Libya was among the two Foreign Relations that testified before the senate Foreign Relations committee adhering on the ongoing civil conflict in libya and what role the us and its allies could take. Senator ben cardin, the senator drinking cardmember, who criticized President Trump for his assessment last week that there was no role for the us to play in the ongoing libyan conflict. Todays hearing will examine the crisis in libya. Id like to thank our witnesses for appearing before the committee on this important issue. Unfortunately, six years after the nato intervention libya remains on the brink of civil war. Like many of its neighbors libya failed to transition into a stable Representative Democracy hoped for by citizens. Sadly, if libyan people who paid the price. Fighting between the malicious has undermined internal security , weekend government institutions and damaged the economy. It also posing potential. [inaudible] to the us and allies. Infighting has created a permissive environment to terrorist groups like isis. The organization gangs in libya have led to support of military operations. Weve had some successes there but the conditions allowing extremists to surprise and transcribe remain. Many of us agree that the libyan political agreement needs to be altered as the current government lacks the power to actually govern the entire country but thats only the beginning. Until the array of militants has come under central political control, no government will be able to provide essential services across the country. Even then, libya will still face enormous challenges to next week government institutions and turnaround the struggling economy. I look forward to our discussion today and hearing from our two witnesses on the views of the crisis and what needs to be done to bring about its peaceful resolution. Were particularly interested in your views on what the us should do to help achieve these goals. With that and what we should expect devices or other radical groups regain ground in libya. We thank you both for being here ambassador, i didnt want you to have to hear all of my Opening Statement so i began. With that, ill put it over to senator cardin. Thank you, mr. Chairman. I thought your Opening Statement was important to be heard by all i want to to know and i think you for convening this hearing on libya. Yesterday, i had the opportunity to represent committee with senator graham is reprimanding the representations committee and we met with the ambassador to the United NationsSecurity Council. We had a two hour discussion and i thought it was helpful. We talked about a full range of issues from north korea to reform within the United Nations , Ambassador Haley is doing an incredible job of representing our issues. Her leadership is now the president of the Security Council will be important. Shes focusing on issues of reform, issues of north korea and other areas that the United States as National Security interests. One of the issues that came up during that discussion by our friends in europe and our friends in africa and the middle east is what will be americas engagement. Willing america to be a power for the values that we stand for in dealing with global challenges . That was raised by both friends in europe and in the middle east and africa. I say that because i start with the fact the United States must be engaged. Its in our National Security interests to have Representative Governments in countries like libya that represent all of the population because when we dont have Representative Governments, what happens is it creates a void. That void is filled by isis, as weve seen in northern africa, is filled by russia and we see russia now engagement in libya which is not been helpful. We recognize that its in Americas National best security interest to get engaged. So, as you know, we have a private panel of witnesses that the trumpet ministration has yet to be able to fill its critical positions and we are still not exactly sure what his policies are in regard to libya. I was disappointed, mr. Chairman , in meeting with the Prime Minister of italy the President Trump and ill paraphrase but we dont have a role in libya. I think we do have a role in libya. This hearing is an important indication by the congress that we do expect a role to be played i want to test underscore the importance of representative inclusive government and theres no military solution. Weve seen this all too frequently in 20 countries in that region. Theres no military solution to libya. We need an inclusive government, a government that represents all of the different factions. We saw as the chairman pointed out, under the leadership of gna , we were able to make progress. [inaudible] but we also see it was moscows involvement with vladimir and general hector in the eastern part of lidia thats causing all types of problem with civilian control in the country and participating in activities that , in my mind, raised concern about the human rights violation in war crimes. There is a role for us to play, if its done right, we can have not only a Representative Government but to benefit the people of lidia and to give them a growing economy and a growing standard of living. That is our goal and i think this hearing will play in fourpart in the Senate Oversight of that responsibility i look forward to hearing from our two witnesses. Thank you