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e e all right committee will come to order uh before we begin I have one housekeeping matter as soon as we adjourn the public hearing uh we will immediately move upstairs for a classified briefing and we'll also be asking questions in reverse order of

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seniority today uh today we begin our fiscal 2025 posture hearings for northcom and southcom I want to thank our Witnesses for being here today and for their service to our nation uh in8 months president Z is expected to visit

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Peru uh inaugurate a brand to to inaugurate a brand new $3.6 billion megap Port it was financed by China built by Chinese workers and it will be owned and operated by the CCP back company it will be used to ship South American copper lithium and other

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critical materials to China to further their military modernization this is just the latest effort uh latest China of China's efforts to displace American influence and build a strategic footprint in our backyard 25 of the 31 countries in the

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southcom a are welcomed or have welcomed infrastructure investment from China 22 have formerly joined China's belt and Road initiative China is investing in critical sectors across Latin America including sea space telecommunication critical minerals and

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energy ccpb companies currently own or operate mines in Mexico Argentina Peru and Venezuela electrical grids in Peru and Chile 5G Wireless Systems in Costa Rica and Bolivia Brazil and Mexico space launch and satellite tracking facilities

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in Peru per Venezuela Bolivia Argentina as well as 40 ports across 16 Latin American and Caribbean countries that includes ports on both ends of the Panama Canal one at the tip of South America and one just 100 miles away in the

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Bahamas none of the agreements governing these Port space and telecomunication projects ban the collection of intelligence by China and none of them ban the pla from using them for military operations in fact many of these

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countries already share intelligence host Port calls buy military equipment and receive training from the pla unfortunately China is not the only malign influence in the Western Hemisphere since Putin's illegal invasion of Ukraine Russian propaganda

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efforts have increased across Latin America Russia continues to invest heavily in Cuba's Communist Regime and Military and and its military continues to provide training and arms to Venezuela Cuba Nicaragua where Russia has over 200 troops operating a

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satellite tracking station recent unrest in southc a is also very troubling over the weekend US forces were sent to Haiti to help evacuate non-essential Embassy Personnel meanwhile Venezuela continues to threaten its neighbors by moving a

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thousand of troops to its borders we need to do more to encourage stability in this region this means we must build and enhance Partnerships to further our security interest in the region we also need to focus on real threat

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transitional CRI transnational criminal organizations based in the region and what they pose to our nation these brutal criminals prey on thousands of vulnerable men women and children they steal their money and endanger their

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lives with perilous attempts to gain illegal entry at our borders last year CBP encountered nearly 2 and a half million migrants trying to Illegal cross in illegally cross into our Southwest border that set a new record and to make

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matters worse that number includes at least 169 individuals on the terrorist watch list 598 known gang members and 178 of which which were MS13 gang members keep in mind these are just the ones that the CBP caught CBP estimates that another

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1.7 million illegal immigrants Got Away South and Central American criminal organizations are also the main source of Fentanyl and other dangerous drugs smuggled across our Southern Border in FY 23 a record 27,000 lbs of fentanyl

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were seized at the Southwest border enough to kill 6 billion people and that's what was seized not what got in nearly 3,000 military personnel are deployed to the US border the largest US deployment of forces in the Western

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Hemisphere northcom and southcom are doing their best to try to provide support to civilian authorities to address the Border crisis but the real solution rests with our president he needs to drop the excuses and secure our

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border I look forward to hearing from our Witnesses and getting their best military advice on how to overcome these security challenges that we face and with that I yield to my friend the ranking member Mr Panetta for any questions he may or

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comments he may have thank you Mr chairman I appreciate this opportunity to sit in for ranking member Adam Smith but I'd also like to welcome our Witnesses for our hearing today Miss Rebecca Zimmerman performing the duties

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of assistant secretary of defense for Homeland defense and hemispheric Affairs General Laura Richardson welcome back as the again the commander of us Southern command and general Gregory guo commander of us Northern command and

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Northern North American Aerospace Defense command in his first appearance before the committee after taking command in February it's appropriate for our first posture hearing to be focused on the defense of the United States what

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happens here at home and in our neighborhood is of the utmost importance to securing our national interest I appreciate Miss Zimmerman's focus on the new Homeland defense policy guidance in her text testimony and look forward to

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additional detail about the what the department intends to improve in its resilience across DOD the inter agency and our civil society to ensure that we can deter and if necessary survive and Prevail against any adversary who

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chooses to test our defenses I also look forward to hearing about the progress of General guo's initial review upon taking command as well as his and Miss Zimmerman's views on the Department's support to civilian authorities at the

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southern border unidentified anomalous phenomena and DOD and National interest in the high North and northcom further I hope to understand norad's posture and future requirements with respect to integrated air and missile defense

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particularly in regard to increasing our domain aware awareness regardless of the type of threat or origin I expect to encourage General guo and Miss Zimmerman to speak to the threats to our national security in strategic cyber and

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traditional domains and across the full Geographic breadth of our country strategic competitors are active in the southc region and often engage in activities that undermine the rules-based order despite other Global

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events that are require our attention we should not ignore our own hemisphere the department needs to engage in agile and adaptive ways in the region where resources can be limited in southcom in southcom the department continues to

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pursue security cooperation activities that enhance our partners ability to address challenges in the region like drug trafficking migrant flows and the Fallout of the humanitarian crisis in Venezuela such activities can

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effectively build the capacity of our partners while also deterring malign activity and aggression in the region I'm interested in hearing how such activities build capacity and to the extent to which they reinforce human

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rights and yes we are keeping an eye on the situation in Haiti the department is currently supporting the multinational stability support Mission and augmenting security at the US Embassy and I encourage General Richardson to speak

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about these missions finally I will repeat my conclud concluding question at our to our Witnesses from last year how do we continue to protect the United States continue to build our Partnerships with the countries of the

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Western Hemisphere and continue to keep an eye on efforts that may undermine the United States interest I thank the witnesses for being here and I look forward to hearing their testimony thank you Mr chairman I yield back thank you

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now I'd like to introduce the witnesses we have the honorable Rebecca Zimmerman is acting principal deputy secretary of defense for Homeland defense and hemispheric Affairs it's a pretty long title General La Richardson Commander us

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United States Southern command General Gregory gillo how do you pronounce that chairman it's guo guo thank you all right General General Gregory guo is the commander United States Northern command and Northern Aerospace Defense command I

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welcome the witnesses Miss Zimmerman we'll start with you you're recognized for five minutes thank you chairman Rogers uh ranking member Smith and Congressman Panetta standing in and distinguished members of the committee thank you for

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the opportunity to testify before you today I'll highlight how we're putting Homeland defense and other interests across the hemisphere front and center to implement the 2022 National defense strategy but I want to First acknowledge

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the tragic helicopter crash on the Southwest border on Friday afternoon uh that killed two New York National Guardsmen uh Casey frankoski and John Gracia uh and also uh US border patrol agent Chris Luna on behalf of the Department of Defense I extend our

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sincere condolences to the families of those lost the 2022 NDS states that the Department's top priority is defense of the Homeland paced to the growing multi-domain threat posed by the People's Republic of China per the NDS

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the PRC is the pacing challenge for DOD while Russia remains an acute threat the PRC and Russia currently pose more dangerous challenges to Safety and Security to the US Homeland but the NDS also ensures vigilance of other persistent threats North Korea is

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expanding its nuclear and missile capability to threaten the Homeland Iran is testing space launch Technologies and Global terrorist groups require continued monitoring emerging Technologies pose new challenges to strategic stability and demand that we

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adapt and adjust our posture deterring adversaries from employing Advanced threats by denying them the benefits of their aggression as small uncrewed aircraft systems proliferate in the open market and their costs decrease as their

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capabilities rapidly increase um the threat of these small uas is becoming more prominent our nation also continues to face the challenge of natural and man-made hazards last year the US Homeland endured 114 incidents 24 more

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than in 2022 caused by natural hazards including severe storms tornadoes hurricanes floods and wildfires in December of 2023 secretary Austin approved a classified Homeland defense policy guidance updating the Department's approach to Homeland

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defense to account for major changes in the Global Security environment we have shared this classified document with the Congress and plan to publish an unclassified version later this year the guidance looks to meet the challenges we face today by driving

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action across the department to deter threats of aggression or strategic attack to the Homeland across multiple domains and the spectrum of conflict it identifies initiatives that contribute to dod's ability to project power defend

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the Homeland and in the event of a conflict maintain continuity of wartime operations those initiatives linked to the 2022 NDS and ensure that DOD will deter aggression against the Homeland improve resil I to an attack across the

0:30:29

spectrum of conflict focus on defending defense critical infrastructure against attacks ensure continuity of operations and continuity of government build resiliency against the impacts of climate change and ensure resilience in

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chemical biological radiological and nuclear response capabilities associated with Homeland defense missions defense support of Civil Authorities or disa is an important activity supporting the American public and our partners responding to disasters

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public Health emergencies and securing our borders per the NDS DOD is prepared to support disca activities that do not impair War fighting Readiness today between 2500 and 3,000 military personnel are deployed to the Southwest

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border supporting US Customs and Border Protection activities DOD has supported dhs's border security mission for 18 of the last 21 years the United States deres immense benefit from a stable peaceful and Democratic Western

0:31:25

Hemisphere that reduces security threats to to our nation we're deepening Partnerships with Canada Mexico Brazil Colombia and Chile while reinforcing Democratic institutions civilian control of the military and respect for human

0:31:39

rights and the rule of law in February secretary Austin participated in the North American defense ministerial with his counterparts from Mexico and Canada DOD is working to fulfill and sustain the Department's supporting role in

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Central America and the Caribbean institutional capacity building and humanitarian assistance and Disaster Response in addition the department is participating in US Government efforts to support a unbacked multinational

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security support mission in Haiti to assist the Haitian National Police our relationships in the hemisphere help ensure we can conduct humanitarian assistance and disaster relief bolster cyber defenses promote climate

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resilience and conduct pandemic response to conclude the department is committed to defending the Homeland and pursuing us interests in the Western Hemisphere and the Arctic thank you for your support of the Department of Defense and I look forward to your

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questions thank you m zman General Richardson you're recognized chairman Rogers ranking member Panetta and distinguished members of the committee thank you for the opportunity to appear before you with assistant secretary Zimmerman and

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general guo I am honored to represent the dedicated men and women of us Southern command to discuss the challenges we share with our neighbors in Latin America and the Caribbean our national security strategy recognizes es the direct link between

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this Region's security and our own security we are harnessing the power of partnership from Team USA in support of Team democracy by leveraging all instruments of National Power diplomacy information military and economics to

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expeditiously assist partner nations in addressing the challenges that impact our collective security this region which is our shared neighborhood remains under assault from a host of crosscutting transboundary challenges

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that directly threaten our homeland I have seen these challenges intensify since I met with you last year and this remains a call to action in almost two and a half years in command I've made it my priority to meet our partners where

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they are and to listen and understand the challenges that affect us all the world is at an inflection point our partners in the Western Hemisphere with whom we are bonded by trade shared values Democratic traditions Family Ties and increasingly

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impacted impacted by interference and coercion I've learned that our presence absolutely matters the People's Republic of China has exploited the trust of democracies in this hemisphere using that trust to steal National Secrets

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intellectual property and research related to Academia Agriculture and Healthcare the scope and scale of this Espionage is unprecedented through the Bel Road initiative the PRC aims to amass power and influence at the expense of the

0:34:32

world's democracies here in the Western Hemisphere Latin America and the Caribbean have the potential to Feed and Fuel the world understanding this the PRC is already busy extracting and exploiting predatory investment practices construction of megap ports

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and dual used space facilities and criminal cyber activities are just a few of the prc's malign activities that jeopardize the sovereignty and safety of the region Russia remains an acute threat and seeks to increase its

0:35:02

foothold by bolstering authoritarian regimes in Cuba Nicaragua and Venezuela in the last year China Russia and Iran have increased their presence diplomatically economically and mil even militarily in the region these activities undermined democracies and

0:35:18

challenge their credibility both China and Russia exploit the presence of transnational criminal organizations and amplify their destabilizing impact on democratic governments TC's traffic weapons drugs people gold lithium Rare Earth minerals

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Commodities and counterfeit Goods while contributing to The Surge of fentanyl related deaths here at home the good news is working with our very willing Partners leads to the best defense we must use all available lovers to

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strengthen our Partnerships with the 28 like-minded democracies in this hemisphere who understand the per the power of working together to counter these shared threats the United States Remains the pr preferred and most

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trusted security partner in the region we build trust through investment and security cooperation programs that train and equip our partner militaries and security forces a robust joint exercise program to build interoperability and the development and

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employment of emerging Technologies moreover we maximize the resources allocated by the department of States international military Education and Training Program or I met forign military financing forign military sales to build interoperability and

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counterbalance the prc's military engagements and Investments as the national defense strategy States the US derives immense benefit from a stable peaceful and Democratic Western Hemisphere that reduces security threats to the Homeland

0:36:52

us southcom continues to innovate and adapt putting integrated deterrents into action every day we remain committed to working across all domains with allies and partners combat commands The Joint Force the US inter agency non-federal

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entities and the United States Congress to guarant to guarantee safety security and prosperity throughout the Western Hemisphere this work and promise of us southcom as a part of Team USA in support of Team democracy is our pledge

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thank you for your assistance and resourcing this team uh I I look forward to your questions thank you thank you General Richardson General guo you're reog has five minutes chairman Rogers ranking member Panetta and distinguished members of the

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committee thank you for the opportunity to appear before you today it's a profound honor to command and represent the men and women of North American Aerospace Defense command and United States Northern command and I thank Miss

