▶ 0:15:12We have a couple of factors in play. One, uh we have a couple factors in play here. One is that uh uh boats were cancelled tomorrow. Uh so uh folks are preparing to get out of town right now. And number two is that we have uh some other hearings going on with all the reconciliation stuff including several of our members are on the Veterans Affairs Committee and they have a full committee right now hearing with the secretary. So uh we'll have members that come and go. Uh and I just wanted to make sure everybody kind of knew what was going on. But we have myself and the ranking member here. So I think we'll be good to go. Okay.
▶ 0:15:43Today we'll hear from our witnesses on the uh Defense Intelligence Enterprise or DI and how the DIE is postured for fiscal year 2026 and beyond. The Department of Defense is focused on strategic competition, particularly countering the the People's Republic of China and ensuring our armed forces have the tools, capabilities, and the training needed to succeed in any environment. But we know the strategic competition is only one of the many challenges our forces are called to address.
▶ 0:16:10We must also ensure that we are supporting all the geographic combatant commands to counter whatever threats may Intelligence enables leaders to make informed decisions, especially in an increasingly complex world, thereby advance ad thereby enhancing their leth lethality, survivability, and capability to provide for our nation's defense. Ensuring we have a defense intelligence enterprise that is capable, robust, and synchronized is critical to all of us.
▶ 0:16:36This is a challenging task at hand, and one we look forward to working with the department on to make sure that we're accomplishing this. Understanding each of your roles in in these efforts will help us ensure your organizations have the capabilities needed and the resources required to accomplish your individual missions. We look forward to hearing from you about DIE, the priorities, the strengths, the challenges, and the ongoing synchronization efforts within the defense uh intelligence enterprise.
▶ 0:17:04I would like to welcome today's witnesses from across the defense intelligence enterprise. Uh Mr. Dustin Guardweis performing the duties of the under secretary of defense for intelligence and security. Welcome sir. Uh Lieutenant General William Hartman, acting commander US cyber command performing the duties of the director of national security agency and chief central security service. And welcome General. Uh and lastly but not least uh Lieutenant General Jeffrey Cruz, director of the Defense Intelligence Agency.
▶ 0:17:35In the interest of time, I ask that the witnesses will keep their opening remarks to five minutes or less so that we have sufficient time for questions and answers. I would also like to point out that uh we have an open session and a classified session. Uh what we'll do here is we'll uh as soon as we're done asking questions, which based on the limited number of members that we have here could go quickly, we will uh go immediately to the uh to the classified session and get that started.
▶ 0:18:00If we go a full hour, then we will break because we have votes scheduled at four o'clock and then we will come back for the classified section in in the classified area after votes. Uh with that, let me thank our witnesses again for appearing today. And now I recognize ranking member Crow for any opening remarks he would like to make. Thank you, Dr. Jackson, and thank you to our witnesses for their testimony uh today uh for coming in and and answering our questions as well.
▶ 0:18:28Um, you know, the the the focus of this committee, which is a very bipartisan committee, is on the products and deliverables to the folks down range. As a formal former special operator, and there are many who sit on this committee, this is a um a mission that we take personally. Uh that uh uh cuts to the the men and women who we know, we serve with, and we obviously have a deep obligation to serve. And those of you who are in uniform, I know share that mission deeply. You've committed your lives to that.
▶ 0:18:56But we also know the global security environment is increasingly volatile and we can't overstate the need for an agile, capable and synchronized defense intelligence enterprise. Malign actors like China and Russia are adapting their strategies continuously learning from lessons in Ukraine and fragile places around the world and conflicts that continue to rear up day to day and week by week.
▶ 0:19:19That's why, you know, the focus of of this committee again is making sure that we uh cut through partisanship, that we focus on the deliverables. Uh and that's why I'm also increasingly concerned by some of the proposals and actions of this administration. Uh some reports of politicizing personnel cuts, uh of slashing very critical positions, uh of uh potentially manipulating intelligence if it doesn't fit a specific narrative. Uh I I want to try to get to the bottom of that.
