some civilian military employees are furloughed. a look at a tweet from congressman murphy of florida. he pointed out something about continuing resolutions. the absence of adequate funding for defense makes everything that our sailors and commanders do harder. from defense heard secretary james mattis yesterday. host: here is what he had to say about this impending shutdown. [indiscernible]

>> good morning. i am peter lewis. we are at the john hopkins international school. before making my introductory remarks, i think we will start by asking everyone to silence or turn off your cell phones. we just finished our holiday season and i got an opportunity of going to a couple of movies so i am very mindful. it is a great honor to welcome you to today's presentation of the national defense strategy. the nds is the foundational document that determines how the department of defense will

contribute to the presidents whichal security strategy was released in december of 2017. a first in a decade. it is highly anticipated not only because of the amount of time that has passed, but also because its author is the 26th of defense, our guest, jim mattis. as many of you know, before he became secretary, secretary mattis had a long and distinguishing career and the united states worrying core. -- united states marine core. secretary mattis was a

distinguished sick that visiting fellow at the stanford university. in our audience will know, secretary mattis is also known for his love of learning and research. he has co-authored a book on civil military relations. this is secretary mattis is 'firstpublic it -- mattis public address of 2018. we will answer questions from the audience and for this portion of the event, we asked that you write your questions on the no cards that are on your seat. our student workers will be passing through the audience at two intervals during the presentation as questions occur,

you can send those down. we hope to get to as many questions as possible. following secretary mattis is , she will pose the questions to the secretary. we are very glad to be able to incorporate different members of our community. honored to host you. please join me in welcoming secretary jim mattis. [applause] secretary mattis: good morning and thank you all for taking the time to come and listen to us here. national defense strategy but what it really is is an american strategy. avalon's to you. belongs to-- oit

you. -- is aleisure to you pleasure to be here. he was so wise and how to select people. that man was none other than george schulz. it says something about his ability to see talent. there is a lot of talent that come through here. you all look like promising young men and women. he was also a great and avid scholar. he was someone that studied issues. you could agree or disagree but you would not find him flat-footed intellectually.

he was a guiding light during the cold war. a guided many thanks. guided many things. -- so we do have a sense of ownership for the man for whom this school is named. this is a fitting place to introduce our unclassified summary of the classified document. parts are classified, because we owe a degree of confidentially to the troops who will carry up the strategy. it is our nation's first national defense strategy in 10 years. it is a moral obligation for leaders to layout clearly to their subordinates in the department of defense what it is we expect of them. it is designed to protect americans's vital national interest.

this was framed by president trump's national security strategy. itouple words out of that, is inside the framework of that national security strategy, specifically where it states that we are to protect the american people, the homeland and the american way of life, and it goes on to say and to preserve peace through strength. those awards out of the national security strategy, and we carry those themes inside the pentagon where we say, what does that mean for us? national security is more than just defense. part of the responsibility. today, america's military reclaims an era of strategic purpose. ofare alert to the realities a changing world and attentive to the need to protect our values and the countries that stand with us. america's military protects our way of life, and i want to point

out it also protects a realm of ideas. it is not just about protecting geography. this is a defense strategy that will guide our efforts in all realms. the world, to quote george awash in change." prosecutentinue to the campaign against terrorists that we are -- that are engaged in today. competition, not terrorism, is the focus of the security. for our time, fit provided the american people, the military required to protect the way of life, stand with our allies, and live up to our responsibility to pass intact to the next generation those freedoms that all of us enjoy here today. the strategy expands our

competitive prioritizes fairness for war, provides clear direction for significant change , and builds a forced to compete strategically. the strategy makes a clear appraisal of our security environment with an eye on america's place in the world. this required tough choices, ladies and gentlemen, and we made a based upon a fundamental precept, mainly that america can afford survival. we face growing threats from refinish -- from refinished -- from revisionist powers. rogue regimes like north korea and iran persistent taking outlaw actions that threaten regional and even global stability.

oppressing their own people and shredding their own people's dignity and human rights, they push their warped views outward. isis,e the defeat of violent extremist organizations like isis or al qaeda continue to sell hatred, destroying peace and murdering innocents across the road -- across the globe. in this time of change, our military is still strong, yet our competitive edge has eroded in air, land, sea, space, and cyberspace. it is continuing to the road. rapid technological change, the negative impact on military readiness -- operating for nine of the last 10 years under continuing resolutions that have created an overstretched and under resourced military.

