00:04Thanks for being here.
00:05Congratulations.
00:06I remember coming in front of this panel under Chairman Levin to do a panel confirmation
00:14hearing, and I remember being the target of that, and everyone else just sat there very
00:19quietly and got no questions.
00:21And so for those of you having different experiences today, congratulations.
00:24I think you were in junior high.
00:28I was not in junior high, but I will say I got the full McCain treatment and remember
00:35it to this day.
00:36So you should be proud and happy that none of you, I think, have received the McCain
00:40treatment.
00:41A couple of questions for Dr. Mank.
00:48In Michigan, we have Selfridge Air Force Base, the only Air National Guard controlled base
00:53in the country, and we've discussed this, and any good Michigander will constantly bring
00:59up our interest in a replacement fighter mission for our A-10s, which are phasing out in FY27.
01:07I know that in order to have a better shot of having a fighter mission, we need more
01:12airframes, and I just want you to know that there's lots of us on this committee for various
01:16reasons who want the Air Force to have more airplanes.
01:21But will you please commit to working with us on a replacement mission, a fighter mission,
01:28not a refueler, we've got those coming, but a fighter mission for Selfridge Air Force
01:33Base?
01:34Senator, I commit to work with the committee both on making sure we have the right number
01:39of platforms and where those platforms are bedded down.
01:43But the right number is more, right?
01:45Right number.
01:46I mean, no matter what it is, it's more.
01:47Okay, good.
01:48Good.
01:49All right.
01:50Thank you, Senator.
01:52I look forward to working with you and love to invite you to Selfridge and have you come
01:53formally and check out what we have going on.
01:55It's an amazing base.
01:56So...
01:57Happy to do so, Senator.
01:58Great.
01:59Great.
02:00Switching gears.
02:01Mr. Duffy, I know you've been sitting in the Secretary of Defense's front office, and
02:05I believe acting as his Deputy Chief of Staff, so really at his right hand.
02:13And you're about to become the head of acquisition for the entire Department of Defense.
02:18That's a huge job, hugely sensitive job.
02:21We don't want other countries knowing what we're acquiring so they can defeat it.
02:27The leadership of this committee has sent a very standard letter to the Department of
02:32Defense Acting Inspector General asking for an investigation of what has happened with
02:39potentially classified information being on the signal chat.
02:44What do you think of this investigation?
02:46Will you commit to participating since you were right there in the right hand of Secretary
02:51Hegseth during this moment?
02:53Senator, I was not a part of the chat.
02:56That's a question.
02:58I defer to others on the investigation, and I will continue, as I have in the past, always
03:04to communicate through approved channels with sensitive information.
03:07But if the Acting Inspector General came to you as someone who's been so closely working
03:12in the front office of the Secretary, you would participate in such an investigation?
03:17I would participate.
03:19I would follow department procedure if that included the investigation.
03:22Okay.
03:23And are you aware of any other signal communications that has gone on from the front office of
03:30the Secretary of Defense, either him or his senior staff, that have involved operationally
03:37information, information about specific weapons platforms, the timing of operations, or anything
03:43having to do with senior leader decision making?
03:46Are you aware of any other signal chains that you, your staff, or your boss have been on
03:51in the past 90 days?
03:53I'm not aware of signal chats that contain sensitive information, no.
03:57Okay.
03:58So you can confirm with a clear yes or no you have not been on any signal chains that
04:03provide operationally sensitive or classified information?
04:07No I have not.
04:08Okay, great.
04:09That makes me feel good.
04:13We all know that our main competitor in the acquisition space is China, that they have
04:19invested in technology that is purposely meant to undercut our advantages in a fight.
04:25So if you can sum up in a bumper sticker what you're going to focus on in the acquisition
04:29world in order to shred that gap that we have with them, what is that bumper sticker?
04:38Thank you for the question, Senator.
04:39I think two really critical metrics when it comes to measuring the success of our acquisition
04:45system, one is speed and second is capacity.
04:48I think nobody beats us on performance and capability, but we need to accelerate speed
04:53and we need to manage cost.
04:56And so I think the best incentive, because our industrial base is absolutely critical
05:01to providing this.
05:02This is something that they do best.
05:06It's one of our most greatest national assets is our economic power and our innovation within
05:14our industrial base.
05:15And so I think if confirmed in this job it would be a priority for me to convene leaders
05:21of industry to understand what are the barriers that get in the way of business wanting to
05:25do business with the defense industrial base and ensuring that we can benefit from the
05:30incentives that competition provides.
05:33The more interest we have in the defense industrial base, the more innovation we'll get and I
05:38think the more there will be effective incentives to provide capability at cost and at speed.
05:49Thank you, Chairman.
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