The Senate Armed Service Committee considers the nominations of Nickolas Guertin for director of the operational test and evaluation office of the secretary of defense, Alexandra Baker for undersecretary of defense for policy, John Patrick Coffey for general counsel of the department of the Navy, and Douglas R. Bush for assistant secretary of the Army for acquisition, logistics and technology.

Transcript

Water. Uh huh. Before I begin my formal remarks, I would like to recognize the passing of two extraordinary soldiers. General Colin Powell and General Raymond Odierno. Their selfless service in the nation, remarkable courage and remarkable commitment to the men and women of our armed services has sustained and inspired us all. They have left the legacy of honor and commitment that will be a beacon future generations of Americans to their families. I express our profound sympathy. Thank you very much. The committee meets this morning to consider nominations of Mr. Nicholas curtain to be Director of Operational Test and evaluation. Miss Alexandra baker to be Deputy Under Secretary of Defense for Policy. Mr. john Coffee to be general Counsel of the Department of the Navy and Mr. Douglas push to be Assistant secretary of the Army for acquisition, logistics and technology. I thank the nominees for their long careers of service in the United States and their willingness to assume these important roles. I would also like to welcome the family members who are with us today. Mr. Girton. I welcome your wife, Maria son Enrico and daughter Isabella Miss baker. I welcome your husband Sam Mr. Coffee. I welcome your wife and son Connor and Mr. Bush. I welcome your wife Patricia Mr. Gert. You are nominated to be the Director of Operational Test and Evaluation or bot any this position is responsible. All operational and live fire, review testing and evaluation activities. Your long career of technology and weapons Development, Military industry and academic roles should serve you well. There are a number of challenges that will require your attention within the Department of note. It is important for D. O. T. Any to be independent and resist pressure from the services and industry to deploy systems that are not yet operationally effective. You will be responsible for oversight of a number of programs Including the F- 35, the Army Integrated Visual augmentation system, the Navy Ford, class carrier, space satellite systems and missile defense programs. While there’s always a demand to move more rapidly in acquisition is critical that you ensure we do so prudently indeed, we must move both rapidly and prudently in acquisition. Another challenge will be developing, developing ways to test new information technology programs including commercial cloud computing services as well as ensuring robust cybersecurity testing on all systems. In addition, concerns have been raised about prudential reductions in the work force that supports live fire testing. I would ask that you share your plan on addressing these challenges. Miss baker. You are nominated to serve as deputy undersecretary of Defense for Policy. Your current role as Senior Director for Strategic Planning on the National Security Council and previous experience in Congress. The D O. D and O and B will be valuable in this new position. If confirmed, you will have a broad scope of responsibility and advising and assisting the undersecretary of Defense for policy and the sector defense and a range of issues including strategic competition with a rising china. The covid 19 pandemic cyber threats and climate change In the immediate term, the policy offices revising the 2022 National Defense Strategy. The NDS will play a critical role in defining the United States national security priorities. But coordinated across the department and the federal government will be a challenge. I hope you will share how you plan to integrate the NDS with the administration’s whole of government approach. In the coming months, the department will also publish the nuclear posture review. I’m interested in your testimony on a number of issues were leading to the nuclear posture review, including modernization of all three legs of the triad, updating on nuclear facilities, the role of arms control and ongoing strategic stability talks. Mr. Coffee, your nominee to be general counsel, Department of the Navy. This position is responsible writing legal services throughout the department and a vast array of fields, including the acquisition related law, arms control, business and commercial law, and national security rate law, among many others. The general counsel also assists in ethics intelligence, criminal investigation, and law enforcement activities. I would note your extensive career in the Navy, your extensive legal career and you should be well prepared for this. Very responsible job. One of Secretary Austin’s priorities is to eradicate extremism within the ranks. While we continue to believe that the number of extremists and ranks remains very small. Even one is too many. And I hope you will share your views and how you approach this issue, especially as the line between action thought and speech becomes much more difficult to find. Mr. Bush. You are nominated to be Assistant secretary of the Army for acquisition, logistics and technology. If confirmed, you will oversee Army research, development, acquisition programs, sustainment and logistics activities as the army isn’t taking, undertaking its most expansive modernization effort in decades. You will be well served by your experience which includes nearly two decades of congressional legislative work including with the House Armed Services Committee. You will be responsible for balancing the need for rigorous cost management with the need to move quickly and use tailored acquisition approaches to achieve this. It will be necessary to strengthen the armies workforce and capacity while improving data available to the army and D. O. D. To more effectively acquire and sustain army welcomes systems importantly, you will also be responsible for overcoming the so called Valley of Death, ensuring that the Army is able to turn research innovations into real operational capabilities. This will require strengthening connections between research and engineering activities and the Army’s acquisition programs and defense contractors. It will also include investing in and protecting the people and infrastructure that organizations like the Army’s labs and test ranges. I look forward to hearing how you address these challenges. Thank you again to the nominees. Senator Inhofe is not able to join us this morning but I will request unanimous consent to include his opening statement and record without objection. So ordered and now Mr. Burton could you please give you a statement? Chairman read ranking member in half and distinguished members of the committee is a privilege to be with you here today. I am humbled to be considered to serve as the director for operational test and evaluation. I’d like to thank President Biden. Secretary Austin and Deputy secretary Hicks for entrusting me with this nomination. Would also like to thank my family who see behind me for the support Maria, my wife of almost 20 years and are twin Children in recon Isabella of whom were both immensely proud. The greatest asset of the Department of Defense is undoubtedly its people are men and women in uniform and our civilian and contractor workforce make the American military the best in the world. However, our ability to defend the nation also depends on the capabilities of our technologies which must be tested as they would be used in combat. Injecting operationally realistic testing early into the programs development allows the department to implement affordable, comprehensive changes, making the best the most efficient use of taxpayer resources and ultimately achieving the greatest possible performance transparency on the results of those tests are critical to ensuring the most effective, suitable survivable and where necessary lethal performance. If confirmed. I’m committed to ensuring that the office of the Director of operational test and evaluation will deliver an independent objective and authoritative evaluation of system performance to you and Secretary Austin testing the way we fight in the future will require evolutionary and revolutionary changes. Ones that cannot be successfully planned or implemented without teamwork. It will require increased reliance on state of the art testing infrastructure and tools and a well trained test and evaluation workforce. In order to support faster and more efficient evaluation of complex interconnected systems in a joint multi domain operational environment. Hillary require reliance on innovative methods like credible virtual environments and modeling and simulation tools to complement on range and laboratory testing. Have confirmed. I’m committed to working closely with our research and engineering community acquisition programs and the services so that together we can most effectively deliver capability to the joint force. I think this commitment on national security seriously. Having spent the past four decades working on developing testing, fielding and researching the acquisition of military systems. I started my career as an enlisted nuclear power plant operator at the submarines. I later transitioned to the reserves and after graduating college landed a job as a Navy civilian engineer. Shortly afterwards, I was also commissioned as a Navy Reserve Engineering duty officer. This citizen sailor pairing would serve me well the following decade by keeping me grounded and what it took to do maintenance operations and testing the fleet while also developing new systems. Testing has long been central 10ant to this experience. From developing automated test equipment for weapons systems, to testing and deploying new sensors and combat management systems that were built to change and improve over time improving acquisition practices for national national security systems has long been a passion of mine. It started when I was fortunate enough to be on the team that pioneered the use of open architectures for solar systems. In the mid 1990s, I’ve been on the forefront of developing and applying the wide array of improved acquisition practices and helping others do the same ever since. More recently, while at Carnegie Mellon University’s Software Engineering Institute, I learned a great deal more about evolving practices of software alliance system architectures, test automation, artificial intelligence and machine learning, to name a few. Well at the sc II also extended the research I performed while in government on advanced system development methods for improving D. O. D. Acquisition. As Secretary Austin has testified, we have the greatest equipment in the world if confirmed. It is my objective to ensure that assessment continues to hold true, providing for the best trained, best equipped and most capable fighting force in the world. It would be an honor to contribute to that mission and to serve as the director of for operational test and evaluation. Thank you. Yeah, thank you very much. Mr. Burton. Miss baker, please. Uh Thank you Mr. Chairman. Thank you also to the ranking member and members of this committee. It’s an honor to be before you today as president Biden’s nominee for the position of Deputy undersecretary of Defense for policy. I’m grateful to the President. Secretary Austin and under secretary call for their trust and competence in me. I want to thank my husband Sam, who is here with me today and who shares my deep commitment to the values that this country was founded upon. I also want to acknowledge my mother who is watching at home and who came to this country as a refugee and taught me the importance of giving back My father who enlisted in the army in 1969 and who always considered his military service to be the formative experience of his life. He passed away earlier this year, but it’s my honor to continue the family tradition of service. The job of the Department of Defense is to deter adversaries and to fight and win the nation’s wars. Should deterrence fail in short to keep Americans safe. There is no more sacred mission today. We have entered a new era of strategic competition and we must update our policies, our operations, our capabilities and our workforce to meet the moment. I believe that there is no time to waste china is the pacing challenge for the department. As the president’s interim national security guidance states, it is the only competitor that is capable of