Will come to order. We thank all of those for being here. In todays hearing, well examine the crisis in libya. I would like to thank our witnesses for being on the committee for this important issue. Libya remains on the brink of civil war. Like many of its neighbors, they failed to transition into a table Representative Democracy following arab spring. Sadly, the libyan people have paid the price. Fighting militias has weakened government institutions and weak tight end economy and is posing a substantial risk to the u. S. And our allies. Fighting that provided an environment for terrorist groups like isis. Weve had some successes but the conditions allowing extremists to thrive remain. I think many of us agree that the libyan political agreement needs to be altered as the current government lacks the ability to govern the entire country but that is only the beginning. Until they come under some type of central political control, no government will be able to provide essential services across the country. Even then, the will face enormous challenges to fix weak government institutions. I work for a i look forward on whatiscussion today needs to be done to bring about a peaceful resolution. We are interested to hear to refuse and the u. S. Can do to help achieve these goals. With that, and what we should expect if isis or radical groups regained ground in libya. And both for being here. Toassador, i didnt want to have to hear all of my Opening Statement so i went ahead and begin. Thank you. I thought your Opening Statement was important to be heard by all. I think you for convening the libya. On yesterday, i have the opportunity to represent the committee along with senator who represented the appropriations committee. We met with the ambassadors to the United NationsSecurity Council. Happy to our discussion. It was a helpful discussion. We had we talked about a whole range of issues from north doing annikki haley is excellent job. I think her representation will be important this month. She spoke on issues of before him, she is focusing on issues of north korea and other areas that the United States has National Security interest. One of the things that came up during that discussion by our hernds in europe and tell in africa and the middle east is , what will be americas engagement . Will america be a power for the values that we stand for in dealing with global challenges . And that was raised by both friends in europe and in the middle east and africa. In the say the that because the United States must be engaged. It is in our National Security that represent all of the population. Because we dont have a Representative Government, what happens is it creates a void. Isis. E void is filled by as we have seen in northern africa. It is filled by russia. As we see russias engagement in libya which is not helpful. And we recognize that it is in americas National Security interest to get engaged. We have a private panel of trumpses that the administration has yet to be able to fill in critical positions and we are not clear what his policies are in regards to libya. In theisappointed meeting with the Prime Minister of italy at trump said i am paraphrasing but he said we dont have a role in the you. I think we do have a role of the you. Is an important indication by congress that we expect able to be played. I want to underscore the importance of a representative and inclusive government. There is no military solution that we have seen there is no toitary solution to the libya. We need an inclusive government that represents all the different factions. Gna, wee leadership of were able to make progress but we also see with moscows involvement, putins involvement , in the eastern part of libya is causing problems for civilian control of the country and is participating in activities that, in my mind, raise concern about Human Rights Violations war crimes. If it is done right, we could have a Representative Government to benefit the people of libya and give them a growing economy and standard of living. That is our goal. And i think this hearing could play an important part in the Senate Oversight of that responsibility. I look forward to hearing from our witnesses. We now turn to our witnesses. The first one is the senior fellow at the cloak endowment for international peace. Thank you for being here. Our second witnesses the honorable Deborah Jones. The u. S. Ambassador to libya from 20132015. If you would give your opening comments in the order that i introduced you, if you could summarize. Please proceed. Thank you. Chairman corker, ranking members, im grateful for this opportunity to speak with you about libyas political crisis and the way forward for u. S. Policy. Im also honored to be joined by my distinguished copanelist. The unraveling has been harrowing to watch. Government in tripoli is failing. Unable to establish itself against feuding militias. The Council Conference and existential challenge from a the egyptcked by united ever records and increasingly, russia. The parliament in the east has refused to endorse the parliamentary counsel with the object being the issue of control over libyas military. Meanwhile, the country slides towards economic ruin. The surge of immigrants remain unchecked and with her in the form of Islamic State, al qaeda, or a new mutation could take root. At the most basic level, the United States faces two imperatives. Ofst, preventing insurgents terrorist activity and supporting the formation of an inclusive, representative stable government. A libyan garrett a libyan ed campaign low hundreds, pooling in the center west and south and a try to mount a high visibility attack to show their continued viability. What struck me most during my visits last