Indopacific region. He spoke at an event by the brookings institution. Ladies and gentlemen, good morning and welcome to the brookings institution. Before i begin my remarks, id just like to say on behalf of the institution that we are thinking every moment about the challenges that australia is facing with the wildfires that are impacting australia in such a dramatic and negative way. Tan 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 prayers today. Im john allen im the president of the brookings institution. We are very honored to have you with us. Happy kn happy new year. We are 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 served in that capacity as an acting secretary for a number of months, he has now assumed the full responsibilities on all of 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 guardia and reserve, and ou important civilian counterparts to the department. His is one of the most important jobs in the United States government, ladies 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. Hes a battled hardened veteran of 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 in an environment of increasingly technology logical sophistication, rapid change, and lethality. And that is especially true of todays topic, which is the indopacific region, although i know the secretary is focused with laser like 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 well talk about the indopacific region. But hell answer his own remarks and joined by the remarks by brookings senior official michaelo hanlon. And theyll cover a wide array of topics but mainly on the indopacific region. Once we wrap up that discussion, well gl to q a. And of course we are very much on the record this morning. So, again, we are very honored at your presence by brookings and let me give you the floor for your 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. Michaelo hanlon thank you for extending the invite today. So 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 over match against our adversaries and the army is foundational to the success in the area of responsibility. Our modernization 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 iron clad to the Army Priorities of readiness, modernization and reform. Our budget and investments remain a lined to our priorities. This will increase lethality and ability to operationally be dynamic. In this era of Great Power Competition, china will emerge as americas strategic threat. Over 60 of the worlds gdp flows through the straits of ma la lack, and china is militarizing the Global Commons. In order to do this for life of 1. 6 billion people, they are relying on the region. With modernized weaponry, this alongside our counter parts creates dilemmas. Furthermore, having the u. S. Army in the region strengthens Americas Region to build commerce and build confidence with investors and compete economically. The army has traditionally focused towards europe given that russia is a land based threat. Seven decades of partnership in russia have gotten Strong Partners from threats from a broad. Well continue to shape operations in concert with our allies and partners in europe. While many people think of the army as primarily having a role in europe, we are doing many great things to bolster our capabilities in europe, the army is much more than tangs and bradleys. We serve as the operational commanding control, advise and assist, longrange, and future operations. The u. S. Army, in essence, is engaging in warfare by other means. As we learn during world war ii the goals will require the army to operate on two fronts. Both in europe and pacific. At first blush, it is easy to assume based on land mass the water ways in the indopacific would be predominantly a Sister Service endeavor. However, it will be the army on the ground partnered with militaries, influencing the people and serving as the ultimate deterrence. Pairing with our allies and partners, continuous presence, and shared equipment will enable military strength to overcome economic strangle holds, create good Global Commons and offer an alternatives to the 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 ep a so theic engagement ep a so theic engagement strategy. We are playing as they would argue, in fin nate game against several areas of responsibility. To engage with 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 deliver 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 Partner sheriffs and patience will be the necessary mix. Presence does not have to lead to conflict. If we wait until there is a conflict, we are 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 a lined Security Force bringigade. Our multi deployment with fiscal year 21 and 22 will build partnerships. We seek to have seals and training and more repetitions for multinational exercises. Shared equipment, shared training, and shared understanding as 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 mccar they a mcarthur and world war ii and what this 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 armys in the world are located there. The u. S. Maintains five bilateral treaties all critical for our National Security and prosperity. Forces in the region reenforce the american narrative alternative to the built road initiative. In order to be competitive and gain an advantage, we must have continuous presence. In order to maintain over match and prevent conflict flt ration, 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. Uses economics and partner with them out of necessity. And in this lies a great deal of vulnerability. The Army Partnerships come with inoperable equipment. Training on a continuous basis and a deterrence if training fails a partner and 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 persistence presence and show commitment. Ships sale 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 reenforces the United States enduring commitment to our allies and partners in the indopacific. For example, in 2020, the army is sending forces on fivemonth long extended rotations to thailand, philippines, and even new guinea. We are not only doing this with our partners but expanding the scope, duration, and scale and locations of our training and exercises with partners to push into new areas. Army 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 