>> i understand we have time for several questions. we would be delighted to take some now. >> what role do you see as a primary-care provider? >> i think, you know, primary care physicians and any physicians are well respected by their patient and so i always ask patients to talk to your doctor. and as far as doctors, we need to always talk to our patients about smoking and way to quit smoking particularly in primary care arena where we are dealing with adolescents. we can have a very strong effect. >> other questions from the audience? going once.

okay. thank you very much for being here. >> thank you. we're live from the dirksen office building, the generals from the southern and northern commands are on capitol hill testifying before the senate armed services committee about the 2013 budget requests. they are responsible for security operations throughout the hemisphere and includes all of south central and north america. president obama's budget request amounts to $25.4 billion, it's a 1% decrease over 2012. it includes $88 billion in war spending $26.8 billion less than

2012. senator carl levin is the chair and senator john mccain is the armed services ranking member.

>> good morning, everybody, the committee meets this morning to hear from two distinguished military leaders to discuss security in our hem miss fear, general doug fraser and charles jaco kobcoby jr. this is general jacoby's first appearance before the committee as commander and we look forward to working with you. general, in your new information. general fraser, this is likely to be your last hearing before the committee and we greatly appreciated your testimony and advice over the past three years. our nation appreciates your 37-plus years of service in the united states air force. i understand that you and your wife reina are planning to enjoy much deserved down time after your change of command, and we

truly wish you all the best. in addition to thanking each of you for your long and distinguished service to our nation, we would also express that you express our heartfelt gratitude to the men and women who serve with you for their exceptional service and for their many contributions to our security. we offer our thanks to your families and the fam i hilies ol your personnel since they share in the sacrifices of their service and because their support is so important to the success of your missions and thus to our nation's security. u.s. northern command which was established after the terrorist attacks of 9/11 is responsible for the defense of the homeland and for providing defense support to civil authorities in response to domestic article or man made disasters here at home. its area of responsibility also includes all of north america, including canada and mexico.

general jacoby also serves as commander of norad that has the commission to provide aerospace warning and xrocontrol and marie warning for north america. we'd be most interested to learn, general, how northcom and norad might contribute to the emerging domain of cybersecurity in the homeland. as part of the mission of providing defense support to civil authorities, northern command must work closely and cooperatively with other federal agencies. particularly the department of homeland security and with all the states on plans and coordination for emergency response to domestic disasters. this requires close coordination with the state governors and the national guard forces to improve their combined federal and state response capabilities to a wide variety of emergencies.

we made significant progress on this front last year with several initiatives including the new dual status command capability. which is intended to allow state and federal military forces to work together to support a governor's needs for disaster assistance. as part of this effort, congress authorized legislation to permit the call-up of federal military reserve forces to support gov governors responding to a natural disaster. we would be interested to hear general jacoby's views on how the initiatives are working and how they will work. as part of a homeland defense mission northern command is the combat and command responsible for the operation of the ground base midcourse defense system, the gmd, to defend the united states against the threat of a potential future ballistic

missile attack from nations such asra the last two flight tests of the gmd system, using the latest version of the kill vehicle resulted in failures. the missile defense agency is taking steps to make sure that the vehicles work reliably and effectively until we produce more, including adequate testing and system enhancements as this committee recommended in last year's bill. pursuing improvements to the reliability of the gmd system that will allow the use of fewer interceptors to defeat intercontininte intercontinental missiles. as part of phase four, the department of is developing the standard missile three block

2-b, the standard missile three, block 2-b to defend against potential long-range iranian missiles that would reach our homeland. this could augment our system and we look forward to hear general jacoby's thoughts on this program. in july of 2011 the president released the strategy to combat transnational organized crime. it's the first of its kind, but the threat posed by transnational criminal organizations is not new to eater of our witnesses. today we hope our witnesses will provide their assessment of the threat posed by the transnational criminal organizations and help the committee understand their respective command's role in addressing this threat. northcom and southcom or the primary entities to which the department of defense engages in the western hemisphere.

the ability of criminal organizations to outgun civilian law enforcement and buy influence has meant that militaries have been asked to take on internal security responsibilities throughout the region. this expanded role for our neighbors' militaries provides opportunities for our military to improve its advise and assist acivitiy iey iey ies activities. we look forward to your continuing engagement in the hemisphere and respect for the military and respect for human rights. given horrific level of violence in mexico specifically related to the flow of money and guns from our country into mexico, you want to hear general jacoby's assessment of the

security along and below our border and the two militaries to defeat the criminal organizations. the southcom includes caribbean and central and south america. general fraser as we discussed last week while there's no traditional military threat emanating f, southcom is contending with an increasingly and powerfule these criminal organizations have gone to the point where they are a real threat to national and international security. the committee is deeply concerned about is prepared to consider ways to enable the defense department to provide unique capabilities to american law enforcement as well as well as foreign law enforcement and militaries wher organizations are brought on justice. efforts to combat transnational criminal organizations and other

