Transcripts For CSPAN Defense Secretary Says Looming Threats

CSPAN Defense Secretary Says Looming Threats Outstripping Budget Resources March 26, 2017

Dunford testify before the Senate Appropriations defense subcommittee on military readiness in the upcoming fiscal years budget. This is one hour and 45 minutes. Cochran the subcommittee on defense appropriations to the United States senate will come to order. Today we are receiving an update on military readiness and Defense Budget matters we are pleased to welcome to the committee the secretary of defense and the chairman of the joint chiefs of staff. Fiscal year 2017 department of defense appropriations agreement otheren approved by the body, the house of representatives. I look forward to completing the work of that bill in the coming weeks. We are well into the fiscal year and members of the subcommittee understand that legislation as we complete our work of the 2017 appropriation agreement, we also recognize request for additional appropriations fiscal year 2017 that has been submitted to congress. We welcome comments from the panel as well as the submission for 2018. It is an honor judge the secretary of defense before us with his first appearance as secretary. I am pleased to welcome back to the chairman of the joint chiefs of staff before the committee. With the forward to hearing more about your priorities to increase military readiness to strengthen the department of defense. And now i turn to the vice for any, senator durban remarks he has. Sen. Durbin i am pleased to to welcome secretary mattis in general the referred i have respect for both the outstanding leaders in give special welcome to the first testified for the subcommittee. We have been at war 16 years in the total can be measured in many ways. More than 6,900 americans have given their lives in iraq and afghanistan more than 52,000 wounded. Clinics and hospitals serving 2. 5 million veterans from these wars. Taxpayers have provided 1. 8 trillion dollars to support the men women for continue to serve. I have four concerns. First, the proposal appears to do very little to restore readiness of armed forces in the short term. Congress has already address 5 billion it requested funds in the pending defense appropriations bill. Of the remaining funding only billion is for nearterm training and maintenance. In addition we are not being told this package will accelerate the timeline for the services to recover their readiness. The 5 billion in overseas Contingency Operations funding is being requested without a strategy to support it in fact, the president s new counter isil strategy may not be presented to congress until may of this year. Secretary mattis, general dunford i hope you can provide insights on what the strategy may be. What are we getting ready for . What are the priorities . Thats not a hard question. Its an important question if we were being asked to appropriate this money. In short its a Readiness Package the Department Says readiness and a request disconnected from strategy. Third, the administrations package or poses 18 billion in cuts to nondefense programs to offset the increased military spending. The administration has provided no detail on these cuts but we all know whats on the chopping block. The white house is already proposing extremely reckless cuts to agencies like the state department for the next year which would jeopardize our nations ability to deal with crises without resorting to arms wish the white house would listen to the that then general jim mattis when he was on the state department in 2013 as the command of u. S. Central command. General mattis stated quote if you dont fund the state department fully than i need to buy more ammunition ultimately end of quote. The harm of go well beyond hurting our National Security. Some of the cuts could cut into medical research, something that many of us on the panel feel very strongly about. Education and everything in between. Our armed armed forces depend on a healthy welleducated American Workforce to sign up and serve our country. Cutting these programs will ultimately shrink the pool of americans to conserve our military making these proposals today in the longterm very shortsighted. Finally the administration does nothing about sequestration. If congress enacted this package tomorrow as it is, omb has submitted it, it would trigger an immediate acrosstheboard sequestration and military programs. Can you believe that . More money triggering a cut . Omb is asking to spend more than the law allows for defense but it didnt ask for us to change this underlying mendacious sequestration law. Omb is asking to spend more than the law allows and we need to do something about it. Previous demonstrations demonstrate freak administrations did not thisuently, but administration. President chose proposal is in complete and it really doesnt address this issue in a serious way. Mr. Secretary general dunford we recognize there are holes in our armed forces that need to be fixed and i hope you will further your testimony to explain these. Congress needs to know what you think is the spending package that needs to be passed to consider problems with this proposal cuts to domestic and diplomatic spending the life of the new counter isil strategy of funding for increased training and the lack of any fixed sequestration. Appears congress may need to consider significant changes and as i close im in the judiciary hitting on the hearing with the Supreme Court nominee and i will be on the docket in just a few minutes, so excuse me if im gone. I promise to return. Thank you senator. Welcome to the committee. Witnesses we appreciate your being here. We will now hear from the secretary of defense james mattis. Chairman cochran vice chairman durbin distinguished senators i appreciate the opportunity to testify today in support of the president s request for additional funding and any other matters of interest to the committee. Mr. Chairman i request the committee except my statement for the record. Thank you, sir. As you know the president has committed to strengthening