combining its economic diplomatic, military and technological power to mount a sustained challenge to a stable and open international system. To meet this challenge, we will need to invest in capabilities that are relevant not only to the last fight but to future ones. We will need creative and agile operational concepts and plans that rapidly assimilate and take advantage of technological advances. We will need a high end and combat capable ready force that is forward positioned, distributed and resilient. We will need to operate seamlessly across all domains and we will need increased interoperability with strong and capable partners and allies who are proficient in their war fighting roles. If I am confirmed, I will work tirelessly to support those priorities. As the NsC’s Senior Director for Strategic Planning. I’ve been tasked with drafting the President’s National Security Strategy and coordinating it with our departments and agencies and as well with our closest allies and partners. At the same time, the department has been updating the National Defense strategy building on the strong foundation provided in the 2018 nds to reflect new developments in the strategic environment and new insights about the intentions and the capabilities of our adversaries. If confirmed, my first priority will be to help implement the NDS with a focus on better integrating policies, work with other D. O. D. Components with our interagency partners and with our allies Beyond implementing the NFS. If confirmed. I will also seek to support the undersecretary in executing his priorities. These include rising to the challenge. China poses uh includes defeating the COVID-19 pandemic which remains the most immediate threat to us national security and to the health and safety and readiness of our men and women in uniform. We also continue to face a growing cyber threat from both state and non state actors, including to our critical infrastructure. The department will need to continue to defend forward to protect its networks while building the resilience necessary to deny our adversary’s ability to threaten our nation in this domain. Climate change represents another department wide focus given its potential to drastically change the operational environment and its current impact on our bases and facilities around the world. If confirmed, I’m committed to ensuring that policy is best position to advance these priorities. We have the greatest military in the world, but at the end of the day it’s about people, both our service members and our civilian workforce. I believe that policy is the beating heart of the office Secretary of defense. It is the place where deep expertise, long standing regional relationships meet next generation approaches that integrate new concepts, new ideas, new war fighting capabilities. The policy organization has been challenged in recent years and if confirmed in this role, I will seek to assist the undersecretary in leading and renewing the organization, breaking down silos, facilitating communication and cooperative approaches and improving effectiveness. My commitment to the work force will be to focus relentlessly on organizational health and morale so that policy is postured to provide a strong and constructive civilian voice in the department for years to come. As a former Senate staffer, I have a deep appreciation for the critical role that this committee and this body plays. I want to express my gratitude to the committee for its many decades of bipartisan cooperative focus on the defense of our nation and for your thoughtful oversight of our military. If confirmed, I look forward to working with you in a spirit of partnership to continue that tradition. Thank you for your consideration and I look forward to your questions. Thank you Miss baker Mr. Coffee, please Thank you Chairman Reed and other distinguished members of the committee. I want to begin by thanking my wife of over 32 years and and our Children, Kate, Cameron and Connor. I cannot say enough about what their support and patience has meant. As I pursued parallel careers in the law and in the Navy and I’m so pleased that an and Connor could be here today. I’m very grateful to President Biden for his trust and confidence in nominating me to serve as general counsel of the Department of the Navy. I think the committee ended staff for making time over the past few weeks to discuss my nomination. I am eager to return to public service and hope to earn your support. I would like to address briefly why I believe that if confirmed, I would bring a number of pertinent strengths to the role of Navy general counsel. First, I have for over 30 years, led a varied career in the law, including several years as a federal prosecutor in the southern district of New York and as a civil litigator handling some of the nation’s most challenging and impactful cases. I have experienced solving difficult problems, building effective teams providing candid timely council and advocating for my client’s interests. Second, I served in the United States Navy for over 30 years as a midshipman at the Naval Academy On active duty for eight years and after graduating from Georgetown Law’s night program while I was stationed here in Washington as a reservist. For another 18 years, I served in several operational roles including as a P three Orion mission commander, tracking soviet submarines and I was privileged to be selected twice for command in Washington I had the opportunity to serve his personal aide to Vice president George H. W. Bush and to serve in various pentagon policy and planning roles. Third, I bring to perspective as a child of immigrants, I am humbled by the opportunity that if confirmed I could once again serve the country. That drew my parents here from Ireland seven decades ago. I grew up in a home where my six younger siblings and I were told on a near daily basis that if we did our homework, applied ourselves and went to mass, there was no limit to what we could accomplish in America. Our family went through some tough times. My dad was a construction worker who was out of work when the economy went sour. But our parents always reminded us that we were lucky because we were Americans and that because we have been given this great gift, much was expected of us. These principles have animated much of my life, leading me to take the oath of office to defect, defend our constitution as a 17 year old midshipman in Annapolis and after completing my obligated service to continue to serve in the reserve for almost two decades while juggling a family and a career in new York and senators is why I sit here today ready if confirmed to bring all of my experience, energy and love of country to the role of Navy General Counsel. If confirmed, my top priority would be to ensure that the office of the General counsel robustly supports the mission of the Navy and Marine Corps by providing the timely, candid and accurate legal advice they need to carry out their mission successfully. If confirmed, I would also focus on taking care of our sailors, marines, department civilians and their families, which I know firsthand from my torque as commanding officers enables mission success. And if confirmed, I would seek to promote a culture where ethical decision making is paramount throughout the Department of the Navy related li I would work hard to leverage the office to ensure that every taxpayer dollar that the navy is given is spent wisely fully accounted for and subject to effective oversight and full parents. See to this committee and to the American public. If confirmed, I look forward to working with Navy Secretary del Toro, the senior leadership of the pentagon and this committee. Doing so in the bipartisan tradition. That is a prized hallmark of this committee. Thank you for your consideration of my nomination. I look forward to answering your questions. Thank you. Mr. Coffee Mr. Bush, Please chairman, read ranking member Inhofe and members of the committee. I’m honored to appear before you today as President Biden’s nominee to be Assistant secretary of the Army for acquisition, logistics and technology. I’m humbled by the faith President Biden, Secretary Austin and Secretary of war Meth have placed in me by nominating me to fill this critical role for the United States Army. I’m also also humbled to sit before you Leaders of an institution in the United States Congress, that where it was my honor and privilege to serve as a staff member for almost 19 years. I would like to start by thanking the many people who have supported me during my 28 years of public service, starting with my wife, Tricia, who has been by my side for 24 of those years. My father and mother Donald and Sandra Bush who sacrificed greatly to give me every opportunity in life to succeed and the many superb army officers and non commissioned officers who taught me what it means to serve my country and to lead soldiers, both at West Point and during my time as a young officer here in Congress, I was fortunate to work for many members on both sides. But I owe my chance to serve in Congress, especially to Senator Bill Nelson, Congressman Jim cooper, congressman Neil Abercrombie, congressman Ike Skelton and House Armed Services Committee chairman Adam smith. Finally, I want to thank the outstanding army officers and civilians I was honored to work with during my six months as an acting assistant secretary of the army earlier this year. If confirmed, I am eager to take on the challenge of leading the armies acquisition enterprise. During a period of dramatic change, The army is in the early years of what promises to be its most significant equipment modernization in nearly 40 years. If confirmed, I will be responsible for bringing to fruition many efforts that a talented and dedicated group of army, military and civilian leaders who came before me set in motion. Having supported congressional oversight of army programs for many years and serving in the role. I have been nominated for in an acting capacity for six months. I’m confident I know how to achieve this goal. It confirmed. I would work diligently to meet the objectives of Secretary Warm with other departments. Senior leaders and Congress. My priorities would include the following. First I would place a laser like focus on program execution and performance to ensure rapid delivery of improved equipment to our soldiers for many years, Congress has directed acquisition reforms on accelerating the pace of delivery. I will orient my decisions towards taking action to advance programs and deliver effective equipment while ensuring appropriate oversight of program, cost and performance. Second, I believe the army must get better at acquiring software using all the available tools. Congress has provided many efforts are underway to shift software acquisition from an industrial age to an information age approach. If confirmed, I intend to further accelerate those efforts. Third, the army must return to a focus on security in its acquisition efforts, including cybersecurity and supply chain security. Both are necessary to deliver capabilities uncompromised by the aggressive efforts of china Russia and other countries. 