effort.

>> the subcommittee will come to order. today the subcommittee will receive testimony from the honorable lloyd austin, general milley, chairman of the joint chiefs of staff and mic cord and cfo. department of defense requesting a 25 million with the subcommittees jurisdiction. modest increase from fiscal 23 as we enter the ticket for security in the world.

put the united states at a serious disadvantage. a political decision with the withdrawal from afghanistan resulting from power in return of operating space for al qaeda and strategic failure of geopolitical competition and tragic loss of 13 he was service members. one of the brave americans lost that day. my constituent, should never have happened. i'm still waiting for an answer from the people who orchestrated this will be brought to justice. to say nothing of the thousands of afghans allowed to depart the u.s. allied soil some of which may be thousands of terrorists

released from the prison. secretary also, these events made the world a more dangerous place. moreover, the ministrations concept of integrated deterrent failed to deter putin from invading ukraine in the largest conflict in ukraine since world war ii. it will document president biden and his national security team new russia would invade months in advance. there was an open source of information that foreshadows the information. the administration had an opportunity for a single shot is fired to rally nato armed ukraine and made clear russia's aggression toward sovereign ukraine would come a tremendous cost to them.

just enough assistance to survive but not enough to win. even today as russia and ukraine prepared for office, the administration testified not requesting additional funds by our assessment, the remaining presidential authority security is insist will only last another two to three months. i want to be clear congress will not write blank checks. it is important to communicate future requests for funding clearly, thoroughly and early. sufficient time to review and ask questions on any requests submitted. isolation are unconscionable but events do not happen in this big demonstration continued failure to anticipate and implement geopolitical strategy compounded by china's proper modernization and preparations to attempt to reclaim taiwan.

weaknesses provocative in this administration weakness embolden authoritarians around the world. today china, the united states for negotiations in the middle east. u.s. influenced the world's partner of choice and the reason is to clear. in terms of modernization, too many weapons systems are delayed into the status quo in the mindset, bureaucracy of procurement process and lack of consistency for the industrial base. by some senior defense officials and military leaders modernized u.s. force 2030 will arrive too late. unification of taiwan. the history of failure and more can be summed up in two words.

too late. too late comprehend and that the purpose of a potential enemy and too late realizing the danger, too late preparing, too late uniting. too late. must be ready to fight tonight and rapidly modernized maintain the world's greatest. pick one over the other is a false choice. i did not want to be the chairman presiding over world war iii. i hope this changes the increasingly aggressive behavior today tomorrow or in 2030. 800 billion dollars, 3.4 million employees and 4000 sites of 160 countries the department of defense is the world's largest business. cost-saving measures and business operations today the

dod relies on too many systems and talk to each other and too many to process. these lead to unsuccessful financial audits and effort, a frustrated workforce and unsustainable trajectory and this year you are requesting 3500 more people. for what? the department to develop six generations is running a second generation system that is feeding into the departments facility. regardless of challenges we face, i will ensure service members have the best quality of life and best equipment possible so if we do get into a fight, we

win and they lose. i like to recognize ranking member for any open statements. i'd like to welcome general milley. this could be your last appearance before the subcommittee. i like to take the opportunity on behalf of the family to thank you and your family are your 43 years of dedication to this. the president proposed a $25.3 billion in the subcommittee, 3.2% increase in fiscal year 2023. the budget request builds on the work of the last congress that ensured america deep threat and meets the needs of servicemen and women and their families. this increase 2024 is consistent with national defense strategy.

if we review, it's a nearly $100 billion increase or 11.8%. each one represents increased efforts to defend our nation but we have more than adequately resourced department of defense in recent years. we must be realistic and careful about the trend of inflation well beyond this administration. congress must be better about making choices when it comes to the defense budget and can no longer fund the legacy systems no longer relevant or too costly to maintain and personal

required to maintain could be better used in modernization efforts. we must prioritize modernization of force and investments in emerging technologies in quantum computing. artificial intelligence will drive decision-making. we are only as strong abroad as we are here. transportation, clean energy, healthcare, education and workforce development, if we fail to continue investing in the american people do not only will we fail the next generation of americans but we will be unable to capitalize in investment in the defense budget for a strong american workforce. if we want to put forth continued investment in the

aerospace industry, the electronic space industry who must be sure we are investing put in support industrial efforts and that is our people. we cannot afford to defund the defense bill on the 11 other appropriation bills. i want to commend secretary alston recent reproductive health care policy decisions. the department policy is legal, fair and will provide servicewomen and families to ensure they are titled. turning back to the defense budget, i was encouraged to see increase of climate change effort resiliency at installation is vital to train and to win. as this request works, i look forward to hearing how our military is in the future.

your efforts and the challenges we face there, look forward to hearing how the budget will support this the indo pacific but how it will address this. i know how deeply impacted you were. i believe the president trump was president, there's little doubt he would have pulled the troops. i think secretary alston for your service to this country and for this hearing today. thank you again for the courtesy and i yield back. >> is my pleasure to announce the chair of the committee.

>> thank you that i would like to thank the witnesses were appearing before us today senior defense official testifies the world is the most dangerous it's ever been. that continues today. enemies have become more bold. russia is waiting all out war against the people of ukraine and provocative steps and spread influence around the world. iran reportedly is making strides in developing nuclear weapons and north korea tested what they say is their largest intercontinental ballistic missile message to the united states and allies. the size congress provides funds to ensure we are ready for war however, putting money toward a

problem will not be enough. spent. we must do everything possible to create a more responsive military and we need to remove barriers that prevent us in developing and in limiting cutting edge technology and we owe it to the men and women of the military the tools they need to enter the fight in this. most important we need leadership. it was mentioned the action the administration put national security at risk have allies wondering if they could trust us and show weakness in our enemies. i think each of you for your service and look forward to hearing your testimony in thank you. i look back. >> thank you.

your full testimony will be placed in the record. give a summary of your statements. >> glad to be with you today to testify in the budget request for fiscal year 2024. i'm joined by general milley and am grateful for his leadership. i'm glad to be joined by the department cfo, mike. this is a budget and that keeping america secure in the world of the 21st century. $842 billion, 3.2% increase over fiscal year 23 and 13.4% higher than fiscal year 22.

a strategy driven budget and driven by the seriousness on strategic competition for the people's republic of china. the budget will help us intimate 2022 national defense strategy in the president's national security strategy. have three key priorities, defend our nation, take care of our people and succeed. our budget builds on our previous investments by increasing our edge. investing in a resilient indo-pacific and increasing scale and scope of exercises with our partners. 40% increase over last year's core deterrence initiative an

all-time high of $9.1 billion and that will fund his posture better defenses for hawaii and deeper cooperation with allies and partners this is both r&d and procurement requesting $61 billion for air dominance and your honey providers and extraordinary strategic partner i helped unveil last december. we are seeking more than $48 billion including new construction of battleships boosting capacity in american shipyards are strategy demands. $1.2 billion in the submarine industrial basis providing summaries and one ballistic

missile submarine and air missile defense investing in defenses to counter unmanned aerial vehicles and requesting $11 billion to deliver the mix of long-range fires security demands including major investments in hypersonic's and will continue to modernize all three legs of nuclear. deterrence. we put forward the largest space but it in pentagon history. we requested $33.3 billion to improve capabilities, resilience and command-and-control in space. let me thank congress for providing multiyear procurement authorities and appropriations for critical ammunitions. this is a consistent demand signal and we are requesting

more multiyear procurement and asking for more than 30 billion to invest in the industrial base and to buy maximum number of ammunition american industry can produce. the budget moves us away from aging capabilities that are relevant for future conflicts so we can focus on advances war fighters will need going forward. national defense strategy calls out the highly aggressive russia as an acute threat. president biden's leadership never states rallied the world to ukraine fight the unprovoked indefensible invasion. allies and partners stepped up to provide crucial security assistance through the ukraine defense group i read and who will support ukraine's defense for as long as it takes. the department remains vigilant

