will those witnesses be protected from reprisal for their testimony or briefings? you agreed to have appeared and testified upon request, before this committee. documents,o provide including copies of electronic forms of communication in a timely manner, when requested by a duly constituted committee or to consult with a committee regarding the basis for any good-faith delay or denial in providing such documents? thank you. please proceed. >> let me begin by thank youg for your tireless support and advo cassy. for our young men and women who continue to join and serve their country. if confirmed it will be my honor to lead the over 660,000 active guard. >> would you care to introduce your family to the committee?

>> yes, sir, i would. i'm thrilled to introduce my family beginning with our youngest daughter diana, a third generation school teacher following in the footsteps of her grandma and mother. .he will a published author kind, caring, compassionate, and tough. if asked most of us can remember our favorite teachers but almost all of us can name our first grade teacher. her kids are blessed to be in her class and i cannot be prouder. our oldest daughter danielle is a captain in the air force and could not attend. she is also a third generation following in the footsteps of her grandpa bill, a refired pilot who fought in vietnam. and both of her you thinkles,

cousins and dad. she is a great offenser and combat veteran having recently returned from afghanistan. she helped keep me grounded and in tune with our younger force. i could not be a prouder father. all this good comes from their mother dawn whom i met in high school when our parents were stationed in germany. 33 years, 21 moves, three wars and several deployments to include a recent two-year separation. i not only love her. i admire her strength and courage and i believe i am the luckiest man in the planet that she chose me. >> welcome to the entire family. >> i would like to thank president obama, secretary carter, secretary james and chairman did you knowford for this opportunity of a lifetime. i would also like to thank general mark and betty welsh. not only are they concluded 40

years of distinguished service they have led our air force over the past four years with passion, style, and unwaver commitment. it is my honor to serve and if confirmed we look forward to building on their success. i have seen first-hand how important a service chief's relationship is with members of this committee to help you excute your oversight responsibilities. if confirmed, i am committed to building a relationship of trust and confidence with each of you based on openness, canned dor, and competence. the questions you just asked form the foundation of this relationship and i fully understand the gravity and the importance of living up to my answers. today's global landscape offers equal amount challenge and opportunity. the combination of strong states challenging world order weak states that cannot preserve order and undergoverned spaces all

represent challenges we must fight simultaneously. from troubling chinese military activity in the south china sea to recent provocative actions by russia in crimea and ukraine, to continued maligned activity across the middle east by iran to the increasingly unpredictable actions we see out of north korea. each represents state-sponsored ctivity. add to this the military campaign to deliver a lasting defeat to isil and our continued work in afghanistan and we have the framework secretary carter laid out months ago as the five global challenges the department of defense must be ready to counter. china, russia, iran, north korea, and violent extremism. if confirmed i take very seriously my role as a member of the joint chiefs and look forward to providing an

airman's voice as we deliberate military options capabilities and risk in formulating our best military advice. the other hat i will wear if confirmed is the top officer in my service responsible for assisting secretary james to properly organize train and equip an air force that can meet these challenges both today and tomorrow. when i was commissioned in 198g3 we had not fought in combat since my dad came home from vietnam. the cold war was in its final years and there was no conflict on the horizon. this all changed in 1991 when we launched operation desert storm, when the war ended the air force stayed. from operations northern and southern watch to follow-on campaigns in the balkans during the operations deliberate force and allied force through the last 15 years of operations enduring freedom, iraqi freedom, inherent resolve and absolute support the air force has been in continuous combat for 25 years.

while we are extremely proud of our contributions, it has taken its toll on our ability to properly balance capability, capacity, and readiness. when combined with unpredictable budgets and the devastating impacts of sequestration i am acutely aware that if confirmed i will be taking the reason of the smallest and oldest air force with significant readiness challenges. but where there is challenge there is opportunity. and i believe it is the obligation and duty of senior leaders to offer the president, the secretary of defense, and the congress creative solutions to our most complex challenges. we are the service known throughout our history for innovation and breaking barriers. from the earliest days of manned flight to breaking the sound barrier, to reaching the outer limits of space to fielding advanced stealth technology we are the service you rely on to push the limits of innovation. it is in our blood line. we face challenging times before and overcome them with

ideas. over 90% of today's air force joined after 9/11. they have never known a day when we were not at war. as i speak, airmen stand watch with our nation's most destructive weapons. they sit alert and will scramble when called upon to defend our homeland. they work side by side with their fellow warriors in the most remote corners of the globe to build partner capacity and hunt down enemies. they are flying combat over iraq and syria providing top cover for the joint and coalition teams as we deliver a lasting defeat to isil. and they are operating 12 constellations of satellites providing everything from an uninterrupted g.p.s. sing nal to an unblinking eye on our adversaries. these men and women provide the

oxygen the joint team breathes. this is who we are. your air force, we operate from a caps sull below the surface to a combat controller or cyber warrior on the surface to cockpit bloove to the constellations of space. we are everywhere. we know who we are and we know what we are expected to deliver for the joint team. air power. if confirmed it will be my honor to work with secretary james to create an environment where great ideas get a hearing, where barriers are crushed, where airmen and their families thrive. and where war-fighting excellence remains their top focus. thank you again for this opportunity and i look forward to your questions. >> on the issue of the b-21 bomber, do you know what the independent cost east mat associated with the winning bid was roughly? the 20.3.5 billion? >> that is the independent cost estimate.

>> and the aircraft per unit is about $556 million? >> that is correct. >> and the air force budget request development is about $1.36 billion? >> yes, sir. >> the air force released an artist's conception of the b-21. >> yes, sir. >> the air force released the top tier suppliers. >> yes, sir. >> i'm having a difficult time understanding how the public disclosure of a single contra award value funded from an unclassified budget request is going to give the enemy more information on the capabilities of a new bomber than what the air force has already disclosed. all i can see is that keeping it a secret deprives the american taxpayer the transparency and accountability they deserve. can you explain what new information our enemies might learn from the release of the contract award value that they couldn't learn from the information the air force has already released? >> yes, sir. and chairman i agree with you. i believe that if we are not

transparent with the american people on the cost of this weapons system, through its elected leadership, then we have a good chance of losing this program. >> i thank you very much for that. during the air force posture hearing on march 3, general welch testified in reference to long-range readness issues that need investment. that will take us eight to ten years once we have a chance to reset the force from what we are doing today, which is not going to happen. obviously the issue is sequestration and what it is doing. and with know what it is doing as far as acquisition is concerned because all you have to do is count. but talk to us a little bit about the effect on the men and women that you just adequately and appropriately praised in your opening statement on how they can do their job and what effect it has on retention,

particularly very frankly on pilot retention. maybe you can for the record i us your views on what think at least in my view is almost an emergency situation given the events that are taking place in the world and the charninges in the world since 2011 when in our active -- act of incredible coward yiss enacted sequestration because we didn't have the guts to make the budget cuts that were necessary. >> i think about quality of service and quality of life. when it comes to quality of service, our airmen when they join are looking to be the very best they can be. pilots who don't fly, controllers who don't control, cyber warriors who don't operate because they are not given the resources to do so, morale goes down and they vote with their feet. when we were squerd in 2015 we grounded 13 fighter squad rons that stopped flying.

we are still recovering. if we are sequestered again it will be even worse. >> are you beginning to feel the effects of this lack of flying hours? i've been told that our pilots now are flying less hours than russian and chinese pilots are per month. and do you agree with -- i believe it was the chief of staff of the army who stated before this committee that we are putting the lives of the men and women who are serving at greater risk? >> yes, sir. the reality is that it is a mixed story because where we are flying a significant number of hours is where we're stationed forward. so if all crews are in the middle east are at a high state of readiness and all flying a significant number of hours the bill payers to allow that level forward is what's having at home station. so you are actually correct, you are not flying the normal hours that we used to fly. there is a number of issues that contribute to that. not the least of which is a

shortage of critical skills in our maintenance force and when you add that up to the age of the aircraft that makes them harder and hard tore keep airborne that is both contributed to a less number of flying hours that we have available for training. >> isn't it true that a b-1 squad ron just came back with something like six aircraft out of 20 that were operational? isn't that a story that i've heard? >> yes, sir, you have. when i was deployed forward as the air component commander i enjoyed upwards of 95% on average mission capable rates across every fleet that was forward. that was the b-1, the f-16, so we had the parts, the super vision the maintainers. i knew if i went back to the home station that was the bill payer to get any that level of readiness. so back home at those locations, the b-1s require a

significant recovery time when they come back from combated operations. >> well, i don't mean to get parochial here but we just had a vote that i was trying to fix the problem and it wasn't just democrats that voted against it it was republicans that voted against it as well. and members of this committee. i think it is a very heavy burden for them to carry given the state of our military today d the situations and challenges that we face in the world which are just epitomized by the terrible tragedy in orlando. i hope that the voters understand that a good-faith effort was made and it was turned down four votes short by members some of the members of this committee. i am embarrassed. i thank you, general. >> thank you. >> general, you have the responsibility of modernizing