floep on aha bit actual basis. In many countries throughout the region armys are the largest and most influential military service making the u. S. Army the logical partner of the services. Our Army Partnerships build valuable partnerships. These are more than simply Steadfast Partners of the these are key Decision Makers in their respective country. Furthermore, shared equipment builds inoperable and makes operating together easier while creating strategic depth. Our operations in the indopacific include training with army forces, helping thailand stand up new striker units as striker vehicles, 15 in fact are arriving right now. The philippines has asked for more training in training military as they upgrade their equipment. As we continue to do traditional security operation, we are also employing new capabilities as using indopacific to test our new mdo. If conflict with great power competitor occurred the United States would be unable to bomb strategic locations and safely fly enforces. A solution for converging all domains, mdo creates an a symmetrical advantage. Fy 18 just months after the National Strategy was published, reearning our focus towards the Great Power Competition with china, russia, north korea, and iran, we conducted our first experiments with the Multi Domain Task force. Intelligence information, cyber, Electronic Warfare and space units known as the i 2 qs. Fy 19 we tested these concepts leveraging exercises such as exercise orient shield with Japanese Self Defense forces operating in the east china sea. With headquarters in japan, the task force elements were distributed across the 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 both locations. We deployed a company in the philippines to pa low. Fy 20 we plan to conduct 2020 incorporating long range precision fires and effects. By fy 21 the Army Position remains a task force in the indopacific theater and deploy a second one in 2022. This is inspiring our partners to invest more in similar capabilities, japan, thailand, are all developing this in concert with us. Also are provides the opportunity to stretch the limits of logistics and learn how to deploy different kablts in different environments. Exercise new locations to experiment with concepts and develop methodology for deploying long range fires or hyper sonics in the region. The u. S. Army on contentious ground potential dilemma for adversaries and changes the calculus indecision making cycle. We remain steadfast to the army budget and our alignments are the same. Forces such as regionally aligned things, operate commanders ranging from influence to direct contact. Furthermore, mdo creates strong and integrated partners in the region. The u. S. Must maintain over match against our adversaries and ts 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 shout out, not at full introduction, but i was recently at a conference with our good friend from ai who was recounting a lot of the accomplishments and socalled good four, general, army chief, and your predecessor in these jobs, secretary es speper, the socalled things of night court. To back up all the beautiful words you just heard, these folks got into the trenches and went program by program the armys budget for modernization and many other things and actually modified or canceled, i believe, somewhere in the range of 180 programs, savi 180 progro ten billion a year. So i know a lot of people worried Defense Budget is going up, we can debate that, not so much today, but thats a national question. There are people that are worried that we are worried about that. They 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 has 5 billion or more a year to back these things youve been talking about, directed energy weapons. So congratulations on all of that as well. And our 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 country by country and program by program. And one is to just 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 at 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, soviet union, the threat to europe. And it looks to me as if for the army, europe remains a comparable important priority. And of course the middle east remains the area greatest activity. So how do we understand the role of the army in the indopacific and to what extent is it your priority compared to twrees oth these other two. So give us a context and then we can move on. Sure. I guess ill start with the indopacific. Secretary mattis when he assumed the role was looking more comprehensively how to look at that problem set. In recognizing that, you know, you have 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 how historically the Pacific Command would basically end roughly just shy of going west of the south china sea. And its where, 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 they meet, we didnt have enough focus and energy against the purity of southwest asia east of pakistan, per se. The so from a military standpoint. Yeah. So thats where we extended indopacific and have a much broader view. With respect to, im sorry, the second question . For the army, is it really fair to say that this is the priority region. For d. O. D at large and air force and navy one can understand the argument. But for the army it looks like you have more forces in europe than asia and more kinetic activity in the middle east. So looks like the army has three regions. This is where i guess i would call tt accounting for Combatant Commanders. There are more assigned forces to indio pay comp to the army than any other theaters. The challenges are a lot in Washington State and west coast of the United States. So what challenges this is the disposition of the capabilities. So back in the spring, general, my wing man and i, we actually went out to see admiral davidson, spent two, dwree dath with him, took a look at our emergency readiness program, and defender program, to look at how the disposition of the capability would better serve his needs to get the effects within the region. So we expanded this program, and put more money in there, put more money in this program. I highlighted that in my remarks before. Thats a decision size element thats not assigned to the s theater. So say the first cavalry will send to the pacific, and you can drop them in, they can start in thailand, bounce to the philip