Challenges that australia is facing with the wildfires that are impacting australia in such a dramatic and negative way. And they are in our thoughts and in our prayers. As well, we also are focused on the passenger list of the aircraft that was lost in iran two days ago. All of those souls are in our thoughts and in our prayers today. Im john allen. Im the president of the brookings institution. And were very honored to have you with us. Happy new year. Were very pleased this morning to welcome the secretary of the army, ryan mccarthy, who is our distinguished guest and our great ally in helping to study the future of the United States army, the defense department, and the challenges that we face in the security environment. Secretary mccarthy was confirmed last year by the u. S. Senate, and after having served in that capacity as an acting secretary for a number of months, he has now assumed the full responsibilities on all the matters relating to our great United States army, to include the recruitment, the organization, training, and equipment, and the care of 1. 4 million personnel. Those of our active duty force, our guard and reserve, and of course our important civilian counterparts as well within the department. Hes one of the most important his is one of the most important jobs in the United States government, ladies and gentlemen, and pivotal to keeping our nation safe and our people safe as well. He has been for me a dear friend for a long period of time, and its always wonderful to welcome you, mr. Secretary, to brookings. He is a battlehardened veteran of the department of defense and you would be hardpressed to find a more dedicated public servant, a better professional, and a more loyal friend of the United States army and our institution. I say that of course notwithstanding the outcome of the Army Navy Game this year, for which i think he would argue about responsibility. But his promotion to being the secretary of the army is a great plus for our country and for the army. Now, with so many real and potential challenges on the horizon, our u. S. Army has no choice but to adapt to an increasingly uncertain future. A future of complex and evolving threats and an environment of increasingly technology colonel sophistication, rapid change, and lethality. That is especially true of todays topic which is the indopacific region, although i know the secretary is focused with laserlike clarity not just on the indopacific but the middle east and north africa and europe and elsewhere, because the army is of course a global force. But today we will talk about the indopacific region. So to our program shortly, the secretary will offer us some of his own remarks, and then well be joined on the stage by brookings senior fellow mike ohanlon. Theyll cover a wide array of topics. But primarily it will be oriented on the indopacific region. Once weve wrapped up that discussion well go to q a. And of course were very much on the record this morning. So again, sir, we are really honored by your presence here at brookings, and let me cede the floor to you for remarks. Thank you for joining us this morning. [ applause ] thank you, general allen, for those overly gracious remarks, but its great to see my old teammate, a mentor and dear friend. Good to see you. Thank you. Dr. Michael ohanlon, thank you for extending the invite and welcoming me today. Obviously among the best in the business. Its great to be here at brookings. Washington is a war of ideas. Im especially looking forward to the discussion portion later in this session. The u. S. Must maintain overmatch against our adversaries and the army is foundational to the joint forces success in the indopac area of responsibility. Our focus, how we fight, what we fight with, and who we are, is in part driven by our new challenges and potential adversaries. We remain ironclad to the Army Priorities of readiness, modernization, and reform. Our budget and investments remain aligned to our properties. This alignment will increase lethality and the ability to be operationally dynamic. In this area of Great Power Competition, china will emerge as americas strategic threat. Over 60 of the worlds gdp flows through the straits of malacca, and chain is militarizing the Global Commons. In order to commoditize life for its 1. 1 billion people, china is increasingly relying on its belt and road initiative. Having the u. S. Army in the region with modernized weaponry alongside our counterparts changes the calculus and creates dilemmas for potential adversaries. Furthermore, having the u. S. Army in the region strengthens americas position to conduct global commerce, build confidence with investors, and compete economically. The army has traditionally focused its efforts toward europe, given that russia is a landbased threat. Seven decades of partnership in europe have set the conditions for strong militaries and strong partners that are capable of countering threats from abroad. Well continue to provide deterrence in shaping operations in concert with our allies and partners in europe. While many people think of the army as primarily having a role in europe, and we are doing many great things to bolster our capabilities in europe, the army is much more than tanks and bradleys. We serve as the Operational Command and control, advise and assist, long range precision fires and effects, and the logistical backbone of our current and future military operations. The u. S. Army in essence is engaging in warfare by other means. As we learned during world war ii, the adversaries goals and geography will require the army to operate on two fronts, both in europe and pacific. At first blush it is easy to assume based on landmass, the waterways and the indopacific would be predominantly a Sister Service endeavor. However, it will be the army on the ground panderrtnered with military serving as the ultimate deterrence. Pairing with allies and partners, continuous presence, and chaired equipment will