Transcripts For CSPAN3 Gen. 20240705 : vimarsana.com

General mark milley. Youre watching live coverage on cspan. Hoping to get the same from you. I want to do a few things. You want to talk about the future of the joint force and the state of change in warfare. This is your last year in the job and office in uniform. Maybe you can look ahead for us on that and talk about ukraine and china. I want to ask you about the news of the day, and the last one for hours a commander in been indicted in new york, what is your reaction to that, do you have any message to the troops of how they should react to that news . Gen. Milley in uniform, or for anybody in uniform, its inappropriate for us to comment on any ongoing legal action. I will refrain from comment on that. Kevin i wont waste our time. Lets get into the changing of the future military force. Give us a quick introduction to what your concerns are as far as changing warfare and the needs you see in front of the military as you finish this last year in charge. Gen. Milley i have said this in speeches over the years, we are at a Pivotal Moment in history from a military standpoint. We are at a fun a metal change in the very character of war. The nature of war is about the interaction between the government, the people and to the army, friction, fear, the unknown and so on. Its probably not going to change. The character of war changes often. Thats about the technology as a driving cost for that. The biggest most recent fundamental change is the word role innovation with airplanes, the introduction of the radio. Today we are in a very similar change, the biggest change in military history. The introduction of position guided missions, which came at the end of the vietnam war. So the ability to see at a distance with granularity that allows you to use the precision weapons. Everyone has iphones, gps watches, the ability to sense the environment is unlike anything in human history. You can see now act range globally and you can shoot with precision. That ability to see and shoot is unlike anything that has ever happened before. You combine that with the ability to make decisions, it is critical in the conduct of war. And the ability to crunch numbers, you win a thousand battles. With the advent of quantum computing and Artificial Intelligence, you are able to crunch massive amounts of information quickly which will assist decisionmakers. If you can get out in front of your opponent, and make decisions faster, you will be more successful. If you add in robotics, they are in the commercial world, we see it in the military with unmanned aerial vehicles. We are experiencing with maritime vehicles and ground vehicles. You will see over the next 1015 years, large portions of advanced countries militaries become robotic. If you add robotic with Artificial Intelligence and the ability to see at range, you have the mix of a real find a mental change. I would submit that the country of the nationstate that takes those technologies and adapts them most effectively will have a decisive advantage at the beginning of the next conflict. Hopefully there wont be one. I want that country to be the United States. That is coming. Those changes, we are leading at about 10 years. Kevin you said 1015 years, talk about the pace of getting there. We hear about criticism that its not fast enough. Generals and admirals will say the same thing. How do you speeded up . How do you speed it up . Has the culture of the military adapted enough of that future war we are talking about . Ukraine is still all war fought in trenches. Thats different than robotics. What is the priority and how do you do you have concerns about that change happening . Gen. Milley the speed is going to have to pick up. One of the challenges that every secretary of defense has is the speed at which we are able to change large complex organization. One way to do that is through the procurement and acquisition system cured we have a system that was built after the height of the industrial age. Thats going to through various reforms. Thats going to have to pick up pace. Another thing is you have to have a concept of war fighting. What we are doing is not just good enough to have service or fighting doctrines. We dont fight as individual organizations, we find as a joint force and allies and partners. It is critical to have a joint doctrine, which we have, that is appropriate for a future operating environment. If you thing about the adjuvants of a joint force in the future, and the concept of using that force in that operating environment, we have developed a joint war fighting concept, that will turn into joint doctrine one this summer. The doctrine will help change the large complex organization. You have to do the doctrine peace, then we had to look at our Talent Management. The future operating environment is not going to be 100 like the past. It wont be a complete break from the past, there will be element of continuity, we had to take a look at what we need for Talent Management. I would argue that cyber and Space Operations are going to be really critical to any future combat operation. We will have to recruit talent for that. That may or may not come from talent pools we have been recruiting from in the past. With a look at the Talent Management piece. We have to look at training. You put all that together, do it in short order. We probably have 57 years to make fundamental modifications to our military. I think maybe two, is about right for what i am talking about, the fundamental change with the technologies. The reality is there will be elements of continuity of the past, we wont get rid of tanks, aircraft carriers and destroyers, fighter jets and bombers, those arent going to magically disappear. There is a transition. That will occur over a decade or two. What you see here inside of 10 years is a transition begin. If you look back at old or two, between world war ii and world war i, we saw all the countries had access to those technologies. But only one country put them together in a way of war, that was nazi germany, which overran europe in a short. Of time. They were able to