our military will keep the peace. we keep the peace for one more year, one more month, one more week, one more day to ensure our diplomats who are working to solve problems do so from a position of strength and giving allies confidence in us. this confidence is underpinned by the assurance that our military will win, should diplomacy feel. nationaliling this security strategy, president trump said weakness is the surest path to conflict and unquestioned strength is the most certain means of defense. complacency,om for and history makes clear that america has no preordained right to victory on the better -- victory on the battlefield. it is incumbent upon us to field a more lethal force if our nation is to retain the ability to defend ourselves and what we

stand for. the three primary lines of effort will restore our comparative military advantage. they are going to build a more lethal force, strengthen our traditional alliances, and building new partnerships with other nations at the same time, we will reform our departments business practices for performance and affordability. doing this, we will earn the trust of american people and congress that their defense dollars are well spent. at theto start lithology. -- at the lethality. the enemy will attack any perceived weakness. signal -- a adopt a single preclusive form of warfare, rather we must fight

across the spectrum of conflict. the size and composition of our force matters. the nation must field sufficient, capable forces to deter conflict. if deterrence fails, we must win. we will modernize key capabilities, recognizing we cannot expect the sex -- expect success fighting with yesterday's equipment. advancedefense, economist systems, and resilient and agile logistics will provide our troops what they need to win. forces posture will prioritize readiness for war fighting for major combat, making a strategically predictable for our allies and and operationally unpredictable for any adversary. increasing the lethality of our group -- our troops requires us to reshape our approach,

reinvented it -- reinvigoratein. the creativity and the talent of the department is our deepest wellspring of strength and one that warrants greater investment. to those who would threaten america's experiment in democracy, they must know, if you challenges, it will be your longest and worst day. work with our diplomats. you don't want to do fight the department of defense. the second line of effort, i noted, is to strengthen alliances as we build new partnerships. -- i past, i thought thought many times and never did i fight in a solely american formation. it was always alongside foreign troops. theinston churchill said, only thing been fighting with allies is fighting without them. we are going to be stronger together, and our military will be designed and trained and ready to fight alongside allies.

--tory proves that nations in keeping peace and winning more. working by, with, and through allies who carry their equitable share allows us to a mass the greatest possible strength. we carry the disproportionate share of the defense burden for the democracies in the post world war ii. the growing economic strength dictates they must now step up and do more. together, when we pool our resources and share responsibility for the common defense, individual nation's security burdens become lighter. bys is demonstrated today over 70 nations and international organizations of the deflate -- of the defeat isis campaign that is

successfully conducting operations in the middle east. the 40 odd nations that stand shoulder to shoulder in nato's mission in afghanistan. to strengthen and work jointly with more allies, our organizations, processes, and procedures must be ally friendly. the department will do more than just listen to other nations ideas. we will be willing to be persuaded by them, recognizing that not all good ideas come from the country with most aircraft carriers. this line of effort will bolster an extended network capable of decisively meeting the challenges of our time. we will make the military morley full amend we are going -- the lee terry more -- we will make the military more lethal and we will find some new partners.

our third line of effort serves as the foundation for our competitive edge, reforming the business practices of the department to provide solvency and security. thereby, gaining the full benefit from every dollar spent, in which way we will gain and hold the trust of congress and the american people. we are going to have to be good stewards of the tax dollars allocated to us, and that means results and accountability matter. with our times, the department will transition to a culture of performance and affordability that operates at the speed of relevance. success does not go to the country that develops a new technology first. rather, to the one that better integrate it, and more swiftly adapts its way of fighting. our current bureaucratic processes are insufficiently responsive to the department's needs for new equipment. we will prioritize speed of delivery, continuous adaptation,

and frequent modular upgrades. we must shed outdated management and acquisition practices while adopting american industries best practices. our management structure and processes are not engraved in stone. they are a means to when end, empowering our war fighters with the knowledge, quitman, and support needed to fight and win. ,he current structures inhibit if the current structures inhibit, i expect agency heads to consolidate, eliminate, or restructure to achieve. defensety secretary of is leading this third line of effort to leverage the scale of our operations, driving better deals for equipment -- for equipping our troops. this national defense strategy will guide all of our actions, aligning the departments in three lines of effort to gain synergy. we recognize no strategy can long survive without necessary funding and a stable, predictable budget required to

