develop and foster new ones. africa is a continent full of potential friends and allies. we often grow to complete and lack of foresight to prepare for the things we don't expected that's why i'm glad we have the africa command. africa as we know has always been for novelty illicit trafficking due to widespread corruption, poor governance and abject poverty. somalis continue to flow into yemen and trade with al qaeda and its affiliates and we don't have to look any further than the christmas day donner and nigerian has proved that violent extremists exist in many places we are not thinking about or fighting a war. we have partners in the region, the troops have launched an offensive against al qaeda along its northern border with algiers and lost as many as 13 troops last summer, african nations are vulnerable to a variety of threats, narcotrafficking, piracy and terrorism any of

which would further weaken an already fragile region. so general ward, i look forward to hearing your testimony and the command need for trainers, forces and resources. .. the branchs of our armed forces are expected not only to team with one another, but with allies and host nation troops as we have seen most recently in the offensive in marjah. the committee is interested in understanding how joint forces command is preparing our troops to operate jointly and what steps you believe the services should be taking in this regard. i'm also curious about how the rapidly changing feedback from the field in iraq and afghanistan will be incorporated in joint command's future doctrine of development. all highly decorated and highly respected members of the military. i appreciate your service and wait your opinions requests and predictions heavily so i look

forward to your knowledge your testimony. thank you, mr. chairman. >> thank you very much, senator mccain. we'll start with you now admiral stavridis. >> good morning general loven, senator mccain, other senators who are here. >> is your mic on? move it closer to you if you could. >> thank you, senator levin and senator mccain, all the members of the committee who are taking the time to hear from my two very good friends and wingmen this morning, general kip trant ried and general mattis. i want to thank the congress. i want to thank this committee for the support you give us in all of our operations. it's vital into translates directly to our men and women and we thank you for it. a big lead to talk about all of the things that were raised by the chairmen and ranking ranking

member in afghanistan. i would say that i am cautiously optimistic. i think secretary gates yesterday in afghanistan put it very well. we have some challenges ahead, but we are seeing some bits and pieces of good news and i'll be glad to talk about some of those. senator levin, i agree completely that we need to focus like a laser on trainers for the nato forces. i'm committed to doing that and i'll talk about it as we go on. i did want to mention also, were very engaged for u.s. european gauge inspected in the balkans that we don't talk a lot about that these days. excuse me. but i think we see a real success story emerging in the balkans. and if we look back ten years ago when we had almost 30,000 u.s. troops in the balkans. they were down to about 1200 our allies are working very hauled in the balkans as we move towards a safer and more secure area. i'd also like to touch on today cyber and some of my concerns there.

talk a little bit about iran and potential threats to europe, touch of our relations with russia and then talk a bit about some of the initiatives were undertaken at u.s. european command which focuses on interagency, international, private public partnering and the use of effective strategic communications. sir, i'll close by saying i represent here 80,000 brave men and women from u.s. european command. there are proud to serve, i'll proud volunteers. they thank you for your support. thank you, sir. >> thank you very much. admiral general ward. >> good morning mr. chairman, senator mccain chemistry to be here this morning alongside my two great friends come at the admiral and the general who we come to partner with overtime and i think our collaboration has been good for men and women who serve with us as well as for our nation. i am very happy to be here to address the point that i've been

raised as well as others. like to start out by just thinking this committee for the great support that is then provided to my command by its men and women as we purge for their mission under united nations. we protect the american myosin to promote american interests. and we do it by supporting security of debility program in africa and its island nations. we concentrate our efforts on helping african states build capable and professional militaries that respect human rights, adhere to the rule of law and contribute to stability in africa. we are assisting our african partners in building capacities through counter transnational threats from violent extremists coordination to stem illicit trafficking to support operations and to adjust the consequences of national disasters. supporting the development of professional and capable militaries contribute to increased security and stability in africa allows african nations

and regional organizations to promote the governance, expand development and provide for their common defense and better serve their people. the partnership stations which included european and african partners as members of the staff is now on its fifth deployment it has expanded from the initial focus in the gulf of guinea to other african nations. africa endeavor, a continental white commended row exercise has been a steady and creates that will amount to 30 nations participating this year. exercise natural fire conducted by the nations in east africa, tremendously successful program that looked to tout these nations respond collectively to a natural disaster. these programs reflect a willingness about partners to work with us and with each other against common threats and reflect with our program and activities are into producing tangible results.

my focuses on activities, programs and syndication to support our national interest and also reinforce success in a way that assures progress towards long-term goals are african partners have established for themselves as they align with our national security objectives. we harmonize their activities with colleagues at date, usaid and other agencies. our service component are in fact maturity. our office of security cooperation, defense at the shays, the network of forward operating sites and co-opt or security locations including campagna in djibouti are tremendously valuable as we pursue our u.s. security interests. it's my honor to serve with the very distinguished uniform and civilian members of the department of defense and our command to work every day alongside our interagency partners come and make any difference in this vitally important part of the world as

we look to cause there were to be towards more effective global stability. their dedicated efforts exemplify the spirit and determination that the american people need to contribute to the strength of our nation and the security and stability on the african apartment supporting our interests there. i'm pleased to also say that representing those men and women i brought along today our command sergeant major, the command senior enlisted major mark repka as someone who exemplifies the goodness of that great, great team. again, i thank you for yourself or to what you do to cause our mission to be successful and i stand ready to write any additional information that i can. thank you so much. >> thank you rematch. and general mattis. [inaudible] >> and it will be.

[inaudible] [inaudible] [inaudible] [inaudible]

of our conventional capability. our forces are achieving balance and will continue to do so as well-timed filled with the iraqi drawdown. your effective training and education across the forest, we can strike the appropriate balance while ensuring our current and future combat readiness. i returned a week ago from afghanistan and our field commanders there confirmed that our troops are superbly trained for the fight, even as these lessons learned to further improve our readiness and not fall back on complacency. based on the reality of current active operations and future trends outlined in our work on the future, joint forces command top priority continue to reflect this balance between support for the current site and our constant assessment of the future to ensure we remain the most capable military in the

world. thank you, sir. >> thank you very much, general. it's tried eight minute first-round. admiral, there've been a number of reports about the performance of the afghan army during the recent operation to occur the taliban and from central helmand valley. marine brigadier larry nicholson said that afghan forces are not cosmetic. they are in the fight, but at the same time they been anecdotal of counsel of afghan soldiers looting the bizarre and marcia hashish in failing to help our marines in fortifying their positions. admiral, give us your assessment of the performance of afghan soldiers partnered with coalition forces in the fighting helmand. >> xircom as you can imagine i discussed this for deadly with general standard crystal, my nato subordinate and i also received reports on a daily basis. i am satisfied with the progress

of the afghan national army and overall it's performance i think has been the fact is in marja. as you recall, senator, when we went south about a year ago, the ratio of isaf troops to afghan troops was ten of the isaf for every one of the afghan. in this operation we are one isaf troops in just less than one afghans that we're approaching that one-to-one ratio. so that the quantity piece that has improved dramatically. the quality piece i think general nicholson is spot on. we are seen them actually in the fight. were also seen as this is where the afghan troops are stepping ahead of the coalition forces and saying, let me go through that door first. let me go up that road first. we're seen that kind of shoulder to shoulder effective combat

fight out of our afghan partners. in terms of individual instances are anecdotes, we follow up on every one of those. we report them. action is taken by the afghan chain of command, but overall senator, i am satisfied with the progress we've seen over the course of the year and i think the operation in marjah shows that. >> well, that's an important news and i want to just focus for a minute on that ratio. when we were there just i guess the first time maybe a year ago now and got into this issue, it was a five to one ratio, five hours for one afghan. five marines. we heard in marja and was about to a virus to one affairs and now you're telling us that it was actually a lot better than not closer to one-to-one which is very significant and important is because that's critically important, not only

in terms of the turning over responsibility to afghan security to the afghans, which is surely a major part of our mission, but also in terms of the credibility of what we're doing there to the people, to the residence, but also to the training of the afghan troops that we can have that close trading relationships. the closer that ratio is, not just a one to one, but two of theirs to one of hours that the closer we are to the country and our own standard known goal. i read in the paper this morning that however when that effort was undertaken that we left the i.c.e. and afghan troops left perhaps a nearby area without adequate protection at all in the number of the taliban just simply moved next door. can you tell us anything about that and if that was happening, why was there not a plan particularly given the size of

the afghan army to have afghan forces secure places where other combat troops are leaving in order to succeed in the fight in marja. >> senator cogitate out one for the record. i'm not familiar with it. >> you'll see it reported in this morning paper. the mac thank you. >> as i mentioned in the opening statements, nato members are falling short once again in the most recent force generation conference they fell short in meeting the nato mission requirement and particular the 1200 trainers out of ten are general caldwell needs and nato is committed to providing. can you give us any kind of assurance as to whether that's going to be filled in and whether the nato countries that have fallen short of their commitment and obligation are going to be forthcoming? >> first of all, let me give you

the exact numbers. were looking for an additional 1278 and with pledges at this point for 541. so what is absolutely correct to say that nato has fallen short in providing these vital trainers. what we are doing about it is taking further steps in terms of contacting each of the nations individually and going one by one through the precise requirements for each of the nation in terms of where they could most effectively fill in the trainer mix. that effort is going on in real-time, both for my headquarters and up in brussels for the secretary-general is engaged at the political level. so we will continue to hammer away at this until we fulfill that commitment. and i will continue to place it as i told you, senator lott and, at the top of my list here >> i would appreciate that.

general caldwell at a press conference last week that afghan army recruitment is going very, very strong. i think he said there's an 800% increase in army recruitment over the last four or five months, but they can't put them in the basic training right away because of the shortage of trainers and that is totally unacceptable. almost unbelievable to me that we can't get nato allies to carry out that kind of commitment, which is not the most dangerous of the positions that they need to fail. there's obviously danger anywhere, but compared to be in a combat, it falls well short of that and we need to do everything we can't and i'm not sure what else we can do. admiral, please let us know. in your judgment, can the recruiting trend, which is to a great extent to according to general caldwell the efforts of the afghan leadership to stimulate recruiting as well as an increase in pay dirty

attributes the large increase more to the leadership of the afghans into the pay increase when we met with him. what i recruiting trend in your judgment be maintained as a maintainable right into the spring? the >> i believe it will be maintained, senator. and i am also very focused on the other end of that equation, which is the retention piece, which is not going as well. and so we have to continue to focus on retaining, just as they do here in the united states. it's some important about the retention of him with the recruitment piece. it will be strong in the recruiting site. i'm working hard with stan mcchrystal and bill caldwell to work on the retention side. >> as a new missile defense program called phase adaptive approach that the obama administration has announced and begun to implement. does nato support that new missile defense plan?

