i think anybody who looks at the fact that we -- that 100,000 people, 100,000 people, that's a lot of people, since 2008 are no longer working for the post office. that's 100,000 families. i said, mr. guffey, to an economic committee, and you know something very interesting that i've noticed? is that when the employment rate is 8.8, for the nation it is a 15-point something for african-americans. ..

struggling everyday trying to make it, many of them have lost their jobs. we talk about these loss of jobs, are don't want to digest the collateral damage. then we talk about veterans. and july got deeply involved biden know the post office hired that many veterans. and took care of the disabled veterans and gave them some dignity. instead of having them as i see them in my district many times

unable to find jobs and whatever. all of that is very important. i cannot walk out of this room without telling you all that i am proud of negotiations you have been involved in and i thank you for what you said. you have some differing opinions here and there but you said several things and you said something else that is so significant. you said i really believe ms. donahoe is doing a good job. that is what it is all about and what i'm saying to you is sometimes one of the things i try to do with my kids is try to be careful that i just don't say the negative when they do something wrong. i try to complement them for doing something right. sometimes i get a little bit upset that we don't root for the home team. for the team that is doing it right. you said something to me yesterday that hope you don't

mind me sharing. if all the unions work with you like mr. guffey's union work with you we could solve all kinds of problems. the reason i'm talking about this is that i know there are people saying we're going to get 10% new people or 10% less. they're saying they're we're not going to get a raise for two years and a lot of our colleagues have already done but i want them to know that a grateful congress appreciates what they do every day. when i look at my mailman in the rain and snow, i am serious. seeing dogs run after him. i don't know how many members of this congress would walk up and down in the hot sun delivering mail and in many instances going for all kinds of difficult

circumstances. i live in the inner city of baltimore. you never find a mailbox to put the mail in. they do it over and over and over again. they get up and they do it. a i think that we need to take a timeout and applaud them for what they do. i know public employees are testing from all levels and being constantly told they're not doing this or that but the fact is they are doing a lot of wonderful great things and thank you for calling this hearing and may god bless you. >> i think the ranking member. on like to think the witnesses for their testimony. in closing i would like to echo what the ranking member just said. this hearing has said in no uncertain terms hard-working men and women of the post office.

not just this particular union we just talked about but all of the workers on both sides of the aisle we talked in terms of how we get to a fair pay and for various future obligations of the post office and how do we get to the right number of postal workers. we can all be proud on both sides of the aisle. this has not been about any cheap shots and the post office postal workers who have dramatically improved productivity whose rating by the american people continues to be high for customer satisfaction but simply a matter of how we get to the right number and the recognition of obligations now into the future to need a mandate this congress has voted for and reiterated repeatedly when it came to the self-sufficiency of the post office. the ranking member and i take seriously our unique obligation to oversee the post office and bring such laws as may be necessary to inc. that.

we did talk about one particular piece of legislation that i believe republicans and democrats have to work on a number of pieces of legislation in order to help the post office control its own destiny, free up the post office to enter markets appropriately and most importantly to get to the right number. i know the ranking member would share this with me we can't tell you what the right number is. we can't tell you whether the administration's refusal to look is appropriate or not but this committee will hold hearings. we will reach out to the experts to find the right numbers and if those numbers need to be adjusted you have my assurance that you will have the assurance of every member of this committee that we will work for those right numbers regardless of the scoring or other technical hurdles because we do want the independence of the post office to be about your

taking responsibility for costs and less staying out of your way. you have had many questions unanswered and i invite you to revise and extend in any way you see fit and they will without objection be included in the record. we stand adjourned. >> thank you, mr. chairman. [inaudible conversations]

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take c-span on the road with local content vehicles bringing our resources to your community. it is washington your way. the c-span networks now available in 1 hundred million homes created by cable. provided as a public service. >> the head of the military's africa command and head of the transportation demand appeared to data hearing of the house armed services committee. the hearing covered military operations in libya and logistical needs of troops in afghanistan among other topics. this is 1 hour and 45 minutes.

>> come to order. apologize for the tardiness. we had a vote and that a suspicious package. that didn't think they were ever going to let us back. the house armed services committee meets today to receive testimony from commanders of the united states transportation command and united states africa command on the posture of their respective commands. all those these are two, that there is that sometimes fly beneath the rate our this hearing could not be more relevant than it is today. the responsibility of u.s. forces conducting active military operations against forces loyal to rome are gaddafi in an effort to prevent a massacre of the civilian population of libya.

although this humanitarian intervention is motivated by a noble impulse there's a strong possibility of a strategic stalemate emerging in libya. a i fear we may find ourselves committed to an open-ended obligation for our participation in nato operations and that poses a real opportunity costs given the volatility of other unstable more strategically important countries in the region. beyond libya at this weekend as many of -- as many as 1,000 civilians were massacred in the ivory coast as that nation's political stance of escalated violently. this brutality could be an ominous foreshadowing a future events in the sudan as the southern portion of that war-torn country becomes an independent nation in july. further east somalia continues to be a source of instability hosting both a al qaeda and affiliated terrorist

organization and various piracy networks that have been intensified attacks in the gulf of aden and beyond a over the past several years recently killing four american citizen the board a private yacht. just as it was impossible to force the united states becoming militarily involved in libya at last year's posture hearings this congress may be called upon to fund a number of contingency operations or humanitarian missions. when we made new year's resolutions this year we did not foresee egypt, libya, all of the other things that are happening. wherever u.s. forces may operate in the next year trans com will be charged with getting them there people still sustaining them for operations and getting them home to their families. as general bradley famously said amateurs talked strategy and professionals talk logistics'. the events of the last 18 months

are an instructive example of the relevance of that quote today. not only does trans com have to respond to the surge of forces in afghanistan while they final status we orchestrate the drawdown of forces in iraq but have to respond to the devastating earthquake in. things have not gotten easier as they are supporting combat operations in libya in addition to operations in iraq and afghanistan and are working to assist the people of japan following the earthquakes of the past month. what they do is not easy and often goes unnoticed. the capabilities of trans comm are unique among nations. we are fortunate to be joined here today by two officers with distinguished records of service to the nation. general duncan mcnabb of u.s. transportation command and general carter ham of u.s. africa command.

