aid medical research up by 5%. so why. no taxes. >> it's people that have even sign this pledge on tobacco. and other states are doing this already. this includes legislatures and governors. so it isn't as though they are opposed to progress but restrictions on their power to appeal to the certain constituencies and i think you need to have the flexibility to make the right decisions for america's future. >> do you think that there is a perspective? it's also about living with caretakers and i'm interested in

what importable care act and the social contract, as you feel it between the government and civil society and those people living with those disease, you have talked about research which may not help many of those within it. and as that come in discussion. >> if you're friends with a sick child that didn't have health insurance, you will never forget it as long as he lived. i was a student a few blocks from here brand-new wife and baby and no health insurance and my daughter had a problem and i said that i would leave the law school classes and wait to see who walked through the door.

and i was hoping whoever came through the door was a competent medical professional and it's a basic right that we should establish in america. it shouldn't just be this. when we get into this conversation about the role of government, that's where i come from. the affordable care act, most important thing i've ever cast. down by 30%, the rate of growth of health care costs is still an incline but planning just enough to get 13 more years to medicare system and we have seen that it is transforming the delivery of medical services and there are

16 million or 10 or 11 million fathers without health insurance thing that the right doctor walks through their daughter. >> i want to ask you one unfair question. if you are in the seat that obama had come how would you deal with this political environment differently than he has? what needles would you move? how would you deal with that task of making the nation healthier? >> i think we are surviving to constitutional challenges of the supreme court and we have soldiered on for some impossible challenges. and that includes in terms of legacy as we still have this in

terms of the legacy, how could it have been benefited differently. and i really encouraged him to make it part of his presidential platform and budget. he hasn't quite been there. but he's moving with precision medicine which really tries to take this and tailor make what individuals need. and i think that he is a great communicator and messenger and i would hope that he would spend more time on this medical research issue. >> that is a good answer. >> senator collins. come on in please come join us here. >> thank you for joining us.

>> let me just take a couple of quick questions for the senator burr were you run not. do we have a microphone? and we toss it over fast? are we going to have fun? >> just. >> hello, i am on both sides of helping the alzheimer's association raise money and i'm also a caregiver to my father who is 88 years old and has alzheimer's. and my challenge is we are raising money and i think it is wonderful for research. because i don't want any other families to go through what we have gone through with her father. at the same time i want to be able to see that my father lives a life of dignity. up to this point he was an active gentleman and very happy and charismatic. where does the money come from and how do we get the different nursing homes and care facilities and in-home care to meet the requirements to

continue to treat people with dignity. because i feel that as we have been talking to some of the other caregivers, that that is one of the things that there's no standard and is a very high turnover rate and i've been very fortunate and have found an amazing place that i hope others can find and then i hear horror stories about what is out there. so when you talk about the affordable health care and how we all deserve it, i also think that people who have served in the war as my father had and supported his family since he was 14 he still has a level of care. >> we are also going to discuss this with the senator because she has been investing so much in this area. >> she can answer better. susan was introducing a piece of legislation which gets right to the heart of the question. >> thank you. first, let me thank you for hosting this forum and also say

that there's no better advocate in the united states senate than dick durban for biomedical research and it's been a great pleasure to work with them. showing the both of us care so much about this. just so we could go the senator and i introduced a national caregivers act. and that includes answering some of the concerns that you just raised. we are spending $225 billion on caring for people and the majority of that is to have uncompensated care that the family members are giving up and we don't have a strategy for

trying to ensure that caregivers have the support that they need whether it is care home health care, whether it is support groups. it is modeled on the national alzheimer's plan and i authored with the former senator and that has produced a national strategy for alzheimer's that has brought together all of the federal agencies that is most important that has to do with the appropriate level of funding for biomedical research. >> let me get this gentleman right here. >> i commend the legislation with federal research and i think it's part of the next two

years. why is it that when the government develops these next kinds of basic research things that the drug companies pay very little in terms of licensees and you are ultimately provided to taxpayer funding in the first place but. >> there is no reason why they shouldn't pay more. it's modest. modest in terms of real dollars. we hope that even that modest investment will lead to some private breakthrough here but it's revenues and resources suggest that it can be part of the solution then people will ultimately benefit from these research but some of them will benefit first in developing the new products and when i read this "fortune" magazine piece i

sent a copy of it and it never mentioned this once in the entire article. >> there were 10 different elements of what basic research led to these developing with these new drugs. so there is a linkage there and i think engaging in funding some of this research. >> and with interest about the amount of money that is very large. which is one third of the entire budget of the 666 million they put in. >> that includes those in the lab who are getting the market. those that invest earlier usually are wiped out in the way that what he is deluded.

there is a structural bridge that is not being met by most. to just say that they should do that doesn't necessarily figure out the intent of problem. >> i think that it makes sense for the business model. but i really view this whole research question not just by medical research but related research to be the kind of commitment that america needs to make in this 21st century. look at our competition. and what china is doing now. >> there's a lot of concrete. >> they see this coming, they want to be dominant. we better wake up to this reality, i am not opposed to finding the cure for alzheimer's and using it in the.

what we did has been paid back to us 150 times over for every dollar spent in doing that. and it will continue to and it is an economic driver and not just morally. >> i just want to encourage us to look at this in a broader way. alzheimer is the nation's costliest disease that it is going to bankrupt medicare and medicaid if we do not invest in the research. the alzheimer's association has said that if we could delay the onset by even five years it pays for the increase in research and i think that this is one of these issues we we are looking at it because if you look at this, it is the costliest

disease, the return on investment, if you look at the tsunami of things that we are going to be facing just because they will be changing demographics as a country, we can't afford not to make this investment. >> senator durbin, thank you so much for coming. [cheers] [applause] >> it's great to see you. >> i think there is a story there. we were just talking about him moving from animal house into his own place and there had to be something they're from the daily routine. we've also talking about this, and he talked a little bit about how he was going to the gym with

dick and they would target republicans at the gym sort of seduce over whatever legislative game they had. the work that way yourself? >> i have a far more direct approach and i just bring people fax and then badger them until they agree with me. >> i spent much of last night actually reading about the volume of things that you had done. and i was just reading tweets of diabetes and the whole broad arena of how to ink about designing homes differently and you must know more about the subject than any of your colleagues. would you say that's the case? >> you have invested heavily.

