00:00YOU WILL RECOGNIZE MR. KEETING. THANK YOU. THANK YOU, MR. CHAIRMAN. LAST HEARING YOU REFERRED TO REPRESENTATIVE MCBRIDE AS REPRESENTATIVE, AND I CAN'T FATHOM HOW YOU JUST CAN'T CONTINUE TO DO THAT. IN ANY CASE, IT'S OBVIOUS TO ME THAT REPRESENTATIVE MCBRIDE WANTS TO FOCUS ON THE JOB SHE WAS ELECTED TO DO. SO GOING FORWARD, EVERY TIME YOU DO THIS, SHE'LL DEMONSTRATE WHO SHE IS, AND YOU'LL DEMONSTRATE WHO YOU ARE.
00:30WITH THAT, LET US FOCUS BACK ON THE HEARING.
00:36THANK YOU, RANKING MEMBER KEETING. I AM INDEED HERE TO TALK ABOUT STRENGTHENING OUR NATIONAL SECURITY BY BOLSTERING OUR NATO ALLIANCE, BECAUSE DEMOCRACY IS UNDER ATTACK, BOTH IN THE U.S. AND AROUND THE WORLD.
00:48GROUNDED IN SHARED CULTURAL VALUES WITH OUR TRANS-ATLANTIC ALLIES, PLAYS A VITAL ROLE IN DEFENDING DEMOCRACY AND SUSTAINING THE U.S.-LED DEMOCRATIC WORLD ORDER THAT PROTECTS OUR FREEDOMS EVERY SINGLE DAY.
01:00NATO HAS BEEN A DEFENDER OF DEMOCRACY BOTH AT HOME AND IN EUROPE FOR OVER 75 YEARS, FOSTERING BOTH ONE OF THE LONGEST PERIODS OF PEACE BETWEEN GREAT POWERS IN HUMAN HISTORY AND THE GREATEST EXPANSION OF FREEDOM AND INDIVIDUAL LIBERTY EVER.
01:14ON THE GLOBAL STAGE, THIS ADMINISTRATION IS ATTACKING OUR NATO ALLIES, DENMARK AND CANADA, CANCELING FOREIGN AID WITHOUT NOTICE AND DEFENDING PUTIN'S ILLEGAL WAR IN UKRAINE.
01:24MOST DANGEROUSLY, THIS ADMINISTRATION IS UNDERMINING ARTICLE V IN EXPLICIT WAYS.
01:29BUT THE THREAT TO NATO AND TO THE SECURITY IT HAS FOSTERED IS EVEN MORE INSIDIOUS THAN JUST THAT.
01:35HERE AT HOME, WE ARE SEEING A DEMOCRATIC BACKSLIDING AND DANGEROUS ILIBERALISM TAKE HOLD.
01:41WHEN DUE PROCESS IS INFRINGED UPON AND THE FIRST AMENDMENT IS TRAMPLED UPON, WE ARE NOT SIMPLY VIOLATING DOMESTIC NORMS AND CONSTITUTIONAL FREEDOMS.
01:51WE ARE COMMUNICATING TO VLADIMIR PUTIN THAT WE NO LONGER CHERISHED THE SHARED VALUES THAT UNDERPIN OUR COMMITMENT TO NATO.
01:57WE COMMUNICATE WE AREN'T WILLING TO DEFEND DEMOCRACY HERE AT HOME AND IN SO DOING THAT WE'RE NOT WILLING TO DEFEND IT OVERSEAS.
02:04THAT DEMOCRACY AND INDIVIDUAL LIBERTY ARE NOT PRINCIPLES THAT WE WILL FIGHT FOR.
02:10AND THIS IS PART AND PARCEL OF A BROADER GLOBAL PROJECT AIMED AT DISMANTLING DEMOCRATIC INSTITUTIONS AND SHIFTING TOWARD AUTHORITARIANISM.
02:19NATO IS AND HAS BEEN A CRUCIAL ALLIANCE FOR OUR SHARED NATIONAL SECURITY GOALS AND OUR SHARED VALUES.
02:26AND I INTEND TO WORK WITH THIS COMMITTEE, WITH SERIOUS MEMBERS ON THIS COMMITTEE TO ENSURE THAT WE REMAIN A LEADER AND SUPPORTER OF NATO'S MISSION.
02:32SO MY QUESTION FOR YOU, AMBASSADOR SMITH, AS SOMEONE WHO'S REPRESENTED THE U.S. IN EUROPE, I'M CURIOUS WHAT LONG-TERM STRATEGIC CONSEQUENCES COULD ARISE IF THE PERCEPTION TAKES HOLD GLOBALLY THAT THE UNITED STATES IS RETREATING FROM OUR DEMOCRATIC VALUES,
02:47AND HOW COULD THAT IMPACT NATO'S UNITY, ITS MISSION, AND ITS EFFECTIVENESS?
02:51WELL, THANK YOU VERY MUCH, REPRESENTATIVE, FOR THAT QUESTION.
02:56LOOK, THE NATO ALLIANCE IS ROOTED FUNDAMENTALLY IN OUR SHARED VALUES, AND OUR SHARED VALUES STARTS AND ENDS WITH A COMMITMENT TO DEMOCRACY, TO THE RULE OF LAW, TO HUMAN RIGHTS, ET CETERA.
