challenge. we are doing our part so it's a little easier to do yours. >> spark light support c-span as a public service along with these other television providers giving you a front row seat to democracy. >> the chair of the joint chief of staff are the leaders of the nation military branches highlighted the united states military readiness during a fireside discussion at the aspen security form in colorado. this is about 13 minutes.

in 2020, you are confirmed by the senate unanimously and that is when you served as head of the air force. thank you for being here today. >> my pleasure. thank you. we all know about now the widespread internet outage which was caused by what seems a glitch, not a cyber attack, per se, we learned that this morning how has it affected u.s.

military operations? >> i was made aware of the information on an airplane flying back into the united states. from all reports i have right now, no impact on dod operations this gives you an indication of how important cybersecurity, how we use our software, how we use our tools. detecting our capabilities to still protect the nation even when you have a glitch or an attack to be best postured to be able to support. >> should it be a wake-up call for americans? if the u.s. was to find itself in a conflict with china, it is largely believed that a cyber attack would hit the homeland in those cyber hours. what do you think of america should realize from this

incident. >> we all know how dependent we are on cyber and the tools that it has to make the day to the day lives. why it is important for my cybersecurity piece not only at the governmental level but all the way down to local to protect ourselves and be best postured because i am sure our adversaries are looking at this to put sand in the gears of her trying to write combat power to respond to a crisis anywhere around the world. >> overnight a modified settlement explosive drone struck into tel aviv about the hundred feet from the u.s. embassy. how did this happen? why was it not shut down? >> we will have to defer to the israelis as to why it was not shut down.

the right to defend itself. and, you know, as we have seen them since october, have been stirring up activity against israel and the red sea impacting the commercial shipping. killing several mariners and discontinue to be, you know challenged there in the region. the key part is, we want to make sure that israel can defend itself the same way we want to defend ourselves in the station in our region. >> the wall street journal is reporting this morning that the head of sitcom has set a letter to lloyd austin in which he says that the strategy, the military strategy is not working. he is seeking permission to broaden the target that he had do you agree that the strategy

is not working? >> here is what i would tell you it will take more than just the military strikes to change it. it will take more of the community to put pressure to stop what they are doing. they tied it originally in support of the palestinians in gaza fifth but that is somewhat brought in. it will take more than a military campaign. we continue to work with the interagency. work with our allies and partners. it does impact the activity. just commercial shipping as i've talked to some of my partners in the region, they are starting to see the impacts based on what they've been doing in the region >> there are some, including some sitting senators that have said it is time to strike iran and stop these attacks. send a message to iran. or that it is time to sink, for

instance, their spy ship. helping to target these ships. is it time to send a stronger message to iran? >> i want to think about this as my role to the president of the secretary of city council. we can look at things individually and go because this happened we can go do x. not only x, but what happens with why and z. once you do that, what are the impacts of that? i think i have a responsibility to be thinking strategically about the actions we take. the recommendations i make in the what the risk is for further escalation of broader conflict. you go back to what happened in october. not to let the conflict in the middle east brought. i think we are effective in doing that. we want to continue to do that.

i will also say, we are prepared , if need be, if the nation calls to take action. >> you talk about not escalating , but would it be escalatory if one of those missiles were to hit a u.s. warship which mike you have aircraft carrier sitting there in the red sea. having to defend itself against 100 incoming missiles in one night. a few months ago. it has been very skilled and lucky, but they are also pushing the u.s. military to depleted stockpiles very expensive million-dollar missiles with thousand dollar drones. should you reconsider what it would take to deter iran. >> let me tell you how proud i

am of my service members. coming in as a chairman, honing our skills and promising everything in all we do. because of that and what was happening before he became the chairman, the other ships, our service members, our aircraft, have been able to do exactly that. to be able to defend themselves and do it extremely well. i appreciate the investments we've made in the high-end capability to go against these particular threats. but i also think about the balance of capability and capacity that we continue to work on. have the high-end capability and capacity against these lower end rights as well. as we look at innovation and bring it in, how we move that forward faster so that we have a mix of capabilities to go against i think is very important. >> there is also a report that

u.s. intelligence is suggesting that russia is planning to provide antiship missiles and that it may be possibly in response to u.s. providing weapons, long-range weapons to ukraine. is that report accurate and what is your message to the russians? >> i will not share and validated until reports here on stage. we do pay attention to the activity, not just the russians, but anyone else that is actually causing challenges for regional and global security.