defend america in the modern age. failure to modernize our military risks leaving us to a force that could dominate but be irrelevant to tomorrow's security. last 16 years have been on our military, no enemy in the field has done more to harm the readiness of the u.s. military than the combined impact of the budget control acts defense spending cuts, 10sened by the nine of the last years under continuing resolutions, wasting copious amounts of precious taxpayer dollars. today, as our competitive edge erodes into two budgetary even with storm clouds gathering, american military is operating under -- anothergling continuing resolution. for too long we have asked our military to stoically carry success at any cost attitude, as

they worked tirelessly to accomplish the mission with inadequate and misaligned resources, simply because the congress did not maintain regular order. that we have performed well is a credit to our troops. loyalty must be a two-way street. we expect the magnificent men and women of our military to be evenful in their service, in harm's way. we must remain faithful to those who voluntarily sign a blank check, payable to the american people with their lives. yesterday,ryan said our men and women in uniform are not bargaining chips. the consequences of not providing a budget are clear -- without a sustained budget, ships will not receive the required magnets to put to sea, the ships at sea will be extended outside of port, aircraft will remain on the ground, pilots not at the

sharpest edge, and eventually ammunition training and manpower will not be sufficient to deter war. congressmistic that will do the right thing and carry out responsibility. i may be in the minority when i say that. optimist.ternal as senator reid said last november, we need bipartisan investment in our troops to enhance military readiness and help us meet evolving national security challenges. under our constitution, it is congress that has the authority to raise armies and maintain navies. as i stand here this morning watching the news, as we all are, we are on the verge of a government shutdown or, at best, another debilitating, continuing resolution. in the congress back driver seat of budget decisions, not in the spectators seat of budget control action,

indiscriminate and automatic cuts. we need a budget, and we need budget predictability if we are to sustain our militaries. many of us in this room were born free in america, completely by accident. all of us can live here by choice, things to the veterans and patriots who served -- who served today. today in our military. i believe this strategy, resource appropriately, will ensure we live up to our responsibility to our children's generation. , and the dean did say he would help me answer questions, so thanks very much for that. [laughter] that is a slip of the tongue, but in this town that can get you in a lot of trouble. i speak with authority on that. [laughter]

let's see where we are at. let's have a dialogue now. we serve you. this is your strategy as much as it is ours. we have a responsibility to write it, and it is up to us to defend it intellectually alongside you and in the face of any questions you have. let's hear what is on your mind. where is catherine at? she is somewhere. >> thank you for your remarks, secretary mattis. i am a second year student here. i will be reading the questions that have been submitted. our first question, building capability and capacity are challenging to achieve at the same time. do you see one of these as being more important in the near-term? secretary mattis: very good question. capabilities or what does before spring. you look at every capability in a force. you look at changing times, what are the threats?

we try to define them to what i would call a jesuits level of satisfaction, which is tough. at that point, we then determine, do we need additional capabilities? then, you have capacity, how big is the force you have? age,is time, in this emphasizing the capabilities the force brings is probably the predominant effort that you have got to make. at the same time, capacity, the size of your force makes a difference. there are nations that have stood by as four years, and to whom we look many times for support. some of those forces have been shrunk to a point that they no longer allow their diplomats to speak with strength. we have to make certain we keep a force of sufficient size, but my emphasis is on building the capacity. do we have the cyber troops in their, the intelligence analysts

that allow us to be at the top of the game when we make that great choice to send our young folks into a fight? >> thank you. . how does -- next question. prepare u.s.nds for conflict? secretary mattis: you have to accept the reality of what the world looks like and what are those challenges to our way of life. there is nothing in here that presupposes war. the whole point, and you saw it with the nato alliance. for how many years did nato stand strong, all of the democracies together from europe and north america, how long did we stand together, and what was a cold war never became a hot for on the plains of europe. the point is, how do we create a military that is that compelling?