for those comments. Will turn to our witnesses. The first witness is doctor fred lavery, senior fellow at the Carnegie Endowment for national peace. Thank you for being here, sir. Our second witnesses honorable deborah dorn, Us Ambassador for 2014 in 2015. Thank you for bringing your knowledge and experience. If you could summarize in about five minutes, wed appreciate. Without objection your written testimony will be entered into the record. You been here many times so please proceed. Chairman corker, Committee Members im grateful for the opportunity to speak with you about political and the way forward for your faulty. I was honored to be joined by was coping. For those of us who followed libya since the revolution unraveling has been harrowing to watch. Today the un back presidency is failing and bracing governing. Unable to establish itself amidst feuding malicious and internal process. More poorly, the council fronts and next essential challenge from eastern faction led by general, backed by egypt and that United Arab Emirates and increasing the rest. Hes refused to endorse the Presidency Council with its key objection being the issue of control over it libyas military meanwhile, the country slide toward economic ruin the surge of migrants across libyas deserts and chores remain unchecked and jihadist militancy whether in the form of Islamic State, al qaeda or some new mutation still take root. The looming dangers demand immediate engagement from the United States. At the most basic level, the United States faces two imperatives. First, preventing a resurgent of terrorist activity and second, supporting the formation of an inclusive representative stable government. On the counterterrorism front, the Libya Campaign left him or and fault deprived Islamic State of any real territory. The remaining Islamic State militants estimated in the low hundreds are currently pulling in the center west and south and they may try to mount a high visibility attack to show their continued viability. What struck me the most during my visit last year to libyan areas afflicted by jihadist present weather ben ghazi or the west, any traction they got was often highly transactional. It was the result of poor government. At this points to the broadbased approach in denying the jihadist thanks for your nonmilitary strategies are essential. Promoting Economic Development and municipal government, education and Civil Society form of vital adjunct to Counter Terrorism tools. In an effort to identify and assist local libyan partners to defeat terrorism, the United States must proceed carefully. Given the absence of a truly National Cohesive military, american aid to particular armed group could upset the balance of power and cause greater factional conflict. Moving forward, the United States should only back the forces controlled by the internationally recognized government. Even the support should be limited in scope and geared toward specific parts. The second area where american diplomatic engagement is crucial is the formation of a new government. A starting point for doing this is a new libyan led backed by the United States with European Partners and regional states. The goal of the talks should be the amendment of the libyan political agreement of 15, specifically, the composition of the Presidency Council. The new talk should also focus on two tracks absent in the first agreement. First, they should include the leaders of libyas armed group must agree on a roadmap of building a National Military structure. Here in american. [inaudible] the elected civilian control over the military. Proposals for military role or military counsel are hardly a recipe for enduring stability. For most libyans, they run counter to the values for which they fought in the 2011 revolution. Second, the talks must also set a mechanism for the transparent distribution of oil revenues, especially when you municipal authorities. One such agreement is in place United States and its allies stand ready to assist whatever government emerges and not just on counterterrorism. With his formal institutions gutted by years of editorial role, libyas citizens remain its greatest resource. This is why its so important that the United States preserve its capacity to engage directly with the libyan people. Mr. Chairman, Committee Members, my travels have underscored the desperation of its flight. Yes, the Islamic State was dealt a significant blow think the large measure of brave libyans. But libya is now more polarized than ever and the growing vacuum could breed future radicalism. Now is the time for American Leadership to avert an impending collapse, safeguard american interests and to help the country realize the early promise of its revolution. Thank you for the opportunity to speak with you today chairman corker, Ranking Member senator carter, first my apologies as a retiree ive never dealt with the parking downtown. Coming in from mclean on a tuesday morning. It is my distinct honor to appear before you today on this important and vexing matter and im pleased to serve with a colleague who is an honest authority on libya today that i hear. Libya obviously has confounded and frustrated exhausted policymakers and politics with a stubborn resistance to the obvious political map of one point to billion arrows barrels of oil. Many assume that libya like athena from the head of zeus would