>> prison while i had the privilege of sharing this committee and he wanted that job and i represent the oldest median age in this country. >> that certainly is part of it. >> but also i meet constituents every day including members of my own family who aren't going with the issues that one of your questioners brought on they are the low incomes they we have a lot of families that have moved away and we need to figure out a way to make sure about this. the statistics are really a call

to action for all of them. what we have been learning from the experts is by age 85 and many of us are going to live to at least 85 nearly one out of two of us will develop alzheimer's or some other kind of dementia and the other one is going to be taking care of that person. and so to me that is a true call to action. >> finally due to great advocacy , which i've never understood. >> what is that? >> i don't understand it. you know it would be whispered that she had it.

and i didn't understand that either. and with alzheimer's there has been, for some reason the desire to keep it hidden within the family and i think that that has really changed and that is what has helped us make progress and as they have already said, we have made tremendous progress in the appropriations bill and we have only been funding this at the highest level of $600 million and this is for a disease that caused our society $226 billion. 153 of medicare and medicaid in this year we got a 60% increase of the appropriations bill to bring us to 950 million and we should be at 2 billion and that

is what the experts tell us. if less than 1% that we are spending. >> to durbin was sharing with us i'll be at a different inflection point in technology and history and he was pretty modest because i was looking at his target for dealing with alzheimer's and you got your colleagues to basically say this is a vital national priority, let's move up the date. and when i think that 18 back 18 years ago we didn't have gadgets like this or all of the embedded sensors were the wearables. do you feel in your service to the country that all this stuff

do you see in the crystal ball something different in the next 10 years? >> yes i do. >> i have tried with so many researchers and i spent a fascinating two hours at mass general with their alzheimer's research and they are making real progress and it takes money. no matter where it is mass general university of pennsylvania, all across the united states there is finally a focus on alzheimer's leaves me optimistic that we are either going to whine better treatment

that will probably come first, but ultimately a means of prevention or a cure. it's the only one of the top 10 diseases and here is what makes me optimistic. when hiv and aids came on the scene, we really made some breakthroughs, look at the breakers that we have made in treatments of people with hiv and aids. it is just amazing and it happens, if you think about it pretty quickly. but it was because there is a national strategy and the investment. still spend $3 billion a year on

hiv and aids compared to the meager 600 million, soon i hope to be 950 million for alzheimer's. so for me, that shows the execs are concentrated effort. >> back we had called this money would this and she said that she was sick of mice. when she was trying to say is that we can show that we have for them of alzheimer's but the translation of that's what we are dealing with a soda limited and there are so many problems and she made two interesting points, one of them was that the stigma issue or something out there is still limiting those people willing to step he forward to have those genetic markers done and get into the pool that they would need. hundreds of thousands of people

is what they would need over a period of time and the second issue is that we have a ridiculously low tolerance for risk. but if you are having a valve procedure or other procedures in which the risks are high, people take them. but there seems to be a barrier to that. have you ever thought about that dimension of risk and population pools? >> i have. one of the hearings that we held, we had the restauranteur to testify and she sadly has early-onset and one of the wonderful things that she has done a public service announcement reaching out to african-americans in particular. because they are not participating in clinical trials

and she is encouraging their participation and i've had members of my own family participate since this for alzheimer's. but we need people to think not only about themselves but the next-generation and yesterday i met with two constituents who were struggling with early onset alzheimer's which is the saddest kind. and there are genes that have been identified for early-onset and so they can get tested for it and they talked about the dilemma of their 29-year-old daughter who is about to get married and she can't decide whether to get tested or not.

she can't decide whether she wants to have children or not because she feels that she doesn't get tested she shouldn't have children and that is a horrible dilemma for someone to be in. and i think it causes people when there isn't an effective treatment or cure to be hesitant about getting tested or genetic markers because they think well if nothing can be done do i really want to know? him and i think that the more we can get people to participate. ..

>> >> they still want it to be known. sold part of our job is to do more forums like this to encourage people particularly celebrities for

the we had glen campbell come. he played his music before going on with his daughters help and music has stayed with him and i have seen that before. >> you also had richard gere playing an older man who was homeless so there is the element of homelessness and not being connected. so a to be honest some democrats were not big on science but their savings to be a lot more in your party. [laughter]

with the investment in science the belief it can deliver something is a point of contention is there ewe to bring over? talk about the most conservative members of the caucus so go talk about biomedical research with your constituents so interested in this debate about science and if that is a challenge? >> the best answer i can give you is that the republicans are in control of the senate and for a the third time ever we had a 60 percent increased in the

alzheimer's funding. [applause] >> very good dancer. >> you make a compelling case about the national security issue and victor been talks about that area of necessity. what is the problem to bring on more more quickly? >> there is a lot of serious diseases in this country to give focus on cancer research that we spend 5. $4 billion. rebate to look at the successful investment of cancer research and

cardiovascular diseases. there isn't an awareness of the prevalence of alzheimer's. partially because people used to die earlier and also people would say she has got to do and senile aunt they didn't realize that was the disease. raising public awareness is critical to get that type of support that has been there for other diseases to those

powerful advocacy groups that is what we need to do. senator clinton was my first co-chair. has ben a while since she was in the senate but back then it was difficult now i have people clamoring to be that co-chair. now senator warner it is a real difference. to bring bipartisan efforts.