the bomber and the icbm force. are there any particular authorities that you think are necessary to help you accomplish those tasks which you don't have? >> sir, actually the authorities that you pushed recently to service chiefs are very helpful. the way i look at those authorities it is in both authorities but also increased accountability for service chiefs. so in the two areas where i'm focused number one is i am the lead requirements officer for all major weapons systems. it is my responsibility to ensure that we don't have requirements creep that increases cost or increases schedule on any of our programs. that is number one. and number two, that i now have more authority and accountability in some of the milestone decisions specifically milestone a and milestone b that allow a service chief to have an input on a program as it goes forward. >> very good. and so you i feel at this point confident you have the legal

authority to bring these programs on line in a very cost effective way? >> sir, i do. and i would highlight that those authorities also many of those authorities reside with the secretary of the air force. so i believe it is my job to actually work with her as we keep these programs on track. >> we've had an ongoing debate in the committee and in the congress about the plans to retire the a-10 aircraft which is an extraordinarily effective close air support platform. the air force seems at least temporarily to adjusting to keeping it. but longer term this issue is going to come up again and again. and it raises the issue of how do you develop and can you develop the same capabilities if at some point a-10 is retiring? >> my commitment to you if confirmed is that we will cover down this mission set for the joint team and i will take

ownership of that. when it comes to the a-10 i am actually as concerned about the a-10 community as i am about the a-10 platform because the a-10 community is actually our phd force when it comes to close-air support and they set the bar for not only the joint team but the coalition team. anybody who does close air support they try to reach the level that they have been able to achieve. so my focus is going to be on ensuring that i go back to the doctors, the a-10 fleet and operators, and say what is the future of close air support? that's the conversation we need to have. we need to maintain what we have for the current fight but where are we going in the future? why is it that i only get a minute and a half of trigger pull? why don't i get 10 minutes? and why does not every bullet precision guide snd why do i have so much time trying to figure out who is friend and foe on the ground when we have technology to be able to do that. why do i have to do the work

for collateral damage estimates when i have a machine that can help me do that? for me it's a matter of where we're going and the future of where we're going. >> another issue that we've been dealing with and we have seen some movement is deploying more and more enlisted pilots for remotely piloted aircraft. there are various models in the history of the warfare, the one that always has sort of an impact with me is that helicopter pilots in vietnam particularly army were mostly warrent officers with some officers but the vast majority warrent officers. they were extremely capable. they had more hours in that aircraft than anybody else. and it seems to be that model could be applied much more vigorous. i know the air force is taking steps. can you elaborate on what you're doing and what you want to do? >> yes, sir.

for us the remotely pilot aircraft actually is the largest number of pilots that currently serve in the air foshes. we have over 100 rpa pilots -- 1300 pilots currently serving. so the rpa is part of the fabric of the air force. for me the question is what is the future and how does the professional enlisted corps that we enjoy fit in and we are committed to have enlisted pilots and we're starting on a program. we'll have our first class of enlisted pilots that will go through graduate in one year and right behind them will be another class followed by another class. so we're focused on moving forward to ensure that our enlisted pilots are fully a part of that weapons system. and so i see this as one of the major growth industries in the air force and i think this is the exact right path to be on. and we have a model that we know works. we actually started off satellites when we had nothing

but officers and we transitioned over is a few years from officers with the scientific backgrounds to offers wers more political science backgrounds and we made it into enlisted and today 50% of the satellite constellations are flown and managed by the enlisted force. so we are taking that same very successful model and applying it to the rpa model and we are on track. >> just to follow up. in other words, from your comments on the a-10 at this time it is best not to retire them but to look at other options for follow-on. is that a correct statement? >> sir, right now we are looking at that as an option. the challenge will be to keep the capabilities so that the fight that we are in today there is no degreegation to any of the soldiers sailors or marines or airmen that are on the ground. >> so we should not be retiring them now? >> not in the near term. no, sir. >> i thank you. colonel, united states air force reserve.

>> thank you, mr. chairman. general you said you are going to give us your personal views regardless of the administration's policy. let me ask you this. chairman mccrane has repeatedly referenced the carnage caused by assad's barrel bombs. our chairman has made the point and i agree with him that as evil as isis is it is the barrel bombs and air attacks causing most of the civilian casualties in syria. is that correct? >> yes, sir. >> and do you agree with general petraeus who testified before us a few months ago when he said that we have the capability to take out assad's air force? >> i do. >> did the presence of russian air forces in syria impact the administration's decision not

to implement a no fly zone last year? >> sir, i don't know whether it had any impact on the administration's decision. i will tell you from a military standpoint, as a service chief if confirpped it absolutely complicated the situation we were facing. >> it complicateding the situation. dit it rule it out or was it a close call? do you think that should be revisited? >> sir, whether it be revisited or not would certainly be a decision that would be above mine. let me tell you as an airman who has planned and excuted no fly zones this is a case builder that we retain. we know how to do it. at the end the question is can we do it. the answer is absolutely yes. but there are three fundamental questions that i think have to be answered before i would ever recommend that as an option. the first is i would have to have the authority to shoot down and kill anybody who violated a no fly zone. since isil doesn't have an air force i would have to have the

authority to shoot down and kill russian or syrian aircraft. i would have to have a clear understanding of exactly what the objective was on the ground below the no fly zone and the objective was to do humanitarian safe zone or refugee return. that would require some indiginous ground force. because i can't control that from the air. and the third would be a clear-eyed decision that i would have to zwert resources from the current campaign to do the no fly zone. but with the answer of those three questions, sir, we can do that. >> do you believe a no fly zone would have saved lives of innocent civilians in syria? >> sir, no fly zone alone that would have stopped aircraft that were going out to bomb civilians absolutely would have had an impact. >> thank you. let me ask about a replacement of the legacy huey helicopters. some of which are nearly 40 years old. these helicopters are used to secure our nuclear weapons for global strike command as well as the air force district of

washington's mission to ensure continuity of government operations. some members of this committee are interested in learning more about the air force strategy to replace these legacy huey helicopters. we would like to obtain a description of the air force helicopter requirements including how requirements differ between global strike command and other such as the air force district of washington. we are also interested in obtaining a life cycle cost analysis of alternatives that includes mixed fleet versus single fleet solutions. if confirmed, will you commit to providing this committee with a report on the air force acquisition strategy for replacing these huey helicopters? >> yes, sir, i will. >> do you think you could get this report to us by october 1 of this year? >> sir, yes. i believe we can. >> thank you very much. i yield back the time.

>> thank you for visiting with me earlier this week. i recently visited the nigera air station with my colleague senator schumer and we were pleased to see the progress underway in converting the mission. however, as we discussed there is not yet a simulator scheduled to be moved to nigera falls to obtain the training necessary even though there is a building waiting. will we have your assurance that they will have all the tools they need to sustain their expertise including a flight simulator on the ground of the air station? >> yes, ma'am. and i will also tell you that my moth who was born and raised there would go after me if i didn't. >> thank you. as you know, general, the new york air national guard 109th air lift wing operates our only fleet of sky birds which permit takeoff and landing on ice and

snow pac. giving the evolving terrain and increased's activity in the polar regions of the world as a result of global warming these aircraft provide a critical capability to national security as well as the scientific research. at the moment, however, there is no recapitalization program in progress. if confirmed, will you commit the resources to ensuring this fleet of high demand harkte remains operationally capable? >> yes, ma'am. >> thank you. new york pararescue jumpers are transported to those in need by aircraft undergoing a modernization program. i was thrilled when i learned how helicopters belonging to the component will not receive upgrades until the last three years of a ten-year cycle. for now they will receive refurbished helicopters. i think this is unacceptable and not in line with total force integration that has been generally adopted. should you be confirmed will you see it to that the combat

rescue helicopters and the reserve components receive modernization? >> yes, ma'am. i will. but if i could add our current plan because we are getting attrition reserve helicopters back that we have lost in combat, those attrition reserve aircraft which will be ha-60 models the newest are going first to the national guard and then we will replace the oldest and the fleet. and then the reason the international guard is on the back end of the combat rescue helicopter is as we go through that they will have the newest helicopters that will replace. >> ok. according to the most recent annual report of sexual harassment and violence of the military service academies for 14-15 academic year, despite being similar in size to the air force ry the had almost double the number.

have you been able to look at this information and do you have any explanation about the larger number of report it is air force academy compared to others? and what measures are in place? >> thanks, ma'am. and on a personal note i want to personally thank you for your passion on this issue and keeping the pressure on. i have actually thought a lot about our conversation and you give me several things to think about. and i shared that with my staff and i look forward to working with you on this issue if confirmed. at the academy the numbers you are looking at i believe are just the restricted reports. if you take a look at a combination of restricted and unrestricted you actually don't see the large jumps. but the data tell you one thing. the reality is for me is what's the culture at the air force academy that makes this crime more and more difficult over time to actually commit so that

we not only do we bring in cadets with the right moral background and character, that would make this unacceptable in their squadron, but also that when we infuse them and work on that character and build on that character they can be leaders of character when they come out. and so we are not going to stop or take our foot off the gas until we are to zero. >> i would look i think the discrepancy is between unrestricted and restricted. and unrestricted are the ones where investigation can move forward. so your unrestricted numbers would show the people are comfortable with the investigation. if your restricted numbers are higher, it means they are not comfortable. so when you are reviewing your own protocols at the air force academy, i would look to retaliation and perhaps investigate the reason for not reporting is. they may fear retaliation. they may fear it will harm their careers. so i would dig deep on what the climate is like at the academy

to get those unrestricted numbers up. >> yes, ma'am. i will do that >> thank you, mr. chairman. >> thank you, mr. chairman. good morning, general. general do you believe that the current mix of capabilities and our nuclear forces and by that i mean the triad of our delivery vehicles, the gravity bombs, standoff weapons, the forward deployed tactical weapons that we have -- do you believe that that will continue to be necessary for deterrence in the 21st century? >> i do, ma'am. >> do you believe that any of those capabilities that would be unnecessary? >> i do not. >> given the investment of russia and china in their nuclear arsenals and in particular concerning statements by russian officials about the limited use of nuclear weapons, would you say it is important to preserve the variety and u.s. nuclear forces to ensure the president has flexibility in his ability to respond?