against other persistent threats including iran, north korea global terrorists. we are investing counterterrorism capabilities in the budget requested improving resilience and climate change and others that don't care about borders. we are going to remain the strongest military in the world because we have the best team in the world. we mark the 50th anniversary all volunteer force, i am proud of the brave men and women choose to wear the cost of our nation and we owe it to them in their families to make the best possible fear of all of our people. the past two years we've made moves easier to cut prices and made childcare more affordable and expanded job opportunities for job spouses. his funds other key steps to increase quality of life for our

teammates including the largest military civilian pay raises in decades. we are pushing hard to eliminate suicide including immediate steps to harm the health professionals and improve mental health care. we are working for military free of actual salt and work with congress to improve response to sexual assault and related crimes under the uniform code of justice. the reforms will be fully committed by the end of this year in the department investing in a specialized workforce to, sexual assault, harassment, suicide and more. on many installations we are conducting on-site evaluations that tell us what is working and where support is urgently needed. the department's third priority succeeding through teamwork and the network of allies and partners magnifies our power and expands security. no other country on earth has

anything like it. the indo pacific our friends have taken major steps forward. the philippines agreed to nearly double the number of sites we cooperate together. committed to double defense and you're going to forward station 12 marine regiment which is one of the most advanced formations in okinawa so we can better deter conflict. we have made history with office partnership, a generational initiative with british allies to build game changing defense vantages to deter aggression and promote free open indo pacific and boost defense industrial capabilities. you could see profound power of alliances in today's united nato. since russia's invasion of ukraine we strengthen nato's defense and deterrence and

congressional leadership on the european initiative investments since 2014 help us react quickly and boldly to russia's workplace and made the deterrence small. this is the budget that will meet this moment and i respect fully ask for your support. the most effective way the committee can support the department and outstanding troops is a full year appropriations. i look forward to working with everyone so we can continue to defend our democracy and support freedom. thank you, mr. chair. >> thank you, secretary austin. i recognize general milley. >> distinguished members of the committee, thank you for the opportunity to testify before you today and i have been privileged to defend this country for 43 consecutive years

and this will maybe be my last hearing. i want to thank the congress europeans continue support for not only busy but every year for four decades. i am privileged to represent errant greens, guardians and families united states joint force alongside secretary austin, i want to thank them for their leadership. joint force is the most capable military in the world and our troops are the best led invest trained force everywhere because of your support. thank you for what you have done i asked the youth support this request for the budget approval. our mission, mission of the uniformed military and our purpose is simple. defend the united states of america and fight and win all the means of combat. to do that our priorities are simple. maintain high stake readiness

while modernizing for the future and taking care of blended families while sustaining the values. america's secure great war is prevented. to protect the american people, readiness now and in the future from organization is the number one priority and there is no other number one. joint force will deliver modernization, armed forces and security for the people of the united states fy 24 budget request 842 billion. we will be good stewards to the american people's money with confidence. right now the national system is under threat and the first time in nation's history united states facing two major nuclear powers battle national security threats from competition in the united states. the people's republic of china and russia to threaten interest and way of life at war with russia or china either

inevitable nor imminent. along with allies and partners military was able to do that because we were and still are the most powerful military in the world and we must remain so to great war and continue to hold. this budget is driven and deters war in the budget maintains our capability and strength and high levels of readiness now and prepares us for the future. people's republic of china remains number one long-term security challenge, the threat in our strategy. the regional western pacific and asia the next ten years and

exceed united states overall military capability by 2049 according to their open source teachers. people's republic of china moving it down the path and potential conflict and possibly the united states but again i say china, or with china is inevitable nor imminent. additionally, russia remains dangerous. illegal unprovoked war against ukraine and global stability. we are supporting ukraine and every single nation on nato's alliance. in the war for eight decades. additionally iran pushed the middle east into the continuing support. also iran is taking action to

approve capabilities producing the weapon to make the decision to do so while continuing missile forces. from the time remaining decision as you have heard in previous testimony iran could produce material for nuclear weapon and would take only seven more months of the united states remains committed in a matter of policy iran will not have a field nuclear weapon. and they've developed multiple options to consider to develop nuclear weapon. three is continued ballistic missile test nuclear weapons development pose threats to homan as well as allies and partners in the indo pacific. they continue to operate around the globe in the allies and partners but the budget is for prevention of war and continued

worldwide counterterrorism efforts. the national power united states military stands ready to protect our nation's interests in the american people. right now, today as we sit here they are standing watch freedoms frontier for the quarter million troops, 250,000 troops europe, asia, africa, middle east, south america. united states never fights alone. a source of strength, keep the peace and large global network. this month we conducted operations in joint and combined exercises globally with allies and partners. in addition have 5000 ukrainian soldiers. a weekly basis transportation command moving small cities to enable continued global operations. a third of our navy, 100 chips strong patrol freedom for maritime navigation and air

force secures. last, operational readiness rates higher now than they have been in many years. the standard is about a third of the course, highest stakes of readiness. 10330 units united states military, 46804 active duty. 60% of active duty force is the highest date of readiness right now could be deployed to, and less than 30 days. 10% in less than 96 hours. his military is ready. we are prepared to fight now and will continue to be prepared to fight in the future. the budget supports programs and exercise of service joint combined levels ready to defend the nation. joint courses an important reflection must balance operations readiness future modernization and not allow ourselves to create a false track we can modernize her focus only on today. we must do both and develop

technologies including long-range fires episodic weapons, artificial intelligence, robotics is pervasive all the main centers. time is now. we have little margin to wait. the common threat critical to accomplish this is our people. we must continue investing in training, education prepared for the future environment. we've taken care of troops and families fully of life and urge congress to support this significant pay raise healthcare, housing and healthcare initiative. the budget sustains current readiness and adapts joint force to the future were fighting it it's a matter of significant national security importance back to clear urgency. no adversary should ever underestimate the result of our nation and strength of our military. separation for more is

extraordinarily expensive. his not as expensive as fighting a war. the budget prevents war and repairs us to fight if necessary. >> thank you for your comments secretary austin. china's building 20 ships a year. now over 400 and as i understand. the departments budget request proposes to decommission ships this year while securing them. the request will strengthen them to 291 ships by fiscal year 228 despite having 373 ships. how does having fewer ships deter chinese aggression in the indo pacific? >> thank you. let me begin by saying we have

the most powerful dominant navy in the world and we will continue to make sure it remains. as we look to invest in capabilities we are looking for the right mix of capabilities that can support were fighting concept and we will continue to remain focused on that. this budget we are asking for $48 billion to invest in these forces so from our if it's making sure we have the right cap abilities to support were fighting conference and i'm comfortable we are moving in the right election. >> i understand the need for increased capability. the old saying you can't catch a ball left field if you only have a guy in the right field. numbers do matter in your budget

proposes shifts before the end of the service and cap matters as i said earlier. when are we going to see the departments 30 year ship? >> the navy continues to on that and will be as soon as they are complete, bring it forward. >> look forward to. last week i let a congressional allegation members to asia. in taiwan nearly every single theater we met with was extremely so place. this is not a familiar theme is highlighted last month in our hearing, secretary austin, what are you plaintiffs taiwan's most critical defense needs and what steps are you taking to

prioritize delivery of these items two things, in terms of this, we all recognize we've faced headwinds as a result of two years of covid and pressure on supply chain and inability of industry to move at the pace they want to move. i think industries will catapult. i've put together to go dig down into these issues and identify logjams and jams to expedite and do everything we can to expedite the delivery of the platforms and i put together a group of senior leaders in the department the focus on weekly monthly basis to make sure you're providing the right capabilities