we are all focused on all the various threats around the world and just trying to stay on top of them. for each of us provide advice for political leadership on the actions that we take. >> to have an answer for russia if they cross this line? >> i would prefer them not to do that. [laughter] sarah subornation, they will do what they do. the key point is, we do not want to broaden the conflict. i just make it more complicated in the middle east.

telling the aspen conference earlier this week, we are asking our partners inside russia. why not let them. >> that's a policy decision for the policymakers to decide. we need to understand what the risk is and what the impact is based on, you know, the ukraine strike, we continue to work to allow ukraine to defend itself. not only capability from the united states and it provided, over 50 nations that continue to provide capability to ukraine to be able to defend themselves. we will continue to work with them to provide capabilities and help them defend. >> as our moral component to this, if russia fires at the

children's hospital from air force base just across the border, they say it's a legitimate target of self-defense. in afghanistan, we used to criticize other nato for having caveats. >> you know, having an opportunity to lead in conflict, every nation has, you know, certain caveats on how they want to approach things. as we work together as a coalition, that's one thing i realized, we have to figure out how to bring all of those together to be an effective entity. probably bringing home more things that we agreed that we disagree on with the caveats. working with our partners in building coalitions with those that are part of an alliance. something that we continue to work through. even in this case, we will

continue to address them figure out how best to approach. >> do you think are you -- ukraine can win and what is your response to those saying the u.s. military is slow whirling these weapon systems to ukraine? >> ukraine matters. unprovoked aggression -- the things we will help ukraine to defend itself, not just with the united states, but the 50 nations providing capability is hugely important. when you look at it, putin went in, his goal was to take ukraine very quickly and fracture nato. neither one of those occurred. still fighting in ukraine. nato is stronger. not just by two nation stronger, but nato is stronger than it's ever been. more nations putting forth funding for defense, the 23 nations are now a 2% gdp where

while ago it was only up to 10. or thereabouts. what you are seeing is this type of aggression is strengthening alex and partnerships. it is very important that we all stay together and focus on maintaining global security and by the actions we take and how we work together. >> so that may be true up until now. the nation finds itself as a key inflection point. we hear from former president trumpet is vice president jd vance that they have made basically halting support to ukraine a part of their platform what would be the impact of such a policy shift if you have to implement that. >> that is a hypothetical that i will not initially get into. >> but what would be the impact? i think we could talk generally

if you were told tomorrow to stop support for ukraine, what is the impact? >> collectively, if we stop supporting ukraine, putin wins. okay. what that allows is it also involves others to go, we have credibility that is at stake. not just the united states, but the west. if we just back away. that opened the door for those that wanted to do unprovoked aggression. i think it's important that we continue to provide support to ukraine so it does not go there until you have a broader conflict as well. hard leadership matters. it gets watched and it is something for our allies and partners around the world. >> jd vance also says the west cannot out produce russia in terms of ammunition and weapons. is he wrong? >> one of the things that focused on and have been even as

the air force chief in my nine plus months as chairman is our defense industrial base. we have the capability to out produce. i have seen this in our nation. there are some things that have to happen to make it come together. there has to be consistency and demand signal from the department of defense of the partners from what we need. there has to be consistency in funding to be able to do this. getting budgets on time is important. continue the resolutions do not help us in having consistency in funding. as we do that, it provides those contracts as well. fy 24 and daa we had six weapons to do multiyear procurement. i would like to see more because that gives a consistent d. once you have that consistency, that builds trust with the defense industrial base.

letting them know how much workforce you need and how much facilities they need, how much of the supply chain you need. that drives trust. increases trust. drives down costs -- costs. so we have the capability in the hands of the war fighters much faster than we do today. so we have the capacity to do it we just have to make the commitment to do it. >> do you think the nation and the industry needs to be on a war footing right now? >> it has been very helpful to do this. some may not realize how much of that money is going into the defense industrial base to provide capability that not only helps ukraine, israel, taiwan, it helps us as well. it is important that we, you know, continue that consistent funding to bring in the capability. >> former president trump said he can negotiate the end of the war in 24 hours. is that possible?