>> yes, ma'am. and i would add to that the nuclear command and control that we are responsible for, for the nation, to ensure that we tie those three legs together. >> aside from capabilities do you see reductions in numbers of nuclear weapons as being likely in the near term and do you believe that any reductions in nuclear forces should only e made as part of a negotiated bilateral and verifiable agreement? >> ma'am, i would defer to the secretary of state and secretary of defense on this. i will tell you that as a service chief, if confirmed, my job will be to excute according to the guidance. so we are on track right now to excute against the start 2 treaty. so we are making this the associated changes according to that direction. >> would you personally recommend against any unilateral reduction in u.s. nuclear forces? >> my personal opinion is i would recommend against that. yes, ma'am. >> thank you. and general, when we met last

month we discussed milestone a. that decision for the gbs dfrpblt i am also concerned that the lrso is yet to receive its milestone a certification as well. both of these programs i believe are absolutely essential for the air force's component of our nuclear deterrent. do i have your commitment to resolve these two issues as soon as you possibly can? >> yes, ma'am. you do. >> and also, as you know the department has embarked on a so-called third offset initiative and the continued advancement of potential adversaries ensure that the issue of technological superiority and innovation will be something that you confront if confirmed. are there specific technologies that you believe will be key to ensuring future superiority and how do you view the balance between investing in these

current requirements such as readiness and also to be able to balance that with our future needs? >> yes, ma'am. and as i said in my opening statement, innovation and breaking barriers is something that you would expect the air force to do. as we look forward in the third offset strategy it is about actually tying together three grids in new ways. the first is the sensor grid which looks at six domains, sare, land, sea, space, cyber and undersea and says how do we use all of those in a way that we can pull those sensors together and fuse that information and use machine to machine and autonomy to be able to produce decision quality information for a command center and then we have to tie that grid into an effects grid and the effects grid is to all the members of the joint team and all we bring that is beyond platform. it goes to our special forces. it goes to what we are doing at sea, to what effects are we trying to create? and so there is some significant investment there. but the coin of the realm and where i think the air force is

going to be focused is on the third grid which is command and control. because it is how we tie this all together for old and new, manned and unmanned penetrating and standoff through all those domains. it is the air force that has the core mission of command and control. and we do this for the joint team. so i believe it is where we are going to spend most of our time investing to pull those three grids together. >> thank you for that very thorough answer. i appreciate it. thank you, mr. chairman. >> senator kaine. >> thank you, mr. chairman. it is good to visit with you and congratulations on the nomination for this important post. senator warner my colleague and i today did something that we do once a year which is really fun. we have a coffee for all of the academy nominees that are about to report to all the service academies. and i am here to tell you that we are sending some great virginians to colorado springs and they are excited to report. very, very excited. a couple of questions.

you and i talked about readiness in my office and you have testified and spoken briefly with the chair about this. that there is a projection because of the readiness shortfalls that it is going to take to the mid to late 2020s to return to adequate. we have just passed off the senate floor the ndaa. does the funding and end strength and policies contained in the ndaa that we passed, will that enable you to stay on that same track? not that that track is so great. 2020 mid or late. but does the ndaa we passed enable you to stay on track? >> it does. and the number one issue if that's the limitter booyond producing it for what we consume is man prour. and specifically maintenance man power. so your support for our increase in man power is the number one issue for us. and every service creates and sustains readiness differently.

for an air force there are five key elements that we have got to keep in balance and any one of them can be a limitter. the first is the critical skills and it is beyond the pilot. it is the maintainers, the traffic controllers the munition specialists. amount folks who have fingerprints on an airplane before it takes off. the second is weapons systems sustainment and it is all the required maintenance that keep the airplane sustained. and the third is the flying hour program that is operations and maintenance to get it funded for its mission. and the fourth is the critical infrastructure, the ranges and the exercises that allow us to train to full spectrum readiness and the final is time op tempo relief. right now the two limiting factors that keep us from being able to build readiness beyond what we are actually consuming is people and time. so what you did in the ndaa to support our increase in people is critical. and then we will manage the time based on the op tempo and the demands on the air force.

>> one of the points you mentioned was my next question and that is this maintainer shortfall. you testified to us before about that. now, the end strength on active that you are currently working with is 3167,000 is obviously larger. but just because that end number might be ok that doesn't mean that within the number there aren't some disparities. and talk to us a little bit more about the maintainer short fall and what are the plans that you would have as the chief to deal where that issue? >> sir right now we project that we have 4,000 maintaineners short of what we need. so a significant number is going into maintenance. right now -- >> and you layer that. the maintenance is layered. >> it is. >> i've noticed this down at langley. it is a real seamless operation. >> yes, sir. it is that way across the force. if you go to the cockpit of a c-17 and ask who is active who is guard and reserve all three hands will go up.

so we truly are one air force. so we are bringing those maintainers in to make sure we bring in the right skillsets the challenge of course in bringing those is all the ones that will come in will be three levels which is early entry that can do basic maintenance that will take us up to two years to get them fully trained and then five years before they're supervisors. so with what we have to do is manage this across the guard reserve and active based on where our experience is to ensure that we can continue the mission at the op tempo that we are in today, which i do not expect is going to come down during my tenure if confirmed while we also advance and bring on new weapons system force the future. >> one last question. you talked a lot about the air force as being a key innovator and that is the case. a lot of the new mission that is you have looking forward are space cyber and isr. talk a little bit with us about your ability to move out on new missions in those domains under

the curget budget realities. >> yes, sir. the demand signal on the air force has been on those four key areas, space, cyber, isr and nuclear. that has been the growth the build payer has been conventional air power and people. if you take a look at the last 15 years you will see that's why we are where we are today. i would like to focus to answer your question sir on space. because sometimes history plays the right individual at the right position at the right time and general john hiten is absolutely brilliant and changing the way we think about space. he has some fairly significant initiatives i look forward to championing if confirmed. one of the them is the space mission force which takes the force and actually now he has replicated what we see in the flying business where as opposed to where we used to be where most space operators and warriors would come to work and

be in the business of primarily monitoring and reporting now he has them thinking about operating in space. he actually built a dwell time so that you spend some time in operations and some time in training. it has changed the culture and thinking of space which i think is perhaps one of the most powerful things that he has brought to the team. and the other thing is he has -- getting taos think about space as an enterprise as opposed to individual pieces and parts. because any space capability normally has three elements to it. there is a constellation, there is an integration that happens within air frames for us or ground or the ships. and then there is a ground control element. and they always start lined up in the acquisition plan and then one of them gets slid. and we haven't had a way in the past to be able to actually realign them. so general heighten is leading the way. >> thank you so much. thank mr. chair. >> general, congratulations on your nomination.

thank you for your many years of service and to your family for their many years of serving alongside you. i want to continue the conversation about readiness from where senator kaine left off. i want to call attention to one thing you said in particular. that you don't expect op tempo will come down during my tenure. >> if confirmed. yes, sir. >> yes. so for four years you expect the current op tempo to remain at least as high as it is today? >> i do, sir. >> secretary gates in his memoir duty wrote that the department of defense was designed to plan and prepare for war, not to wage war. now, that is five years dated as he left office in december 2011. do you believe that the department still has that challenge today? >> well, sir, my sense would be i don't know the condesked of what he was saying when he wrote it. >> sir, he mention specifically trying to acquire rapidly the

capabilities need ford the fight in iraq and afghanistan in vehicles ground troops airborne isr platforms wounded warrior care and so forth. the point being the penguin in some ways is designed to procure the weapons and capabilities for next generation's war. >> yes, sir. i think that's an accurate statement. but if confirmed, again, there are certain capability that is we bring to this fight today that if confirmed i am absolutely committed to ensuring there is no degreegation and one of those is close air support. >> the now a specific question of readiness. to the sortee effective nigness for deployed aircraft. we discussed this in your office call last month. as i told you i continue to hear through official and personal channels from the pilots who are flying aircraft over iraq and syria's territory as well as their families that

tell me some pretty harrowing stories about those effectiveness rights. you mentioned in our conversation that you thought the rights were in the 90% range but you would check. do you have further information? >> yes. that is still accurate. for aircraft that we are flying forward we average around 90 prtsdz but the bill payer is nowhere near that if you went to every home station and sent them forward you would see them hovering around the 60 to 70% rate at best. >> from hearing from pilots and families antimaintenance issues, require early return to base, require them to fly without full spectrum of aircraft systems or to extend missions to perhaps dangers length because the aircraft can't take off i am hearing from that less than 10%? >> i think that's accurate. and i can take that to get you more accurate numbers if you would like. >> i would appreciate that.