thank you for appearing before us today and thank you for your lifetime of service to the nation. please convey our thanks to those who served with you in your combat areas. we look forward to hearing your testimony today. ranking member smith? >> thank you, mr. chairman. appreciate you being here to testify. two very important commands that the military transportation command has done an amazing job with logistics. you can imagine the capabilities we have and where we would like them but general mcnabb has to make sure those things matchup. not an easy job when you consider our interests throughout the world and where we had to move equipment in recent years. you do an outstanding job. we appreciate that. and we have the c-17s who are a big part of that and proud of

what they do as well. going forward, number of issues, in particular as we figure out how to downsize and iraq and moving quit and out of there and how the staff work and getting it back where we want it based how is that process progressing and what contingencies do you have in place that sometimes it turns out we will be leaving more equipment than we expected the iraqis make a request and are unable to grant continued u.s. presence of limited scope but still that will complicate the transportation of that equipment and second the ongoing -- and in pakistan, north of afghanistan, interested in it feelings about how we are doing on that and major challenges going forward to make sure we have the equipment to

afghanistan that we need. as the chairman mentioned you have a number of challenges in that region and the best way to summarize them is instability. there's a lot of political unrest in a number of nations across the top of africa to varying degrees in libya and morocco and also further down the ivory coast there are major challenges. the democratic republic of the condo has an ongoing challenge maintaining stability and that instability can have a very real impact on our national security interests. al qaeda is present in the arabian peninsula close to somalia and the islamic -- throughout the martini area. they feed on instability where they can operate without people being able to control them. so africa have a strong interest not just in libya where we are

where what is going on but throughout the continent and figure out how to combat political unrest and poverty which drives instability to make sure these unstable areas don't become a threat to us. i appreciate this opportunity and look forward to your testimony. with that i will yield back to the chairman. >> thank you. general mcnabb, your testimony will be inserted in the record. >> it is my privilege to be here today representing 145,000 of the world's finest logistics professionals. throughout 2010 and continuing

through today the team of active duty, civilians and merchant mariners accomplish incredible feats in the face of a historic challenges. we have a saying at u.s. transportation command. we view our success through the eyes of the war fighter. we are always about support to the combat commands and a joint task force commanders. working with p logistics agency the surfaces and combat command staff howard teams have provided an unparalleled logistic superiority to the regional combat commanders. and to the team delivering the force, this is the best performance i had seen in 37 years of service. sitting next to me is my good friend general carter ham. we support military operations

in libya. the new and higher levels. and the greatest asymmetric advantages, ability to move. nobody matches the power active-duty force with guard and reserve partners like the u.s. transportation command. when we call for volunteers to relieve the suffering in 80 the men and women of the guard and reserve stepped up in huge fashion including a contingency response for the kentucky guard that was coming up to speed. during the surge of forces in

afghanistan we relied heavily on activated c 5 and c 17 crews and ariel quarters and they were crucial to meeting president obama's deadline to complete by 31 august. most recently we saw their patriotism responding rapidly to the refueling requirements and support libyan operations. i am and all of the power of the u.s. flag fleet in air and over land. the u.s. flag maritime fleet and their outstanding merchant mariners stepped up during the historic surge into afghanistan and out of iraq and we didn't have to activate one ship for either operation and they delivered. they continue to be key to supplying our forces in afghanistan coming through pakistan war over the northern distribution network. in the air tower commercial partners continue to meet the demands of the surge in afghanistan and most recently

responded to a bringing americans home from japan following the earthquake, tsunami and nuclear incident. we know the combat commanders around the world depend on us to deliver day in and day out. from resupply of the south pole to dropping food top and operating base in afghanistan to delivering fuel to the libyan no-fly zone, delivers. if we do this right, for commanders do not worry about the logistics lifeline. this is what the secretary of defense intended when he made it the distribution process owner in 2003. the influence over the entire supply chain, we constantly look for more effective solutions to the war fighter while being good stewards of taxpayer dollars. since its inception it has realized $5.3 billion and we are still counting. last year alone, savings was

$1.7 billion. of big part of that savings is taking advantage of lower costs surface transportation whenever possible. when we match surface to air and commercial to military modes of transportation we are leveraging our enterprise to maximum advantage for the war fighter and taxpayer. we saved $110 million a month moving mind resistant all terrain vehicles to our forces in afghanistan using a combination of commercial military air. we look for any opportunity to use multi modal operations for our global enterprise. my final call out to the power of the interagency and joint chiefs. president obama in ordering forces in afghanistan to draw down in iraq that a tight timeline for execution. we knew we would need help increasing capacity on the existing supply lines and establishing a new supply route.

