i would like to say that we are ready, but we are not. there are a number of places we have heard about this today. i think that we will call the hearing to a close. the record will remain open for 15 days and we ask anyone who is listening to submit any information that would be helpful to the committee. we thank you very much. the meeting is adjourned. .

babbitt >> this morning a discussion on u.s. energy policy. we will hear from the chairman of the federal dot regulatory commission. live coverage on c-span2. later a conversation on the nuclear program of iran. live coverage from the heritage foundation beginning at 10 eastern also on c-span2.

>> and now a discussion on north korea's recent nuclear test and missile launches and the threat they pose to the asia-pacific region. he will hear from the u.s. pacific commander admiral timo thy keating. this is about one hour. let me say a couple of words about this series. this is one of the most popular things we have introduced which is a public platform for military leaders to share their views and concerns with the washington audience.

combined it has given us an opportunity for military leaders to shake the security they face in washington and beyond. since the beginning of this series, we have had the commanders from various areas and two of the most recent commanders in afghanistan along with others. of what you think so many people for the support of this series. i am also delighted with the turnout today which says a lot as well about the popularity of this series. admiral, i have to mention one thing. some people ask me why the atlantic council is floating this boat in the pacific. the answer is pretty simple. it is a matter of reality. before the war, there was a very

famous ambassador by the name of johnson. after the war, he was one of the founders. he and another founder were clear that the world was round. the atlantic council had to recognize that much earlier than most transatlantic organizations. that is the history. there is the mission of this community. we have had a successful asian program for many years directed by one person. we recently opened the south asia center. we are launching a center for other partnerships. this evening is under the international security program. there is the reality. take a look at the situation now. nato reaching out to develop

partnerships with japan, australia, south korea. the u.s. and the au working together to engage china and india on global climate change. north korea, i do not have to say much about that. the development of long-range ballistic missiles impact the debate in europe. this link has been apparent since the u.s. entered wwii. we will continue to flow our boat in the pacific. so we will now have someone introduce our speaker and later moderate the q&a session.

this man is a pillar of the atlantic council. he provides me and the rest of our leadership strategic advice as well as sound legal advice. i am still free and have not yet been incarcerated because of this advice. i am grateful for your service, walt. [applause] [applause] >> thank you. it is a great honor to be asked to introduce that roe keating. he has that kind of resume that mere mortals only dream of. he graduated from the naval academy in 1971. shortly thereafter, began a distinguished career as a legal aviator. the most impressive thing is not the stress on his sleeve or the stars, if he were wearing a

slightly different uniform, but it is that he is carried out 1200 arrested landings on aircraft carriers. he was the did the commander in thewing during the first gulf war, and he was the commander during visiting gulf war. in between, like all senior military officers, he has to do the additional penance, working in washington and a variety of jobs. i have had the honor and pleasure of working with him when he was the deputy j-3 during the 1990's. he then became, after his service, in connection with operation iraqi freedom. he became the director of the joint staff which is the critical position, as i am and most of the note, in making that remarkable organization work as well as it does things to his efforts and of the efforts of a lot of other people. he was then commander -- she has had two, i still call them

sinks. two for combat commanders, one at norad and the northern command and as you all know, he would not be here otherwise, he is the commander of the pacific command. it is a real pleasure to have the opportunity to hear his insights into the military and the larger american strategic role in a critical part of the world. ann rule keating. welcome to the atlantic council, and thank you for doing this. [applause] >> thank you all for this great opportunity. a couple of words by a preamble -- i had the distinction of working for then undersecretary of the sense of policy, walter slocombe, for a while. and a few officials, in my experience, have had more

consequential impact on with the department of defense and does, did, and is doing then walter slocombe. he was there for a long time. i think he did a magnificent -- magnificent job. it is my honor and privilege been standing here in front of you having been introduced by -- who would have thought back then we would be standing here today? to fred, thank you. oh, in fairness, at the point out that was great introduction, and i am grateful. but it is not the best introduction i have had. it is good, very good, and was the aggregate of the best introduction i ever had was a much smaller group at i think a rotary club in florida or the master of ceremonies was late, and they asked me if i would mind introducing myself. [laughter] that is the best. we have got -- while it is the

atlantic council, we have the upper river visual aid here, and i would like to start with that if i can. it is to describe the pacific command aor, area of responsibility. i will work hard to keep acronym's down to a minimum. we have the north pole, south pole, alaska, california, and of the east coast of africa. that is the pacific command area of responsibility. it is 50% of the surface of the earth. about 51% of the world's population. we have a number pretty large armies. china. when a responsibility for the eastern part of russia. so china's army, russia's army, north korea's army, india's army, our army, our armed forces. pretty consequential. there is significant economic initiative under way of here. about $1 trillion of our trade

