00:00Our adversaries are watching how we resource things that this supplemental and
00:05further efforts will reduce the risks to our nation and its national securities.
00:11Let me first begin with just a statement to you, Secretary Rollins. Thank you for
00:16your leadership. Thank you for your attention to disaster assistance. Hugely
00:20significant and important in many states represented here but across the
00:25country and it is as challenging circumstances as I've seen farmers in in
00:32my time and represent representing them in the United States Congress and I
00:37appreciate my colleague Senator Rounds for making that case today. I appreciate
00:41the efforts by Senator Bozeman at the Chairman of the Ag Committee and Senator
00:44Rounds and and his Vice Chairman Shaheen for their efforts here on this committee
00:49for that effort. Secretary Hagseth let me ask you about your recent visit to the
00:55101st Airborne Division you saw the MV 75 Cheyenne you saw it firsthand and heard
01:02from soldiers as I understand it about the next generation capabilities how they
01:07will transform the way we fight. The Cheyenne has broken through and it appears
01:13to me in the acquisition bureaucracy to deliver a capability for our warfighting
01:19much faster than it otherwise would have happened. As you look across acquisition I
01:25mean we're here talking about appropriations but the ultimate success we'll
01:28have in defending our country is putting that money to work as quickly as
01:33possible. So as you look at acquisition what would you tell me we learned from the
01:39Cheyenne is it a model how the department can it intends to feel the next
01:44generation of capacity going forward what does the program need from this
01:50committee to meet both the schedule and the necessity of its capabilities. Senator
01:57I appreciate the question I think it's in part one of the untold stories of our
02:00department is is how we tried to revolutionize the speed and scale of new
02:05acquisitions and procurement. Some of it through munitions and ensuring that
02:08companies pay for building their own factories and their own assembly lines so
02:12that we're saving billions and billions as taxpayers while companies invest in
02:15when you invest in something with your own money you want to see it succeed at a
02:19schedule and on time. Also opening the aperture so it's not just the prime
02:22contractors that are competing but new entrants who make high cost and low cost
02:28capabilities. I think in particular on the Cheyenne and and and you know the
02:31Blackhawk and the replacement the gap that some have have identified could exist
02:37based on the hesitation on speed and replacement is is exists because of an
02:42austerity mindset again that goes back to the Biden administration of divest to
02:46invest and so you end up divesting in certain systems like the Blackhawk before the
02:51next one is online creating gaps for actual operators and what we're funding in
02:55this supplemental and across this budget is the ability to do both. Make sure the
02:59systems we rely on the battlefield right now are delivered and that newer
03:03entrants that we're going to need for long-range fight to deliver it to be more
03:09survivable in contested environments which you're talking about when I had a chance to see it that the soldiers were
03:13proud to be in it because they felt like it would give them greater advantage of it.
03:16In the future we need to accelerate the timelines of those and deliver them even
03:20more quickly and when you allow new entrants with all the right incentives
03:24those things happen and it's happening in that. Will that take place and I think you
03:28may have just said this but well that will take place in this circumstance of the
03:33Cheyenne. I believe in in this administration because of the policies of this
03:36administration it is likely to do so just like the B-21 just like the F-47 just
03:42like so many other of our exquisite munitions that otherwise would have
03:45taken years and years to even get into development we're moving those things
03:49left by in some cases years so that we get them in the hands of warfighters who
03:53would need them right now and not held up in bureaucracy in this town. Thank you sir
03:57let me turn to you General Kane the department is requesting a significant
04:02supplemental to address the ongoing operational demands. Our adversaries are
04:08watching how we resource this moment. Beijing, Moscow, Tehran are all
04:16increasingly coordinating their activities and intelligence. In your
04:22judgment do you believe our adversaries view this moment as an opportunity to
04:27exploit U.S. commitments elsewhere and how does this supplemental ensure our
04:31deterrence posture and our commitments to allies remain credible in every theater
04:36all at once? Well sir thanks for the question. In my job it's to look across
04:42the globe and look at the range of trade-offs out there. We are the
04:47strongest military in the world. Our adversaries still fear America's
04:51ability to project power at the time and place of our choosing. There is no doubt
04:57that they are aligning as I've said before and I think this supplemental and
05:02whatever funding structure the Congress working with the executive branch
05:06decides to structure and give us the capital we'll use that capital to ensure
05:11that we sustain that sir. You're assuring us that this supplemental and further
05:14efforts will reduce the risks to our nation and its national securities. It's just
05:20right I view this and I've spoken to some of you on the phone leading up to this I
05:25view this as future investments to buy down risk. Similar to what I said
05:30Marshall thought through in those heady days in 1940 where the need to invest
05:35capital early to deliver scale is an opportunity that I hope we don't miss
05:42Senator. General thank you. Thank you Chairwoman. Senator Reed. Thank you Madam
05:48Chairman. Secretary Rollins I just want to reiterate a point that Senator Padilla made.