we took our recommendations to the inner agency and the whole of government came through with excellent results. national security council ambassadors around world, state department, office of the secretary of defense and maritime administration, combat command and translation teams came together to make logistics' magic. this is when we were asked to expand quickly due to an earthquake in the caribbean that devastated haiti. a volcanic eruption that shutdown european air stations for three weeks. a coo in the company were we have our main passenger trains load operation. the deep horizon oil spill in the gulf and the worst flood in pakistan history in the last month and we still closed everything by 31 august that the president asked us to do. operations continued today at record-breaking pace. we continue to support forces in afghanistan and the drawdown in iraq. we petted the transportation enterprise rapidly to support

general ham in the implementation of the no-fly zone over libya. we moved out urgency to help with disaster relief in japan and provide response to the nuclear incident with special equipment and nuclear specialists from the united states. i could not be more proud of the men and women of transportation command. i have fun with our air crews and moved containers and walked for palace holding areas in afghanistan and explored the cargo holds with our merchant mariners. daily i am amazed by what our people accomplish. chairman mckeon, all members of this committee, thank you for your continued superb support of u.s. trans com and our men and women in uniform. it is my privilege to appear before you to represent the men and women who are the u.s. transportation command. and to tell you their story. thank you for taking my written statement for the record and i look forward to your questions.

>> thank you very much. general ham? >> thank you, mr. chairman. members of the committee, thanks for the opportunity to discuss with you the accomplishments of the men and women of united states africa command. i would like to introduce to the committee command chief master sgt johnson, command senior enlistment leader. we have only just begun our service to gather at africa command but i see already that he is exactly the right person to lead several important initiatives and to ensure service members and their families are well-trained and well supported. i am indeed honored to appear alongside general mcnabb. a highly distinguished chairman and joint force leader. this is a historic time for the united states africa command. we completed a complex short notice mission in libya and transferred control of that mission to and nato.

the situation in libya highlights important matters about africa. first, this event illustrates the dynamics of the african political military environment. one that has seen the growing threat of transnational extremists in somalia, election crises, southern sudanese represent -- referendum. storage of the resistance army to name just a few of the challenges insecurity on the continent. in order for africa command to reduce threat to our interests abroad and at home we need to contribute to operations, programs and activities that help african states provide their own security in a manner consistent with the rule of law and international norms. we must continue our efforts to enhance regional stability through partnership not only with african states but also sustained reliable support to african regional organizations.

africa command programs are designed to prevent conflict. simultaneously assuring the command is prepared to respond decisively to any crisis when the president so directs. has demonstrated in our conduct with operation of the sea gone. building a coalition to address this situation in libya was facilitated through longstanding relationships with interoperable witty of this time in nato. efforts remain building the security capacity of our african partners. we incorporate regional cooperation and pursue interoperable the in all of our programs, activities and exercises so our african partners are postured to form coalitions to address african security challenges as they arise. everything u.s. africa command

have accomplished is the result of the professionalism and dedication of the uniformed and civilian women and men of the command and our many team rates from across the u.s. government. they're dedicated efforts are a testament to the american spirit and determination and reflect our commitment to contributing to the well-being and security of the people of africa. our guiding principles are safe, secure and stable africa is clearly in the best interests of the united states and secondly, that we seek to help africans find solutions to african challenges. i am cognizant that the command is only able to accomplish its mission is with the enduring support of this committee and i thank you for that and invite you to visit us at our headquarters or better yet see us at work in africa. i would welcome your questions. >> thank you gary much. general mcnabb.

ongoing combat operations in afghanistan and iraq the response to the earthquake in japan and the president's decision to gauge combat forces in libya are undoubtedly straining the mobility force. have you reached or are you approaching any red lines in mobility capabilities? what areas of operations concerned you the most and are there additional resources or assets that could alleviate the stress on forces that reduce your operational risk? >> right now one of the things is our ability to pay the transportation enterprise -- at this point we have tremendous support from the reserve that volunteered to help wherever they can. what i would do next if that is not enough to handle what we are being asked to do worldwide, i would have to mobilize some folks and we do not think we

have to do that at the present level. what we have been able to is look at the regent requirement we had for libya and a requirement for japan. we basically stated close contact with sand, and look for things to slow down that they could take risks in primarily sustainment. the decision was made by general david petraeus and general madness to increase sustainment stocks in afghanistan which gave us some room to say can with slow this down and take care of these emergencies and then we will get back to you. that is the same way we handled haiti. the ability to mix and match is one thing we bring to the table. at this time i will say the civil reserve air fleet has stepped up anything we have asked. this last couple weeks i didn't quite understand how much spring

break effect excess capacity but i will say this one at us pretty hard next to christmas and thanksgiving. spring break is the busiest time for carriers out there. we brought the order of departure out of japan and in support of admiral willard getting back to the states and giving seats back to their homes was something worked closely with north, and trans com. as libyan operation unfolds we're looking at that carefully. obviously if that expands that is one way where we will be looking to say do we have enough right now. we don't see that. obviously there are some other places where there is turmoil. i will bring the ivory coast. you can bring in yemen. all those operations we work with after at -- africom to figure out how to do this together. at this point i am looking

forward to afghanistan and iraq making sure we can meet the timeline is coming out of iraq. as congressman smith asked me about how we do that i would say coming from 130,000 to 50,000, that work with general austin and his people in iraq, the material command under general dumb witty has worked superbly, bringing extra equipment through kuwait and jordan getting washed up and putting on commercial vessels is what i was mentioning we did have to activate any ships to do that. that system is working well and making a sure which stuff we will leave and which stuff we will bring home and which stuff will be sent to afghanistan is what we went through last year but this team did a superb job. my portion was not the hardest part. when i think about afghanistan i would say that we found the

power of intermodal operation being able to take by surface, much closer to afghanistan and jumping the last part using the airlift. we are looking for that same capability to be able to bring stuff out of afghanistan bring it to a port near by and by surface mode. we would like to get -- go both directions on the northern distribution network. we can only take stuff in. some countries have not given us permission to bring stuff out of afghanistan through the northern distribution network. the old team is working that. i continue to look to say i want to make sure i have lots of options in the distribution network. the pakistan lock, working with the military to make sure we do everything to make it -- as