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simmerman for acknowledging the sacrifice of Two Soldiers and a border patrol agent as well as remembering the in injured soldier from last week's helicopter crash along the Southwest border in Texas as we speak this morning

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American and Canadian military and civilian Personnel from both commands are actively defending our homelands against significant persistent threats from multiple vectors in all domains although I've only been in command a few weeks it is readily clear

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to me that the United States Canada and our expansive network of partners are facing an extraordinarily complex strategic environment competitors seeking to diminish our military and economic Advantage have fielded Advanced

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kinetic systems designed to strike military and civilian infrastructure in North America both above and below the nuclear threshold meanwhile competitors have rapidly Advanced and routinely use non-kinetic capabilities targeting our

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critical infrastructure and essential networks threats to the Homeland are present in all domains along all avenues approach to include the Arctic region as stated in the National defense strategy the People's Republic of China remains

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our pacing challenge as the people's Liberation Army modernizes and grows at a rapid Pace the prc's expanding nuclear capability and capacity along with its development of modern submarines missiles and Hypersonic weapons all

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present significant challenges for Homeland defense while the prc's capabilities are growing quickly Russia remains a threat to the Homeland today and is an immediate nation state concern Russ Russia retains the world's largest

0:39:28

stockpile of strategic and non-strategic nuclear weapons along with significant capacity to strike inside North America with its air and sea launch Precision Conventional Weapons despite heavy losses to its ground forces in Ukraine Russia has

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invested heavily in systems that can threaten the United States such as advanced guided missile submarines Hypersonic Glide Vehicles icbms as well as significant cyber and undersea capabilities and developmental systems

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such as a nuclear torpedo and a nuclear powered cruise missile meanwhile North Korea continues its Bell Co R rhetoric while test launching increasingly Advanced long-range missiles and expanding its ties with China and Russia while Iran

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currently lacks the capability to strike North America with long-range missiles it is investing heavily in that capability Iran also supports violent militant groups in the Middle East and maintains a worldwide network of operational surrogates

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and the most prevalent and growing threats include cyber and small unmanned aerial systems that are being employed inside the US and Canada against civilian and Military infrastructure in ways that were not possible a few years

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ago with those risks firmly in mind NORAD and northcom strive to begin Homeland defense well beyond North America to do so both commands are working with the services and Congress to improve domain awareness in order to

0:40:54

detect track and defeat threats ranging from longrange ballistic missiles to small unmanned aerial systems the defense of North America is an active Endeavor that requires NORAD and northcom to campaign against all threats in all domains along all

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approaches that effort requires seamless exchange of information with combatant commands conventional and Special Operations forces and the intelligence community and the spectrum of inter agency and international Partners the importance of collecting and

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disseminating information quickly cannot be overstated I strongly support the Department's work to advance the combined joint all doain command and control concept as we seek to detect and track potential threats and share

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information as quickly as possible with analysts operators and decision makers around the world finally upon taking command I began a 90-day assessment to inform the department The Joint Force and Congress on Norad and North com's ability to

0:41:52

execute assigned tasks and make recommendations on where the command could or should do more once complete I look forward to sharing my findings and updated vision for how NORAD and northcom will best execute the noble mission of Homeland

0:42:05

defense the challenges facing our homelands are real but there should be no doubt about NORAD and northcom resolve to deter aggression and if necessary defeat threats to our Nations and our citizens again thank you for the

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opportunity to appear this morning I look forward to working with the committee and I'm happy to take your questions great thank you all and now recognize myself for questions General Richardson and guo uh you heard me

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outline and y'all talked about U China's infrastructure investments in South throughout Latin America and the Caribbean are y'all concerned about them taking those infrastructure Investments and using them for military purposes uh chairman yes uh we are

0:42:50

worried about that uh and uh being able to flip uh the the state-owned Enterprise uh critical infrastructure what looks to be investment in the region deep water ports 5G clean energy uh the safe City Smart City technology and space uh enabling

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infrastructure General chairman I uh completely agree with General Richardson uh from the northc northcom Homeland defense uh perspective uh it's something that I'm watching very closely in the uh 90-day assessment and uh look forward to

0:43:27

sharing what I uh what I learned as far as the specifics of uh what we can do to uh address that threat more completely well obviously I I'm concerned about it and I'm I'm particularly interested in both of y'all what would you like to see

0:43:42

Congress do to help you counter those malign influences in uh the Caribbean in Latin America so chairman I would say that we've got to be on the field competing for the tenders and the contracts that come out from the from the countries and

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so uh the countries put out the tenders and our uh Team USA us companies have got to be competing on that critical infrastructure and so been uh over this past year I've been partnering uh us Southern command with uh more closely

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with the inter agency to try and break down those barriers that are there also through the interamerican Development Bank development of Finance Corporation and all of the all of the projects that come out of there that's those are big

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money projects that can compete uh with Western Solutions Team USA Solutions in support of the countries and be a counter an an alternative uh to the Chinese companies state owned Enterprises that are competing on these

0:44:40

contracts in the countries General G is there anything that you need from Congress to help you counter those influences chairman thank you uh first we'll continue to cooperate with General Richardson and her command uh as the

0:44:53

seams between uh southcom and northcom are seems that cannot be uh we need to make sure cannot be exploited uh our approach to uh partnering with Mexico is um primarily through the milto mill Arrangement and with that our Special

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Operations Command uh which we call sock North work side by side with uh Mexican military uh to build capacity capability and eventually interoperability what I would appreciate is continued support for those efforts as we uh strengthen

0:45:24

that relationship uh on the south side of our border are those MTO Mill um authorizations that you have the funding levels adequate at present chairman at the present time they are sufficient General Richardson are yours so on the security cooperation uh

0:45:43

not not just yet and the uh with the uh the the bill uh defense Bill that'll be coming out for 24 uh we hope to receive what we did last year and that would uh that would go a long way to meeting our requirement if we were to receive the

0:45:58

same thing as uh we did in the previous year well I appreciate your loyalty to the administration but both of your are undercutting how much I think you need I think the amount you received last year should be doubled at least this next

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year uh with that I will yield to Mr petta for any questions he may have thank you Mr chairman um I think obviously Russia has been occupied recently however they're still pretty active in the Arctic and general y I want to focus on that area obviously

0:46:29

with the expansion of NATO creating more opportunities to secure the Arctic it's becoming more critical that we leverage our special operations forces capabilities and ensure that our Personnel are trained Reed and equipped

0:46:43

to project power however I've had some discussions recently with some special operations forces officers who talked about the difficulties that they've had be it in resources that they have to operate in that area and the extremes

0:46:59

that they have to deal with but also that their training in Montana and Colorado no way compare to the actual environment of being in the Arctic so we can't address the Tactical level difficulties without appropriately defining our mission in the Arctic it

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remains unclear to many of our Personnel what we mean when we say Arctic which differs significantly by season and what Arctic Readiness is versus Arctic capable and how we should operate in an austere environment defined by both

0:47:29

economic and Military interests so General can you describe what our Arctic mission is and the Department's efforts to better align that mission across Services Congressman Panetta uh our approach to the uh Arctic could you pull

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the microphone a little bit closer please yeah thank you sorry chairman Congressman our approach to the Arctic is is vital to our overall Homeland defense because the AR is comprises about 52% of the entire area of operation for U NORAD and northcom uh

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areas and uh although we frequently talk about the Arctic in terms of Alaska it's important to to note that the high North and then also the Northeast uh approach which we call the 2:00 uh position is extremely important what you uh

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mentioned about the training of the forces uh is exactly right we have well- trained forces but unfortunately they train often in the United States and not up in in in the Arctic in Alaska and therefore they need to have specific

0:48:33

equipment uh gear and kit to make sure that they can operate in that harsh environment as we speak our Special Operations Command is is conducting two operations in uh Alaska Arctic Edge and isex both of which are identifying the

0:48:49

unique capabilities that we need to equip our forces to be able to fight there and on the same and you pointed out the special operations on the other side even with our air forces and and army forces that operate very well in

0:49:02

Alaska right now and are equi for that if uh a conflict in the Pacific would cause them to push forward I'm concerned that the forces back that would backfill there may be well trained but not specifically uh in Arctic uh techniques

0:49:18

and then also with the gear necessary so that is something that I will address uh with the services to ensure that we have depth in our Arctic capability great and and you know as you know well uh with the expansion of NATO including Sweden

0:49:34

and Finland how will using them as reliable Partners how do you think that's going to help us in our mission in the Arctic Congressman I think the the the uh immediate benefit will be strengthening that two o'l approach that

0:49:51

I just mentioned if I could use a quick example for last week uh we had two times where Russian bar bombers flew along that uh Avenue for the first time in over two years I I should add uh approaching the Canadian and United

0:50:06

States air defense identification zones off the Northeast United States as they approached our uh ability to share intelligence and radar picture with NATO Partners to include Norway were vital for us to have the situation awareness

0:50:21

as those bombers approached our area great General guo thank you for highlighting an area that I think we have to focus on a little bit more I appreciate that Mr chairman I yield back thank the gentleman we will now yield to the gentleman from Georgia Mr

0:50:36

McCormick thank you Mr chair and thank you to the witnesses and also thank you for the two sergeant majors in the Marine Corps because we know that uh fourstar generals and Admirals are nowhere without their sergeant majors

0:50:50

um I want to address the fact that our for deployed military performs a critical task in defending Us in this Western hemisphere which is often neglected in this conversation I think uh we cannot take this for granted especially as the

0:51:04

People's Republic of China and the pacing stra threat that we have increases its influence over Latin America Honduras recently joined the belt and Road initiative and Peru announced the construction of a massive Chinese Finance Deepwater Port Now by my

0:51:19

estimates I think China has over 50 deep water ports like this we have about two but there tremendous disadvantage in what's growing over the past 10 years China has replaced the us as latin's top trading partner this means that they basically

0:51:34

have greater influence in the western hemisphere in some of the most populous areas in this region to include Brazil Peru Colombia Panama Venezuela Cuba Honduras the list keeps on growing uh my concern is that as their influence continues to grow in

0:51:54

Latin America how has it impacted South comm's Mission how do we reestablish ourselves as good friends and the choice between two Nations one that I believe is very nefarious versus one that should be friendly as a global leader especially in the Western

0:52:12

Hemisphere and general uh Richardson if you would address this please thank you Congressman so in my opening I said you know the 28 like-minded democracies that we have in the region we've got to partner better with them and um and

0:52:25

close to 1550 15 to 20 years receiving less than uh 50% of my security cooperation requirement as I mentioned last year's funding that we got in the uh 8068 section was very very helpful but we we can't just get one year of additional funding to meet the

0:52:42

requirement and I would say that our presence absolutely matters and our security cooperation program is my number one lover uh in the southcom AO to partner with our militaries and the public security forces in the region and

0:52:55

to provide uh the counterbalance to uh what the PRC is doing and so our as I said our presence absolutely matters but when we're not there and with this additional funding last year in the 8068 appropriation we were able to get

0:53:10

further into the southern cone so the countries of uh of Chile Argentina Paraguay uguay uh with exercises and more engagement other than just a visit every once uh a year uh has really made a huge difference in terms of the part

0:53:26

in but we have to be there we have to have good security cooperation programs we have to have flexible authorities that as opportunities open because they're only open for a short period of time to allow Team USA to to be able to

0:53:40

be responsive to our partners and I'd say we probably also have a neglect in africom too for the same reasons uh we just seem to look in different regions we forget the places that we've in the past been very dominant now we're losing

0:53:53

ground uh secretary Zimmerman according to Customs and Border Patrol so far this year we have encountered almost 19,000 Chinese Nationals at the US Mexican border a more than 50-fold increase since 2021 I might add we have

0:54:08

a record number crossing the northern border from the Chinese Nationals as well we owledge the threat from the People's Republic of China and it seems our poorest Southern border is in crisis already which we've IGN knowledged the

0:54:19

American people are absolutely concerned as one of the number one issues in America we know this is potential Devastation to what could be terrorist activities stealing our information smuggling things in we have almost 2

0:54:33

million people that got away we don't even know who they are we don't know how many of them are Chinese Nationals as well on top of that 258 individuals on the terrorist List have crossed the southern border since the start of 2021

0:54:45

and know by the way we have a record uh number of Chinese coming in from all over the way whether it be by air or by sea or by Across the borders uh would you agree that this is suspected terrorists and their potential PRC spies

0:54:59

crossing the southern border are a national security threat uh Congressman um uh you you speak of a very important challenge I think um uh the crisis at the border includes a number of Dimensions to include what we call extra hemispheric

0:55:17

information uh uh immigration um I I think that anytime we talk about um uh those actors that would be they uh terrorists um be they uh I hate to cut you off I'm almost out of time I just going to make my point I know you agree

0:55:33

it's it's a it's a threat uh I just want to point out that when we talk about the difference between undocumented versus documented just gent time expired cheer not recognized J from Texas Mr Beezy thank you Mr chairman um and thank want

0:55:46

to thank the panel for being here today and one of the things that is surprising to me uh around the uh issue that we're having at the border right now is people talk about it as if it's something that is you know brand brand new or something

0:56:01

that just happened uh but General Richardson I wanted to to ask you I'm sure that that you have studied the history and remember when the Cali cartels and the mine cartels and Colombia was having issues dealing with far-left uh paramilitary organizations

0:56:16

in that country it created a great deal of instability um um from estimates that I've seen depending on who you talk to whether it's the Colombia government or from outside sources between 1985 and uh 2002 perhaps uh anywhere from 1 to

0:56:32

almost 3 million Colombians were displaced some internally but uh some uh sought Refuge outside of Colombia um and one of the things that I wanted to talk with you about was planed Colombia uh that proved to be very effective uh in helping uh deal with a