so this remains an area of focus. >> thank you. >> thank you, mr. chair. i think the discussion about the number of interesting as jenna milley said we don't go to work so if we include australia, canada, nato, all of the great powers we work with, who have a multiplying effect neither china nor russia have, would that be a fair statement? >> that is correct, we will always look at allies and

partners again the capability they bring to the table magnifies our overall capabilities so you can in any instance we be able to draw upon their capabilities we work on a team basis to make sure we are in and make sure. >> thank you. a little more importance on february 2 the agreement you signed, whichever one of you want to answer that. president markle seems to have made decisions that align with the united states, could tell the committee more about the agreement with the philippines and how you see it enhancing our region? all is multiplying and having

resources in china and russia do not have and if there's any other nations that you want to enjoy more closely with united states china with these relationships you've been working so hard along with states to foster. >> in the philippines, engaged president on this particular issue, i am pleased the president made a decision to move forward and increase the number of sites where we can work along with philippine forces to increase interoperability and develop their skills and it is a benefit as you know so i this is a

significant movement forward. we will continue to build upon this and as airmen and soldiers and work with the philippine military so if you look around the region, this is a generational capability as we develop nuclear power submarine capability for australia, it will help us make sure and do the right things to continue to deter any adversary that would want to threaten or challenge free and open indo pacific. if you look at japan as i mentioned earlier, the pan doubled defense spending and allowed us to position a new

element in japan and okinawa it if look at a number of countries we have partnerships or alliances with, we continue to work to build and strengthen the alliances and partnerships so we moved the ball a significant difference down the field the last couple of years. i feel good about what we are doing to increase access and strengthen. >> thank you. >> if i can make a quick comment. >> if that is allowed. >> you are correct on allies and partners, australia, japan and other countries as well. click on exercises in the asia-pacific region. second is are not going to talk

about this in detail but the sub marine forces capable, very deadly and extremely legal so those two pieces would make the huge difference and deter any aggression in the last is the philistine but it's the key that china lies on for international access so those allies and partners are fundamental and being able to conduct military operations for those countries and it would be fundamental that. >> hopefully we can speed up the acquisition of those. ms. granger. >> secretary austin, our enemies are developing stronger inflation south america. we need to focus on the growing

threat in the south of us. what particular things on what you are presenting and what is our support for partners? >> strengthening relationships and maintaining access and the south area is a key area of focus for self commander, general richardson absolutely focused on this. she's increasing the number of engagements and where possible exercising with partners so i see this movement continuing to move in a positive direction. security force assistance and elements working with various countries strengthen their indigenous capability to protect

sovereign territories so this is something we remain focused on and i applaud what general richardson is doing in terms of continuing additional access and strengthen relationships that are just. >> thank you. >> thank you very much, this morning i think you secretary, thank you very, very much for being here. i apologize for being late but there are hearings i am going to get to between now and the end of the day. there has been a discussion on the budget by some of my always on the other side of the aisle.

the 24002022 number and within that number of folks who believe that me be true for nondefense efforts and we should hold the fence in i want to briefly quote under secretary letter sent to the appropriations committee next week, some such. it is the whole of government response against ukraine and

demonstrate the value in the sanctions. we are producing this if you cut any of the agencies as a whole for any of the witnesses, please or not. any other witnesses i quoted you. ...

they are not advocating deep cuts and then there's the math problem that we'll understand that half the discretionary budget is exempt and that's what we are we are trying to recognize in our response. >> as mike has indicated it is always in all of government effort in what we are dealing with and the old saying if you cut state department's budget too much you need to buy more books because what we want to do is drive things towards greater stability and security around the globe and of course the

solution to every problem is not necessarily a military solution but we need to work together to provide access to other agencies so that they can reach places they need to reach and do the things they need to do but it is typically a whole of government effort and i think we need to remind everyone of that. >> if i might i have two parochial questions. i welcome your help as we move forward in terms of crafting the budget for 2023 and 2024. as we move to the future of army aviation to develop the future long-range assault aircraft and reconnaissance aircraft of the very brief the question is related to the blackhawk. and the fielding of the new rotary aircraft and the army

will be flying hundreds of blackhawks for the next 40 years. many are flying now and whether dod's plan to reserve the industrial base to build the blackhawk in the future and not that quickly the f-35 that like to give you an opportunity mr. secretary. there've been conflicting statements regarding the support for the upgrade if you can just tell us what is the department condition on whether to upgrade the existing of 135 and to develop a new engine for the f-35? [inaudible]

[inaudible] you want might want to turn your microphone onto. >> with regard to the blackhawk? >> there's no question your home state provides tremendous capability to our overall defense effort. you mentioned the long-range aviation piece that as is you know is still a work in progress and that's in dispute because at that stage i'm not able to make any comments. again i think that will resolve itself going forward and when it does will make sure we come in to brief you. >> a understand there is a dispute and there will be a result of that but it's also the

issue of the continued blackhawk helicopter and will you continue the blackhawk since many are flying right now and in what will be the future. >> is a workhorse as you know so it will be around for some time to come and in the meantime the army and the other services continue to look for greater capability and additional capability in the future and that work of modernization will continue. the blackhawk has served us well. i personally benefited from that tremendous aircraft and i've every expectation it will continue to do so. >> thank you. >> thank you mr. cole. >> thank you mr. chairman. i long with many others want to thank you for your service and your professionalism.

levi's been impressed with the professionalism and dedication so it's much appreciated and we wish you well and whatever your next endeavor is. you've certainly been exceptional service to our country so thank you for that. and what other entity here and that's the united states congress because general milley went through the higher state of operations we have and it struck me congress has given the department of defense and their differences on this panel about that more money than president trump asked for and more money than president biden is asked for. congress has been responsible for that because we have used our judgment to say whatever the

president has asked for we think we need a little bit more and that comes out sometimes in the sequestered in the budget control act during president obama's era. anything -- anyway my hope is we will do that again. quite frankly i think they are a lot of good things like 3.2% and 6% inflation is a cut in inflation-adjusted dollars. two areas i wanted to ask you about in the community all be working on and it somewhat parochial but i think it's in the national interest. the first is disappointed to see particular particularly given the importance of artillery the situation in ukraine the army has cut the integrated management program pay. they managed to restore those

cuts last year and we are still furnishing that's system through the national guard and sending it cart blank to our allies. i would just say there's not enough in the army's budget to maintain the production line. i would ask why the cut and the answer may be you have too many other things to do and i get it. they are a tough choices but i would argue that's a bad choice right now the situation in ukraine in the second is one and something we all want to accomplish together. i worry about the transition from the e3 to the e-7 command and control. ivan air force base and might district and an army base in my district and i'm all for trances thing from an e-cigs two in e-7. it's a good decision and it should have been done sometime

ago. the rate of retirement for the e3 is well ahead of the rate of acquisition and that's partly a production problem. takes a wild to get an aircraft up and running and i worry about that because i think we are in a very dangerous world. we are going to lose capacity. i'm not for keeping the m3 i just want to go on to e-7 and retired e3 so we never have to deny a combatant commander capabilities that he or she thinks they need. another thing i would flag for you and ask for your response on either the items i mentioned. >> first of all let me thank you and the entire congress for your incredible support over the years and we could not be who we

are and do what we do without the tremendous support and congressional support that we are provided routinely. thanks so much for that. we continue to see the importance of artillery in warfighting and you've seen us hustle to make sure ukrainians not only have the weapon system and the conditions they need to remain effective. the army feels that the rate they are being right now meets their needs and it also allows them to invest in future capabilities as well. as their needs change -- >> just to make the point secretary not to interrupt you meets your needs because congress put more of them in there than you asked for last time and we are reverting back