4th, I believe that realistic operational testing is an aid rather than a hindrance to effective, delivering effective equipment to the army, taking a little extra time and effort to fully test systems up front ensures that contractors are held accountable and problems are identified on test ranges rather than in combat. Finally, and most critically will work to ensure army modernization is closely coordinated with Congress. The army cannot achieve any of its modernization goals without the support of in partnership with Congress. In closing, I want to assure members that while the position I’ve been nominated for deals principally with the acquisition of equipment, I am also aware of the larger context our army faces are the potential threats to our military are many, we are tested by our adversaries on a seemingly daily basis. While army acquisition is only a small part of confronting these challenges, I believe it is also a vital one. Our soldiers are the best in the world. They represent the very best of America. They deserve the very best equipment the country can provide. Our soldiers stand on the front line of freedom around the world, providing them with what they need to deter our enemies and if necessary, fight and defeat them is an enormous responsibility. It is one that if confirmed, I will take very seriously every moment of every day. I look forward to your questions today and have confirmed working with this committee to support the United States Army. Thank you. Mr. Bush. Now I have a certain positions which are directed to all civilian nominees. You may answer together. Have you adhere to applicable laws and regulations governing conflicts of interest? Yes. Have you assumed any duties or taken any actions that would appear to presume the outcome of the confirmation process, exercising our legislative and oversight responsibility? Makes it important that this committee, its subcommittees and other appropriate committees of Congress received testimony briefings, reports, records, and other information from the executive branch on a timely basis. Do you agree if confirmed to appear and testify before this committee when requested? Yes. Do you agree to provide records, documents and electronic communications in a timely manner when requested by this committee? Its subcommittees or other appropriate committees of Congress and to consult with the requester regarding the basis for any good faith delay or denial in providing such records. Yes. Yes. Well, you and shut your staff complies with deadlines established by this committee for the production of reports, records and other information, including timely responding to hearing questions for the record. Yes. Will you cooperate in providing witnesses and briefings in response to congressional request? Yes. Will those witnesses and briefings be protected from Reprisal before their testimony before this committee or any briefings? They may go? Yes. Yes. Thank you. And now let me begin my round of questions. Mr. Garton. Uh as I alluded to in my opening statement that one of the tensions we have, if we have been trying to accelerate the acquisition process, trying to keep it within course outlines. And frankly, there’s been some really an examples of delay and cost overruns that are uh, difficult to accept. And your job is to be a sort of in a way the cop on the street to not let anything through that isn’t of great quality and capable of doing its job. Uh, so how do you intend to balance that need of people yelling for speed and uh, you saying stop this is not ready for prime time. One of the hallmarks of my career has been to be involved early in the development of products and thinking about how they’re architected before it’s too late setting the conditions for success early in the development program is especially important to making sure that you get to the place you want to in the end. So one of the things I would like to bring to the operational test community is a shift left mindset, getting more involved in some of the early decision making and setting up those architectures in understanding how those systems are going to interact with the other things around it uh before the program to get so far down the road that they’re gonna be in trouble later. I’ve been involved enough acquisitions and seeing enough of these examples to fully appreciate where you’re coming from and all if confirmed. I will do my utmost to make sure we minimize those kinds of outcomes. Thank you. Uh Miss baker, you indicated in your testimony that part of your task will be to integrate a whole of government strategy, including elements of Department of Defense as well as State as well as other nations. Can you just give a brief sort of snapshot of how you intend to do this? Sure, Senator uh as I said in my opening statement, I believe that china is uh the only adversary that is capable of combining economic, diplomatic militarily and technological might depose a challenge to the United States. I believe that they are proceeding in a whole of government approach and our response needs to be whole of government as well. So if I’m confirmed, I would seek to work closely and support the undersecretary and working closely with our interagency partners at the State Department and elsewhere to ensure that our approach is integrated uh not only across military domains but across the inter agency. Thank you very much. Mr. Coffee the NDS commission in 2018 report which has been very valuable to all of us indicated that there’s a concern about the balance between civilian officials and the military with the D. O. D. That civilian control, which is the essence of our government is not as uh robust as it should be. Are there any actions you believe that need to be taken auburn Navy to ensure that civilian control is foremost? Well, senator, I agree. Mr. Chairman. I agree that the principle of civilian control and military is paramount. Um I believe that with Secretary Austin at the helm of the pentagon and with Secretary Del Toro at the helm of the Navy Department that they are asserting the primacy of civilian control? Um I am unaware of any specific action that needs to be taken to to uh emphasize that if confirmed. I will certainly work with the secretary uh Del Toro to see if he views that and if need be take whatever actions he directs to try and reinforce principle that you just spoke to. Thank you very much. Mr. Finally, Mr. Bush cybersecurity is a ubiquitous problem. Uh So my question is, do you think the army at this juncture uh with your experiences correctly? Partial uh to address the full spectrum of cyber uh Mr. Chairman. I think the tools are in place and we have all the talent we need. I think now it’s a question of coordination and activity within the acquisition world. We have many efforts underway. The army does to design cyber in up front to do more cyber testing earlier to work more closely with army cyber and army intelligence to maintain awareness of the threat as it evolves. I believe over time though it will need to become something that is just part of everything we do rather than being viewed as an additional duty. There is much work to be made to be done over time to ensure that full integration takes place. Thank you very much. And I want to thank the witnesses for their statements and for their response and let me now recognize Senator Wicker, Thank you very much. Mr. Chairman and I do want to thank the witnesses for their statements and um it seems that I’ve been gone. Yeah, well, Miss baker, can you hear me continue sir? Yes, Senator, I can hear you okay. I want those 15 seconds back. Mr. Chairman. Um now the lights came on. Here we go. Uh you’ve got a Miss baker, thank you for your willingness to serve. Um you said in your opening statement that that china is the pacing challenge um that are uh the job of the Department of Defense is to deter adversaries that there’s no time to waste. I agree with you on all of that. And then an answer to a question by the chair. Uh you referred to china as an adversary and I agree with that. Uh Let me ask you about shipbuilding. I know it’s going to come as a shock to my colleagues on the committee, but in 2010 China commissioned four warships And the US Commission to that was 2010. 5 years later, China commissioned um 12 warships the United States commissioned to And in 2020 China commissioned 26 new warships and the U. S. Only three China is now has the largest navy in the world. Um Are you concerned about the priority china has placed on naval shipbuilding. And will you commit to supporting the statutory congressional medal for a 355 ship Navy? Uh Senator. Yes, I am concerned about the emphasis uh that china has put on building its fleet. I think that china has pursued a strategy of seeking to uh thwart us advantages across the board. And and certainly naval sea power is one area. Uh If I’m confirmed, I will support the plan of record. I just say in addition to everything else That we need to be focused not only on the number of ships which I agree it’s critically important but also the capabilities that those ships bring to bear. True. But there is a congressional mandate signed into law passed by the Congress House and Senate and signed by the President for 355 ships. Is that the plan of record that you support? Yes, Senator. It is ok. Let me switch to Taiwan um The Republic of China own the island. Uh for most of the Taiwanese government Um it consists of 23 million Citizens. They are the 21st largest economy in the world. They operate under a constitution that next year will be three quarters of a century old. Do you believe that the people of the republic of China on Taiwan have the right to self determination? Yes, Senator, I do. And do you believe that preventing an invasion of Taiwan is in the national security interest of the United States of America. Yes, Senator I do. And do you believe it is in the national security interests of our friends and allies in the pacific rim Yes. Senator. Do you believe that they are currently capable um of preventing an invasion by the people’s Republic of china? Uh Senator, I would just say that our commitment to supporting Taiwan’s self defense is a longstanding, it’s bipartisan and it’s something that I’m prepared to support moving forward and uh in my judgment, the best way to prevent military conflict between the people’s republic and the Republic of China is for us to have an adequate navy in the pacific realm and for us to for the United States to assist Taiwan in building up its defenses. Do you agree with that? Yes, Senator, I do. Okay, well thank you very much. We’re I’m concerned uh, that as a matter of policy, the money that this current administration is requesting for military strength, particularly naval strength in the pacific is inadequate. And I do believe we’re going to we’re going to find support for that position on both sides of the diocese. You’re on this committee. So I look forward to working with you. But we I will tell you we need to to change the trend and and reverse the curve that we’re currently facing. Thank you, ma’am. Thank you Mr. Chairman. Thank you Senator Worker. Let me recognize Senator Shaheen. Please thank you Mr. Chairman and congratulations to all of our nominees this morning and we very much appreciate your willingness to continue to serve this country. Miss baker. I want to start with you following up on some of Senator Wicker’s questions about china and the importance of responding to the great power competition that we are now in. We heard over the weekend, the reports that china had fired a hypersonic weapon. They walked that back. But it’s very clear that they’re working on that. And then we’ve also heard in the last day that North Korea has just fired two ballistic missiles. How high up on our priority list for our both our national Defense strategy and um for the department should a response to both the hypersonic weapons and to what North Korea is currently doing be and how should we be approaching that? Thank you senator. Uh as the secretary has said, China is the pacing threat for the Department of Defense. And that means that we uh I believe if confirmed will need to have a sense of urgency about developing not only the capabilities but the concepts of operation that will allow us to counter some of the developments that we’re seeing the P. R. C. Put forward. Um I think that they have pursued a strategy of seeking to blunt us advantages over a number of years. So not only in terms of hyper sonics but space and encounter space cyber all of these are areas that if confirmed, I would I would seek to prioritize as it relates to North Korea. Certainly, uh there continued unwillingness to abide by their international obligations uh the rapid pace of missile testing that we have seen in recent weeks, all of all of those things are concerning. Uh I believe that the department has a responsibility to maintain a robust deterrent uh to ensure that we have forces positioned ready to fight tonight on the peninsula in order to provide that credible deterrent to Kim Jong un. Thank you. You mentioned in your opening statement the importance of personnel and that needs to be our first priority. I was pleased to see Secretary Austin issue some guidance around um our personnel who might be affected by Havana syndrome or the anomalous health incidents. But obviously there’s a lot more that we need to be doing to respond to that. We need to get the to the bottom of who’s responsible and how they’re orchestrating these attacks. So if confirmed, do I have your commitment to work closely with this committee and provide timely updates on matters pertaining to these attacks? Yes. Senator. Absolutely. I have friends and colleagues who have been affected by anomalous health incidents. I take that very personally and I will commit to work with you on this. Good. Thank you. Mr. Garton. Uh huh. I had the opportunity to um go up on a K. C. 46 air refueling mission with a crew from the 157th refueling wing at