0:56:50

lot of that uh Regional uh uh uh destabilization that happened a lot of the mass migration that happened by by by improving security measures uh Economic Development uh and other uh areas that really helped finally bring and reign in

0:57:08

some of the uh issues from the wild west days under those two cartels and I was hoping that you could perhaps tell us what additional steps you think the US can take uh including its military forces to assist uh other unstable

0:57:22

countries uh in the hemisphere in managing migration fls uh and uh but and I'll let you answer that one first and then have a follow up to that so there's a lot to unpack their Congressman because the uh uh the effects of Venezuela and uh the S and a

0:57:39

half million uh migrants that have of have poured out of uh Venezuela as a result of the conditions there and then coming into the region that is already economically impact impacted from covid and still trying to dig out of the hole and so

0:57:56

uh as you uh as some will will go through the southern cone all the way down from to the southern cone and back up uh to only go through the very dangerous Daran jungle uh and make that Trek and so uh as we see the insecurity

0:58:12

and the instability families are on the move at unprecedented numbers there used to be a lot of single movers uh but now there are families with young children trying to find a better life and so in my opening I talked about the potential

0:58:26

poal of this region a lot of talk about it 10 years ago to Feed and Fuel the world that's the potential of this region and uh and uh if we can help this region uh realize that potential uh to slow down the migration to have families

0:58:43

feel secure and stable but there's a lot of work to be done uh in order to do that ever since last April prior to the title 42 expiration uh the United States signed a trilateral agreement with Columbia and Panama that investment that

0:58:58

you referenced plan Colombia was huge and our our security relationship continues to be extremely strong with Colombia and uh the operations that both Colombia uh with their military and Panama with their public Security Forces

0:59:13

going after the criminal networks that are uh trafficking the humans but they're not just trafficking the humans it's drugs and all of the other portfolio illegal mining illegal logging counterfeit goods and so so as we

0:59:26

continue with the migration uh a lot of the countries uh in the uh southcom a have laws that um that migration is a human right and so they don't try to their laws don't uh allow them to stop migration or slow the flow so that's why

0:59:44

our investment in the region with the safe mobility offices the legal Pathways um administrator power said at best I think that everybody knows how to get in touch with a Smuggler to to uh get a illegal Pathway to the United

0:59:59

States uh but we have to we have to have that campaign that folks know how to legally get to the United States our policies matter in this respect and uh and again families are trying to realize the American dream but how do we realize

1:00:15

the American dream in the Americas with the potential to Feed and Fuel the world yeah so I think economic investment as well as security investment is absolutely necessary thank you very much Mr chairman i y back thank the gentleman

1:00:29

chair I recognize gentleman from Missouri Mr Alford thank you Mr chair I'm honored to represent two distinguished military installations Whitman Air Force Base in Fort leonardwood in our district as you know the Chinese spy balloon that penetrated

1:00:42

our airspace last year flew above Whitman Air Force Base the sole home to the B2 stealth bomber and soon to be home to the B21 uh General guo I want to start with you the Chinese spy balloon last year highlighted disconcerning gaps in our

1:00:58

all domain surveillance and system of sensors that protect our homeland what steps has North command and nored taken to eliminate these gaps and mitigate risks Congressman uh Outline Three uh immediate steps that have shown uh uh

1:01:16

promise and uh have been successful in identifying balloons that in the past we probably would not have seen uh first and foremost uh my predecessor General van herk uh directed the uh radar sensitivities to be adjusted which would

1:01:29

allow uh better detection of uh low radar cross-section slow moving uh and high altitude uh objects although it introduces some clutter in the system because it's uh the system is receiving more uh it does allow us to detect uh

1:01:47

threats like the one that you just mentioned uh second when our operators see intermittent hits that in the past would be passed off to most usually weather or other phenomena that would cause an inconsistent hit uh they're now

1:02:01

continuing to track those uh uh more carefully and more consistently to ensure that it is not uh a balloon or some other phenomena and third is uh better um domain awareness between the uh other uh combatant commands as we get

1:02:17

uh Jad C2 the allain command and control system the ability to share data from one combatant command to another and instead of stopping at a at a black line on a map that divides the uh regions now we can seamlessly share that information

1:02:33

uh electronically to increase our awareness further away from our Shores General Richardson you've highlighted the attempts by the People's Republic of China in our hemisphere the Investments they've made what is their ingame in these

1:02:47

Investments it's uh to gain a foothold in all of the critical infrastructure we've seen it it's not new in uh just South America uh and Central America and the Caribbean uh it's happened in Africa and Europe as well so but this is an

1:03:01

intermediate step for what end so I look at it as their way uh in this region we worry about basing uh for the PLA and the as we have seen in other areas but I look at the state owned Enterprises and the ability to be able to flip the use

1:03:17

of that to possibly military application being sort of a basing strategy through critical infrastructure in the region and if we to become in a conflict with China this would be very useful for them and that that's my concern is exactly

1:03:31

that Mr zberman have members of Hamas or Hezbollah across our Southern border and if so how many Congressman I think I would have to uh take that back to get you rough uh numbers from DHS um since they have the lead on securing our nation's borders um

1:03:49

but uh I'd be happy to talk to you in general about our but have they crossed I just without a number can you give me any information on that I can't speak to that as has been said earlier I know that there are members of the terrorist

1:04:00

watchus who have uh been detained while crossing the border back to General guo what is the current nuclear threat in space from Russia Congressman the threat of uh nuclear weapons in in in space primarily from Russia is uh is a constant and real

1:04:19

concern if I could I'd like to address the specifics in a Clos session if there is an actual threat should Americans know about it Congressman I think that it's important for all Americans to know of uh the wide variety of threats that face

1:04:33

the Homeland in all domains thank you for that I appreciate your service to our nation with that I yield back chair I recognizes Mr Smith thank you very much Mr chairman first I apologize for being late late this morning believe it or not I I cut myself

1:04:49

shaving and it simply would not stop bleeding uh and that's the reason I wasn't here I wish I had a better story but that's basic basically it um I don't I don't want to cover a lot of ground that's already been covered but I did

1:05:01

have an opening statement talking about I mean obviously number one issue that we're facing out of you know the both of your regions is the migration challenge coming up um out of Latin America how that's certainly pressuring our border

1:05:14

but it is also putting a lot of pressure on Nations throughout um your AO uh I know Columbia Panama Chile amongst others are are facing that challenge and just the overall instability and of course now instability coming out of

1:05:27

Haiti as well I think it's crucially important that we try to figure out some way to work with these countries to increase stability you know we can talk about the border and what should we do to secure it what laws should we pass

1:05:40

but at the end of the day as long as there are millions of people desperate to to get out of where they're at and come here you there's no 100% fix to the problem in that situation there just isn't so getting greater stability in

1:05:56

that region understanding also that many of the migrants come from outside of your region um get into Latin America and work their way up is number one thing and also I think Mr Alfred's point about China the answer to the question

1:06:08

of what is their in-game China wants more influence in the world and very specifically they want more influence than us they want to build Partnerships and relationships wherever they can to undermine our ability to have influence

1:06:21

in the world and put themselves in a better and stronger position and can see what that means it would put them in a better position to bully their way into gosh a half dozen countries where they claimed territory the Philippines

1:06:35

Indonesia India ironically even Russia um so that's really what we're fighting for is is influence in the world um what they want to do I think it's really important that we build our relationships in Latin America to try

1:06:47

and prevent that and then on the North American side again I agree with Mr Alford trying to protect our airspace um C certainly we've learned of some vulnerabilities in the last couple years I know General guo you have addressed

1:07:00

those and I appreciate that uh but those are the broad concerns one question I would have um is you know you mentioned the potential that exists in Latin America I'd like um both um General Richardson and Miss Zimmerman to address

1:07:16

what can we be doing what Partners can we be working with to better realize that potential and reduce the chaos reduce the drive that is pushing so many people out of so many countries in forcing this migration mrman why don't you go ahead

1:07:34

and go first um thank you so much Congressman for that question I think uh you you speak to an important set of things which is not simply what can we do uh to respond in you know on on America's worst day if we find ourselves

1:07:50

in conflict with China but how can we actually build the relationships now because that speaks to the values that we share as democracies um and the department uh in conjunction with uh other departments and agencies across uh

1:08:02

the US government is really working to reinforce those Democratic Values is working to build strong defense Partnerships so for example uh the secretary just attended the North American defense ministerial uh which is a trilateral

1:08:16

conversation involving Canada and Mexico um we have uh the uh conference of Defense Ministers of the Americas which will be coming up later this year um so to ensure that the department represents those values in those forums um but I

1:08:31

think there's also work that we do uh in building partner capacity and I'll I'll let General Richardson speak to that um but I would also second uh what what general Richardson said earlier which is that uh some of the development

1:08:44

development Finance Corporation efforts uh our other economic efforts where we can Nest those um where we can Nest our activities in those common efforts I think we can realize I ize a lot of gains that um uh would otherwise working

1:08:59

in silos in the government not be possible thank you General so uh Congressman the uh thank you for that and thank you for the question uh certainly the the uh funding that I received last year and the 8068 uh funding uh additional funding on

1:09:17

top of what I receive uh really helped and it had flexible authorities to help us be responsive to our partner Nations and as you know and as I've testified before uh and working with the dod team but also Department of State and the

1:09:31

inter agency to speed up our processes inform military sales excess defense articles and not take years to deliver a capability because these our partner nations are uh these heads of state are in the seat generally one term of four

1:09:45

years and they're working on a stopwatch not a calendar they need uh results within months not years and so um that's what has led me to also uh partner with Department of Commerce Department of Treasury uh the American Chamber of

1:10:00

Commerce because our Economic Security is really really important here so when you're talking about the the realization of feeding and fuel in the world when half the soybean for the globe comes from this region 30% of the Corn and the

1:10:15

and the uh sugar comes from this region for the globe uh you've got the Amazon you got 30 31% of the world's fresh water you got light sweet crude heavy crude you've got gold copper Rare Earth elements the lithium triangle 60% of the

1:10:30

world's lithium is in this region uh the potential is there so how do we help with the economic investment we have a lot of foreign direct investment from the United States already but our us companies in the region uh we need to

1:10:44

brand and and start bragging about what Team USA does uh for the countries already and then we have to help streamline the uh how our uh companies and if there are barriers to competing on the tenders for critical infrastructure in South America Central

1:11:00

America and the Caribbean uh and and that is part of that partnership that we've been doing National Security rests on uh Economic Security yeah and just one comment one one final final question I think the security piece of this is

1:11:14

crucial and I know it's something that Congress at large is wrestling with right now you know we we have concerns when we sell arms or security um equipment to other nations what do they do with them and those concerns are legitimate but I hope everyone

1:11:29

understands that every nation tries to figure out some way to provide for their own security okay there is no Nation out there that simply lays down their arms and hopes for the best okay they try to maintain security and that's never easy

1:11:42

and it's always a very difficult balance a partnership with these other countries part of it is helping them provide that security and our slow walking of arm sales is undermining our relationships throughout the world and opening the

1:11:56

door wide for China and Russia it is not like these nations are not going to get weapons if we stop selling them to them they're just going to build different relationships we've certainly seen that in the Middle East and I hope we're

1:12:08

mindful of the tradeoff final question is a relationships in Latin America you know one of the big things Russia and China have an incredibly aggressive messaging machine they are out there 247 denigrating us basically it's a it's a

1:12:22

massive worldwide negative campaign um that people here domestically pick up for a variety of different reasons and one of the things they play off of is historical concerns about what the US has done in a bunch of places but

1:12:36

particularly in Latin America so when you're working with Brazil and argentin and Chile how do you push back against that negative campaign because it does seem to be having an effect I mean you can correct me if I'm wrong on that

1:12:50

point but I think it is it has hurt our relationships with a number of countries in Latin America the battle with Cuba the battle with Nicaragua what's going on with Venezuela how can we better burnish our own image so that we can

1:13:02

have a better chance at building the Partnerships we need to build well I would I would say Congressman thank you for that question because the uh we've got to be trusted partners and uh we have a we have uh the uh American

1:13:16

partnership for economic Prosperity apep which is a uh program from the summit of the Americas and apep hosted uh at the White House in early November uh 11 Latin America uh Latin American heads of state that came and for a week uh they

1:13:33

uh discussed the challenges in the region but then also uh rolled out the programs of economic help in terms of in modern ports clean energy and digital technology and billions of dollars of programs and efforts of infus M of

1:13:49

economic investment into the region through the interamerican development bank and also through uh developmental Finance Corporation and so uh with that there are some shares 75 million in shares that are coming up for vote this

1:14:02

month that I would recommend that as we had this apep in November and and hosted these leaders at the White House that we have got to uh we've got to um recommend that we purchase those shares from the United States so we don't give our

1:14:18

adversaries an opportunity to purchase them uh as part of the investment that we rolled out in the November time frame thank you very much thank you Mr chairman chair I recognize G lady from Virginia Miss kiggins thank you Mr chair and thank you

1:14:34

uh for our guests for being with us today just a comment about uh the security potential that we have in Central and South America and I think just prioritizing our funding so that we can put more our money where our mouth is the defense budget is always

1:14:47

inadequate and uh and just making sure that we are again prioritizing that funding because it is so important I wanted to speak and ask a little bit about Cuba in my district I represent Virginia's second congressional district

1:14:59

so we have Naval Air Station Oceana there and they've recently moved their Strike Fighter Advanced Readiness program or SARP exercises back home to Virginia Beach uh because they are worried about activity in Cuba from the