enable military strength to overcome economic strangle holds, promote good Global Commons and offer an alternative to the adversaries narrative. People dont live on water, air, or in space. Long before conditions escalate to war, there will be a battle of ideas. This is warfare by other means, and decisions will occur in the heart of the people. We must be present to offer an alternative. Churchill once remarked, quote, there is only one thing worse than fighting with our allies, and that is fighting without them. In this competition space, our forces will require a change in behavior and patience. We must be engaged in constant competition versus the episodic engagement strategy. We are playing, as simon cynic would argue, an infinite game across several areas of responsibility. To engage with a finite mindset would have the army measuring the wrong metrics. Playing a different set of rules for a different game. The military has had a boxers mentality to conflict. Go in, fast hands, and delivery a devastating punch in the first round. Fast, lethal, and gone. Our approach to competition with potential adversaries, however, such as russia and china, will feel more like a soccer match instead of one round in the ring. Endurance, strong partnerships, and patience will be the necessary mix. Prescience does not have to lead to conflict. If we wait until there is a conflict, were already too late. Right now during the compete phase, the army is refining our approach to improve our strategic readiness. We will accomplish readiness through strengthening our partnerships and advising and assisting with our regionally aligned Security ForceAssistance Brigades known as sfams which will deploy in fiscal year 21. Our Multidomain Task forces with deployments in fiscal year 21 and 22 will build partnerships. We seek to increase Foreign Military sales. International military education and training. And more repetitions for multinational exercises. Shared equipment, shared training, and shared understanding is the end state. The army is reinvigorating our presence and disposition in the pacific. History has shown the army has always had a role in the pacific. Just a quick glance back to macarthur and world war ii demonstrates the propensity for an adversarial land and resource grab in the region and the subsequent challenges the tyranny of distance presents. The indopacific is strategically important to the United States for many reasons. We are an indopacific country. The worlds foremost populous countries and three largest economies are located in the region. Six of the ten largest armies in the world are located there. The u. S. Maintains five bilateral relate toies, all critical for our National Security and prosperity. Forces in the region reinforce the american narrative, alternative to the belt and road initiative. In order to be competitive and gain an advantage, we must have continuous presence. In order to maintain overmatch and conflict in the region, the u. S. Army must be postured in the region for the intensifying competition and, if required, to win in conflict. There is an ongoing fight for influence in the region, for which access and presence are critical. Partners matter. But the type of partner is paramount. China uses coercive economics and many partner with them out of necessity. And in this lies a great deal of vulnerability. The Army Partnerships comes with a modern and interoperable equipment, training on a continuous basis, and a commitment, should deterrence fail, a present partner and the worlds best fighting force. China may be the partner of coercion but the u. S. Army is the partner of choice. The army is uniquely suited to provide persistent presence and show commitment. Ships sail through shared waters and planes fly overhead. These are integral parts of the fight. But nothing comes close to the effects of boots on the ground, Standing Shoulder to shoulder with our counterparts, huddled over plans or walking through jungles together. This presence reinforces the United States enduring commitment to our allies and partners in the indopacific. For example, in 2020, the army is sending forces on five month long extended rotations to thailand, philippines, and even papua, new guinea. Were not only providing persistent presence and coordination with our allies and partners. Were also expanding the scope, duration, scale, and locations of our training and exercises with partners to push into new areas. The armys National Guard state Partnership Program ties states to 78 Different Countries around the world that have routine and consistent touch points with each other. U. S. Forces engage with 22 countries in europe and 12 in the indopacific on a habitual basis. In many countries around the regions, armies are the largest and most influential military service, making the u. S. Army the logical partner of the services. Our army to Army Partnerships build valuable relationships for the dod at large. These are more than simply steadfast partners. These are key decisionmakers and influencers in their respective countries. Furthermore, shared equipment builds interoperability and makes operating together easier while creating strategic depth. Our operations in the indopacific include training with army forces, helping thailand stand up their new striker units as their striker vehicles, 15 in fact, are arriving right now. The philippines has asked for more help in training 72 infantry battalions as they upgrade their equipment and evolve their doctrine. While we continue to do traditional security cooperation, we are also employing new capabilities and using the indopacific as grounds to test our new concept known as multidomain operations or mdo. If conflict with a great power competitor occurred, the United States would be unable to easily bomb strategic locations and safely flow in forces. Seeking to regain overmatch and a solution for converging all domains, mdo creates an asymmetrical advantage. Mdo sets the