United states, like we were by bush, to authorize an aufm. Abdi youothing but an abdication of our obligation. Adam shift tried to sunset out the aufm that we gave to which has been used by president obama. Not understand how we in congress can continue to what the constitution says is our responsibility. James madison once said, the power to declare war, including causeser to judging the of war, is fully and exclusively vested in the legislature. Not believe sincerely, because when this this obama. To be president he wants to have another aufm, extension of what we have. Its not going to be but so long that you have sent more and more train, many ofto these former Saddam Hussein loyals. Now theyre fighting with isil. Some are fighting on the other side. Very complex. I understand that and i agree with that. But for goodnes goodness sakes,n world should we make such a commitment, and we dont have an end point to it. You or generalr dempsey i have Great Respect for both of you to submit for things, veryo quickly. How does this new war end in your opinion . I realize its just your opinion. Its very important, because of who you are. What is the end state of what were trying to accomplish . American people, over 50 of the American People, do not want personnel in syria or in iraq. And i will be honest with you. I dont know how we can convince the American People that a thats financially broke you sat right here, and yourepsey, exactly right. Sequestration and all the budget problems coming your way. For five orsking six billion dollars to drop more armaments in iraq and syria . Is it coming from . Americanplain to the people and to this congress how this war is going to end some advisors or we are were fighting. And i hope to god were not fighting. I hope wewe do not do not give the president a new aumf. If you get those into the committee in written form, then you wont have to answer the questions. But this, again, looks like were going down the same road secretary Donald Rumsfeld told us we had to do. We had no end to that as well. Congressman jones, if i might briefly. Ond you very accurately described my i was in the senate. Tates but its basic to the responsibilities of congress. Congress. Mes out of the authority of military force president. That Authority Comes from the congress of the United States. The congress will engage in this. I have great confidence the will. Ss they need to. They must. It is the responsibility of the congress. With you on that, on that point. And ill give you my best other questionr as well. Thank you. Ms. Bordallo . Thank you, mr. Chairman, for hearing. His important secretary hagel and general dempsey, thank you for your time today. As i stated before, i believe that isil could become a direct the United States or our allies in europe. And we must make efforts to avoid that threat. While i believe that we must open, itour options must be a joint effort with our coalition and allies to stop isil. Secretary hagel, what additional military support do you believe it will take for iraqis, the kurds or the Syrian Rebels to hold their current position and eventually retake areas now controlled by isil . Congresswoman, as i noted in a veryement, thats important part of what we are doing to assist the Iraqi Security forces as they strengthen their capacity, capabilities. Ofts obviously a big part the train and equip effort, as our Coalition Partners are with us on this, as well as a reinstitution of the iraqi top withforces at the confidence, with trust, of the men and women in uniform. The unity government. Believe its worth fighting for, as general dempsey said, that they have some confidence in, not just for themselves but their families. H fighting i have noted, it is a comprehensive strategy. Believe it can be done. Fight. S is an iraqi it is their future. And we can help. We are helping. We can. Ing everything and well continue to support our, as we will with partners. Justhats the way i would very briefly respond to the question. Thank you. General dempsey, in testimony before the senate back in mentioned that oco is not the veution to funding not the solution to funding. I have stated that i agree that the oco credit card is going to to an end sometime very soon. However, as the Ranking Member readiness, im deeply ocoerned about the loss on on readiness. When will you have a better tose of what this is going cost, both monetarily and in operationso continue against isil . What is the department doing to plan and budget for this and the baseivities into budget . Thank you, congresswoman. I did say that. Tofact, i think i went on say that oco, or the overseas wasingency operations fund, gas money and that the Service Chiefs actually also need the support the recruiting, training, organizing and force overf the time. You cant sustain the force with oco. You can use it. And thats why i described it as gas money. Your question, we actually have a pretty good idea of what its costing now. We think ourt level of commitment is about the it will be for foreseeable future, its approximately 8 million a day. The funding requests that the secretary mentioned accounts for that. Were well aware of the desire to rely less on oco and more on base. A debate you know, from a military perspective, i needust tell you what i and you all have to decide how to provide what i need. An the base budget is important component of readiness, because its the foundation on which we build. Thank you very much. And i yield back, mr. Chairman. Yields back the balance of the time. Mr. Secretary, we understand that you recently had to postpone your trip to vietnam and burma to prepare for this hearing and others on capitol hill. Our allies and partners in the region are concerned with Senior Administration officials postponing important travel to the region. I share their concern. Understand that our government does have the ability to walk and chew gum at the same time. Focused in this hearing on the isil challenge, evermain as committed as to americas