peace in New Hampshire, We were the first guard base to get those KC 46 tankers but as you know, they’re still not operating the way they’re supposed to operate. So if confirmed, do I have you your commitment to ensure that testing and evaluation for the remote vision system? Two point remains on schedule. Yes, Senator. It’s especially important that the systems operate the way they will be our tested the way they’ll be operated operationally and uh to have those things come out as a part of fielding them is not the time. We want to discover those problems. And will you ensure that the committee, this committee is notified of any further delays or problems with that remote vision system? Senator, thank you Mr. Coffee, One of the big challenges that we have seen across our military and the Native Navy unfortunately has not been exempt over the last decade. That has gotten a lot of attention has been sexual assault. And obviously there have been concerns about how to respond to that and the culture of the military and how um that seems to if not promote at least condone sexual assault and sexual harassment. So, can you talk about what role you can have as legal counsel to addressing this issue? Thank you. Senator. There is no place in the Department of the Navy or anywhere and we’re in the military for sexual harassment, sexual assault or any of those destructive behaviors. No, no room whatsoever. I was very distressed when I read the uh the IRC report to see that something that I saw in my own active duty days and reserve duty days when we were first integrating women into combat units was not only not solved, it was worse. And it’s very distressing to me. I’m very pleased to see that the IRC gave specific recommendations and that Secretary Austin has directed that the department will carry out every one of those recommendations will be of some with some modifications. Uh if I am confirmed, I would vigorously support uh implementing those changes on the road map that the Secretary of Defense is laid out. This is personal to me. I was in a squadron that suffered a lot of tension and disruption uh due to allegations of sexual assault. Uh it was a priority for me when I was a commander and it is distressing for me that many years later. It’s still a problem in the department. But if I am confirmed, I am absolutely committed to helping eradicate that scourge within the Department of the Navy. Well, thank you very much. I hope you will make it a priority. Thank you. Mr. Senator. Thank you Senator Shaheen uh Senator Tuberville, which I think this sets the record for earliest recognitions centers. However, thank you Mr. Chairman. Uh thanks for all being here today. Mr. Bush, you’ve been a former tanker, you know, Anderson’s army depot and Alabama is uh the only depot in the US that performed maintenance on our tanks. Give me your thoughts about the future of our tank use in the United States. Military Senator Anderson is part of the broader organic industrial base that supports the whole army and a vital part we have to have it and it has to be effective and efficient with a with a good workforce I believe as long as the army has heavy armored vehicles, there will be a major role for Anniston Anniston in supporting those efforts. Thank you. Mr. Coffee. We we recently had a young man arrested court martialed because of saying something on social media about the war in Afghanistan. What’s your thoughts on that? Well, Senator, uh vaguely aware of the circumstances we speak and I understand it was handled within the uniform code of military justice system, which of course falls within the purview of the uniform lawyers within the department. Um I understand that that process may be ongoing and at least one shape or form. So I’d be reluctant to to offer any opinion on the specific facts of that case. But I will say this. I I firmly believe in the First Amendment. I believe in the right of every service member to have the beliefs that they believe. But there are also if you pull on a uniform, as I did for 30 years, uh you understand that there is a time and a place to voice those uh and that you are first and foremost a member of the military with a chain of command and respect for your superiors and again not tying it to this specific instance. But if you disobey direct orders, if your conduct threatens good order and discipline, then uh under the UcMJ a you can, in my view should be held accountable again without opining on the specific facts of that matter sir. Sure, thank you. Mr. baker, your thoughts. Uh Senator, I am not a lawyer. I am not an expert on U. C. M. J. But uh as Mr. Coffee said, I am am but you are in the team building right. I do believe in prioritizing team building. I think as Mr. Coffee said, um, everyone is entitled to their First Amendment rights, but at the end of the day, the there is a chain of command and that’s something that will expect our service members to adhere to. We are in a business here of team building, as you said, and we need a strong and and vibrant military uh, I want to know what your opinion is in your definition is of extremism. Could you tell me that? Uh, Senator, I don’t know that I can give you a textbook definition of the term. What I what I can tell you is that I believe that the vast majority of our service members serve with honor and distinction, as the chairman said earlier though, to the extent that there are individuals in the services who are seeking to uh disrupt that unity in that team building that you spoke of. That’s something I think the Secretary has indicated he intends to prioritize. Thank you. Thank you. Mr. Girton Alabama is a fast growing hub for commercial engineering and software companies. Uh, what do you believe the D O. D should be doing to monitor the development of these operational, new commercial systems that we have. So Senator, the uh the challenges we face in using new systems that are based on commercial technologies is has one thing, as one aspect to it is the supply chain where those things coming from. And are they secure and suitable for military use? Our use case is not exactly the same as university or your home. So we want to make sure that those products are suitable to the task but also we want to take advantage of commercial technologies allow us to move fast and effectively into the future. Thank you. Thank you. Mr. Chairman for your generosity. Thank you. Senator Bill. Uh and now let me recognize senator rental please. Oh yeah, thank you. Mr. Chairman. I asked the following two initial questions of all of the nominees to come before any of the committees on which I said, call us the entire panel in unison since you became a legal adult. Have you ever made unwanted requests for sexual favors? Are committed any verbal or physical harassment or assault of a sexual nature? No, no. Senator. Have you ever faced just a plan or entered into a settlement related to this kind of conduct? No, no miss baker, uh huh. You were asked by Senator Shaheen about china’s hypersonic missiles and you said that there would be a robust deterrent. And so I just wanted to also mention and take note of the of what china is doing. And of course as it impacts Hawaii not to mention what north Korea is missile testing uh is doing in the uh in the pacific arena. So I just would like to ask you whether since you acknowledge that we need to have a robust deterrent, that the duty budgets will reflect this kind of, of robust deterrence in either this budget or in the following. Yes, sir. Yes, senator. I believe that the first responsibility of the Department of Defense is to defend the homeland. Of course Hawaii is is uh is part of that. And so um I would expect that we would have a robust and credible uh defense of Hawaii and that that we would put forward in the end of pacific a credible deterrent. Thank you Mr. Carl. Earlier this month, the Washington post reported federal agents are investigating a new corruption scandal involving alleged bribery and fraud related to service contracts when our ships and submarines pull into ports in Europe and the Middle East. I’m concerned that these facts are eerily reminiscent of the gland defense, Mark Marine Asia, G. D. M. A contracting scandal. In the end of pacific, in a congressional hearing over three years ago, the Vice Chief of Naval Operations at that time assured my counterparts in the House that the Navy had installed new layers of oversight and it’s contracting process for overseas ports to thwart a report of the G. D. M. A. Type of scandal. But that doesn’t seem to have work to have confirmed. What steps do you plan to take to ensure adequate controls are in place to prevent fraud in these, over ship overseas shipping service contracts. Senator, There, there’s no room in the Navy for any type of corruption along the lines of what you described and I too was distressed to read about the the MLS case a few weeks ago. Um I thought there were encouraging signs in the wake of the Glenn Glenn defense uh marine uh scandal, uh specifically the comprehensive review uh relating to the uniformed lawyers in the department and some of the recommendations they had made which which are being carried out and which I look forward to reviewing more closely if confirmed. But it’s clear that there are still problems and if I am confirmed, I would look to see how we can address those. I’m from my time as a federal prosecutor and as a plaintiff’s lawyer, I believe in personal accountability. So I think this is a problem that’s going to need continuing focus of leadership, focus on personal accountability and reviewing what continues to go wrong. I hope it’s isolated. But if I’m confirmed, I’m gonna, I’m gonna try and get to the bottom of it. Really. I think we need your commitment that you will review whatever oversight procedures already in place because uh, the Navy hardly needs these kinds of scandals. Mr. Gordon the navy specific missile range facility, barking sands. P. M. R. F. And Kuai is the world’s largest instrumental instrumented multidimensional testing and training range, continuing to integrate an upgrade P. M. R. F. Along with other ranges in the pacific is critical to our national security and why that task is included as a line of effort within the pacific deterrence initiative. Have you ever visited P. M. R. F. Not yet. Senator, I hope you will. And uh you know I’d like to ask you, you know what is the importance of this kind of a facility and the importance of this type of initiative that I just mentioned. Test ranges of the kinds that we have, especially the one in why is critical to our ability to test weapons systems as they would be used in combat. Uh all of our facilities need to be examined for how they might be modernized in the future. There’s a great report turned out recently by the national academies that highlighted some of the changes we need to make if confirmed. I’m looking forward to getting into the details of that and working with the rest of the D. O. T. Any team to figure out how to not just modernize but also positioned these ranges so that they can keep pace with the evolving needs for for the long haul. Thank you Mr. Chairman. I just want to note for Miss baker that I do appreciate your mentioning that climate change considerations are an important part of what you will be focusing on. And so uh climate change considerations and the operations planning and resource allocation decisions are very important. So I wanted to know you. Yes senator and I would look forward if confirmed to working with you on that. Thank you. Thank you Mr. Chairman thank you. Senator Hirono. Senator Kaine please. Thank you. Mr. Chairman and Mr. Gert and I want to ask you some questions um you are nominated for a very important position. One of your predecessors in the earlier this year DR radio tool I think was the acting in your position came before our readiness subcommittee and gave the following testimony which troubled Senator Sullivan I the chair and ranking of the readiness subcommittee. And I quote D. O. D. S. Acquisition and TNE communities need to address cybersecurity more comprehensively. Unfortunately some programs do not properly plan for cyber security assessments more critically due to poor system hardening against dynamic cyber threats driven by lack of workforce cyber capacity talent and tools within the program offices. Virtually none of the programs assessed in fy 20 were survivable against relevant cyber threats That testimony was offered in an open hearing. Senator Sullivan, I both looked at each other and said is this an open hearing? And the witness