conditions in theater while opening a window for the joint force. Nfy 18 just months after the National Defense strategy was published, putting our focus towards the great power exertion with china, russia, north korea and iran, we conducted our first experiments with the Multidomain Task force. Intelligence information, cyber, electronic warfare, and space units known as the i 2 qs. We exercised Japanese Selfdefense forces operating in the east china sea. With its headquarters in japan the task force elements were distributed across the senkaku islands. Pacific pathways tested our ability to use a hub and spoke model, deploying task forces to single locations for a longer period of time, and executing Dynamic Force employment to spoke locations. We deployed a company in the philippines to palau, returning after 37 years. We are invigorating historic partnerships through our partner forces. In fy 20, we plan to conduct defender 2020, incorporating long range precision fires and long range precision effects. By fy 21, the army will position a Multidomain Task force in the indopacific theater and deploy a second one in 22, inspiring our partners to invest more in building similar capabilities. Japan, thailand, singapore, all are developing mdolike concepts in concert with us. It also provides the opportunity to stretch the limits of logistics and learn how to employ new capabilities in different operational environments. Exercise in new locations to experiment with distributed logistic concepts and develop methodology for employing long range precision fires or hypersonics in the region. The u. S. Army on contentious ground creates a continuous dilemma for potential adversaries and changes the calculus in their decisionmaking cycle. We remain steadfast in our commitment to the Army Priorities and our budget and investments are aligned against the same. Forces such as regional aligned sfams and stdfs affect commanders ranging from influence to direct contact. Furthermore mdo creeds strong and integrated partners in the region. The u. S. Must maintain overmatch against our adversaries and the army is foundational to joint forces success in the indopacific area of responsibility. General allen, mike, thank you for having me. As you know, im a big fan of all of your work. I look forward to our discussion. Thank you. [ applause ] mr. Secretary, thank you for those fantastic remarks, for joining us again at brookings. I want to give my own little shoutout, not a full introduction. I was recently at a conference with our good friend mackenzie who was recounting a lot of the accomplishments that you and the other members of the socalled big four, the army chief and is your predecessors in these jobs, the socalled concept of night court where, to back up all the beautiful words you just heard, these folks got into the trenches and went through program by program, the armys budget for modernization and many other things, and actually modified or canceled somewhere in the range of 180 programs, saving 5 to 10 billion a year. I know there are a lot of people who are worried the Defense Budget is going up too much, we can debate that, probably not today so much, thats a national question. There are people who worry that were too focused on this or that priority. What i want you to know is the big four rolled up their sleeves with a title thats fitting of almost a netflix tv show, night court, and went through pound by pound, dollar by dollar, 10 million was not too small of a program to reexamine. And as a result, the army as 5 billion a year or more to back up these priorities youve been talking about, hypersonics, ai, cyber weapons, directed energy weapons. So congratulations on all that have as well and on your new position. I wanted to begin really by asking you to explain two big concepts about the indopacific before we get into sort of more nittygritty, somewhere we get into country by country and program by program. One is to define the indopacific for cspan audiences and others who may not know how the department of defense uses that term. And then second, to explain to what extent the u. S. Army has the same view as the department of defense writ large, because in the dod indopacific strategy of last year, you talk about, you collectively talk about the asia pacific or the indopacific region as the most important in the entire world for American Defense policy. And yet, as you said in your remarks, historically we worry a lot about russia, the soviet union, the threat to europe. And it looks to me as if for the army, europe rains a comparably important priority and of course the middle east remains the area of greatest activity. How do we understand the role of the army in the indopacific and to have been extent is it really your priority theater compared to the other two. If you can give us broader context on those two questions, and then well move on. Sure, ill start from the broader indopacific end. Secretary mattis, when he assumed the role, was looking more comprehensively as how to look at the problem set, and recognizing that, you know, youve got to go all the way through southwest asia and have a comprehensive view of allies and partners and how it influences the region. So thats where historically the pacom, pacific command, would end roughly just shy of going west of the south china sea. So secretary mattis extended that and had a much broader view to looking at all of the relationships within the area of responsibility. So he expanded that, because if you kind of looked at the gray area where centcom and pacom meet, we didnt have enough focus and energy against the purity of southwest asia, east of pakistan, per se. So from a military standpoint, so thats where we extended the indopacific and have a much broader view. With respect to, im sorry, the second question. For the army, is it really fair to say this is the priority region, for the dod writ large and air force and navy, one can understand the argument. For the