take those technologies, put them together in a doctrine which we now know is blitzkrieg, and they were able to get a smaller military budget overrun france. They were able to do that for the first 18 months. As we look forward, we may or may not have that luxury of 18 months to bring forth the mass industrial capability of the United States, we have to be ready on day one. Kevin i ask you the timeline because you told us a lot about how the force needs to change internally. Externally, there is a battle going on of what to think about china, what to thing about ukraine, about how National Security leaders are able to convince the American Public of the reality of threats in front of us. Which means convincing congress, ling up support for funding for changes. These fundamental changes were talking about. You told the house that the United States is focused on one fear of the great power and hold the other. That would be a very difficult thing. Thats alarming, what is needed to be able to fight that double threat from russia and china . Gen. Milley you want to have a geostrategic approach that does not drive russia and china into each others arms. You dont want that day to come where they are having a military alliance. That hasnt happened. There are indicators that because of russias situation they have reached out to china for ammunition. There is indication of this conversation is ongoing. Thats different than an actual military alliance. We dont want that to happen. Thats the first step. Second thing is deterrence. The most important thing, you dont want a great power of war to happen. You want to prevent that. I know it sounds trite about peace through strength, but it has worked throughout history. The ni sates has an incredible power powerful military. If you have that and demonstrate that you have a will to use it and your opponent knows your capability, deterrence will prevail. If you are if you dont have that, its very likely that aggressors or adversary countries will take advantage of that and the opportunistic and aggressive against you. You want to deter the war to begin with. If war broke out, and involved three great powers and two of them are against us, that would be challenging. Kevin thats a talk we are hearing with urgency on capitol hill on getting the United States to a place that its possible to defend and win. Ive heard you say several times that conflict with china and russia and iran is not imminent or inevitable. Talk about why you need to say that out loud right now. Gen. Milley theres a lot of rhetoric in china and elsewhere to include the United States that could create the perception that war is right around the corner. That could happen, it is possible. You could have an incident or other trigger event to that could lead to uncontrolleds collation. Its not impossible. But i dont think at this point i would put it in the likely care to worry category. I would prefer to go back to what Teddy Roosevelt said, which is speak softly and carry a big stick. Have our military really strong, lower the rhetoric. I would tell you also that for china, my understanding, is that there military and others have come to a conclusion that war with the United States is inevitable. I think thats a dangerous thing. A come out of a marxist ideology, and in marxism, they believe in historical determinism, a linear approach to history. That is not how we in the west think. We grew up with chance and human agency and other plans and decisionmaking. I dont believe war is inevitable. I dont think it is imminent. But i do think that we need to be very pragmatic and cautious going forward. We will reduce the likelihood of war if we remain strong relative to china, and china knows that we have the will to use it if necessary. Kevin would you like to see the rhetoric on china tamped down in this country . Gen. Milley it needs to be more realistic and less emotional. On the chinese side also, theres a lot on the chinese side to that is also stirring up inside of china. Pointing at the United States. I think for us, approach this with steely eyed realism and get the military up to the level of dominance relative to china, and if they know that, and they know we have the will to use it, you are probably going to deter the war. Kevin we will keep in the region, taiwan. A lot of the conversation on taiwan is more doubtful, you have a China Committee that has been formed, saying the United States and the west needs to arm taiwan to the teeth now. Do you have doubt that taiwan cant withstand china invasion . If xi jinping made to that decision, that maybe taiwan is a lost cause . Gen. Milley for china, the unification of china with taiwan is a core, vital National Security interest. For the United States, we have a one china policy. But our interest is to make sure it is done peacefully. We have the taiwan relations act and the communiques and the rest of it put together that was formed 45 years or more. That has been out there. We are committed to help taiwan and we want to make sure taiwan has adequate capability to defend itself. Let the taiwanese and chinese work it out. Kevin significantly increase the speed . Gen. Milley the head of the chinese commonest party, made several speeches recently and in the last couple of years. He set a date of 2027, where he said in open press, for the army to be ready and have the capability to attack and seizure the island of taiwan by force if necessary. He didnt see say hed made her decision, that would be a political decision made at the time. He wants his military ready to do that. They are training and manning equipment to do that. Thats only four years away. One of the element of deterrence is to make sure that your opponent knows the cost exceeds the benefit. For taiwan, my guess is we have three or four years to get them in a position where they will create a perception in the minds of the chinese decisionmakers. The basics they need air defense, they need antiship cruise missiles, antiship mines, taiwan is a pretty big island. Its 200 some odd miles long, varied mountains, 4 Million People in the city of taipei. You are looking at 170,000 