▶ 0:19:49We're not going to do that in this hearing because a lot of that's sensitive stuff. So, we'll we'll take that up under closed session. Uh but just to let people know these are important questions that have to be answered because uh the men and women who are not here who we have an obligation to serve obviously deserve the best materials and the best products. I'm also very concerned by some of the proposed cuts of up to 8% and some of your agencies. You know, I am for government reform.
▶ 0:20:16I I am I am a government reformer and there are always efficiencies. There's always fat to be found. There's always ways of doing something better. But, you know, I've been doing this for a while and um you know, I know that your agencies are some of the leanest and meanest and most efficient within the government and and across the board arbitrary cut of 8% uh goes into muscle and bone and and not just fat.
▶ 0:20:44uh and the result of that could be an America that's substantially less safe uh in operators and military around the world that don't get the products and the deliverables that you all are charged with delivering for them. So those are some of the questions those are the things on my mind. Um again we want to be productive. We want to make sure that we keep uh the the men and women in uniform foremost on our mind and just make sure that we work together in a bipartisan way which is what we always do.
▶ 0:21:13That doesn't mean we don't have tough disagreements sometimes. We're no stranger to that here. Uh but again, with the ultimate mission in mind and with that, I yield back. Thank you, Mr. Crow. Appreciate that. And I share Mr. Crow's concerns as well about some of the budget cuts and some of the personnel reductions. Uh we we you know, we we both understand how important what you do is uh to uh to the safety, security of our troops, international security, and we want to make sure that we can do everything we can to make sure that those uh those aren't impacting your mission.
▶ 0:21:42Uh, with that we'll now hear from our witnesses and Mr. Guard Weiss will begin with you and the floor is yours. Thank you, Chairman Jackson, Ranking Member Crowe, and distinguished members of the subcommittee. It is a privilege to appear before you along with my colleagues to testify on the current posture of the Defense Intelligence and Security Enterprise to confront the array of global threats and challenges facing the United States and our allies and partners.
▶ 0:22:06The intelligence and security experts across the Department of Defense work tirelessly to collect analyze and address current and future threats in support of the president's priority to achieve peace through strength. These experts comprise the enterprise that provides intelligence informed insights and options to the secretary of defense in support of the secretary's priorities of restoring the warrior ethos, rebuilding the military, and reestablishing deterrence.
▶ 0:22:33To that end, the military intelligence program or MYIP reflects the America first defense policy agenda and strategic priorities of the president and secretary of defense and is developed in close coordination with the director of national intelligence. I am joined today by General Joe Hartman performing the duties of the director of the National Security Agency and Lieutenant General Jeff Cruz, the director of the Defense Intelligence Agency. They each will offer their perspectives on how the defense intelligence enterprise is aligned to support our war fighters and speak to the threats that our enterprise must address.
▶ 0:23:04Once it is released in the coming weeks, Congress will see how the fiscal year 2026 myth budget request reflects focused investments in capabilities and initiatives to position the defense intelligence and security enterprise to support the secretary's three priority lines of effort as outlined in his guidance on the development of the 2025 national defense strategy. Defend the homeland by providing intelligence support to seal our borders against illegal immigration and narcotics trafficking.
▶ 0:23:32Advance America's interests in the Western Hemisphere. And enable the Golden Dome, President Trump's next generation missile shield. Deter China in the Indoacific through a new generation of intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance capabilities matched to the threat in support of combat credible military forces in the Western Pacific. support increased burden sharing with allies and partners to maximize return on investment while ensuring America's interests always come first.
▶ 0:24:00The MYIP will emphasize rebuilding our military intelligence capabilities by reviving our defense industrial base, reforming acquisition processes, including a greater focus on better informing DoD investments with intelligence, and rapidly fielding emerging technologies. It prioritizes investments in American workers and technology while maintaining strategic partnerships with key allies.