>> nato is beginning that conversation and at the moment what we have is a ballistic missile defense seek to command and control basic structure, which is being explored to decide where, when and how nato could connect into this if the alliance decides to do so. i anticipate there will be a significant discussion about that at the defense ministerial, which will be in the may time frame and i'm hoping to see a decision taken towards the time of the summit, which is then lisbon in november. so it's very an active conversation. i don't want to prejudge the political decisions of the nations but it's certainly on the agenda. >> from what you know, can you say there seems to be a positive response to it? >> i think overall that would be fair to say. >> thank you, very much. senator mccain. >> thank you very much, mr. chairman. admiral, as i understand the

president's proposal was that we would be adding approximately 30,000 troops and our allies including in and out of nato would be adding an additional 10,000. be my guest, sir. how are we on track for the 10,000? >> we are at 9500. and if i can get the additional 700 trainers. i just talked to the trainers that would put us over the 10,000 mark overall. >> now does that increase the 2000 dutch troops that are scheduled to leave? >> no, sir. it does not. >> so you're really talking about 7500. >> my senses listening to the political dialogue out of the netherlands that they will be leaving. >> right, so we are really not on track. it's nice to say, but if you're going to lose 2000 dutch troops who are, by the way, great fighters from my visits, it's

not 9500, it's closer to 7500. and there are other of our allies whose commitment certainly not been firmed up yet. the afghan army, and so i understand it, needs to be around 300,100,000 police have set rough numbers that we would like to see over time. >> i think over time, yes, sir. >> how do we expect overtime to pay for the afghan army? >> i think the international community will have to be in a position to continue to support it for a great deal of time to come. >> and roughly how much would that cost on an annual basis? >> i don't have a number of my fingertips, but it would certainly be in the billions, probably in the low billions. >> and we would expect our allies to foot the bill for that? >> i think it is fair to say it is an international effort and

we would hope that all in the international community would continue to support it moving forward. >> overall, the operation in marja was successful? >> i think it is going very successfully, certainly through the clearing phase. we're now in the build and hold which i think will be challenging, but i am confident that the plans that we have in place will give us a very good chance that overall success as we go through clear build hold and ultimately -- >> what present was our nato allies in that operation? >> the overall 55 -- marja operation was in the range percentagewise of the isaf forces was around 25% to 30%. >> and i was in direct combat roles? >> largely, gas. >> so some of our allies are fighting very well, some of them

have very restrictive rules of engagement, right? >> we have 22 nations that have no caveats and we have about 20 nations that have caveats, yes sir. >> of some of these caveats are very disturbing? >> some of them are very restrict it and were trying to reduce those wherever we can. >> well, you thank you. there's a lot going on in nato and europe and we appreciate the great work you are doing. general ward, this sounds like a perhaps a question that need not be asked, but should we be looking as part of africa command some had orders located in africa? >> senator, the bulk of the command is in its program is activities, to exercises, the thing that we do across the

continent to help donations of africa increased their capacity. the headquarters location quite candidly doesn't affect that work where we plan those activities, where we look to resources activities. it's not looking at the leaders in africa were asking me about at this time it is my information at any great effort to locate a american size headquartered that nation would probably more counterproductive than project is. >> because? >> because of perceptions, because of reactions to neighbors to part of the continent were headquarters may not be located here many unintended consequences would fallout from that type of the move. >> what's your area of greatest concern? maybe toss a couple countries that are of your greatest concern, general ward. >> as a look at the continent, clearly the challenges are there. there are also opportunities --

>> talk about your greatest concerns. >> what's going on in our brand, sudan, nigeria. the expedition amines on changes of government in guinea. those activities are concerning. >> and do you believe were making, since it's not in the news, perhaps it's obvious where making some progress in the piracy issue? >> we're making progress from the standpoint of addressing the threat at the. the weather lately also helps because of the high sea states in the billet d. of them to go out and operate freely. the coalition that occurred for at sea as a collective coalition. big ocean as you are aware and so these tips do in fact go around and get through. that piracy threat is not just in the gulf of asia and east

indian ocean. also the west coast of africa. our work to help these african nations increase their capacity to deal with their territorial waters is certainly making a difference. in addition to that, i would offer that the work would need to occur on land, especially pertaining to good governance or governments that are more than less able to control their territories were also contributing to increased ability and reducing the effects of piracy. >> the main area of piracy operations is where? >> predominately, the gulf -- >> what country? >> somalia. >> an incredibly unstable country. and very little prospect for stability in the future? >> well, if they work in progress to be sure. small things happening now, but much work to be done.

>> could you just make a comment about ethiopia and the situation they are? >> ethiopia remains a friend, a partner in our effort to help reduce the for stability in the region. the work the ethiopians do in the counterterrorism business as well in the work of their participation in pcp operations is important work and i think our partnering with ethiopians as well as other east african nation that would continue to look at in the wave of helping produce stability in that part of the world he >> i thank you, general. thank you, mr. chairman. >> thank you, senator mccain. mr. lieberman. >> thank you, mr. chairman. general board, then you pick a person under mccandless. particularly in somalia. i mean, i know from experience that where there is no government travel grows either

piracy or the provision of space for a terrorists, islamic terrorists ability to operate. i gather that there is an attempt by, what do you call it, the provisional government to retake the capital city of mogadishu and i wondering if you could give us both your estimates of how that's going in to what extent were able to be supportive of that effort. >> senator, as you know, somalia has been an ungoverned state from us 20 years. based in the day is clearly not new, but i will say the current federal government being supported by the african union, been supported by the african union commission a small yacht and been supported by others of the international community to include the united states is an effort that i would continue to endorse something that it has for now our best potential for helping to turn around some of

the instability and lack of government that we've experienced there. what's going on in mogadishu with respect to the desires of the traditional government to be claimed parts of mogadishu is a work in progress. i'm not aware of the specifics. i'll have to come back to you, sir, but the specifics of what that chart operation looks like. but to the degree that tft, the traditional federation government re-exert control over mogadishu with the help of amazon and others i think it's something that we would like to do in support as well as the other provisions of the djibouti process that looked to instilling governments, instilling governmental things that would have big governance of the smaller people to preserve itself. we like to participate with those of also support them, the other nation, the neighbors who contribute to the amazon mission in particular, uganda, baroody, supporting their work and trying

to lend a hand that they land to the pft and the increasing stability. so those efforts are ongoing. it's an effort that i think we would certainly support him what to do it in ways that add to stability that part of the continent. >> let me go to sudan. as you know, there's a lot of continuing concerned here about the situation in sudan. we're in a critical period in a coming year when national elections next month, which are the first in almost in more than two decades, and maybe more than 2.5 decades. and there's a referendum in the south in january. i'd like to hear first what your command is doing to support the u.n. au force in darfur were were unfortunately the human rights abuses are continuing. and i can't, but they are doing to support implementation of the

comprehensive peace agreement of january 2005. >> senator, our support to the united nations admission and are for has been a form of training assistance, logistics assistance support, to those forces who have been declared a part of that unit mission. we provided logistics, my support as i've mentioned and we continue to do that to support a peacekeeping effort there and are for. as you know, with no direct involvement there. those processes as a part of the comprehensive peace agreement are essentially political processes and we certainly support. we do support in the case of southern sudan the formation of the southern liberation army and some of their professional development initiatives, from other training initiatives and we do that through in conjunction with the department of state working with the

special envoy and doing those things that help increase the professionalism through this forest. >> let me ask you how you would suggest that we interpret the statements that president bush or has made that essentially the war is over. how should we interpret those. senator the cooperation that we see emerging peace seem chad and sudan i think would look to that as an encouraging sign. >> so it's real? something is changing there. >> for the better. its graduates are not irreversible to be sure, but i think we should be encouraged by those signs and we look for two more as political dialogue continues. admiral stavridis, let me ask you -- senator mccain and i visited there last month. as you know, i think we feel there was a sense of pride about

what the u.s. was able to do in the 90's to stop the aggression and genocide there. but as you indicate in your posture statement, the problems continue particular the the ethnic divisions. it's not what it was in the 90's of course, but you've got some really explosive situations and people there particularly the republic. alitalia to one must experience. eucom has had a lot to do with their peers are functioning together, at a higher level. i want to quote from something you said in your statement because it's a question or to ask after your valuation. you want to quote the program reduction of nato and european union forces in the balkans may induce additional risk of instability in the region.

and i'd like to ask you to evaluate the situation, but then specifically, would you counsel now that the program reduction of nato and european forces in the balkans should not go forward, that involves too much risk? >> thank you, senator. just again, the context of reduction of u.s. troops in the balkans is really quite remarkable. 20,000 in bosnia alone. we're down to 20 there now. in post about we had this much is almost 10,000. we're down to about 1200 troops there now. in bosnia, you correctly had done, i believe, essential element, which is the security force there, the armed forces, moving them in and and a direction that positive. in terms of kosovo, we had 15,000 nato troops there as

recently as december. we've been able to draw down to about 10,000 nato troops there now. again about 1200 u.s. the next step in that process is for me to provide military advice to the secretary general about whether to take the step from 10,000 down to 5000. unevaluated by very carefully. there are still tensions, understandable between serbia and what they perceive as a breakaway province of serbia, but what united states and 62 other nations have recognized in kosovo. so i think we need to move carefully in the balkans so we don't fall back. the progress has been extraordinary. we don't want to let it unravel. i will be looking very carefully in kosovo. we'll continue our effort to bosnia. overall, i'm comfortable continue to move the direction but it will require some watchful, watchful approaches.

>> well, i appreciate that. i'm encouraged by it and i guess i would encourage you to air on the side of caution because i understand the pressure to reduce and reduce, but we may let that can really regret it here at >> yes, sir. >> one of those series were told by the commander of the military in bosnia was at one point thursday called on all the serbian members of the bosnia-herzegovina armed forces to return home and no one came. that's a great comment and attribute also to eucom's will in turn enough for us. thanks, mr. chairman aired >> senator inhofe. >> senator lieberman, to start on a bright note some things that are were talking about some of the things in a meeting in private. some things like the 1206, 1207,

1208, the eye net to surf programs, those are grahams are working well. admiral stavridis, i would ask you with some of the things that have been changed recently, like in the 1207, the whole reason for instruction of these with dod is so they can be activated quickly and get immediate response. and now we're kind of going the other direction with the travel sites. do you want to comment on that? >> senator, first of all i completely agree that the 1206 and the inet programs has been superb. and i think each of the combatant commanders have testified to that over the last couple years and have benefited from the greatly in three years and continue to be a strong advocate here at u.s. european command. 1207 money is kind of dual key

between states and department of defense. i think that anytime there's a dual key is going to take a little bit longer to work through the challenges and some of that immediate deceit that's so valuable in the 1206 funding is not as readily available in the 1207, but we're committed to work with our partners in state and make it go is rapidly dashed >> i understand that civilian civilians. are satisfied a ecf program? >> yes, sir. general mattis come with all the great things happening in stimulation unshared simulation modeling, you know yesterday we broke ground on the new go to. and by the way, a appreciate very much her personal attention and going down to watching that. i mean, with people from all over the world there under the inet program. i think some 250 coalition members are being trained by

this defense program. so just another example. inet is working. it's also showing how the jpeg is working. what are you just give us a map date as to which we think is happening in terms to the things with jacobs programs. >> thank you, senator. you know this is an issue near and dear to my heart. in preparing our troops, which is ultimately my responsibility, we cannot do it as efficiently or as effectively or as cheaply as my dad as we can and will world as we could using stimulation. one of the biggest challenges we face is breaking the old paradigm that somehow simulators are good for navy submarines, good for aviation, good for ship drivers, good for ballistic missile defense. somehow we the people that take

80% of our casualties off the ledger. so we're going for it very strongly from the small unit level to how we integrate joint isr intelligence surveillance requirements and more importantly joined fire because if we distribute our forces more broad beyond the battlefield, we need to reduce the risk to them. that means they can access joint isr and the next skill. that means they can access and use well joint fires. in the installation out of your district i'll just tell you, sir, is absolutely critical to the maturation of this. >> the best way to break the paradigm is to get people to see it because it's one of the things that you can't link to someone at the actual conditions that they experience out there. it's mind-boggling. >> yes, sir. with a couple programs do that right now we're getting a lot of interest. we've had significant support from this committee. >> yeah, good, good.

general ward, as you well know, i've been very interested in africa. in fact, i've been criticized for the amount of time i spend in africa. and i was very strongly in support of back when we had -- it's hard to understand why we would have had africa the continent under three commands as we did hear to know things they think are working. as i told you before, i would've preferred to up headquarters in africa, some place down there. i have the political problems that come with that. but let's start with -- i was recently in djibouti talking to admiral fitzgerald into rear admiral kurt a. and that's heavy lifting over there. but everything is happening. kind of briefly tell us what is happening in djibouti and some of the successes they are. >> thank you, senator in thank you for your support to the command and also to our security efforts on the continent.

we feel that and we appreciate it. in djibouti, as we know, the combined joint task force, we assumed responsibility for command control when we became a fully endorsed unified command a little over a year ago. djibouti's program, the task force program that we undertake in the eastern continent but also in other places that i determine a skill set that they require provide the type of training support, the type of mentoring, coaching, the type of program that we are using along with our civil affairs activities to help the nations in africa concentrate their efforts and causing a degree of harmonization of the training, the professionalism as well as regionalization of security assistance and cooperation programs that i think are proving very, very if it had official as far as moving to the next level at the capacity of many of these african nations to

increase their military security capacity. doing it in waves because of our long-term approach to doing business, doing it in ways that fully integrate the elements of diplomacy, development as well as defense and not that we do those things, senator, but we understand the importance of the activities being a part of this dynamic as a comprehensive approach it is working. >> okay, i went to expand on that. the first to cut on your confirmation operations program, are they going to hurt you? is that serious? >> it is serious. the information program that we look to do when we are cut up to $3 million, that was about a third of what we wanted to do and a focus for this additional programs would've been in the east africa region to complement what were doing -- >> is such a huge area. i think people just overly comprehend that.