1:15:12

Chinese and so could you speak a little bit just about what concerns you have about Chinese activity in Cuba and what approaches we're taking to fortify the security Encounter of our adversaries in this region so thank you Congress woman and

1:15:25

the uh certainly that concern being so close to the Homeland uh is is very concerning uh the US inter agency is working very hard to uh counter that effort and um and I can talk to more about that in the in the classified session

1:15:41

afterwards great thank you and then I also want to talk about Haiti a little bit just because of the unrest and maybe missman you can answer the question just with the recent news about the Prime Minister stepping down and understanding

1:15:52

that we've increased our uh our a $300 million in addition to 33 million in humanitarian assistance going to that region and uh and then talks of sending perhaps military as well so uh can you just speak to what is going on there is

1:16:07

there a possibility of us sending our troops to that region um absolutely I'm I'm happy to speak to that congresswoman um so the situation in Haiti remains obviously very tense um and the US is participating in uh both um uh uh its

1:16:24

own efforts and also efforts in support of uh CARICOM and other allies um with respect to Haiti so uh in terms of a troop commitment of US troops um we are talking there only about security augmentation for our Embassy in portter

1:16:40

Prince um there isn't discussion of uh sending in our military um but we are in support of uh the MSS the multinational security support mission for Haiti uh this is the Kenyan Leed Mission uh to train and support the Haitian National

1:16:59

Police uh so there the department has increased its funding from 100 million to 200 million in order to better support um uh the logistics and sustainment aspects of that mission in order to get the mission fielded as soon as we

1:17:14

can thank you and then also briefly we see China adopting some of our tactics that we've devel that we use to develop alliances with exorcise military exercises specifically with with some of those 28 democracy countries that that

1:17:29

you mentioned and that's kind of been how the United States has developed our our friendships and we have done military exercises together uh so that we understand each other's capabilities that we're there for each other if

1:17:40

needed so we see China kind of adopting that and uh and now doing their own types of exercises can can you speak to where that is happening are those 28 democracies are they steadfast in their relationship with us or are they turning

1:17:54

around and then then participating in exercises with potential adversaries of ours I would say congresswoman the in terms of you're absolutely right the the the PRC is utilizing our Playbook uh as well and not just in exercises but key

1:18:09

lader engagements and things like that so they're upping the ranks of the pla that are now showing up to the uh to the exercises and the Marines uh and um and I would say that uh the way to uh when I say our presence absolutely matters it

1:18:25

really does and uh and us being able to have an exercise several years ago my exercise funding to get me down into the southern cone southcom and all of our components uh was reinstalled with the additional funding last year and so

1:18:38

happy to say that we're we're able to be there but uh I would ask for that continued funding I don't need to outspend the PRC to out compete them we just need to be there we got to be there and I would say on the economic side of

1:18:50

the house if we're not there from Team USA then uh responsive when opportunities open up and uh they need help if we can't help them then they're going to look to to whoever has the cash or the loans or things like that in

1:19:05

order to uh fund what they need again for the presidents that are in the seat for a very short term of four years so those the 28 democracies that you talk about that that are the friendly countries are they are they pretty

1:19:19

steadfast though in those relationships are they are they questioning our uh alliances just based off kind of what they're seeing with Russia and Ukraine and our ability to uh to provide Aid to allies throughout the world is is it

1:19:32

having an impact in in your G lead's time expired CH I recognize G Le from the great state of Alabama Miss Su thank you Mr chairman I want to thank our Witnesses uh for being here today and as the emerging threats uh environment

1:19:46

facing the United States become increasingly complex I really do appreciate your dedication to protecting our homeland our citizens and our TR groups um General G guo is that right General guo I first want to discuss Hypersonic weapons uh which have become

1:20:04

a key component for both Russia and China hypersonics high-speed uh low trajectory and maneuvering capabilities pose a major challenge to our ability to identify and warn of inbound threats with your priority of of um detecting classifying and tracking

1:20:25

potential threats to the Homeland are we providing enough resources for reactive threat representation from hypersonics congresswoman I I share your assessment on hypersonics I think that they are probably the most technologically challenging threat that

1:20:42

we're facing as well as the most destabilizing because of where they operate between uh established norms and in weapons specifically for uh NORAD and northcom because both commands have a role with uh hypersonics uh I'm comfortable with the

1:20:57

trajectory that we're on to to build systems that can detect and track we have some capability today uh but as the threat advances we need to advance and so staying uh on track with our Over the Horizon radar and some space-based

1:21:11

systems which will give us uh Hypersonic detect and track capability is essential uh here in the coming years so what about uh Next Generation Um technology with respect to hypersonics do you feel like we have enough um resources around

1:21:25

that because I really don't think we do I understand that we don't have to out um spin them but we do have to be protective and and and and and show foresight and so talk to me a little bit about that congresswoman I agree we need

1:21:42

to uh double the efforts in like like I said we can detect what we have today but that's not where our adversaries will be in just a a couple of short years uh and that's on the defensive part obviously uh not directly my realm

1:21:56

but then to to deter keeping Pace on the offensive side is is important and I know that my fellow Katan commanders are looking at as well and I've also had some uh very good discussions with the missile defense agency MDA about uh some

1:22:10

of the uh systems that they're developing um both in the future as well as adapting current systems today to be able to defeat hypersonics just want to make sure that you know that there are those of us who are really quite

1:22:21

concerned about that and would um welcome the opportunity to talk further about it Miss uh Zimmerman and your testimony you discussed the impact uh climate change has on our military Readiness uh you highlight the global

1:22:36

Water security Center at the University of Alabama which utilizes do funding to provide education training and research related uh water food energy and natural disasters can you discuss how the um Global Water Center uh assessments help

1:22:54

combat and commands uh strategic planning and contribute to our national security thank you very much I I think in terms of some of those specifics I I'd like to get back to you in a little bit more detail but I will say that our

1:23:07

ability to get on the same page as a department and as a government and our analysis our understanding of the problem is what is right now allowing us to begin to take action with the goal uh for the Department of really ensuring uh

1:23:21

seamless operations when we need them where we need them regardless of the impact of climate change and extreme weather great um General Richardson we continue to see our adversaries Target our partners in South America from

1:23:35

China's belt and Road initiative to Russia's disinformation with China emerging as South America's top trading partner how can we use our trade uh initiatives like the America's uh partnership uh for economic prosperity to deter

1:23:53

China uh I would say that the uh we have to be um what we said that we're going to do we've got to follow through with that and do what we said we're going to do and uh and I think that that is a huge investment in the region 11

1:24:08

presidents from this region out of the 31 that came here to Washington DC that shows you uh I mean that's a I look at that as just a foot in the door to expand that I mean what a great first effort and I'm so excited about this

1:24:23

program the attention the investment uh it's huge for for Team USA and Team democracy and so if we can just make that even bigger and better uh that's what we need to do thank you I balance G Le time expired CH recogniz

1:24:40

General from Texas Mr L tril thank you Mr chairman I'd like to thank everybody for coming today and thank everybody for your service everyone in in uniform and our veterans thank you absolutely thank you for what you do to keep our family

1:24:53

safe uh Mr guo this is your first time in front of Congress I think you missed an absolute great opportunity Mr Richardson you failed on that one too if the chairman of askk says I think your budget should be doubled your immediate

1:25:05

response is you will have it by the end of the day tracking okay good let's let's move on uh my colleague from Alabama hit it on the head with hypersonics that's very forward leaning and that's I think that's a very um High high-risk profile that we need

1:25:21

to be addressing but my other my concern besides that is is cyber so I I was hoping General richon and general gu can you can you can you give me a a kind of a high level briefing on where we stand with cyber risk cyber threat and both of

1:25:34

your aors and the advances and AI that we're in placing and how we function and the functionality with our partners because their footprint is far inferior to ours it is and the uh 14 major attacks on government networks in 10 countries

1:25:51

over this past year we can't respond fast enough and help our partners with training uh the uh additional funding I received last year helps with the security cooperation Initiative ssci for cyber but our uh our authorities in

1:26:06

institutional capacity building triple 3 are not responsive enough so I would say what help does uh do the cocoms need help with is that flexible funding with triple 3 to help our partners so when these opportunities they're crises but

1:26:21

they're also opportunities to help our partners and so they that that's what they rely on us for being fast and being quick to uh help them and so I I I would say that that would be what we would need help with are we in the process of

1:26:35

line iting those exact thing I we're going to need absolutely you present that to us so we know details yes and in our security cooperation initiatives for cyber we're laying that out and I I have what's called a jcat a joint cyber

1:26:47

assessment team from southcom it's like a quick reaction force to help our partners and then do the institutional capacity building of training with them on Cyber but we need to we need to do more on Cyber because they the level of

1:27:01

Technology um is uh and how quick technology is uh is happening they cannot keep up with it and so that's why they they need our assistance with that we we're more than willing to assist you with that especially giving the

1:27:15

advancements in in in cyber risk and cyber threat thank you Congressman yes ma'am General Congressman first uh thanks message received on the funding uh uh as far as cyberspace just with all the threats that we Face uh in the

1:27:29

Homeland in all domains the most persistent and present threat that we face is the Cyber threat uh we see attacks every day on or attempts to attack our networks every day on both the uh we have four networks in Northern

1:27:44

command that we use to you know conduct our mission that we protect and then also across the dod Network that we uh work in uh primarily with cyber command to make sure were're defending as well as with sisa and the FBI on the defense

1:27:57

critical infrastructure uh so uh I share your concern on that uh that is certainly the most persistent and uh um challenging threat that that we Face uh have confidence in our detect but you don't know what you don't know and then

1:28:13

so uh continued emphasis on this is something that you'll see from Nora and northcom perfect it this is a language not very many people speak and and it seems as if as these attacks happen daily every half second they are

1:28:30

so repetitive I I don't want it to be siloed in a way that the the Armageddon happens and like well we've been this has been happening for years we just we didn't know how to number one address that up and out of the organization or combat it

1:28:45

so I'm asking you to share with us as best you can where we stand where we need to move how we need to flex left right of Center in order to not become victims in this space uh Mr chairman are you back Jim years back chair and I

1:29:02

recognized gentlemen from North Carolina Mr Davis thank you so much Mr chair and to our Witnesses today I've actually taken my second trip while um serving in the 118th Congress to the Southerland border uh visited most recently the Del Rio sector um to

1:29:21

witness the evolving crisis firsthand um while there we had the opportunity to meet with those who are working on the front line so we definitely appreciate the service and all the work that's taking place that's going into it so far

1:29:36

M Zimmerman while in Eagle Pass we learned there have been more than 120,000 known guideways um so far fiscal year 2024 um how do you compare the threat posed by these individuals some of whom are um on the terror watch list um with those who are actually

1:29:59

unknown I I couldn't understand your last question yeah I said how do we compare those to those who are unknown to those who are unknown yes um uh well congressmen I think uh you know the the work that we're doing not just in Eagle

1:30:14

paath but in other places in support of uh the Department of Homeland Security and our CBP colleagues is uh intended to minimize that number of known Goda ways um we do a lot of detection and monitoring in support of CBP um which

1:30:31

helps to ensure that CBP can respond uh where they need to when they need to in terms of uh those who might be uh affiliated with terrorist criminal organizations Etc uh I think it's a a small number relative to the the other

1:30:48

Goda ways um but of course uh as as general guio said with respect to cyber we can know what we what we don't know okay is it safe to say if we know that what we don't know that there are some unknowns I mean is it only an an

1:31:08

assumption that there are likely some who may have been on a terror watch that could have been unknown or identified as unknown uh Congressman I think this is really a question for the Department of Homeland Security uh which which leads

1:31:24

those efforts okay thank you um moving on then uh Miss Zimmerman and general guo um when we talked in in terms of uh transnational criminal organizations like uh the drug cartels um my question is how can we better predict than the next epicenter of the

1:31:45

crisis um based on resources that may be at our hands congressman uh with regard to uh countering the tcos uh NORAD has some very uh specific guidance from the Department on how we can assist and the way we present that is through uh

1:32:04

partnering with various lead federal agencies in the area of Intel support more particularly uh by targeting uh the network using some of the techniques that uh Special Operations Command and Central Command have used effectively

1:32:18

overseas uh with terrorist networks using some of those same techniques uh to to help uh illuminate on the on the cartels and so uh through our jtf North that's where we present that capability to the inter agency it's hard to add to that I think

1:32:37

that was a very comprehensive answer but uh broadly speaking we work in conjunction with other departments and agencies making sure that um we're breaking down those silos uh I I was also on the border just uh I think the

1:32:49

week before last uh speaking with um our our colleag from jtf North and hearing from them uh that our cooperation with CBP and and by extension the border patrol I think is is uh more throw and deeper than it has been in in many years

1:33:06

okay and um General um Gio your men and women who've augmented um in terms of the Department of Homeland Security for I believe 18 years now um it's my understanding that uh this was never intended to be an enduring Mission as it's become

1:33:24

can you describe the impact that it has on those who continue to serve Congressman uh while it hasn't been attended to be an auring Mission we recognize that uh our partners need help and the department has tasked northcom

1:33:39

to to do that the Readiness that you alluded to is a is a very big concern of of of mine we operate in three primary areas you know in the aviation I think that we can maintain our Readiness for other worldwide uh missions uh in the

1:33:53

course of the support missions but some of the other ones the logistical support uh and the detection and monitoring require us to take them off the line and conduct other trainings so they can uh keep their worldwide Readiness while

1:34:06

they're conducting the Southwest border mission and that's something that I and jtf North track very closely thank you y back Mr chair thank you gentlemen chair I recogniz as gentleman from Alabama Mr strong thank you Mr chairman and thank

