During a Senate Armed Services Committee hearing in July, Sen. Roger Wicker (R-MS) asked nominee for Chief of Naval Operations Admiral Daryl Caudle about low recruitment numbers for the Navy.
00:00Thank you very much, Admiral Caldwell, and let me just point out that a number of our members are being excused to go to an Appropriations Committee markup, so we will continue to work with them and get a number of questions in.
00:18Thank you, Admiral, for your very powerful statement. I agree with it wholeheartedly. We have some standard questions that we ask of all military nominees, and I will ask them now. Simply keep your microphone on and answer yes or no.
00:38To exercise its legislative and oversight responsibilities, it is important that this committee and other appropriate committees of the Congress be able to receive testimony, briefings, and other communications of information.
00:53Have you adhered to applicable laws and regulations governing conflicts of interest?
00:58Yes.
00:59Do you agree when asked to give your personal views, even if those views differ from the administration in power?
01:06Yes.
01:07Have you assumed any duties or undertaken any actions which would appear to presume the outcome of the confirmation process?
01:13No.
01:14Will you ensure your staff complies with deadlines established for requested communications, including questions for the record in hearings?
01:23Yes.
01:24Even this hearing, perhaps.
01:26Will you cooperate in providing witnesses and briefers in response to congressional requests?
01:31Yes.
01:32Will those witnesses be protected from reprisal for their testimony or briefings?
01:37Yes.
01:38Do you agree, if confirmed, to appear and testify upon request before this committee?
01:42Yes.
01:43Do you agree to provide documents, including copies of electronic forms of communication in a timely manner, when requested by a duly constituted committee,
01:54or to consult with the committee regarding the basis for any good faith delay or denial in providing such documents?
02:02Yes, Chairman.
02:02And then let me ask a question, which we have asked of all of our nominees this year.
02:11Much of the funding in the Defense Reconciliation Bill is unspecific in the reconciliation bill because of our rules and will technically be at the discretion of DOD,
02:21though we have provided recommendations for them.
02:24A quick yes or no, Admiral, do you commit to follow the Congress's spending recommendations in defense reconciliation unequivocally?
02:32Yes.
02:33Thank you very much.
02:36And now let me, I notice you mentioned manpower, and I appreciate that.
02:45On recruiting, there's some talk that we might, in addition, in attempting to get our numbers up, we have lowered standards.
03:05How do you plan to ensure the service does not become reliant on permanently lowered standards?
03:10Senator, first let me just say thank you for the time we got to spend together in our various meetings recently,
03:17and that you quoted Hyman Rickover in your opening, and I think part of my goal is to carry his principles into this job, if confirmed.
03:25And so standards are at the heart of his philosophy, and of course mine as a career-long submarine officer.
03:31So in no way, shape, or form have we lowered any standard to what we deliver, which is our most precious resource, our sailors to the fleet.
03:43And so to meet recruiting obligations, there have been changes to policy in the last several years that what I would characterize as increasing access to our Navy.
03:53And utilization of our future sailor preparation course, and how we leverage that to ensure that they enter boot camp at the highest levels,
04:03coupled with their AFQT scores, I think has in no way lowered the standard.
04:08And then at the end of the day, all sailors that graduate from boot camp meet the rigorous standards of that course through the letter.
04:16The A&C schools that they have to pass meet all those standards through the letter.
04:21Okay, well, just be aware that there is that concern, and we wish you well on that.
04:27I've served as a junior member of this committee for a long time, and then as chair of CPOWER and ranking member of CPOWER.
04:38And in that connection, this committee has become convinced over time that programs in the high schools, like junior ROTC, can build a long-term recruiting pipeline.
04:53And we're sort of moving away from pretending like that's not a great recruiting tool.
04:59And as such, we have directed, not just a request or not just a suggestion, we have directed that we raise the number of junior ROTC opportunities around the nation.
05:17Will you commit to following the law as we've put in NDAAs over the past and maintaining and increasing investments in programs like junior ROTC that build long-term recruiting pipelines?
05:31Chairman, I definitely commit to that, and I'm a fan of that and learn more about that in the preparation for this.
05:38And I would say we maybe haven't gone deep enough that we ought to also be reaching into the middle schools to make sure we're making people aware of the Navy and service to our nation.
05:48And, of course, they have the added benefit of building citizens, good citizenship, and an agreement to go extracepts in responsibility.
06:02We get better high school graduates, we get higher grades, we get better attendance, and better preparation in the civilian job market.
06:17Okay.
06:19There's a Navigation Plan 24.
06:24You're very familiar with that, are you not?
06:26Yes, Senator.
06:27Okay, with regard to integration of autonomous systems, 80% surge, enhancing training through virtual environments, and strengthening maritime operation centers,
06:42do you support that, and is there anything that needs to be substantially changed in that Nav Plan 24?
06:52Well, Chairman, the Navigation Plan, I think, did a great job at identifying all the critical capabilities that we need to fight and win.
07:02And the prioritization of those has been heavily invested in our ability to deliver the capabilities,
07:09in particular against our most pacing threat of China.
07:12If confirmed as the next CNO, I will probably reemphasize my obligation to sailor quality of life, which I think is extremely important,
07:24and really quality of service, which is the combination of quality of life and quality of work.
07:29And what I term the foundry for my time at Fleet Forces, which is the compilation of all the unaccompanied housing, schoolhouses, piers, infrastructure, hangars,
07:41really the bedrock by which we launched the Navy from, I think needs additional attention.
07:46So in addition to the capabilities that are captured in the Navigation Plan as it currently exists,
07:52my emphasis will definitely be on sailors and their ability to conduct business in a most effective way.
07:57Thank you very much. We may go into that further.
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