our military. The security situation facing our country has become more challenging. The looming threats about stripped the level of resources we have been allocating to defense. We in the departments are keenly aware of the sacrifices made by the American People and the form of the additional 30 billiondollar budget requests. We take seriously the responsibility to spend wisely this money to enhance the protection of our nation against burgeoning threats. We also recognize that hesitation now to invest in defense with deep in the strategic mismatch between our future security and the military means to protect our people and freedoms. Our military must ensure that the president and the diplomats always negotiate from a position of strength. Global threats require a global response, applying the full weight of our allies power. Allies which are also increasing their defense outlays. Diplomatic solutions will remain our preferred options but we cannot deny the role of our military in setting the conditions for diplomatic progress. Military deterrence is only credible if military strength is sufficiently formidable so allies can confidently align with us and tempering adversaries designs. We must look reality in the eye. We see russia and china seeking veto power over the economic diplomatic and security decisions of nations in our periphery. Terrorist groups murder the innocent and threaten peace in many regions and target us. North koreas reckless rhetoric and provocative actions continue despite United Nations censure and sanctions. This situation calls for a department to make a safe and secure Nuclear Deterrent and a decisive conventional force that can also fight for regular enemies since our military must be able to counter all threats facing us. Im here today to request your support for the additional 30 billiondollar request for fy 17. John dunford and i will outline what this additional funding will do for our Nations Defense the reason we are appearing here cannot be considered in isolation. While some might rip prefer larger amounts several compelling factors convinced us to limit the request. It is late in this fiscal year and the 30 billion is the number we believe that we can execute responsibly. In concert with this budget request we must also have continuity of effort that is not possible under another continuing resolution. Only in fy17 appropriations bill can permit us to spend the american taxpayer money judiciously and start us on the long road back to military readiness and ensure we can fight effectively. I must know their specific readiness gaps across our forces in closed session so as not to embolden our enemies. The request before he represents the first that in a threephase multiyear effort to restore readiness. Phase one is this years budget appropriation including the 30 billiondollar request for additional appropriations for fy 2017. To get our aircraft back in the air, our ships back to see in our troops back in the field with refurbished or new equipment and proper training. We base this request on a realistic appreciation of the capacity we need to fight and win on the battlefield. Phase two starts with our fy2018 budget request to balance the defense program. This funding will allow us to acquire capabilities we do not have or cannot execute this fiscal year and will allow us to adapt to the changing character of war by providing cyber space and Electronic Warfare capabilities. Phase three looks beyond 2018 and it will work with the congress in this committee to integrate our fy2019 to 23 budget within a coherent strategy. To ensure our strategy is fit for its time we have initiated the Defense Strategy review directed by this congress to reimagine our Strategic Concepts in all areas and we will complete the review by this fall to ensure a new framework informs our longterm planning. I know we will have to make hard choices. With the help of the congress i believe we can build a force that is more lethal without placing undue burden on the american economy. This will require sustained commitment from the congress in the form of additional funding and regular ontime budgets. Thank you for your strong support for ensuring our troops have the resources and equipment they need to fight and win on the battlefield. I pledge to collaborate closely with you for the defense of our nation and to keep our armed forces in check and i will welcome your questions. Thank you general. Thank you mr. Secretary. General, Joseph Dunford chairman of the joint chiefs of staff is here today. We welcome you and ask you to make any opening statement. Senate chairman cochran Ranking Member durbin distinguished members of the committee thank you for the opportunity to join general mattis in appearing before you and chairman nye have also submitted a written statement and requested he set for the record. Tonight he will be credited to will be credited to the record. Im honored to represent human women in uniform is because of our soldiers sailors airmen and marines in your support that i can begin this morning by saying with confidence that your joint forces cant defend the homeland and our way of life and meet reliance commitment to maintain an overall competitive it ended over any potential adversary. Thats an important point to begin with an appointed shouldnt be lost on our first series are allies partners or the American People. However when we have a competitive advantage to the sustained operational commitment budget to instability and it is important we reverse that trend. Helps address our most urgent nearterm readiness concerns, addressing personnel shortfalls, resourcing training and him proving maintenance. It also allows us to fill holes in our deploying units. Yearng forward in fiscal 2018 and beyond, funding will be required to fully recover readiness, balance our inventory of capability is and maintain our competitive advantage. Thank you again for the opportunity to talk to this morning and i look forward to your questions. Thank you for your statement. Ourme ask you about timeline and what are the pressures we face in bringing this bill to the attention of all of our members of the committee and the senate. Theour judgment, what is impact, this is for both of you. What is the impact if congress additionalprove the 5. 