turn to defy in the mentor train in and that we can all go away in hindsight. Libya was not in the landscape. Libya has a history like any other place and that history is one of fragmentation. What ive often said to people is that gadhafi was not the creator of libyas fragmentation but he exploited it using the oil wealth that he had at his disposal and its important to remember that he deposed the king without firing a shot. When he he used that oil well much like a cartel word word would to bring into power. Libya has always existed as Julius Caesar like golf, three separate entities, triple a tiniest. [inaudible] with different historical background which explained was often the different influences that play to this day in each of those regions from International Partners. When gadhafi died, in effect, libya was a mafia without a don. That is the challenge that we have now. Gadhafi is gone but his legacy remains. Understanding this backdrop is very important comprehending the deep divide and political antagonism to follow the revolution which i concluded not long after my arrival in tripoli. This was for all intents and purposes finished. There have been highly touted parliamentary vote in 2012 and in july 2012 but thats the equivalent of finding, purchasing a nib for a fountain pen that doesnt exist. There was no government behind it and there still remains no effective government behind them i dont want to repeat a lot of what is said here, i submitted a lengthy background notes which i hope people will read because it contains a bit of a different narrative but many people have described the lines that splits and libya are secular nationalist verse islamic and others, myself included, suspect that doctor weary would agree that the situation viewed more in status quo elements. Somewhere pro gadhafi, somewhere democratic revolution and some islamists with marginal ideological extremists on both sides. That when we were dealing with areas that did not affect the National Patrimony or the appearance of giving advantage to either military side, we were able to accomplish things. On the other hand, efforts to train elite special forces and then to respond to thenPrime Ministers april 2013 appeal to g7 leaders to help him build a general Purpose Force were frustrated due to that fractiousness and the lack of any identified command and control system. Interestingly, throughout the gadhafi era, technocrats who were entrusted with the central bank, with the National Oil Company and with the Libyan Investment Authority were left largely alone to do their business indicating to me that libyans, in fact, did not want the disturb their National Wealth. And, in fact, we found we worked pretty closely behind the scenes with them to insure that that remained the case. Now, unfortunately in the latter years and following the negotiations as the competition has become more fierce, there have been efforts by some to create competing authorities to the dismay, i would say, of the average libyan whose primary concern is that he or she have enough to eat, to communicate and, ideally, to travel. I would only say that and against this background of tripolis political disarray, which was significanting, benghazi continued to suffer a spate of brazen assassinations and lawlessness. The government had, for all intents and purposes, removed itself from benghazi with the International Community. And this is when [inaudible] first appeared at the time in february 2014 at the time of the dissolution and went on a television what we always called an electron coup, calling on libyans to rise up and join him against the illegal gnc and corrupt. He did not stir much response in that effect. He went back underground only reappearing in benghazi when he declared in may his spring landty war against individuals vigilante war against individuals he condemned as p responsible for benghazis bloodsoaked anarchy. Together with this we had again, you know the story, the narrative of the National Elections that were held in 2014. I hope you will read carefully my paragraph on that, because my narrative, my understanding and i was on the ground was a bit different. In response of counterthreats and threats of moving into libya or into tripoli and the declaration by this time that the dialogue was no longer necessary, the militias acted preemptively and, of course, encircled to drive the zintan militias out of tripoli which meant taking them out of areas that they had conquered during the revolution. This was a lot, again and again and again, about revolutionary booty, People Holding on to assets whether it be the airport, the tripoli tower that held the Libyan Investment Authority, the Islamic Call Center that was an important center under gadhafi and later on in terms of territory. This was why, this fighting over this zintanoccupied territory that others felt they had no right to is what led to our withdrawal and led to eventual withdrawal of all diplomatic members or diplomatic institutions or missions in libya at the time. I wont get into the boycott. I will offer a couple of things against this chaotic background, despite the political disarray, the United States during my tenure as chief of mission did conduct a number of missions successfully to include the captures of benghazi suspects while engaging credibly with all sides in the political reconciliation talks and