thank you. >> yes, sir. now i turn to nuclear modernization that you have discussed at a specific level but i want to speak at general and more specific level about the mindset. in february 2011 in his message about new start president obama stated that, i intend to modernize or replace the triad of systems heavy bomber air launch cruise missile, nuclear powered ballistic missile submarine. since then the air force has been examining alternatives. both systems expect milestone a approval earlier this year that they have both been deferred by the undersecretary of defense. i worry that this is inconsistent with the president's commitment. so first at a general level do you share the president's

statement? or do you believe that conditions have changed that we might want to reconsider or delay those modernization programs? >> no, sir. i absolutely believe they have to be modernized. >> senator fisher asked you for your personal commitment about moving those milestone a decisions along you said yes, ma'am you do have that commitment. could we be more precise? could you give me a time line in which we expect the decisions for both the lrso and gbsd? >> yes, senator. we are expecting a milestone a decision in saug of this year and we are still on track to meet that. we are expecting to put out a request for proposal out to industry within the next two weeks. and also in the same time within the next two weeks we should have a milestone a decision sont long range strike. >> finally, on june 6, in a public speech the deputy national security adviser said the administration has already made it plain, our concerns about how the modernization

budget will force difficult trade-offs in the coming decades and the president will continue to review these plans as he considers how to hand them off. general, to your knowledge has the department of defense or the department of the air force been asked to exasmen whether changes can or should be made? >> no, sir. not in any of the meetings i've been in. >> thank you. >> general, thank you and your family for your commitment and service. i would like to turn to the issue of headquarters cuts. with the pacific air force headquartered in hawaii i am very much concerned with possible reductions to staff. especially when the full set of requirements are not taken into conversation. what actions will the air force take should you be confirmed in the fear future to ensure that any cuts will not be made across the board and that the

capabilities and necessary tasks will be taken into conversation? >> ma'am, when the original 20% reduction was given to the service, to the department, two organizations actually took those cuts up front. the united states air force and the joint staff. and we did that to delay -- to keep from delaying the pain over time. and so it was a bit of a rip the band aid off to be able to take those cuts up front and reorganize accordingly to ensure that we continue our mission. one of the examples of that was we stood up an organization installation mission support center that now consolid dates all installations of the united states air force. we had 1500 airmen and civilians involved in maintaining and running our bases. by consolidating into a single center we are down to 350. so that is just one example of how we have taken the 20% re

ducts that we were given and reorganized. >> and you will continue with that kind of an approach to any further reductions that you are going to be asked to take? >> yes, ma'am. >> thank you. acquisition reforms. the air superiority 2030 flight plan introduced in may of 2016 has some insights about the way the air force is responding to the current threat environment. the report stated, the traditional acquisition approach is not agile and results in late delillry of warfighting capabilities and technologically superior forces and voiced a concern that our system prevents the timely delivery of the capabilities that our war fighters need to succeed. what are the top recommendation that you would suggest to improve the major system acquisition outcomes? >> ma'am, actually it would be to use the authorities that now are moving towards service chiefs to do my job to ensure that i keep requirements solid,

that i don't allow any requirements creep. that i hold industry accountable for delivering on the contract that is we sign. and ensuring that i'm doing my part for the milestone a and milestone b decisions to ensure that we are putting the right programs forward to meet the warfighter needs. >> thank you. in these times of budget constrains i think that you responded to some of the questions from senator kaine. in hawaii we have joint base pearl harbor hick m and we have boitsdz a strong active air force presence there as well as the guard and reserves. so what are your guiding principles in terms of active guard and reserve forces working together? >> ma'am, we are at the point in our air force where we actually cannot accomplish our mission without the guard and reserve. we talked earlier about that you can walk into a c-17 cockpit and identify one of each in a single cockpit. that's how we look across the air force. we are taking a series of initiatives through high velocity analysis and looking

and working with theage jent generals of the various states who are involved in our deliberations to ensure that we optimize in each of the mission that is we are required to do what's the right mix between active guard and reserve. one of our biggest initiatives actually this year is going to be to start up an integrated wing concept at -- in south carolina. actually. and what we are doing there is combining the reserve and active duty in a single organization and we are working our way through the seems that occur and the authorities that occur to ensure that organization can actually operate as a single wing. and perhaps the best outcomes of this concept is going to be we're going to have a better understanding in each of the components of the pressures, the challenges and the motivations that cause each one to sign up and serve and how to

work more effectively together. >> so you're doing this in south carolina so is the intent to see how this can function and implement be implemented and then you would do that in other places such as? hawaii? >> and i correct myself. i think see mor johnson is in north carolina. >> ok. but we are doing that. yes, ma'am. and based on expected success there as a pilot program we'll then take a look at other organizations and where we can bring that same model. >> senator jill brand brought up sexual assault. and i appreciate your commitment to influence the climate at the air force academy. i am on the board of visitors. so your commitment to prevent sexual assault, harassment retaliation i think that's critical. i think it is an ongoing concern for many of us on this committee. so i thank you for that commitment. >> you have it. >> thank you mr. chair. >> good morning, general. thank you for all that you do for the country.

i wanted to ask you what your viewpoint was on the performance of the compass call mission package and the important role that it plays with ensuring that we disrupt enemies command and control. >> ma'am, it is critkfment and i believe i can speak on behalf of the combatant commanders. but it is critical in every one of their area of operations. >> thank you. i want to follow up and ask you as best as you can answer in this forum. can you explain to us why this is an urgent requirement that we actually place this mission package on a more surviveable and effective arkte? >> yes, ma'am. the reality is that this mission the electronic attack is actually becoming more and more critical especially as we look to the global challenges we face, china, russia, iran, north korea especially. but it is also playing a significant role in the fight

against violent extremism. the problem is it doesn't operate at the altitudes we need. so our challenge is any time delay in being able to get this into an aircraft that can climb to a higher altitude is going to diminish over that same timeframe our support to the combatant commanders. >> so if we fail to authorize the request that the air force has made to use existing rapid acquisition authorities to rehost the compass call mission equipment on the proper air frame will that result in a four-to-six year delay? >> yes, ma'am. and i would adds to that that if we have to do further integration of that equipment on this new aircraft, you could add even two more years to that. >> so based on the request that the air force has made, do you

continue to believe that it is important for congress to authorize in this year's defense authorization the request to use rapid acquisition authority to rehost the compass call given the fact that this is such an important need for combatant commanders? >> absolutely i do. >> thank you, general. >> yes, ma'am. >> general, i would -- compass call rehost program is important obviously to our combatant commanders. and i join senator ayotte in urging the air force to field this as expeditiously as possible. >> welcome, general. as you know, from your time in new mexico, my home state is home to the air force research laboratory as well as two nnsa laboratories. i want to start by just inviting you to come visit and see the great work that goes on at both for the air force

specifically. i want to ask broadly what role do you see our defense labs playing in air force modernization? >> yes, sir. and i will go back to my opening statement. we are the service i believe you rely on for innovation and breaking barriers and that happens in our labs to a large extent. the technologies looking right now, small satellite technology, these are all thing that is are going to be potential game changers in the future. >> i had add directed energy to that list. >> amen. >> despite the great work that they do at those labs, this committee has expressed its concern in the ndaa that it takes an unreasonable amount of time to hire experienced individuals at the defense labs. sometimes it takes over a year to get somebody in place which just seems like far too long and the result of that is that a sizeable percentage of the authorized built that is those d.o.d. labs remain vacant due to lengthy delays as well as

competition from the private sector where you can get placed in a relatively reasonable amount of time. so if confirmed can you make speeding this hiring process a priority for our defense laboratories? >> yes, sir, i will. and i will tell you that i absolutely align with secretary carter that we are in a war on talent. one of the initiatives under his force of the future initiatives allows us to go directly to a university and hire talent from the university. what we've done previously up until now is we have told our talented young men and women considering joining us to go get on u.s.a. jobs. post all the resumes and maybe we'll get back to them in six months. they're gone. so we -- it is unacceptable in this environment. so everything that the secretary is doing and anything i can do to make that easier i will do. >> right. i appreciate that. i think that focus will be incredibly important for getting the kind of talent that we need in what is becoming a very competitive environment with the private sector.