and how about any other equipment? at first there were some problems there. you feel fairly comfortable with the resources? >> we are always looking for resources, senator. what they have are sufficient to do the work do we want to do. we could enhance that with additional resources, but the work that we are able to do, working with those nations to include assisting them through the various programs, the 1206 programs, very, very important, very beneficial as we work with the nations on their territorial security as well as their maritime security and capacity building. >> i'm running out of time here, but do this for me. the reason that our activity in djibouti is acceptable with the rest of the continent as we were already there. now, it's more difficult if your voice to start anew. i assault as large as the continent is we ought to have something probably in ghana,

e-echo us is there now. there's the activity they are and maybe for the record you can respond as to whether any hopes for that or if there's anything -- as we continue to try to do that. and as i go round i talked to the president. i found a lot of them, although there's a political problem with naming names because they don't want other people to know that we agree they should have that kind of activity there. for the record, you might answer that. i've been in heart and a little bit by some other new faces in zimbabwe that have been on the other side of the agave. in a feel for the first time in many years some optimistic that these new faces that want to bring that country hopefully back to where was at one time, the breadbasket of sub-saharan africa, do you share that there's room for optimism now in zimbabwe? >> i do. i had a conversation with the ambassador and his gunners,

senator, with the same sense of operation to look to take advantage of what might be a changing political environment. in my thank you. >> thank you, senator. senator reid. >> thank you, very much. thank you cinnamon for distinguished service. admiral stavridis, not to be overly simplistic, but the last few years have forced us operationally in our budgets and inner acquisition -- has that same fever caught on in the nato countries? can you describe their budget acquisition and military policy? >> senator, thank you. i think a little bit would be the answer. there's more of a sense of expeditionary. and this is part of a general mattis tried to work so hard and i think successfully moved a european summit in this direction when he was the supreme commander for transformation. and i think the work continues

on that side of the nato organization. and if that done salvatori effect. just the thought that we today have 100,000 nato troops engaged on three continents speaks a certain level of expeditionary including counter piracy, including the balkans, which is an enormously expeditionary but of course in afghanistan. so i think there's movement in that direction and i really commend the work of jeff, and ect allied command transformation. we need to encourage that and move before because the nature nature of threats is going to demand more than just sitting behind our borders. >> of the military and political leadership got the idea now the question of implementation or is it still something that's unresolved? >> i think it is under debate but i think increasingly the

forces of the demands of these nontraditional threats, these transport rats removing the europeans in this direction. and i'm confident as the nato strategic concept is unveiled in lisbon is the file will see further movements. >> general mattis, if you want to comment on that. >> i completely agree with were admiral stavridis has assessed his effort and an explanation to the nations, i made the point that italian troops go into afghanistan for italian troops going to the balkans, i'm sorry, the baltics would have to deploy about the same distance when you talk about what the alliance is trying to do under article v. so it's not an either or. if you want the alliance to defend more than its own home turf, each army and its new country they must be expeditionary. i think that is becoming politically more acceptable where one time it was the more

along the lines of what senator mccain brought up that it was the americans trying to get europeans to fight an american war. i don't think the expeditionary argument is any longer characterized by that. so i'm optimistic. >> let me turn to the one aspect of the way forward in iraq and that's the advised an assist for gates. i wonder if you could comment to evaluate these brigades. they been configured to retain combat, but also as an enterprise to essentially be a trainer, mentor and integrator with our iraqi forces. and our success in drawing down our forces in stabilizing iraq restaurant that. i'm wondering if you have done any work. >> senator, would leave that tactical training of course to the chief of staff to the army. however, we have looked closely

at it and it is the behavior of the troops as much as any significant shift in their capabilities that is important. what i mean to say is that when those troops go in, they will focus on the train and assist. it would be ill-advised for the enemy to mess with them. they will still have the capability to fight and should the iraqis ask for it, force protection demand that these forces are quite capable of rocking the enemy back on their heels. but they are going and with the mission and the troops are trained and adjusted to a train, advise assist mission to the iraqis. right now from our perspective, these troops are exactly the right thing at the right time and their preparation looks sound. back in just a follow-up question because part of this that has sustained this effort, the best highest-quality forces we can. is it your impression that within the department of

defense, that this mission is highest priority and they will organize these brigades in a way that we have the best possible component element? >> senator, obviously we're having to juggle a number of very high priorities. we also send combat troops and i can turn her in afghanistan. but the theme that we're seeing more and more now is that all of our troops going in must have the stability to fight in a coalition at this year and be able to partner, whether it be with estonians, afghans, iraqis and this is part of the ship that secretary gates and admiral bolan has directed for the entire military force to become more attuned to this advise and assist efforts, whether it be in africa or afghanistan or iraq. i believe because of that that it will be no lower right already on something that is now considered an inherent part of the primary mission. >> can we assume that this model

will be adapting to afghanistan also? that is what made progress in terms of reducing the capabilities of the telegram that will be able to put more of these types of units on the ground? >> sera, i'd go so far to say that the units were sending over there now in the region that admiral stavridis talked about in marja are capable on their own to partner with the f. chance. we're learning as a british prime minister put it we've exhausted all the alternatives. we'll do the right thing. we've got it right this time and we are using this -- these lessons learned to change the very makeup of the unit training. >> thank you, sir. general ward, can you describe the nature of the partnership between afrikaans and the african union standby brigades? >> to command, senator, has a

relationship where we have a president that determination being put in place that allows us to vote with these five standby brigades. currently that is in place for the southern african standby force, the west african standby force. were working on one for the east african standby force. we see that these regional finance for people are very critical and important and what they don't exist, we still work on a bilateral basis with the nation would send forces to the standby brigades to increase their capacity as well. the training relationship in some instances is an equipping relationship. in some instances it is a baikal relationship or to provide that assistance to the standby forces in the regional economic communities. >> do we have an ongoing liaison with them in terms of personnel on the ground with them on a

day-to-day basis or is this -- >> we have a liaison also with the african union, which is obviously the continental organization. we have a liaison with the economic community of west african states in their standby force. we do not have a permanent liaison with the southern african development all, nor with the east african, but we do have the dh dave relationship with east africa with those east african forces as well. and we have supported each of them as they conducted training exercises and other to help increase their capacity to bring these brigades together. >> going to thank you general. i also want to thank you for your services. it's a long time that we talked together at west point and i'm awfully proud of what siva combos for the military and for the army. >> thank you. >> thank you, senator lemieux. >> thank you, mr. chairman. general stavridis, nice to see you again. the thank you for being here to answer questions today.

admiral stavridis, i want to talk to about a report that came out i guess abuzz last week were a spanish judge accused the government of venezuela is maintaining a list of ties with eta terrorists planning to kill senior government officials in spain, including president uribe. and the reason i'm asking you is not only because of the spanish connection but your previous work at south on. it's a good cooperation between your command and southern command to make sure that we're staying in front of these issues? >> yes, sir, very much so. and i'm in quite a bit of dialogue with general fraser, and another example would be after the earthquake in haiti, we have been in close coronation in terms of support from the many european nations who have pitched in and helped. so a very strong relationship bear. and i would actually add also a strong ovation set with afrikaans. those three combatant commands,

tend to work together very closely. and it's partially a propinquity of geography, partially the personal friendships and partially the geopolitical issues that you correctly highlight. i have a concern that touches this issue that i just raised with potentially assassination plot against resume caribe running through spain and that is also -- it is geopolitical as you said with a concern that iran was projecting its influence through spain and also through latin america has become a destabilizing force. and certainly europe is, you know, tremendously important for security interest. and if we have a nuclear armed ivory and, that's going to impact your area of responsibility. can you speak to that issue? >> senator, i find i ran alarming in any number of dimensions, not the least of

which is as you mention increasing iranian influence throughout latin american some of the caribbean drive in my previous experience. they are very active sponsorship of terrorism and to pursue, not only of a nuclear weapon, but also ballistic missiles which can deliver such weapons. it's one of the reasons i think missile defense is particularly important in a think as a concerted international effort to focus on the dangers of iran is well warranted. >> the administration recently made a decision about ground-based interceptors and not pursuing that in the czech republic and poland. do you feel that the plan going forward to make sure that we have an adequate missile defense to protect europe and the united states is adequate? >> yes, sir, i do. i think that adaptive approach is timely. it is flexible, it will provide the capability and be able to step up and face an adaptive

aspect to the title of it as the everyman ability to use ballistic missiles goes forward. it is being well received in europe here and we're in dialect, we the united states earned a violent with the partners, potential partners for placement of it. secretary tao cher, ellen tauscher is in charge of that particular effort. she's doing a very good job working with the allies to move forward so overall, yes, i am a supporter of it and i believe that it will be very effective in defending europe over time as well as the united states of horse. >> thank you, admiral. and i may have missed this testimony before so if i have, forgive me. can you give us an update of the status of al qaeda in africa? >> we look at al qaeda in africa in two locations defensively, although likely they're more of a predominately east africa al qaeda although al qaeda by greg.

we see that in the northern part of the company. al qaeda are operating, conducting kidnappings other sorts of the dvds that certainly threaten our interests to attend those interests have targets in the region. in the eastern part of the continent, dared east africa, with the east african al qaeda. recently the ukraine seven emerging from the al shabazz in somalia with east africa al qaeda are they are for the linkages between east africa, that no work. i would say we certainly see indications in the present of al qaeda in africa. er sahara, that's part the continent as well, sir. >> is it a growing ins influence? are they becoming more

organized? >> i would not characterize it -- i would come back with something for the record more specific detail, but i would also offer that the, based wloon they are saying, that they are seeking to expand their influence. they are in the east africa region as well as in the north africa region. >> general, this weekend we learned that 500 people including women and babies were massacred in nigeria. what's our current strategy to curtail human rights abuses in africa? >> we obviously, senator, as we conduct our military to military relations with military relations with the various nations of africa we encourage the promotion of human rights. we encourage the conduct of the military and professional ways. obviously those activities that you describe, they were permitted by the military of nigeria clearly a and the role

that's been taken by the nigerians to go and stop that action is something that we applaud like all others deplore that type of activity that in the same killing of any innocent and so we certainly encourage the work done by the governor of nigeria to address those atrocities to those who were responsible to the arrest them and do their best to prevent that but we clearly see that as something that is deplorable and we certainly regret that loss of innocent life to those being spirited >> thank you, general. general mattis, there was a london times article early this week that talked about our european allies and vlore ability to suffer attack in the rise of china as a hostile cyber combatant. what are we giving to strengthen our allies and safeguard the sensitive information we share with them?

