Filled in. Sen. Inhofe this meeting will come to order. First of all we all have on our minds and in our prayers senator mccain. He is going through some recovery right now and will be back this week. That will change the way we are doing business in a little bit, but nonetheless we hope he is back very soon. And our Committee Meets this morning to consider the nomination, the renomination of to bel silva selva vice chairman of the joint chiefs of staff. I think we have been through this round of questions. We will forgo that. Assuming you have changed your mind from last time, is that correct . Any family you would like to introduce . Gen. Selva i will do that in my opening statement. Your record is wellknown. The first two years as joint chiefs of staff has been marked by great challenges the ofionals 30 in the events crisis in the middle east and russian aggression, actions korea, nuclear and longrange missiles. Men and women continue to serve in the battle in afghanistan, the country never again a safe haven for terrorists. Looking at your leadership in the department of defense and Armed Services, it presents renewed opportunities are Armed Services as we work prepare for the threats of the future, crises around the world that will multiply Service Members. A diverse array of local conflicts since world war ii. Jury ating military challenging times requires strong leadership. The committee looks forward to your testimony about how you plan to guide our men and women gen. Selva . Thank you very much, mr. Chairman. I want to join you in wishing senator mccain a speedy recovery and rapid return to responsibility. This might be one of the few navy becauseay go i certainly do, i want to say him back. See him back. We noticed the first three here on time were all three army. Thank you very much, mr. Chairman. Welcomingjoin you in as we consider reappointment by the joint, we think you for your many thank you for your many years. I went to recognize your wife for many years of support. The United States faces a wide range of challenges. If you are reconfirmed, you will be an integral player in the complex International Issues facing the national interest, influencing active measures aimed at undermining the American People in election processes and others. Russia continues to threaten neighbors and nato allies. There complying with commitments on the minsk ceasefire agreement. They have support for the assad regime. North korea is a Grave National security threat, and the Community Grapples with the idea there are no quick options. There have been sanctions against north korea and threatening the rulesbased order in the asiapacific region by economic and portion of the vulnerable neighbors and undermining the freedom of navigation. Iran continues development of Ballistic Missiles as well as other destabilizing measures. While we continue to make Standing Military progress against isis, they have get to articulate a broad Government Strategy the issue that gave rise to isis. , the committee looks forward to hearing from you for these issues. The vice chairman is given a number of responsibilities, the joint requirements. By making the vice chair the vice principal, i join requirements. Given acquisition programs to necessary, i look forward to the effectiveness of the new authorities and whether you believe the changes are warranted. The vice chairman is courageous, working with senior policymakers and the National Security council in issues. In light of the strategic challenges earlier, we look forward to the effectiveness of the current interagency process. And you have been a part of the deputy secretary at work, forcing the innovation strategy. Office,tegic abilities Defense Innovation, and other special projects. A second term, you will provide final continuity between the last administration and the present administration. It is imperative that secretary mattis continue to use the most dynamic sectors of the economy. Selvayou again, general for your willingness to serve our nation, and i look forward to your testimony. Gen. Selva you are recognize sen. Inhofe you are recognized, general selva. Gen. Selva thank you. I would like to recognize general mccain senator mccains service. I hope he is back here at work. Ranking member read, distinguish members of the committee, it is an art to appear here before you. I am grateful to the president and secretary of defense for their continued trust and faith in my ability to serve. I would like some brief points before a continue. I look forward to your questions. I want to commend those who wear the cloth of our nation. I have had the opportunity to visit Service Members and their families around the globe, and i am continually impressed by their dedication, service, and talent. It has been my honor to serve in the United States armed forces as the vice chairman of the joint chiefs of staff, and i will strive to keep a with them. ,econd as you already mentioned it is important to acknowledge the complex challenges that face the joint force today. The domination of external challenges presented by adversaries and competitors and internal challenges like readiness or modernization amplified the continual budget instability are all issues with which this committee is very familiar. Value the dialogue i and other senior military members have with this amity, and i think the committee for your work thank the committee for your work with the servicemen. I hope through my work and our discussions i made to you the seriousness i take of my responsibilities. I would like to recognize my wife, the love of my life, who is here with me today. Know, she was a classmate when we attended the air force academy. She is not only a lifelong friend and partner