Dr. tool said I got this cleared for delivery of testimony in an open hearing but it troubled us greatly that in the programs that were tested by your Office. Should you be confirmed in Fy 20 none of virtually none of the programs were survivable against relevant cyber threats. Do you think the survivability failures are due to poor acquisition policy or is there a larger cultural problem within the D. O. D. That we need to address to solve this shocking weakness. So senator getting our cybersecurity right on our weapons systems is critically important to them actually being useful in the field. Um It’s very affordable to attack our systems before they actually make it to the field to get to the kinetic stage of the fight. So we got to get this right uh uh work and I get a ship mentioned earlier, shifting left the view of the operational test community to get into those early stage decisions before people start on the path to developing their products that they get those cyber security principles right up front so that when they get out toward the end, when we’re doing the actual operational test side of it that they’ve positioned themselves well to be able to respond to the continuous evolving threat. It wouldn’t be a big deal if we weren’t being being it all the time. And we are we need to position ourselves well for that. You have experienced both in software development and navy weapons development. So I think you’re in a unique posture to make sure when we’re doing acquisition and early stage work on these programs that we build in cyber protections. Um, the second issue that’s come up recently, a family in Annapolis was caught by the FBI offering to sell classified information on a submarine reactor and propulsion designed to another country. And that demonstrates just how damaging insider threats can be. The news report indicated that this particular individual was storing classified information on an SD card, hopefully to then transfer that information to another country from your time with Naval Surface Warfare Center. You think we do enough monitoring or have enough monitoring systems in place to flag potentially harmful activity. Like folks storing classified information on private SD cards. Senator. I’m not familiar currently with the protection systems that going on and and say specifically naval surface or undersea warfare center. I do not having been an employee at at those kinds of facilities in the past that they actually do have very good protections. Uh, we did find this uh problem that thought out of hand, so chalked it up is a little bit of a win, but it’s also dangerously close to getting it too far out of hand before it would be a real problem. So if confirmed to make sure that the operational test community and the systems that we use are well positioned to be able to capture those things before they get out of hand and just, you know, to a to a non expert. I’m not an expert are their software systems or Ai programs that you think are sufficient to identify potentially harmful activity of the kind that you’re right. We did catch it and stopped the family from transferring the information. But do you think that their software ai programs that can help us ensure the this kind of data and activity is protected. Senator. I couldn’t make a definitive statement about the specific use of machine learning artificial intelligence to capture that thing, that that sort of activity. I do know that there is some research going on in that area from my time at the Software Engineering Institute. So if confirmed to be a pleasure to look into that and find out how we can be more effective in that area. Right, thank you appreciate it. Mr. Chair, thank you. Senator King Senator Howley. If you’re ready, you may begin. Thank you. Mr. Chairman thanks to the witnesses for being here. Mr. Bush. If I could just start with you, I want to talk first about something that’s very important to my state. Uh and that’s the Lake City ammunition plant also important for the next generation squad weapon. As you know that the Lake City Army ammunition plant does vital work ensuring that our war fighters are prepared and armed for any future conflict and and in particular that plant provides ammunition, produces ammunition for the next generation squad weapon. Here’s my question. Do I have your commitment to ensure that Lake City will receive the facility upgrades that it needs in order to continue to produce ammunition at the rate that we needed to Sen. 1st, let me say, I was recently able to visit the facility. So I saw firsthand the great work down there and the great people that work there. Um assuming the army stays on its current plan for that program, it will need to build that ammunition at Lake City. Preliminary work is underway. And should the program stay on schedule, I would expect the army to fund uh production efforts as well. Very good. Thank you for that miss baker. Let me come to you and let’s talk a little bit about china. If we could. Secretary Austin, Deputy secretary Hicks and under secretary call have all testified that the U. S. Has to maintain a debate to defeat a Chinese fate. Accompli vis a vis Taiwan. I have made it my habit in this committee to ask every witness practically from D. O. D. Certainly those in policy making role about the scenario which I think is is not only the pacing china only being the pacing threat but the Taiwan challenged the pacing scenario. So if I could just ask for a yes or no from you, do you agree with their testimony that it’s vital that the U. S. Maintained the ability to defeat a potential fate Accompli against Taiwan? Yes. Senator. I do very good. And do you agree that the department should be prioritizing this scenario? Is that develops plans, concepts and capabilities for the future? Yes. Senator. I do. I think a Taiwan contingency is certainly among the most stressing scenarios that we can be planning for. And for that reason it’s critical that we prioritize it. Great. I’m glad to hear that. Let me ask you about another aspect of this. Admiral Davidson and Admiral Aquilino have both testified to this committee That China may attempt a accompli in Taiwan before the end of this decade and it’s widely thought that that this is possible for 2030s. But what caught my attention for both of them was their testimony that this is something we should be planning for looking at in the 20 twenties at the commandant of the Marine Corps and the Chief of Naval Operations have both said that they agree with that assessment and Transcom Transcom command and other officials have said the same. Do you agree That the threat of a Chinese stated company against Taiwan is something we need to be concerned about and planning for in this decade and not just in the 20s 30s? Yes, Senator, I do very good. Um Let me ask you something adjacent to the Secretary Austin wrote earlier this year in response to a question for me and I’m going to quote him now that a combat credible forward deterrent posture is instrumental to the U. S. Military’s ability to deter and if necessary, to deny a fait accompli scenario. The Deputy secretary, the undersecretary and multiple commanders of end up a calm have reaffirmed the secretary’s emphasis on denial. Do you agree that a strategy of denial is essential for deterring Chinese aggression. Yes. Senator, I do. Very good. Let me shift gears just a little bit and ask you about some of the recent disturbing testimony that this committee has heard with regard to the situation in Afghanistan, do you think it was appropriate for the United States to draw down nearly all of its forces in Afghanistan before we finished the evacuation of American citizens. And I’m thinking particularly given General Miller’s warning that the Afghan security forces and government could collapse quickly. Uh Senator uh not being at the department right now, I I am familiar with the testimony that you are referencing. I understand that the department planned for a range of contingencies including different levels of troops on the ground. I’m not in a position I think to assess the details of that planning Secretary Austin testified both to this committee and then more pointedly actually to the House Armed Services Committee that the non combatant evacuation he believes should have begun earlier. It’s reported that General Milley reported in the press that General Milley said the same thing that again even more pointedly that that D. O. D. Warned the White House and state that the non combatant evacuation had to begin earlier? It didn’t of course. And as a consequence hundreds of civilians were killed, hundreds of Americans left behind 13 service members killed. Do you agree with them that the non combatant evacuation should have begun earlier in Afghanistan? Uh Senator. My understanding is that there was a robust interagency discussion about the timing of the neo operations. I’m simply uh not currently in a position where I have the details that I would need to be able to really assess that. I’ve got another question for you about the force planning construct in the 2018 NFS and and a couple of other things related also Russia. I’ll submit those for the record because my time has expired. Thanks so much to all the witnesses And thank you Mr. Chairman, thank you Senator Hawley. Uh No, let me recognize Senator Blumenthal, please thank you. Mr. Chairman. I want to follow Senator Haleigh’s questions about the impact of our withdrawal from Afghanistan on both Americans who were left there and our Afghan partners and allies, many of whom are still there. You mentioned that there was a robust interagency discussion and a number of us actually visited the White House in the spring uh in April and May to urge that there be evacuation and much more massive efforts at evacuation beginning then and not waiting Now, you’ve been working on the National Security Council. Are you saying that the National Security Council was uninvolved in There was discussion uh no Senator. Uh my role in the National Security Council is primarily related to drafting the National Security strategy. I was not involved in the operational planning for the evacuation of Afghanistan. So there was no preparation in terms of strategy for that evacuation. Uh Senator, I believe that there was, It simply was not in my job jar. Let me ask you forward In terms of what we should do now, there have been nine planes that have continued the evacuation effort. They are private planes, not United States military planes. We have no presence there either diplomatically or militarily. Those nine planes have evacuated approximately 300 people each, most of them interpreters, translators, guards, security personnel who sided with us literally put their lives on the line, risk their families. But they are just a fraction of the total number of afghan allies and partners who remained there in very severe danger. And the reason I’m asking about it is because they were of direct service to our men and women in uniform, often going into harm’s way with them and the president is committed to get them out. Do you agree with me that we ought to make as a precondition of any serious talks or conversations or discussions with the Taliban that they permit all of those afghan allies who sided with us to leave if they want to do so. Uh Yes, Senator, I think we have a commitment that we make as a military to our partners on the ground and that we need to abide by that. I think that the safe passage of not only American citizens and legal permanent residents, but also the afghan partners that you you describe should be a priority for moving forward. My office has been directly involved in enabling a a number of those planes to leave. It has been a tortuous. Mhm day and night process and my feeling often has been that our own government is not as robustly supportive as it could be. You commit that you will be actively engaged personally with the Department of State in urging that we fulfill our commitment to those afghan partners and allies as well as the Americans. You may still be there. Yes, Senator. And uh let me thank you for the work that I know that you’ve done on this issue and the leadership that you’ve displayed as you mentioned, the Department of State does have the lead on this for the inter agency. But if I’m confirmed, I’ll seek to ensure that the Department of Defense is providing all of the necessary support to the State Department. Would you be willing to support the use of our state’s military aircraft in that effort? If the Taliban permitted? Uh Senator, that’s that’s not an issue I’ve looked at directly