>> we're in a jury a political season just about everybody know was running for president. >> i don't know donald trump [laughter] >> is there a responsible way to elevate? to talk about silly stuff but is there a chance to bring those issues to the broader discussion? >> jeb bush called me to ask for my support. i am endorsing him but i took the opportunity to talk to him about alzheimer's i had him on the phone. >> that is a treatable moment if you were tweeting.

i would ask him to comment. >> here is the good thing just a few weeks later he talked publicly about alzheimer's disease his mother-in-law battle with alzheimer's and said the for more investment. it worked. [laughter] but regardless of who you are supporting what is their position? encourage them to make it part of the platform or the agenda and push them to speak publicly. it worked in my case. >> let's go to the audience. >> if has not entered the

discussion by interested how you think about that what are the ideal will pull things to check off the box it is beginning to percolate >> i will give my parents' credit but they built their two-story house 1957 and smart enough to put a master bedroom and the bathroom on the first floor. and they closed off the top floor. but i cannot imagine hell they had the foresight to think about their ability to climb stairs. when my father had his tuttis replaced, was not an

issue for them. i happen to have broken my ankle last december and the house that i lifted the goodness has the automatic chair that goes up the staircase. little would i guess i would be the one to use that. to be the university of maine to help people aged place. to interview 50 seniors what you mean? it was all sorts of indicators to be connected

to their loved ones there are a previous -- privacy issues but we are all long way from the i have fallen and i cannot get up. but then to realize you could redesign living spaces to renovate those living spaces so there would be a sensor if you did not change the refrigerator door or a better pathway through your house if you lose your vision through macular degeneration. it is a really exciting area most of us want to say -- to stay in the privacy of our

own home. we have to make that possible. and did this issue to have someone come in to institutionalize care verses to predecessors and it was wonderful. >> i am talking about you the other night and no one knows this. >> yesterday i had a nice

conversation the surgeon general was a member of the alzheimer's study group that was supposed to be a wake-up call for all the statistics that you have manchin and/or dr. john has an agenda. -- has mentioned and i asked him if all of this is true facing the tsunami of cases why is that? what is the problem? he does it knows the answer but one theory is i'd like hiv/aids that affected young curve people one reason for the slow response

unfortunately affects older people as those who were afflicted but that does not explain everything but what explain -- what party think it explains the slow response? >> to piggyback of that. with the self awareness hopes our genetic makeup is the question of that changes the stakeholder petri 50 your 30 years before. >> first half to tell a story about the doctor he was surgery general. it turns out that the

institute of medicine study with my old school who practiced for many years and has since died of alzheimer's. i do think the world of him. any of you who have had a family member with alzheimer's no that it affects the entire family. and not just the victim of. dead grandchild and whose name is no longer remembered, the spouse who is trying to deal with at the first time is yelling at them. it affects everybody. so have been seen this up front and personal i don't

think it is because of the disease of the elderly. i think it was because for years it was hidden in or people died earlier or she is senile. we did not understand it was a dizzies even though the work had been done for years. but think of the difference in the last five years of public awareness is remarkable. with the alzheimer's association has the purple flag advocates to town i always have the hearing that day because it fills up the room. items are a -- i'm sorry. >> you answer my question. i will take one last question.

>> i with so the other people want to personally thank you for everything you're doing senator collins. to knock that up a notch to talk about a presidential candidate but in the words of a waterfall journalist we have to declare war on alzheimer's. if you have worked with a foreign leaders or a counterpart to address this in a more global way? >> yes. great britain had international conference.

i was invited to it. i desperately wanted to go but but george brought in people to meet with the internationally because we do need and the international approach and we need to pull resources. if you do get federal funding for alzheimer's research, you should be required to share. not always. are they. i don't pretend to be an expert but i am told that some of that is proprietary is in conjunction with a

pharmaceutical company which often is. but that one ruth be published as i recall that it should be a menem -- set minimum but we do needed international approach the problem will only grow worse across the world than there are countries in western europe where the population is aging to be particularly interested in a collaborative approach. >> with the sharing of data or research as long as the privacy issues, the single thing that comes up the most. we didn't begin careful

blood dash cambridge the absence of protocols is the biggest inhibitor. >> thank you. [applause] >> this has been a remarkable morning and they're pretty a gratifying amount of humor with such a serious subject with the economic cost. i have one request that if your e-mail you have a survey about today we would love your feedback.

they give it to steve rand oblivious and also to the alzheimer's association give

>> now that we have our first grandson i have moved down in the pecking order in our household we need them, their children and adults.

next month we'll be celebrating our 40th anniversary and i'm thankful she's here with me today. i accept a reserve commission in june 1975, university of virginia because i wanted to get married animated a job. when i joined which is, out of vietnam. discipline was not good, equipment was important mission and training was poorly resourced and rudimentary. though we will lead and we trained hard we were not ready. so in those early years i learned to expect little and to get less. but more important i realized being a marine and officer marine was much more than just a job that i was looking for. it's a profession, a mindset, a life. i can't realize the marines and sailors we serve and their families are special people -- i came to realize -- and a farewell led those who firmly

but fairly coach, teach and mentor them by those willing to address a half what they need for the nation and for the families that they can accomplish incredible things. i had many teachers at the best with the vietnam era staff ncos who for whatever reason took the time to keep me out of my own way molding and advise me when those times were tough. i also learned the hard grind of life in the infantry how to operate come move and survive in every climate please delete those that were not always willing commented to build a team to isle of wight a marine air ground task force, a team of seems, is the way we fight and why we win. i learned where most effective as a maritime force using the c. as maneuver space and as soldiers we hold an advantage over our adversaries when we came from our navy ships both on the surface and in the air.

and i learned to support involving of our families is just as important as ammunition food and water we need to keep ourselves focused and successful in the fight. over these past years to the efforts of great leaders our current, then, general dunford and his wife who have set the conditions for our future success and with the support of the congress and the nation we have kept at it. we've gotten better, better people, better equipment, better facilities, better trained better education, better leadership and we were put on a path to where he are are today. i koen de kort of men and women who are smart disciplined, trained, experienced, take care of each other and are ready to fight tonight and to provide what america expects of her marine corps. and expedition crisis response force and readiness. and although material readiness this one of the challenges do exist and which mites dashing must be addressed i am proud of

what the court is today. office if we cannot rest on our laurels and become complacent. i don't have to tell this committee that the complexity of the global security and private grades a level of uncertainty that increases risk to our nation. from violent extremism across the globe cyber threats and contested waters in the pacific. because of the security environment we face, the president and our leadership expects its military to be able to provide the options and capability to meet these challenges and to protect the security interests of the american people. among those military options expect that as a marine corps that correspond to crisis across the full range of military operations they expect a marine corps to be the nation's force and readiness and demand when the nation is least ready and needs us most a marine corps will be the most ready, answer the call and win. in order to be that marine corps we must be willing to not just be good but to get better.