>> senator, i would have to take that for the record to give more data. u.s. strategic command as you know is our main effort on the cyber ephriam we are in constant contact. we also work on the concept and frankly we are scrambling to find a concept that takes into account how best to protect our network and obviously we must maintain an exploitation capability against the enemy. it is hard to come up with a fury that also includes the constitutional issue within our own country as far as how we do this protection. our first step is to protect the dod network. we work closely with the nato allies also some other allies in the world who work with us on putting these concepts together. we are drawing a fair amount of effort now, traction now with strata, that they have been scientists and maturing it but i have to get back with more

detail which i can do bill i will do so woodring to st teacher command mechem chardon current. >> senator bayh i just add that in europe nato has established the center for cyber. it is and estonia which is appropriate since the suffered a severe cyberattack two years ago, and i think that is exactly as general mattis says, indicative of all these organizations reaching to build the first base and structures that can focus on this problem but i believe it is vital and it is something we think about a lot in european command a by know of a combat commanders to. >> thank you. i think it's vital, tobacco and proceed getting an update on that. >> thank you. senator hayden? >> at morrill, you recently discussed your concerns with me on cybersecurity and in the broad context how you view the best round as cyber sea and a recent paper that you offered i

want to give a quote that really paints the picture of this sea for me to read you wrote the seas live right to are not of waves but of zeros and ones, optic fibers and rotors and browsers and satellites and servers. it's the cyber sea the global comment and it is on montana. too recent to sybil's i can think of command for cider security attacks is when the iraqi insurgents recently intercepted a video feed from predator uav using off-the-shelf software in the second one concerning google planning chinese hackers stole some of its computer coding and attempted to break into the chinese dissidents e-mail. would you describe your principal concerns with cybersecurity and how you think we can best mitigate our exposure. >> thank you, senator. i completely agree with the thrust of senator lemieux's

questions as well as general mattis. today we have a billion devices accessing the internet. our economies are fundamentally intertwined in this cyber sea and it is the amount law. we do not have the norms, the belief systems, the navigations, the satellites -- nothing really exists to develop norms of behavior in the cyber world. so i think that there is a military component to this but it's actually a much larger problem. this is a classic example of the whole of society approach must be taken into account and it's not even whole of government as you point out, google and many other private companies are very engaged. from the military perspective what we are trying to do in european command and nato is highlight the challenges ahead, put in place initial structures, to the kind of damage control

that general mattis is talking about to it at least initially protect ourselves and then try, i think what is necessary is to think through a process that can create these kind of global norms and let me be a process that brings a lot of nations together to have this conversation just as we gather to talk about the climate and have a global summit on the climate i think at some point there needs to be a very global conversation on this challenge. >> a understanding 2,009 yukon held an exercise called the combined endeavor which included the mix of international interagency and public/private into these focused on computer network defense. i also understand nato established the cooperative cyber defense center of excellence and estonia to enhance the capability cooperation and information sharing among nato nations and our partners in cyber defense

how can this endeavor serve as a model for the development of multinational policies to ensure continued unimpeded and lawful access to cyberspace. >> thank you for violating those european command. i hasten to say that each of the combatant commanders is to get this on and i know general ward is to bring these and strapped, is a part has general mattis said we are grappling with this and i think that the more we cross communicate and cross level efforts at this stage the more effective we will be in dealing with this. i believe exercises that bring international interagency in private public factors together as we try to come by and endeavor need to be elevated and taken to a higher level by the nations that want to connect on this and we are working very hard as you mentioned on the nato side through the center in

estonia. >> gun-free concerned about this because i see members examples when forward where we will be subject to much more attack on the cyber sea. >> yes, senator. >> general, as you know the peacekeeping mission and democratic republic of congo is the largest it most expensive and reportedly the u.n. can begin withdrawing its troops from the western portion of the country i am to stand as early as june of 2010. an additional the u.s. peacekeeping mission reportedly plans to keep withdrawing from the unstable eastern portion of the country in june of 2011. and studies estimate up to 1200 people died each day from conflict really did cause as well as disease and malnutrition. rampant corruption and pervasive weakened government allows members of the national army and of armed groups alike to abuse

civilians. can you please describe the affect a u.n. peacekeeping mission withdraw from the democratic republic of the congo would have on the stability of the country and the region and what plans are in place to counter the democratic forces for the liberation of rwanda the its focus on destabilizing the eastern portion of the democratic republic of the congo. and i will happy to repeat any of that. >> thank the center. i sure if i don't get everything you will remind the. first as the president talks to the united nations a withdrawal of forces from the congo i, too, think it would not be a good idea for that to occur too quickly. the conditions described with the corruption, the professionalism of the armed forces of the congo, their activities and the lawlessness in the eastern part of the country to be sure all

contribute to the abuses to the population, to instability and the united nations force that's there has been a force for good in addressing those conditions. as large as that contingent is given the size of the congo is still not covering the entire country so any place those forces are reduced what have i believe a negative effect. right now the western part of the country is in fact the most stable so it would probably be least affected with the withdrawal of the united nations forces but clearly in the eastern part of the country where the majority of things occurred against the people either been committed by rebel groups to operate in the region are some cases by the armed force of the congo itself i think the removal of united nations forces would have a detrimental effect on those of for all conditions. as we work with the department of state and others as the

address comprehensively the plethora of conditions that contribute to instability that contribute to build lawlessness or focus is moving ahead the training of a battalion, the battalion that hopefully can serve as a model for what professional behavior is and what they could lead to further parts of the armed forces of the democratic republic congo. we've begun that program in the earnest about two weeks ago and will run about another six or seven months and should it prove successful there's potential it could be extended to others as well who held a process of increasing professional republic of congo to move ahead. the work being done by the fda nor, the condoleezza are addressing that through some of their activities supported by the united nations and i think

that is important as the part of the comprehensive way that those groups have to be addressed and as we have also see my might add with cooperation that existed between ugonda, the congo, rwanda as well as the central african republic and the regional way to address the common threats is something we will continue to encourage. >> i am extremely concerned about the number of people dying every day and the abuse of the men and women. it's just reprehensible. thank you for your testimony. >> senator byrd says? >> autrey too want to add my thanks to these distinguished americans who dedicated their lives to protect us. from me to you thank you. i will submit questions for the record because i have a list of them here and i going to start with a general ward.

your command was designed to employe the whole of government approach to execute and theater security cooperation and to facilitate counterterrorism effort within the african nations. a general, what is a future role of the joint task force warren of africa and military base in djibouti. what is the future role of that, general? >> server, as i believe is a very critical part of our national structure and the part of the continent. a service for combatant commands, it serves u.s. central command, special operations command as well as u.s. operations command as a and infrastructure as well as a training platform. i think it is in the long term interest of the united states to

maintain that facility to the degree that we have and continue to improve upon it that will allow our activities and support of our missions in that part of the world to be facilitated so it is very important to us. i think it has a great long-term meeting and i will clearly endorse it over the long term. my force that's their right now continues to do work in the region and so far as helping build the capacity of those nations in east africa to counter the threat as well as to be able to deal with the threat of terror by increasing their capacity by providing training assistance, and equipping assistance, mentoring assistance from professionals and some of the military as well as helping to bring together in a regional way as to continue to work together to address the common thread so both activities, both the platform itself important,

the work being done by the combined joint task force quarter of africa, foley aligned with the goal and objective of my command of u.s. africom also very instrumental in promoting that degree of professionalism in the east africa and other parts of the continent we see those unique capabilities that could be applied in particular civil affairs -- >> general, do you feel as you're the last commander that stood up here that you are fully operative and personally staffed correctly or you need additional staff personnel? >> senator, we always look for more and we think that the work that we have done with the interagency through the secretary of defense has written to all of his colleagues asking for additional interagency support not that we would do the work of the interagency but so that the inter agency input to our work could be further assured that what we do in fact

is in keeping with supporting the overall work done by the parts of our government. we don't have all we would like to have but there is a recognition on the part of the partners that they should be and want to be a part of this command and we continue to move forward and we see that occur. that's why i endorse all the secretary defense and the chairman says about increasing the capacity about inter agency partners as well so they can participate. >> are you -- when do you anticipate that taking place? >> egypt as you pointed out is allied with central command. what matters in the continent of africa. currently we can work with each three guy willoughby jump in a model of a couple of weeks. >> also, general, the reason we've not been able to locate africa command in and african countries because the politics of these countries and locating

the right country would be a major undertaking. is that the reason why we have not located there were can we find a very friendly african country to hit quarter the command on the continent of africa? >> senator, very complex. the reasons you site are part of it. at this point in time i think if our work is to be about increasing capacity of african nations it's the programs and activities we do in 30 different countries right now. that is the important part and the effort to find the location with all of the never seceded issues would be distracting to the real work of the command that is through our programs. >> and admiral, the theater engagement seems to be a major tool used by the command when partner and with nations within the area of responsibility.

how we is the national guard state partnership program integrated into the theater engagement strategy? >> deeply, deeply engaged. the state partnership program which brings the state guard in to the individual nations to partner with their military is fundamental to what we are doing. we have 26 of them are out of the u.s. european command and by what highlight just one among many which is the georgia guard which is partner with the military of the republic of georgia and the two of them are working hand-in-hand to prepare a deployment of the republic of georgia's brave soldiers are going to send 750 to afghanistan. so multiply that by 26 programs around the eckert and you get a sense of how important this is. >> general mattis, we have a

completed draft doctrine education employment principles for inner agency operations integration. one of your working concept is to stand up and exploratory civilian force. what is the mission and employment of the expeditionary civilian force? >> there are two expeditionary forces we are looking at. what is inside the part of defense and this is where you actually take the dod civilians who can fuel certain jobs overseas on the joint coalition in our agency staff in the regular war. i think the one you're referring to there is the one we work with ambassador and secretary clinton's state and that is where we are putting together with their health concepts that would integrate the civilian military interface when we go into these kind of force that cannot be won by military means

alone. there will be an immediate response force that's being built. these will be people have been trained. it's their primary job. their bags are packed and they have their shots. they've been through various exercises with the military ready to go on short notice. there will be a response force. they will be once who are basically trained, they are like the reservists and they go every year and are maintained as far as health records and key point records and they know what to do but it would take anywhere from 30 to 90 days to get them deployed. then there is a larger force of people that we would endeavor to train as well and that would be the backup force, stan that force that would replace these others. >> we aren't using contractors for some of this? we are using contractors for some of the service are we not? for these forces. the private contractors to see

it theater. >> the ones we are looking at i just described in the department of state, ambassadors effort and those are government employees, contractors would be a separate issue and we do that we have to fill the gaps or we don't have the active duty order for missoulians we can put in. >> my time is expired. >> thank you, mr. chairman. >> senator bill nelson. >> thank you. gentlemen, think you for your public service. tomorrow in our emerging threats subcommittee we are going to look at a comprehensive way that the military integrated with the civilian agencies can best project u.s. power and interest. this is particularly applicable to general ward and admiral stavridis, not only with regard

to your present interest in afghanistan, admiral, but also your previous command of southern command. and general ward, clearly the african command speak in this comprehensive approach. heil, mr. chairman i just was not fully satisfied when we had the assistant secretary for assistant secretary of defense miss flournoy come to talk to us about the policy. it didn't seem to me the department of defense had its act together on the integrating. and it was like there were the same old answers about stovepipes but we were trying to break down. you give your commanders on the ground the opportunity that they have a certain amount of funds that they can go out and dig a

well or build a school. but above that and integrated approach which is key to afghanistan which is key to africa which is key to latin america. things like wells, education, training for jobs, the position of women, medical. all of these things for us to be successful in third world areas like we are projecting, they're has to be a holistic approach. the military has been so good as the one who leads at and that of course what is the thrust of africa command and admiral stavridis, the former command. i would like to have you reflect because i am worried about

afghanistan that once we get beyond those funds that these courageous young officers can go in and utilize then we get right back into the old stove pipes and i have got the head of the u.s. aid coming in in the morning and i want to talk to that person about this. can the two of you give me some advice? and also advice for the emerging threat subcommittee which is the subject of the hearing tomorrow mr. chairman. >> senator, i share your prescription which is we have to put together what we call a nato comprehensive approach. it is a whole of society approach. it really is interagency, international, private public and it all has to be connected in a way that we have not been effective that in any of these

theaters. we will never deliver security in afghanistan from the barrel of a gun. it's got to come as a result of all of these mechanisms working together. to that and i just met myself with the doctor, the administrator of usaid. he's extremely impressive, highly energized and energetic and he's coming out of the gates foundation which gives him a significant grounding in this private public kind of connection so we are exploring with him how we can better partner. state the purpose general mattis is talking about is working hard at this with ambassador herbst and his team. we have a long way to go but i think that this precise issue is the most important security issue for the united states moving forward in this 21st century and back to the cyber peace. if you look at cyber as one of

these threats it's a classic example of why this comprehensive approach is needed to rely validate it and believe all of the departments should continue to be pushed very hard to integrate their efforts tall levels and getting the balance of the private public interagency is crucial to the security going forward. >> senator, i clearly conquer. we know it is important to do. we have not broken the code on how to do it at echelon. we do it fairly well on the ground. the country teams in the countries where the department of state and other members of the interagency, they are working with the military component do a good job of harmonizing the activities that occur on the ground. how we plan of those investors we need to do better and my