what you have to do is, you have to take the threats as they stand. you have to make certain you were integrated with the state department's foreign policies so we are operating with a depth to our state department, not outside the foreign policy, but inside it. it starts with me having breakfast every week with secretary of state tillerson, and we talk to or three times a day sometimes. we settle all of our issues between he and i, and then we walked together into the white house meetings, that we state and defense are together. ais allows us, as we look at military that must adapt to its time, we also are in step with the foreign policy. you do not want to get detached from that. i think he will just automatically serve the needs of our country. when you get down to the discrete elements of military

power, it is a more straightforward process. capabilitieshat other countries have. you look at what technology is bringing on board. you put it together. you prioritize based on the threat analysis that is done, both inside the pentagon, but that is never enough. i want an outside view as well. that is why we have a close link with the cia and foreign intelligence services, and then we also have officers assigned other nations armed forces or on duty and embassies around the world. they are feeding more ideas in, and certainly they are keeping us updated on what they are seeing of potential adversary systems. in thatit together manner, and that becomes a rubik's cube. as you move defensive end offices -- and our offensive --abilities together

owing to be not filled by us. some of them will be filled by others. that is the way it should be when democracies band together to defend the principles we stand on. it is an analysis, and then it is an assignment of priority, and it is an allocation of resources. you don't get the resources, then your strategy is nothing more than a hallucination. without the resources, there is just so much brave young men and women can do. >> thank you. in a similar vein, how well linked is the nds to the budgets and activities of the state department and civilian agencies? secretary mattis: it is somewhat linked. i do not take any -- i am leaving to visit indonesia and vietnam this weekend. tillerson sends to me in writing at some point after we have talked, what are the foreign policy parameters, the priorities he has.

probably the most important thing is to ensure that, and everything we say and every thing we do, we are reinforcing our diplomats. that is the way it works when you are doing foreign policy, and we are an instrument of foreign policy. it, of our token then put we do the last 600 meters of foreign policy. int is a fair statement terms of we are there first of all to backup diplomats, and if push comes to shove and we are unable to avert war or we end up in one, then we carry it forward. our job, even then, is to develop something better for peace. it is not just to fight a war. it is for a political reason that is established by state. we work together, have some development money from the u.s.

congress. money, spend that already at the highest levels of state and defense department, we have sat down and prioritized that money together. we don't spend that money without the state department helping to say, what are the priorities we have? >> thank you. how --ing on the strut, continuing on this, how are they working to develop their own capabilities? secretary mattis: it is going better than i expected. i came here should i remember flying out of denver. i was going to confirmation, and i was trying to think of, how do first into, in my mind, and alliance framework? as we were getting ready to take off, you know what happened. you can all recite it from memory. the stewardess said, and the

event we use -- we lose cabin drop,re, when the masks put your own mask on first, then help others. what we are going to do is help restore america's economic viability, because no nation in history has maintained its military power that was not that -- that was not economically viable. , when i gohing was into brussels in my first meeting with the most critical alliance we have with his -- which is the 29 nations of nato, i said, i used that example. you,d, i have got to tell i said, and i am speaking from the heart. i knew many of them. i had been -- i had been a supreme allied commander in nato. i said, i know any of you here. i said, i have set behind secretary rumsfeld when he came here and said you were going to have to pay more. you can't expect the americans to keep doing this.

i said, i have heard secretary his prepared remarks down and tell you he needs to lay this on the line, that the american people do not want to continue to carry a disproportionate share. i said, you have heard it from president obama's administration, and now it is manifested politically in america. please do not ask me to go back and tell americans that they the american parents, that they need to care more about the safety, security, and freedom about your children than you are willing to care for it, willing to sacrifice for it. we all will have to put our shoulder to the wagon and move it up the hill. surprisingly, i did not lose the rapport that i anticipated. that is a hard message. i wanted to put it in human terms, because this is a human

situation we are talking about. i don't think that's the values that grew out of the in my imminent or something that simply exists in isolation and don't need to be defended. there is enough other things going on in the world we can see this. the argument is made for itself. the argument is made for itself. the cia briefed me when i came in that my first crisis would probably be somewhere in the korean peninsula. my first trip overseas went to tokyo and seoul. they are to nations that are doing a lot for their own defense, and we are tightly bonded. if the trusted relationship. it is actually going well. -- it is a trusted relationship. it is actually going well. the message has been received in positive terms. i don't have any at -- i don't have any and president did -- i don't have any in terms with any of our allies.