1:34:20

each of you for being here today um General uh goo the Next Generation Interceptor will play a critical role in US Northern command um mission in Homeland defense your predecessor General van herk told the Senate armed services committee on March 20 uh of

1:34:37

2022 that the United States needs to deploy the Next Generation Interceptor ngi by 2028 or sooner to keep Pace with our adversaries what is your assessment of the current ngi schedule given the evolving uh threat picture Congressman I agree with General

1:34:55

van herk's assessment uh it's one of the first things I looked at upon taking command uh I still uh feel that 2028 is the uh the the point where if we have not fielded this system by then that we run the risk of falling behind the

1:35:10

advances of competitors most most notably North Korea but at this time I feel that uh we have the capability to defeat that threat but we must stay on time with ngi in order to preserve that capability thank you just to confirm you

1:35:24

agree that fiing the ngi as soon as possible uh is critical for defense to the Homeland Congressman I absolutely agree with that thank you if uh if ngi the ngi program failed like its predecessor uh What uh would that mean

1:35:38

for the Homeland defense uh system missile defense system Congressman I I'll go into details in the close session but it would mean that we are not keeping Pace with the Rogue nations in particular North Korea that would be a very bad

1:35:52

thing correct would be a very bad thing as we have seen um uh others now canceled uh portions of the groundbased midcourse defense system maintaining competition as long as possible is critical the acquisition uh strategy for

1:36:06

ngi is the gold standard and uh the plan has always been to carry two teams through at least critical design review uh this is why I'm extremely concerned by reports that the department is now officially planning to conduct an early

1:36:21

down select for ngi ngi the future of Homeland missile defense and we don't have another capability in the pipeline if these programs fail are you concerned with the amount of risk that Hasty uh cost cut measures would

1:36:37

add Congressman I'm I'm concerned with anything that would give us a less than capable uh ngi system I'll defer to the department and MDA on the specifics of the Contracting measure but I do have uh frequent and and thorough discussions

1:36:51

with MDA to ensure that the oper ational requirements that were established by northcom are being met thank you I understand that you're not going to go against your boss but would you say that the Next Generation in Interceptor is a no fail

1:37:05

Mission Congressman I believe ngi is a no- fail Mission then why would we put all our eggs in one basket earlier than planned Congressman to the specifics of the of the contract and the procurement I have to defer to the MDA experts again

1:37:22

I'm very concerned by the propos propos major change to policy for ngi and I look forward to continuing discussions with the dod on how it intends to mitigate the extreme risk of an early down select Mr chairman I yield back

1:37:36

thank the uh gentleman chair I recognize the gentleman from Pennsylvania Mr delusio thank you Mr chairman good morning everybody thank you for being here uh you've highlighted examples today in your testimony and in your

1:37:47

written testimony of how the Chinese Communist party is increasing infrastructure investments in the Western Hemisphere certainly concerning uh what also concerns me though is their access to our own infrastructure here in

1:37:58

this country uh our Maritime ports for example The Wall Street Journal highlighted just last week nearly 80% of our shipped toore cranes are Chinese built many containing unexplained covert Communications capabilities and

1:38:11

equipment I think the vulnerabilities there are are obvious I was happy to see uh last year's ndaa section 7405 require an assessment of the threat posed by these cranes I support HR 316 69 Mr Jimenez and G Mendy and others as well

1:38:26

the port crane security and inspection act so General gu start with you given that much of our Port infrastructure is privately owned and we see these vulnerabilities in public reporting what is northcom responsibility here uh and

1:38:39

where is private or corporate responsibility lie as well Congressman primarily the uh defense of the the ports is a uh is A Private Matter uh however uh uh in particular in the cyber realm northcom has a a very vested

1:38:56

interest in in it because of our defense of critical infrastructure role in particular this is where uh we on on behalf of requested support from the private companies uh if if they request help in the Cyber in cooperation with

1:39:11

sisa and cyber command any uh support given to them uh with cyber defense from DOD would be uh synchronized and presented through northcom do our adversaries care if our infrastructure is own by a private or public entity I I don't believe so I think they

1:39:28

uh Congressman I think they worry about their own interest and and and not ours right uh related to that and my district and many others saw nation state actors attacked critical infrastructure the alipa Water Authority in Western

1:39:41

Pennsylvania my district experienced an attacked I'm not alone in that uh how do you see those vulnerabilities to our critical infrastructure not just threatening our way of life our prosperity but undermining defense

1:39:54

Congressman the way I see it undermining defense is it could potentially uh you mentioned water the ports electricity any number of rail any number of those systems that aren't considered to be military or or uh defense department

1:40:08

actually are very important to us as we look to project forces overseas we would use all those capabilities to support combatant commands around the world so that's why in my homeland defense UH responsibilities I take a special

1:40:20

interest in that thank you and Miss I'm going to come to you I'll just say this I mean you outlined the Homeland defense policy guidance and your testimony uh a quote here must be a quote focus on defending defense critical

1:40:32

infrastructure against attacks in all domains and build resiliency and redundancy and quote and the general went to it there are pieces of non-defense crtical critical infrastructure that defense department military facilities rely on could you

1:40:44

tell me more about that and how you worry about those vulnerabilities Congressman I'd be glad to um this is a major effort that the department is undertaking now in support of the resilience of Defense critical infrastructure and we recognize that a

1:40:55

large part of uh the infrastructure on which the Department of Defense relies is not defense owned some of it is federal infrastructure owned by federal partners and some of it is in the private sector um the Department of

1:41:10

Defense is the sector risk management Agency for defense critical infrastructure there are srmas for all of the varieties of critical infrastructure we come together in uh the federal senior leader Council uh with which is managed by siza to talk

1:41:25

about cyber threats and we talk about those in a cross Forum uh where we're able to talk with those agencies about uh the infrastructure on which the Department of Defense depends and so we're able to make decisions we're able

1:41:39

to make sure that the risk management constructs uh that those agencies are pursuing accommodate the needs of the defense dep department but in addition to that we're making efforts to reach out to our federal state local Trust

1:41:53

tribal and Territorial and private sector defense industrial based Partners so we've recently uh reformed some of our guidance about how we're able to talk about these issues in order to allow us to have uh classified conversations and unclassified

1:42:08

conversations in a much more fome way with those Partners so that they can understand where our dependencies are we're also working uh in conjunction with uh uh sisa some of our FEMA colleagues uh to support the better mapping of critical infrastructure in

1:42:24

order to draw out what those dependencies look like thank you and I I'll just close with the question I asked to General guo is do you think our adversaries care if the thing they are targeting is defense civilian private

1:42:36

does it matter to them I think they absolutely do not I think they will Target the areas that are weakest and we have to be prepared thank you Mr chairman i y back chair I recognize gentleman from New York Mr Loda thank you chairman uh I

1:42:48

represent a district in New York and I want to start by offering my condolences to the amilies of two New York National Guardsmen Chief warant officers Casey frankoski and um and John Gracia who were killed in the recent helicopter

1:43:00

crash in our Southern border their services and sacrifices to our great nation cannot be forgotten uh generals Miss Zimmerman we have a problem that America's Southern border uh and crises at many of America's cities and states

1:43:13

uh and I want to use my time to address the impact of your areas of operations southcom especially uh General Richardson um have our security at America's Southern border and in States like New York uh just a few years ago

1:43:25

MS13 with many roots in Al Salvador had a massive and destructive presence on Long Island where I represent uh the motto of MS-13 for folks at home who may not know is kill rape and control uh and while MS-13 was largely eradicated on

1:43:40

Long Island several years ago credit to a good partnership between the federal government and local law enforcement I am concerned about the Resurgence of MS13 or a group like it uh and I'm concerned because there's two policy

1:43:52

choices going on that are exacerbating the flow of migrants across the southern border and to States like mine those policies are the administration paroling millions of non-citizens into the United States and New York City's migrant

1:44:05

crisis which is exacerbated by their Sanctuary policies uh in light of these concerns I'm eager to explore how we uh can bolster our defenses and ensure that Long Island continues to contribute effectively to our National Defense

1:44:17

architecture General Richardson um the administration States they're properly vetting all the migrants who come to the United States before paroling them in the United States yet critics contend that the proper vetting would entail

1:44:29

much more it would entail full cooperation from the migrants Home Country an awareness of that home country and what that individual's background is cooperation between that host nation's law enforcement intelligence Services uh General in Your

1:44:43

Capacity as southcom Commander is it safe to say that you've become familiar with the El Salvador military uh yes I am familiar with with the El Salvador military uh are you familiar with the El Salvador government uh no Congressman uh how

1:45:00

about some of the local police departments no Congressman okay given your expertise with the military component um can you tell us um how the intelligence apparatus in countries like El Salvador compares to the United

1:45:15

States uh it's definitely not as robust Congressman scale of 1 to 10 if the United States is the 10 standard where would you put nations in your a uh in terms of the intelligence capacity yep I would say um they have the advantage of uh having home turf

1:45:36

Advantage uh but I would say uh inside their country it would be a 10 and then uh as we encourage our partners to work together cross their boarders uh to share information because all of them are experiencing some uh some form of

1:45:53

all of the threats that I've talked about and so uh them working together together better not just within their own borders bational operations that we see taking place between Colombia and Ecuador uh the work that Colombia and

1:46:09

Panama is doing crossb on I apologize General so so inside the home country you're saying they have a decent awareness I appreciate that um you also said that you don't it's no fault of your own your command doesn't necessarily have a relationship with the

1:46:22

government there or law enforcement I understand as well um what would you say with respect to the intelligence sharing from countries like El Salvador to the United States is that a mutual thing is it one way is it minimal how would you

1:46:36

characterize the intelligence sharing between us and El Salvador I would say that the work that uh that the Ambassador has done on the ground uh our US ambassador to El Salvador and the work that we have and the relationships

1:46:50

that we have with El Salvador we have a robust relationship ship uh military to Military and so the sharing of information I think uh from El Salvador with the United States is good in that respect but you don't are you aware of

1:47:04

any relationships either State Department or other us officials have with some of those more National or local law enforcement entities uh you'd have to speak to them Congressman okay um focusing on drug trafficking narcotics uh transitional uh

1:47:21

organizations like MS13 um what sort of intelligence Have you shared in this setting I understand uh with countries like El Salvador with respect to entities like MS13 and drug trafficking I have relied on the uh state department

1:47:36

and the US ambassador in terms of the intelligence sharing uh that they would do with the country of El Salvador thank you appreciate your service my time has expired I yeld back thank gentleman chair now recognize gentleman from North

1:47:48

Carolina Mr Jackson thank you Mr chair I'd like to share my sense of the situation with respect to fentanyl production in Mexico and if I'm wrong I'd like you to correct me my understanding is that there are two cartels that are producing the vast

1:48:01

majority of the fentanyl that comes into the United States that we know where these cartels are that the Mexican Government more specifically the president of Mexico has been very reluctant to acknowledge this problem let alone respond to this problem and

1:48:16

specifically has been very reluctant to enter into any kind of military partnership with us that we could be much more effective and helpful than we are being allowed to be by The Mexican government is any of that wrong that's

1:48:37

my understanding feel free to correct me Congressman I uh I I can't refute anything that you said I would point out that uh as part of the 90-day assessment that I'm undergoing uh I am looking uh very closely at the operational

1:48:55

environment uh specifically with uh Mexico and and uh how we address that transnational uh uh criminal organizations and uh at the conclusion of this I will brief the uh secretary on my findings and that I'll be happy to share uh after that with this

1:49:13

body my sense is that part of uh one of the success stories that we have to tell with the introduction of drugs and combating cartels is with Venezuela because many years ago the Venezuelan government accepted our help accepted

1:49:29

our military assistance with respect to running offense on the cartels J Richardson am I right in my understanding of that that we were able to be very helpful there um so the uh General guo has Mexico and his a in terms of uh with the

1:49:47

cartels and and uh and I would say with the transnational criminal organizations and my region uh and the insecurity and the instability that they continue to create and uh and their uh portfolio has Diversified and they become more

1:50:03

powerful as I was saying uh before this the the our country is working together to try and eliminate those threats and share the information on those those threats that are in the South America Central American region is uh extremely

1:50:18

important I think what I'm driving at is I think there's a there are good examples of times in which other countries have entered into military partnership with us in order to run offense on cartels and it feels like that would be

1:50:34

an appropriate partnership right now with Mexico and the president of Mexico is resisting this for reasons that I'm sure none of us fully understand and at the conclusion of your 90-day assessment this is going to be a

1:50:51

point of extreme interest for for a lot of people um because I have people who are dying every day in my state every single day and the sense is when we hear statements from the Mexican president like this is not a problem this does not exist as a

1:51:10

problem we know that's not true and it colors all of our thinking about well what what does the solution to the problem really look like can we solve the problem when the president of Mexico refuses to acknowledge its existence let alone refuses to accept

1:51:31

our assistance in dealing with this as other nations have to their benefit in the past um can you describe and I know you're still within an assessment the current scope of our assistance to Mexico with respect to running offense on cartels what's it

1:51:50

look like right now such as you can Congressman uh northcom is is is authorized to uh uh participate in the counter TCO by providing intelligence support uh we run the uh info analysis Center in Mexico City where we uh coordinate with the lead federal

1:52:10

agencies for the us as well as cooperate with General Richardson's G of South uh for a full um uh approach of south of our border to include into Southern commands uh a so uh by Target uh in that Center we target the um the network we

1:52:29

we assist with targeting the network with our Intel uh Specialists and then distribute the information to the inner agency which what I hear you saying is purely Intel at this point nothing tactical is that rough the assessment is