be willing to look at new into the ways for maintain operational edge every day. every marine we recruit and reenlist in every decision we make, all the equipment we procure, all the training we do must make us operationally better. flexibility, innovation dealing with change uncertainty thinking out of the box all these things have to be place and something that is expected from marines. it has been in the past and it must be so in the future. finally to confront i promise dedicate myself to assisting and providing the nation that kind of bring core. the marine corps the high school young men and women our nation has to offer the most disciplined best trained and equipped and operationally capable marine corps we can afford at the best, to does the vital interest of health and well being and opportunities for success of the men and would accept the challenge to be a u.s. marine. thank you once again for the

opportunity to appear before you this morning. i'm ready for your questions. >> thank you general. recently general dunford stated to this committee quote we cannot excuse the 2014 quadrennial defense review with the budget cuts as a result of the budget control act. he continues stating that ongoing cuts will threaten our ability to execute the current defense strategy. the you agree with that statement of the general dunford? >> chairman, i deeply that we are held in sequestration level this year and the following years. we will not be able to execute the strategy. >> and with this continued in sequestration and its effects put the lives of the men and women serving in the marine corps in at greater risk? >> senator, if our readiness is

integrated and we can resource the train, we can't modernize the force if we had to commit the force it would be increased risk. >> in the 1970s he referred to general wilson and general barrow and referred to with a really terrible situation that existed, do you see a parallel to that today with continued in sequestration? >> chairmen come anytime we come out of conflict there's always risk to this effect. but they are all different. some we been able after 12 years of fortitude of very qualified and capable force and because we've been resourced and supported by the congress who i don't believe we are near that place that you and i remember from the '70s. there's always risk that things could happen that could take us

there, and i believe that's what many of us are concerned about. right now we are not there. and if confirmed, idq my personal pledge will do everything in our power to never go back to the place begin. spent we spent about a billion dollars on acquisition as you know at least in my view, the ongoing scandal is the cost overruns the f-35 complete testing of the ch 53 heavy lift helicopter. the list goes on and on of cost overruns. will placing service chiefs and the greater position of responsibility of service acquisition programs help address this problem, in your view? >> chairman come i don't think any of us were on the receiving end of the acquisition process are fully pleased. i'm not an acquisition professional but i think we all wonder why it takes so long cost so much money, why there's a delays.

so if confirmed i look forward to work with this committee and the secretary of defense who -- >> do you believe -- >> involve the service chiefs and the process. >> to do you believe we could make this process were efficient if you played a role in that process, if the service chiefs played a role in that process? >> i would like to believe if confirmed, i could provide value added to the process and make it more effective chairman. >> thank you. i'm sure you have observed the ongoing situation in ukraine. would you favor providing defensive weapons to ukraine? >> chairman, it's my military opinion if we provided additional weapons to the ukrainians that they would be more capable of defending their territory. >> i want to go back to just a second to the budget situation

because there is great controversy on that issue. and i'm not sure my colleagues on both sides of the capitol understand the consequences not only for our ability to defend the nation but the greater risks to the people that we ask to defend this. maybe you could talk to us a little bit about that and the impact on retention and morale, and of our all-volunteer force. >> chairman come in my current role i try to get out and speak to marines and sailors as often as i can. this force is very smart informed and so they are unaware of what's going on with the funding. i believe they are concerned, they are watching.

they want to know what's going on with compensation. you want to know what's going on with modernization and training. this congress and this nation has been very generous to them the last 12 years so they have created a very, they have a high expectation in the mind of what's supposed to be right. they don't have the context i had. they don't understand what it is to go short. they will learn if they have to so i do have some concern about retention. i do have marines ask me what's going to happen about pay and argued and/or training and our basis from our housing and those things. they know there's choices to be made but i believe whatever those choices are we can explain to them and their reasonable rational people and they will make the decision. i believe that they will stay but that remains to be seen.

>> senator reed? >> thank you very much, mr. chairman. thank you, general, for your service. the marine corps continues to test and develop general neutral occupation stated i think the goal is that every one would be qualified female in the marines as well as males. you just opening up the pace to company great theme officer can you comment upon the expectations and your commitment to making sure that this is unaccomplished? >> senator reed, first off let me say as i said in my statement that whatever we do it's got to leastlease maintain if not improve our operational capabilities. since the secretary made the decision to open up these mos's we've done a number of things. first, we assign women and mos's that help you previously

restricted units to begin the process of integration. we've opened up other mos's that were previously close to being a marines like me next mos's and light and the evidence. right now 94% of mos's are open to females. we send women to training battalion as enlisted marines. they volunteered and we ran into the train develop add-ons to see with her ability was to pass that curriculum. were also allowed women to compete in the infantry officers of course. the last thing we did in a major deliberate way was form a task force an integrated task force to put together men and women in teams units infantry artillery, tanks light armor and run them trained them and run them through an evaluation to get some data because we got there was not a lot of data. so we are still assessing that

data and that that will drive along with operational views with the recommendation to comment on would be an opening up those remaining mos's. >> this is a challenge for not of the marine corps but the army. just as we speak there are three women candidates in ranger school to see if we can validate and create an army path with a range of qualifications for females as well as males but thank you for your commitment to that. last year the personnel adhering and the former senior -- stated and always listen to sergeant majors, perch where people but i thought it was remarkable what is it. if we do not get hold of slowing down the growth of personnel forced them if we do nothing a little more attention to the health care with the generals have received, i am noticing the

level of quality of life -- never seen it -- we do not get hold of slowing the growth will become health care provider-based marine corps and not a war fighting organization. he further stated that marines care most about the next fighting, train and modernization. that i think is a dilemma we all face. can you comment upon that? >> i'm not going to speak for him. i for the comments. i know him. i think his concern is that we created because of the generosity of the congress and the fact that we are at war for rightful proper reasons we did a lot of things for medical care and medicine shortfalls. i mean, our facilities are the best i've ever seen and so we have taken advantage of the situation at the money that was available.