regarding the huey replacement discussion that senator wicker brought up. is the air force going to obviously that will be competed but will you consider the same platform as the combat rescue helicopters that the hh 60 or -- >> sir right now it's danchte set of requirements. so the question will be clearly when you can get one platform that can do multiple missions. but right now as i have looked at the requirements and clearly if confirmed something that i will get deeply involved in making sure we keep those requirements firm. right now there is enough differences between what you need to be able to fight your way into a point to rescue someone versus what you would do to provide security for the missile fields. >> given the dramatic improvements we have seen in laser in particular technology and microwaves as well in the last few years, what role do

you see directed energy playing in the third offset? >> sir, i describe it as silent sabotage. right now when i want to or when we want to place fire power on the enemy, they and everyone else in the area knows we're there. what we need is the capability to create in effect and not know where it came from and who. i think directed energy is going to provide that for us and it is going to be especially effective in our special ops forces but it will also have conventional effects as well. so i'm excited about the technology and if confirmed will certainly push it. >> i look forward to working with you. thanks for your service. >> thanks, mr. chairman. first of all, i've always said that general welsh's greatest asset is vetting. and i have observed over the last few weeks that in my opinion your greatest asset is sitting behind you is in green. dawn is serving that

going to be replacing betty. do you have a problem with that? >> no, sir. >> the thing that brought up one of the questioners here is back in april of 2013 we rounded some 17 combat coded units, squad rns. that lasted for about four months. in i think that we had some 17, 25% of the pilots were uncertified during that time, had to be retrained. of course you know what happens sitting down there in terms of maintainance and all that. have you ever calculated the cost and come to conclusion that we lost money on that deal? >> sir, i haven't calculated the cost monetarily but i will tell you that the cost personally for those individuals who were affected -- because it wasn't only the pilots who stopped flying. it was the depot maintenance folks who stopped maintaining. air traffic controllers. across the force. and what we can't calculate is

the number of folks who decided that, you know what? if this is how i'm going to be treated i'm not going to stay with the company. >> i've actually talked to some of those. of course we had first affect that had from thinker air force base. refueler, the kc-46 right now the general made the statement that our kc-135 and kc-10 refueling fleet is stressed at a point near bending and i am concerned about our ability to flex that force in another region of the world if we need. do you agree with this statement? >> sir, i do. and if i can again highlight the magicians in our depots. there's only one reason we have aircraft flying after 15 years is because the quality individuals in our depots. >> the kc-135 is 50 years now and the kc-30 years old. but now we shift to the

fighters. we have the same problem there except it's a little different. we've been training now. the t-38 again are 50 years old. now, they're projecting that before we are able to start replacing that, it is going to be 2024. is that correct? >> yes, sir. >> and then now -- i don't know how many years it will take to rerotate those around until the t-38 is finally totally replaced. because i haven't calculated that. but can we hold on to them? >> sir, we're going to have to. >> here's the problem that we have using your quotes when you talked t the -- you about -- this is too revealing, quote, the most pressing challenge for the united states air force is the rise of peer competitors with advanced military capabilities rivaling our own. we're talking about third generation. and we've already acknowledged

that the training in the t-38 is not adequate to training someone for fifth generation fighters. isn't that correct? >> yes, sir. >> so it's almost as if we're sitting around saying everything is going to be happening in a vacuum when in fact it is not. and if you look -- even today, if we are not getting adequate training for those, our new competitors, what's it going to be like 10, 15 years from now? is that one of the thing that is bothers you one of your greater concerns? >> sir, it is. and this is a classic case of what a service chief is faced with. which is how do i with the resources given if confirmed get the right balance between capability capacity and readiness. and there are trades that we make. and so when we look at, for instance, bringing on the new trainer aircraft, that's one of the trades that we have to make to push that to the right until 2024 and so that's going to require us to keep the t-38 flying longer.

and it is just one of the inevitable trades. >> we got spoiled over the last few decades. because we didn't have competitors out there that were almost equal with us or even advancing from our current status. so that's one of the great concerns that i have. and i know you and i have talked about that. you're going to be addressing that. >> yes, sir, i will. >> i look forward to working with you. >> thank you, mr. chairman. i want to thank your family for being here as well. general. i would like to congratulate you on your nomination. in our last meeting you and i talked a bit about if 434th air refueling wing in indiana. and the basing process for the next jen kc 46. when do you anticipate we'll see another kc-46 opportunity for reserve led unit? >> the next ones up are called mobe 4, mobility based 4 which will be the next one and we

expect a rollout with the candidate announcement within the next two weeks. >> in the last basing decision the air force emphasized the importance of reserve-led associate units. that aligns with the recommendation of the air force commission report in 2014 that recommended expanding the number of associate units in the air force. do you anticipate that you will be creating more reserve-led associate wings in the future? >> i do, senator. right now we actually have very successfully active duty officers that are actually commanding guard wings reserve officers commanding active duty wings. and so we have already done this kind of a mix and we look at every organization then look at the mission and the deployed to dwell and the op tempo that we can sustain there and how do we optimize all three components to best accomplish the mission. so as we do this i expect that if confirmed we will see more associations in the future. >> the ground-based strategic

deterrent provides i think an important opportunity for cross-service collaboration between the air force and navy on strategic missiles. i think it is an historic opportunity to leverage research and development, parts, lessons learned from the navy's recent trident modernization program which can reduce risk, enhance savings which are critical, and field an extremely capable follow-on to minute man 3. so is the air force committed to commonality as a means to modernize and maintain the triad? >> yes, sir, we are. >> and what elements do you see as most applicable for commonality with the icbm program? >> sir, as you know in the ground-based strategic gcsd one of the aspects is it is an enterprise approach. so as we field that it is not just the missile. it is the missile to launch, command and control, entire enterprise approach. the navy does the same thing

when they look at the submarine force. so i think there is synergy there between how the navy approaches and how we approach the enterprise that's required to be able to support this mission. and so i think there is various elements not the least of which is nuclear command and control. >> will you ensure the program, the process prioritizes commonality as an important strategy to increased capability while reducing risk and cost? >> yes, sir, i will. >> thank you. i want to talk to you a little bit about the 122nd fighter wing in fort wayne has conducted numerous missions in support with their a-10 aircraft. we were excited to see that the air force is is charged the 122nd to continue to wage war in the twar on terror with the f-16. the air force's fy-17 force structure actions announcement shows fort wayne trancitioning to f-16s and fy 18s. due to concerns raised by this committee and others, these

plans may shift a little bit and i was wondering your assessment of how the senate and house versions of ndaa impact your ability to carry out force structure changes involving this? >> sir, anything that allows us more funding stability and flexibility to make the kind of key decisions we need to make are helpful for service chief. any restrictions we have on being able to move forward obviously, as we look at balancing capacity and readiness we need that flexibility. when it comes to fort wayne as we put forward our options for the secretary of defense and the 18 palm, as we talked about, we may ask your support to delay that transition in order to make sure that we can continue to fight the fight against isil. >> how does that -- how do you think that is going to impact your timing as things currently stand? >> we are looking at currently

one year. >> thank you very much. >> thank you, mr. chairman. >> thank you, mr. chairman. and general, welcome. congratulations to you and your family. i want to begin by paying a little compliment to secretary carter, president obama, i think that they have been doing a very good job in terms of their selection of their top military generals. and whether it is general milly or general durnford your nomination fits into a category incredible experience and but also what we've seen is frankness where they've come to the committee and they've been very up front with the committee. i think it is well respected, well appreciated. so if you are confirmed i certainly hope you will continue in that vain. and let me just mention, general milly was here a couple

of months ago and he stated that given the current budget of the the president's budget that would -- given the force levels of the army, would put the army at high military risk. pretty dramatic. didn't get any news but i thought it was pretty dramatic that the chief of staff of the army was saying that to do their mission on the current budget. you have an incredible diverse mission set which i think most people don't even recognize how broad it is, how important it is. do you also see high military risk given the current budget and afere force numbers that are i think at all time lows? right now? terms of what you need to do in terms of your mission? high mick military risk? that would be pretty remarkable the two service chiefs one income yourself and one current state that. we need to do something about it. i have no doubt. >> sir, i would categorize as significant training to high which has been the previous assessment. >> you don't think it's high

right now? you are at the lowest levels f-35 maintainers contractors? >> sir the challenge in readiness really when we have this discussion i find is you've got to start this discussion with ready for what? because if you were to ask me what is the state of the readiness to fight violent extremism in the middle east it is extremely high. ready to excute the fight. and if that was all we were asked to do for the next decade i would tell you that we could sustain that. but if you tell me that i need to be simultaneously ready for the other global challenges that secretary carter has laid out which i believe we need to be ready for which is china russia iran and north korea state on state actors i believe that we are at high risk. >> thank you. let me turn to follow up on the topic that senator donnelly was talking about. and that is the vet down of the kc-46. you are making decisions here. you are going to be making some o conchnuss decisions

relatively soon. when do you plan on make those? >> the next decision will be mop 4 and we will be doing that in the next several months. >> including oconus locations? >> yes, sir. as a matter of fact, we have 11 will coigses that we will be vetting down two that we are planning. the next two i do not believe are oconus mp. >> what do you look at for characteristics? >> we have is a set criteria that first lay out that cratia. we share that with the delegations. and then we score bases against that criteria that then produce it is preferred candidate list. the preferred candidate list is where we actually then begin our site surveys. >> i will throw out a couple characteristics that i think the important. strategic location. hub of air combat power for the asia pacific. world class training areas.