so I don’t know that I can give you a direct answer. But if confirmed, I certainly would seek to uh get the details of what something like that could look like and have a follow on discussion. Thank you. Thank you very much. Mr. Chairman. Thank you very much. Senator Blumenthal Senator King, please Thank you. Mr. Chairman. Mr. Gordon? I want to follow up on Senator canes questions, there’s no question in my mind that if there is some level of conflict that will begin with cyber and we can have all the ships in the world, in the pacific but if they are silenced, if they lose their communications capability, their navigation capability then they’re not going to be very effective in protecting the interests of this country. Will you pursue actively and aggressively testing for cybersecurity of every system that comes under your purview in this new position the center the operational testing of software intensive care or software Reliant systems has to include cybersecurity testing is a part of its suitability for operational use so that I believe that policy is already in place but I commit to you that we will make sure that that uh your knowledge does this department this division office have the capability to provide that kind of cyber security testing. This is a specialist field. Do you have hackers for hire in that office? So we have red team uh uh people that can go in and have a high degree of expertise for doing penetration testing and finding out where the vulnerabilities lie and form the programs what they need to do to go in and fix it so that you’re not certain though that we have like all of the people in place for testing every system. I would have to look into that and get back to you confirmed. I view this as an absolutely essential and urgent part of your responsibility uh in terms of supply chain in terms of of acquisition of of of equipment, nothing is going to work if it’s subject to a cyberattack, miss baker, you’re going to one of your responsibilities will be to lead and develop the nuclear posture review without going into a great deal of discussion. Do you believe that a no first use policy should be part of the new nuclear policy? Uh Senator as the deputy secretary testified when she was last year uh that’s unlikely to be part of the nuclear posture review. That’s ultimately a decision that’s made by the President of the United States. If I was confirmed though I would seek to ensure and I know that NPR is already well underway but to ensure that the product uh is analytically rigorous that it it takes into account changes in the strategic environment which includes the fact that we are facing now two nuclear capable pure near Pure adversaries and that it reflects uh the input and advice of all components of the Department of Defense to include our combatant commanders. You come into a calm and stratcom in particular. Ultimately I think our obligation is to provide the best analytic product to the president in order to inform his choices. Thank you. Um we just heard about the launch of a Chinese hypersonic missile from into orbit and then out of orbit. Uh we’re still talking about missile defense hitting a bullet with a bullet. I’m concerned that for years we’ve been talking about directed energy as a possible solution and yet it just doesn’t seem to be getting the attention, the research money uh, that I believe it deserves in terms of its future capability, we’re not going to be able to do missile defense against a hypersonic missile. I think it’s very unlikely will you commit to in terms of policy looking hard at directed energy as a potential asset in the new world of missile defense? Yes, senator. I think there are a number of emerging and advanced technologies that we need to do a better job of incorporating into our concepts and our war planning. And certainly I would put directed energy in that category. Thank you. Mr. Coffee. I have to begin by asking you you were a P three commander where you ever at Brunswick? Only three different squadrons, senator, Only three different squadrons. I was there for about 10 years of my 30 years including command of patrol, squatter New Brunswick Naval Air Station. Yes, sir. Congratulate Brunswick, thank you. Uh you’ve, in your advanced testimony, you mentioned a session to the Convention on the Law of the Sea would strengthen our global security posture as a lawyer. Do you see any legal objections to the uh session of this country to the Law of the Sea? Uh Convention Senator. Uh the Navy has been abiding by the tenants of that. Uh we’re abiding by. But the problem is we’re not at the table. We’re not we’re not and and I don’t see any legal obstacle to us signing on formally to that. Do you think it’s a strategic disadvantage to us to not be at the table under the law of the sea convention? I think our voice would carry more weight if we were at the table. I mean we carry a lot of weight regardless. Uh and I know our allies are abiding might as well, but that is actually something in the purview of the General Council of the Department of Defense and I certainly have confirmed would confer with her to see what we can do to advance the ball on that. Thank you. Thank you. Mr. Chairman, Thank you. Senator. King Senator Scott please. Thank you. Chairman read Thank you each of you for being here. Congratulations on your nominations and your willingness to serve just two weeks ago, the Chinese military spent sent nearly 150 warplanes over Taiwanese air space. And we’ve heard the Communist Party General Secretary xI expressed his intentions for taking over Taiwan. We have a long military relationship with the Taiwanese people and is one of our most strategic partners that region. I think we’d all agree they deserve our complete support, Miss baker if confirmed. Would you support providing Taiwan with robust military training and expertise to ensure its armed forces present a combat credible deterrence. Uh Senator, I think that our commitments under the Taiwan relations act uh to support Taiwan’s self defense, our our longstanding, they are bipartisan and I intend to support them have confirmed. So you would support robust military training and expertise to ensure that they’re credible threat. Yes, Senator I would support meeting our commitments under the tiara. Would you consider such military support to include individual and unit level training as well as training for operations that would make cooperation with us and our other militaries more effective if Taiwan required it to defend itself. Uh Senator, I haven’t looked at that question specifically, so I think I need to dig into some of the details and maybe get back to you with a more definitive answer. But certainly I think that it’s incredibly important that we improve the interoperability of our military to work with our partners and allies in the region particularly as it might relate to a Taiwan scenario. I realized that primary goal for the U. S. Is to enhance Taiwan’s ability to engage in a some asymmetric warfare with a much stronger china. And I think we all would agree with that. But shouldn’t we also consider ways to help Taiwan Taiwan defend itself and hopefully be a great deterrent from whatever comments china my throat it such as an enhanced iron dome system or greater anti missile defense system to make it clear to the General Secretary xi that he will not be permitted to take Taiwan by force. Senator I again have not looked specifically at the concept of an iron dome like system. I understand that Taiwan is pursuing a strategy of building robust, lethal uh mobile asymmetric capabilities that I think makes a great deal of sense. But certainly these are all things that I think we can we can look at and and should look at carefully. It’s clearly worked, it’s clearly worked for Israel. Um and this would be totally different. They mean the capabilities of comics china totally different but this concept of making the time on these people comfortable and telling um she that he will not be able to take take them by force I think would be helpful. Don’t you agree? Uh Senator, certainly everything I know about the operation of the iron dome system in Israel indicates that it’s been remarkably successful. I simply have not considered how that might translate into the indo pacific Thank you. Mr. Bush. We’re hearing of reports that communist china has successfully tested a hypersonic weapon is capable of carrying a nuclear warhead. We’re also hearing that these reports surprise our intelligence community and pentagon leadership. Uh Do you believe that’s true? Um And do you if that’s and do you believe that the United States is comfortably ahead of china on nuclear warheads? Or is this launch evidence that we have a lot of work to do to modernize our our nuclear capability. Senator, I have not received a specific classified briefing on that event yet. I’m sure they’re classified details I would need to know before giving you a good answer sir. More broadly speaking. Uh The entire D. O. D. Including the army does need to continue to work rapidly to improve our deterrence capability including in the area of hypersonic missiles. All right, Mrs. baker and Mr. and Mr. Gordon? What do you think about these reports about the hypersonic? And were we were we surprised And and uh and do you do you believe that we need to modernize our nuclear arsenal to be able to defend ourselves against an aggressive communist leadership in china? Uh Senator is Mr. Bush that I think uh it’s difficult to discuss the details in this open session but certainly I agree a modern incredible nuclear deterrent uh is essential to homeland defense moving forward. I concur with Miss baker on that point. Yeah. Thank you Mr. German. Thank you Senator Scott. Senator Warren please. Uh thank you. Mr. Chairman, congratulations to each of our nominees. Welcome And I want to say a special thank you to Miss baker for her commitment to serve her intellect and her integrity is matched only by her deep and abiding commitment to public service. And I was fortunate to benefit from her advice and counsel. She is precisely the kind of person that we should all hope agrees to serve in our government. Mr. curtain. I would like to start with you today. Uh There’s something I’d like to be able to ask about and that is the. Annual report published by the Director of operational Test and Evaluation. This is one of the most important report cards for determining whether or not our weapons are working. The Section 89 Panel created by Congress to streamline and improve defense acquisition found that the annual report and I’m going to quote here assists with both the office’s internal success and the ability of Congress to exercise proper oversight. Now this is where it’s important to me to get some commitments from you. There’s always pressure to keep elements of this report away from the public. So Mr. Garton, do you agree that this report must remain available to the public to the maximum extent possible. So senator transparency on how our weapons systems are doing is especially important. So the public knows that we’re doing a good job with the money we have or where we’re not quite living up to our expectations. I commit to you that will have an unclassified report. I’ll also assert that some of the stuff might be a little sensitive that perhaps might be better suited for like a classified appendix of that sort of be happy to work with you on one of the balance points of those. Good. So I take that as a yes, to the maximum extent possible, to some extent possible. Good. And do you commit to this committee that you will make this report and other reports from your office publicly available to the maximum extent possible, to the maximum extent possible. Yes, ma’am. Thank you. That’s very important to me. Now. One way to keep information from the public is to use Sudo classifications like for official use only. Which means that the information is not deemed to be classified but it’s still restricted from public view. So let me ask you another question on this. Do you commit to avoiding the use of designations such as for official use only for the unclassified portions of the operational test and evaluation reports, Senator. To the maximum extent possible. Yes. But I think there might be some policy issues we might have to work out with with Congress to make sure that the information is provided as unclassified and public released but also not sensitive in some way. All right, well, we might have to talk through what sensitive means because if it’s not classifying then I think the public generally the presumption