command as we bring in members of the inner agency to help with our planning is a two-way street because through their understanding of us, their input back to the parent organization can help ensure harmonization of the planning that occurs as the secretary pointed out we think that the capacity of some of the interagency partners can do that and that needs to be more robust so we support those efforts that would robust their capacity to participate in the planet as well as the execution of these programs that bring the come brands of affect the stability that you address. we recognize it's an issue. it works more bitter than not at the lower echelons to expand that so that at the inception of our work we have done a better job of combining what we call this 3g approach, the issue of development and public-private

partnership, the issues of diplomacy which includes good governance and those things that address how a society is governed and the security aspects that need to be there so those other things can work. >> what advice should i give to the head of u.s. aid to mauro? and what questions should i asked in the hearing tomorrow that would get usaid. they contract with somebody to do this let's say it's digging wells. but there is clearly the need for education over here. let's take afghanistan. and a medical clinic and training for jobs. how do we get the comprehensive

approach? you've got each of these ngos and they want to do their thing. how do we get it all combined in an approach? >> two thoughts. one is what the qddr and steve are working on together in real time. that is an opportunity to work on the integration and the alignment and the a.i.d. and state. it is a place to commit the three main actors in the security makes the word made in their plans. ascap says at echelon, at the very highest level. if you click down one, i think that kip has eckert -- general ward has it exactly right, it is planning we ought to go after because that is where our other

agencies are off doing their plans and we are doing our plans and then we meet in afghanistan and the plans are not particularly of mind. i think bringing together the leader of planning below that strategic leader represented by the qdr end of the qddr. to have transparency and planning, to show across the board with the muscle movements are country by country and in to greet the plants so there's not duplication. as general ward says, want a little dull we are a tactical level it is seamless and proceeds from the strategic to the operational planning down to the tactical execution. i would focus in on that plan in peace, sir. >> thank you, senator nelson. senator thune.

>> thank you for being here for your outstanding service to the country. general thune, i want to get your views on the battle of the air-sea concept. as you know the qdr direct for defeating adversaries with sophisticated antiaccess and capabilities. which in turn will help guide the development of the teacher capability needed for the effective power projection operations. my question is could you provide your views on the development of this concept sow for and where to the joint forces committed to the default and evaluation and implementation of the concept. >> senator, thank you. the concept grew out of identification of a military problem and the problem is how we work together jointly to maintain control of one of the common sea lanes. the situation is changing. it's always changing security

wise and adapting to that problem has brought the services together. joint forces command is part of this effort. we are monitoring it right now but we are monitoring it to make sure what we've done in past experiments and concept development bonds this forward and also that we harvest from then the lessons they are learning as the come to grips with this problem broken down into bite sized pieces. what we see is more of more at every level of the war. at one time we basically integrated the strategic level and that was good. and we got into the operational level of integration and saw that in desert storm and we are now integrating down at the tactical level. no longer can any service go in to even one of its primary domains. the army of the land, the navy at sea, air force and air and not integrate with others. it's the nature of warfare today. it's the nature of a lot of things. you have to integrate more than ever in this age, it's going

forward. i think the identification of the problem is maturing well. i would say we are in very good shape on this. the solutions are not completely clarified yet and we will uncover additional problems as we go forward. ultimately we will see an increased alliance on naval forces as we look towards the future security situation. it must be that way for matters of limited access and for the local military reasons and to bring the air force and navy together i think is a very healthy thing at this point even though we have not completely gotten all the problems outlined but we are getting there. >> in your opinion, how will be capabilities fit into this new bad whole concept -- the whole concept? >> we look at these and phases. these kind of issues. certainly during the phase zero

when we are engaging along the lines what africom has been testifying here today what we are doing is trying to be to our enemies at potential adversaries never doing something we don't want them to do, that would be disadvantageous to the stability. when you put together a strong capability like this you temper the potential adversaries design. should it go into a combat phase the planning, some fair to the coke under something called combat design and in that era of the strike capability that would be built would be fundamental to insure we detour of our enemies and reassure our friends we can get through to them and support them. >> do you see any -- foresee any budget requests, changes based on this concept for the simple equipment requests with regard

to this new concept? >> i would like to take a pause on that one because i think first we need to get the concept right before we come to you asking for money. certainly the capabilities, strike capabilities will have to be maintained at the cutting edge. but i can't tell you. i can't really forecast until we get the concept of light which is based on a very clear problem statement of what we are trying to solve and whether or not that will mean new programs. >> at carvel, advanced weapons system is designed for antiaccess and denial are being proliferate in through the world including the european command area of responsibility. russia is developing systems and advanced fifth generation fighter aircraft and plans to develop long range bomber. while the likelihood of the conflict with russia is low it seems more likely we will be involved in a future conflict

against adversaries who possess advanced anti-aircraft denial weapons systems sold by the russians. what are your views on these activities by the russians to develop and proliferate antiaccess and denial systems? >> said that her, we continuously tell you read globally all of the threat systems emerging and indeed russia is developing some very sophisticated ones along with some i would add subsurface submarine capabilities. so clearly we have to pace that and maintain our superiority at all levels and as we go forward and i think that applies not solely to russia but really looking globally tall of the threats that the fundamental responsibility of the department. >> do you view precious development as a fifth generation fighter aircraft as cause for concern? >> i am sorry?

>> i was going to ask do you view the development of the fifth generation aircraft as a cause of concern? >> i do. >> how about the planned development of a long-range bomber, is that something -- >> yes, i would put that in the category of a wide variety of the emerging global threats but those would be among them. >> i've got one other question i want to ask. the russians are seeking to link missile defense to follow on the star treaty and that negotiations as we understand have stalled over the russian demand for the option to withdraw from the treaty unilaterally if they determine the missile defense with threatened its nuclear missile force to the best of your knowledge is there any effort effort to negotiate a side agreement with the russians on this issue? >> i have no idea. that would be in the purview at the purpose of state. -- before, mr. turney and all of you very much. >> thank you. we expect votes just about now.

there's four votes coming so let's try to have a second round for everybody. you have an additional question, senator burris? >> no, mr. chairman i'm just trying to listen to the distinguished gentleman. >> i just had a few and then we can turn it over to senator inhofe. you've spoken about your support, admiral, about the new phased adaptive approach for missile defense. one of the possibilities being considered is to ask russia to cooperate in the european missile defense with radar information as a way to enhance security against shared missile threats. do you support that idea? >> i do. >> what would it add? >> first all -- >> if you are able to achieve it what would it be? >> first it would create cooperation with russia which is important as i look at the

majority. second, i think it could technically and to the early warning time because of the location of the system and feared i think it creates confidence-building measures between ourselves and russians. >> as the polish government now supports the missile defense approach? >> i think it's fair to say in general terms they do. i would not speak for the polish government. >> have the spoken on and get? >> they have not, that is my intuition based on my conversation. >> are there discussions or agreements with the government relative to the deployment of a patriot training battery in poland? >> yes, sir there is. >> has that been completed yet, those discussions? >> i think we are literally signing the final mou and i anticipate that going forward in the next 30 days.

>> the africom manning issue has been raised, general, as to whether or not to have enough personnel and you've indicated that he would like more if you can get them. but my question has to do with this. you have apparently -- your service components are not assigned to you as side forces; is that correct? >> the service components are signed. they have no us wilbeforce is under them. but my components are going to be. >> so but underneath them there are no forces. do i have that right? >> that's correct. >> those forces are generally provided through a global force management and request for forces system. have you applied for forces were made that request through the system? >> i have. i use the global force

management process as do the other combat commanders as well for satisfying my requirement for the forces to the missions we have on the continent. >> finally, the department is currently in the process of updating the guidance for employment of the force which establishes the departments strategic objectives for campaign planning and security cooperation and the priorities to be established. there is an ongoing levite it's the first i think since africom was established. as africom receiving a fair hearing under the process? >> yes, senator. i've been part of that process and i am aware of the department of defense as it looks of the revisions it is looking at insuring that the requirement that we have for the resources to conduct the very essentials building partner capacity is being treated at a level

different than in the pasts of the forces required to do that mission will enjoy a high priority than had been the case in the past. we are participating in that process. steve thank you. senator inhofe. >> to my associate myself with general ward on that issue? it is a sea change in the department and it's a good one. >> senator inhofe. >> admiral stavridis, there's only one area i disagree with you and i told you this before but i would like you to tell me where i'm wrong on this read the intelligence tells us that iran would have long-range missile capability somewhere between 2015 and 2023 donner would say 2015 s as serious as that is. the s m 31b which is short medium-range the would-be 2015 but it doesn't matter. that doesn't have the capability nor does the 28 in which would get into the intermediate and

that is supposed to be somewhere around to 18. now the esen 3-cd tooby which is to be comparable what we had, i think this is the case if we had kept the ground base system interceptor in poland there is still no date on that and so i would say of course i objected to that first budget just for terminating the programs such as the f-22 c-17 future system but the thing i felt most objective when he pulled the rug out from under poland and czech republic and i was with them on this last friday. i guess what i'm saying is that capability is there and we don't have any way of deterring that other than my understand the argument that we have the ground-based system in alaska

and california, i don't have the coverage that for for the eastern united states. i guess i will briefly one of my overlooking. >> i'm going to ask to take that for the record. i think it's a technical issue. i would like to provide more data. i will say that as a naval officer who has commanded multiple ships at sea i am extremely impressed given my background with the system and its ability to adapt support of my confidence come out of my grounding and years of the sea operated with a system and my believe it can be successfully assured. having said that i want to provide you the hard data on this and i'd like to take that for the record. >> that's all right. i finish strong supporter of the system plan talking about long-range icbm and fine, we

will get that for the record. general ward, i was appreciative of the fact you said good things about ethiopia in response to the chairman's questioned. specifically i know that the one who has been under attack in ethiopia more than anyone else is spread minister nellis and my personal feeling is he has a tough job, he is a tough guy that's been able to do it. would you make the same comments about his leadership as you would ethiopia and general? >> i meet with prime minister nelson and have respect for his leadership and the work that he does and especially as it pertains to address and the terror and corporate with those who address the threat of terror in the east africa, yes, sir. >> the fact he was with us when this happened i just think he's taking a bum rap as my position to we were talking to senator

hagen i guess it was but the cooperation with rwanda, ugonda and the congo, and i personally have talked to them on their cooperation with each other. but in another area and that is the area of the lra of ugonda or wherever they are right now. we made a point to go to east africa thinking about was about where he was last seen and he has had another dream of terror since that time. we have legislation right now that is going to try to give more assistance to those presidents in those countries and to try to end this what i call one of the worst rains of terror i've ever personally observed and i've been there and have observed. do you think we should be helping with more resources to and that particular lra problem?

would you support me on that? >> yes, sir. the work being done by that group of countries to combat the atrocities the lra has committed for over 25 years has worked important and i think our support to those ongoing efforts is important support. >> most the members of this committee are co-sponsors of the legislation we have the would be helpful to resolve that. one of the problems that we have is all three of these presidents came from a military background and there's always a little bit of concern over, you know, as this reflected i can't do it myself type of thing. i think we are into position to work on this thing jointly. let's see. is their anything else in terms of what is taking place right now and africa and maybe you can give us a couple of six samples of improvements he made working

with the african military, some of the success. >> thank you, senator. there are several. as an example, as we work with the nations on their maritime safety and security our various programs after we call the africom maritime law we enforce the program it's a major agency construct. we bring members of the homeland security, the coast guard, working with african nations, the legal systems such that they have a better ability to provide for the territorial integrity of their waters and that is working. we conducted an exercise in east africa whereby we had five persuading nations. they came together jointly working to help address a natural disaster or humanitarian assistance scenario but as was pointed out to me by a chief defensive of the nation's first time ever as the convoys move

through that part of the continent militaries in the past ten years ago you would not have thought they would come together to link up and then move to a common objective conducted in the north of ugonda or they had just three short years ago running with abandon devastating populations there. those are happening all over the place. we had a training operation and mali. what happened their last summer. a member who received training past january said he had that training prior to last july situation where it encountered al qaeda and mog resources said it wouldn't have happened so our so that they can be in a better position to address these threats themselves is paying off. >> thank you. i applaud all three of you for the great work toward a.