to the same number. i would just suggest we have a lot of stuff across a lot of areas to deal with and understand that. you run the risk of shutting down the line. we intervene the last two times and you got what you needed and maybe we can do that again but i don't think they are being at the rate we need in the budget and they are being produced for what we need right now. i interrupted you and i apologize. i yield back. >> i thank the gentleman. mr. ruppersberger. >> it took a long time to get it right but you did it well. i would acknowledge the leadership that view. throughout my years i worked with you and you are some of the better leaders that i have worked with and you are doing a great job and i wanted to the

knowledge that. i'll asked two questions one t. each. the first thing i'm deeply concerned and this is to general milley i'm deeply concerned about efforts to reduce our defense to previous years level especially especially as china increases its military spending each year. if we don't prioritize our national security today i feel we risk a much costlier fight with china down the road whenever that may be, whether it's 2025, 10 years, 20 years or 30 years. general milley can you please describe the advantages we would be handing over to the chinese communist party in the 2024 defense budget to return to what it was in fiscal year 2022 were we were to pass the budget a year late? >> in both cases we would have

to cut a significant amount and artillery for example we know shipbuilding for example and all these programs will have to be cut back and that's unfortunate and the other thing we know if budgets are passed on time you can't give out your contracts and get the amount of platforms you need etc.. we have gone through this drill several times and done all kinds of analysis that shows their training would be reduced significantly. our exercises last year for example we did less than 63 just last month 63 exercises around the world in 23 ctc's and guys going through all kinds of aviation training and dropping a lot of bombs.

all those things would come down all your readiness levels for the last three, four, five, six, seven years all of that will go in the opposite direction and the continuing resolution for the budget. the risk would increase with china. >> i think a lot of people agree with you and others don't and it's important that we get the facts out as i said be. you have a tremendous amount of experience in this role and we rely on you. secretary austin building off of what a talk to the chairman about my same question for you and potentially reducing department civilian workforce to offset topline cuts. we know the department faces a lot of challenges acquiring and

retaining a civilian cybersecurity workforce due to attrition and lots of talent through the private sector and i represent an essay. and i have for 20 years. powell cuts to the department civilian cybersecurity workforce further exacerbate this problem and make us more vulnerable to cyberattacks by foreign actors? >> it will have a significant impact and as you know cyberthreats in this day and age are enormous and they come from every corner of the globe and so the forcibly developed a think we have done a really good job of putting together a significant capability that allows us to protect our interests and support our overall national defense strategy. we need the right people and we need do we need the talented people to your point sir to be able to continue to do the work

that we are doing. we have really pressed hard to make sure we are going after the right people and providing initiatives and mindful of the fact that this is a very competitive deal and so we have to do it we need to do to mick sure we get the right people and we can retain the right people. but to your point if we cut those kinds of people and i think it will have a significant impact on our warfighting capabilities. thank you for your testimony and i yield back. thank you mr. ruppersberger. thank you mr. chairman secretary austin and chairman know it's great to have you here. generally milley thank you tool you for all you've done for this country. i miss working with you though i'm not sure you're not going to miss sitting in these hearings and these panels when you leave

your position. secretary austin this is a question pretty much for you. i'm a big believer of the state partnership program. i think they have add a lot of value around the globe. there's no better example than what californians did for ukrainians over time and i just believe it brings a lot of value to not only partner nations. our own forces and national guard troops to get an opportunity to training with these partners. this is related to taiwan and is chairman calvert said the delegation was recently visiting their. i wonder how best we can help our taiwanese friends prepare for contingencies and is a state partnership or modified program like the state partnership program for taiwan, is it advisable impractical and

impossible? we will to your comment and why or why not? >> i think it is and since you were just there you know we have a number of national guard elements that have been working with our partners in taiwan and increasing their proficiency in a number of areas. to your point this program adds value whoever we are partnered with around the globe and i think the example that you use is a great one. ukranians benefited greatly from all the work that the guardsmen did over the years. yes i believe our continued work with the guardsmen in taiwan will be very valuable. we will continue to structure this so that we optimize the

effort of the guard and the complements all the other things we are doing for the taiwanese. >> the context of free association and micronesia is expiring next year. interest in the defense provisions of existing compacts remain valid regardless of renewal. that being said the incentives of the freely associated states to continued -- to continued security relationships expire because of their strategic location to our military assets present in the country. these partner states provide key trend that could advance their strategic goals as the concentrate on the indo pacific region. at the same time helping us and directly combat chinese influence. can you articulate the importance of these compacts between the departments?

>> extremely important and i agree with the points that you have made. they do provide -- they magnify her efforts in terms of the access and present so i think we will continue to do everything we can to make sure we are strengthening our relationships and whatever additional access that can be made we will continue to do that. the department's budget this year includes prepayment authorities and we thought he talked about that in your opening statement but that this is a question basically for mr. mccord. these have been used when using large systems including aircraft and ships. mr. mccord can you expand on why the dod went this route with munitions and why they selected

the munitions and assure dimension in the beginning to question so can you expand on that? >> thank you mr. womack for the thought had been that you buy missiles and enough quantity is necessary but we found clearly with ukraine with the industrial base was not agile enough due to a number of factors as the secretary is mentioned supply-chain issue, components workforce issues and the covid era have decreased that agility. the effort that the department and undertook under under the undersecretary's readership data thinking about where would like to be in a few years for the larger scale agencies and start taking those steps now thinks that if you had known four years

ago we could have done on the ground side and that's what we are doing here is to expand for the first time into the munitions world and we have a concept we have been working on for some years of having multiyear set overlap and reinforced because so many missiles are produced by one or two companies so we brought that concept in as well. we do believe this is going to s. the secretary said provide more of a signal that companies rely on because this is a place in the budget where there has been more fluctuation than on something like submarine story also have multiple years. it's not the only thing that needs to happen in terms of the health of the industrial base that is one thing we can do to position ourselves better for larger scale. sorry for going over mr. chairman. i yield back. thank you.

mr. cuellar. thank you mr. chairman. i want to thank all of you for your service and general milley i'm glad to you still have your texas license. i want to thank all of you and mr. secretary and want to you when question. let me just lay out the facts. do you believe great power competition in the western hemisphere is a different issue? we know the importance of the state department and usaid and i understand all that. it's a comprehensive approach that i listened to the answer that you gave ms. granger and he talked about what southcom is doing but i noticed you left northcom which has mexico because right now you have southcom covers everything south of mexico and if you look at what china is doing 36% of their

total air force comes from latin america and the caribbean. when you look at lithium reserves and all of that in that area of responsibility and you look at infrastructure projects and i don't want to go through all of them at infrastructure projects 5g development safe city projects, basic infrastructure which is important but they are doing down there and so on and so on. and china and russia but then if you look at mexico which is right next door i'm concerned that northcom is not paying that much attention and i'm sure they would tell you that they disagree with me and i understand all that but we did ask for follow-up information and i think we are still waiting waiting for that follow-up information from the commander.