>> well, if he can get it done in 24 hours, that would be great [laughter] it stops the conflict. we get back to more global security. >> the elephant in the room here at the aspen foreign has been will the u.s. find itself in a war with china or kenneth dieter such a conflict over the taiwan issue? you just returned from a trip to the pacific did you met with your counterparts. there is brewing tension over a little island that many people, i don't even know if you call it an island, a flashpoint where, explained to us, to the forum, why it is significant and why it could become a flashpoint and pull the u.s. into a conflict with china. >> okay. first, i don't see conflict with the people's republic of china. we will make sure that we stay ready. the second is just off the coast

of the philippines in the south china sea as most of us would call it in the philippines they called the west philippine sea. and it is really about, it is inside their economic zone and the debate between the line and claimant's on that particular. this is about sovereignty for the philippines and they challenge that sovereignty by the prc. and, this ship that is there that has been reached actually has a number of filipino service members in 110 -- one way they maintain that is staying there. there are nine -- excuse me, but others similarly off the coast of the philippines in the same

situation. it's important when you start thinking about sovereignty. not letting this be a flashpoint it is emblematic of things that could happen if we don't pay attention. >> does a mutual defense treaty that you signed with the philippines required the u.s. to come to philippines aid at the chinese continue harassing their ships? maybe even she —-dash think one of their ships or kill one of their service members? >> as we work through the defense, and our support to philippines continues. part of the conversation i had when i was there in the philippines meeting with their advisor, secretary of national defense in my counterpart, our relationship continues to build and our support, if the mutual defense treaty is ever called upon will be there. >> there are a number of authors here who have written recently

about the potential flashpoint over taiwan. we have david who has written new cold war's. rolled on the brink. matt and the hoover institute staff have written the boiling moat. i do not recommend these for bedtime reading if you have any anxiety. [laughter] but, the question is, can the u.s. when a war against china if beijing tries to take taiwan. from your military perspective. >> yes. i am fully confident in our forest. i am fully confident in our forest. you should be, to. [applause] we are the most lethal, most respected combat force in the world. every nation that i goes to want to be like us. we have to be a role model. it will take all of the nation if we go to conflict with the prc. and i am confident, you know, if

we are challenged, we will be there. i have full confidence in our service members. >> mark montgomery was responsible for strategic planning at take on. he has been through six wargames over this kind of scenario. i think that it is widely agreed that in the first month there can be 30,000 american dead if this were to happen. maybe americans do not realize there will be no golden hour. there will be no rescue. aircraft carriers will be sunk. 3000 people lost at a time. the distance is very different from any other war that we have been involved in. and, yet, there is also a new report from japan from the japanese government suggesting that the assumption that you would have a month to respond and build up, president xi may have taken some lessons from president bush's invasion of ukraine to move quickly.

the new report suggests china based on the exercises last year that they saw that they plan to take taiwan in a week, not a month. what would that do to u.s. military planning and is that a fair assessment? is that an accurate assessment? >> i would address may be what montgomery did say. i would tell you, if you go back or years ago, if you go back and look at it, i said pretty much the same thing. the future conflict is not like the conflicts we been having for the past 30 years. these are major conflicts to what we saw in world war ii. we have to come to grips with that one. two, the prc knows where our advantages are. my senses, they will want to go quick so they can do it before we bring capability there which

is why we are focused on the capabilities that we have four, how we look at our logistics change. any type of conflict. as the air force chief of staff, my last major conference with my leadership back in june, we did a logistics tabletop exercise. and then i wrote a letter to the chairman. knowing i was nominated to be the chairman, waiting to get confirmed. it was really a letter to myself [laughter] we need to focus on logistics. and, so, what i've been working with director for logistics is additional tabletop exercise to really bring this out. the more we can show that we can get there fast is a great deterrence. >> map pottinger and many of the former president's advisors have said that taiwan is not buying the right weapons. former president trump themselves of this week taiwan need to spend more on its