so young marine coming in today when he walks around, if she walks around they see what they see. they don't see what it used to look like. senator tillis will attest to that down at camp lejeune. the same thing at tampa pendleton. it's very nice, not perfect it is good enough but it is new and will have to sustain the. i think sergeant majors concern is how do we sustain it create an expectation that we can meet and if we can't meet that what areof the marines going to do. at the same time that's important, to me it's more important the training we give them and the equipment we give them passports maintainable training this challenge it, you may become interesting and it will improve our operational capability. and we've done that. some maintain maintaining that level i think is what is conservatism and much of that is tied to resources. >> my impression has always been quality of life issues, access

to childcare, access to medical facilities are critical but soldiers and marines understand if they are not well-trained well-equipped and ready to go that's the big called it of life issue because that means the shabaab or they don't survive and the mission gets is accomplished or it doesn't get accomplish. my time is expired. want to issue a put on the table. we had a brief chat in the office. since that the next battle we fight the first phase will be cyber dominated so we'll be fighting in the dark. perhaps an opportunity for other questions later this morning about how the marines will learn some of those old things like maps and compasses and you know, that may be very critical in the next night even though we have no sub -- even the with the most sophisticated equipment in the world. and the very much. >> chairman asked you a question

about the ukraine come and i was glad he did. i was over the wing of the parliamentary for the first time in 96 years. they only have one congress and the president. that's for us to the west. that's the religions to us. your answer was very similar to general dunford and you said yes, they should have defensive weapons over there. what would be your choice is looking at what priorities and what types of weapons they need the most right now? >> senator, i've never been to ukraine. i've been to georgia. they had made a similar request. i think what i've heard to lose to the georgian, they're looking for defensive weapons, antitank guided missiles. >> for the record why don't you send your suggestions from looking in making those evaluations. i know that they just finished testing of the f-35 and you

haven't had a chance to go over and review it. i understand you are in the process of doing that now but what is your opinion so far? have you developed any yet? >> senator, as you said, the first f-35 squadron in arizona our plan was to declare i see with them this month. that's still the plan. they didn't operational evaluation. beaumont reports i have received but have not seen the report they did very well. the report is with the commandant eddie going to take a look at that and make a recommendation as to the sector as far as them being i see. i'm hopeful that the pastor i think it has but one of the concerns we have with any new system is the number of spare parts of the fabled to keep the aircraft at the requisite level of readiness.

>> you in the process of making that evaluation for they are? you will be inheriting that. >> general dunford i believe will make his recommendation on ioc soon. >> general dunford has forecast the next decade will be characterized by small-scale crises in and around coastal areas. i interesting the marine corps is changing its point for the government of the next generation of armored combat vehicle from a self-appointed coal to a wheeled vehicle. i always wonder when that happens and when things are as tight as they are now although were facing out is unprecedented, was that a budget driven decision or do you think it is the right vehicle? >> senator, we had hoped to bought a hi speed plain fickle. it again took the incident didn't have the reliability we have not given up on high water speaker we are doing research and development. in the meantime we get a new vehicle.

the current vehicle is over 40 years old. there's not a lot of room left to improve the it's not very survivable in the modern battlefield. it has a flat bottom. we're pursuing off the shelf vehicles from vendors and we're going to continue to keep the amtrak or the amphibian alive and we're going to select down to two vendors this fall take 16 of the vehicles and test them and down select. so we believe this vehicle would not only swim. i believe it will swim comfortable improve automobile the answer by the build on land. >> the tragedy in chattanooga was one that we are all express your sentiments about that. we all share your sentiments. there's a lot of reaction whether it's private weapons, issued weapons. you have any thoughts on that?

>> senator, i know that there's a number of studies and investigations ongoing about increasing the force protection for those service members of all our service but outside the wire, outside the major posts and stations where we have law enforcement. there's some things we can do right away. just more physical protection protection of glass, glass that you can't see inside. that could include arming individuals. the our potential consequences but i think we need to take a look at it. at the same time we have recruiters. the story is fake and he did and went back to work. they had to go recruit. i don't want anything we do -- we need to stay connected so whatever we do has to ensure that we continue to go to

schools and find those good john and men and women who want to be made. >> i understand that. i think most of us would look to the military, uniform for advice along these lines. the last thing i want to mention is our schedules didn't get together because the building. we do make a point to come by to to have a personal visit. >> absolutely. >> thank you, mr. chairman. general, i want to thank you so much for your service to our cushy. your family sacrifice. i know goes hand-in-hand. i have asked this question to a buddhist, before this committee for approval and that would be what do you assess is the greatest risk or threat to the united states face is? from another country. >> if you're asking about a country speak who poses the greatest threat speak with another nation-state. i would agree with general

dunford that russia's most increasing capable force in the actions and the strategic forces make them the greatest potential threat. although i don't think they want to find a right now i don't think they want to kill americans. i think violate extremist want to kill us and their capability is not that great but their intent is high. the fact that have a message that seems to resonate around the world not just in this country but in other countries in the western world, they concern equally. >> so russia seems to be the one that has the greatest capability of doing harm to us if they would decide that's where to keep our eye on the ball. we don't have any relations with them or i've been told cold war is colder today than it was when it was declared. i don't know how you would, in fact, as far as trying to build that relationship or communicate

with your equals in russia or you have open lines of fumigation with an? >> i've met with russian officers in previous places in previous time. i never met with -- they have a naval entry or m23 corporate ever opportunities to meet with them it's always good to talk even if you disagree. i met with chinese offices and we didn't agree to much but we had a nice lunch. >> i appreciate that. i would say i think all of our hearts go out to the families of the marines who lost their life in chattanooga. we hope that never repeats itself again. what's your plan to do now to make sure the reason officers and the recruitment officers are safe and secure around the nation? >> whatever we do as a military is going to have to be consistent.

