank you catarina for the warm introduction. It is a privilege to help kick start this administration. I look forward to kicking off all the great work that you will be doing. It is truly incredible that such a Promising Technology like ai can touch so many sectors of our society from government to academia and many areas in between. I view much of the development of ai through the lens of national security. Ai and Machine Learning are significance implications for our National Defense. The 2018, National Defense strategy outlines eight key capability airs that require modernization in order for our military to maintain and regain our war fighting advantage. One of those areas is the advancement of autonomous and artificially intelligence systems. I am glad that the department of defense is diligently implementing these recommendations and already developing ai for military functions to support many Mission Areas to include intelligence collection and analysis, logistics and command and control and semi autonomous and autonomous system. It is clear that congress has the ability to further help shape the development of ai, within the senate arm services committee, i sit on the Readiness Committee and also the chair on emerging threats and camab capabiliti capabilities. As the chairman, i held hearings and directed attention to emerging technologies like ai and our efforts to ensure that dod is well position to out pace our adversaries and maintain a strategic advantage in these key technologies. On the readiness side just last week i was asked how the u. S. Military can recruit and retain its next generation of leaders and i believe our patriotic young men and women raised their right hands to pledge their lives to our National Defense, we have the speedometer to ensure they are equip with the best and newest of technologies. Ai have been incorporated into military operations in iraq and syria. We now have to look beyond the fight against a local terrorism and assess how we match up in the area of increasing great power competition. Russia continues to develop ai applications and robotics and other sectors. It is no secret that china secretaries to displace the United States in many areas and in 2017, china released a plan to assume the global lead in Ai Development by 2030. By leveraging military fusions to realize these goals. China has poured millions into Chinese Communists Party run state owned enterprises. A question often posed is how can the United States counter this level of investment. We cant match dollar for dollar nor do we engage in ip theft or force technology transfers. But, we can ensure the strengths of academia, our universities and schools create a pipeline of innovators ready to spear head our nations technological leadership. It is our job in congress to equip our agencies with correct tools and adequate authorities to engage innovators and bring on board the best and the brightest to ensure we stay well ahead of the pact. Our strength lies in our Global Network of partners and allies, those who share values of freedom of thoughts. This cooperation sets the stage for the ethical use of ai applications and ensures that we continue to drive the development of ai in such a way that provides Global Benefits while preserving our shared values for decades to come. Through my role in congress, i will continue to look for ways to open up those avenues of cooperations and our partnerships around the globe. That way we can prove to our innovators, to our men and women in uniforms that we are 100 behind them. Our confidence in Ai Development and i commend the work the commission and its partners are doing today. Thank you for allowing me a few moments to share some thoughts with you. I appreciate all the great work that you are doing and look forward to spending more time with you in the future as we continue to work through the many challenges in ai. Thank you all very much for being here today and i look forward to many of the interesting partnerships yet to come. Thank you very much for your time. [ applause ] leaders in the natural gas and oil industry will talk about their priorities this year including on climate cha