Cspan is your unfiltered view of government. We are funded by these Elevation Companies and more including charter communications. Charter is proud to be recognized as one of the best internet providers and we are just getting started, building 100,0 miles of new infrastructure to reach those who need it most. Charter communications supports cspan as a Public Service along with these other television providers, giving you a front row seat to democracy. Up next, the commanders of u. S. Northern command and u. S. Southern command testify on security challenges affecting the western hemisphere. From the Senate Armed Services committee, this is just under two hours. [inaudible] good morning. Testimony from gregory and good morning. The Committee Meets today to receive testimony from general gregory geo, commander of u. S. Northern command and north American AerospaceDefense Command, and general laura richardson, commander of u. S. Southern command. This is general geos first Posture Hearing is northcom commander and we welcome you, sir. I would also note that this is general richardsons last appearance before the committee in her current role. General, i would like to express my appreciation for your decades of Admirable Service to the nation including our outstanding leadership of our south com forces. Thank you very much, maam. I would like to take a moment to acknowledge the ongoing crisis in haiti. The situation is very concerning and i understand the u. S. Military forces have been deployed to augment security at our embassy in portauprince and evacuate nonessential personnel. This crisis involves both of your commands to varying degrees and i would like to know what resources or support you need to respond. U. S. Northern command is key to our National Security as the principal command for protecting the american homeland. Indeed, the first of the four priorities outlined in the National Defense strategy is start it defending the homeland, the growing multiple main threat posed by the people of the republic of china. As we consider threats from china and other competitors, our very concept of Homeland Defense must evolved. Jennifer guillot, i understand northcom published the first guidance to meet this challenge and when asked for an up date on its status of implementation and how it will transform the Homeland Defense plan of the department. The urgency of this mission has been made clear over the past year with the incursions of a chinese surveillance balloon and other unidentified aerial phenomena in our airspace. These events raise concerns that northcom and norad may have an awareness gap that needs to be resolved. Americas skies and seas must be secured to protect our citizens and the Department Must pursue technologies that provide forward detection. General, i would be interested in your assessment of these potential awareness gaps and what additional tools or resources are needed to overcome them. Regionally, northcom also provide support to the u. S. Law Enforcement Mission by helping to counter cartels engaged in drug smuggling, Human Trafficking and Money Laundering across the southwest order. The committee would appreciate your views on the success of Security Cooperation efforts with the mexican army and navy and what role northcom plays in supporting the department of Homeland Security and order security operations. Turning to Southern Command, general richardson, your command faces growing challenges from china and russia in latin america. The political and economic instability in the region presents a situation that our adversaries are seeking to exploit to increase their own influence. China in particular is expanding its presence in the region, including through investments in strategic infrastructure such as the port of balboa in panama, 5g telecommunications and expanding Network Space tracking installations. General, im interested in your assessment of the challenge from your competitors in latin america and how we might work strategically with our partners in the region to build resilience against these activities. South com, like northcom, continues to work closely with the u. S. Interagency to support counter narcotic and counter Transnational Criminal Organizations or tco. I am concerned about the growing threats to tcos and synthetic opioid trafficking including fentanyl, which are contributing to more than 1000 overdosed deaths each year in the United States. Jenna richardson, i would ask for an up date of southcoms work with coordination with other u. S. Government agencies and counter narcotic and account or tco given southcom posture and resources. Finally we know that insecurity throughout the south com area is contributing to the flow of migrants north to the u. S. Border. Economic instability, violence and corruption continue to be a major source of insecurity in much of the region, especially in the northern triangle countries of honduras, guatemala, and el salvador. General richardson, i would like to know your views on what more can be done to help improve the situation and strengthen Border Security throughout the region. Thank you again to our witnesses. I look forward to your testimony and as a reminder to my colleagues, there will be a closed session immediately following this hearing in room svc 217. Let me now turn to my colleague, senator wood. Thank you mr. Chairman. I want to thank our witnesses for being with us here. Our adversaries, particularly antichina and russia are actively working to exploit a miracles vulnerabilities. They are doing so at home and seeking to expand their influence in this western hemisphere. The 2022 National Defense strategy establishes Homeland Defense as its top priority. That was a year and a half ago. But the Biden Administration has not managed that goal with action. Year after year the Biden Administration has declined to fund northcoms request for the radars and sensors it needs for proper air defense. Numerous bases on american soil remain unable to protect themselves against small drones. This presents a clear and significant vulnerability. On top of it all, our wargames continue to ignore crucial domestic resilience problems that would arise in a potential conflict. The Biden Administration also refuses to learn from its Homeland Defense mistakes. Last year chinese surveillance balloon lapse, the lapse of last years defenses with regard to the chinese surveillance balloon, is a case in point. Senior Biden Administration defense officials responded evasively to congressional oversight and they leaked classified information selectively to deflect blame. The president s staff declined to conduct an internal review of the major defense failure. They finally did so with this committee and then updated it in the ndaa as presided over by a distinguished chair. The spy balloon was a significant failure, but the most pressing Homeland Defense crisis is the one at our southwest border. Approximately 70,000 americans are dying annually from fentanyl overdoses. Most of the supply is synthesized in mexico using chinese precursor chemicals. Than it is trafficked to the United States by mexicos criminal cartels. The crisis can only worsen as more deadly drugs flood the market. The cartels are also executing an unprecedented Human Trafficking operation across our open border. And it is lucrative, the gangs are charging thousands of dollars for each person they traffic. The human tragedy is severe and so is the risk of terrorist infiltration. As cnn reported this past summer, the Human Smuggling Network with ties to ices helped more than a dozen individuals enter our country illegally. In october two iranians who were on a Security Threat list