so far, it is going ok, but of course, these are all democracies we are dealing with. they have their own constituencies inside each country. that is a political reality. all politics are local, whether in the united states or poland or anywhere else. far, i am very encouraged by what i have seen, and we could not be better served than by secretary-general jens stoltenberg in brussels with our primary alliance and the way he leaves that alliance is one where we all have to work together and do our fair share. >> psyche. -- thank you. how can the military institutionalize and preserve lessons from iraq and afghanistan as we shift to a greater focus? secretary mattis: if i was to sum up the challenge we have

inside the department in carrying out this strategy, it is threefold. had we maintain a safe and effective nuclear deterrence the weapons are never used? it is a nuclear deterrent, not a war fighting capability. unless it is the worst day and our nation or the world's history. that is the first one. priority. a safe and effective nuclear deterrent. field two is, how do you in the modern age a decisive, conventional force? it is expensive. it is less expensive than fighting a war with somebody who thought we were weak enough they could take advantage. the third is, at the same time as we field that conventional how do you sustain a counterinsurgency capability inside your force? i go back to the words of the most there faultless strategist

alive today, dr.: gray of reading university, who said the paradox of war, and i said it the i prepared remarks, enemy will always move the perceived weakness. we cannot marry or adopt one preclusive form of warfare. we are not going to do counterinsurgency, because you know what is going to happen. we are going to have to do it. i see it. it is relatively a training and education. it doesn't take a lot of specialized. it takes a minute women who want to join up and serve their country who have studied other nations, speak the language. it is not just cultural appreciation. it takes the kind of training that puts a lot of authority in the hands of 20-year-old corporals and 24-year-old, 23-year-old second lieutenants in that labor intensive kind of

warfare, scatter among innocent people. fight those wars so obviously among the innocent that it takes a well trained, well honed force. it is mostly training, and it is mostly education that allows us to keep counterinsurgency inside the great power of competition force that we are composing. >> thank you. with cyber security arising concerned, how does the nds plan to address strengthening u.s. cyber security? secretary mattis: if you put it canistorical terms, we make -- we begin fighting on the ground 5000 years ago. we went to see and went merry ago, then 4000 years 100 years ago world war i, we

went into the air domain. so we had a couple thousand years for a couple of them. we had a 100 years to incorporate air, now in a matter of a little more than a decade, we have added cyberspace and outer space as potential war fighting domains. where are your centers that guard america? that way. look at it in fiber, what we are going to do is reorganize. i told you we are reorganizing the department to a degree. you will see we organization of the fundamental organizations, the u.s. cyber command and the national security agency. they will be organized along different lines. we are going to have to then resource them in education with training programs, recruiting programs, and mission statements so that the we are an iced

forces are working together, because this is a wild west right now. as you know, people in their bedrooms can be doing things that are causing your bank account dire problems at this point. it is going to have to look at this problem much more broadly than the department has looked at problems in the past, and that means we have to be relevant to the security of everyone who was looking at me right now, not just relevant to our forces in the battlefield in some overseas land. got toat means, i have get really bright people income and we have got them on our defense innovation board. they come out of places like silicon valley, and they are the top of the line. they are an enormous help with the specifics. most of all, we have got to absorb now. this is a mission, and we can't say i'm a we would just like to have our airplanes, tanks, and ships.

where this takes is, there is a lot of things we have to look at. cyberunding fathers on were very -- they obviously anticipated things. [laughter] what is it? remember, life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. they knew that in protecting life, we also had to be protecting liberty. if cyber protect life could shut down all of the power in a part of our country that would kill people in hospitals or paralyze economies that are required to keep people alive? that whendeal with that is not what you and i would call a military mission? we have laws that prohibit us command we are proud of those laws, from doing certain things in this country. you don't see any military person arresting anybody in this country. not our authority in the constitution. what are we going to do in an

area that was not addressed other than the medically -- other than the medically -- other than thematically? we will need you involved in this. do we decide we will put up a domain, and if somebody wants to, they can go inside it and we will have a military force trying to protect that domain, and if you put your bank account ,n their, you get protection and someone who thinks we are up to no good says, i am not getting in that, that is ok, freedom of choice, right? where are we going to go with this? i need to get more people into layoutred this so we choices for you and see what our congress decides is the right orel of military involvement what we have to offer. it's a complex issue. i am focused mostly on making