we just had a bipartisan meeting in mexico. fentanyl and you know the problem, so many people are killed in the united states. fentanyl precursors and 75% of all of the fentanyl moves through the tijuana san diego area. if you look at the geography itself. when you look at the critical locations of the prc investment a lot of them are closed to our northern borders. lithium and other areas and when you look at the investment they have done where they get the shipments from china and you look at the new courier that mexico is doing with the new panama canal on land, who is doing the investment in those two areas in mexico and the pacific? a lot of it is chinese and there

are some other infrastructure things i can't talk here about at this location but it's very concerning what we have seen. my question is there a way and i think we did ask for you all to study whether mexico should be part of southcom and i understand you know mexico canada and i understand all that good either that or we get them to work closer together because i don't see an alignment. we do love this great work with these resources of southcom that we are leaving out mexico. i live in laredo just a few miles away from the border. i'm concerned about that. my question do you think competition is important part of the defense and the work in the hemisphere? >> i certainly do. i would also say all of our

combatant commanders agree and if the general were sitting here today he'd say this is an area that's important to him. i would also say our combatant commanders coordinate with each other pass information and work with each other to ensure their no significant gaps or seems between the combatant commanders areas of responsibility. i do know that general van kirk continues to engage in readership in mexico. that is routinely and i would say this is important that we can never do enough. i'll make sure you get the answers to your questions and this is something we need to continue to focus on an image of the fentanyl problem primarily a law enforcement issue but you know dod will continue to do what it can to support the

overall procurement effort. we will work with you in any way. my time is up but there's another young soldier who died in fort hood. i know this investigation and i'm talking to the secretary of the army tomorrow and i just want to bring that to you up. my heart goes out to the family and to her teammate and again this will remain an area of focus. thank you mr. secretary. thank you. judge carter. pleasure mr. chairman and welcome to all of you. it's been great working with you. general milley you are welcome to come to texas when he retired if that would be your choice. i just finished traveling to

pacom and whether it's the importance of protection for the region it seems to be very important. we also need a place to operate from. what are we doing to get more for structure and power projection into pacom and are we doing enough? >> thank you sir. they answer to the second question first i will probably never say we have got enough. we will continue to work at this. you may have heard me say earlier where investing $9.1 billion this year and in the deterrence initiative. that allows us to invest in infrastructure that gives us greater access and also improves. defensive posture in place like guam in places like hawaii as

well. we have done a lot a work to engage our partners and allies in the philippines. we are working with australia to increase our access there and develop a great partnership. our additional units are going in and out of australia with greater frequency. we continue to work this. and to answer question we are doing a lot. it will probably never be enough. what contingency decreased budgets and able to structure structure an acquisition in that area. in your opinion as we go down the road. yes we are building -- and they have the buildings there that really need work. you will contingency a

significant investment in those types of things going forward. that's important we have the ability to be able to core position our troops so they can be relevant in any kind of an upcoming -- >> thank you mr. chairman. thank you mr. carter. thank you mr. chair. mr. secretary have to ask you about the facility in honolulu in my district that i want to commend the job that vice admiral wade at the pearl harbor joint task force are doing to this in a transparent and deliberate manner. they are doing a good job and they need a lot of help at the pentagon. i have to ask you for clarification and confirmation i hope. does the department of defense remain fully committed to the expeditious and save closure of

the redhill facility? the department of defense remain fully committed and i personally remain fully committed. i just met with the team out in hawaii on this very topic here. we routinely get updates and i would agree with you that the admiral is doing a tremendous job and most importantly he's doing a lot of good things to keep the community informed in the delegation informed of what we are doing of what our requirements are. thank you so much for that. are you aware of any budgetary limitations on the defense department achieving the safe and expeditious utility enclosure at redhill? i've looked high and low for tonight don't believe so. i believe we have the adequate funding to achieve that goal but i don't want this budget to go

past us is there any limitations whatsoever in that mission as well as the broader mission which is remediation and some risks as well. again thanks for your continued support in this area as well. i'm currently not aware of any obstacles in achieving our objectives. this is going to take some time and things can change. they do change it we do need requirements i will certainly come back and ask for help. thank you so much. let me shift gears on you because i was also on the congressional delegation to the indo pacific. we were in japan and okinawa and korea and first of all this amazing to spend time with our servicemembers their top to bottom high-quality men and i

just wanted to pass that along to you. one of my huge takeaways was along the lines of the next questions which have to do with the sufficiency of our munitions provided to our friends and allies around the world. it strikes me that the burn burn rate any ukraine which is a going to go away anytime soon and the needs of our friends and allies relying on us to provide them with the capability for the most part themselves and with their own intentions is part of her indo pacific strategy to pre-positioned equipment and other facilities including the missions in the pacific that our defense industrial base really needs to be ramped up. i don't think this is a matter only of multi-fiscal year programming procurement. to matter of the funding to do that. you can set up for multiyear procurement. if the money's not there to do

it does -- not there to his start with the other problem. you reference in your opening remarks $10 quintillion invested in our industrial base did what i like to explore with you is how do we not get ourselves behind the 8 ball in terms of basic needs both in ukraine and the indo pacific and conflicts we may not know about today. let me say up front our industrial base is at the core element that enables arch strategic advantage and we will continue to work with industry to make sure we are doing everything possible to signal to them the right things in terms of our requirements and to help wherever possible to expand capacity. we have 170 billion-dollar request for procurement.

we have asked you for multiyear contracting authority and i think those in powerful signals. not only are we buying the numbers of missions that industry can produce we are also investing in additional capacity so they can begin to expand and rapidly get us up to where we need to be and help us replenish the stocks for some of our allies and partners who have donated to the ukrainian effort. we have asked for additional authority in terms of defense production act authorities and the president has supported us on that and so my team is working day and night working with industry to make sure we are getting as much productivity out of the key places in industry as possible.

i'm engaged with ceos and my deputy ceo. we need to do more and we are doing more and we will do more in the future. i thank the gentleman. mr. garcia. thank you gentlemen for your testimony and your service in mr. secretary onto thank you for mentioning the spousal working conditions improving. i'm very proud of my spouse licensing relief act signed into law by the president in january. as i've visited commands from cocom down to platoon commander not sure the groups fully understand the spouse licensing reciprocity is available to them and is the current lava lamp so recommend to get a dod wide way to message that spouses can

cross professional licenses doctors real estate agents lawyers across state lines. i don't think it's been fully absorbed and utilized yet. on the pay raise i personally do not believe the 5.2% pay raise is enough especially where junior enlisted troops. to put things in context the average e1 e2 is roughly $22,000 a year and it's not until over five years you are making the equivalent of what would be the 15-dollar per hour wage normalize for 40-hour workweek which means effectively the bottom third of our ranks are making less than fast-food workers are in many of our states and some of our states have a high cost of living. given the recruitment and armed services committee and a dod to look at how we can maybe not take a one-size-fits-all pay

adjustment of 5.2% and get our junior enlisted specifically about that 32,000-dollar a year number which is the equivalent of $15 per hour. i think they are a to do that without impacting the topline budget harvesting from a flag officer rank that 1% goes further for a flag officer then enlisted. i look forward to those conversations but i think that's a critical element for quality of life especially from a recruitment perspective. the gap between dod and civilian counterparts is at an historic high when it comes to salaries. mr. secretary are you aware of the strike fighter shortfall that we have dod wide. specifically with the navy and the challenges we have that the number of aircraft or aircraft carriers? >> what i do know the cno and

air force continue to invest in fighter capabilities and it could take several years before we get up to full capacity. i'm sure you aware of this committee as well as their counterparts in the senate and fy22 added 12 super hornets to the budget and fy23 added eight super hornets to the budget. those jets have yet to be awarded to the private contractor and they are actively shutting down not just their production line but their entire supply chain. i'm a big proponent of the f-35 in a large portion of that aircraft is made in my district. i believe we need capacity as well as capability and right now we are losing as a nation nation

with the critical tools in closing that strike fighter gap and the super hornet production line. lawyers are battling it out right now. this is why those things watching it from my perspective i think the government is overreaching when they are asking for intellectual property from a contractor but that's different from packages designed for sustainment. i think we are overreaching and this is one of the things that i think will impact the customer, the customer being the warfighter and the taxpayer with 20 jets not being put on contract. i would encourage you to look into that and is the navy working with the prime contractor right now? we need some supervision here and getting the lawyers in the room to put the kebabs on this and get a negotiated settlement and figure out another means to get that intellectual property. i will end up with the question general milley worked in both