were caught as they tried to cross the border from mexico. General guillot, i recognize that many agencies have responsibility at the southwest order. The dod is one of them. I hope you will explain how dods Border Security contributions could be improved. We also have challenges further south. Our main concern about the growing chinese threats in Central America and south america. The Chinese CommunistParty Continues to use its wellknown playbook in the south, theater. It aggressively uses predatory economic and diplomatic practices to influence governments. Simultaneously, it sets conditions to enhance its military presence, gather intelligence and limit u. S. Access and influence. Great power competition is happening right here in the americas. We cannot ignore it. Two quick examples underscore the urgency. Beijing is making latin america dependent on wall way for communications technology, something they tried to do in our country. An example of chinas economic influence campaign. We see the ccps military influence in cuba, where we discovered a large chinese intelligence collection center. General richardson, i look forward to hearing how these practices directly impact the stability of our region. We should understand the threat they pose to our National Security. How real is it . How important is it . Of course there are other malign influences in this theater. Venezuelan president maduro recently has asserted a provocative extraterritorial claim of sovereignty over a large, oilrich portion of the neighboring nation of gion. This type of instability so close to our homeland is troubling. Even more troubling is the consistent mismatch between the requirements southcom has in the resources it receives. We need to find costeffective ways to exert influence in this theater. For example, lets explore the use of the office of Strategic Capital in the future. I look forward to general richardsons candid assessment of southcoms most pressing resource and capability shortfalls and im eager to learn what congress can do to help. General guillot, i note that your name rhymes with hero. Is that right . Yes, senator. It does. Good. We expect both of you to live up to these expectations. Thank you. Thank you senator wicker and let me recognize general guillot, please. Chairman reid, Ranking Member wicker and distant with members of the committee, thank you for the opportunity to appear before you today. Its a profound honor to command and represent the men and women of north American AerospaceDefense Command and the United StatesNorthern Command. As we speak this morning, american and Canadian Military and civilian personnel from those commands are actively defending our homelands against significant, persistent threats from multiple vectors in all domains. Although ive only been in command a few weeks, it is readily clear to me that the United States, canada, and are expensive network of partners are facing an extraordinarily complex strategic environment. Competitors seeking to diminish our military and economic advantage have fielded advanced kinetic systems designed to strike civilian and military infrastructure in north america, both above and below the nuclear threshold. Meanwhile, competitors have rapidly advanced and routinely use nonkinetic capabilities targeting our Critical Infrastructure and our essential networks. Threats to the homeland are present in all domains and along all avenues of approach to include the arctic region. As stated in the National Defense strategy, the peoples republic of China Remains a pacing challenge as the Peoples Liberation army modernizes and grows at a rapid pace. The prcs expanding Nuclear Capability and capacity alongside its development of 100 submarines, missiles, Hypersonic Weapons, all present significant challenges for Homeland Defense. While the prcs capabilities are growing quickly, russia remains a threat to the homeland today and is an immediate nationstate concern. Russia retains the Worlds Largest stockpile of strategic and Nonstrategic Nuclear weapons along with significant capacity to strike inside north america with air and see launch precision conventional weapons. Despite heavy losses to its Ground Forces in ukraine, russia has invested heavily in systems that can threaten the United States, such as advanced guided missile submarines, hypersonic live vehicles, icbms as well as significant cyber and undersea capabilities as well as Developmental Systems such as Nuclear Torpedo and a Nuclear Powered cruise missile. Meanwhile, north korea continues its bellicose rhetoric while test launching increasingly advanced long range missiles and expanding its ties with china and russia. While iran currently lacks the capability to strike north america with longrange missiles it is investing in that capability. Iran also supports violent militant groups in the middle east and maintains a Worldwide Network of operational surrogates. And the most prevalent and growing threats include cyber and small Unmanned Aerial Systems that are being employed inside the u. S. And canada against civilian and military infrastructure in ways that were not possible even just a few years ago. With those risks firmly in mind, norad and northcom strive to begin Homeland Defense well beyond america. To do so, both commands are working with the services and congress to improve domain awareness in order to detect, track and defeat threats ranging from longrange Ballistic Missiles to small, Unmanned Aerial Systems. The defense of north america is an active endeavor that includes norad and northcom to campaign against threats and all domains along all approaches. That effort requires Seamless Exchange of information with combatant commands, conventional and special operations forces, the Intelligence Community and the spectrum of interagency and international partners. The importance of collecting and disseminating information quickly cannot be overstated. I strongly support the departments work to advance the combined joint all domain commandandcontrol concept as we seek to attract and protect the potential threats and share information as quickly as possible with analysts, operators and decisionmakers around the world. Finally, upon taking command, i began a 90 day assessment to inform the department, the joint force, and congress on norad and northcoms ability to execute assigned tasks and make recommendations on where the commands could or should do more. Once complete i look forward to sharing my findings and updated vision on how norad and northcom will best execute the Noble Mission of Homeland Defense. The challenges facing our homelands are real but there should be no doubt about norad and northcoms resolved to deter aggression and if necessary defeat threats to our nation and our citizens. Again i thank you for the opportunity to appear this morning. I look forward to working with the committee and im happy to answer your questions. Thank you general guillot. General richardson, please. Chairman reed, Ranking Member wicker and distinct members of the committee, thank you for the opportunity to appear before you today with general guillot. Im honored to represent the dedicated men and women of the United StatesSouthern Command to discuss the challenges we share with our neighbors in latin america and the caribbean. Our National Security strategy recognizes the direct link between this regions security and our own security. We are harnessing the power of partnership from team usa in support of Team Democracy by leveraging all instruments of national power. Diplomacy, information, military and economics, to expeditiously assist partner nations in addressing the challenges that impact our colle