certain that our military to fight and supporting fbi and others when we spot a problem coming in from overseas, that we will pick it up, that we notified the law enforcement agency now. there is a lot more to be done, and i have got that to find yet. inside the military, we are good to go. more broadly, i am not sure yet. >> thank you. one last question. will a government shutdown have serious ramifications on military operations, and if so, what are your plans for mitigation? secretary mattis: yes. [laughter] let me give you an example. night,rning or last young guys and gals somewhere in wyoming were driving off to do their weekend duty. there is any number of projects we have underway that keep me at the top of my game in the

military at the top of their game better handled by civilians. all of these things are going to be disrupted. those troops that arrive at their armories and told to go home. if there is a government shutdown, they will then drive a couple hundred miles back home. these are still at young men and women. they will suck it up and say, ok. when they get in their car, they may not mutter something quite so positive. i would just tell you there will be our maintenance activities will probably shutdown. we will not be able to induct anymore of our gear that needs maintenance. over 50% altogether of my civilian workforce will be furloughed. that is going to impact facilities. medical it has a huge morale impact.

how long can you keep the people around when something like this happens? it is always a questions that have got to hover in the back of my mind. that we dot tell you a lot of intelligence operations around the world, and they cost money. those would stop, and i would tell you that training for almost our entire reserve force will stop. you must understand the critical importance of our reserves. they are the only shock absorber we have that is not like the old days were you could draft somebody in command 18 weeks later have them in combat with the skills they need. they still take a year to train in order to have them ready to they have theain ethical and technical abilities to deal with the battlefield today.

it has got a terrible impact. at the same time, the submarine that was put to sea last week will still be out for three months. god bless them. the lads will not have any imo activity, so they will not even know what is going on. will not have any email activity, so they will not even know what is going on. lads in iraq and afghanistan who are in the fight will continue. the young ladies guiding the drones right now will stay at their desks and keep them overhead. we will continue what we are doing, but the value of the american military is grossly the sense of the american model of government of the people, by the people, for the people can function and carry out its governmental responsibilities. in the marine corps for 40 odd years. i served in the u.s. marine

, belong to you, accountable to you, but a speaker ryan pointed out, for those out there right now in the field, the ones sitting in the ready room at the air force base, they deserve. or -- they deserve full support. why don't we take one more? you choose. >> this final question, how would the u.s. deter adversaries in space? secretary mattis: how do we deter in space? it is philosophically, basically in the same way that we would deter anyone else. we could do more damage to you that any benefit you could gain. that, but whato that means is we have got to have capabilities to deny them what they want to achieve in

this regard. it is not just about what you might think of guns and space shooting each other. it could be nothing more than we have, for every satellite up, we have 100 more this big that we could launch. by the way, we are going to take you down in the united nations or we will get economic sanctions. in other words, there is a way heraise, this is what mentioned, expending the competitive space. there is no nation that has a wider competitive space in terms of its moral or ethical or economic or military power than we can amass if we choose to use it wisely. in space, we will do our best to .eter we will come up with arms agreements at some point and we will stir getting this under control. for right now, it is sizing up the problem and making certain that our diplomats will be negotiating from a position of strength.

let me just say thank you for taking time again to hear me up this morning. i hope it was of some value. thank you for selecting however you did. the questions i thought for were -- i thought were very good. i would encourage all of you, if you think we are think something, on the wrong track, notify us. there are ways to get a hold of us. i get those, if not all of the mail. i get it, i assure you. ouruld tell you this is raucous democracy and our troops stand ready right now, as we are all sitting here, enjoying freedoms even i take for granted. they are out there right now, ready to do whatever it takes to keep us safe. please keep them in your thoughts and prayers and know that they represent the very

best of us. they are wonderful and they really did sign that check, payable with their lives, a blank check to everyone of you. thank you very much ladies and gentlemen. i look forward to hearing from you. [applause] >> thank you all for joining us today. we are going to ask that you please remain seated as the event concludes. thank you. >> hearing from the defense secretary there from earlier today. right now, a vote under way on the floor of the senate. we will take your phone calls while this is underway. you can also watch our coverage of the senate as this was -- as this vote happens on c-span two. if there are comments or other things being said on the floor. we will hear from you here on c-span.