smooth as possible but the ultimate case in the hole is the air and we want to take full advantage of that working with david petraeus and his team. that puts in a nutshell but we are getting there. >> despite the numerous briefings we received from the administration regarding military operations in libya many areas of uncertainty still remain. one question i have is where africom fits into the command and control structure of the no-fly zone and a tax on regime targets. does africom have a clear role in the chain of command or modes of operation odyssey bond or are you working with the joint task

force and will this affect our partnership operations in the region, our efforts against al qaeda? >> on the command and control side. at present with the transition of the operation from u.s. africom to nato, nato has full operational control of the forces that are conducting missions over libya. u.s. africom is currently in a supporting role to general broussard, i don't have an operational responsibility. there's always the potential for some view as unilateral military missions. one could think of personal recovery of a downed pilot or something like that and if that were to occur, that would fall

to u.s. africa command to execute those responsibilities. so with regard to the regional reaction it is frankly a mixed. as we see that play out in the african union many members. personal many states in africa have voiced their support for the united nations security council resolution 1973. the imposition and execution of those responsibilities but frankly there are other states that do not agree with the security council resolution. i think frankly as we proceed i am going to have a responsibility as i engage with our african partners of just having a very frank discussion about what u.s. africa command's role was, why we did what we did and be as truthful and forthright as i can and try to maintain the great relationships

we had with most african states as we move forward. your point is valid. there is an impact and there will be an impact within the region. >> thank you very much. ranking member smith. >> thank you. first question of transportation command. if you could play out how things are going in terms of challenges in afghanistan i asked about earlier through pakistan and other areas. are we able to get what we need? there is a major movement of equipment for the afghan national security force. how is that working? what are the challenges going forward? >> we presently take in a 35% and everything high-value we take in by air. that is the short hop on was mentioning by -- that is all the way from the state's depending on the nature of the stuff going in. it is about -- on the surface it

ends being 45% through the pakistan or lock, 55% of the surface through the northern distribution network. we adjusted more of the float to the north end we are not able to bring military equipment through the end. we only bring that to the pakistan lock which gets to your question. we have been working with the pakistan military to make sure we stress to them how important it is to maintain the velocity through the pakistan:00. i continue to work with them to see if there's any pilfering or attacks and show them where that is taking place and work with them to respond quickly. it is your stuff, 1 percentage too much. we continue to work hard with

task force guardian which david petraeus and general madness took over. general fetterman made sure -- the army force commander made sure discipline of what goes on the ground is maintained. from my standpoint if it is important we put that in the air. >> the security situation in terms of the pakistan route getting better or worse? there is concern about attacks against our supply line coming through pakistan. what is the update on that? >> there are periods when it goes a little higher. in december of 2008 when all of us had the no. distribution network it was 11% was the pole for ridge and attack rate. since then it has been below 1% but to give you a sense in july of last year when the floods

were happening things started to get tacked up. that is when you slow down the velocity, we went up to 2% but overall for the last year it was less than 1%. we keep working at that and making sure we are looking for every way we can smooth that. a lot in maintaining the velocity so it doesn't slow down and become vulnerable. >> create a bigger target. a quick question about africa. stability is of main challenge in making sure we do what we can to create a more stable atmosphere. there's a strong interagency approach at the state department and usaid. i have done a trip across africa to different countries of years ago and i know that is critical to being successful to leverage your assets and cooperate with peace state department. can you talk about how that process works country to country in africa and how you see that as part of your mission?

>> absolutely. with the design of the united states africa command there was a recognition early on that the problem you just identified was key. it does require a government approach to advance u.s. interests. command headquarters was designed with a considerable amount of interagency support. we look at our headquarters which is not surprisingly overwhelmingly department of defense but we have 12 other government agencies represented as a pretty senior level to include deputy commander who is a very experienced and senior foreign service officer former ambassador. senior representatives from usaid from treasury and commerce

and many other organizations to help us look at the challenges in africa through more than military lens. that helps us better to find the problem is so acute and in concert with our interagency partners bring to bear ideally the whole of government, various assets different branches bring to help african states build a secure environment they need to build. our aspect of that he is largely toward the military but the other aspect of government are key. the second point is we work closely with the chiefs of mission and they are the senior americans and we make sure each of our efforts are nested with the ambassador and the country team which are inherently interagency and we think that works to the best effect.

>> thank you very much. i yield back. >> mr. bartlett? >> thank you for your testimony, your long service and stellar performance. i have a lot of questions about our libyan involvement which i believe is both unconstitutional and illegal. but these are policy questions and i know yours is not to reason why yours is but do and die. so i will avoid the temptation to ask questions which you cannot answer but yielded my time to our most junior member here which is mr. west. >> thank you, mr. bartlett and mr. chairman and mr. ranking member. good to see you. general ham, great to see you. general mcnabb, strategic maneuver ability has always been the great thing about our forests and our country and we need to look ahead five years

and when you look at the effect we are moving more from a deployed type of military force morceau a power projection and retype of force where do you see the challenges five years and beyond for the transportation command? one that i am concerned about is the c-17 fleet. >> thanks for said. i couldn't agree more with the value of the strategic mobility capability and i would say we are being pushed especially as you think about global operations and how we are headed as a department. first and foremost that new tanker was my number one acquisition priority and the fact the tanker allows us to put global mobility reach and power is one that is all about and the new tanker will allow us to make sure we can extend out and really change the way we do our