admiral gortney in 20 the commander is ultimately responsible for the force protection and we provide advice and we have a component with north. so we would work with them to open it whatever policies or procedures that we could do. in the immediate moment they've increased certain levels and measures that they put in place which i'm not going to discuss here that i believe are put in at this time. there are some more physical thing they're going to look at. >> you know there's a lot of discussion on the of basically about those who work in that type of environment should be armed to protect themselves with the government issues. they talked about their own private issues bringing in to protect themselves. blessings be the dialogue right now. i don't know if you have an opinion on that if you would like to see those who work or if you work in equipment office,

would you want a to have government issued farms to protect yourself? >> i think we need to take a look at it but i have some concerns about second and third order of that, particularly on the recruiters and their access and things they need to do. there's some practical matters that have to be worked out but i believe that will all come out in the investigations and in the planning that's going on right now. so i'm going to discount it but i think that's probably at the end the most extreme measure we could take to do what we need to do which is to protect those service members doing their mission. >> if i could ask you your view because marines seem to be the first ones in when they have a conflict. with that being said over in the middle east afghanistan and iraq, what's your feelings feeling about a three-state solution and iraq versus trying to continue to keep a one state baghdad solution to the problem we have

over there? seems like we are not getting very much traction i'm going down the same path we've been down so i don't know what your thoughts would be on the kurdistan -- and that back and basically have three separate, so that have the desire to fight where we don't have the sunnis desire to fight right now it seems. >> senator i respectfully would say that is way out of my line to talk about a three-state solution but i deeply disputed i'm so sorry do you think we have a problem with getting the sunnis the will to fight in that area? >> i was in an bar for a year. they will fight but they have to believe like any person is fighting that the government that supports them is going to support them. so if the iraqis government can convince the sunni tribes in anbar and other places it is my personal professional opinion they will fight.

if they can't do that they will continue to have a hard time. >> thank you so much. appreciate it. >> thank you not only for your service, but your families commitment to defending america. i think you answered well when you said right now we don't think the russians want to kill us but i still does. a nation i so desperate and are taking action to the in. have the opportunity with allies, a wise number of parliament with one of our allies recently, and his comment was that our number one is achievable priority now should be to defeat isis before it grows and becomes even stronger. and that there's a danger that could grow stronger. how would you think about that in terms of our immediate

achievable priorities? should we be taking more effective action to confront the rise of this extremist group in iraq and in the levant? >> senator, i believe that the actions we are taking out in support of the iraqi government the effectiveness remains to be seen. they are in the process of trying to regain control of ramadi. i believe i believe the iraqis can do this. i believe they have the capability, and if well led and supported they have the will. so the bigger question is do we need to go after isil and to make sure they're not able to create a safe haven and to continue to foment their violent theories of how life is supposed to be?

yes sir i do. and if confirmed i would look forward to offering potential other options that we could possibly be more effective. right now i think we'll see some success, i maybe wrong, but it's not going to be overnight. it's going to take some time. >> a key area is al anbar region. you with their for a year. and were you there when the transformation took place and the marines i know were involved in that when the tribal leaders reacted against al-qaeda and basically ran them out of the area? >> yes senator, i was. >> how did we help them of? what did we do to convince them that they had to cut the support that they could be successful and throughout al-qaeda?

do you believe we can do that again? are they capable of throwing out isis which i also believe they do not favor and opposed and which were not there. >> be supported as we are now the iraqi security forces. the situation was not as the adversary didn't actually hold as much ground then as they do now. i'm not aware, i have not been there since i left in 2007. i was back in 2011 right at the end when u.s. forces pulled out. so my knowledge base is aged about how to go back and see the what mine eyes could see together but understandable is going on. similar to what we are doing that we provided you to the ability. we provided support to we provided training, and at the end of the day our goal was that they would own it.

at the end of the day they have to fix this. >> they were successful to the degree that many of us didn't expect. it was a decisive moment integration of a stabilize iraq. there's no doubt about it. and i remember i believe general stuart, colonel or general at the time, now he is defense intelligence commander but he was there. we did a lot of things that supported him and gave him confidence. without putting large numbers of forces on the ground without leaving and combat operations in conducting those operations, due you think that -- do you think that providing embedded soldiers with iraqi forces with communication systems, with the ability to call in airstrikes resupply evacuation those kind of the things that an invented

american soldier may provide and the confidence they provide, could that be a positive factor in helping the iraqis forces have the confidence necessary to get on the offensive? and what they can to all these extremist? >> senator, it's been my experience that if we have americans with foreign militaries providing those capabilities that they do perform at a higher level. but there has to be other things in place so that the force protection of those forces, those soldiers soldiers, sailors, airmen and marines is also guaranteed. >> i think you and i trust that you will provide the best military advice you can to the president to your superiors and to the augusta and i will ask you, we've continued to give your best advice speak with yes senator, i will. >> thank you.

>> senator sessions, that was a great assist of questions because they were the same ones i had. i appreciate. i just want to refine a couple of those points. you not only being nominated to become an of the marine corps. you will be a member of the joint chiefs of staff nation stratified, secretary of defense adviser to the president you don't strike me as a guy who be shy about speaking up when it's necessary but a want to urge you to do so. your value experience wisdom your judgment is why you are in this position if you don't provide it in an unvarnished away then you are not the filling this job. i deeply hope that you will be forthcoming and as straightforward as you have been today with the highest levels of the administration because that's just vitally important that the president isn't well served if it doesn't have people who tell him the straight truth.

are you committed to that mission? >> i am senator. >> thank you. again to follow up on senator sessions questions about our role in iraq. you were there as you have mentioned. what are the elements of a successful advice and assist mission? how do we convey the will to fight other than simply providing weapons and supplies. what are the pieces come what did you learn from it spent in iraq because we're going we have to of these people fight for themselves. if they don't this battle is lost. >> senator it is a material fees. yet to get equipped and that is reliable and works and then you have to train the forced to use that and have have confidence in it. they have to be competent in its use and had to be able to shoot

and use radios, drive, and willing to go out and confront their adversary. that requires leadership and the most difficult part i believe will be there's leaders in every unit. you've just got to find them. one of the frustrations we had previously back many years ago is there were iraqis there a way to make sure the right iraqis was leading the unit. that wasn't always the case. i have not been there, i have not met the officers in charge of the marines that are there in time to time i hear from them. that are not discouraged. they are pressing so they need people to train. they need the equipment. they need the ability transit and the iraqis need a leadership. so it's kind of a stew of things

that have to be put together, and i think we are trying to help them make that stew and we will see as they go towards the ramadi objective we'll see if they are effective or not. >> the discussion is centered on iraq but we've got the problem of syria where we don't have a security force to be training and working with and my concern is that time is running out in the sense that isil is not only gaining ground, they are gaining ground organizational it. there have been reports that they're looking more and more like a state. they are governing, talking about secession of the leadership and are consolidating in many of the areas where they are. i understand the limits of american force and that we can do it all with airpower but how do we deal with syria? we are doing some limited training there but it seems very insignificant given the nature of the threat.