armed groups in the region have seen success. the united states has invested heavily of building the capacity of the colombian military and police, the results are becoming increasingly clear. the colombian government is in control of the vast country and the farc are on the run and are only limited to fleeting attacks to remote parts of the country. in central america the impact of transnational organized crime is most acute. the efforts of southcom to detect and monitor aerial and maritime trafficking in the eastern pacific and caribbean have driven the criminal organizations to more complex methods of trafficking drugs, money, and weapons including semisubmersible vessels. transnational criminal organizations have begun to take advantage of nations that either

lack the capacity and/or the will to confront their trafficking. these complex criminal networks require southcom to continue to adapt and expand their activities with willing partners. further south general fraser in a different picture emerges, brazil, argentina and chile have capability militaries that improve international security by contributing to various multilateral organizations around the globe. they are important and should not go unnoticed. in venezuela the united states is confronted by a government and a military that is a purveyor of instability. president chavez and his followers sow inability to their criminal organizations and the money and drugs through the region. we look tornado to your testimony on that matter as well, general fraser.

general fraser and general jacoby, i touched the surface of the issues that face you and your commands and we look to continue to do everything we can to help southcom and northcom accomplish their security objectives. we thank you both again for appearing before the committee and for your service to our nation. senator mccain? >> thank you, mr. chairman. i join you in welcoming our witnesses today and thanking them for their many years of distinguished service to our nation. i also want to extend my appreciation to the dedicated men and women serving under their commands. i especially want to recognize general fraser as this will be his final time testifying before this committee in uniform. i imagine he'll be celebrating this occasion later today. what is cheer from the testimony this subcommittee has received over the last several weeks from our various regional combat and commanders is the threats

confront our nation and interests and ideals are not diminishing, rather they are increasing in focus and complexity. the prepared testimony from our witnesses illustrates this is particularly true with the situation in our own hemisphere. the horrific violence contributed to transnational criminal organizations and cartels continues to threaten the united states and erodes governance and security across the region. they exploit weak security forces, bribe corrupt government officials and transit across government territory and porous borders. their distribution networks have grown in scale and sophistication and we've seen a diversification in what is being trafficked which includes not just drugs but human beings, bulk cash and military-grade

weapons. these groups maintain enormous cash reserves and in many cases are better quipped and more capable than the government forces trying to stop them. of particular concern is the deteriorating situation in central america. as general fraser notes in his testimony and i vote, central america has become the key transshipment zone for illicit trafficking in the hemisphere. approximately 90% of cocaine destined for the united states transits the subregion. as a result violence has risen to alarming levels. last year the city of san pedro sula overtook ciudad, juarez, in mexico as the most dangerous city in the world. the reach of the criminal organizations extends directly into north america, including the u.s. some land.

homeland. we've seen the violence in mexico that continues to terrorize its citizens, president cold ecalderon has sh great fight, but it has come at a cost. in 2006 nearly 50,000 mexicans have been killed as a result of drug-related violence including 13,000 last year alone. such tragic figures serve as a stark reminder of the threat that these groups pose and underscore the need for continued u.s. support for our partners in mexico. the threat from these groups do the not end at the border, however. according to the 2011 national drug threat assessment released by the justice department, the car tells now maintain a presence in over 1,000 u.s. cities. general jacoby, i look forward

to ture assessment on the each of the networks, what northern command is doing to assist its counterparts in combatting them and what can be done to improve and expoond this partnership. general jacoby is commander of northern command, you are tasked with the defense of the homeland. what this committee has learned over the last several weeks of testimony is that the world remains enormously complex and dangerous. this places significant responsibility on you and northern command to properly posture itself to defend against and respond to the myriad threats that confront us. i'm interested in your assessment of what the greatest threats to the homeland are and what is being done by your command in coordination with the inner agency to address them. again, i thank you both for appearing before this committee today and i look forward to your testimony, thank you, mr. chairman. >> thank you very much, senator mccain. general fraser?

mr. chairman, senator mccain, distinguished members of the committee, thank you for the opportunity to appear before you this morning and thank you for the kind words not only for me but more importantly for the men and women who serve in the united states southern command. it really is my distinguished honor to represent them here today. i'm extremely pleased also this morning to be -- to join my good friend and close partner chuck jacoby as we have a very cheer and cholose partnership between u.s. northern command and u.s. southern command as we work the topics and the criminal organizations transiting through our two regions. our routine cooperation and collaboration means that the relationships between our staffs grow closer every day. with the continued support of congress and the members of this committee, u.s. southern command will continue defending the southern approaches to the united states and enhancing regional security and preparing

enduring partnerships. i prepared a full statement and respectfully request it be made part of the record. >> it will be made part of the record. >> i want to previously discuss two topics with you this morning and both you and senator mccain briefly talked about it and that's countering transnational organized crime. my other topic is building enduring partnerships. as i have discussed with you in previous test, the u.s. southern command has increasingly focused on a concern that permeates the region, transnational organized crime. biden discussed during his visit to mexico and honduras, transnational organized crime is impacting citizen safety in north, especially guatemala, el salvador and honduras, they threaten to overwhelm law enforcement and spread violence and halt the spread of these military groups.

