stratcom coordinates the activity of u.s. cyber command across the department of defense, unlike combatant commands, which are regionally folk you, stratcom's missions are global. that capability needs to be preserved as we continue to reduce the size of these forces and modernize the infrastructure at the department of energy that supports this mission. general kaler, here are some of the issues that i hope that you'll address this morning. first, are you satisfied with the direction we're taking in our nuclear force posture and with the department of energy's role in maintaining our nuclear stockpile so that we can continue to reduce its size without testing while ensuring the stockpile remains safe and meets military requirements? second, do you believe we are on a sustainable path to protect our space assets and to reconstitute them if necessary given the congested and contested nature of space? third, the department of defense has allocated a block of the electromagnetic spectrum that connects our space, cyber and electr

strategic command, or stratcom, manages nine missions across the department of defense. these missions range from satellite and space situationale awareness, missile defense, andn electronic warfare, to combating destruction.ss stratcom coordinates the activities of the u.s. cybercommand across the department of defense. unlike combatant commands which otyregionally focused, stratcom submissions are global. as noted in the presence its strategic guidance, stratcom commands nuclear forces that can under any circumstances confront an adversary with this prospect of unacceptable damage. that capability needs to be preserved as we continue to thduce the size of the forces and modernize the infrastructure at the department of energy that supports thisce mission. the general kehler, here are some ot the issues that i hope you'll address this morning. first, are you satisfied -- are you satisfied with the direction that we're taking in our nuclear force posture and with the department of energy's role in maintaining our nuclearure and stockpile so that we canen continue to redu

all of those really come together at stratcom headquarters. the demand that today's systems place on that headquarters building have far outpaced the ability of the building to keep up. not only do we have vulnerabilities because of the cyberconcerns that we've expresses earlier, but we have physical plant vulnerabilities there. you're well aware of some of the failures that we've had, catastrophic failures, in the building systems themselves that have threatened to take that one of a kind location and really make it inoperable for months. we barely averted that kind of a catastrophe a year ago in december with a flood, of all things, in the basement, a burst water line. and so as we looked at ways forward, given the unique nature of what we do, given the one of a kind responsibilities that are performed there and giving continued importance of all of that in our deterrence posture, the conclusion that the engineers reached was that you could not modify the building, that basically what you needed to do was go and build a new command and contr

stratcom coordinates the activity of u.s. cyber command across the department of defense, unlike combatant commands, which are regionally folk you, stratcom's missions are global. that capability needs to be preserved as we continue to reduce the size of these forces and modernize the infrastructure at the department of energy that supports this mission. general kaler, here are some of the issues that i hope that you'll address this morning. first, are you satisfied with the direction we're taking in our nuclear force posture and with the department of energy's role in maintaining our nuclear stockpile so that we can continue to reduce its size without testing while ensuring the stockpile remains safe and meets military requirements? second, do you believe we are on a sustainable path to protect our space assets and to reconstitute them if necessary given the congested and contested nature of space? third, the department of defense has allocated a block of the electromagnetic spectrum that connects our space, cyber and electr

all of those really come together at stratcom headquarters. the demand that today's systems placed on that headquarters building outpace the ability to keep up. not only do we not have vulnerability is because of the cyberconcerns we expressed earlier but physical plant will abilities. you are well aware of the catastrophic failures, and make it inoperable for month. we barely averted that kind of catastrophe with a flood of all things and look that way forward given the nature of what we do given the 1-of-a-kind responsibilities that are performed there. continue the importance of all of that in our deterrence posture. the conclusion that the engineers reached was you could not modify the building. and go and build a new command and control facility that houses all the activities we need to perform. that remains my assessment that we need to get moving on this. it is proceeding well. i believe we are headed towards a contract award. the corps of engineers has responsibility in this award and things are moving forward. it needs to be in the re

in stratcom, and general s.t.e.k to cybercommand, but across stratcom, whether it is space or any of the other things that we do, the engineers and scientists are very often are people with that kind of background. those are our warriors. and so it is even more magnified i believe in stratcom the valley of people with that kind of background that may be in other places. >> senator, i would just add, nsa has a program with over 100 plus universities for information assurance and cyber related stuff. we did in conjunction with the department homeland security, and now we bring cybercommand into the. so that offers us. tulsa university was one of those we work with and there are many others as you know. but i think the issue with science technology engineered and math, the s.t.e.m. program is critical for our country. and we, the military, can not do it. it will take you and congress don't generate that. we need more scientists and we need to start that in fourth grade. it is the things that we actually have got to push the i have 14 grandchildren, all of them should be engineers and sc

>> well, i suppose using the rest of stratcom would be out, chairman. i think the first -- the first thing that strikes my mind, and i want to be clear on this because the most important thing that we can do right now is make it more difficult for the chinese to do what they're doing. analogy i put on the table is, we have all of our money in our banks but the banks have the money out on tables in new york city at the park. and we're losing the money and we're wondering why, nobody's protecting or it's not well-protected. our intellectual property's not well-protected and we could do better protecting it. step unis take those steps to do that. i do think what the department is doing, you asked for authorities that would need legislation, i think those are in the legislation, and what the department is doing with the authorities we already have is maturing the standing rules of engagement that would allow us st stop some of the exploits going on. i think those are some of the things we can do, stop them in progress. as an example, we saw an adversary try