we could be very successful in iraq but you still have that large and governed area of eastern syria that is a potential home base for this group. >> syria in my mind is much more complicated than iraq, but they are linked. so if iraq were able to reestablish their borders in my military opinion it would facilitate what we did you in syria. right now i think the objective to train syrian opposition fighters against isil is with the ability to protect themselves, is a prudent move. it hasn't been as successful as a bleeping of us had hoped to but right now i think that's as good as we're going to get right now. 50 serious situation, again i

follow it but i'm not there i don't live it every day. it is exponential in my mind more complicated than iraq spent i agree. thank you, general. thank you again for your service service. >> thank you, mr. chairman and thank you general, and your wife, for the service you and your family have given to this country. we look forward to your continued service in the future. thank you, sir. when it comes to recruiting and retaining your marines what's the most important thing? is it modernization? is it having up-to-date equipment? is it operations tempo? is a compensation? what's the most important to these young people? >> senator, we've done a lot of surveys to try to find out what is the one thing that convinces a marine to stay. there is not one thing. it could be duty station.

it could be chance for special training. it could be opportunity to go overseas, could be education. it could be just quality of life and experience that they have had. so every marine is different, and so we have to offer kind of find out what it is. and if we want to keep them, convince whatever does we have to offer them to keep them. so we are fortunate that we've had a lot of marines who have not had problems either recruiting or retaining. i'm not naïve enough to think that that will always be the case but right now we have had sufficient tools, if you will to convince people to stay. i would say though for mary to marines a lot of in its housing

and childcare and medical. >> how are you able to fulfill the combatant commanders requirements? you are looking at reduction as we move forward, and there are some risks involved with those reductions i think. are you able right now to fulfill those requirements? do you think you will continue to be able? and do you think you may have to change your role in the future in order to meet the requirements required by those commands? >> senator right now we believe we are meeting the combatant commanders requirements. the combatant commanders have a lot of requirements and our concern right now as a service is, as marine forces command my task as they come about is to generate the force to meet those

requirements. so we are working trying to keep the force at the 21 deployment ratio district two to one -- if the requirement to go down we will be inside that which is of concern to us. you are always bouncing risk to the force versus risk to the nation. we will work with the combatant commanders to see if we can't figure out new different innovative ways to give them the capability they need to meet the nation. and at the same time by as a little more depth and well relief. >> what is the mission of the marines? >> the mission of the marine corps is to provide the nation's force and greatest crisis response and to seize and secure advanced naval bases as part of the naval campaign at to do those things as the president may direct. >> and have you seen that mission changed during your time

in the marines? >> no ma'am, i have not. >> as we look ahead at different threats that are coming up in the future do you see the development of the anti-access weapon like the long range anti-ship missiles, is that going to impact your operations at all? >> clearly the increasing capabilities of potential adversaries and anti-access area denial battle space is of concern. we talked about this. we exercise it. we trained it as we've gotten our forces off the battlefields of iraq and afghanistan and gotten back on ship. we are working that with our nato partners as part of the naval campaign. there's both a technical piece

to this and also a tactical these to this. we have to be a little more artful and skillful in how we approach this because they have capability so the days we could still where we wanted to sail without consideration of that those days are gone. >> you think we will have a strategic impact on how bring to be deployed in the future? >> we are going to be very wary of these capabilities and we will have to come as part of the joint force and the naval campaign there will not be the conditions set so that we can save the project that marine corps power. >> thank you, sir. it is an honor to meet you. thank you mr. chairman. >> thank you mr. chairman. i know we had an opportunity to discuss, gender, ma sexual assaults and the problem around it and the progress that we see in some of the numbers but that stubborn and cultural issues of

retaliation and he made a commitment that will be a priority for you to get the best way to get at that in terms of the culture within the marine corps. i also want to take a moment to acknowledge that the marines have work to do in terms of recruiting women. as you know only 7% of the marines are women and if you're confirmed when you're confirmed you have to make an important decision on whether to recommend any positions remain closed taking a marines. what i'm worried about is the pipeline. if we are not recruiting more women come you are not going to get women into various positions that will allow the kind of integration that's going to openly make the marine corps stronger and better and make our nation more secure. i would love to have some feedback from you after you're confirmed about any ideas that you have as the chief how we can

do a better job of recruiting women marines. >> absolutely, senator. >> let's talk about your audit. i am big on audits. you have been under audit log of any of the other services and you've had an opportunity to gain the most from this process. it's my understanding that the audit process to marine corps identified it historic and was requesting too much annual funding are permanent changes at the station and is able to reality that the 100 billion in the 2012 future years defense plan to make better use of those funds. this is a great example. i think people think and audit is like going to the dentist. you know you've got to do and it's going to be painful and when it's over you're not sure that it really was worth it. but audits are not like that because audits reveal a lot that help you allocate resources more

effectively and figure out where your nature of art and maybe like you found with -- goes and ability to move money around in a way that was important to the marines. in 2017 all of the services are supposed to have, the audit ready. i've been on this and on this was long as i've been sitting on this committee and i'm skeptical that we're going to get there by 2017. i'm also concerned that is the last statutory deadline for services and dod must meet. i would like to have your commitment to make the audit process within the marines a permanent priority going forward it's whenever i can get to this place where we have a massive amount of resources with no transparency. >> senator, you have my commitment if confirmed, we work just as hard as we can and get a clean or a qualified audit that shows that we can account for every single penny we spent.

>> let's talk about i thank you for that commitment and i will be like a broken record on the audit think until we get audits from all of our branches and we can begin. it would help us in our jobs. they would help us make the case if we were able to have a transparency that an audit provides. let's turn to readiness for a moment. in response to defense policy questions at it. attended the one to two deployments ratio is unsustainable. and i want to talk about the fact that the challenges posed by isis in the middle east and an aggressive russia neither one of these were planned for. so what would the effect be on the force is a significant marine corps response is required to address an unplanned contingency overseas in the near future?

>> you would have to do one of two things figured out to either grow the force. we believe the optimal size force for the marine corps is 186,000 marines. we can't afford that. so if we had a commitment elsewhere we would take forces that are currently forward deployed such as in the far east in okinawa and would have to reposition them to wherever that contingency was. we did that during the combat and i'm not and it's only for the past few years we've been able to reestablish our prices that we've had historically within the pacific. we have some options. the other option least favorable is we go all in. we activate our reserves and they go and do what needs to be done. we have done that before. you can do that for a short period of time but as you mentioned is not sustainable.