1:52:40

correct thank you I yield back gentleman yields back here I recognize gentl from Texas Mr Fon uh thank you Mr chairman you know when I saw the the to topic of the hearing few days back you know security challenges of North America

1:52:55

South America I immediately I'll admit I immediately thought about Venezuela I want to take my five minutes and ask about Venezuela in Cuba and the MS13 like my colleague from New York did or uh the Mexican drug cartels and then I

1:53:08

dawn on me uh that I did pay attention in elementary school and America's part of North America so why aren't we talking more about focusing my five minutes on securing our own border and uh what I wanted to do is ask General guo do you think that if you

1:53:25

had I would I I I I assume we all agree that border security is a national security issue just do we do we agree on that General guo Congressman I do agree yeah okay I don't think that's a a real reach and what concerns me is when I looked back at prior

1:53:44

administrations and the two prior administrations before the current one at this juncture in their administrations they had about 1.7 million illegal border crossings unfortunately that's now depending on exactly what stat use it's hovering

1:53:57

around 8 million uh would you agree that that is a a troubling Trend Congressman uh the role of northcom on the border is to support the uh Department of Homeland Security and the Customs and Border Protection in uh in support roles that that don't uh

1:54:18

relate to the law enforcement or the sure but General I count eight stars on your shoulders do you think that that's a a troubling Trend would you rather the the the fewer illegal Crossings we have is that would that would you agree that that's better

1:54:32

the fewer the better yes I would agree with that uh because we don't know who a lot of these folks are and in the prior Administration we had a couple of years where we had three three individuals on the terrorist watch list that were

1:54:44

apprehended and then this past fiscal year I believe it was 169 that is a an alarming difference would you not agree Congressman I I agree uh that any threats that come into the US uh would be concern to me as the northcom

1:55:02

commander so with um let's talk about the Mexican drug cartels clear and present danger to the United States would you agree with that statement Congressman I would I would I would say that it's certainly a national Challenge and a national concern so I'd

1:55:16

say you would agree with that that the cartels are a danger to the United States the Mexican drug cartel Isel activity does pose a danger to the United States okay so we don't want to embolden them we'd like to have them weakened because the more uh the

1:55:31

stronger they get the more they endanger American citizens would that be accurate it's not a trick question General well but it's all really I mean all right well General Richardson do you do you think that that is a clear and

1:55:45

present danger if the Mexican drug cartels are emboldened and make more money does that end danger the United States Amer because getting stronger more powerful and they're diversifying their portfolio so they're not just

1:55:57

doing drugs and trafficking people but it's illegal mining illegal logging counterfeit Goods uh some of the worst people on the planet it is and they're getting stronger so we have to we really have to band together with all of our

1:56:10

countries um all the countries and all of the uh across the globe to counter this because they're taking advantage of countries that haven't uh experienced this kind of activity before and this kind of crime and they're behind the

1:56:23

eightball trying to counter this before um trying to get ahead of it once it occurred and I apologize for interrupting a little bit I just have limited time and as a 03 I don't usually interrupt 010 but um so Mexican drug

1:56:40

cartels present a clear and present danger and they are charging depending on um who you talk to between $4 and $7,000 per illegal migrant coming into the country so it would stand a reason that the more illegal migrant crossing

1:56:52

the southern border the more emboldened the cartels get the more power they get the more they endanger the American people and that's exactly why we want to limit the um the the illegal Crossings on the southern border and that's why

1:57:06

for instance I'm also very concerned and uh we'll give it another go General guo with Chinese Nationals crossing the southern border there was a couple years back where we had 450 apprehended mostly military age men now depending on who

1:57:18

again what you you talked to was 43,000 50,000 is is that an alarming trend for you General guo yes Congressman it is yeah it it it tremendously so and that's why again we have to do everything we can uh director Ray even said that um

1:57:34

that there's Isis elements that are also crossing the border uh as well so I I just can't um emphasize enough how important it is to take this seriously I don't think it's a political matter I think it's an absolute matter of

1:57:45

National Security and uh I thank you for coming today and chairman i y back thanks J he's back chair recognizeed G lady from California Miss Jacobs thank you Mr chairman um you know as one of the few members on this committee who

1:58:00

actually represent a border Community um I I feel like I just need to make sure we are setting the records straight on on these issues first of all San Diego the community I represent is one of the safest cities in America not despite

1:58:13

being on the border but I'd argue because of it and I think my colleague from El Paso would likely say the same thing uh and despite the fearmongering on display here today uh on my regular trips to the Border I think it's clear

1:58:25

that the best way to actually weaken the drug cartels is to make sure that we have more legal Pathways for people to come here and to make sure we can let our border patrol agents uh actually focus on National Security um by for

1:58:38

instance funding the child well-being program uh so that we're not having border patrol acting like social workers um and I would just you know all the people they're saying on the terrorist watch list that we've seen come through

1:58:50

we know that because we have caught them which means the system is actually working so in any case um just wanted to to put that at the top um uh General Richardson I'd like to ask you actually about the southcom human rights office

1:59:03

um you know it was established in the late 90s and I think it's been a clear success in how we integrate human rights directly into daily operations um could you speak to how the human rights office has benefited southcom how it's improved

1:59:17

the command's relationship with human rights Advocates and civil society and if there's any more you need from us to best be able to utilize the human rights office so thank you for that congresswoman the human rights office in

1:59:29

southcom that we've had for over 20 years has been a huge enabler and uh and the ability to you know everything that we do it's baked in it's a it's a core foundational principle and human rights the rule of law and the

1:59:43

professionalization of the militaries as we work with our military Partners in the region uh that is at the top of the list and then just uh uh infusing that in terms of all of the programs and then it dub Tails nicely into women peace and security the

1:59:58

integration of women into the forces the militaries and the public Security Forces our enlisted leader development program which is a rockstar program that's what makes our US military so strong is our uh enlisted force and what

2:00:12

we do is we bring that uh that program to the region and help our partners make that stronger and so uh with my uh sergeant major sitting behind me today very very proud of that program and but our human rights office I just did a a

2:00:26

human rights engagement uh last Friday and I try to do that uh just about every six months uh I meet with human rights organizations um when I travel in the region as well to hear their perspective because it's a perspective that you have

2:00:40

to understand not just our military to military perspective but what is happening on the ground what they're seeing what they're concerned about uh and uh because that factors into everything that we do to help countries

2:00:52

and I think with the human rights uh office that we've been able to um over the years with the relationships we've built but actually as as uh our partner Nations have had to be mobilized to help their police and we talk about you know

2:01:07

honoring their Constitution and the importance of honoring their constitution not just a person uh that that might be in the leadership seat uh when when those gry zone areas come into effect that's where we really see the uh

2:01:21

the benefits of the hard work of our our human rights office in southcom thank you and Could you um share a little bit about the 25th anniversary celebration that happened in Miami in 2022 so thank you for that uh we had uh numerous countries close to 20 uh

2:01:40

partner Nations that came and there were so many people that wanted to come and it was we had just really extended an invitation to the to the militaries but Ministers of Defense wanted to come uh a couple of congressional folks from the

2:01:54

countries wanted to come to because they were so excited about it and then we've had a couple Nations join the human rights initiative it's a non-binding agreement it's just a commitment to double down on on supporting human

2:02:06

rights and being uh being aware of it and and the training that goes into the partner Nations uh militaries and public Security Forces thank you and in my last 30 seconds could you just share how the human rights office interacts with the

2:02:21

civilian harm mitigation and response policy and so the uh uh the uh chimmer as we call it for the uh as an acronym but the those meetings occur regularly with our uh Office of the secretary defense so with OSD and the joint staff

2:02:38

and so the engagement and uh and the importance of that uh only brings that up to a higher level with uh a broader uh engagement strategy and so I appreciate the work by The Joint staff and the and OSD to to do that that for him thank you Mr

2:02:55

chairman I back thank you Mrs mlan for Michigan recognized for five minutes thank you Mr chairman and thank you all for being here General Rich Richardson with the recent breakout in violence in Haiti the Administration has done um has

2:03:11

seemingly abandoned Americans abroad again the administration was able to pull out State Department staff in our Embassy this weekend but made little attempt to rescue other Americans on the island while I appreciate the part the Departments

2:03:30

announced uh additional funding for the MMS Mission the additional funding will not solve the problem so General Richardson um my question is were you contacted or consulted by anyone at the White House or the state department about Americans uh trapped in

2:03:50

Haiti uh regarding uh Americans trapped in Haiti no we had uh we were pulling out non-essential uh Personnel from so you didn't have any discussion regarding the Americans um that were trapped in Haiti just government officials or

2:04:10

nonessential governmental Personnel to to reduce that number was there any conversation among your staff on the rescue of the Americans in Haiti what was the plan for those there uh possibly were discuss discussions above my level

2:04:23

uh regarding that and I know that as the political negotiations continue in Jamaica with our uh with our secretary of state and uh CARICOM leaders uh to try and get to a political Solution on Haiti so as of right now what is the

2:04:42

plan for the Americans trapped in Haiti and so uh the uh as we work forward uh the uh as the administr creates a requirement for DOD to um to bring out trapped Americans in Haiti uh we will absolutely do that from southcom and I

2:05:02

can appreciate it but as of right now we don't have any plans to get Americans home that's what I heard you say I don't have a request for support to um bring any Americans yet thank you yet and what is the situation in your opinion in

2:05:20

Haiti right now well uh in terms of the violence uh that that the gangs um the over 300 gangs about 7,200 gang members that were tracking and the activities that they've taken uh over this past week to create violence they've made

2:05:35

four demands for the prime minister to resign for elections to be held within 90 days that they be given amnesty for uh the crimes that they've been they've committed and again ma'am I don't mean to cut you off is the situation pretty

2:05:49

dire over there or is it business as usual in Haiti no I would say that they because of what the gangs have done and taken advantage of the Prime Minister being out of the country they've Consolidated and conducted simultaneous attacks

2:06:02

across so pretty dire is that a fair assessment or am I ere exagger situation the security situation is dire in Haiti thank you yes was there any intelligence indicating the Potential Threat of a violent takeover prior to last

2:06:19

week uh that was not expected that the gangs would we had not seen the gangs really work together or coordinate together before uh the uh once the Prime Minister left there was no indication that they had done that before or that

2:06:33

they were going to do that once he departed so so prior to there was really no indication or no Intel that we would end up in this situation that they would be working together and conducting simultaneous attacks no okay Miss

2:06:47

Zimmerman did the Secretary of Defense consult with the Secretary of State regarding any options on protecting Americans in Haiti um uh thank you Congressman for that question um the Secretary of Defense and the Secretary of State along

2:07:01

with other members of the US government have had numerous discussions about Haiti uh as this situation has continued to evolve with respect to Americans uh in particular of course uh the department maintains prudent planning

2:07:13

for evacuations wherever we have diplomatic preses but the embassy remains open as of now um okay I I'm ask asking these questions because this is the third time this Administration has abandoned Americans abroad in dangerous

2:07:30

situations we don't have a plan to get them out we just said that last night I coordinated with Congressman Corey Mills to rescue several Americans trapped in Porta Prince Congressman Mills actually participated in the rescue of those

2:07:46

Americans abandoned by the Biden Administration and the state department so I ask you all what exactly is the plan to get Americans trapped in Haiti out we don't have one Mr chairman this Administration doesn't seem to have a

2:08:03

problem with abandoning Americans overseas this is now the third instance where President Biden and secretary blinkin have decided that American lives are irrel first in Afghanistan Israel and now Haiti I yield back with that

2:08:16

Miss Escobar from Texas is recognized for five minutes thank you Mr chairman and I'd like to thank thank our Witnesses for your service and for your presence here today this is such an important conversation I'm eager to dive

2:08:28

in but first um I want to say we recently lost two New York Guardsmen and a border patrol agent and I'd like to express my condolences uh especially to the families and and recognize their incredible service um General Richardson

2:08:47

I I want to thank you in particular for all of the Eng engagement that uh I've had the uh honor and privilege to have with you over the years thank you for your leadership I have the incredible honor of representing El Paso Texas

2:09:02

which is home to Fort Bliss and uh over the course of that time uh you know I will share one of the the frustrations for me has been that Congress has not focused on the Western Hemisphere uh to the extent that I believe we need to and

2:09:21

and when we are um encountering challenges at our nation's front door uh it's it's that's an example of us acting too slowly and not quickly enough and uh you know as I listened to one of uh my colleagues on the other side of the day

2:09:40

talk about the border which again I I I agree with my colleague um uh Miss Jacobs uh you know presents challenges but border communities like El Paso are among the safest in the nation for a reason um but as we think about

2:09:58

challenges that we face at the border we've got to think about Investments beyond the border and strategies Beyond The Border if if we want to be successful and and that's what I'd like to focus on actually with my first question beginning with you General

2:10:15

Richardson southcom in particular is one theater where our dollars those small income comparison to investments in other theaters can stretch quite far in terms of return on investment there is immense value in looking to secure our

2:10:31

homeland and address these threats at The Source before they arrive at our door can you give us some insight on the feedback you're getting from our Personnel in southcom as well as the counterparts of our Co cooperating

2:10:44

Nations on the value of these dollars what risks do we take on by underinvestigated efforts especially in an era of great power competition yeah so the thanks congresswoman and uh thank you for your service and um and so certainly the

2:11:01

investment that we make with our partner nations in security cooperation uh and I mentioned the uh the work that Colombia and Panama do together so as migrants flow out of uh Venezuela looking for a better life and uh being able to get

2:11:17

food and health care and and uh and be safe uh the operations that the military is doing to go after the the criminal the criminal gangs in Colombia and then the Border Forces Center front and sonan and Panama as they work to do the same