>> thank you, senator. i will turn the gavel over to senator lieberman. thank you for your service. >> generally gistel to say first how impressed i am and how as i hear you answer the questions about what's happening within the african continent and your involvement and knowledge of aid and how important it is i think that we created this african command because i think we were paying too little attention to this critically important content, and i did that you are bringing to it the same kind of critical different relationship with the leaders and some of the regions of the world the most important person in the region really is the regional commander. as you said to me when i began the conversation before the hearing it's only the in a sense

of the door in and hope for the leads to other relationships to political, economic etc. but in the way i want to speak to you for the way that you have done your job and been very important admiral stavridis, i know you've been asked a little bit about missile defense, and your role you were going to be responsible for operating the early stages of the phase adaptive missile defense system for europe. i thought i would ask you first for an analysis if you will or a report on what the state of the european public opinion is about missile defense. in other words, did the europeans feel vulnerable now? have there been times not so distant history where i think they haven't come to the field of global and if so who are they worried about firing missiles at them? >> i think there is a growing

appreciation in europe for the danger specifically from iran. i think they'll get to the nature of that regime clearly a state sponsor of terrorism working hard to a nuclear device additionally i think there's a great deal of understanding that the ballistic missile technology that the iranians will possess is moving pace so that is having a cellular tory affect on the european proclivity to be engaged with us a missile defense. now it varies from country to country and there are a number of factors that range from geography to relationships with the united states to the general world outlook that shaped but i think in my opinion it is fair to say that we are seeing a growing appreciation and again i have to applaud assistant secretary allin tauscher luft

and forward. she's an expert on this and is doing a very credible job of forging the practical partnerships which i believe over time will grow into a fully integrated missile defense. speed i appreciate that and the work that ellen has done as you do. there was some concern here on capitol hill as you know when the decision was made to pull back from the initial plan the polish check plan. how are we giving -- i know you answered in part -- but how are we doing on the alternative system and are you confident that it will meet the said date so it will provide adequate defense? >> i'm confident the first stage will be we will d.c.-based and as you heard me say to senator inhofe i have a great deal of confidence on that part of it given the track record of that system and the technology embedded in a volume reasonably

confident that it will be adapted, feast of that approach and will transition to a sure based system within the targets that are set forth. nobody can predict the delivery defense technology we've all been surprised that occasionally but given the track record of the system and given my understanding of where we are i think it is very reasonable to expect we will hit those as we move forward. >> okay. that's good to hear. you probably saw there was an article related article in "the washington post" this morning about the means system and i will quote from it. it says after several failed attempts, the army is trying again to cancel the 19 billion-dollar missile defense system that the united states is developing in partnership with italy and germany and as the extent system. it has been in the works for more than a decade and is

designed to replace in part the army's patriot system. i want to ask you whether you have been involved in the discussions with your army colleagues about this program and what your opinion is and ultimately do you see this -- the unique feature is we've got a couple of our european allies not only involved picking a big chunk of the bill, but where you see the system as part of the phased adaptive missile defense system that you are now hoping to implement. >> i have not gone into detail with my army brethren who are developing that here in the united states. i will tell you in europe there is a sense that the system can be a functioning part of a missile defense system and i recently spoke with several chiefs of defense from the

participating nations who mentioned that. i think, senator lieberman, it is also indicative of the relationship between the united states and israel we are working on some of the israeli capabilities you are aware of, the carow system. we in the united states do not have the market cornered on all of the smart technology and we would be well served by reaching out to allies and finding what can be integrated and i think mead is effectively a player in that so i will continue to follow mead's story as it unfolds but i think it is more important asset mix sample of how additional technologies can be adapted to the phased productive approach which is one reason it is an attractive system. >> so at this point, you are inclined to favor the continuation of the mead program. >> i don't know enough to make that statement, sir.

>> okay. i agree with you there is a lot -- there is growing appreciation of allies in europe, the middle east and asia of the missile threat particularly from iran and north korea and it makes a lot of sense to operate as we have been cooperative we. you're right the last time i was in israel i saw some video of the testing of the iron dome system which was defense against short-range missiles or rockets and it was quite impressive, and we are partners in that with the israelis and will have full benefit i think from its technologies in terms for instance of protecting american personnel bases in places like europe or the middle east from potential short-range missile rocket attacks. >> yes, sir. >> that's it for me.

it's been a very informational and encouraging hearing. i assure the committee as it normally does will try our best to authorize to a level that will continue to allow the three of you and the many men and women in uniform who served under you to do the job we ask you to do in defense of our security and freedom. thank you very much. hearing is adjourned. [inaudible conversations] [inaudible conversations]

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>> now a senate hearing on the president's budget request for the food and drug administration. $4 billion has been requested for food safety, medical products safety, and other programs. senators questioned fda commissioner margaret hamburg for a little more than an hour. >> good morning and welcome, each of you, to our annual hearing. dr. hamburg, we thank you for being here today. we are pleased to have you testified in front of this committee for the first time, especially now that you have had a little while to get settled in your position. we also appreciate the participation of your colleagues, mr. patrick mcgarey and mr. norris cochran. the fda has been on the receiving end of some very substantial budget increases.

between fiscal years 2007 and 2010 the fda budget excluding user fees went up 50%. this funding was important. as we although the fda is responsible for oversight of a wide array of consumer goods used by every american, often multiple times each day. in fact, $0.20 out of every dollar spent is on a product regulated by the fda. this includes foods, drugs, medical devices, cosmetics, dietary supplements, vaccines, animal drugs, and foods and most recently tobacco. the fda budget for a long time had not been representative of the task. this subcommittee in recent years has been working in a bipartisan manner to reverse that trend. this year's budget request again includes increased funding for the fda, although it has been about one half of the increase provided in the fiscal year 2010. some believe this is a cause for

alarm. it is a realistic reflection of the need for the government as a whole to slow down spending. as it is even though the budget proposes a smaller increase than the past two years, it is still a larger increase than nearly all of usda and most of the dhhs. a brief review food safety, protecting patients, and advancing regulatory science. there are also proposals to save money through contract savings and the enactment of new user fees. in food safety increases are proposed for activities including the establishment of an integrated national food safety system, a modern import safety system, and additional and smarter surveillance and enforcement. probations safety increases are proposed to increase the safety of imports and high-risk products, expand partnerships the public and private entities, and to slightly increase fda

capacity to review generic drug applications. the advancing regulatory initiative includes proposed increases that will help strengthen the fda scientific leadership staff and scientific capacities in emerging technologies. the increases are important, but we have concerns. we are concerned that without adequate funding levels to maintain fda scientists, inspectors, and reviewers the performance goals that you list are not realistic and achievable. i want to repeat something said last week. i believe the calls for this subcommittee will be to produce a bill that predicts the important gains we have made of the last few years, ensure that programs vital to the health and safety of americans are adequately funded, and to do so in a way that shows fiscal restraint and responsible austerity. the fda is vital to the health and safety of americans, and it will be adequately funded this year. we won't allow the agency to

lose ground that we have made up in recent years. however, we all need to do more with less, and no one is exempt senator brownback and i will be looking closely at the budget and working in a bipartisan manner to make bipartisan decisions. it will not be an easy job, but it is one that we need to do right. i am sure that you agree, dr. hamburg. we turn out to senator brownback. >> thank you very much, mr. chairman. we have to top-10 teams. two top-10 teams in the ncaa basketball tournament. we are hopeful we can move forward as well. next to the wheat harvest this is the big season in kansas. good to visit with you last week in the office. i enjoyed that. i want to follow up on that visit that we had because i have

got some suggestions. i hope you are willing to look at it. your staff has been willing to consider. rare is neglected diseases and the unit states tates and aroune world . to help jump-start this effort i worked with the chairman. it included two groups within fda to review the agency's process for approving medical products. to the filling the agency's requirements under those provisions i have some ideas he will take into serious consideration and that these teams will be meeting and reporting out fairly soon. approximately 7,000 rare diseases have been identified. these diseases affect more than 30 million americans. but there are only fda approve treatments for approximately 200 of these 7,000 rare diseases. so if you happen to be fortunate

have to be one of the 200 and have a disease and you happen to be one of the 200. there are another 6,800 rare diseases without treatment at all. they are not benefiting from the progress. this is totally unacceptable. 30 million total americans in this category. in addition to those suffering there are billions of people worldwide suffering from diseases that are often ignored because they have no incentives to engage in the costly process. according to the world health organization one of every six people worldwide is affected by one neglected disease. this is particularly astonishing when you consider that 1% of the drugs approved since only 1% of the drugs approved since 1975 but develops its recess diseases that affect one in six people

and the world. this too is unacceptable. 1% of solving these problems will involve many government agencies and the cooperation of the private sector. today i would like to hear you talk about it and i would like to talk to you about something that i think the fda can do to substantially impact this category. specifically i believe, and a lot of people agree that fda should work to demystify and simplify the review process for products to treat rare and neglected, deadly rare and neglected diseases. the agency must exercise flexibility in reviewing certain products. i believe the agency should establish a second track for project approval that takes into consideration the unique nature of the product being approved including the ability of manufacturers to find large enough populations for clinical trials, the willingness of patient groups to knowingly accept certain risks and the global public health benefit. without doing these things i think it is highly unlikely we find treatments for these 6800

rare diseases. i don't see how it happens. at the we are probably start on this 1 percent figure of work in these neglected diseases that affect one in six people globally. that is completely unacceptable and does not need to be this way. you are the person most well positioned to address this. but i hope he will be able to. i hope he will be able to look at this category. there are a lot of other issues. i think this is a months the top tier and most important. thank you for holding the hearing. >> thank you very much. we turn now to dr. hamburg for your statement. >> thank you very much, chair kohl and senator brownback. i am very pleased to present the president's fiscal year 2011 budgets to the fda. as you know, patrick mcgarey and

norris cochran are with me this morning. my testimony outlines the fiscal year 2011 budget request. also includes a summary of recent developments related to our new responsibilities to regulate tobacco products and other important fda initiatives. as you know, this is my first time before the subcommittee, and i very much look forward to working with the. i deeply appreciate the support that you have given to the fda, and i know that you share my determination to make sure that we can count on as a nation a strong, fully functional fda. as you point out, fda is a unique and important agency responsible for programs and activities that affect every american the every. the fiscal year 2010 appropriation reflects your commitment to fda and the health of the american public. those funds will allow the fda to make progress across a wide range of public top priorities

which are essential to the health, quality of life, safety, and security of all americans. again, i thank you. the proposed fiscal year 2011 budget includes 4 billion for fda programs which is an increase of 755 million with 601 million in user fees and hundred 54 million in budget authority. we are proposing three major initiatives in areas vital to our mission, transforming food safety, protecting patients, and advancing regulatory science. these initiatives are crucial problem opposition of the agency for the challenges presented by the 21st century. the transforming food safety initiative reflects president of lomas edition of the new food safety system to protect the american people. it is based on the principles

area the fda proposes an increase of 326 million with 88 million in budget authority and 238 million for new user fees including 200 million for food registration and inspection fees. fiscal year 2011 without fda to establish a foundation for an integrated national food safety system focused on prevention. elements include setting standards for safety, expanding laboratory capacity, piloting track and trace technology, strengthening imports 60 drama improving data collection and analysis and improving its inspections. this initiative will allow fda to make the kind of changes needed to deliver the promise of

improved food safety. the protecting patients initiative reflects fda is pressing need to modernize our approach to patients' safety and the safety of its medical products. this is the time when science and technology offers new promise to improve disease prevention, diagnosis, and treatment as well as new protections for safety. this is also a time when an increasing number of tribes and biologics are being ing manufacd abroad. fda must act as a strong and smart regulator addressing medical products said the challenges in the years ahead. the budget proposes an increase of 101 million for this initiative including 49 million in budget authority. the balance the is that the new user fees, generic drug fees, and fees for reinspecting medical products facilities. protecting patients initiative