enduring interests indopacific area. I appreciate the accommodations you made to the hearing. Also hope youll reschedule your trip and continue your strong record of engagement in asia. And thank you for being here. The last time you were here, we asked a question about a strategy to cut off the finances for isil. Enoughhink you were kind to acknowledge then that we needed to develop that, and i was just wondering if you could outline for us a little bit about the strategy that we have thein trying to cut off finances of isil. Congressman, thank you for your thoughts on the asiapacific emphasis. I youve accurately noted, unfortunately had to make a and i didnt want to have to do that for the reasons mentioned. As you probably know, since ive been secretary of defense, i had six major trips to the asia pacific. This would have been my seventh. Reschedule. We are planning on that rescheduling. Our asiano all of partners, pacific partners, explained to them why i was reschedule. Emphasis. The i agree with you completely. Time, to youre point about the administration and chew gum walk at the same time, as you know, the president is there now. In that area for a few more days in different countries. Well have other followup visits as well. But i am rescheduling. It is important. Emphasis on the importance of the rebalance. Question about financing on isil, i alluded to a couple in my statement when i talked about cutting off their obvious oil sales, as they have, as you know, taken control oil fields in eastern syria. And they did have some in western iraq. Weve been able to take back of that, the iraqis have, the oil refinery and so on. That is one thing were doing effective. Etty been able to not only disrupt that but stop that oil flow out thehere that gets into borders. And they were getting a few day from that. A now, other things. Our Treasury Department is lead on this, with partners all over the world, the nations, european partners, middle eastern partners. Trying to shut those money markets off any way of funding resourcing isil has, continues to have. We have made a global effort we lead. They also get funds from contributions inside. That through our intelligence communities. So this is as much of a focus as when i was here two months ago, has to be for the reasons that i mentioned. As i also said in our comprehensive strategy, cutting off those funds is a very big part of what were doing and what were attempting to do and will continue to do. The gentleman from mr. Courtney, is recognized for four minutes. Thank you, mr. Forbes. Earlier, secretary hagel, some of your predecessors were some groundsrt of or authority for the notion of boots on the ground, larger presence of boots on the ground in iraq and i suppose in syria. Just, for the record, again remind people that farewell gates, in his address to west point, stated, i think correctly, that any who advises defense a president to engage in a Ground Invasion in the middle east ought to have their head examined. And i think the approach youve described here today, which is forces, toen local provide assistance, as weve kobani, is really the right approach to adhere to gatess good advice, i think, which is that were not going down that path again. Voted for the title 10 authorization, i just want to share with you, a mother connecticut, of a marine came up to me and said, you know, im with you to this extent, but, you know, im counting on you not to, again, to just a redux went of what this country through over the last eight years or so. I just want to share that input with you. Your request for additional obviously is in the middle of a lame duck where its not clear where were going yet, in terms of whether its going omnibus. Only an i just wonder if you could share a crthoughts about what would mean in terms of being implement the things that congress authorized. Well, recognizing the purview of the congress on appropriations, i will answer your question this way, because asked me for my thinking on it. I begin with what chairman dempsey said. Any enterprise must have the flexibility and essentially the to plan, as best we can. Every business, every nonprofit, take away that critical management tool for the cannot plan,re we based on a continuing months,on, every few maybe will will happen, maybe this will happen, or maybe it happen, is really disasterous. And it does damage to our institution. It does damage to the confidence of our men and women that we ask to go out and serve. It does huge damage to our future investments. Sometimest recognize that our defense enterprise has and yearsking years down the road. The platforms that we have sophistication of our platforms, far superior to anything since world war ii. This just didnt happen, a year ago, two years ago, three years ago. These planning stages and investments and having some that youve got aing budget and you know what that youve got a budget and you know what youre going to have this that budget is critical to planning. Continuing resolutions are not good for the department of defense. And in terms of the specific operations that were discussing mean, again, is that of, again does it make it difficult for you to figure out what extent of conduct . S you can well, you factor that in. Thats exactly right. Take away, those are hugely important management tools. But were talking about our National Security here. Were not talking about putting at a new product or newcolored shoe or overcoat or automobile. Nationalking about the security of our country. So as much ability, flexibility we have to have some certainty as to whats ahead, a force thatn these young men and women, smart. Theyve got other options. And these young enlisted whatss think about ahead. Are we going to continue to draw down . Whats the future . I understand its an uncertain unpredictable world. We all do. But you cant run an institution, especially the defense,t of responsibly on continuing resolutions. The gentlemans time has expired. The gentleman from south