2:11:33

thing uh to go after the criminal groups that are uh conducting all the crimes the the counter the drug trafficking the human trafficking illegal mining logging all of it counterfeit goods and as they've done these uh operations against

2:11:48

these criminal groups and transnational criminal organizations they've actually um been able to uh uh uh find all these other things all these counterfeit Goods uh the drugs the human trafficking and so they've actually doubled down uh

2:12:04

operations and continue those operations which they started last April in 2023 and they've continued those uh to get after uh the you know helping in their respect to to try and reduce uh migration and the criminals that are

2:12:19

doing the human trafficking and so the investment that we make with our partners is is huge uh in terms of them being able to counter the threats inside of their countries and I think that they're they're doing uh everything that

2:12:32

they can to get after that uh but as their laws some of their laws don't facilitate stopping migration and uh and uh stemming the flow we see activities to do that but they laws don't support the military and police to do that as a

2:12:49

see human right as a uh migration as a human right thank you General Richardson and in my closing few seconds I would just say I am equally alarmed by the growing sophistication and power of the cartels they are a a global threat but

2:13:06

one of the ways to address the cartels and undercut them and take vulnerable humans out of the hands of them as human traffickers would be for us to O for Congress to open up legal Pathways um um in instead of uh you know what I

2:13:24

consider a dereliction of our responsibility to reform outdated immigration laws for decades thank you all again for your service Mr chairman I yield back thank you uh Mr wals from Florida is recognized for five minutes

2:13:35

thank you Mr chairman uh two weeks ago the FBI's Miami Field office issued a public alert seeking information on Majid farhani a member of Iran's Ministry of intelligence and security who's been recruiting individuals quote

2:13:50

for operations in the US to include lethal targeting of current and former government officials those were the Trump Administration cabinet officials that to this day have to have security because of the threat uh from Iranian

2:14:04

operatives on American soil and they're seeking to avenge the 2020 death of kasum sulamani uh as you all know the justice department has convicted uh a an Iranian operative for cooperating with Mexican cartels uh and conspiring to blow up a restaurant here

2:14:24

in Washington DC uh some years ago so General Richardson has Iran attempted or is Iran using Venezuela as a springboard to launch clandestine operations in the United States uh the I'd be able to talk to you about that in a better in a closed

2:14:43

session but in terms of the well we I mean it's publicly reported General that the Maduro regime is cooperating with with Iran is providing documentation to help them get into the United States I mean this is for the American people to

2:14:58

understand we have a public notice yes of their uh cooperation and activities with with China Russia and Iran um can you comment to the level of cooperation I mean the Maduro regime is sponsoring facilitating these activities

2:15:13

right uh yes they are sponsoring activities and uh and allowing visits to occur and the cooperation that they do with these countries and so let the record show the Maduro regime uh where we have now uh are easing sanctions this Administration is

2:15:29

easing sanctions under the Barbados agreement is facilitating assassins to come into the United States to assassinate senior American uh officials General Richardson uh also changing topics to the narcotics that are flowing into uh this country J of South

2:15:47

currently employs a special um a a ship special Mission which is essentially a refueling uh resupply ship uh to allow our partners to extend their range we have one uh which is I think incredibly valuable but miss Zimmerman I'm surprised uh that

2:16:06

we've received a report back from the Pentagon that adding another ship so that we can interdict on the Pacific and the Caribbean uh the Pentagon is basically saying there's a there's a low return on investment there can you

2:16:21

explain to the mothers and fathers in Florida the families that are being devastated by the flow of Fentanyl and Other Drugs into this country why one resupply ship not for the US Navy but to help our partners extend their range and interu

2:16:37

interdict these drugs is is not a good investment of their dollars uh Congressman I'd like to take that back and get you a more detailed answer you don't have an I mean you have a report saying that it wasn't good investment we do I I understand that

2:16:55

we're working to make sure the best use of our resources but I'd like to get you a more specific answer thank you I'll look for that for the record and I I do find it disturbing you don't have that uh you don't have that information given

2:17:07

your portfolio can we just talk a bit more about Haiti US citizens are trapped in Haiti we have a member of Congress leading a group down to rescue US citizens from orphanages we've had multiple members of Congress rescuing US

2:17:25

citizens that were trapped in the West Bank and elsewhere in Israel that were trapped and are still trapped in Afghanistan uh we have a breakdown here between the state department and dood in terms of having assets and resources

2:17:40

available to go get Americans I mean it's just a basic function uh and at this point I was informed last night that the state department revoked the clearance for these individuals to land in the Dominican Republic so can

2:17:56

you can you just talk to me more broadly about our not a Neo for just the embassy the embassy Personnel will get taken care of I'm worried about Americans that are trapped uh in this deteriorating situation General Richardson Miss

2:18:10

Zimmerman can you just talk about what we have position because if we have a mass not only to get Americans but is Guantanamo ready to take on what could be a mass Refugee flow onto Florida shores so we have plans ready

2:18:24

Congressman in terms of a non-combatant evacuation a neop plan also a mass migration plan that we would uh establish what about for US citizens on GMO and if we get a request uh from the state department in order to do that we

2:18:37

have a plan to do that thank you I'll take that up State I recogniz as gentleman from California Mr carbahal thank you Mr chairman and ranking member and thank you to all the witnesses for being here today uh the the political

2:18:51

crisis in Haiti Venezuela and other countries in the Western Hemisphere have put the United States in a difficult situation at the border I'm eager to hear your plans to overcome some of these challenges as well as plans to

2:19:05

influence and sustain advantages with China and Russia to gain foothold in our backyard thank you congressman and uh and so certainly the funding that I received last year to increase my security cooperation initiatives uh was

2:19:23

hugely helpful and uh and the uh funding that we would receive this year uh as soon as the defense bills are uh approved uh will be uh extremely important uh to continue that effort but I would say 15 to 20 years of getting

2:19:39

less than 50% of the requirement for security cooperation for southcom and the investment that that brings that uh it can't be made up in just one or two years so uh the sustained funding and the predictable funding is very very

2:19:53

important and so but it's not it's not just the security cooperation it's the exercises it's our ability of the of the uh process with foreign military cells excess defense articles as our nations are dealing with very old equipment uh

2:20:09

outdated groundbased radar systems so they can see threats and things like that uh we've got to continue to work hard and the Secretary of Defense has led a program to speed that up uh with the forign military sales and things

2:20:22

like that to deliver capability uh much much quicker and I appreciate the inter agency's work on that and then the work we've done with the whole of government and the inter agency to bring together all those instruments of National Power

2:20:34

that I talked about in my opening statement not just on the military side of the house it's working together the diplomats the information environment the military and the economics because we are we are doing a lot of things we

2:20:46

just got to integrate and synchronize a little bit better from Team USA and supportive team team democracy thank you General General Richardson as the ranking member of the Coast Guard and Maritime Transportation subcommittee I am focused on Gad of

2:21:01

South detection and monitoring operations in your aor what support do you need to accomplish your objectives for better drug interdiction so the work that uh Gad of South has done with the inter agency we have just a huge Synergy

2:21:18

with Gatt of South and the law enforcement community and the inter agency and so uh to continue to build that and every year our partner Nations uh abilities to utilize that detection and monitoring both our law enforcement

2:21:33

but partner Nations too uh because we want that uh in terms of them being able to increase the the interdictions as a result of that information and that continues to go up every year it's 76% by our partner Nations and so um we see

2:21:47

that they're ve very effective um the the ship special mission was brought up uh before that a second SSM would be hugely helpful and would uh definitely uh raise the bar for Gad of South and the ability to uh work with partner

2:22:03

Nations and so uh the the funding and the resourcing that's provided for Gad of South and that ability for them to only continuous uh enable uh those interdictions and disruptions is very helpful thank you uh General Gil

2:22:21

congratulations on your new command as China continues its goal to project power outside of its borders what new developments have resulted from China's risky and aggressive intercepts of US aircraft operating internationally that

2:22:38

concern in regard to your primary mission to defend the Homeland Congressman uh fortunately we haven't seen uh uh Chinese aircraft operate near our defense uh or excuse me air defense identification zones yet but I think that that's coming uh as early

2:22:57

as this year um that shows a overall concern I have about the growing capability of of China uh not only with the aircraft as you just uh mentioned but also with uh ships and even submarines being able to range further from China and closer to to our

2:23:16

Shores thank you General Richardson with the 25 seconds I have left hundreds of thousands of Venezuelan migrants have made their way North uh due to years of long economic and humanitarian crisis can you can you speak about how Southern

2:23:31

command is collaborating with the state department to alleviate this crisis so the work that uh that we do um very strong relationship with Department of State with all the ambassadors in the region and then the work that uh that

2:23:44

we've done to work with our partners gentlem times expired CH I recognize gentlem from Florida Mr Gates so what's the difference between between Haiti and a failed State it's telling right we can't really identifying because the gangs are in

2:23:59

charge the government has been thrown out and as a Florida man I'm deeply concerned about this wave of people that we're about to have that we are having coming from Haiti and it will accelerate because I've gone to opaka and I've

2:24:12

spent time with the folks that are engaged in operation Vigilant century and they say the number one push factor that drives these Haitians into Broward County Palm Beach County where they don't disperse throughout the country

2:24:23

they stay in southeast Florida that that that driving factor is the deterioration of conditions in Haiti so what are we doing to prepare for that wave and to ensure that these people are not paroled into the United States as the

2:24:38

Administration has done with people on the southern border but instead are repatriated back at the dock at PTO Prince ahead uh Congressman we're doing a number of things to ensure that we're keeping track of the situation and we're

2:24:53

prepared at the moment we have not yet seen large numbers what we would characterize as a as a maritime Mass migration um but we are alert Mass migration though we are we are alert to that possibility um I think you're right

2:25:06

uh that the the driving conditions in Haiti could very well press more people so uh We've recently Pro approved some uh additional assistance that we can provide to uh the Coast Guard I I I think that that has now fully been approved uh we'll be providing

2:25:21

notifications if we haven't already uh uh to provide addition shipboard assistance because I've talked to the Coast Guard and what they say would really support them would be more Naval vessels would be do support and because

2:25:33

I think you correctly said that there is an anticipated Mass migration here there are specific legal authorities that we can access that I would implore you to access specifically George W Bush signed executive order uh

2:25:48

13276 and in that executive order there is the ability for any president to designate an anticipated Mass migration and then get gray hul Naval vessels into the Straits of Florida to deter that migration and then to repatriate those

2:26:04

people before they get to Florida so General Richardson is it your best military advice based on what we just heard from Miss Zimmerman that we activate the authorities anticipating a mass migration so I think that we need to be postured appropriately

2:26:21

uh for that exactly what you're talking about and I have put in a request for increased capability to do exactly that and uh and we are ready if a mass migration if we need to deal with a mass migration we did a full walkthrough of

2:26:34

our contingency plan on GMO last summer with all of the inter agency and all of my components when I talk to the Coast Guard folks they seem to say that we don't have to go drop these folks off at GMO where they they become a burden on

2:26:47

the US taxpayer we can interdict at se and then repatriate directly at Port of Prince When you say you're preparing for that does that specifically mean DOD assets so for what happens on a daily basis that the Coast Guard is doing and

2:27:03

the repatriation under Homeland Security authorities back to cation happens on a daily basis yeah no I got that but what the co when I go down to opalak and get eyeball to eyeball with these folks they say Congressman we really could use the

2:27:18

dod assistance not more money for the Coast Guard not more meetings conference calls and committees but grey Hall vessels in the Straits of Florida doing the interdictions doing the repatriations So when you say you're you're anticipating I think Miss

2:27:31

Zimmerman laid it out correctly so given the the fact that an anticipated Maritime Mass migration is specifically contemplated pursuant to 46 USC 70051 can can I leave this discussion believing that it will be your best

2:27:46

military advice uh to the administration to utilize DOD assets for this purpose General Richard if I'm requested to do that I will definitely do that no I I want you to make the request not be requested that's what I'm trying to ascertain okay yes con

2:28:02

Congressman yes you you will make that request for dods will talk with district 7 and our coast guard on the on the Atlantic side uh Atlantic area and uh see if they need additional uh gray DOD gry holes they've not requested that

2:28:17

specifically from southcom and so but if if there's a need for that I would absolutely request it thank you for that because I I really think getting ahead of this will ensure that the humanitarian conditions um uh will will

2:28:31

be far better that we could perhaps deter some of this uh because I mean it's tragic conditions when you talk to these folks and they they say that these Haitians are pouring gasoline on little babies and doing everything they can to

2:28:42

deter interdictions um it it sharpens the minds of my fellow Floridians to want to make sure you guys are doing everything possible and I greatly appreciate apprciate the exchange today yel back gentlemen y's back chair and I

2:28:53

recognize gentlem from Connecticut Mr Courtney thank you uh chairman Rogers and thank you to all the witnesses um for your uh testimony today uh General gu um again was a pleasure to meet you and congratulations again on your uh uh

2:29:08

new assignment um in your testimony you spoke about you spoke about the ability to detect classify and track potential threats to the Homeland from the seafloor to space in the Cyber domain is a critical need for us northcom and

2:29:21

NORAD and that investments in capabilities such as the integrated undersea surveillance system the I USS will significantly enhance domain awareness to limit competitors ability to approach North America undetected can

2:29:34

you speak a little more again I know in your written testimony you mentioned the fact that now um Russia is about to deploy another sever dvinsk um which again would be um on the west coast they already 2014 they deployed their first

2:29:50

seever divin which again has been um you know a real challenge for anti-submarine Warfare and our allies working together to to um you know keep an eye on that and the I USS um is again another capability um again could you talk again