focuses on four vital areas, imports safety, high risk products, partnerships, and generic drug review. these activities will have the very significant impact on public health in the united states. this science based strategy will build a new and greater safety to the abilities. the result will be fewer imports safety emergencies and fewer serious adverse events. fda is proposing in our budget and a new focus on advancing regulatory science, which is very important and exciting. it includes an increase of 25 million for this much-needed initiative. regulatory signs represents the knowledge and tools we need to assess and evaluate our product safety, efficacy, potency, quality, and performance. it is fundamental to all of our

work from supporting the development of new food and medical technologies to bring a new treatments to patients. in many ways it represents the gateway between discovery innovation and opportunity and actual products that people need and can count on. building a strong, robust regulatory signs capacity is a vital to the health of our nation, the health of people, our health care system, our economy, and our global competitiveness. during the past two decades the search has turned dramatically expanded our understanding. the development of new therapies has been in decline, and the cost of bringing them to market has soared. new approaches and partnerships in the emerging field of regulatory science are urgently needed to bridge the gap between drug discovery and patient care. i might add to address some concerns that senator brownback just raised. investing in regulatory science. we will use the tools,

standards, and have ways to evaluate products that are for promising of virginities to diagnose, treat, cure, and prevent disease. we will also improve product safety, quality, and manufacturing more broadly including new opportunities to better protect the food supply and support the development of healthy food and food choices. on june 22nd, 2009, the president signed the family smoking prevention and tobacco control act into law. importance new authority to regulate them a factoring, distribution of tobacco products. i'm pleased to report that so far the fda has met or exceeded the statutory deadlines. during fiscal year 2011 we will continue to employment to the acts including overseeing and enforcing the reassurance of the 1996 rule to prevent smoking and smokeless tobacco use among

young people and proposing health warning labels for cigarette packages and advertising. finally have would like to take the opportunity to report to the committee on fda response to the 2009 h1n1 influenza pandemic. during the past year key fda a ccomplishments and include the licensure of five different h1n1 of vaccines. stringent manufacturing quality and overset processes as seasonal and was a now more than 70 million americans have been sifting immunized. these decisions were based on careful review of the scientific data for these products. also conducted an aggressive and proactive strategy to combat fraudulent h1n1 products. we issued more than 80 warning

letters covering 150 different products. we achieved a very high since rates in response to these actions. so fda fiscal year 2011 budget contains important funding for vital public-health priorities including transforming food safety, protecting patients, and advancing regulatory science as well as implementing the tobacco reform act and many other critical sba programs and activities. achieving all of this and especially these the identified priorities is possible because of your support through the work of the food and drug administration. i thank you, and i am happy to answer any questions you might have. >> thank you for your fine statement, dr. hamburg. you have been at the fda for nearly a year now, and i assume it has been fulfilling as well as challenging. after a year what have you learned about the fda?

what is working? what would you change? what is your vision for the agency? and where do you want it to be in five years and beyond? how is the performance managment initiative play into this, dr. hamburg? >> there is a lot of questions. very, very important questions. i have found being here -- it has been only about eight months, but who is counting? fda is an extraordinary agency, you know, with an array of professional scientists and lawyers, policy analysts, and support staff that are dedicated to the mission of protecting and promoting health. i have been struck a much more deeply since i have been in this role by how important and unique fda is that we are responsible for a vast array of related products and products that affects every american every day, as you noted in your

opening statement. if we cannot do our job and do it well there are not other parts of government or other sectors of society that can step in and backstop behind us. that is why it is so important to have a strong, fully functional fda. as the new fda commissioner i feel a tremendous responsibility to lead this agency fully into the 201st century. i think i must be a strong advocate for the agency is planning to policymakers and the public about what we do, how we do it, and why. i believe that i must work to ensure trust and competence and the work of the agency, and that includes being a responsible steward of the resources given to us and tracking to make sure that we are using them wisely and for the benefit of the american people. i believe that now is the time for us to act aggressively to

strengthen science within the fda and partnerships with an external partners so that we can bring the best possible science to bear on our regulatory decision making. i believe that we have to respond to the globalized world that you live in and recognize that products regulated by the fda are coming in from all over the globe and that we have to effectively extend our foreign presence so that we can ensure safety. >> have you made any trips to foreign countries? >> i have made one international trips so far, and we are planning additional. i have made to international trips, planning additional trips ps as well. i have met with many of my counterparts from other countries on their visits here, as well. i have really made this area of strengthening our presence internationally a very high priority because the world we live in is so increasingly

complex and globalized. the supply chain, whether it is food products are medical products tied because around the globe. we know that this potentially entails serious safety concern. >> dr. hamburg, as i said in my opening statement, and i am sure you are fully aware, we have provided fda with very large funding increases. your budget this year again includes one of the largest increases in our bill, but it is only about one-half of the increase that the department has been receiving recently. how would you respond to concerns that this budget reflects a decrease in the priority the administration places on modernizing and improving the fda? >> well, i think we all recognize that these are very difficult economic times, and we have to operate in that environment. i do think it is very, very important that we continue to

sustain investments for the reasons i cited earlier. we have a unique role to play, and it is one that matters deeply to every american. you know, we will continue to work in every way possible to perform the programs and activities that are on our plate and to address the emerging new priorities. we hope that we will have the opportunity in the fiscal year 2011 budget to continue to expand. i am eager to work with you and with others to ensure in the upcoming fiscal year and in the years beyond that we continue to support fda in its crucial mission. >> thank you. senator brownback. >> thank you, mr. chairman.

dr. hamburg, let me show you a chart. i believe we have one laid out in front of you for what i was talking about in my opening statement, bifurcation on the review process. we went and took the liberty to give a couple of examples. i mentioned in my opening statement. there are some 7,000 rare diseases affecting nearly 30 million americans, only 200 of which have any treatment at all. what i am suggesting to you is that you use your standard process that is well-established, very expensive, i might add. i saw in 2000 for a review of it and said by fda's own report it costs somewhere between 800 million-$1.7 billion to develop a new product. this is a 2004 fda report. one in 100,000 live births.

there are no treatments for it. a child who is born with this, a genetic lipid storage defect. a child born with this usually dies by age four. no treatment whatsoever. sx one and 36,000 live births. individuals typically live anywhere from a few years to the near-teens. no treatment for it whatsoever. the symptoms associated with this are usually a loss of early control, had control, walking, talking. other problems such as irritability, loss of appetite, vomiting, and seizures. periods of sharp decline and temporary restoration. eventually the child may have breeding complications. this is a really tough. these are tough things when you grab of family. we as members did people coming

by our offices representing these rare and neglected diseases. they are always, you know, we want you to put more money into the process. we all want to do it because you don't want to hear of anybody having to face any sort of struggle or circumstance like that. the truth of the matter is we develop very few products for them. even if republicans of money from here into it. it will take 800 million to bring the products to market. it is just not going to happen. and that is why i would ask you to seriously consider something that the fda has done on an ad hoc basis previously. instead, let's make this a separate category. we like this one. we are not right to do that one. this one is important to us. this one has political impetus and that one does not. create a separate category. work with the disease population groups to see if they are

willing as groups to consider going into this. do a thorough review. sets this truncated category up it is known going into it. this isn't the same review that we are going to take on a heart disease, diabetes, something with a large population to do. i think you would do it a huge amount of support for doing something i like this. i think you would get a lot of people behind it. i think it would stretch our dollars out to a point where you would get action in 6,000 or 800 categories that have no action now. so i would ask how you would respond to that please. >> thank you very much for this proposal. we will certainly look at it very seriously. the issues you raise to are ones that are very meaningful to me personally and professionally as well as to the agency. as i mentioned to you when i met

with you at an earlier time i shifted and my career from a career in academic medicine to public service because of watching these epidemics developed while i trained as a medical student and became a resident in internal medicine. at that time we had no treatment stop off for aids patients. then new treatment options began to emerge, and i went to work at nih to be part of that process of trying to develop new therapies and trying to get them to people in needed them. you know, the opportunity that we have right now in terms of advances in science combined with their growing public health need for both ran and neglected diseases i think demands that we take action and that we'd be innovative, if not transformative and how we approach it. i am eager to work with you.

i think that the program that you have already helped to establish within the fda but through passed legislation has already gas and us on track in terms of beginning to really in a focused way look at new regulatory pathways. how do we leverage advances in science and technology to make our regulatory oversight as efficient and effective as possible and how do we think creatively building on activities already underway such as the orphan drug program to look at various incentives that exist or could be developed to try to tell my you know, really catalyze activities in areas where there are limited markets. it is something that i know is of the highest priority within the white house as well. president obama spoke to this

issue and his recent state of the union address briefly, but he did talk about the importance of developing new products to address unmet public health needs. so we will work with you with enthusiasm. we will make sure that their groups within fda working on implementing section 740 look very seriously at your proposal here and continue to work with you and your staff and others to make, you know, real, meaningful, and sustaining process in this area. >> i can't think of much anything you would do that would give more help to a large group of people that don't have a whole lot of it right now. it affects a lot of people in this category. i have that several other questions i would like to ask. chairman, that is the primary issue. i hope -- this is my last year

in the senate. i hope that we can make some progress on this. i think it is within your power to move this forward in developing a proposal. i think you would get a lot of support. i would love to be one right there with you to try to move that forward to give up. >> if i could just add, i think there is also a huge opportunity here to work with a sister regulatory agencies around the world. these are issues that to crosscut, clearly. if we can bring new, innovative regulatory strategies and the best possible science to bear and also, you know, fully define the markets that do exist and the incentives to bring pharmaceutical and biotech industries into development projects in these areas, you know, we can make additional progress with that approach. >> thank you. mr. chairman. >> thank you, senator brownback. >> thank you, mr. chairman.

thank you for being here today, dr. hamburg. i appreciate hour visit on the phone last week. let me talk a the the bit about nanotechnology. i would like to get your thoughts. i know that the fda is proposing $7.3 million line item to build course scientific capacities for nanotechnology is. i actually have a bill here that would do a total of $25 million. i guess my question for you is on that $25 million, if we were able to get that bill passed and make that money available, could you all spend it wisely? >> well, i have not seen that piece of legislation, but, you know, clearly nanotechnology is an emerging technology that holds great promise in terms of products, medical products, as

well as cosmetics and food related issues. it is one where we want to fully explore the opportunity, but we also want to study it carefully to ensure that safety issues are adequately serviced and addressed. we have a program that is moving forward in the nanotechnology area, as you may well know. the national center for toxicology research and arkansas has a very important hub in our next nanotechnology research activities. but it cuts across every aspect of fda work in terms of our product centers. i think that, yes, you know, it is a very, very important emerging technology. we need to deepen our understanding tom and it is key to many areas of fda activity. we would welcome the opportunity to work more with you to see

what we can do and how we should best do it. >> does fda currently have the physical infrastructure it needs, the physical labs, building space, and equipment, whenever that may be, to really thoroughly study nanotechnology? is that still a work in progress? >> you know, i think that we are always having to evolves our debilities as emerging technologies also evolve. we do have a solid technical capability for nanotechnology, but i would hesitate to try to address whether we have all of the infrastructure that we need for nanotechnology efforts. i can certainly tell you that we need to bring on board more expertise in the nanotechnology area. we also are working in partnership with outside groups in this important arena to strengthen our capacity, but i'd think it is probably fair to say

that one always needs to be dynamic in these kinds of programs because the science itself is so dynamic. >> let me change subjects on you, if i can. in the last few weeks there has been a salmonella outbreak. apparently it was related to a hydrolyzed vesicle protein. man standing is the administration's budget adds money for identifying such outbreaks. does fda, do you feel like you have the right resources and the right to debilities and place to monitor things like salmonella and these other types of outbreaks that you see in the food system? >> strengthening food safety is a huge priority for fda and for the administration and for the nation. we have experienced the real world applications of gaps in