comes from countries in our area of responsibility. 20 of the largest ports in the world, 15 of those 20 are in aor. nine of the largest ports and the world are now in the people's republic of china and the busiest port, shanghai, is in our area of responsibility. it is a vibrant, dynamic, living, breathing place in which we have the privilege of working and conducting our business. about a year ago we decided to rewrite our strategy. we've been in the pacific command for decades. the guns have largely been silent in our area of responsibility. for that, we're grateful. it is due to the efforts of several in the room including walter slocombe and the general. we wanted to take what got us where we are and try and catapulted five, 10, 20 years in the future. it is a dynamic aor, as we

described. the economic engine is turning. their opportunities and challenges of plenty other. everything about the countries in our area of responsibility, if you think about them and realize how much room there is for growth, how much opportunity there is for, in some cases, a adventurism in korea or in some cases, that behavior. in many more cases than not, cooperating in of collaborating to ensure more peace and stability in the region that is why we chose to undertake the process of writing a new strategy for the u.s. is a big way. based a lot on what we saw in the rearview mirror but try to look up to 20 years down the road. it is this is undertaking to be sure. we ended up coming down to three basic tenets of our new strategy. partnership, readiness, and presence.

pretty simple, complex, simple to explain but not so easy to execute the partnership, we're convinced the building upon the very strong bilateral relationships and alliances we have in our aor, we have five treaties, australia, thailand, the philippines, south korea, and japan. a majority of trees in all countries in our aor. some are decades-old and our bilateral relationships to weave the fabric that has included as its threads, multilateral engagement and not just milk to mill. increasingly, we see opportunities including elements across the dime, if you will, diplomatic and intelligence, military, and energy and environment. we're looking to cobble all this together in an increasingly tightly woven fabric that emphasizes multilateralism. i will try to cite some examples

in a minute. and of the ability we have as the predominant military power in the region to provide some guidance and in some cases leadership to all of these countries that are in response -- that are in our responsibility. india, once upon a time, prior to my work with walter, i was the flag lt. to then admiral william j. chorale in the mid- 1980s. for year and a half, i carried my bad shots, so there's hope for all of us who are younger. but those caring the admirals' bags around. we made a visit to india. he was pretty high expectations, he was pretty high expectations, and there the reception we got was chilly.

we left less happy than we would have liked. we came here for the second time a couple of weeks ago. much different. much different country. we got there on the last day of their elections. it was an amazing process. some of you may have had the good fortune of watching the elections. people were flocking to the televisions in numbers that were somewhat unusual to us, glued to the big screen tvs. they were willing to talk about engagement in partnership with the panetta states. they were exercising with us on a much more robust basis. we just concluded a trilateral exercise which was unthinkable in the 1980's. it was high end technical exercise where we were using division tactics and exercising

weapons, techniques, and proced. that are pretty high in. two years ago, india participated in a five-way it says including u.s., japan, singapore, and australia. unthinkable in the mid-1980's, and it is now a matter of course within yet. we think this is a great example of partnership and of the benefits will derive from increased dialogue, increased cooperation, and increased understanding of what we are all about are in the aor. readiness -- does not do is any good to have all matter -- manner forces that cannot get out there and exercise, cannot respond to military operational directives come to provide assistance to countries to do not quite have all these capabilities, and to get out there and exercise it. as an example, some may have participated in an exercise in thailand held every year. this year, five countries involved.

10 countries, india and prc included send observers to large ships, soldiers, airmen, marines, coastguardsman operating in a real-life a field exercise and a dynamic, vibrant way. and it included with shifting from more fighting, if you will, for exercising the capability of a shifting over to humanitarian assistance, disaster relief, and u.n. peacekeeping operations. it started out aggressive and ended up not just peacemaking and peacekeeping. never has participation been more vigorous and the more spirited. that is the readiness. it is essential for us to be able to field forces that can move out and answer says across the full spectrum of military operational committee said you would expect for of -- from us. >the third part of our strategy

is presence. the officers, a junior officers in our headquarters say it this way. virtual presence equals actual absence. we're all used to the wonders of video teleconferences and multiple secure telephone calls and all that. you've got to get out there. if you have got to get real bird and honest to goodness and grime underneath your fingernails and work with the people in this very large area of responsibility so that they can develop and enhance understanding of what we, the united states, offer. 36 countries in our area responsibility. we have been 22829 of them. some, like japan, we have been 10 times. when we went to burma, myanmar, we do not think we would get there, but we did. when to offer humanitarian aid since its rigid insistence, and

they essentially turned us down. the tragedy. we visited 27 countries. unmistakable, unrelenting been in discussions, not just with them but with senior officials of fruit -- senior officials in the commercial partners in the commercial interests, everywhere we go, unmistakable thing. you, the u.s., are the indispensable partner. we deny necessarily want you with us every minute everyday in our country, on our soil, in our water, or in the air overhead, but we would like you nearby. we want you to be able to come when we need you. we want our young men and women to go to school with you, preferably in the united states. and we like our young men and women to go to school there. there is the indian military academy, and no one person and sets up for the great reasons of the success he enjoyed with our responsibility as a partnership, absolutely essential to their readiness, we

have got to be out there. presence, you cannot could virtually. you've got to be about to deploy, like thomas steen, sell, did their however you can and operate with these people so they develop the understanding of what we, the u.s., offer them. through all of this, in the strategy we hope builds an easy -- a simple but not easy way to ensure peace and stability in the region. we remain the indispensable partner, the reliable partner, the country upon which all of these people can depend to respond in times good and bad, without a lot of the motion so as to ensure economic stability throughout the region. thank you for your attention this evening. i would be delighted to try and answer any questions you might have. [applause] >> thank you. >> admiral, i think that is a terrific overview of what you are trying to do.

