admiral star vitas -- admiral stavridis. and lieutenant general stanley mcchrystal, nominated to be general and commander of nato international security assistance force and commander u.s. forces afghanistan. on behalf of the committee, we would like to thank each one of you for your service to our country, your willingness to continue to serve. we also want to acknowledge the sacrifices that you and your families made along the way. the support that our military families of pride -- supply is critical. we want to do all we can to support them. if confirmed, these three nominees will be meeting today's concerns in their areas of responsibility, and preparing for tomorrow's. one of the most immediate challenges is implementing the president's news several military strategy for afghanistan and pakistan. if confirmed, two of our witnesses, will need to coordinate closely for the strategy to work. its commander -- commander and supreme allied commander in europe, admiral stavridis will need to work with nato and coalition partne

let me start with you, admiral stavridis, are you proud of the plan in colombia? are there fewer drugs coming from latin american as a whole because of this? what advice, based on that, will you have for general mcchrystal in the field with the poppies, and for your successor is sought america? are we thinking and outside of the box and enough in terms of fighting the narcotics? i know we want them to go to alternative crops. are we thinking outside of the box in terms of addressing the demand for@@@@@@!!4@ @ @ @ @ @ ? senator, as i have testified on numerous occasions, and the counter narcotics effort is composed of three tasks. one is the demand side, which you just talked about, one is the supply side, and one is the interdiction. trying to understand the supply chain and kill it. those three things have to work together. if i have advice for general mcchrystal or advice for general fraser, it would be to understand to attempt to use precision use prn guided ideas to go after one single part of a counter narcotics problem. you have to have a robust demand side,

if we are both confirmed, i will of the honor of working for my friend admiral stavridis, and might force one could nato partner nations -- might force will include made a part -- but would need a partner nations supporting afghanistan. i look forward to listening to, learning from, and leaving this team -- and a leading this team in our common a challenge. since 9/11, our forces have learned a valuable lessons regarding the treatment of detainees, and made mistakes along the way. when i took command in 2003, i found the treatment of detainees followed existing guidance, but needed improvement. our facilities are limited, our expertise and specialties were insignificant, and we lacked organizational experience at every level. in the months and years that followed, we invested considerable energy, developed expertise and experience, and appeared continuously. if confirmed, i will stick in force -- strictly enforced the high standards of detainee to be consistent with international and u.s. law. working within the realities of family needs and development, we must develop a core of professi

and so it will be an international and an interagency approach, and i'm also, as admiral stavridis said, very encouraged by the approach of the united nations' mission there. >> admiral stavridis, the chairman and i and senator collins went to russia and then poland and then the czech republic and we came away convinced that for the future threat of an iranian missile with a nuclear warhead against europe that in the foreseeable future our standard missile three and on ships placed in the mediterranean, the aegis system and then upgraded over time could take care of that particular threat. in the meantime we want to make sure that our commanders in the field have the standard missile three and the thaad system. do you want to give us some of your ideas of this? >> i, of course, talked to the chairman about this as well, sir, as well as in your office earlier. i'm very intrigued about the findings of the three of you, and i look forward, if confirmed, immediately probing this both from an iranian threat perspective and from the perspective of our military, interlockutores in these countr

in the meeting with president karzai, and this is to admiral stavridis and general mcchrystal, he emphasized the importance of defining the mission in afghanistan, and to work with pakistan on the other side of the border. the feeling that out haidas presence in afghanistan has shifted to pakistan's federally administered tribal area, and the fact that they have pretty moved -- pretty much moved into the fratto area. -- in the fatah area. it is critical there. my question has to do with, keeping in mind the sovereignty of pakistan -- what type of cross border coronation strategy can we adopt with the pakistan army to deny the taliban and i had a safe haven there? >> i think the idea that we would conduct operations in pakistan is not valid nor do i think we would want to. i think the road to success is through the government of pakistan and did the pakistan military and police. it gives to the kinds of activities we have done with pakistan and hopefully we will do them with more effectiveness in the gears to come. everything we can do to share intelligence and that sort of thing to coordinat

where you think russia is and how important you think -- let us start with you, admiral stavridis, to have that european side? >> i think i'm the right one to answer the question, given that russia is part of the u.s.- european command area of focus. as you fully appreciate, and chairman alluded to this in his statement -- any of these decisions are a matrix of diplomatic and political activity that goes well beyond the purview of the military commander. my own view at this point, looking at it from a distance, and before having the opportunity -- >> forget about the politics. it just importance of the european side from a military perspective. >> i agree with the president's comments that as long as the threat exists, persistence is affected. >> it looks like the iranian threat will persist. this is kind of off the wall, and i thought -- i fought and lost the three-year battle three years ago and i thought that that is the best in a bid to an opportunity that we had -- the best integrated training opportunity that we had. we lost it for political reasons, both democrats and republica