year to the libyan is that any traction the Islamic State got was often highly transactional. It was the result of poor government. And this leads to the approach of denying Islamic State strategy. Promoting invisible governments, education, Civil Society it forms a vital adjunct to the counterterrorism tools. Assist libya,o the United States must proceed carefully. A particularto armed group could upset the balance of power and cause greater factional conflict. Moving forward, the United States should only back the forces recognized by the government, and even this should be limited in scope and geared towards a specific threat. Where we are crucial is in the formation of a new government. The starting point is a libyan ed government. Thedozen 16, specifically corporation of the Presidency Council. The new talk should focus on two tracks absent in the first agreement. It should include the leaders of libyas armed groups who must agree on a roadmap to build a National Military structure. Must an american redline continue to be the elected civilian control over the military. Proposals for military rule are hardly a recipe for ensuring stability. For most libyans, that runs counter to what they fought for in the revolution. Second, a setup for the transparent resolution of oil resolution. One such agreement is in place once an agreement is in place, the United States and its allies must be ready to support whatever government emerges. With the formal institutions gutted by years of dictatorial, citizens remain the greatest resource. This is why it is important that the United States reserve the capacity to engage directly with the libyan people. Across libya have underscored the desperation of its plate. Yes, the Islamic State was told a significant blow, thanks in large measure to the sacrifices of great libyans. But libyans are no more are now more polarized than ever. Now is the time for American Leadership to avert an impending collapse, safeguard american interests and to help the country recognize the promise of its revolution. Think you for the opportunity to speak. Distinguished members of the committee, as a retiree, i have never dealt with the parking downtown coming in from mclean on a tuesday morning. It is my distinct honor to appear before you today. I am pleased to appear with a colleague that i consider a Real Authority and one of the most honest voices on libya that i hear. Libya is confounded and frustrated, the stubborn resistance to the obvious th of oil and civilians. Wouldssume that libya, turn into to the height the mediterranean and that we could go away. In hindsight, that was clearly Wishful Thinking because libya. As not the landscape it has a history like any other place and it is one of fragmentation even proceeding qadhafi. What i often say to people is that it off he was not the creator of libyas fragmentation. He exploited by using the oil alth. He deposed the king without firing a shot. When he came in. He used the oil wells as a cartel would do to extort and bribe. To bring to power in disparate parts of the country. It has three separate entities. They each have different backgrounds which explained to us often the different influences in t plays to regional partners. Died, libya was a mafia without a don. Understanding the spectrum is important to comprehending the deep divide and political antagonisms that followed the revolution, which i concluded not long after my arrival in tripoli in 2013 it was unfinished. Parliamentary in 2012, that is the equivalent of purchasing a nib for a fountain pen that didnt exist. There remains no effective government behind that. I have submitted a rather lengthy techcrunch note which we hope people will read because it does contain a bit of a different narrative. Many people have described the lines of the splits in libya. I suspect that the doctor would agree that to view this in status quo, some who are progadhafi versus democratic revolutionary people, with extreme its on both sides. This reveals a significant amount of people who were educated in the United States and elsewhere. Some unabashed ideologues, a number of opportunistic bedfellows. Which often blurred extinction. I wont go into the hold iterative of the talks there but i would agree with fred. It, as we looked over observed on the ground and we worked to advance our mutual interest, it became clear to us that when we worked in areas oft gave the appearance giving advantage to either military side, we were able to accomplish things. On the other hand, training elite special forces that led to the 2013 appeal to build a general Purpose Force were frustrated due to the competition and fracture in the lack of any unified command and control system. Throughout the qadhafi era, technocrats who were instructed with the central bank, oil company and Investment Company were left alone to do their business. Indicating to me that libyans did not want to disturb their National Wealth. And we found as we worked closely behind the scenes with the currently insured at her made the case. , there haver years been efforts by some to create competing authorities. To the dismay of the average libyan whose primary concern is that they have enough to eat, communicate and travel. Against this background, tripolis political disarray, which was significant benghazi continues to face assassinations and lawlessness is the government removed itself from benghazi with the international committee. And this is where first appeared in february. 