2:30:06

about you know the the homelands facing something that we really haven't seen since the Cold War in terms of the undersea and and um would appreciate your thoughts Congressman you're you're exactly right the uh the under ability

2:30:20

to detect with undersea sensors is more important today than ever before because of the advances in the Sev as you mentioned now a threat to both coasts uh and and the uh quiet nature with which those submarines can operate mean that

2:30:35

they could uh very easily get much closer to the uh us and then deploy their uh large arsenal of cruise missiles uh to a point where if that were allowed to happen the first detection we would likely get would be could be the explosions of the uh of the

2:30:50

cruise missiles so uh keeping our undersea Advantage is imperative and I think the the first step in that is to increase our undersea sensor capability to allow us to detect these threats further away from the US Shores than we

2:31:06

can today well thank you and as we discussed I mean the the present um situation at least on the Atlantic is uh it's a team sport with our allies um in the air on the surface and under the surface in terms of trying to track um

2:31:22

that that threat I I remember um Admiral ruad who was the former CNO uh one time saying that the the best anti-submarine Warfare is another submarine I mean that obviously also has to be kind of um viewed as a priority uh if if again

2:31:38

we're going to have an effective um system of defense is that correct sir it is absolutely correct and uh we get great partnership uh especially in the Atlantic we have a one Atlantic uh technique tactic technique and procedure where northcom ukom and

2:31:55

Southern command with General Richardson all share information and we don't use the strict line that you see on the UCP map as uh a way to limit our capability we allow forces to flow freely across all those lines wherever it makes sense

2:32:10

for that other uh you know for the overall situation even if it goes between combatant commands to ensure that we can detect and then once we get those uh undersee uh uh submarines track and follow them uh to ensure that they

2:32:23

don't become a threat to the United States and with the severed events now on the west coast um again that's just another mission um that again we don't quite have the same um team lineup uh in that part of the world so it's uh if

2:32:38

anything it's more um uh demand to the Navy uh yes Congressman you're right and and the fact that the Pacific is so much larger and you know we're now facing two threats there with the with a Russian specific threat and then also the uh

2:32:54

Chinese uh makes the uh Pacific threat a particular concern of mine and and North comps well thank you um you know again your timing uh in terms of this discussion is um you know very apt since we got a budget yesterday which talks

2:33:09

about cutting a Virginia class submarine um from the Navy ship building plan and uh obviously you know not just in northcom but in frankly every command and that's going to just again make a a high demand uh platform uh even more

2:33:24

stressed so um you know this is going to be very helpful for us as we move towards markup later um the session that I yield back thank the gentlemen uh before I recognize Mr bacon I want to amounts we're going to be going up to

2:33:38

the classified portion of this hearing in about 15 minutes uh Mr bacon you're recognized thank you Mr chairman I welcome all three of you here thank you and I've enjoyed working with General Richardson in recent years so I

2:33:50

appreciate seeing you and general gu and I were fellow commanders of the fight and 55th Wing uh the largest Wing in air combat command third largest in the Air Force I think for two decades that most busy optempo Ops Tempo that the Air

2:34:02

Force had so congrats on your new position my first question is for Jo guo uh how does Hypersonic weapons affect your warning times because I think it's important for the Americans to hear with China having nuclear armed hypersonics Russian

2:34:17

building them what does it do for our warning time times uh thank you Congressman uh good to see you and and thanks for recognizing the fighting 5 fists contributions worldwide uh hypersonics are are probably the most destabilizing

2:34:32

weapon that we face now and uh one of the Prime reasons is is what you mentioned the shorten detection time uh and the fact that they don't follow a traditional ballistic track means they're very unpredictable and the area

2:34:46

of uncertainty is is huge based on their speed and their man ver ability uh that's what makes them such a such a challenge to not only detect but to track and eventually defeat is it fair to say we have about a 15minute warning

2:34:58

time I don't know if I'm just trying to give our citizens a sense how this changes intercontinental ballistic missiles gave us about a 35 minute warning time and I'm just trying to how much is this warning time reduced uh yes Congressman there there

2:35:13

are cases where it would be about half and but I would add to that though is the unpredictable nature of their maneuvering even with a ICBM if it was 30 minutes very quickly we could figure out just about where exactly that's

2:35:26

going into a you know very small circle circle of error probability however with the Hypersonic not only is it faster giving us less time to detect it can uh fly lower uh which which gives our sensors problems and then that

2:35:40

maneuverability means it uh you know a typical threat warning could be something as vague as Western United States as opposed to a particular ular City and Mr chairman this is why I think it's so important that we address this

2:35:53

with stratcom and the Pentagon and our just our national command authorities I don't think we're positioned right with our nuclear command survivability and ensuring that we always have a survivable element not at a base uh I think we're put making

2:36:09

ourselves vulnerable it's one of the things I'm trying to push our DOD I know this is not in northcom uh perview but I think we as in in this in the Hask here working with senior military leaders going have to come up with a plan that

2:36:22

ensures we always have a survivable command element that we can't be caught flat-footed because I worry about the current our current posture and I think it leaves us vulnerable and I want the Russians Chinese to know no matter what

2:36:35

they do we can always respond uh so but so I appreciate your aspect of this is very important of this discussion so thank you General Richardson and I was talking to the previous ambassador from Jamaica and he was telling me that the

2:36:49

Jamaicans would like to have our Coast Guard assigned there and they would help with facilities and it's in the perfect position for interdicting drugs coming out of Venezuela and Columbia can you com comment on that at all or have you heard any of this

2:37:04

dialogue I have not heard that dialogue uh but we work we have a very good close working relationship with Jamaica and uh and the chief of Defense there who is a Coast Guard officer I'm hearing this is indirect not direct from him uh but via the

2:37:19

Ambassador that this is an opportunity and this is from the Jamaicans perspective that they'd like to work with us and that that location is would be important you know for the drug routes coming out of Columbia and Venezuela so I hope you take a look at

2:37:32

it I would be uh grateful for that going back to General gu how's our surveillance Radars do they need investment they current Congressman they do uh we do have some programs in place most notably the Over the Horizon radar system uh

2:37:48

that would give us uh capability against cruise missiles traditional air tracks as well as the hypersonics that you and I just discussed uh keeping that uh program on track is the number one priority uh from northcom because of

2:38:02

that great capability that it would bring how would you prioritize the ABM elements that we have in Alaska do do they need upgrading as well the uh yes all all of the systems that we have that allow uh give us the domain awareness

2:38:16

that we need U are at the top priorities of mine the um there would be one of these Over the Horizon systems there the lrdr the uh long range discriminating radar is key uh for us to defeat uh uh missiles from North Korea thank you very

2:38:32

much appreciate all three of you you back CH now recognized gentleman from NADA Mr Horford thank you uh chairman Rogers and to the ranking member uh for holding this important hearing um General Richardson it is uh good to see

2:38:47

you again um last year I was in Trinidad and Tobago attending the kcom heads of government conference uh during that trip and in meetings afterward I've had uh several conversations with regional Partners uh discussing how the United

2:39:05

States and the Caribbean must work together to address challenges in the region uh today's resignation of prime minister Henry of Haiti as a result of increased gang violence really further highlights the fact that Regional

2:39:20

security economic growth and addressing the climate crisis as well as energy resiliency are all imperative to the success of the region so General um how do you believe that the United States uh would work with Caribbean Nations to

2:39:38

address these shared issues and to create longlasting Partnerships in order to show an alternative to China's influence in the region yes so the uh thank you congressman and the the work that we do with the Caribbean is extremely important because of uh

2:39:53

obviously how close the Caribbean is to our our homeland and so the security cooperation the exercises the Regional Conference uh that I do to bring leaders together uh but not just talk about things actually uh have deliverable de

2:40:08

deliverables on getting after those challenges that we identified during the conferences um is is what we have really put emphasis on and so uh with cyber with critical infrastructure and the activities that we do in the exercise

2:40:25

program well I'm glad to see that the department is taking uh these challenges seriously I I look forward to continuing to work uh with the department and this committee uh to address the threats uh facing our national security and the

2:40:39

immediate risk uh that that faces uh us uh with the situation in he Haiti uh assistant secretary Zimmerman I agree with you that the challenge of natural and man-made hazards do not wait for us to resolve other ongoing National

2:40:57

Security crises we must act now how is the Department of Defense taken into account climate resiliency in its everyday decision-making process uh Congressman thank you so much uh climate resilience has become an important part of uh how we do business

2:41:15

not just in terms of looking directly at climate change as as an ISS issue but really in terms of how we integrate across the range of activities that the department does in order to ensure that we have the operational Advantage

2:41:29

wherever we need it uh so an example would be uh in the Pacific uh the Ronald Reagan missile defense test range uh sits on a site that I think is only 6 feet above sea level and uh with the challenge of sea level rise uh we have

2:41:43

to make sure that we're taking the steps to enforce that infrastructure so that we can continue to do what we need to do from a security perspective likewise I think another example I would give would be in the Arctic where uh climate change

2:41:56

happening uh at a rate uh three times that that we see in certain other places has opened up new approaches and has made it really an arena for strategic competition so we see the militarization of the Arctic by Russia China

2:42:12

considering itself as a near Arctic nation and that creates a lot of dilemmas that I think we have to ensure that we're on top of and then the last I will say is that um when we see extreme weather here in the Homeland um that is

2:42:25

something that we need to respond to in support of uh our uh Civil Authorities when they ask for it and when we can do so without affecting Readiness but that uh that increasing challenge the number of incidents that we are now responding

2:42:39

to I think also creates um the possibility that will be uh stretched more thinly I I would add uh obviously the Western Hemisphere the devastating storms droughts and flooding which have inflamed conflicts and contributed to

2:42:54

instability and mass migration uh so how can the department then assistant secretary Zimmerman uh better partner with these vulnerable countries so that existing risks are not exacerbated by these extreme weather events um one of

2:43:09

the ways that we're looking to do that is through our security cooperation efforts so uh we have uh recently initiated a program called Doric which works with partners ERS right now in uh the Western hemisphere in Africa uh to

2:43:23

try to gear some of our we have I think $10 million uh this year and we'll be renewing that uh which works with our partners to build partner capacity in areas that affect uh climate change or affected by climate change great gentlem

2:43:38

time expired here now recognize gent from floor to Mr Jimenez thank you Mr chairman um we could put the entire entire us Fleet and the entire assets of the Coast Guard in the Florida States and it wouldn't matter um if we had the

2:43:52

wrong policy so miss Zimmer Miss Zimmerman do you know what the Biden Administration policy is towards if we if we Face a mass migration from Haiti what is the uh Biden Administration policy uh I think our policy remains as

2:44:08

it has been that we will uh Endeavor to conduct repatriation as as soon as practicable um as general Richardson outlined if the president does declare um a Caribbean Mass migration we have additional tools that the department

2:44:22

will be able to leverage in terms of uh directly responding ourselves so you expect the expect if anybody interdicted uh on the way to the United States will be will be returned back to Haiti to their country of origin uh that is pursuant to to laws

2:44:38

and policy okay and you haven't heard otherwise from the bid Administration uh I have I have not okay uh Switching gears here uh uh General Richardson good to see you uh I've been down to South America and and I can say that um everybody really really uh

2:44:58

appreciates you down uh in South America and um uh fentanyl who's who is who's producing it who's who is uh transporting the fentanyl into the United States and so what what we see in uh in the southcom a in terms of fentanyl is

2:45:21

more of the medical fentanyl that's being uh stolen out of the hospitals and things like that uh in terms of the uh precursor chemicals that are coming in we're starting to see a little bit of that uh I think that that is just the

2:45:35

beginning possibly in this region and so um obviously working with our partners as they're discovering this and those sorts of things of where these precursor chemicals are coming and then putting together by the uh cartels and then uh

2:45:49

funneled into Mexico or put together in Mexico and I only got five minutes so I have to I have to go Senator I'm sorry General guot is that's your name yeah General okay so Mexico the fentel flowing in from Mexico who's who's bu who's who's manufacturing

2:46:09

it who's uh who's transporting it uh Congressman as general Richardson said uh we see the uh the precursor elements being uh brought in in from abroad U many or much from China and then uh assembled there under the um under the

2:46:27

cartels and then distributed from there so if I were to tell you that the fentanyl killed more Americans by far than all the Americans we lost in Vietnam in Afghanistan and Iraq uh would that surprise you unfortunately Congressman it would not I'm aware of

2:46:44

that so so the Chinese are are shipping the the the precursor chemicals to their allies the multinational uh criminal organizations based out of Mexico and other places they then uh manufacture it then send it to United St States and

2:47:04

kills Americans is that fair to say yes Congressman um and since back in 2001 a group of 19 terrorists came and killed 3,000 Americans and then we waged War like 7,000 miles away for 20 years what do you think our response

2:47:27

should be to some organizations that are killing tens of thousands of Americans every single year sir I think uhu northcom is is ready to support within the within the policy and as directed at this point to address the threat uh we're we're

2:47:45

providing uh intelligence support to the lead federal agencies that are that are addressing that and working with the uh Mexican agencies uh and our contribution to that is is intelligence support I think our this government is failing the

2:47:58

American people in a very big way failing to protect our our children it's the big it's the largest cause of death of uh men and women from 18 I think to like 49 in the United States and our duty our Collective duty is to protect

2:48:15

the citizens of the United States that's the number one duty that we have and we're failing miserably at it not you because you you only follow orders but this Administration is failing miserably at protecting the United States um my time's just about up

2:48:32

so thank you and I yield back thank the gentlemen uh we will now adjourn this Open Session and reconvene the classified session in room 2212 in about five minutes e e e e e

Key Points

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