concept of operations and be more efficient in that. the faster we get the tanker on board the better for my standpoint. right now we do things like brute force, using c-17s and that is not what they do best. they do air assault or airdropped. that has grown a lot as we go into afghanistan. we have gone from two million pounds of air drop in 2005 to sixty million pounds last year and we are headed tours 1 hundred million pounds of air drop. we want to get to the operating base and make sure they get what they need without putting convoys at unnecessary risk. we are pushing very hard to be able to have some of these intermodal multi modal locations legal places like rhoda, places

like djibouti. as i look to the pacific the same thing. if i have those places where i can get large stuffed into and have theater response whether it is the joint high-speed vessel whether c-17s do an airdrop or whether that is even as we look at hybrid airships if we get to the point where we get that stuff to these major ports by surface and have options for the theater commanders depending on the nature we really will have gone a long way. that is the part i am looking at because big dollar savings and very fast. that includes not only are positioning on the land so you can imagine giving those options to theater commanders and that will be useful to them. those are the things i am looking at and all that matters is where you want me to look at those locations and work those now. the investments and places like

diego garcia have already paid big dividendss and we are finding the power of that has increased the velocity into the war fighter because in those small places is not the number of airplanes but what we get into those small bases and that is where the c-17 has really played well. i get to fly the c-17 and it is an awesome airplane. when i fly with those young guys and young instructors i have $5,600. they put their arm around me and say let me show you how we fly this airplane. they have really taken it to a whole different level. lots of great opportunity. the c 5 m is performing well. and as we get the sea 130 j.s on board and the modernization program on the sea 130 h models you set this up with modern

airplanes we can for in quickly and make a difference. >> if i can ask one other question. general ham, we sit back as ranking member smith talked about the personal the political instability in africa. do you see an encroachment of any al qaeda elements and i want to get your assessment of china's intervention into the african continent as well? >> if i could take the second piece first, the chinese are very active across the continent but primarily in an economic way, i am learning more about that as i get further into the command. i know that tomorrow will be four weeks. a lot yet to learn about this. the chinese influence primarily in an economic vein would -- with construction, with oil and

the like. your first point about al qaeda and more broadly violent extremist organizations in africa is indeed the number one security challenge we face in africana and i would say most notably in east africa where we see the efforts in somalia attempting to expand their reach more regionally with linkages with al qaeda in the arabian peninsula and potentially linkages with al qaeda in the land of the islamic mud room -- those are strategic concern to the united states, people and interests abroad and at home. that is our no. one mission and our number one area of emphasis. >> mrs. davis?

>> thank you for your distinguished service. i want to follow up on the interagency question because over the years we have acknowledged exit military operations probably will always overshadow areas we are involved. are there metrics or areas you are looking at to see whether in fact that has changed dramatically, and what has contributed to that change? are we seeing military operations or activities that are really not getting in a way of diplomatic efforts that we had ongoing? >> yes. for us in africa command the

operations in libya were a different type of the operation in those. certainly overwhelmingly military aspect of the u.s. application of power. more commonly throughout africa u.s. africa, and is operating in a supporting role. in most cases supporting chief of mission initiatives or department of state led initiative is. is principally through department of state authorities that building partner security institution building is done of through state authority. through dod and u.s. africa command has a supporting role in that regard. the forces from uganda who operate in the african mission in somalia. the state he -- that africa

command support. we have the balance about right in terms of who is in charge. the department of defense for u.s. africa command we bring a lot of capacity and a lot of ability to enable those programs but by and large we are doing so in support of others. that seems to me most of the problems -- >> you're checking in frequently to make sure everybody agrees the balance where appropriate there are areas where you pointed out. where the balance, with our ranking chairman and we talked about how important it was the personal the people engaged in this effort didn't feel they had the same seat at the table.

>> that is something i will take a look at as i get my feet under me under this new command. as i told assistant secretary carson, most of the time i will make an effort to see him as he pledged to see me on the continent or in the germany, is important we have that strong linkage to lakeshore all the assets of the government get a voice as we move forward. >> you noted two areas where you are reaching out to military families, where they had some questions and problems. how else are you able to make sure military families feel they have the support they need in

that command? some of those are accompanied and the majority i suspect are not accompanied, certainly in djibouti where we have some forces? >> the quality of life for our service members at their headquarters and in our service component commands who are largely based in europe with one in the u.s. those families have excellent support. i do worry more so about the small contingents that are either in our embassies, separated in the way military service members and families have the programs that they need but generally that is good. that place -- a pretty large deployment of unaccompanied servicemembers. thanks to this committee they have some good quality of life.

never as good as being separated but quite good. >> mr. wilson? >> thank you. thank you for being here today. general ham, i am very familiar is that the southern command is located in miami. we know that the people of my birthplace have a keen interest in the potential of africom being located in charleston. my colleagues, tim scott and jim cliburn were here they would make a few points. charleston is the transportation hub of the united states transportation command as well as the primary seaport for container traffic between the united states and the south atlantic. charleston air force base provides the strategic airlift for africa for the government to include embassy support.

charleston is the leading command control and communications for africa. the relationships for the charleston medical community which would be so helpful in the event of an emergency in africa. the medical university is located in charleston. world-class facility. we know that most of the rapid deployment forces that would be used in african operation include special operations in the southeastern part of the united states. charleston is the hub of all military transportation. the see left in repositioning to africa. and the linkage i had the privilege of visiting in liberia. the great cultural association of west africa to charleston is very clear. it is a shared culture. we had the same accents and i felt right at home when i was

visiting monrovia. i found out to my pleasant surprise that the african-american methodist church in south carolina is in liberia and it sponsors the a am the university. secretary gates has indicated the decision made for moving african command won't be considered until next year. when the decision is made, the considerations that will be made is quality of life or dependence access to school, jobs and medical care, what do you see? ..