24/7 nor add mission. that routinely intercepts russian bombers. three red flag exercises a year over 100 fifth generation fighters located there. c-17, c-130s. f-16s. do those sound like important characteristics? >> yes, sir. >> do you know what place i'm describing? >> yes, sir. billy mitchell is right it is strategic. alaska is strategic. >> he called it the most strategic place in the world. is that important? >> sir, it is actually important across all the mission sets of the united states air force. >> so can i get your commitment to take a very serious look when you are making the decision to take a look at billy mitchell's place that he called the most strategic place in the world as far as -- >> yes, sir. you have it. >> can i ask one other question. are you concerned about recent unprofessional behavior by both the chinese and russian aircrafts during intercepts and international air space? and what should we be doing

about it? some of us think that maybe we need to draw and line and tell them not to cross the line. kind of like what turkey did. what's your recommendation on that? and how dangerous are those? and how more frequent are those? >> sir, they are dangerous. and it's been more frequent. and here's my concern. when we do an intercept which is what i've been personally involved in, you close on an aircraft that cannot defend itself with lethal weapons well inside of a lethal range. and very often the back end of that aircraft are people that can't defend themselves. so why would we allow each other to be able to close at that range? and the reason is that for 50 years we've been doing this. three very professional air forces, u.s., china, and russia have a fairly professional air force and our pilot ks do this with predictability and professionalism. when that breaks down two potential things can occur. one ask a miscalculation by either side and the second is that we find as we did with the

chinese situation when that aircraft violated the number one rule of averation is don't hit another aircraft with your aircraft. and when he hit the ep 3. the other concern i have is when you have an incompetent pilot that takes that aggressive behavior and is not actually capable of being able to perform in that kind of intercept. so that troubles me. so if confirmed my message to my counter parts in both china and russia is that we have professional air forces. let's hold our airmen accountable. >> what should we be doing? >> the senator's time has expired. go ahead. >> sir what we should be doing is messaging them through mill to mill channels through stated department channels to ensure that they know that this is unacceptable behavior. >> thank you, mr. chairman. >> some of us believe that billy mitchell wasn't always right, general. >> his court-martial was injustice. >> i was going to mention that there was a court-martial involved as i recall.

>> as it could happen to anybody. >> i was waiting for the senator to say north of the 54th pral level is also one of the criteria. >> well, closest to korea but he was vindicated i think later billy mitchell. >> general, thank you very much for being here. and you and i discussed this a week or so ago. we recently had testimony that over 80% of the current members of the military in the united states come from military bloodlines. you yourself i believe your father brother your daughter is a captain in the air force. that certainly is good in terms of the aspri and commitment. but two problems. one is a narrowing base of people to populate the military as we go from the vietnam generation down to a much smaller bases. and secondly the development of a separate sort of military cast in our country. talk to me about these two issues. >> yes, sir. if you look at where the active

duty air force is actually located, we tend to be on the eastern eastern seaboard somewhere along the south, northern tier on the western sea bood but we are not everywhere. as we've gotten smaller and smaller it is harder to connect the american people with their active duty air force. i think -- >> you see this as a concern? >> it's an absolute concern. but where we actually are in every state is in our national guard. and i think the closer connections that we have as one air force between all three components it's our international guardsmen that actually are most connected to the citizens, the people, the political leadership in each state which is where i think we need to leverage. but i am concerned about exactly what you are talking about which is a lack of connection which is further concerning more and more we have second third fourth generation. >> let me talk about math for a minute. we're talking about maintaining operations significant tempo. we don't see conflicts

resolving disappearing going away. we don't see the world getting more calm and easy to deal with. yet we are talking about these significant upgrades. you're talking about the b-1r, kc-46, deployment of the f-35 in the navy. i cbm. we're talking about major capital expenditures and i don't know anybody that is talking about additional funds. one of the thing that is both ergs me is we are now operating under budgetary decisions made in 2011 before syria before ukraine before south china sea before isis and yet we are trying to pack 10 pounds of capacity into an 8-pound sack. i just see this as a looming really a looming huge problem for this country. if we don't somehow account for increased threats and the necessity of a capital upgrades

that we are facing >> yes, sir. i agree. is there any way you could maintain your capabilities and meet your responsibilities in a world where the sequester return next year? >> no, sir. >> it could not be done? >> no, sir. if we are sequestered again, i can't give you a better example of what sequester did to the united states air force than the a-10 discussion. because in fact it was sequester that brought us the a-10 retirement. if we get sequestered again because we had an $8 billion math problem to solve in a single year in 2015. if we're sequestered again we will have a $10 billion math problem to solve in 2018. >> and will that have a direct measurable effect object national security of this nation? >> yes, sir. and other have testified and i will add to that we will be unable to excute the defense strategic guidance if we are sequestered again. >> i just hope people in this building and across the way are also listening to your testimony.

because i think it is very important. you helped develop as vice chief budgetary recommendations that turned into the authorizations that are in the bill that we just passed a few days ago. are you comfortable with where the committee came out on as far as the air force's budgetary needs are concerned? >> sir, i am generally comfortable. i know there's continued issues that we will have to work and if confirmed i will ensure that i work them with you. > kc-46. a missed deadline apparently for delivery next year. it is unusual to have a deadline missed a year in advance. what is that going to do to the whole schedule and for the deployment of the kc-46? and are you concerned about what is happening with that contract? >> sir, i am disappointed that we missed this milestone. what will happen now with the program and having been out there and walked the line and

sat down and looked the company leadership in the eye in seattle with boeing i am confident that they have a good plan to be able to overcome the developmental challenges that we are finding right now primarily in the refueling boom. and they're working through those right now. but the unfortunate reality is that we are going to delay now up to a year receiving those airplanes. we still believe that we can absorb the impact of that one-year delay in the first two beddowns which will be in at tuss for the training unit and then mcconnell which will be the first ops unit. and then after that we think we will be back on track when we go to other bases after that. >> i commend to you as you make your future decisions the 101st out of bangor known as the main yacks. that's a very skilled and a very important facility. i joined my colleague from alaska but now i'm talking about a base that's right around the 45th parallel.

thank you for your testimony. >> the committee had a lot of concern and there's provisions in the current bill of the ndaa that was just recently passed on the f-35 maintainer issue. can you speak to that a little bit and what you see is the best path forward how important it is to address that issue? >> yes, sir. and this is a challenge for all services who are trying to sustain and modernize the same time. because none of us have maintainers that we're currently operating in a wapses system that can then shift. because the first thing you do is train the maintenance force that is going to receive that aircraft. so our challenge is the more we are kept or told to keep the old aircraft, it is going to further delay bringing on the f-35. so those maintainers that we are counting on we're working thraw lot of different options. we've already done a lot of things. we've transitioned to contract logistics at all of our nondeploying locations. we did tht this in the

aggressors. so we're doing everything we can right now to bring the f-35 on. but the more we are delayed in terms of bringing on new man prour and holding air man power in existing weapons systems can have a significant impact. >> the best solution to increase the end strength of the air force to make sure we have airmen working those issues as opposed to contractors? >> absolutely. in as that been mentioned the budget discussions in terms of your future end strength? >> yes, sir. as a matter of fact, in the 16 ndaa we are actually authorized to 321,000. so we've put all the resources in place both from recruiting and pipeline training to be able to bring in the number of air men. if we're successful getting to 317 and see the kind of recruiting numbers, we will likely come back to this committee and ask you for -- to

reprogram money to allow us to get to our authorization of 3r321. and the bulk of those airmen are going to be maintainers. >> just back to the c-46 issue. i mentioned a lot of the characteristics that i think are very powerful in terms of the strategic necessity of looking at alaska. i would like to get your commitment during your first year if you are confirmed to come up to alaska and see those issues and strategic strengths for yourself. >> yes, sir. i will. >> thank you again, jem. and thank you to your family. thank you for your years, deck raids, really, of service to our country. this hearing is adjourned. [captioning performed by national captioning institute] [captions copyright national able satellite corp. 2016] captioning performed by the national captioning institute, which is responsible for its caption contents and accuracy. visit ncicap.org

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>> so the spectacular surge of isis was the directed result of the creepning sectarianism, the swars in al-nusra, in the middle east the security vacuum that exists and the perception that somehow the arab spring was a peaceful collective action could not really change the existing order. as part of a series of presentations called the better way agenda, hosted by house speaker paul ryan, republicans presented their vision for restraining the powers of the executive branch and increasing congressional oversight of the federal government. house leaders spoke to reporters about their proposes poflse at the briefing in the .s. capitol's statry hall.