administrations and you are familiar with additional withdrawal elements of afghanistan under both administrations do you agree with these assertion made earlier in this room that the state department led to buckle out that afghanistan was a tragedy with the loss of 13 personnel was the fault of the previous administration? >> i'm not going to characterize the fault. the end state was the strategic withdrawal. secretary austin and i are deeply and personally invested in it. i can think of no greater

tragedy and i have yet to fully reconcile it myself. so i don't want to point fingers. it happened in afghanistan. that was a 20 year war and the decisions were made all along the way. bear many lessons to be learned. like i said thank you for your service and that like to thank you on behalf of my wife. she pushed the election amendment. she and many others and you're the president brought that home so thank you very much. >> thank you general appreciated. >> thank you chairman and thank you both for being with us today. i'm going to get to two topics first as you both know changes to the military system have

resulted in several military treatment facilities including a hospital in my neck of the woods which closed its emergency in labor and delivery department. prior to that downsizing our area already had challenges accessing care identified by the department of health and human services is a high-risk area. we raised concerns about this prior to downsizing because of that and unfortunately some closures of had a real impact on servicemembers. i really think the network analysis that was done for hiring goals were off and this isn't a theoretical conversation. we did a roundtable with submariners in the area who were unable to go -- undergo screenings and a pregnant sailor

who didn't downsizing at the naval hospital was forced to go to a local hospital in emergency-room, in a waiting room and ultimately miscarried in their waiting room. these are not isolated incidents and i bring this to your attention because after several letters and questions at the hearing and meetings with the head of the echeverria emphasized the burden of the closures of the naval hospital the concerns of my community just are being hurt so i want to raise this again and ask you if the dod can direct a review of some of the downsizing in underserved areas like this county but i want to ask you what tools are in place to reassign civilian providers to areas in this significant degradation in care -- impacting folks in care and if we have seen a significant and dangerous

decline in health care quality for servicemembers. >> thank you sir and i'd like to start by saying the health and welfare of the force is extremely important to me and i appreciate all of your support and the support of congress over the years. we continue to follow our congressional and tent and as you know we are mandated to consolidate military health care with d chaney and decisions have to be made there. since that decision was made we faced a global pandemic that put pressure on the workforce across america and the medical workforce across america so it made it a bit more difficult to do some things. we are facing some of the same challenges that the medical community across the country are facing.

but what we are doing about it is we are trying to utilize a variety of tools including direct hiring authorities exploring bonuses and incentives to get the right talent in to fill the vacancies that you mentioned. i will ask our new vha leader to come in and sit down with you and brief you specifically and what our challenges are and what we are doing about it. >> if i could make a quick comment. please go ahead. >> the number one topic in terms of the health care system. in my first year this was an issue and we were asked at that time to write an assessment for the congressionally mandated

consolidation. what we are seeing today is the fraying and it's not in but we are seeing the fraying of one of the biggest health care systems in america and that's causing concern in the number one issue on everybody's minds and their families. >> acknowledging that we are seeing that in our area and i plead with you to look at what's happening in our region and to look at the impacts on readiness on sailors and their families. sitting across from a sailor who miscarried after waiting for eight hours to get here is not acceptable and we have to do better for these folks are stepping up for our country. >> thank you mr. chairman. i agree with you. we will do a deep dive on that

and see what we can do to improve it. >> thank you very much mr. chairman. when of my questions secretary mentioned southcom. while the go and one other things that is crucial to them is the security cooperation. they are a $200 million there and i want to just make sure it's on your radar. it's $200 million for southcom and africom and i want to make sure the region where not many good things are happening in this hemisphere southcom has the resources it needs and is well -- as you well know southcom does regular missions. i just wanted to fly that for you and if you could take a look at it. to make sure the southcom is not ignored, i would appreciate that. chairman milley there has been a

lot of conversation about provincial legislation gigahertz uses for important missions and secretary austin and the commerce secretary sent a letter endorsing this agreement while the director of the joint staff signed a formal non-concurrent menu. what in your view, what is your view about potentially vacating spectrum and what risk potentially could oppose to national security? >> i just want to make sure where we are with this i convey where we are in terms of what we have done. first of all i support sharing spectrum where appropriate.

i do not support putting our national security at risk and to your point their platforms and capabilities that we use that employee pieces of that spectrum so what we are doing now conducting a study to make sure we look at everything at once that study is done we will make a recommendation to the president. just to be clear i have not agreed to auction off that piece of the spectrum that we need to effectively protect the homeland or conduct their operations overseas. >> the potential risk if there is any. >> yeah there is a risk. first of all i'm awaiting the memorandum. i concur we need to wait until the study is complete.

therefore you make a fully informed decision. making a decision right this second is not a good idea and i concur it needs to be shared and i have no problem with sharing it. you need to do that in a way that doesn't jeopardize national security and what they can do is vacate the information. if we were to vacate we would have a significant -- in the indo pacific art europe or anywhere else. that is part of the spectrum. our ships and navigation so it wouldn't be good if we didn't have access to that part of the spectrum. there's a study on going in september and i would wait until

the study is done and then move in and the second is when that study is complete higher whoever is the chairman of time are required to render what our recommendation was into secretary and i make an independent recommendation in writing so we can make an informed decision. >> i appreciate that and i don't have a lot of time so i don't know if i'll get an answer on this. putin and ukraine as the chairman said the days of -- are over but one over but one thing that would be helpful if we knew what the strategic end state is in ukraine and not a lot of time but it would be helpful. >> the president was very clear on the strategic end state. he has said it many times in public forums. it's very clear the strategic

end state is the international -- put in place. how do you achieve that end state you to that end state when ukraine remains with its territory intact and the rules base was upheld. that rules-based order if that goes out the window i'd be very careful. we be doubling our defense budgets at that point because that will introduce the power of competition and era of armed conflict and that will be extraordinary dangers for the world. ukraine is a fight for ukraine but for the rest of us it's a much bigger important national interest that's fundamental to united states to europe and global security. civic ideal back thank you mr. chairman. >> thank you. mr. joyce. >> thank you mr. chairman.

thank you for your service to our country and for being here today. the united states has invested national security interest in taking decisive action to reduce our dependence on china. i have concerns or military is dangerously relying upon china would come to procuring raw materials like plastic and rubber and other industrial base needs to defense articles. we must have an old government strategy in place for military and relying on goods from china as little as possible. the defense appropriations bill and i included language in the department of defense issued a report outlining department increase and sourcing of plastic and plastic alternatives. secretary austin give an update on the status of this report and expectation when this report will be made available to congress? >> i'm sorry sir. >> and increased from the

production of domestic source of the plastic or plastic alternatives for the defense industry? stimac i will take that question for the record and get back to you. i'd like to tell you some of the things that we are doing along the lines of strengthening our supply chains and making sure we have capability because i absolutely agree with you. this needs to be a whole of government effort. i want to thank you and the rest of congress for what you've done in support of the chips act. i think that will make a really big difference in this budget we are asking you for $2.6 billion to invest in microelectronics. we are investing $125 million in batteries and electronics and we are going after critical minerals and i've asked for $253 million to focus on that as well. things like casting and forging

$177 million for that. i absolutely agree with you sir do we have to do a lot to make sure we have independence and we can trust our supply chain so we are going to continue to work on that. >> thank you brad secretary. the biden administration is working to expedite 31 abrams tanks to our allies in ukraine which will provide ukranians with the technological advantage over their russian counterparts. i was was disappointed over to the president's budget includes funding for 34 abrahams -- abrams. this reduction in funding is concerning from previous years which congress indicated continuous funding for a full battalion of tanks. this is for either of you gentlemen. considering the commitment we have made to ukraine with regards to transferring the abrams tanks can you offer insight to explain the justification behind this reduction in funding?