2014 at the time of the dissolution of the gnc. Calls on libyans to rise up and join him against the illegal,. Nlawful gnc he didnt start much response. He would back underground to only reappear in may, when he declared his vigilante war against individuals he fortituted responsible benghazis en anarchy. You know the story of the National Elections in 2014. I hope you will read carefully because myh on that understanding as i was on the ground was different in response to counter threats. And the declaration of the people on the brick side at the dialogue was no longer necessary. The militias acted preemptively and encircled to drive militias meant tripoli which taking them out of areas they had conquered during the revolution. This was about revolutionary ooty holding on to the airport, the Islamic Call Center which was important under gadhafi and was important in. Erms o led to ourt withdrawal and the eventual withdrawal of all eventual diplomatic members and institutions and missions in libya at the time. I wont get into the boycott but i will offer a couple of things. Describes thed strife in political disarray. The United States did conduct a number of missions successfully captures. E while engaging credibly with all sides in the political reconciliation talks and with his support of the libyan government. This isnt a matter that requires us to pick and choose. Libyans were the first to seek u. S. Assistance in removing them. It were the first to draw our attention to the growing isis with the historical tribe that had facilitated for opportunistic reasons with another terrorist group. We can talk about isil later but i think you have covered the roadmap there. In conclusion, and we can get into questions later, that libya is not engaged in a traditional civil war. This is a war aimed at controlling and not destroying Critical Infrastructure and the acting of a trusted administrator in sovereign wealth. Her test privity prime motivators of arriving at solutions but as long as different factions, who have been evenly matched in terms of holding their turf, believe it can continue to count on external support to tip the scales and reached the limits of hurt or exhaustion, warfare will continue which contributes to human suffering, penetration of libyas territory i foreign daesh. S i al qaeda and ors is not good for libya partners. But it will require a buyin at the lowest levels for a regime that ensures the distribution of wealth, a certain degree of autonomy as local and regional levels, and the reintegration of militias and their members. It must be inclusive and a love. Or their return of all libyans it must begin with a ceasefire. Monitored by the International Community with libyan acquiescence and support, with the covering of heavy weapons through the country and continued cooperation against isis and others who wish to exploit libyan territory. The libyans must agree to all of this. If you could come to a conclusion . I will conclude. Libya is not easy but it is a worthwhile project. There is no alternative. Legitimacy must be earned. Libyans have not asked us to fight their battles for them. The least we can do is support their dreams which were inspired by our example. Senator cardin . Let me think both of our witnesses. There are clearly great differences between syria and libya. Has ethnic clashes that are deep and historic warehouse libya doesnt affect burden. But we saw where russia intervened in syria and the damage is caused by putins engagement in syria, making it extremely difficult to get all sides together in a peace process, which is the ultimate answer in syria and libya. So now we see Disturbing Trends about russias engagement in libya. Activelyere they are engaged in supporting general have tour. Difficulten extremely in recognizing a civilian government and, according to human rights watches has committed war crimes. Question first would be, what is russias intentions in libya. Why have they been able to get the cooperation of egypt, one of our partners in allowing the use inegypts facilities military operations in libya. . Interest inthe u. S. Dealing with russias engagement in libya . Do you have suggestions here . To try to help me understand the roadmap . Of libyas saving grace is that it is not syria. The level of International Interference pales in comparison to syria. The regional interference is not simply russia. I would point to the goal states as the most harmful actors and a lot of the stems back to the revolution where we had to go states playing out the regional rivalry on libyan soil. The egyptian role came before russia. They have had longstanding economic and security interest in libya. They were among the first backers of the Operation Dignity in 2014. And when general cc took power, it was felt in libya. Policies did shift. In your testimony, you say the respect for civilian controls is critical to the civility of that country . The general has not been helpful in that regard. Correct. Russia seems to be siding with the general . Exactly. Enter russia. Russias interest in libya stems back to the qaddafi era. They have a norm contract with infrastructure projects. But the general is a useful ally to them. They sensed the vacuum. It is useful for their narrative. Nato broke the country and here comes pressure to clear it up. They are backing him with spare parts and training and medical care. A printed currency for the eastern government and that is one of the alarming things about the parallel institutions. Unrecognized faction has its own central bank and russia was printing currency to help profit it up. So their role has been unhelpful. It has been theatrical at times. Bringing the general to the Aircraft Carrier was the optical. The question is, can they pull a syria in libya . Two they want to present themselves as the indispensable broker . Do they want to be the ones who forge a new government that is favorable to their stagy two extra digit and economic int