>> what is a short period of time? i may come in your best estimate, i don't want to hold you do anything here what i'm going to get a handle on is we are wrestling with very difficult decisions about the middle east and iran's nuclear capability, if there's some in the senate i believe are tempted by the idea and that we can go in and bomb iran and set off what could be a war much bigger than any that we've been trying to anything we've been trying to fight in over the last decade in the middle east. i mean how soon would we have to do emergency spending? is that, in fact, the most efficient way and best way to do it? >> senator, it's a difficult question. i would have to get back to as far as the details without knowing the exact size of the force with the exact mission was to with the combat rations

were and what we would need to do. what we have to accomplish militarily to achieve whatever the political objective was. >> i know it was kind of a dumb question because it's hard for the question to be answered without more specifics. i guess i'm trying to get into this conversation that talking of things in the abstract sometimes sound a lot better than what it is in reality. the more we are informed that what the reality would be i think the better job we can to making sure you have everything you need. i appreciate you. i enjoyed meeting your wife. i understand that she and i almost share a birthday and i think we are born when we are born you're supposed to be really strong and capable of being mean and capable of taking no prisoners, and so i am pleased -- [inaudible] >> i am pleased that she and i might share some of those traits, and i think she will be

a terrific addition to the barracks and to the hosting packages therefore so many. and i know how proud she is of you and how proud we are of your family. >> thank you, mr. chairman. general, congratulations on your nomination and i also want to echo, i know many of my colleagues on the committee want to echo what you talked about in terms of our shock and condolences to the families and friends of the marines from chattanooga. we've got to make sure that kind of activities don't happen again. i wanted to go back to the issue of readiness. you see from this committee's question you're going to get a lot of different questions on the committee on a whole post of

different subjects but i wanted to ask but the primary mission of the marine corps infantry which is the heart and soul of a marine corps and it's the nation to close with and destroy the enemies of our nation. sometimes we don't talk about that that what we're really focused on doing in the marine corps is being ready to kill the enemies of our country. does that remain the highest priority in terms of a record training, or do you see the marine corps being pulled in a variety of different areas different missions different mandates in terms of training? >> senator, we train for a variety of missions. i believe i can only speak for myself, my professional opinion has always been if i can do the high end of the mission, the most high risk, the most dangerous, most kinetic, and

i've trained the force to do that, that i can bring them back down to the other end. there are specific things. so we do practice. we do training of foreign militaries but our primary mission is to be a force in readiness to fight in all parts of the military operation. but particularly at the high end end. >> you and the chairman we're talking about the 1970s. as you know infantry officers in the marine corps are often encouraged to read this book, which i think is a great book. it's called this kind of war from which actually focuses on the 1950s and the korean war. and a sample of which you mentioned earlier about the marine corps being a force in readiness when the country was least ready. but do you worry about levels of readiness and training that we

could have another task force smith in the next five to 10 or 15 years but we don't get our funding and training levels in readiness properly adjusted? >> senator, that's also one of my favorite books. not because it's a good story, just because it is a good lesson. i think it's always in the back of our minds, and i think the current fiscal situation kind of brings a little bit more to the forefront. but at the same time as long as we can recruit and retain good marines and our dear is functional i don't see us going to the point of what happened historically to that force when it was put on the korean peninsula -- gear. all i can say this is confirmed i will give every ounce of

effort i possibly can to not ever allow that to happen, just as an artistic for general killey or any other service chiefs. that's our job. that's why if confirmed as the commandant i am responsible to you that that doesn't happen. >> thank you. let me, the chairman mentioned in his statement the importance of the pacific rebalance and the critical role that the marine corps is playing into. i think it's something that this committee, this congress is trying to support her i think in some ways the obama administration undermines their own strategy in terms of the credibility of the strategy by slashing army forces in the asia-pacific which is what they are proposing to do. i just have a few questions related to the rebalance. are you satisfied with how that is going over all in terms of the credibility of the rebalance for all the services?

and more particularly are you satisfied with the redeployment of marines from okinawa to guam australia possibly hawaii? and do you think when we do that that we are going to have the strategic lift to take what is a concentrated force now and okinawa to a much more dispersed force, will we have the strategic lift to be able to move those forces if and when we need them in the contingency? >> senator, i'm not qualified to make a comment on the status of the other services as i simply cannot waiting to what they're doing. as far as the marines, we left okinawa to go to iraq and afghanistan. we are back. the force that was there before is present. they are training. that probably equipped. they are ready to go.

we have changed our deployment. now instead of one of the time zone going to okinawa goes to australia for six months and eventually because of the agreement we will distribute the force to guam and put more marines on hawaii. i think the concern is as you state once we do this our ability to move that force training opportunities on okinawa, mainland japan guam, our limited edge of to be able to move with the training is to you had to move to other nations. you have to get to korea thailand, the philippines. and to do that you need sea lift and air lift. when we do this, and we will do this, means we're going to have to come that's going to be part bartender are some opportunities for high speed vessels of the navy and movement of, from the east coast will give us more lift. that is going to have to happen but i concur that the strategic

lift is kind of a long pole potentially in that tent. >> right now you don't believe that our strategic lift capability matches our proposed deployment? >> i believe it will but it remains to be seen once we get on guam and have two movies forces around. we do a pretty good job right now but again we are not on guam and we got decent training in hawaii, but we still have to be able to movies forces around. so i'm concerned about particularly gray whole amphibious lift. >> thank you. thank you, mr. chairman. >> thank you, mr. chairman. general, thank you and your family for your service. and, of course, the marines are an important part of the

military presence in hawaii and marine forces pacific land and at that day. and we are going to more marines as move them out of okinawa. so thank you very much for all that you do their i'm also very committed to the rebalance to the asia-pacific energy mentioned in your advanced questions quote, our strong marine presence in the region, been asia-pacific a help places inevitable that promoting the regional security and stability. if confirmed i treasure continue to support a tangible tangible rebalance to build and maintain the important partnerships we have in this area of the world speak with yes senator. >> you mentioned in the earlier response to senator sullivan how important training is. the missions of the