stimac we are funding a ukrainian battalion of tanks which reflects the number that you see. >> we have heard about the need to bolster the military industrial supply based and could a reduction in funding not make it more difficult to make sure we have a supply base to effectively scale of production for this and future needs? >> what will do for these tanks we are providing to ukraine if that's the question is we are taking tanks that are stock and rebuilding those tanks so they are exportable. that actually will, a drawdown versus being purchased. >> i understand and appreciate that. are we not securing new tanks in the process from the supply chain here in america? there was a reduction for the amount that was offered

>> ought to go back and check but the tank plan is continuing its operations. if you have information that is shutting down that would be new news to me. will do everything necessary to keep it open. we have to keep that line open. there will be a future operating environment and you'll have all kinds of things in the future with artificial intelligence and so on and so forth. tanks add value to ukraine and they will have value in many years to come. i don't know of any intent to shut down the ohio production line. >> i didn't need to bring it up as a buck i think the thing that we are slowing it down -- the problem with that is you have mom and pop people and if they are being shut down because we

are not doing that that slows down our ability to ramp up. thank you for your answers and i look forward to getting a copy that report secretary and i yield back. >> i thank the gentleman. mr. aguilar. >> thank you mr. chairman. general milley i wanted to start where some of my colleagues have ended and thank you for your service specifically for your testimony and honesty on the january 6 committee and your commitment to the truth, your honesty and availability. only matches your commitment to protecting our democracy and protecting this country so i just wanted to thank you for that. i wanted to also echo the concerns ranking member zero delauro and roofers said about some of the cuts in defense spending and how it would negatively impact our national

security or general how could a reduction in military funding impact of the joint force in their ability to provide critical deterrence specifically to activities in the end of pacific? it would impact, if you think of the domains space cyber land, sea and air right now we have roughly speaking 120,000 troops and all branches of service. we have it sees surface combatant ships and submarines as well. we have marines conducting exercise in oh no and beyond and army forces with long-range task forces and all the training 24,000 conducted by the army and marine corps not just in the pacific. worldwide. that level of training would be reduced and that at 11 -- level

of operation temple would be reduced. it acts as a great deterrent so if you reduce all that it will force us to reduce her up-tempo forces and force us to do less navigation, less patrolling of the air less isr. everything will be less which will increase risk and increased danger and send the wrong message and is a probable result be an acceleration of what could be some sort of aggressive moves in the future by china or others. >> secretary austin i want to thank you and the general for addressing violent extremism in the department. december 22 the inspector general released a report among other things talking about the effectiveness of policy and programs to prevent and respond to extremist activity in the monetary and found 200 allegations of prohibited

activity including 146 allegations of supremacists and extremist activity. on its face this is a conserving number but the ig report stated the department had decentralized the nonstandardized systems to collect and attract those data. when the quotes in the report was that the army's total allocation data's notes not reflect its total number of allegations just the total number of allegations follow on status. what steps is the department taking to standardize the collection of allegations of extremism by servicemembers since the release of that report? >> we continue to make sure our leadership is doing the right thing to first of all our troops understand how to recognize certain types of behavior and what is acceptable and what's

not acceptable and what the military won't tolerate and i think that's the first step in making sure that we are doing the right things. but we are emphasizing that we do have the right teams in place and the right methods in place to actively reflect or collect reports that are being rendered. i will also say you've heard me say this before 99.9% of our troops are doing the right thing each and every day. they are focused on accomplishing their mission and their leaders are focused on their task at hand in their missions and you don't get to be a ready force that we are like the chairman described in lesser leaders are focused on the right things and while making sure we don't have extremist behavior in our ranks is important it hasn't consumed the force.

it just enables us to do the things that were supposed to do. >> it allows us to look at tools to help make the force better, correct? >> general any response? >> in the area you are talking about we have the means and mechanisms that are not necessarily available in civil society. we are very disciplined force and no extremism is tolerated in the force and we are apolitical only intend to stay that way. no extremism tolerated and when we find that we discover it and take disciplinary action as the secretary said 2.1 -- 99.99 are there every single day trying to do the right thing for the right reasons for this country and they wake up every morning to better themselves and better their unit.

>> i completely agree with that but the report also mentioned 183 is an accurate number that there may be more that have not had follow on status. >> i would say it's a relatively small numbers. i've been doing this for a long time. secretary austin when he was a young officer had experiences at fort bragg with extremism so this is the something new. we discipline the force we don't tolerate it and weep punish it and get it out but that's shouldn't smear the entire force. this forces that dedicated and patriotic force that loves american will fight and die for it. >> i agree. thank you mr. chairman. >> thank you mr. chairman and congratulations on the ascession to your position. welcome to our subcommittee secretary austin and general milley. general milley thank you for your service to our country country. country, both of you have distinguished yourselves and your service and i'm proud of both of you and i know my

constituents are too. my top priority is ukraine right now and mr. chairman i'm sure you'll have a closed-door session on that before we move to markup but i wanted to report that is possible. general milley is a follow-up to the initiative that would greatly appreciate the large staffing at the department of defense. we have been unable to do that effectively and i wanted to follow up on something congressman cuellar talked about the illicit narcotics activity that's having an impact across our country they just wanted to put on the record for those -- there's a book called dreamland and he tracks the economics of what's going on following the passage of nafta in 1993 in and the wipeout of the corn market

and it's bringing up in all kinds of places. the planting of heroin and moving into other drugs. it's quite sobering to read and i want to place that on the record for those who care about it. the abject poverty that resulted, i don't know if the government of mexico is capable of it. secretary austin we talked about setting up a meeting with your their folks who are handling the ramp up of additional work in the defense industrial. based. we helped save the m-1 abrams tank. we save saved the tank capabilities and we have to save the strategic petroleum reserve for this country because they were people who are willing to ipap are those who come from manufacturing to stay what it takes and i'd be grateful to learn more about the funding and staffing in the current authority that they need.

finally for either gentleman today in terms of hybrid warfare i'm interested in more details on impact of the internet on communications and how u.s. forces are working to overcome communications problems and impact the impact the internet is having on creating disruptive activity falls information and so forth and i'd like to know more detail as we move forward in terms of our security globally. >> thank you and thanks for all of your support and certainly i will make sure my stafford's out to you to provide you access to these issues and the industrial base.

>> with respect to the internet and information and how information impacts operations we have seen over the years in terms of transnational activity people have been recruited and encouraged to take action over the internet and radicalized over the internet. that kind of thing we continue to see that. even in a conventional fight there is still a lot of activity that adversaries will put on the internet to create a number of different types of effects and we see this as you know with the ukraine russia conflict and we have to be, we have to be active

in that space and we have to enable our partners to be active in that space. is this really important to us and will continue to evolve so their significant, significant activity in is than they do directly impact the fight and let me see if mark wants to elaborate. >> congresswoman i will circle back with you on the whole project. on the committee patient peace communications is fundamental in the conduct of military operations one of the key pieces from a defensive standpoint it will help us be more resilient and less susceptible to jamming or any other interference or

intercepting. we are pretty good but we need to get there. in terms of the broader implications social media and the advent of social media if you think about the icon just came out in 2008 so we are really at the beginning of a proliferation of all kinds of information out there that can all kinds of accurate data or inaccurate data and that's something we all have to come to grips with because there's a lot of stuff out there on the internet. we have to be wary of that because of misinformation propaganda and adversary states are using bots to create an influence in our elections in elections in europe and other countries to undermine and create divisiveness where their sorry divisiveness in the society. even those just a single person

they are doing this through some major mechanism they can take a single issue and blow it up and make it much more than it would have been so their a lot of issues with social media and how it's being used for information transmission and this information transmission. from a military standpoint for us it's just a communication system and we have to make sure they are resilient so they can coordinator combat operations. >> thank you to gentlelady's time has expired. mr. rogers. >> thank you chairman. thank you for your service to the country. let me bring up a topic that is the elephant in the room and that's competition with china. how do you assess the chinese president's visit to moscow

recently? how does that affect their competition with china. certainly it's troubling to see putin attacked his neighbor in an unprecedented way and seeks to change the border and acts as its neighbors property or sovereign territory. xi's visit with putin and remaining there for a couple of days since a very troubling message, a message of support. we don't see them providing any material support to russia right now but we are watching this

very closely. if they were to go down that path i think it would be very troubling for the international community. certainly just showing support by its presence there is very troubling. it's been described as a marriage of convenience. putin doesn't have any allies are partners that he can turn to in the international community and so china is willing to continue that relationship which is very interesting but it's troubling. we have seen. and it will be the more troubling if xi decides to provide material support to russia that would prolong the conflict and certainly broaden the conflict not only in the region.