should be that the public has a right to know and that’s the commitment I want from you to the maximum extent possible. Yes, Senator. Okay. And then my final question on this, do you commit to notifying this committee? If you believe that your work is being wrongfully restricted or pseudo classified or over classified senator. If there are any restrictions that don’t make sense or not in the interest of the country. I’ll make sure that we communicate that with this committee. Good. I very much appreciate that. I plan to hold you to these commitments and I look forward to working with you to ensure maximum transparency from your office. I think that’s how both of us will better serve the American people. Thank you. Thank you. Mr. Chairman Senator Warren. Senator Blackburn. Please thank you. Mr. Chairman and thank you to each of you for being here today. Mr. Coffee. I want to come to you. We saw the release of knave admin last week and the guidance on how sailors who are not fully vaccinated and do not have a pending or approved exemption will be punished administratively. So I’ve got some questions for you. Is it correct to say that sailors who are separated only for refusing the vaccine will in the least favorable outcome receive a discharge no lower than general under honorable conditions. Well, senator I support the vaccination program. I think it’s critically important that the force be vaccinated. I was vaccinated quite frequently when I was on active duty and as a reservist. Uh I I have not reviewed the the nab Edmund you’re talking about specifically. Um So you review it and then answer me specifically. I would I would be happy to do that. Enlisted service members separated under this sub paragraph will apparently not be eligible for involuntary separation pay and will be subject to recruitment of any unearned special or incentive pays. Can you articulate what the recruitment of any unearned special or incentive pays means providing me a tangible example of this. Well I can speak to my own background Senator um as a naval aviator, a naval flight officer. If I know I’m talking about the specific guidance. So why don’t you do that one in writing? Since you have not seen that? I can’t believe you didn’t look at that guidance before coming in here for this hearing. So look at it and then give me a written response with a tangible example. A general discharge allows the service member to use the majority of veterans programs and benefits such as hiring preferences for federal jobs. V. A medical coverage and home long benefits. Please confirm the following for the record. Well sailors who are separated only for refusing the vaccine be deemed ineligible from future military service, Yes or no. Uh Senator. I have to admit that in writing and submit. That. Also is the G. I. Bill education benefit, the only absolute benefit not awarded to service members with a general discharge. Yes or no. Same answer. Senator. I’ll put on my right. Is it fair to say that any sailor discharge for a vaccination refusal will not be entitled to their post 9 11 GI Bill benefit. Same answer. Senator. Okay. What happens to personnel from the other military services who are assigned to naval commands and refuse the vaccine? We would want to know that. So again a ready answer and then also what happens to foreign military personnel such as those studying us, professional, military education courses. If they refuse the vaccine for religious reasons, I will submit that as well. I I want you to know my office has been inundated with calls trying to get clarity on these issues. So I think it is so important that you all get these to us one more. Is it also correct that separation determinations made by the navy will be centralized under the C. C. D. A. To ensure a fair and consistent process is applied across the board. I’ll be sure to provide the clarity you see in my written response and then also a statement as to whether or not you think a centralized process is the best practice. We’ll do that as well. Senator. Thank you Miss baker. If I may come to you uh Senator Warren alluded you have advised her on shaping her national security agenda which and I’m quoting took aim at rising defense budgets in the revolving door between the pentagon and the defense industry. If confirmed. Would these be your priorities and the deputy undersecretary of Defense for policy role. Would it be these rising D. O. D. Budgets and the defense industry uh Senator uh the secretary has been clear that china is the pacing threat for the department and should be our priority. So if I’m confirmed I would seek to prioritize those issues. Okay, well we know that flat defense budgets are actually shrinking defense budgets. How do you reconcile this reality with your inherent bias toward and I’m quoting you taking aim at rising defense budgets because china is a priority and we want to make certain that we are addressing that great power competition. So how do you reconcile that Senator? I agree that we need to be prioritizing uh issues surrounding great power competition particularly with china. Where I start on questions of the defense budget is to start with the strategy 1st. And as you know, I think The department is well underway in drafting an update to the National Defense Strategy that will build I believe on the 2018 strategy I think from there we look at the capabilities and investments that the strategy requires and from there build back into a budget number and you think you can do that with less resources. Uh Senator I would be guided by the strategy so I don’t have an arbitrary number in mind. I think we should resources. So you’re saying you’re going to leave your opinions at the door. Yes. Senator thank you sir. Uh thank you Senator Blackburn, let me recognize via webex. Senator Peters thank you. Thank you Mr. Chairman and to each of the nominees, congratulations on your nomination and thank you Korea for your willingness to serve our country. Mr. Coffee. My first question is for you and in august of 2000 and 19 corporal and process of Michigan unfortunately took her own life at a Marine Corps air station in Japan. The Vasquez family was told that the command investigation was concluded but the release of the final requires additional approvals And they have been now waiting for two years as general counsel. You will may will you maintain a close relationship with the staff, judge advocate and and have a role in oversight of the naval criminal investigative service? If confirmed senator, let me begin by expressing my condolences to the family. Uh And uh it’s something I will look into if confirmed. Uh Yes senator I I uh commit to working closely with the uh with the uniformed lawyers of the department. Uh I understand there’s a very good relationship Now a one team, 1 mission approach that I heartily endorse. Uh And I will likewise work closely with uh with uh the under secretary or the secretary whoever is at the present time overseeing N. C. I. S. I do think that my background is a federal prosecutor working with law enforcement will be beneficial if if I am confirmed. Well I certainly hope that a massive family has achieved some degree of closure by the time that you have been confirmed. But I’m still going to ask for your help in resolving this matter for them. And more broadly I just want to get a a clear confirmation from you that you’re going to strive to ensure that the legal and investigative mechanisms in the department are working to ensure timely open and regular contact with the next of 10 in the event of a tragedy such as this Senator, you have my commitment that if I am confirmed, I will act accordingly. I will do that well. I appreciate that Mr. Bush as vehicles get smarter, automotive cybersecurity is clearly becoming an increasing concern. The economic loss and and military risk that’s supposed by cyber attacks on the U. S. Vehicle ecosystem is is certainly significant as no single firm has the expertise. The resources are quite frankly the technical depth to independently address all of these cyber security threats. So my question for you, Mr. Bush is what is your vision for how the army can secure are increasingly networked vehicle fleet from cyber attacks. Senator, I think for new programs we can start up front by building in the right architecture and the right cybersecurity early so that we have systems in place that we can test and be reliant upon to ensure that our vehicles are cyber secure. I believe there is a greater challenge working on older vehicles where they were designed in times when cyber didn’t exist and they’ve had systems added to them over the years um in a less systematic way, I believe that in those cases we will need to come up with a better way of testing uh those Federated type systems in older vehicles to make sure they are cyber secure as well. And lastly I would add that army vehicles historically have been designed to be able to continue to fight with degraded conditions. So I believe it would be incumbent for the army to ensure that new systems, even if under cyber attacks still retain some combat capabilities so our soldiers can continue fighting. We are having technical difficulties. Uh Let us wait a moment to see if we can restore. Uh let me at this point recognize if we can but center peters, are you back with us? Your back you’ve reappeared? Mhm. Okay. 35 seconds. uh Well Mr. Chairman, I’ll believe that is my last question. Thank you so much. Thank you. Senator Peters now let me recognize once again via webex if it’s functioning properly. Senator Manchin. Thank you. Mr. Chairman and this will be the Mr. baker. Uh The Iran nuclear agreement formerly known as J. C. P. O. A Was a great goal that fell extremely short and I voted against the agreement 2015 because it rewarded. I ran before they demonstrate any desire to return to good order in the global community. And it fell to address their terrorism financing or conventional weapons development. So my question would be with an on and off again negotiations taking place. What concessions would you hope to see in a new version of the Iran deal? And my follow up to that Miss baker would be trans Germany and United Kingdom launched a barter system known as in stick uh to facilitate transactions between them and Iran. Can you comment on that? Um Senator thank you for the question uh to your, to your first point about what concessions would we seek? Uh Certainly uh my understanding is that the intent of returning to negotiations around the J. C. P. O. A. Was to use that as a foundation to build toward a longer and stronger deal. Certainly there are any number of Iranian destabilizing activities in the region that are not covered by the J. C. P. O. A. To include their support for terrorist groups, militias, the proliferation of ballistic missile technology, USB technology, threats to freedom of navigation, all of what I think we should seek to address. I will say anything. I’m sorry senator. I couldn’t hear you. Do you have any information you have any thoughts on instead STK which is what United Kingdom Germany and France have launched Senator. I don’t have any details on that. Certainly it’s something I’d be prepared if confirmed to look into with my inter agency colleagues and get back to you for a longer discussion. No problem. I understand. And here this is to you again ma’am and I don’t mean this to be personal at all. I just wanna make sure I’m stating the facts here. You have a total of 10 years of seven months of experience working as a federal employee With one year and seven months inside the Department of Defense. Uh What is concerning to me is the entirety of your career is based on the partisanship. Uh You’ve never worked for a Republican administration or a moderate member that we can see and as toxic atmosphere that we’re in right now. It takes working across the aisle understanding both sides. Um, so my question would be, tell me about any tangible experience that you believe demonstrates how you could approach this position from a non partisan stance. Uh Senator respectfully. I believe that I have demonstrated in my career uh an ability to work across the aisle in a bipartisan fashion or something I was very proud of as a Senate staffer here working with this committee. I was also a nonpartisan career civil servant for a number of years. Uh In addition to serving here in the Senate, I have worked for national security principles that held a variety of views to include former Ask Chairman Ike Skeleton, uh former Secretary of Defense Ash carter. So I do understand senator, I understand the concern uh