and i am sure is stimulated a lot of questions and interests. so let's start. admiral. >> from the institute of foreign policy analysis. would you comment on the china and psi, and then maybe the of the other end of the spectrum, humanitarian system vote -- assiance to china? >> thank you. a couple examples to take it in reverse order. china had a cold snap in january 2008. you may remember the pictures in the paper where there were 400,000 people stranded at a real yard. a staggering number of people. we get on the telephone to call our chinese counterparts, if you will, and said we would be happy to help, and they said we're

grateful for the offer. we're loading up two c-17's. this is several tons of stuff, actually, out of an air force base in hawaii. this is response to a cold weather disaster or challenge. two c-17's launched inside of 40 hours. there were unloading gear with the chinese two-star to stay thank you very much for the assistance. at the same time, china mobilized their army in a manner that is a little unusual for them, i think, but very helpful to the people there. this example was the year earthquake several months thereafter. same phone call comes same guy on china's in saying we're grateful for the offer and thankful for the help. two more c-17's go in. unless you've dealt with earthquakes, you do not think of

what you need. chainsaws, water, food, and plastic sheeting. plastic sheeting was in short supply. a plastic sheeting shortage -- but again, the chinese were grateful for the assistance. we landed, a bloated, and took off. those to the cases come -- we landed, unloaded, and took off. in those cases, offers for assistance were warmly received. at the same time, right now, is successor to walter has just returned from a visit to china where we have every indication she has been able to get military to military talks back on track. they were suspended in the wake of the time on arms sales announcement in october 2008. i think we're back on track. there's a schedule for the dialogue she has arranged with their japanese colleague. we hope that will lead to an

increase in the dialogue and an improvement in the relationship between pacific command and our counterparts in the people's liberation army and air force some narrowly and increased understanding of cooperation on a much larger scale. that is a long answer to a short question. we have provided disaster relief and hope for more fruitful relations with chinese military and the near future. proliferation security initiative. we are prepared when directed to respond to guidance from the secretary and the president in enforcing the u.n. security council resolutions and this is a subset of psi. so as you are aware, psi is a policy signed to buy 90 + countries in the world. we do not have direct dialogue with the people's liberation army on this topic.

there are some conversations on going and the state department level including china with respect to north korea. beyond that, i am better off not pointing of the obvious. thank you for your question. yes, ma'am? >> i'm with the liberty time in taiwan. during your tenure, i think you have been trying to help taiwan and china do dialogue or build confidence among military confidence-building measure. have you been able to accomplish anything? the uc the recent reduction of attention permanent -- do you see the recent reduction permanent? >> we certainly hope that the reduction is permanent. profound hope. as a suspect so, too, for prc and taiwan.

we have contributed some instructors for taiwan's annual exercise. as you may know, we have sent some well qualified military instructors. the fact that tension has been defused, if not eliminated, is very encouraging. the steps taken by prc and taiwan, while summer pedestrian in a way with sending exotic animals, pandas, to zoos, increased commercial traffic, making it easier to send mail back and forth across the street. each of these are not watershed decisions but all contribute to a sense of cooperation and collaboration that we find encouraging. >> i am from the world journal.

not too long ago, it chinese sub hit a u.s. -- [unintelligible] can you comment the capabilities against conventional submarines, especially with those capabilities? >> is that all you want to know? let me take the mccain peace first. john mccain, operating international water, the way we operate around the world with our navy all the time. it was damaged. investigation is ongoing. i do not know precisely why that was damaged. we will find out perhaps in time. as for the u.s. asw policy, i've got to keep remembering that the tapes are rolling -- we would like to have more than less submarines and the pacific

command area of responsibility. the u.s. navy and the department of defense have to make decisions as to how the portion those assets. we have what i think is a 60/40 split with the pacific command and everybody else. we regard to maritime -- freedom of access to the mayor tandem in as absolutely is central to everything we want to get done. .

there are 250-some submarines in our responsibility. not very many of the more hours, but a good number. we continue to pursue asw technology. we want to make sure other countries understand what we can offer them in terms of defense and right of access of maritime command, and countries who develop technologies that we will uncounted to that policy, we will work to overcome those developments. thanks. yes, ma'am. >> thank you so much for your succinct remarks. my question is regard to a remark he made previously. you