03:12AND SO IF WE HAVE A SITUATION WHERE CERTAIN ALLIES ARE STARTING TO QUESTION AMERICA'S FUNDAMENTAL COMMITMENT TO THOSE DEMOCRATIC VALUES, THE FOUNDATION OF THE ALLIANCE SIMPLY WON'T HOLD.
03:27SO THE UNITED STATES NEEDS TO NOT ONLY CONTINUE TO ENSURE THAT IT LEADS THIS ALLIANCE AS IT HAS DONE FOR NOW 76 YEARS, BUT IT HAS TO BE THE BEACON ON THOSE DEMOCRATIC VALUES.
03:42THE NATO PROJECT, AGAIN, SIMPLY DOESN'T WORK.
03:45AND IT WOULD BE ULTIMATELY A WIN FOR CHINA, FOR RUSSIA, FOR IRAN, FOR NORTH KOREA AND OTHERS TO SEE THE COLLAPSE OF THOSE SHARED VALUES.
03:55SO THE U.S. HAS A KEY ROLE IN MAINTAINING THEM.
03:57SO I WANT TO BUILD OFF OF THAT POINT, AMBASSADOR, SPECIFICALLY AROUND THE MESSAGE IT SENS TO CHINA AND RUSSIA.
04:05YOU KNOW, I TOUCHED ON IN MY OPENING COMMENTS HOW A RECEEDING OF DEMOCRATIC NORMS AND VALUES AND RIGHTS HERE IN THE UNITED STATES COULD COMMUNICATE TO VLADIMIR PUTIN THAT WE ARE LESS COMMITTED TO THE VALUES THAT UNDERPIN NATO.
04:20SO I'D LOVE TO HEAR YOUR PERSPECTIVE ON HOW THAT LIBERALISM HERE, HOW THAT DEMOCRATIC BACKSLIDING HERE COULD POTENTIALLY EMBOLDEN VLADIMIR PUTIN.
04:29WELL, WE CAN'T DO ANYTHING, REPRESENTATIVE, TO SIGNAL TO MOSCOW THAT WE ARE BACKSLIDING ON ANY OF THOSE CORE VALUES.
04:37AND WE HAVE TO ENSURE THAT AMERICA'S COMMITMENT TO THE ALLIANCE IS IRONCLAD.
04:42IT IS THERE. NATO IS THERE TO DEFEND OUR SHARED VALUES.
04:46WE DO NOT WANT TO GIVE RUSSIA ANY IMPRESSION THAT WE'RE BACKING AWAY FROM THAT COMMITMENT.
04:52AND THEN FINALLY, YOU KNOW, IN TERMS OF NATO'S UNITY, I'D LOVE TO HEAR A LITTLE BIT MORE FROM YOU, AMBASSADOR, ABOUT THE PUBLIC ATTACKS BY U.S. LEADERS ON LONG-STANDING NATO ALLIES AND HOW THAT'S IMPACTING OR POTENTIALLY COULD IMPACT COHESION AND MUTUAL TRUST WITHIN NATO.
05:10WELL, LOOK, WE HAVE BEEN IN THIS ALLIANCE FOR 76 YEARS, AND WE ARGUE ALL THE TIME.
05:15I'M HERE TO TELL YOU AS THE U.S. AMBASSADOR, I SPENT EACH AND EVERY WEEK HAVING DEBATES, FIERCE DEBATES, SOMETIMES SHOUTING DEBATES WITH OUR CLOSEST ALLIES.
05:23THAT'S THE WAY IT GOES IN THE ALLIANCE.
05:25IT'S LIKE A FAMILY.
05:26EVERYONE FEELS COMFORTABLE ARGUING.
05:28BUT WHAT YOU DON'T WANT TO DO IS LET THOSE FIERCE DEBATES INTERNALLY BOIL OVER AND GIVE LEADERS AROUND THE WORLD, AUTOCRATS, THE FEELING THAT NATO UNITY IS CRACKING.
05:39YOU HAVE TO TAKE THOSE ARGUMENTS HEAD ON BUT WORK TOWARDS UNITY.
05:43AND WHAT I WANT TO SEE IS THIS ADMINISTRATION REASSUMING AND TAKING ON THAT LEADERSHIP ROLE IN THE ALLIANCE CALLING OUT RUSSIA FOR ITS AGGRESSION AND INDISCRIMINATE ATTACKS ON CIVILIANS INSIDE UKRAINE AND PUTTING MAXIMUM PRESSURE NOT JUST ON IRAN BUT MAXIMUM PRESSURE ON THE RUSSIANS.
06:03THANK YOU.
06:04I'M OVER TIME.
06:05I YIELD BACK.
06:06THE RANKING MEMBER HAS AGREED THAT WE WILL HAVE A SECOND ROUND.
06:09SO I RECOGNIZE MYSELF FOR FIVE MINUTES AND I WOULD START OUT I'VE GOT A POPERRY OF QUESTIONS HERE.
06:14BUT DR. GARDNER YOU RESPONDED TO THAT LAST AND I THOUGHT YOU WANTED TO GIVE A RESPONSE TO ONE OF THOSE LAST QUESTIONS.
06:21IF YOU'LL TAKE A FEW SECONDS.
06:22THANK YOU VERY MUCH.
06:23THANK YOU VERY MUCH.
06:24THANK YOU VERY MUCH.
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