>> welcome to stat wary hall. our history fills this chamber. our story as americans is a story that is told in part through the statues that are around us. farmers, inventors, war heroes, who stood up for what they believed and dared to dream big. for them it wasn't about title. it wasn't about job descriptions. it was about writing their own individual stories about their own individual pursuits. because they were all characters in a much larger story. a story of america's promise. what is america's promise?

it is a promise that every man woman and child in america should have the freedom to pursue. a promise that no matter your background your walk of life, you are free and empowered to choose your own unique version of the american dream. it is not a promise of perfection or a life without challenges. but it is a promise that you aren't limited to where you finish because of y you start. that is the promise of america. e see this promise through the sculpturs architecture around us. after all this is where the people's house of representatives first made its permanent home. where many of the early chapters about our great experiment in self-governance were first written. but even this place right here endured one of the earliest struggles to fulfill the american promise when it was engulfed in flames during the war of 1812.

you see there has always been a challenge to america's promise. the struggle between freedom and power that started the very day our declaration of independence was signed. a struggle between trusting people to make the best decisions for themselves or a government it's not a republican or a democrat struggle, it's an american struggle. and it touches the very core of who we are. men and women who have written a story for more than two centuries about how together we the people win this battle to form a more perfect union. at that moment in 1814, when our struggle was seen through the burning timbers and the thick smoke in this room, it appeared that the promise of america had failed. that history had shown representative government was too weak to survive. that people couldn't govern themselves. but out of the ashes rose our capitol. a temple of liberty where that

promise continued and people through their elected representatives were central to its fulfillment. our capitol is the home of the greatest inheritance our western civilization has to offer. the greatest inheritance because it starts with people. here in congress the people write the laws, assert the ultimate power over their government, and express their consent to be governed. for thousands of years prior, the power to make law resided in pharaohs and tribal chiefs, ceasers and dictators, kings and queens. government was the realm of a few privileged powerful people operating beyond the reach of the masses who were ruled. but then came the united states of america where a new start was made, a rag tag group of

believers seeking freedom from those who were trying to dream for them. we rejected the idea that the law is an instrument of special classes of people that are better or wiser or more powerful rulers. what started as a little promise of the people, by the people and for the people grew into a great one. but today americans are anxious. seniors fear retirement. parents worry about the future success of their children. students stress about finding careers to pay back their debt. hard workers can't compete with the tangled web of taxes, one-size-fits-all regulationses and arbitrary rules. the reason they're so anxious and frustrated is because their voices aren't being heard. they're afraid, they're losing representative government. and the country they have known and loved. over time presidents have come to legislate by executive order. over time courts have come to make laws from the bench. and we, congress, and our desire to avoid complexities and conflicts -- conflicts have ceded power in order to simplify the process of law making.

so here we find ourselves again , in the age-old struggle, a contest that will determine whether we shape our dreams or whether others shape them for us. the people's house is the seat of representative democracy. no other institution has such power. because no other institution is as accountable to the people. presidents can veto, supreme courts can strike down, but congress has the exclusive seat of law making power. not some guy in the basement of the labor department. we must assert that the people speaking through their elected representatives is the best way to keep us free and protect our liberty and to make sure the promise of america exists for the next generation. what you'll find throughout history is that not much has

changed. the same historic reoccurring struggle between freedom and power that the abraham lincolns, the john quincy adams, the daniel websters all faced. it's the struggle between fulfilling the promise of america or breaking it. they knew the torch one day would be passed, where it resides with us. a daughter of a cherry farmer from kettle falls, washington. a nurse from tennessee. a businessman from texas. an air force chaplain from georgia. an author from utah. a combat surgeon from ohio. the about this generation's responsibility right now to cherish, to embrace, to protect the fragile, carefully crafted american promise that puts people in charge through their elected representatives. it's our call to put aside any personal ambition so the next generation can have their

individual power protected, to freely pursue their version of the american dream. let's use the power of the purse to make government bureaucracy more accountable to the people and less arrogant, so the i.r.s. can't target free speech and the e.p.a. can't regulate mud puddles. let's do our job of reviewing, rethinking and possibly eliminating government programs that are running on auto pilot without oversight or authorization.

so agencies like the v.a. operate their hospitals more like cleveland clinics. let's hold unelected bureaucrats accountable when they interfere with the next innovative startup being created in a granl or with a scientist working to cure cancer in a lab. let's make agencies more transparent and closer to the people. a government that operates more like uber and amazon and less like the d.m.v. and most importantly let's give people a voice through their elected representatives so a 19th century institution can actually solve 21st century problems. so today i am grateful. i am grateful for the efforts of my colleagues, chairman bishop, chaffetz, goodlatte, rogers and sessions, who spent the last six months thinking through how the people's house can accomplish these goals on behalf of the men and women we represent. and i am inspired by my colleagues who have joined me this morning to answer the call from the people, to restore their voices in government, and protect what our founders conceived. the most just system of government the world has ever seen. our dreams and aspirations belong to us, not the government. only we can push the heights of our imaginations, not the government. we know the power of our ideas, not the government. that is why freedom is so important.

it isn't about political parties, personalities or power. it never has been. the about making certain the promise of america is never breached and knowing the only ones who can preserve it for the future and future generations are we the people. [applause] mr. goodlatte: i'm bob goodlatte, chairman of the judiciary committee. the constitution is clear, the role of congress to make -- it's the role of congress to make all laws. judiciary to interpret the laws, and the president to enforce the laws. this system was wisely set in place by our country's framers over 200 years ago because they knew firsthand that the concentration of power in the same hands was a threat to individual liberty and the rule of law. in recent decades, however, presidents of both parties have a grand -- aggrandized their

power and usurped congress to legislate from the oval office. this is not a republican or a democrat issue, it's an american issue. and touches the very core of our system of government. so today i am pleased to join with speaker ryan and conference chair mcmorris rodgers and my other colleagues in unveiling our republican plan to re-establish the system of checks and balances created in the constitution by our founding fathers. to reassert congress' authority we need to start where the constitution starts. asserting congress' authority over law making. the very first sentence of the very first article of the united states constitution begins, all legislative power herein granted shall be vested in a congress of

the united states. key pieces of our agenda include reforming the administrative procedure act, ending the chevron deference doctrine that currently gives bureau crot -- bureaucrats the benefit of the doubt when they interrupt statutes. requiring full and fair disclosure of the administration's regulatory agenda, and reasserting that congress is the ultimate decision maker, regardless of whether they occur by statute or

regulation. fully half of the vetoes of this president has come of the congressional review actresslusions disapproving of his regulations. when the president to this degree is blocking the will of the people through their elected representatives, it is clear that congress, under article one, must strongly assert its constitutional powers. today's federal administrative state is an constitution unforeseen by the framers of our constitution. it is rapidly mushrooming out of control. this overgrown bureaucracy is tipping our system of checks and balances away from the legislative and judicial branches and toward a stronger, emboldened and overreaching executive. our republican plan takes commonsense steps to protect our system of checks and balances and preserve liberty as the framers intended. [applause]

mr. chaffetz: hello. i'm jason chaffetz from utah. i really do appreciate the vibrant discussion we've had with our colleagues. i appreciate cathy mcmorris rogers, our conference chair, who has led us through this process, along with the speaker and majority leader. to really put forward a vision of where we should go and what we need to do. there's three things that i would like to just briefly touch on. this is truly the people's house. and if the truly the people's house, we've got to maximize the sight in. i believe sight in is the -- sunlight. i believe sunlight is the best disinfectant and it allows

people the access they need to their government. they pay for it and we're here because of the people. to execute on that in today's modern world, i guess we'd call it crowd sourcing. if we're going to do our job, we have to make sure that they have the information at their finger tips. there are several ways we can do that. one is we have to strengthen the inspectors general. these are the nonpartisan folks, the career people who are able to get in and look under the hood. we have roughly 72 inspectors general that employ between 13,000 and 14,000 people. they have to have unfettered access to the executive branch and be able to follow through. you shouldn't be able to, for instance, just be able to quit your job as a federal employee

and then the investigation's over. that happens time and time again. we need to strengthen the inspectors general. we also need to strengthen foia. we did pass out this week the senate version of the foia, the freedom of information act, proud to do that in a bipartisan way. in a good way. that bill is now on the way to the president's desk. i assume that the president will sign it. but the incumbent upon all of us to make sure that that promise is actually fulfilled. and then the other thing we have to do is strengthen subpoenas. the congress has the right to see documents to understand what the executive branch is doing. part of the game plan is to make sure that this is strengthened as well. thank you and it's an honor and privilege to serve and i look forward to serving with my colleagues to make sure that we can make this country the best it can possibly be. thank you. [applause] mr. bishop: i'm rob bishop, chairman of the resources committee. on behalf of the church group in washington who is denied their annual permit to have a picnic in a national park because the park land manager thought it would disturb the semblance and the certificate enity of the

rest of the park, or the nevada family whose murdered son they were not allow to search for the body until they came up with a $1 million bond to reimburse the park in case something happened, or the new mexico rancher who is denied a grazing permit because he gave a speech critical of the land agency, or the utah ranch who are had to take out a water pond he built with his own money on his own land because it was attracting too much wildlife from federal lands who thought the drinking was good, or the female outbackers in wyoming who were photographed by b.l.m. as they were going to the bathroom as they were trying to come up with evidence of trespassing, or the senior citizens who are allowed to go into yellowstone in the lockdown because they'd already paid for the rooms but were locked into the hotel and couldn't see old faithful and then the armed guards as they're leave on the bus refused to allow them it take pictures because that would be reck reacting and they couldn't get off the bus for two ours, those are the people of why we're doing this. this is not simply a battle between executive and

legislative branch over power. this is an issue of what happens -- the executive agencies were designed to make decisions without leaving -- dealing with that nasty concept of what people want or they need. congress on the other hand has to run every two years. which means we have to talk to people, we have to understand what they are talking about. that's the nexus of what this is all about. it's the effort to find a way of actually empowering people. we will, among other things, this is the first step of a lot of steps, make sure that every committee that authorizes, goes through a plan of re-authorizing, every organization, so we can look at what it does, and its powers -- we will self-police ourselves with this document so no longer will we get language that gets carte blanche to the agencies. we will establish what the parameters will be. we will put in language that will insist that there's coordination between the agencies and local governments, so locally elected officials by the people can have their voice also being heard. if we don't do this, if we don't insist that the rules and regulations have to be reviewed with us before they are implemented, not after, if we don't do that, people are going to be harmed. and if we do do it, citizens are going to be empowered. that's the goal of this document. it is a better way. [applause] >> good morning, everyone. the great to be here to talk about our proposals for a better way in america.