1 billion for overseeing these Contingency Operations . Would you have the funding flexibility to conduct an accelerated counterisis height for example . Chairman, obviously we will keep the forces in the field at the top of their capability. A military only obligation, it is a moral obligation and we can continue the fight. The problem is it would eat our readiness and deepen the whole we are in, leaving us in a worse situation that will cost us more to get out of in the future. We have done this for several years where we continue to maintain the operational tempo but without the backdrop of sufficient readiness funding to keep the forces back here at home at the top of their game. It is worsening as we go on. Thingsink there are two we look to do moving forward. One is to accelerate our campaign. The other is to seize opportunities. Willaving the money restrict our ability to accelerate the campaign. We will lose flexibility. A secretary mattis said, we make sure this men and women who deploy have the wherewithal to accomplish the mission but we will not have the flexibility we need for a very dynamic enemy. Secretary, what is your assessment of the russian aggression europe and the toestments that we will need reassure our european allies of our abilities to function . Chairman, russia has decided to become a strategic competitor with us and as i mentioned in my try to statement to achieve a Veto Authority over the diplomatic economic insecurity interests of the nations along their periphery. So what weve got to do is ensure that the Nato Alliance stands united, and it stands on ambiguously 4 00 a. M. Unified response unified unambiguously response to any mischief they are causing inside elections in europe that are ongoing. If we do not have the funding to maintain the reassurance in initiative, then frankly the reassurance goes away. It is as if we are denying a reality that has been pretty revealed was over the past several years so i strongly endorse the European Initiative and i noticed the Nato Alliance has reversed its funding and overall the funding has risen for the first time this last year, so they are also online to maintain their level of commitment. Im going to recognize the distinguished member. Thank you mr. Chairman. I asked my staff to explain this to be twice because i wanted to make sure i understood it. Im to the budget control act, if we give you if we give you 25 billion more than the department of defense and the supplemental control act, the department will allow the department of defense to do a 25 across the board cut to make up for that 25 billion being sent to you. That of course makes no sense whatsoever. I cant imagine you would want to go through that exercise. My question to you is this, did you consult with omb before this supplemental request was made to congress . Senator, we consulted extensively with them on our requirements. The mechanism for how to actually address this is as you point out, complicated. And, you would take no issue with how you characterize the budget control act with an effect twos sequestration. I am aware of it. It is not something i can give you a solution for from my position that the executive branch of the department of defense but i share your assessment and i technology with how you characterize it. Thank you mr. Secretary, do not lay me for this. This is ombs job. I dont know why they are playing this game. They knew to waive the budget control act if they truly want to provide more money for the safety and security of the if they dont,nd dont know why were wasting our time at this hearing. Freezey, this hiring announced by the president affects the civilian workers of the department defense. We are under arrest we estimate there are some hundred 42,000 and stop and on january 23, 2017, President Trump ordered a hiring freeze of the federal civilian workforce at the department of defense. How has this hiring freeze impacted the departments a twoday operations . What impact does it have on the resources you have available when it comes to investments you need are necessary for National Defense . Are we hiring contractors to avoid this freeze . Senator, we are not right now hiring contractors. That would violate the spirit of the president s order, however i have been given and i have passed delegated liberal exceptions authorities, waivers, frankly, in order to keep shipyard workers, airport depot workers on the job. Everything right down to daycare workers said that our troops can drop their kids off and the on time for work. Weve had to do a rather liberal waiver policy in order to address this and it has kept us of i know that hiring freeze is a great headline. Hiring freezeto a in the department of defense at the same time were being told to give three 5 million because we need more resources to get ready to protect america, does not work. The civilian employees are an important part of our National Defense. Im glad youve been giving these exceptions. I hope you dont turn to dramatically more expensive contractors to fill in the voids. When i went to europe a month poland and ukraine, they are very worried. They were encouraged by statement she made and statements by Vice President pence in munich that seem to theirhem some relief and belief that nato was still alive and well. Talked about russian adventurism or however you characterized it, and they live it every day. They can look across the border at the planned military exercise in september of troops and see some real threats to the orders of the countries i just named to you. I want to know why in your request, there is not money also being set aside, more money being set aside for the European Reassurance Initiative . Senator, we prioritize for what we could execute this year. As you know, there are four framework nato nations in the United States<

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