carolina, mr. Wilson, is recognized for four minutes. Much,nk you very mr. Chairman. Secretary, thank you very much for being here today. Countingcan people are on you to provide information, to our president. And youve indicated, secretary, is your defense priority. And im just so concerned that odd worldent has an view. Me, theonceivable to release of trained mass fromrers, as detainees guantanamo, that it builds good will anywhere. It puts the American People at risk. It puts our military at risk. Interest. A personal two of my sons served in iraq. They developed a great appreciation for the people of iraq, who do want to live in a democratic society, no t a a totalitarian. Additionally, ive got four sons serving in the military. Counting on you, and so are my constituents, the American People. This regard, mr. Secretary, stilllamic state, does it pose an imminent threat to the people of the United States, and an imminent threat to our allies . You, congressman. And i thank your sons. Again, im well aware of their service and what your family has done for our country and do. Inues to as i said in my statement, and i the comments if made here this morning, it is a threat. A continues to be a threat, significant threat, to the United States, to our interests, to our allies. And weve seen every dimension of that play out. Yes. And such a threat, with the the seizure, say, of an extraordinary city, mosul, that enhances the threat, it . Nt it does. Honest abouty that. As i said in my statements, i that there is Good Progress being made by the Iraqi Security forces, peshmerga, as we just to give you one example. Weekend you may be aware of this there was a ceremony in anbar province. 2,000 sunni tribesmen were to beand are preparing sworn in to the Iraqi Security forces. In the province, the general area of mosul and the will have to be taken back. The isf forces have taken much back. T not mosul yet. They will. Dam, i mentioned oily comments zumar, the field. A lot of good news there. But, yes, of course. Time they hold significant pieces ofle cities or geography, it makes it more difficult. And we should remember that Osama Bin Laden operated from a cave in the middle of afghanistan and was able to thisct mass murder in country and around the world. Ad in regard to achieving stable selfreliant iraq, can this be done with the personnel sent, or what do you anticipate . We, the first, aited states, cannot assure stable iraq. The iraqi people will have to do that. As i have said, we are supporting them. Weare doing the things that think are most important, the things theyve asked us for. Have requested from us. And thats a significant recent years. M theyve invited us in. Theyve invited us with our partners in to help them. Ministerieve prime abadi and others understand the seriousness of this. Its imperfect. They have to do it. Well help them do it, but they it. To do chairman recognizes the massachusetts. I, like my colleagues, remain greatly concerned with recent in both iraq and syria. But given the longterm consequences of u. S. Operations region, i think we have to be sure that the overarchingons strategy and objectives are fully discussed and robustly debated here in congress. This is especially important given the lessons of the last despite seven years of conflict in iraq, 4500 morecan lives lost and than 1. 5 trillion spent. Our military effort did not resolve is conflict we are now confronted with. Harsh lessons and because a full debate has not acurred, i voted against shortterm authorization to train and equip the moderate syrian forces. Before we move forward, we need to be clear on what we are and will ask of our Brave Service Men and women, what the goingmight be, how we are to pay for any operations against isil, what the exit is, what we are asking of our regional partners, their willingness and capability to meaningfully engage in this ultimated what our goal might be. But it seems to me the horse is ever more out of the barn. Have appreciated the president s current commitment troopssend u. S. Ground into combat, i am troubled by an recent tasking of iraq. Onal 1500 troops to and president obamas statement that he has not ruled out deploying more troops. General dempsey, i appreciate your candor. Are very forthcoming when you describe a complex, longterm effort that requires strategy patience. That willtion continue to evolve. And you have said in the past clear about today saying that there are situations in which you could consider recommending ground troops. You also just described the very iraqiant role of the Security Forces and the deep investment that were making in their capability back to par, so that they can take on this task. But what if they are not up to the task . Could you talk about some scenarios you might envision . As youve said, you only make recommendations. Id like you to talk, if you could, about some of the you might make if it becomes clear that the Iraqi Security forces cannot take this on. Yes. What id like to do, congresswoman, is give you kind unclassified answer but promise you that in a classified week, we can talk about contingency planning. Earlier, if some of the assumptions weve made are rendered invalid, of course have to have a branch, as we call it, in military terms, our campaign plan. Look, we absolutely need a credible partner to provide Ground Forces in that region so have to provide the Ground Combat power to accomplish the task. If the government of iraq fails kind of National Unity agenda that we think they need, which would empower and encourage the Iraqi Security forces, then well have to look for other partners in the region to assist us or build other partners in the region. Defer to a i would classified setting. We iay that since think we agree that this is a longterm commitment. Mentioned end state. The end state is defined as ultimately the defeat of isil. Ive actually said, including in opening statement, that will occur when the 20 million disenfranchised sunnies reject see some