over the it has been a shift of electedower away from officials to bureaucrats. the proposal today cannot come soon enough to the minors, farmers, and those the represent in western pennsylvania. those americans want people from their area making laws, not

bureaucrats who live in the far off capital. this goes to what we are pursuing here today. 35 years ago, president reagan -- if no one among this is capable of governing themselves, the who among us has the capacity to govern someone else. it is past time to return government to the elected representatives. restoring congress's law making roles will not in regulation. members can vote to approve good regulation and vote against bad regulation. i}f a member makes the wrong decision, the people can correct that at the ballot box.

that's what's self -- that's what self-government is all about. thank you. [applause] mr. hill: good morning. i'm french hill and i represent the second congressional district in arkansas. this is a day we get to remind ourselves that 50% of the words in the constitution relate to article one. clearly the founders considered the legislative branch the preeminent branch, the first branch. and as james madison said in federalist 51, though, all three branches are in competition, and when one gets a little too ambitious, the others need to counter that ambition. and today's project is all about countering the ambition of the executive branch. as a businessman for over three decades from arkansas, i've seen firsthand the negative effects of an executive branch that bypasses congress to either propose their own rules or to enforce laws in ways that were not intended. all without input of the american people. one example i've seen recently

is dumb founding to me and that's the waters of the united states rule. in arkansas it was enjoined with nine other states from being implemented. but implemented it is being by the coercive effect of federal representatives to make private landowners incorporate the wotus rule into everything they do now. even though it's not the law of the land. that is federal overreach. in his time state of the union address, the president made a point to recognize that too much regulation out of washington is burdensome on the american people. the wotus rule is an example of that the law never intended micromanaging streams and ponds on private land in arkansas. these are the types of

situations we need to tackle in this congress and as congress follows ours proposals today for a better way, we will successfully reassert our authority under article 1. i congratulate cathy mcmorris rodgers, proud to work on this project, and wish all the best for its success. [applause] mr. collins: good morning, i'm doug collins from georgia's ninth district. i come from the neevet georgia mountains and poultry is our biggest industry. we're the poultry capital of the world. it's a thriving sector, and we're striving to meet the demands of america and the world. but somewhere in many cubicles across washington they determined that's not good enough, they're putting things in the way, putting costs and increasing the burden on our poultry industry. somewhere along the way the executive branch has forgotten it's their job to enforce the laws, not make the laws. if they would like to make the law, i encourage them to put their name on a ballot and run, not do it the wrong way. they seem to be more concerned with a political agenda than enforcing the law. osha, who is tasked with the

basic health and safety of workers, a noble cause, is continuing putting into practice things like a wall-to-wall inspection of poultry plants. this isn't done for safety reasons but for a policy agenda. everyone can agree we need to ensure worker safety this does little for safety. these inspections d do more harm than good because they simply slow down the facility, hindering them from doing what they're supposed to be doing. then also sometimes you have to smile. not because something is right but because something is so ludicrous. recently, the usda issued organic rules for comment. these rules were meant to have little to do with food safety and are meant to address consumer perception. according to these new rules, chickens need sizable outdoor space for enrichment activities. the pastoral image of chickens roaming around the yards is well

and good in theory but in practice it's a costly change that would drive up costs to consumers and put grocery stores at a disadvantage. it is so amazing that i was asked, what would happen to chickens in cold weather states? would we have to give them jackets when they were outside? no one seems to know. the usda's policy also puts people at risk because it contradicts avian influenza precautions we have put in place that would be devastating to our economy and our nation if we put our food source at risk. this is not simply about is congress better than the executive branch. it's about doing our job and doing it in the way the constitutional founders said to do it. when we all do our job the way we're supposed to, the people are protected, the people are served, and our country is stronger for it. thank you. [applause]

mr. ratcliffe: my name is john ratcliffe, i present the -- i represent the fourth congressional district of texas. the bue i have to the american system of government is that every american is intended and meant to have a say. laws are developed and voted on by the people that are chosen. those are then interpreted by the courts and enforced as is by the executive branch. but in recent decades, the executive branch and its bureaucratic agencies have stepped far beyond the carefully designed balance of power, by creating rules and regulations that have the same impact as law but go far beyond the scope of

any existing laws. to this point, it's no secret that texas will be particularly hard hit by the environmental protection agency's clean power plan. these regulations are anticipated to increase retail power prices in my home state by 16%. and when family budgets are -- the local coal-fired power plants in my district have already announced that they simply can't afford to remain open if they're forced to comply. this means a loss of jobs, it eliminates an affordable source of energy for the folks back home, and it saddens me to see a circumstance um vention of our constitution by a ballooning administrative state have such a crippling impact on the american people. that's why i introduced legislation to address this ongoing problem and why i'm now teaming up with my fellow defenders of the constitution here in the house to establish a strong plan aimed at restoring the balance of power that our founders intended.

texans and people all across this country deserve to have their voice restored. they deserve a better way. after all, we're here to serve them. it's not the other way around. thank you. [applause] mr. bishop: good morning, my name is mike bishop, i represent the eighth district in the state of michigan. i want to thank the task force, the chairman and members of the task force for their hard work on this important subject. and i want to say that the constitutional crisis that we're talking about today is really the primary reason why i decided to run for the united states congress. every year, unelected bureaucrats create thousands of onerous rules and regulations. that in many cases supplant years of existing legal

precedent and have full effect of law. without ever being publicly debated, discussed, voted on, by a single elected official. and without any input from the very people that they will directly impact. one specific example of the many is the department of labor's overtime rule. the rule doubles the salary threshold under which employees qualify for overtime. i'm concerned, members of the task force are concerned, and people we represent are concerned that this was pushed through without consideration of the obvious known and very negative consequences.

not surprisingly the final rule will likely lead to fewer jobs, less workplace flexibility, and fewer opportunities to climb the ladder of success. it impacts everybody, from the individual to the small business owner to our abundance of outstanding colleges and universities that serve students across my state and across this country. to know the schools have to work, to worry about that -- a decision that was made miles away from them without any input, in many cases over their objection, may force them to cut hours and raise tuition is not how the american system was meant to work. michiganians and the people across this country have a right to be concerned and frustrated, and they are.

i'm uniquely aware of the concerns raised by parents across my district as a father of three. i'm -- i worry about every day the growing cost, skyrocketing cost of higher education, as do many of you. and in general the higher cost of living. and under no circumstances, no circumstances should any government agency be making it harder and more costly for families, parents, students, or people of any walk of life to realize their dreams. this rule i'm talking about right now is just one of many. and it's symptomatic of a far greater problem that's facing this country today. it's snowballed in recent years. it's time for a better way. it's time for us to enforce the constitution. article 1, section 1, and section 8 of the united states constitution affirms the role of congress very specifically, very

directly, and unambiguously. it is responsible alone to legislate and pass laws. it couldn't be any more clearer. that's exactly what the frames of the constitution intended, to avert the style of government that they left, to protect the american people from a top heavy and tyrannical government. i'm proud to be part of this task force and i'm proud to be part of its mission. together we are going to give the voices become to the people that we represent and restore the powers of the constitution as our founding fathers intended. thank you. [applause] mr. wenstrup: i'm brad wenstrup, i represent ohio's second district. our constitution is not broken, it's not an outdated document that's to be ignored in this century. it was carefully and deliberately crafted bationed on

a guiding principle of we the people that set limits on this egovernment, not the other way around for the government to set limits on us. our founding fathers laid out a specific framework for our federal government that was balanced on three separate but equal blanches to ensure that we the people were heard and properly represented. but now we're at a point in our history where a largely unconstitutional fourth branch of government has taken root. it's an unelected bureaucracy. and the sprowling -- sprawling network of federal departments and agencies is churning out rules and regulations at an unprecedented pace. these rules carry the force of law but have never been voted on by the people's representatives. so what happened to we the people. that's the we we have to ask. in ohio's second district, i'm hard pressed to find anyone who hasn't felt the effects of our bureaucracy, especially when it comes to businesses. for example, take sealcorp industries in my district. thanks to the recent overtime rule they're facing a quarter million dollars in compliance costs. for them that means little growth, higher product prices, and for many of their employees, that means a demotion from a