mckeon. you mentioned in your comments to the chairman, associated press articles, german ambassador president obama agreed not to send arms to ukraine. what is the current, what is the administration's current posture on lethal assistance to ukraine? >> we are still reviewing it. it is still an option. >> when do you believe this review will be completed? >> i hope soon. i cannot put a timetable on it. >> soon, is it that days, weeks months? >> i hesitate to predict. >> what has your conversation been with ukraine leadership regarding this assistance? >> conversations go on all the time. both in the field with ambassador piat, but the vice president has put president poroshenko on speed dial. he talks to them at least once a week, it seems. i don't know the latest of what he has said to them on this issue. in general, they are getting the same information i'm giving you. it is under consideration. >> they would say the same thing to you as well? they don't know when this assistance -- >> tha

second witness is brian mckeon, principal deputy undersecretary of defense for policy. big title. thank you. our third witness is ramin toloui. our fourth and final witness on the first panel is vice admiral frank pandolfe, director for strategic plans and policy at the giant staff. we thank you all for being here, sharing your thoughts and viewpoints. we remind you your full statement will be entered into the record without objection. if you would, please summarize, about five minutes or so, we look forward to our questions. again, thank you, all, very much for being here. >> thank you, chairman corker ranking member menendez, members of the committee. thank you for the opportunity to join you today to talk about the situation in ukraine and for the personal investment that so many of you have made in that country's future. today, ukraine is central to our 25-year transatlantic quest for a europe whole free and at peace. my interagency colleagues and i are pleased to update you on u.s. efforts to support ukraine as it works to liberate the country from its corrupt ail garkic past

mckeon.tioned in your comments ap articles, german ambassador president obama agreed not to send arms to ukraine. what is the current posture on lethal assistance to ukraine? >> we are still reviewing it. it is still an option. >> when do you believe this review will be completed? >> i hope soon. i cannot put a timetable on it. >> days, weeks, months? >> i hesitate to predict. >> what has your conversation been with ukraine leadership regarding this assistance? >> conversations go on all the time. my former boss, the vice president has put the president on speed dial. he talks to them once a week, it seems. i don't know the latest of what he has said to them on this issue. in general, they are getting the same information i'm giving you. it is under consideration. >> they would say the same thing to you as well? they don't know when this assistance -- >> that is correct. they have made that request and interests known. there is no doubt about that. >> when we are talking about the cease-fire

. >> phillip mckeon posted this video. so glad he did because it's so darn cute. >> sweet. >> recognize the star of the next videos. this is our little hanna banana daughter of our awesome producer joanne. >> first ones a clue. >> what is that? >> a puzzle. >> a puzzle. >> mom has to help her out a little bit. once we see the puzzle hanna reads it. >> your wish is finally coming true. instead of one there will now be two. >> what does that mean? >> what does that mean? >> i get two wishes. >> does she figure it out right away? does she know what that means? >> no. a second gift helps her with a second hint. >> it says "big sister" on the t-shirt. watch the light bulb go off. >> it says "big sister." >> what do you think that means? >> you're having a baby. but we're not done. it's now hanna's turn to held aunt and cousins. >> mom's having a baby. >> ply gosh. >> hanna's explanation how the baby got in mommy's tummy. >> that's awesome. >> maybe we should have one more kid in the house so she and dad helped each other gettin

mckeon.ed in your comments ap articles, german ambassador president obama agreed not to send arms to ukraine. what is the current posture on lethal assistance to ukraine? >> we are still reviewing it. it is still an option. >> when do you believe this review will be completed? >> i hope soon. i cannot put a timetable on it. >> days, weeks, months? >> i hesitate to predict. >> what has your conversation been with ukraine leadership regarding this assistance? >> conversations go on all the time. my former boss, the vice president has put the president on speed dial. he talks to them once a week, it seems. i don't know the latest of what he has said to them on this issue. in general, they are getting the same information i'm giving you. it is under consideration. >> they would say the same thing to you as well? they don't know when this assistance -- >> that is correct. they have made that request and interests known. there is no doubt about that. >> when we are talking about the cease-fire and

in response as secretary mckeon has pointed out, he has implemented a wide array of initiatives focused on generating pressure to try to force the russians to stop this behavior and respect the territorial integrity of ukraine. >> from a strategic perspective russia has kidnapped and estonian intelligence officer. forcing sweden to reroute a civilian airliner to prevent collision with a military jet. sent unannounced formations of military aircraft into our airspace. do you believe putin's strategy is to undermine nato's credibility? >> he would like to undermine the nato alliance and we are working hard to communicate to him the solidarity of the alliance taking these steps to illustrate that solidarity. >> can you talk about what is being done by nato and east area latvia and lithuania in regard to that? >> the reassurance measures being taken to include -- it include rotating forces through the baltic states, in glade engage in those states and facilitating additional aircraft being stationed in those countries. ships are in the baltic and black seas. all of this is designed to bolst

i was here in november, 2013, to launch a defense reform project that former chairman buck mckeon hadsked me to work on. so i thought it made sense to come back here to unveil the first installment of where we are. when i was here before, i mentioned that nobody that i'd run into thought that everything at the pentagon was going fine. what i more frequently got was a reaction that, an eye-rolling reaction that, oh, yeah, y'all are going to try that again, it's not going to make much of a difference. and it's absolutely true that change is hard, especially for a military. which brings me to a subject of vital importance which is trousers. now, when you talk about defense reform, you probably think about fighters, not fabric. but in 1912, just before world war i, trousers were heavy on the mind of the french ministry of defense. see, the british had learned from the war that having those bright red coats on tended to make them more of a target. so they switched to khaki. the french by comparison still wore blue coats and bright red trousers. the french minister of war saw an advantage o

buck mckeon national defense authorization act of fiscal year 2015, public law 113-291 in the order ofhe -- and the order of the house of january 6 2015, of the following individuals on the part of the house to the commission to study the potential creation of a national women's history museum. the clerk: ms. wright of arlington, virginia, the honorable marlin musgrave of colorado. the speaker pro tempore: the chair announces the speaker's appointment, purr subte to sections 5580 and 5581 of the revised stats 20, united states code, 42-43, and the order of the house of january 6 2015, of the following members on the part of the house to the board of region enlts of the smithsonian -- regents of the smithsonian institution. the clerk: mr. sam johnson of texas, mr. cole of oklahoma. the speaker pro tempore: the chair announces the speaker's appointment pursuant to 22 united states code 276-l and the order of the house of january 6, 2015, of the following members on the part of the house to the british american interparliamentary group. the clerk: mr. crenshaw of florida chairman, mr. lat

i was here in november, 2013 to launch a defense reform project that former chairman buck mckeon had me to work on. so i thought it made sense to come back here to unveil the first installment of where we are. when i was here before, i mentioned that nobody that i'd run into thought that everything at the pentagon was going fine. what i more frequently got was a reaction that, an eye-rolling reaction that, oh, yeah, y'all are going to try that again, it's not going to make much of a difference. and it's absolutely true that change is hard especially for a military. which brings me to a subject of vital importance which is trousers. now, when you talk about defense reform, you probably think about fighters, not fabric. but in 1912, just before world war i, trousers were heavy on the mind of the french ministry of defense. see, the british had learned from the war that having those bright red coats on tended to make them more of a target. so they switched to khaki. the french by comparison still wore blue coats and bright red trousers. the french minister of war saw an advantage of bei