05:55We have ten billion dollars in this request for Midwestern farmers who are
06:00suffering because of the interruption of fuel and fertilizers because of the
06:06President Trump's war unauthorized war yet many states blue states particularly
06:14have submitted requests Rhode Island has one February we had the worst snowstorm in
06:20our recent history and we've been denied by the President. In fact if you look at the
06:25numbers 20% of blue states seem to get approved and about 80% of red states. I'm
06:33making a point not asking a question. This is unfair. Thank you. Secretary Hexer on
06:40February 28th when you initiated this war without authorization of Congress the
06:45Straits of Hormuz was open and providing vital fuel supplies for the whole world
06:51now they're closed effectively impacting globally the price of oil and the
06:57economies of the whole world but the Department of Defense has been planning
07:02for potential operations against Iran for many many years and one of their
07:07obvious assumptions was that the Strait of Hormuz could be closed. Were you unaware
07:15of that? Senator you are correct. Nobody plans more and looks at more
07:22contingencies than our department and so of course undertaking a historic effort
07:26like this of this scope and scale of course the Strait of Hormuz was front and
07:29center in every single aspect of that. Hence why one of our key objectives to begin
07:33with was to sink the entirety of Iran's Navy which its conventional Navy was
07:38sunk. Now you can't get rid of every single fast boat and every single machine
07:42gun and a fast boat or every single coastal cruise missile so we acknowledge
07:46that if the state decided to become a terror state shooting at commercial
07:50shipping that would be an ongoing and contested part of the battle to include
07:54their willingness to mine international water. One side weaponized the
08:00Strait of Hormuz could be closed and obviously sinking their ships has not
08:05affected their ability to effectively close the straits. We had U.S. boats
08:11that surrendered to Iranian ships under the Biden administration so their
08:15Navy was effective. Listen we're talking about the war you started not a
08:19situation in which oil was flowing freely there was no conflict we weren't
08:25losing personnel as a result of Iranian actions. So your fallback to the Biden
08:32administration is just a very very obvious excuse for what I think is
08:40probably as you described so often gross negligence. You did not fully inform the
08:44president that you would be in a situation where the Strait of Hormuz could be
08:49effectively closed, oil prices could surge, and effectively the Iranians could
08:56maintain their ability to strike back as they are right now. They just killed some
09:01of our service men's last weekend. This battlefield and all the dynamics of it of
09:06which the chairman and I are responsible for ensuring the president
09:09understands every branch and sequel of what could happen and we did. So the fact
09:13that those contingencies all were part of the possibility and we understood that is
09:17all the more reason why President Trump deserves the kind of praise he should
09:20get for undertaking this effort having the courage so sure that crazy Islamists
09:25can't have a nuclear weapon to hold us at issue and he's been willing to say
09:29to do that regardless of the challenge excuse me so he should be praised he
09:33should be praised for souring war without authority creating a situation in
09:39which the world economy is suffering tremendously we have that has extra money
09:43for our farmers and we have no outcome at least no really realistic outcome in
09:51sight yet. Let me switch to General Cain. General Cain these airstrikes have not yet
09:56deterred and defeated the Iranians. Do you think airstrikes alone will do that?
10:03Sure I think academically as you look across the totality of history air powers got
10:08limits and we always have to be mindful of those. I think where America's area of
10:14exclusivity is is when we bring the totality of the diplomatic informational
10:20economic and pair that with the military and there's a lot of that work going on.
10:24Well the military the next step would be escalation by ground combat. Do you
10:29anticipate that escalation? Sir I think it'd be unhelpful for me to opine on
10:34hypotheticals. What I can tell you is we always develop an unbelievable amount of
10:39options and the associated risks and then my main job is to always ensure that
10:44leaders understand those options and the risks. Now if you employ ground troops to
10:49seize objectives which principle I would assume be the first stage are you
10:54prepared for an extended guerrilla war which would likely happen in that area? Sir
10:59with all due respect I think it'd be unhelpful for me to opine on
11:03hypothetical situations on whatever decisions the president may or may not
11:07take in the future. Have you advised the president that a ground combat would be
11:13very expensive in the lives of armed soldiers sailors marines airmen and also
11:19could probably lead to an extended unconventional war in that area? I don't
11:26see the Iranians sort of throwing the hands of saying and you know welcome to Iran.
11:33Senator, I always advise the president on a range of military options and all of the
11:39risks that are contained within that but I have to keep my military advice to the
11:44president private sir. But well thank you. Subscribe to One India and never miss an update.
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