to address this growing threat, last year the president implemented a strategy to combat transnational organized combat organized crime. in spaurpt of this strategy, it was developed. >> a plan to disrupt maritime traffic in the arrival zones in central america. we trained central america's military to support the organization. and u.s. supports international efforts by providing network analysis of their operations. in the caribbean under the caribbean base and security organization, we are enhancing the capability of our caribbean partners and we will extends our support to peru as they combat this with the other country

cans. that -- u.s. southern command is working to build partnerships by promoting information sharing with regional and inter agency organizations. we are strengthening our military engagement programs and activities with our counter parts acrosses latin america. we work to stren lth enassistance and disaster relief capacities and we are ready the to respond should assistance be requested. we conducted hundreds of educational events and 56 medical readiness training exercises in 13 different countries. the sustained engagement is yielding important benefits. last year for the first time, columbia, assumed the commander role during pan a max, this

year, bra wril will join columbia and they will assume the rules of miritime component director. an important -- in closing, mr. chairman, i would like to thank the congress for your years of support to column bera i can't, and as you mentioned i ask for your continued supports to help them achieve can a lasting piece finally i want to thank you for your unwaivering support of the united states southern command who work every day to ensure our security, i look forward to our discussion, mr. chairman. >> thank you very much. general jacoby? >> chairman, and members of the committee, thank you for the opportunity to appear before you this morning. it's on honor to be here and it's a pleasure to join my friend general doug frazier and i'm happy to acknowledge my commander bob reid who is here and on behalf of the men and

women in my command, i present this committees continuing support of our defense. defense support for civil authorities for which the highlight last year was the response to hurricane irene and our expanded support of the mexican military. in the case of mor a ad, we include control of aerospace through our safe and successful operation, noble eagle and maritime information sharing. we are improving our security cooperation with mexico and the baham bahamas. our vision is that with our trusted partners we will defend north america, by out pacing

ought threats, maintaining faith with our citizens and supporting them in their greatest need. we appreciate the american people and there elected representatives rightly have high expectations of our ability to defend them here at home. in collaboration with many other organizations my priorities are, expand and strengthen our trusted partnerships to advance and sustain the bi-national military command, norad and gain awareness over land, cyber space and the unique and changing domain called the arctic. and to out pace all threats and take care of our people as they

are our foundation. i'm proud of the men and women, americans and canadians that serve in our commands. and when appropriat nse.when appropriate and upon us north com pulls together the unique capabilities and capacities of the department of defense to multiply the impact of our agency. now, thanks to the congress and the president, the 2012 national defense authorization act put into law initiatives supported by the council of governors and the secretary of defense concerning dual status commandsering and activation of reserves in disaster response. i appreciate the committee's response for these two important measures which surely will help save american lives. it was my privilege to serve in afghanistan and iraq with many many members of the national

guard and reserves. i believe in the cruise able of ten years of continuous conflict. we have developed the fine eftd total force that i've seen and norad and north-c movement depend on that every day. this past year has been busy. benefit synchronized ho eour activities with others. for fy '12 we have trimmed our workforce full time equivalents, with the reurs sources an s and authorities at hand we will continue to support the american people. thank you for the opportunity today and i look forward to the discussion. >> thank you, we will have a seven-minute first round. let me ask you both, the defense department created a new defense strategy to guide creation of the fiscal year 2000 and 13

defense budget request. it's our understanding that the development of the strategy was a highly inclusive process that each of you have the opportunity to provide input into the development of the new strategy, in your view, does the budget request support if strategy and do you support the budget? >> chairman, we were very much included in the process in the development of the strategy through a series of conversations with the chairman. with the secretary of defense. and from where i sit, i'm comfortable that the budget supported the strategy and that i can perform my mission within the allocated resources. >> general jacoby? >> chairman, yes i do, i feel that in the case of the home land, with the strategy, the home land was appropriately considered and i believe the budget supports the execution of

the strategy in the home lands. thank you. >> thank you. general jacoby, is the executive branch, as this executive branch works through the various organizations for cybersecurity, are you, woulding with other organizations to determine what roles would be appropriate with regard to cybersecurity some. >> yes, we are working closely, and within the department of defense of course. >> well, we face a number of many types of militiuos cybersecurity attacks to steal our international secrets and the possibility of an attack

that can disrupt or damage or destroy our infrastructure, among the most difficult strategic challenges that are faced are the following. knowing between the cyber trusions and disruptive attacks and prouing timely warning of cyber threat says and incidents. now, are you involved in a effort to distinguish between the various types of cyber activity to determine whether and when our nations under a cyber attack and to provide timely warning of an attack and you give us a status report as to where the discussions are? how close are we to reaching criteria to reach that kind of distinction? >> tse