globally. >> thanks for the question. trying it is probably the most serious strategic adversary the united states is facing today and probably the entire century. a century from now the story of the century would likely be a geode strategic story. i think we need to be really careful as we go forward our military capabilities are way stronger than anything china can do. we want to prevent that and we prevent it with a strong military that we will use if necessary. will we see in china and what we see in terms of a nation-state the last 40 plus years xinjiang hang introduces reform and there has been enormous growth and

wealth and the greatest growth and wealth of any country including the united states in fact. there has been enormous growth and wealth and shift in power globally. in the wake of that wealth is the commonest military and the military is advanced its infantry army to world-class military that is near to that space. they are better than where they belonged to go but they are closing the gap very quickly. it's incumbent upon us to make sure we remain number one at all times. that will help keep the peace and if we somehow fall behind it would be very dangerous. >> the goal circuit was to deter china from making an ill-advised decision going forward. and you've heard me say a number of times i don't think military action against taiwan is imminent or unavoidable.

i think the way we keep things in the right places to make sure we are able to talk to each other. you've seen me reach of a number of times to my counterparts and i will continue to do that. i think military leaders should be able to talk to each other and to manage escalation and determine intent along with other things but but this communication is really, really important. again i do not think military action is imminent. certainly as the chairman pointed out we have to make sure we remain a combat credible force and will do everything within our power to make sure we do. >> and the question of competition with china understandably we are at a crucial moment here and we are beginning to lose their critical

competitive edge -- i'm interested in your budget request what is needed to reverse this trend that we are on ecs number one investing in our posture so the pacific deterrents initiative we have allocated or requested for that initiative some $9.1 billion. it's a 40% increase in what we asked for last year. it will help us improve infrastructure that provides us the ability to position our troops forward so that we can do to her much further forward. you've seen $61 billion to

support and maintain our dominant. $48 billion in combat effective neighboring forces in 13 plus billion dollars for our effective ground forces. we are investing in the capabilities that support our warfighting concepts that support our strategy so there's a lot in this budget focused on this particular challenge and again we will continue to invest in the years going forward to build upon the things that we are asking for today and doing today. >> thank you mr. chairman. >> thank you. mr. chairman thank you for being here. i want to talk about three things that i'll have to go very quickly in the time allowed. chairman milley when we talk

about, i want you to know i'm what are the members is becoming more and more concerned about her efforts in ukraine and have we applied any of the lessons the last 20 years? when we talk about our goals there and i'm paraphrasing international free and independent nation with territory were preserved to set included crimea? >> what the president has said is publicly as well as well as chair blinken and sullivan is that a decision for ukraine to decide. our task is to help ukraine defend itself. united states is not a -- even though russia tries to portray that. we are helping country defend itself. i think it becomes a very different situation and a much more dangerous situation.

our goal is to retain the -- and including the land bridge the experience is clear that is the very different thing than what we are talking about. >> i have said that publicly. that maximus goal is that by president-elect he publicly is a difficult role to achieve. >> and i appreciate that and we'll have more time to talk about that. the interesting thing about this hearings is we have things that are personal to our state and this is a little bit like that but not really. if exley brought in strategic and also in conversations with their staff it appears that the viewer supported this and that's the office of strategic p. to $150 million that's allocated and i've talked with dozens and dozens and i know you have to, dozens of small companies and

some of the larger ones as well to want to work with the department of defense but they can't just get through the contracting process. mr. undersecretary you have the worst job in the world is comptroller. i looked the acquisition process and it's too hard and i can't do it. it will bring billions of dollars of market money and private money to the department of defense in ways we can't do now because it's so difficult and we get so frustrated. if either of you would like to respond to that and we like to continue to work with the office is we make this a reality. spread this is important as and thank you for your support and want to thank the chairman for his support as well. we have had a couple of conversations on this initiative and i want to applaud your efforts in this area. we sat down many months ago and

focused on the problem of trying to get small companies into the business here and how do we break down barriers and how do we incentivize our investment. that is what this is about. we really are interested in making sure it begins to move in the right direction. we have partnered with the small business bureau and so again we are optimistic and we thank you for your support. smith's >> mr. secretary thank you p.s. ps i thank you could really make a difference in some of the technology available to our warfighters would make a difference to them. we need to find a way to get access to it and the less common if i could very quickly i come from a family of military, three generations all of my brothers and my father etc.. when at of the reasons i joined

the military is because my dad did and if he had ever indicated to me i don't know if you'd like it or i'm not sure it's something you would like i would never done it. there's a culture here that i don't don't want to say broken. we have stranded in chairman milley i think you've seen it in the army and sense of our recruitment goals. we are 25% short of our goal and we can talk about salaries and compensation that's part of it but you both know that's not the primary region in joining the military but they do it because of the culture and wine to serve and we broke and that somehow between fathers and sons. and my time is up. i'm wonderfully can talk about what has changed culturally to make it so we aren't meeting their recruiting goals and how do we address that? >> thanks for the question. first the army is made headwinds

bear and secondly we are at a 50 year high. since the military began we are high in retention so that should tell us -- what that tells us is those in the military are satisfied with the do on a daily basis. they are bettering their own lights etc.. those on the plus side. on the recruiting piece we are in a deficit. for sure who it played a role in that. not only in terms of the demographics of our society come only 23% of american 17 to 25 are qualified to get at the military and outbound only 9% show propensity to serve. we know 70% of those in uniform have military family in uniform like you said.

uncle's brother sisters and cousins served a one timer and other. that's true of secretary austin and true of many of us in this room. 73% -- contact time and meeting trips etc. and the army did the study and i don't know if it's available or not but i was briefed on it and what are the things in the study that comes out in terms of the barrier to join in a high school setting is the fear of being injured or the fear of getting hurt, ptsd. there's a lot of stuff out there about rape and sexual assault endorsed -- those sorts of things are out there. it creates a barrier for those considering joining. in addition to that there probably 20 or 30 factors that were the biggest ones is the lack of kids going to school the last couple of years and it has

prevented recruiters from getting into high schools and having contact with them. we know right off the bat officer recruiting rates. they are a lot of reasons and i wouldn't say there is want particular reason. those that are coming to service are coming in for the same reasons that you did to serve a cause better than yourself and try to better yourself and volunteer your skills and benefits for sure. they come in to serve the country protect the constitution and pass it to the next generation. >> ranking member. >> thank you mr. chairman and i've two questions for the record on climate change and resilience. thank you both for your testimony and congressman

stewart talking about family and service. my family goes back to the revolutionary war. there is something that we need to do to embrace them and make them welcome. thank you very much mr. chair for the way everybody got their questions then. >> i also want to thank both of you for your service. general we have known each other for many years and i'm sure we will continue to know each other. i respect your service and i'm sure will be working closely together. thank you again for your service. obviously i'm concerned about this budget and i made that clear. we can work together to plus this up somehow to make sure we meet the requirements.

we will see if we can come up with a number that will meet the needs to protect this country into the future. with that thank you and we are adjourned. [inaudible conversations]

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