but provides me with the help only someone in her physician can, and her position can, and i will be grateful. Members of the committee, thank you for the opportunity to appear before this committee to. E considered for a second term i look forward to your questions. Thank you. i would like to start off with one that has been foremost on my mind and the minds of most of the members here as well as the uniformed. I applaud people for being straight forward but the threat we are facing now, that would be north korea. They successfully tested a Ballistic Missile on the fourth of july. The country also completed a successful military test may 14. The experts consider north 4reas missile test on july to be the most significant advancement towards Nuclear Capability in the intercontinental Ballistic Missile. We have had a lot of witnesses talk about this. We have a lot of what that would mean to the United States. If you look at the protected range, somewhere around 5000 miles which would put personal that United States into range. It is a scary thing. We have the Armed ServicesCommittee Hearing on the asiapacific strategy on april 25. We had a panel of experts, and they were good. They agreed with me north korea represents the most imminent threat to the National Security. I thought we could go ahead and start with three questions concerning them. One, two you agree with the experts that came to that conclusion concerning our National Security . And secondary, north korea is strategyexport nuclear to countries like and thirdly, what is your level of confidence in terms of our intelligence communitys ability to monitor what is really going on there. Those three things can start of thought. Thank you. I agree the North Koreans are moving quickly. Not saying the tests on the fourth of july demonstrates they have the capacity to strike the United States with any degree of accuracy or reasonable confidence of success. What the experts tell me is that North Koreans have yet to demonstrate the capacity to do the guidance and control but would be required. Was only referring to range. Referring tonly range. Sir, we will have to watch carefully G Developments on those capabilities. I agree with the intelligence communities and the others that the democratic peoples republic of korea is an arms proliferator. There is no evidence they have engaged in proliferation of longrange missiles but they have proliferated every other Missile Systems that they have invented so it is a Clear Pathway to potential proliferation of these kinds of weapon systems. And the capability of our intelligence . I am relatively capable i of thetively confident capability. Kim jongun and his forces are good at concealing and deception. We have a ceiling that would be happy to talk about it in a classified session. And militaryilians that monitor those activities. It has been said outside because behind hearing that the thehe has been doing nicest thing i can say about kim jongun is he is totally unpredictable and the most unpredictable of anyone i have ever had any kind of experience with or even read about and that is what is scary. Do you agree with that . Yes, sir, i do agree with that assessment. This committee has received uniformsmony from the and the experience people outside of the uniforms that only one third of our Army Brigades are ready. Ourear about the 62 of f18s that the marines have been using do not work. We recognize that what were going through the last few years, the first thing to go is maintenance and then of course, modernization. So i would like to have your assessment of whether or not you do agree with the gentleman who said for example, he testified before this committee that 50 of the air force, kforce are sufficiently ready for a highly contested fight against adversaries. Going beyond equipment, going to individuals. Secretary wilson, another wilson, and a general told us they would be short 1500 pilots, most of them fighters, by the end of the share. Do you agree with these assessments . You want to elaborate on anything they said . I agree with both assessments. Both speak to the availability of funding and resources to make what wees ready for call highintensity combat against a fierce competitor. The budget in 2017 is helpful. The proposed budget for 2018 is down the pathway to being able to restore much of the training, but it will be a twoyear process before receiving readiness. I agree with that. Senator reid thank you general for your service. One of the issues in terms with dui theyg were hoping for knowledge on these satellites. Inexpensive i should say. And also exploiting them with Artificial Intelligence, something we really need. Particularly in korea. We are told they are about to run out of money and we have not received reprogramming yet. I would say this is an urgent need. Can you explain why they are in this distress and what we could do . Gen. Selva yes, sir, i can. We put great emphasis on the experimental project they are working on for us. We were notified last week by the director that we have a reprogramming proposal in staff as we speak that will address the balance and requirements for this fiscal year and we will begin some of the funding for programs that will extend into the next fiscal year year. They will be able to do that with yearend money. One of the areas of concerns is a situation in iraq. I was there about her weeks ago. The ground. Ess on general townsend is doing a great job as the commander on the ground along with, when i was at key west, the second brigade was leading the advisory for. Effort the issue now becomes as we reduce their affect on isis, the longterm crisis. O, i heard there was according to the revolutionary guards ever ran, they are