>> security, suitability, quality of life, transportation modes, accessibility to the area of responsibility, a whole host of requirements that we would like to station our headquarters. so that process has begun and we will look at first of all make sure we have the methodology right, and then we will look at a wide variety of locations to see which we think would make the best, the most suitable for the commands to acknowledge its missions. but it will take us a little bit of time to do that stuff. >> you visited charleston ones. you are welcome back "glee." and you will see such a

symbiotic relationship with west africa. to the low country of south carolina. the people there are very proud of the shared culture, but then i visit all the other features i told you and i know that if scott or clyburn where they want to make a point. general mcnabb, my final question, with regard to refitting railcars, what's the status of refitting the old railcars as opposed to buying new? >> yes, sir. our service deployment distribution command has been looking at that and have basically decided that refurbishing old probably makes more sense from a business case. right now we've been asked by osd to take a look and say okay given everything going on what should that number d., 4000, 5000, where should that be in there? right now they're doing that study with osd. >> and to conclude, this is a bit of history there. where retrofitting occurs in south carolina is the site of

the first scheduled railroad in the world between charleston in 1832. thank you. >> thank you. mr. johnson. >> thank you, mr. chairman. and to mr. wilson, i would comment that when i've been to south carolina, charleston, i've enjoyed myself in that area, but i would also point everyone out, or point everyone to the fact that i live in the atlanta, georgia, area which is the transportation hub of the southeast. we've got the world's busiest airport, high-capacity. we have approximately quite a few military aviation faciliti facilities. we've got one of the country's

largest the aspera communities from africa. superb infrastructure to support the military's communication needs. world-class educational institutions, georgia tech, emory, the eggplant university center, high quality of life for personnel who were assigned or who would be a sign to that area. and i think that it would be a great thing. i know that ambassador andrew young is very much interested in the africom choosing to locate their headquarters in atlanta. and i survey join in that desire. if not atlanta then someplace in

georgia would be great. but i want to also congratulate you, general ham, for your new assignment, for weeks and. i know that you are still trying to get adjusted, and it seems like you came in at a time of great action going on in africa. the libyan situation, we've got situation in the ivory coast. i understand that the president gbagbo has resigned and is asking for u.n. assistance, or u.n. protection actually, and that's good that he will be

moving on. i would like to ask you, our u.s. personnel or equipment taking part in the u.n. operations in the ivory coast? >> congressman, we are not. we are in very close dialogue with the u.s. embassy, and also with the french have a large presence. as we typically do with u.s. military, we plan for possible contingencies, and as the chairman mentioned, the security situation had been deteriorating for some period of time. so we look at a whole range of possible military actions that might be necessary but we have, the people at the embassy our present. the ambassador has asked for a small coordinating team just to maintain communications.

and we've got that at able to him as well. your information is probably a little more current than mine, but as i was departing, the pentagon to come over here we were at the situation where it was indicated his apparent willingness to turn himself over, but that is not yet been accomplished by the time i left. hopefully that will be accomplished in a calm returned to the country. it's sorely needed. >> thank you, sir. and would you also update us on the progress towards increasing the professionalism and accountability of the forces in the democratic republic of congo? >> yes, sir. it's an ongoing effort. we have one battalion. we think that one battalion will perform pretty well but we think

there's more that we can and should be doing to help congo become a more professional military force, more civil control and responding under international norms. but initial indications are pretty good i think, but still certainly some work to be done. >> thank you. general mcnabb, i had questions but congressman wilson kind of threw me off track there. so i will get back to you at some point in a future. thank you, gentlemen for your service to the nation. >> thank you. the chair recognizes mr. kline for five minutes. >> thank you, mr. chairman, and with all apologies to my colleagues from south carolina and georgia, most of windows that minneapolis-st. paul is probably the transportation center of the entire world. general mcnabb, i've got a copy of the letter that you sent to mr. babbitt, the f.a.a.

administrator, where you are expressing some concerns about a proposed rule that will affect crew rest for our commercial partners. could you briefly outline what your concerns are, what impact this rule might have on our ability to move troops and personnel? >> sure. congressman, actually mr. babbitt did come out, administrator babbitt did come out and visit with the transcom, also visit with the command and we chatted about what this impact would have on our reserve fleet especially the non-scheduled carriers that the legacy carriers kind of a separate issue but the nonscheduled carriers, primarily due the charter work, not only for us but for others, as i mentioned, to him i said safety is paramount. there is no question that -- >> what would the impact be? what is your concern your? >> sir, the biggest concern has to do with you get modern airplanes when you think about

-- basically one size doesn't fit all. when you talk about regional carriers doing a number of land during -- versus long carrier legs, then different level of fatigue and they require different approaches. when you talk about the non-scheduled carriers they are taking separately from the united states and ideally with modern airplanes going all the way to afghanistan, not stopping on the way, taking advantage of that. ideally i've been pushing hard for the modern airplanes of the longer-range. that increases the velocity. it also means we don't have to worry about stopping to some of those locations. it allows us to go very rapidly. so i asked them to take a look at that, take a look at better rest this goes, better operational risk management type things that say let's look at this unique part of this mission and make sure that we enhance safety but look at all the ways we can do that. >> if i may interrupt again for a minute, this rule would take way that flexibility. what untidy get at, impact would be we would move fewer troops,