and I think it’s a valid one. I believe that I have a track record that will enable me if confirmed to approach this role in a nonpartisan fashion and that’s certainly how I would intend to conduct myself. Thank you very much. Mr. curtain. If you could uh I share your vision for renewed approach to the evaluation and system performance within the program development process, one of the areas I believe that we need to focus on his direct input and effects of war fighter, especially as it relates to effectiveness on the battlefield. Uh The past week my office spent a considerable amount of time with the staff from the W. V. U. West Virginia University Rockefeller neuroscience Institute who lead the world in advanced neurological care. Uh so can you commit to schedule it towards the state of the art facility with my staff and at Western University personnel who already are working with the Marine Corps to potentially standardized the capability of the future test and development efforts. We just need you there, senator. It sounds great opportunity. I’m looking forward to uh meeting you there and and learning about those things. It’s unbelievable. Final question to uh Mr. Bush, we share a significant amount of similarities when it comes to our future. Need to transition from an industrial age to an information age approach to acquisitions, cybersecurity and supply chain security. My fear though, is that we will leave our small businesses further behind then where they are currently if we do not make a prioritized effort to bring them along. So my question is, how will you shape future efforts to support small businesses against growing cyber security requirements. How are they going to be able to compete and maintain any type of viability? Senator. First of all, I’d like to say I’m proud of the army’s past track record, leading the department and overall small business contracting. The specific issue mentioned is a challenging one. Uh The department and the army want more small businesses and more diverse businesses involved. However, we also have cybersecurity concerns. Senator I believe like in other aspects of the small business program, it’s going to require partnership and the department and the services working with companies and developing ways to collaborate so that they can achieve the level of cybersecurity necessary to participate in bigger and bigger programs. Thank you. Thank all three, appreciate your answers. Thank you Senator Mansion now via webex. Uh let me recognize Senator Rosen. Well, thank you. Chairman Read and of course ranking member Inhofe and I want to thank all the nominees for being here today for your service and willingness to serve going forward. And like Senator Manchin said, cybersecurity is so important. I have a number of bills to that effect and uh we’re going to talk about one of them today because as our adversaries actively try to undermine our interests via cyber attacks, we have to continue to invest in cyber talent Two if that’s going to increase our capabilities allow us to defend forward. So this year’s Senate Mbia, as reported out of this committee, it includes my civilian cybersecurity reserve, acted as bipartisan legislation I introduced with Senator Blackburn to create a civilian cyber reserves that ensures additional cyber capacity at greatest times of need. So Miss baker have confirmed, what are the steps that you would take to improve the cybersecurity posture of our most critical systems through workforce investments because we have a lot out there. Uh this needs to be in line with both our National Defense Strategy strategy and the president budgets request, proposing significant growth of the cyber mission force and more specifically, how would you use existing authorities and potentially my act to protect our critical assets? Uh Senator first, let me thank you for your your leadership on this, this critical issue. As we’ve discussed here today, the cybersecurity of the department’s uh systems is what will allow us uh to to fight and prevail in a in a high end contingency. Uh as I’m sure you know, the department has a cyber strategy that has three components, requires the department to be able to fight and win the nation’s wars in the cyber domain. Uh to protect the Department of Defense Information network, the Dodon and then of course to protect uh the nation and we do that as you said by defending forward. Um If I am confirmed, I can commit to you that I will make a priority of developing new and agile concepts of operations in the cyber domain. I would work closely with my colleagues in the in the services uh and and elsewhere in the department to ensure that we’re appropriately resourced and that we have a workforce that is capable of operating in the cyber domain. Um I have not unfortunately yet had an opportunity center to look at your legislation specifically. But uh certainly I think new and innovative ways of approaching the cyber challenges exactly what’s needed. And so if confirmed, I will commit to looking into that and and would welcome a chance for further conversation. Great system. We can talk about the civilian cyber Reserve act, but I’m glad you’re talking about all the different postures you have because I want to talk about the Zero trust security model because you know, cyber threats exist both inside and outside traditional network boundaries. So earlier this year, the National Security Agency issued a cyber security bulletin entitled embracing a Zero trust Security model and strongly recommend Zero Trust Security be considered for critical networks including National Security Systems Department of Defense Networks and our defense based industrial based systems. And so the timeline for implementation and uh completion. Not yet known, but if confirmed, how would you use your position to encourage the D O D wide adoption of the Zero Trust security model? Um Senator, if if confirmed in this position, I would certainly seek to ensure that uh our policies were in alignment. Uh certainly I take your point that there are cyber vulnerabilities that arise both from without and from within and we need to be prepared to uh to manage both of those cases. I’d seek to work closely with the D O D C I. O with the principal cyber advisor and others to ensure that we have the appropriate plans in place. Thank you. I appreciate that. And speaking of uh issues with from without, we want to combat Iranian aggression because Iran continues to be the world’s leading state sponsor of terrorism and the threat to the U. S. And allied interest in its ballistic ballistic missile program. And support for terrorist proxies like Hezbollah including through conventional weapons sales. The combination of Iran acquiring advanced Russian and Chinese platforms and its transfer of arms to terrorist groups like Hezbollah poses a significant conventional threats to the U. S. Personnel in the region and undermines Israel voluntary military edge or Q. And me so miss baker again. I guess you can put this off the record. I’m just about out of time it confirmed. How would you work to combat Iranian aggression? Here are us interests against world state actors like Iran and maintain our allies, our ally Israel. Um me and uh since I’m out of time, I’m not sure there’s someone after me. You can submit that writing please. Senator. Yes absolutely. I agree with everything you said and I’m happy to submit a longer answer uh for the record. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you Senator Rosen. Let me recognize Senator Kelly and thank him for his patients. Thank you. Senator Kelly. Thank you Mr. Chairman and congratulations to each of the nominees and thanks for your willingness to continue to serve our nation. Uh My first question is for Mr. Girton. Um I want to talk about a little bit about the F 35 I’ve had a chance myself to fly the simulator and as a former test pilot, it’s a impressive platform and I think it will serve um the Navy, the Air Force in the Marine Corps very well and I’m very honored uh that Arizona is going to continue to host F 35 squadrons uh at Luke and uh at Yuma Marine Corps Air station. Uh But I’m concerned that delays related to testing in the joint simulated environment have gotten off track and completing uh test and evaluation and starting to get us towards closer to full rate production, uh leveraging digital assets like these and testing and design is the way of the future, I’m convinced of that, so it’s important that we get it right Uh and apply the lessons we’re learning now to future upgrades for the F- 35 and the next generation fighter aircraft and God and anything beyond that. Um So could you give us give me an assessment of what you think the lessons are so far in what we’ve experienced with the testing and the joint simulated environment. So, senator, one of the things we need to be thinking about as we move forward into the future is a tighter alignment between modeling complex systems like the F- 35 is that it’s got a lot going on under the hood. Some things you’re not going to be a test operationally all at the same time and a threat representative environment. So we need to be thinking about how we combine modeling and simulation of those environments with live physical testing. The F 35 has been a great object. Listen use case that we need to be taking full advantage of the lessons, both good and bad and how we position ourselves in the future for taking advantage of those kinds of technologies as we build out these more and more complex systems as we move further forward into the future, you’re part of the value of simulated testing is that we can examine, you know, both aircraft and weapons system performance in these complex scenarios that better approximate what will face in combat with that in mind. How important is it to incorporate cyber and space domains in these simulated tests? So Senator is critically important that the operational tests in encompass all of the things that the weapons system will see when it’s being used, which includes cyber. It’s a big part of the problem because you can’t use it if you can’t if you’re turned off before you get a chance to take advantage of it. The other thing you did mention though that I want to park on is uh the opportunity to iterate on designs and take advantage of those kind of digital twins and modeling environments so that you can explore how that system might be built better into the future. And do you think this uh needs to also account for emergent capabilities? Like ai as well? Indeed it does, yes. Um I just wanna switch drill in the remaining time I have here uh Mr. Gergen with you as well, um You know, in modern warfare as we all know, software can be important to our success. And as important as the hardware, the equipment and software often advances much more quickly. You touched on this theme? I think in your opening remarks we’re gonna need to improve our ability to more effectively integrate rapidly changing software. Um And it’s also one of the most challenging things we we deal with, whether it’s military hardware or space, you know, software, um you know, reliability and testing and verification. Um what have we learned from our efforts to incorporate more agile development practices with block four upgrades to the F- 35. The center, I not be able to talk about Block four specifically, I’ve been briefed on the details of it, but I do want to say that some of the systems I’ve worked on in the past, even going back to the mid 19 nineties to be, to build these things so they can involve gracefully over time uh in in those early days stages when we’re using open architectures and submarine sonar systems, we thought were totally knocking out of the park by having annual updates today. That might not be fast enough depending on the product and certainly isn’t fast enough for a lot of the things we hold and use in everyday life. So we need to be thinking about how do we shift left in terms of our understanding of how things are built, but also be responsive and fast on her feet when it comes to being responsive to the user’s needs as they see and would use them in operational context in the joint force. Well, thank you and I look forward to working with you in your office as we uh get these new weapons systems, uh, fully evaluated and tested in a through OT and E and out to the fleet. Thank you. Thank you Mr. Chairman. Thank you Senator Kelly. And I want to thank the witnesses for their thoughtful testimony and their statements and their commitment to public service. And with that, I will adjourn the hearing. Thank you very much.