give thanks to mike franks and washington team and pentagon staff here, debra gordon, robin perry and lisa perry for making today happen. finally, a quick note before we begin, both participants have in advance chosen not to speak about nuclear party under consideration by the administration and will not be commenting on that subject. further note, we have the secretary for about 30 minutes. his day job calls him elsewhere. thanks for doing that, ash, thanks for fitting us in. we appreciate it. there will be a bit of a change in the middle. if everyone can remain seated we'll carry on with secretary perry /*ry at that point in time. we appreciate it.ry at that poi. we appreciate it.y at that poin. we appreciate it. at that point. we appreciate it.at that point . we appreciate it. i'll turn it over to you. >> it's no accident these two gentlemen are here to discuss defense technology and innovation as most of you know, bill perry started his life as a mathematician, has a ph.d in mathematics and ash has a ph.d in physics. as i say, when you look back at the history of innovation and de