defense indicating he may not defend taiwan. do you agree that taiwan needs to spend more on its defense and what are you doing to make sure that they buy the right weapons? >> we are engaged with taiwan on their future procurement. also, you know, weapon systems that would make them very effective in the defense. the thing that i see over the past several years as a character warfare has changed. you know, the nature is not change. when you look at technology, you look at the use of drones. you look at the use of cyber. all of these other factors that come into play that, you know, it may not be the highest capability that we are used to using, but a mix of capability that can create a greater defense for taiwan and make them a much tougher target, much more challenging for the prc. >> let's turn back to the middle

east. next week the iraqi leadership is coming to negotiate whether the troops will be able to stay in iraq. what would happen if u.s. troops were forced to leave iraq? there are indications that isis, twice as many attacks in iraq and syria by isis this year alone. is isis reconstituting? >> part of the reason we are there, we went back in 2014 was isis. i had a firsthand piece of that as a commander but also deputy commander as we defeated isis. the key part is not resurgence occur. our ability as a coalition for operation resolved to continue, but then transition to a bilateral relationship. continuing the relationship with the iraq is as well as other agencies that they have. maintaining the security there.

at the same time, we are paying attention to isis out of syria and other parts of the middle east. >> if they were forced to pull out, what impact would they have >> it would have impact on our ability to put pressure on isis. we would have to look at it how we would do it in different ways part of our job is to be able to flex. we will provide options. if any decision comes in one way or another. >> it's been said that iran has never won a war or loss a negotiation and it will fight to the last proxy. i ran proxies have targeted a u.s. base in iraq. what do you make of the timing of these attacks? >> well, there are a couple of things that i make of this. you know, we watch, after, seven october, our forces very rarely

getting attacked. after seven october of last year , a lot of attacks on our bases. spending a lot of time and effort making sure we were doing the force protection. we lost three service members back on the 20th of january. as a result we had a pretty strong response. the last time before, just recently about seven february. it has been almost six-seven months since the last time we were attacked. those proxies have been chomping at the bit to strike. every once in a while they will do something kind of a one off. i don't see them breaking away from what they've got. >> may be it is a little message before negotiating in washington on monday. >> could be. i don't know. the key part is we will continue to defend ourselves and we will respond appropriately at a time and place of our choosing.

>> it is still u.s. policy to stop iran from getting a nuclear weapon. he also said they are one-two weeks away from breakout. are you prepared to stop iran militarily if they decide to pursue and breakout? >> we have options to do so. >> stay ready. [laughter] >> how worried are you that america's adversaries will become adventurous after november 5 or even in this unstable timeframe of raucous selection if u.s. elections are contested where one party does not accept the results. some have called it an invitation to conflict. how are you preparing for that? >> i'm looking for this day in and day out. not november, not january, not february, i am looking at last week. what i mean by that is if you

look at our national defense and national security strategy, five key challenges outlined in those documents. china, russia, iran, north korea all of them are active right now some areas working together. and, so, my day to day focus, no matter what day it is, to ensure we are best prepared for any one of those that may create a challenge for us. >> before we go, i need to ask you, when was the last time you met in person with president biden and how was he mentally? >> i last met with him, it was last week. let me just say that, you know, i realize that there is a lot of debate. i don't want to get into debate. my job is to provide advice to, you know, the president, secretary of defense, the rest of our national security apparatus. all of the times i've engaged

with the president, he has been engaged. he has asked very pointed questions and made decisions. and, i will just leave it at that. >> we have about one minute left do we have time for one question ? anybody? don't be shy. >> sir, what do you see as the greatest emerging threat you would like to train your troops to? that they are not currently. >> i think i just named all five of them. [laughter] part of this is expected the unexpected. you know, this is exactly why when i wrote the memo into october, the second day as chairman, honing our war fighting skill has promise in all that we do. i want our service members to be so focused on their individual

skill set how they bring that together as a team in their unit , how we bring it together as a joint force, how we do it with our allies and partners. we exist to fight one of our nation's wars. that is how we exist. we will be so good at what we do that our adversaries never want to mess with us. if they do, we want to be their worst nightmare. personally and professionally i do not play for second place. [applause] i play to win. i will do everything that i can to make sure that it is an unfair fight. that is my focus. we have to stay nimble on this. kind of look long. that is the other thing