00:00Mr. Chairman of Virginia, Mr. Whitman. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I'd like to thank our witnesses
00:03for joining us today. General Gio, I want to begin with you. We had had some conversations
00:07about what happened December 2023 at Joint Base Langley-Eustis, where we had incursion of UASs,
00:14small UASs, for almost a two-month period. We got briefs about what happened there. They came in
00:21well lit. They weren't trying to hide anything. I felt bad for the base commander because he wanted
00:25to do something and wasn't getting backing from folks up the chain of command. We had a bunch
00:29of resources there where we could do things. None of those were used. If it wasn't for NASA
00:36Langley next door, we wouldn't have even had the sensors to be able to sense those unmanned
00:41aerial systems that are there on site. Let me ask this. We have, from a hearing then, asked
00:48for a priority list under 130i. What base is our priority? What's being done to protect
00:53those bases? How do we make sure those things don't occur again? I believe that our adversaries
00:59are probing, trying to figure out what we can do, what we can't do, and that's very telling
01:05to them what they saw that day or what they saw over that month. It was very telling to
01:09them that there wasn't the type of reaction that was necessary. My question is this. What
01:15has been done in the meantime for us to be assured that NORTHCOM and NORAD is doing everything
01:20possible on these bases to protect them from these UAS threats? What's our counter-UAS? Where
01:26are we with prioritizing these bases? Where are we with training our security forces on
01:33base to protect those bases? Where are we with supplying kit to at least the priority bases
01:39or have some network of equipment that's necessary to make sure we're protecting these bases?
01:44Congressman, since the Langley incursions of December 2023, NORAD, or excuse me, NORTHCOM has
01:52requested, and then last November was given the responsibility to synchronize the DOD and,
01:58if necessary, interagency response to counter-UAS incursions. During that time, we've conducted
02:07three assisted responses where we can use our new responsibilities to bring capabilities to
02:14a base, similar to what you saw at Langley, but this time with the authority to operate those
02:20systems based on our headquarters close ties with the interagency and LNOs to get the FAA
02:26and other authorities that are necessary to operate once they land. The responsibility for defending
02:34bases resides with the services and with the installation, but what NORTHCOM has done is proposed a process
02:43where we would bring in flyaway kits to supplement or, in the case where there are no capabilities,
02:51provide the initial capability at that base to defeat that. Now, we don't have those kits yet,
02:57but we're in the process of acquiring those. I would say there's certainly a sense of urgency
03:04there in making sure that we get that done, especially here at the Homeland. Sir, I share that sense of urgency.
03:09Thank you. Admiral Halsey, I want to point to a study being done or project, I should say,
03:17at College of William & Mary called Aid Data. Aid Data is looking at how China has dramatically expanded
03:23its footprint in critical mineral extraction around the world, but specifically in South America,
03:29specifically Peru. There are two large copper mines there that are mining at record pace.
03:35China is putting a significant amount of money into those regions, much the same way they did in Africa
03:42in places like the Democrat Republic of Congo, where they own 16 of the 18 mines. You know,
03:47we in the United States can talk about resurging manufacturing and building all these semiconductor
03:52plants, but if we don't have access to critical minerals and rare earth elements, those things to the left
03:59in the value chain, then we can build all the plants we want, but none of that's going to come to fruition.
04:05Give us your perspective on how you see the Chinese footprint expanding in South America,
04:10specifically as it relates to critical minerals and rare earth elements.
04:14And Congressman, thank you for that question. It's no doubt that China continues to or would like to
04:20control the abundance of resources and rare earth minerals in the region. We know that.
04:24So I think what we have to do is have a solution. Recently, last year, Exxon Bank was able to
04:30finance a copper mine or mine in Peru, but we have to continue to up that, right? So Office of
04:36Use Capital, Development Finance Corporation, we have to continue to raise the profile of companies
04:42willing to go down there. When we go to these regions, they know they have someone who's going to
04:46respect their laws, respect the environmental concerns, right? So we have to continue to get up to that,
04:50sir. Very good. Thank you. With that, Mr. Chairman, I yield back.
04:53Mr. Chairman, I yield back to you, Mr. Chairman, I yield back to you, Mr. Chairman.
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