active duty and 12,000,000 in the reserves. It is not a country without defense. Its a very difficult island. It favors the defense. It would be difficult to capture. There are are 100 miles on the high side of water between Mainland China and taiwan. Thats a significant amphibious invasion. If you take a look at normandy in 1944, that was done by the british come a canadian and american militarys. They already had the exteriors of amphibious landings. That was an experienced military, that was still a challenge. It put 101,000 guys on the shore the first morning. Thats a really difficult operation. Xi for the challenge out there we will see where it goes. Kevin lets talk about ukraine. Four months ago, you said in a press briefing, the Ukrainian Military victory divines that kicking the russians out of ukraine, the probability of that happening anytime soon is not high. Has your assessment changed . Gen. Milley the russian objectives in the ukrainian objective, president zelenskyy has said that the ukrainian objective is to kick every russian out of russian occupied ukraine. That is a significant military task. You are looking at a couple hundred thousand russians still in russian occupied ukraine. Im not saying it cant be done, that it is very difficult task. I dont get a slightly to be done in the near term. That is their objective, they have a right to that, that is their country. On the russian side, their strategic objective to conquer ukraine, that hasnt changed. And they obviously have failed at that. Kevin rapidfire questions. The hesitation for giving certain weapon systems to ukraine has been that the United States wasnt sure that ukraine had the restraint to not use it inside russia to attack. If the ukrainians have shown that they are willing to play ball and use restraint, why not give them gen. Milley it was a policy decision. I would never predict anything on or off the table. From a military stand point, we have relatively few attack comes. Have to make sure we maintain our own imitations. The range of the weapon is overstating of what they can and cant do. You are looking at a single shot, a musket versus a repeating rifle. The killers file fired six shots. There are other systems they can get to that range. The brits have a couple systems. Right now we are not providing them. Kevin you told congress that you are witnessing in the ukraine and incredible consumption rate of conventional munitions. Any future raw war could be off the charts. The u. S. Has a ways to go to ensure the stockpiles are prepared beard how far away how far away are we . Gen. Milley if you look at conception rates of ammunition, conventional ammunitions, the consumption rates are huge. If you are to get into a great power war, with the United States and russia, or a regional war, the consumption rates would be huge. What secretary austen is doing right now is going back and reviewing all of our estimates for logistical key ammunitions that are required for the various contingency plans. The Defense Industry base. We have some indications, that will probably have to increase over time. It will be done by magic overnight. Is it something that will be very expensive and will have to be deliberate that will take several years to do. We have sufficient ammunition in our inventory today to do what we need to do. If you are involved in a significant great power war, its best not to underestimate how much munitions you are to need. Kevin you are asked mobile times multiple times about mexico and the idea of using the United States military to prevent the drug trade, to get more involved. Your answer to the congress was you believe that thats a lawenforcement problem, not a military problem. Why do you think that . Gen. Milley from the border and, its definitely lawenforcement. I was involved many years ago in the counter drug war between columbia and central america. I think its an intro Government Agency approach. The drug traffic and trade is fundamentally a Law Enforcement issue. Its a crime. Mexico has its challenges we are i wouldnt recommend anything to be done without mexicos support. There are capabilities that the military has, intelligence or logistical support, airlift,. Also capabilities and special Operations Forces that are always possible. These are difficult policy decisions. I would argue that the best thing that can be done is going through the local government and work with them and their militaries to stem of the flow of drugs. Its a serious problem for the nation. Fentanyl has been coming across, youve heard the numbers of people eating dying from drug overdoses. The precursor kevin the cartels could be recognize as terrorist groups . Gen. Milley that would be policy choice. They are using terrorist tactics. I dont have the numbers for this most recent month, if you look back a year ago, they are averaging 1020,000 killed in northern mexico a year from drug violence. We would have to go through a very rigorous decisionmaking process, i would not recommend doing anything without the support and approval of the mexican government. That would lead to something worse than we already have. Kevin thank you for joining us. This might be the last time we get to speak before you head out this year. Your last year as chairman, someone is coming up after you, every chairman that i have interviewed has treated his job dimly. Do you have any final thoughts or advice in mind for the next one coming up . Gen. Milley i still have a ways to go. In the words of mark twain, the reports of my debt are premature. Death are premature. Im gonna run through the end and figure out what im going to do on the other side. This is an important job, its critical that we have a great military. Ive a job to do and i had to stay focused on that the entire time. The president will make a decision in due time, they will go through a nomination process and if confirmed, will do a handoff of response ability at the end of september. Until then, i will stay focused on what i am doing. This is a dangerous world and it requires the attention of our military. Kevin thank you for joining us. Gen. Milley thank y