like to welcome our witnesses, the honorable owen west who i met for the first time today, general tony thomas who is planning to retire somebody told me and i think you're far too young to retire, but that's up to you. you have two sons that are west point graduates. you don't need to put them loose this soon. and then general nagasoni i preervt the fact that we've had open and closed meetings because of the seriously of what we will be addressing this morning. so the senate armed services committee's top priority is to support the effective implementation of the national defense strategy. central to the nds is a growing focus on competition with china and russia, our peer competitors, and of course we also at the same time -- i don't want to forget about the threat posed to us from the terrorist organizations. our special operations force have proven remarkably effective in combatting isis, al qaeda and other terrorist grups over the last 17 years, however, these groups remain resilient and p continue to pose a threat to the united states and our allies. at the same time military advancement

members of the committee thank you for the opportunity to testify alongside my partner general tony thomas on our global posture of our nation's special operations enterprise. tony's command so-called safeguard the nation for years. i look forward to working with general richard clark when he assumes command next month. we're honored today to team with general paul nakasoni. the breath and capability of our special operations force is astonishing. in over 80 countries. in the past two years many more have sustained life altering injuries. representing just 3% of the joint force over 40% of the u.s. casualties at this time. serves as a powerful reminder that special operators are in the risk business. their families carry the burden of individual tragedy to we might preefrnt a national tragedy. this is a unique time to serve the enterprise. second the national defense strategy has challenged all of d.o. dment to increase focus with russia and china. the soft enterprises in the midst of transformation. any transformation starts with people. in november, general thomas and i issued the first

also honored to sit alongside these great leaders, assistant secretary of defense west and general tony thomas. 420, my congratulations to you and barb for your steadfast service to our nation. it's been a tremendous journey for you and i've enjoyed our partnership and friendship. my personal best wishes to you, tony, and your family. as of the commander of u.s. cyber command, i am responsible for conducting cyberspace operations supporting three cyber attacks,- defend the department of defense information networks, and enable our joint force commanders in pursuit of your mission objectives. in the cyber domain, we are in constant contact with our adversaries who continue to increase in sophistication, magnitude, intensity, volume and velocity, and remain a threat to national security and economic well-being. the national security strategy and national defense strategy highlight the return of great power competition. beyond near peer competitors rogue regimesia, like iran and north korea continue to grow capabilities, using aggressive methods to conduct malicious cyberspace activities. adversa

i would like to welcome general tony thomas, who