food safety and the food safety system that is oriented toward addressing problems once they occur rather than preventing them in the first place, and that is what we are dedicated to doing. >> i understand there is a food safety working group. >> yes. the food safety working group is very active. it was established by the president at the same time that he announced my nomination. they have identified a number of critical activities and also a focus on prevention, strengthening surveillance and enforcement and response and recovery. their is a piece of legislation that is pending on the senate side to strengthen food safety, which we are very supportive of because it would bring additional authorities and resources to the fda to continue to develop our food safety programs and to truly transform our food safety system as it

needs to be to address the challenges before us. but even without that legislation we are moving forward in key ways to reorient the system toward prevention to enhanced inspection, to try to really get a better handle on how to track and trace food borne out breaks and working importantly in partnership with our counterparts at the state and local level and also again working internationally because import safety is such a concern. we do look forward to the consideration by the senate of the food safety bill because that would really dramatically enhance our position with respect to making the kinds of meaningful and enduring changes that we need for food safety. >> last question i have really is about the national center for toxicological research. i know that you have attempted

to come down their previously. a snowstorm or whatever. you could not make it. we certainly would love for you to come down and see that again whenever it works an average of the schedule, but is the fda doing everything possible to ensure that the high quality science at nc t r is relied upon by other fda labs rather than duplicating the capabilities elsewhere? >> in c t r represents a very unique resource for fda, and one that we rely on and one that i certainly value. enables us to build fundamental research capacities that have implications that cut across our various products centers and to do, really touching and scientific work in some key areas, whether it is established a economics lab that is helping as think about how we can use a

deepened understanding of genetics and genetic traits to target their piece better and to understand the interaction of lifestyle factors as genetics as we think about medical products. some of the bio imaging capabilities that have been developed there that can help us develop new kinds of markers to assess products effectiveness and to support activities across a range of programs at fda. the activities that they are doing in terms of toxicology research and safety that are so important, especially as we are looking more deeply at a range of environmental exposures, and issues like epa. and of course what we talked about with nanotechnology, they represent a key have been those efforts. it is really a unique, highly valued resource. i am looking forward to my visit. in the meantime i have been

working closely with members of the ncr staff and its director. they are very much, while at a distance, integrated into our work at fda. >> thank you. thank you, mr. chairman. >> thank you very much. >> thank you very nice. dr. hamburg, welcome. >> thank you. >> dr. hamburg, i want to visit with you about the issue of prescription drugs, perhaps, not a surprise to you. last december after working for a number of years we are preparing to have a vote on the reel importation of fda approved prescription drugs and the day before the votes you sent a letter to senator brown back and senator crupper. in the letter you indicated some concern about the legislation, and you indicated, however, that

the administration supports a program to allow americans to buy safe and effective drugs from other countries and you are beginning to work with stakeholders to accomplish that. this has been a long and tortured trail, probably ten years in which the pharmaceutical industry has prevented the american people from accessing fda approved identical drugs that are sold for a fraction of the price in most other countries in the world. this is an issue of freedom for the american people. they don't want to buy tainted or counterfeit cards. but if it is made in ireland and put in a sealed container and sent to various places in the world why should the american consumer be paying triple the price? why should they not have access to that trek? so the first question is, you indicate your support of programs to allow americans to buy safe and effective tracks. are you working to make that happen? if so what kind of work is

underway to make sure that is the case? >> we do very much care about helping americans get access to important drugs for of their health. we also care very much about ensuring safety. with you we want to work toward finding better strategies. as i think you know, in fiscal year 2010 and again in proposed fiscal year 2011 budget money has been put aside, $5 million each time toward developing strategies and examining and analyzing the safety issues with a broadened drug importation strategy. there are genuine safety concerns, and that is what we are trying to address. many of the drugs that we are talking about in terms of the importation are not drives that

are identical. >> let's deal with identical drug spiritless just . let's just talk about it. >> well, lipitor is one example where it really is the same product. many of the drugs are not necessarily bioequivalence. they may have the same products name and be the same products class, but the formulation may not be bioequivalence. the dosing formulation may be different. the labeling issues. there are issues about our being able to really ensure proper manufacturing practices. all of those things really matter. and so we need to have a program that is doable that will enable us to be able to assure those kinds of issues for the american people. >> dr. hamburg, in the second paragraph of your letter from last december you talked about

importing not fda-approved drugs representing a potential risk. no one is talking about importing not fda-approved drugs. the things you just raised, labeling and so on, our staff met with the fda. the fda staff. a identify concerns and technical issues. we dramatically changed our bill to address all of those issues. if you will just bear with me for a moment, let's take the drug that is identical. let's reintroduce the bill with only an identical drug made in this case by irish manufacturers. the american consumer has the opportunities to double or triple the price in order to access it. is there a way for us in our legislation, things that don't exist even in today's tight supply. you are familiar with the heparin issue, the tainted medicine that is made in pig

farms in china. i understand all of the scare stuff that the pharmaceutical industry raises. i am talking about identical drugs made in fda approved p lants. couldn't we agree that at least in those circumstances we could at least do, well, not a pretty good job, a job that would assure the american consumer that what they are buying is exactly what everyone else is purchasing? >> you know, we share your concerns. we want to work to try to establish programs that can assure safety of drugs and medical products that are imported into this country. it is a hugely important issue and a high priority. there are, you know, real

logistical concerns, very resource intensive strategies that are outlined in the legislation that, you know, would be very, very difficult for the fda to actually implement. but i think that there are ways that we can approach these issues, and i think, you know, we need to work with you and others in order to really come as we pursue this planning effort, this. >> is there an end date? do you have a time by which you want to accomplish the goal, the administration's goal of allowing americans to buy safe and effective drugs and other countries? >> wow, we are moving forward in terms of the work that we are doing. the analyses, and the development of different types of strategies and modeling those

options for how much they would ensure safety trying to get a better sense of what are the issues in terms of drugs that are being, while the drugs may be approved for use in the united states the drug that is coming into people ordering these drugs on the web site are not those tracks that are necessarily the fda approved tracks. that is one of the huge concerns that we have. we know, you know, i was recently asked at the border offices at jfk, the products coming in from all over the world, some of them with a canadian maple leaf to suggest that they were coming from canadian pharmacies, but they were not. the quality cannot be assured. it is a big issue.

it is complicated. we ultimately want to, our mission is to be able to provide americans with access to safe and effective drugs in as timely and low-cost way as possible. >> mr. chairman, let me ask if the committee read request of the doctor that she submitted to us what they are doing with respect to this planning and what the time minds might be. let me say this. i supported your nomination. you offering yourself to the serve this country. i was upset in december because even in the last answer you definitely changed the subject. i don't want to lose an argument we are not having. we are not having a debate about medicine that is coming in that might or might not be counterfeit. we are having a discussion about whether the country uses the the

tour in a plant in ireland and the safety that ought to exist now for american consumers, whether they ought to have the freedom to access that fda-approved drug. the american consumer pays triple the cost. this is not rocket science. europe has done it for 20 years. i would hope that you and i and others can approach this on the basis of saying, how do we accomplish this with complete safety which i think exists in our bill for the american people. i am very anxious to engage with you and your staff. anybody that has questions about this so that we can support the american consumer to be able to access fda-approved drugs that are being sold around the world and in some cases for one sixth the price. i just think it is an important issue. thanks for indulging this

discussion. you do a lot of other important things. i appreciate the chairman's work and the subcommittee's work with the fda. want to get you the funding that you need. we want you to succeed. >> i appreciate that and that you look forward to working with you and others on this important issue of safety and access. >> just to pursue that, of powerful political interests and lobbying interests involved here that prevent us from bringing these strikes to the american public at prices that are being paid a round the world, months, much less than what we are paying here, and as you know, and sure. which he has pursued so well over the years to more we are paying double and triple and quadruple the price for some of the most popular drugs here in the united states that people are paying all around the world. i am sure that causes you great

concern and arouses your strong interest. as the head of the fda, of course, you can play a pivotal role in helping us bring these strikes to the american consumer for the equivalent price being paid around the world. is that one of your missions? >> you know, very much front and center a mission is to be able to assure access to safe and effective medicines to the american people. you know, this is a very, very challenging area in terms of being able to assure safety. and for the fda, that is honestly the issue that motivates our actions and concerns. i am not the first fda commissioner to raise these issues. fda commissioners regardless of administration over many years now have to record these same

concerns, and it does reflect the complexity of trying to assure, especially in the world of internet sales that the products that are being purchased are what they purport to be and being able to assure that while a product may be fda approved for use in the united states, when that same product is actually manufactured elsewhere it is not manufactured with the exact same specifications that is manufactured for use in the united states. that can have very important implications for patience. if it is a different formulation it may have different by week of once and may require a different dosing schedule. its main may be formulated evenh other components. and, of course, the labeling for

use may be different from what fda would use an approved. we need to have a program that can really get into that level of analysis to ensure that patients get what they need for their health care providers erss well as the patients and understanding what may be different about these drugs even though they have the same name so that they are used properly. and then there is the problem of outright counterfeits drugs, which is an enormous problem. it is growing. so i think, you know, that this whole arena of import safety could not be more important and pressing to the work of the fda and to the safety and security of the american people. i hope that we can work on all of this together because it is such a huge and urgent challenge. >> dr. hamburg, i was happy last

august that you were able to come to wisconsin and visit with folks in my home state about food safety efforts including people in wisconsin government as well as academia. i believe it was a day that was well spent by you. what additional roles do you see the states playing in collaboration with the federal government and the integrated national food safety system? >> thank you very much for that question and for the opportunity to say how much i enjoyed that visit and that i have never eaten so much cheese and ice

cream in one day before. it was a wonderful day. i was told of a stayed for another i would have had an equal amount of beer and sausage. [laughter] you know, the partnership with states and localities is absolutely key to achieving our success in food safety. i feel that very personally having served for six years as new york city health commissioner. i know, you know, that it is the states and localities on the ground from the time that a first case of food borne illness appears until the last case does away. the burden in many ways is born at that level, and the opportunities to extend their reach of government on these important programs is so enhanced through collaboration. we see working with the states as key. we see strengthening training as

an important part of that. reseed strengthening laboratory capacity as an important part of that. we need to really improve the i t infrastructure for better communication of information outbreak results come and i really do think that, going back to some of your early questions and remarks, especially at this time of economic constraint the need for partnership, the need to make sure that we are really utilize the resources as best we can and that we are sort of mutually supporting the whole spectrum of activities that are needed to support food safety and especially to put a focus on prevention is absolutely key. this is a priority. we work well with the state's on our food borne out breaks.

but i think there is room to go in terms of strengthening does working relationships. of course we work with our partners, the centers for disease control and the department of agriculture as we address important food safety issues. it is a very important federal, state, and local partnership. >> thank you. >> mr. chairman, if you are going to go to wisconsin you have got to come to kansas. we will feed you bread and states. the other thing i would like to invite you there to see is the university of kansas pharmacy school, one of the top regulated in the country. they developed this high throughput model to test drugs at an early stage. there are starting to work more and more on second and third world disease category areas for review as well. i think it would be interesting to us see how they're doing this on trying to review these at a much faster pace.

they are also at a point of being able to get a national cancer institute designation with the pharmacy school being the key aspect of it. it is drug delivery on cancers that they are working on. i think it would be an interesting thing for you to look at and to see as you think of ways, how do we get more drugs to market safe efficacious the, but try to get the cost t curve down which is so important for us to be able to get more of these categories covered. i hope that you can come out and take a look at that. >> well, i would love to. what you are describing, i think, if it's very much with our strong, new focus cus on adg regulatory science. that critically involves partnership with academia. want to bring the best and brightest minds to addressing these important issues of how can we make the regulatory pathway more effective and efficient? how can we use the best possible

science to help less rapidly and i dentify products with promise and those that will fail? we want to really focus our efforts on moving products through the pipeline to people who need them. i would be delighted to come out. there are few other people in the department of health and human services. >> good. their is a secretary that cares about it. yes. >> thank you, chairman. >> thank you very much, senator brownback. >> mr. chairman, i would just repeat the previous discussion we had. we will do this at another time perhaps in person. >> all right. >> dr. hamburg, one of the outcomes you hope to achieve with fiscal year 11 funding is to reduce the time it takes to detect and respond to outbreaks of food borne illness. you talk about collaboon