we would take more time, we could move less equipment. what with the impact of this rule be? >> certainly it is time and certainly it is dollars. and what i am probably most, what i want to make sure it is our u.s. flag fleet stays competitive and if we don't take full advantage of modern airplanes on the international market will find ourselves not in the market. i'm very worried about that because i depend on those. >> i am, too, general. thank you very much. if there's anything this committee can do i will touch you will communicate that to us. general ham, i want to go back to the command structure for operation unified protector, and i have a little thing here am admiral stavridis i think, nato, sort of a command structure outline. and it says that we've got apparently lieutenant general joe does, american, vice admiral

rinaldo barry, i should put my glasses on, i'm sorry. anytime. and we got a canadian lieutenant general and they are reporting to admiral stavridis, supreme allied commander, europe. the question is, do you see your relationship as commander of africom has the same as general mattis is to general petraeus and admiral stavridis, we're trying -- the chairman asked you about that relationship and you said there might be uniquely american operations were presumably you insert yourself into this chain of command and take u.s. forces and use them for, in your example, it was a pickup of a downed pilot or something else. help me understand what your relationship is to this -- i know you don't have this, but to this command structure i just

describe which is a nato command structure. structure. >> sir, it is quite analogous to what you described in afghanistan. where in afghanistan admiral stavridis in his nato role overseeing general petraeus, a nato commander, supported by general mattis, a united states geographic combatant commander. so that relationship is very similar to what we have here. i do not have a day-to-day operational role, but libya is in the area of responsibility of u.s.-africa command so we have obviously an enduring interest in one operation unified comeback tour is complete, when the alliance decides it's nations have been accomplished, then libya is still in africa command's area of responsibility. so i remain very closely connected with admiral stavridis, admiral locklear,

and, indeed, the general canadian who is a very competent commander of the. >> thank you very much. i yield back. >> thank you. the chair recognizes the gentleman from florida, ms. castor, for five minutes. >> thank you, mr. chairman. of them, general. general mcnabb, i think many of the personal and u.s. transportation command are something of unsung heroes. i mean they do it all from the intricate and complex deliveries of supplies across the globe to air refueling to deployments and redeployments, and then you have the disaster response and all of the arrow medical assignments that you have. i don't think you get enough kudos so my hat is off to all of the personnel and u.s. transportation command. i know that one of the primary issues for transcom has been the

ongoing saga of the kc-x air refueling tanker. and we finally reached the point now where we can all move ahead and they can focus on actually building, engineering and building those aircraft. how do you keep the kc-x on time and on budget? >> yes, ma'am. first of all obviously the air force will depend, i depend on the air force to be able to be overseeing that in making sure that it stays on time and on budget. >> you can bring added attention to general schwartz and the air force. i want to hear whether not yet the ability to do that. >> yes, ma'am. and i think right now they have made -- that was the noble and acquisition priority just like it was a mind. i really do appreciate the tremendous support on both sides of the hill on giving us that new tanker. and i am absolutely excited about what it will bring. i think that the fact it's

primarily off the shelf in general, taking advantage of what is already in the commercial market, making sure that we were not asking for things that are beyond the reach and technology. a lot of the things that usually will drive something to increased cost or time, delay and time. most about stuff has been worked out. so i'm pretty excited about that and he seems to me as long as we keep a stable program, that we will be able to deliver that on time. and hopefully we'll be cranking those out in 15 plus a year and a we can replace the others that are done a great job. >> the mechanics that have worked on, continue to work on some of the eisenhower era tankers are magicians i think sometimes. what role has transcom played in support of the maritain relief to the earthquake victims in japan? could you give us a quick summary on that? and whether or not it is places

stress on our mobility systems? >> yes, ma'am. we've had 512 sorties moved about 306 packs in there to help primarily. those are those radiological teams and other teams that went in. >> are these teams and assets, are they in that area? could you distinguish, how far are you having to travel? do you have the ability to respond with assets that are close? >> certainly admiral willard is using his own forces that are already in theater, and you've seen them. you've seen the amphibious groups. you've seen the marines come up from edina. you have seen the seventh fleet, the naval assets coming. we have a number of airmen that are over there at different paces, and he is taking full advantage of all of that. where we has asked us to help is the stuff coming from the continent united states, or for emergency movement in theater

that they can't handle themselves. we have moved, for instance, fairfax rescue team from your, the l.a. rescue crash rescue team, and this is not only going into, but also dog teams deployed with them. we move the emergency generators, a plane load of 65 emergency generators as they were taken out by the tsunami for the nuclear plant. we also moved a planeload of boron to neutralize the radioisotopes. so we been doing things like that, kind of the emergency this a step we need. a lot of radiological teams, whether they were survey teams are chemical biological regularity coal teams. we've brought those on. and basically what northern command, the apple day when these came up he said hear other things they might need. we leave that to admiral willard. i make sure that i have airplanes that are on standby alert and air refueling assets to take it as soon as it is

identified. and once it is identified we pick them up and take them. we also did aided in the voluntary departure of all of the u.s. -- >> have it abide any teams in your mission anywhere else the? the only thing when it did discussion of is how quickly they need to move the voluntary departure. we decided we would do that all commercial. we went to our u.s. flag carriers like we were mentioning, spring break did have a play. there wasn't excess capacity and they basically responded very quickly. that allowed us to keep the details supporting general ham and africom, general petraeus and general mattis and centcom. at the same time having as details of able to take any of the emergency nuclear response stop immediately in there. so again our commercial partners really stepped up magnificently. by the time it was over about 5000 passengers, over 400 testament also got commercial

tickets on the schedule missions that were coming out a japan to get the folks home and then we work with northcote get into the final destination. >> thank you very much. >> the gentleman from colorado is recognized for five minutes. >> thank you, mr. chairman. first of all, general mcnabb, thanks for the job that you're doing as commander jennifer u.s. transportation command. a question about afghanistan, and that is you mentioned you want to get the c-17 more in its primary mission as you define it to do the airborne drops, logistical support. but i understand there's been some problems with accuracy, getting that inside the drop zone. could you respond to that? >> sir, i think you're probably talking about the precision airdrop system where we drop it at 10 or 15,000 feet and as a gps receiver and a square shoot and it comes into it the biggest issue with that was the terrain and the wind.

