00:00My last job in the Navy was in the SEAL teams.
00:03My job was to train and coach SEALs on the West Coast on how to do VBSS,
00:09so a little bit of experience with what you guys are doing,
00:11and I appreciate all—I know that's a very complicated mission set,
00:16and I appreciate all the hard work that you guys do.
00:20Admiral, I want to ask you if you believe that the President of the United States,
00:25the Commander-in-Chief, under Article II of the Constitution,
00:28has broad executive powers for maritime security.
00:33Do you recognize that, sir?
00:34Yes, yes, I recognize that.
00:36Do you recognize that the President made direct maritime interdictions
00:39when enforcing sanctions or national security measures, Admiral?
00:43Yes, I do. We follow that.
00:45Okay.
00:47So one of the things that's concerned me as a former service member myself
00:52is a video that was made by Senator Mark Kelly and several other senators
00:58who, just a couple months ago, they made a video to tell service members
01:03that they don't need to follow unlawful orders.
01:06Admiral, are you familiar with this video?
01:09I have not seen the video itself.
01:11I was following the news story, obviously, and the escalation of the decision.
01:16It made national news, did it not, Admiral?
01:18It did, indeed.
01:18Did you or any of the other high-ranking Coast Guard officers that you work with
01:27fear that a video like that might undermine your chain of command?
01:33From my standpoint, I have found that our service members will follow lawful orders
01:42if they were, you know, as given.
01:45You know, I find it interesting, Admiral, that I didn't see any videos made like that
01:51from members of Congress during the Biden administration.
01:57I want to submit an article for the record.
02:00This is from CNN.
02:02Biden finalizes new rules for U.S. drone strikes.
02:05President Joe Biden has signed a long-awaited classified policy tightening the rules for
02:11the CIA and Pentagon to carry out deadly drone strikes and commando raids conducted
02:16outside of traditional war zones, U.S. officials said on Friday.
02:20This was October 7, 2022.
02:23Did you notice that no members of Congress, including Senator Kelly, made any videos during
02:28this time, Admiral?
02:31I'm not familiar with that article.
02:33But you didn't see any videos, did you?
02:34I didn't.
02:35Not that I recall, no.
02:36As service members, we tend to follow these types of things, right?
02:39Yes.
02:40Yeah.
02:40I found that very interesting that they weren't making videos during that time frame about
02:45whether or not service members follow lawful orders or not.
02:49And I think we all know that, right, Admiral?
02:51Don't we get that training and basic training that we're not supposed to follow unlawful orders?
02:57Absolutely.
02:58And at all the session sources, that is what we train our personnel.
03:01Yeah.
03:02So did you find that video a little bit odd, knowing that we all know that?
03:07I find that it's, you know, for me, as I reflect on it, I think it's unnecessary.
03:11I think our personnel will know to follow lawful orders and to question unlawful orders.
03:18Yeah.
03:19That's what I thought, too.
03:23Admiral, you guys, Congress delivered for you guys in a pretty big way during the reconciliation package.
03:29Is that correct?
03:30That is absolutely correct.
03:31We gave you about $25 billion, is that correct?
03:34Yes.
03:34Generational change for the Coast Guard, Congressman.
03:37And you guys had about $7 billion in maintenance backlog for infrastructure, is that correct?
03:43Yes, that's correct.
03:46How do you see the Coast Guard deploying that money to make sure that the Coast Guard is ready
03:51to carry out the nation's national security and homeland security needs in the next couple years?
04:00Under Force Design 28, Congressman, we have reorganized to ensure that the Coast Guard
04:05can obligate all of those funds quickly.
04:08We're not waiting for the five years that they're available to us.
04:11We want to spend those right away on maintenance, on shore infrastructure, to get after the problems
04:16that we have.
04:20My last question for you, Admiral, is do you feel in the last couple months with the boat
04:27strikes and everything else going on, do you feel like you have given orders to your men
04:32to carry out any of these strikes, any of these interdictions that have been deemed unlawful?
04:39Well, the Department of War has had the lead for these kinetic strikes.
04:44The Coast Guard has not been involved with them, so I can answer that we have not.
04:50I have not felt that way at all.
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