decimating a retaliation group. Can you give us any insight . Frome fighting is far over. Isis has lost the sanctuary of mosul but they still have a lot of small towns they control. There is a plan with the Iraqi Security forces to begin a campaign. In move those towns into on bear province to secure the border with syria. Important work because that will deny isis sanctuary on both sides of the border. I share your concern. I read this morning about the iranian public parts making a statement that if they are declared an International Terrorist organization they will retaliate against our forces in iraq and. We will have to take that into consideration. To i. In another area in your policy, you indicated which is something that has been said by so many that our adversaries in Technology Savvy eroded what used to be h amend this over max by the United States. The question is, what are we doing to get back way ahead. Not just a few inches and metaphorically. Gen. Selva you alluded to the work weve been doing over the past couple years and the advanced concepts arena as well as working with former deputy secretary called the third offset strategy. Those are concepts that would allow us to contest what we call the antiaccess area denial strategies that many of our adversaries have attempted to impose on us by making our bases and forces more resilient and able to survive under the kind of tax associated with the area denial strategies. Particularly china and north korea. It allows us to eject force that in otherwise would be presumed denied. Finally quickly, we have been working for several different congresses on acquisition reform. We have passed legislation. We have a long way to go. We both recognize that. As chairman, you have been given additional responsibility both actual and referential, symbolic. Can you tell us what you are doing to kind of help them jumpstart acquisition and get it so we can deliver systems . If anything, they have had tough luck at getting systems from the drawing board into the field. Can you comment . We are implementing last years nba. There is more flexibility. The advisor to the chairman for readiness and the deployment of systems that support readiness. The second is building the relationship was serviced use and service to censor a secretary is in their Acquisition Authority roles. We are now requiring service directly to acquisition authorities, not only for the basic design and Integration Capabilities going into systems but actual performance on the line of buying systems. One really striking example of the capability was a piece of work we did to move counter Unmanned AircraftSystems Technologies into iraq from idea to fruition measured in months. On delivery to deployment measured in weeks. Those are numbers that are actually quite useful. Thank you mr. Chair. Mrs. You general selva and apple. Thank you for your service to our nation as well. In your answer to our advanced policy questions regarding southeast asia, you suggest shortterm stressors can be managed within the alliance construct and a few weeks ago referring to the will of been specifically, secretary mattis testified that in 2014 we canceled our named counterterror operation with a premature view of success, causing us to lose funding lines we would have otherwise been able to offer. Agree with me and a secretary mattis that reestablishing a named operation is something we should consider as part of our alliance obligation in order to make sure that those shortterm stressors do not turn into a prolonged or longterm catastrophe . Gen. Selva yes maam. In every case where we see the resurgence of terror networks, particularly in the southern philippines i think it is worth considering whether we reinstate a named operation. Not only to provide for the resources required by to get the specific command commander and field commanders in the philippines the kind of authority they need to work with indigenous Philippine Forces to help them be successful in the battle. Thank you. I hope we can work with secretary mattis on this issue. You have been moving on moving on to another topic, you have been overly critical of congress about the budget tosses. I agree it is long past time for us to break the cycle of the continuing resolutions. Were not doing ourselves any favors. However, budgets are a twoway street. The dod has not been able to conduct or pass a clean audit for a very, very long time and so that is not helping our cause either. What specifically were you doing your next few years to achieve a clean audit that you have not maybe been able to accomplish in the last two years . Gen. Selva i have found of the last couple years that achieving a clean audit is a vexing journey. In particular, the discussions over the valuation of rope property are in obstacle in the way of getting that work done. The debates over what we own and what it is actually worth. That inhare with you advance of his confirmation, the newveral hours with deputy secretary of defense Patrick Shanahan discussing how we might get at this issue of valuing Capital Property is said that we can in fact clear a clean audit. We will commit to working not together to the Defense Management action group to come to a resolution. Ever shake up. I hope we can move forward especially when it comes to real property. We have to on this. We absolutely must get this done. To know how the dollars are things spent so we can reassure our taxpayers that we in congress and you as the dod are doing the right. So thank you, i hope we are successful. You also support providing assistance to ukraine, something ive been pushing for a number of years as well. Other than being actively engaged with the interagency on this issue, what specific steps to