it has got to be able to keep up with those kinds of things we work with industry to make sure we continue to drive in the accuracy that they need on the ground. because of conditions primarily we been able to do visual drops. low altitude low cost using disposable shoots. that has been the primary about we have done. and normal content delivery systems, that's the primary way that we have been doing that. disposable shoots. i got to fly and airdrop 40 bundles where we dropped from the c-17, using night vision goggles. they work out very well with folks on the ground and we are coming in at 1000, 2000 feet the accuracy is within the standards that they need. so we have been, the 93-94% accuracy on putting the stuff on target, we aren't even looking at doing low altitude, high speed airdrops much like a special operators do, the c-17

and 130 j. are stressed to be able to do that. that's where you come in at 250 knots at 300 d. but we have to make sure we decide and looking for an ability to size this and keep the cost down, but it has to do with a parachute and the opening shock. >> those are the kinds of things we continue to work as they can we do it as cheap as possible depending on the thread all the way to put a precision airdrop that ideally we would like to recover and reuse. >> thank you. general ham, thanks for your service to our country and your recent congratulations on your recent command for taking over u.s.-africa command. first of all, can you just share with me what the rationale was for putting in steve garvey germany when central command was your predecessor and it deals with an area, geographically further away than africa and yet very passionate they are in

florida? >> yes, sir. africa had been divided between european command which has the bulk of africa to central command which had the horn of egypt and horn of africa, and pacific command which had the island nations at madagascar. so there were three geographic combatant commands previously that divided the continent. but the majority was in european command. so when the decision was made to stand up after command as a separate geographic command, the bulk of the resources were already at stuttgart. facilities were already at stuttgart, so for purposes of getting the command object expeditious start testing to make a lot of sense. >> i understand. in the situation in ivory coast right now, we have a constitutional elected government that is not being permitted to assume the government, and jeffrey

president-elect -- and you have a president-elect that is not allowed to assume his position in the government, that has not been a peaceful transfer of power, were there any quotations between that president-elect and you and your command in reference to any assistance? >> nose or. only to the u.s. embassy there was specifically focused on u.s. missions. for example, play for a noncombatant evacuation. >> so those virtually no communication whatsoever, from this constitutional elected government, that was not able to assume power to provide any assistance whatsoever? >> sir, not with africa command to the very best of my knowledge. >> well, you know, how would you define your mission in africa?

if you could not influence that situation in any way, you know, tell me how you define your mission. >> there was already a very large united nations presence, focus on this clearly their efforts underway to a variety of international and regional organizations to try to seek a solution to this, other than 30 application of military force. my sense is that that proceeded for the past couple days where violence escalate, we saw the united nations take a more forceful role. and i think that's what perhaps compelled mr. gbagbo to decide that it was time, time to change. i think that the vast role but africa command plays in these situations is to try to prevent them, to try to work with the

militaries and security forces of african states so that they are loyal to the duly elected and constituted government which is not something we saw play out in the situation where we had forces loyal to both the duly elected president and to the man who would not relinquish power. i think we can be more preventive rather than the application of military power to displace the application of u.s. military power, to displace someone in an african state. >> thank you general. the gentlelady from hawaii is recognized for five minutes. >> thank you, mr. chair. thank you, generals, for being here. general mcnabb, i was wondering because of others have testified before us, there's always seems to be this interesting relationship between the national guard and reserve as making up your force. do you also have that combination? >> yes, ma'am.

>> do you know what your numbers are? in terms of how me are active and how many of the reserves are national guard's supplement you? >> it's about 60% and are in the guard and reserve, and about 40% active. rough depending on what weapons system to get a great team out there in hawaii. general wong and his team have been superb, and figuring out new ways that we can take full effect of the total force, sharon airplanes in fitting out the best way to use the guard and active duty. it's been very positive. >> thank you. thank you for saying that. i'm really curious about whether you have had any problems with, i think it's an article 10, or title x and title 32, the guard really is a state function, reports and is appointed by the adjutant generals, and appointed by the conference. how do you work out the chain of command i guess for lack of a better description? >> when they are flying a

federal nation, obviously they get paid for that. and when they do that they come onto our orders, and then they use our normal chain of command. they do some guard missions in which they stay under the governor's, command and control. i would say that for a special on the mobility side i am very, very happy with how that all works, but it's fairly simple given the fact that we give them a mission, they fly it and they get paid for that. it works out well over all, and it's a little easier for us especially on the air lift site. tankers are the same way. for the most time anytime we've had a national emergency i've never once had a governor say, well, i'm holding the tankers back or the 130s or the c-17. not once. they always know that this is part of this where we really get into, you really see the value is for a domestic disaster like katrina hit and at that point

how do we make sure that we are using not only the guard bureau but our support to north, in making sure that all comes together. and i would say that has gone very well. we saw that in haiti, really some very, very could work in making sure that general mckinley at the national guard bureau chief and as working through that, it really has not been a problem. >> so what about, you testified earlier about japan and the amount of support that you had to coordinate. is any of that support to the prospective guard units and/or reserve units of? >> we probably -- we had some of the people flying, flying commissions, but their flight there, flying back and is a specific mission in which they are doing that. the rest of them i'm not sure how much of the guard would be on those chemical, biological and radiological