▶ 0:24:22The MYIP will develop and retain critical intelligence capabilities domestically, focusing on American interests to maintain our position as the strongest and most lethal force in the world. I will also note that the MYIP will reflect the secretary's emphasis on strategic discipline and fiscal responsibility, including optimizing and aligning our workforce and his commitment to passing a financial audit. These and other priorities reflect the enterprises continuing focus on providing decision advantage against nearpeer competitors.
▶ 0:24:53In summary, the MYIP will support the department's ability to execute its programs needed to address these global challenges, and your support is critical to achieving the president's vision of peace through strength and ensuring that our intelligence capabilities remain second to none. I thank the subcommittee for its leadership and support, and I look forward to answering your questions here and in our closed session. Thank you. I appreciate that. And um uh General Hartman, uh you're now recognized for five minutes.
▶ 0:25:22Chairman Jackson, Ranking Member Crow, and distinguished members of the committee. I'm honored to be here today representing the me men and women of the National Security Agency and United States Cyber Command. Thank you for this opportunity to testify before you today with my Department of Defense Intelligence Enterprise colleagues. At the National Security Agency, our workforce supports our policy makers by providing unique, timely, and exquisite insights for the nation's top priorities.
▶ 0:25:50As a combat support agency, we provide critical support to our war fighters in encountering a multitude of threats facing the nation today and in the future. The men and women of both Cyber Command and NSA are key to our mission success and serve as a comp competitive advantage across all of our mission sets. China remains our pacing threat.
▶ 0:26:12Countering their efforts to challenge the United States as well as their aggression in the Indo-acific is a top US Cyber Command and NSA are focused on using the full scope of our authorities and full spectrum capability to counter aggression. We remain ready and postured to contest China's malicious activities across the globe in lock step with our allies and our US government and industry partners.
▶ 0:26:39US Cyber Command and NSA remain focused on achieving mission success across the spectrum of the president's priorities relayed to us in the interim national defense strategic guidance in developing our FY26 budget request in partnership with the Department of Defense and the Office of the Director of National Intelligence.
▶ 0:26:57NSA has focused on administration priorities in including defending the homeland, modernizing our capabilities as well as our core function of code making and code breaking as examples.
▶ 0:27:12Both organizations have taken comprehensive and concrete actions in support of homeland defense, including improving our support to US government disruption activities with cartels operating in Mexico and along the southern border and in the development of Golden Dome for America. Our nation is confronted with an increasingly complex and dynamic threat landscape in the cyber domain. However, I want to ensure you that US Cyber Command and NSA are at the forefront of this challenge.
▶ 0:27:39Armed with unparalleled capabilities and insights that place us at an advantage against our most adversaries, our dedicated professionals are actively defending the nation, including the defense industrial base, from sophisticated nation state actors and cyber attacks. We are not merely reacting to intrusions. We are proactively identifying and analyzing the tools and trade craft our adversaries are sharing these critical discoveries.
▶ 0:28:08We share these critical discoveries publicly and will partner with uh and with our partners to empower a collective defense that strengthens our nation. I know this committee is highly supportive of our missions and our people and I'm thankful for the opportunity to testify in front of you Thank you, General. I appreciate that. and General Cruz, the floor is yours.
▶ 0:28:34Chairman Jackson, ranking member Crow, and distinguished members of the subcommittee, thank you for the opportunity to present the Defense Intelligent AY's assessment of the worldwide threats to our nation and our posture to address these increasingly complex challenges. DIA is dedicated to providing not only the war fighter, the acquisition community, and the senior administration officials with timely and accurate intelligence, but also to the Congress to assist in your role in countering threats to the United States.
▶ 0:29:02The men and women of DIA in 140 nations around the globe are focused every day on delivering intelligence that strengthens defense of the US homeland, enhances war fighter lethality, supports effective and efficient acquisition and countermeasure development, counters foreign intelligence entities attempting to steal US information or penetrate our networks and supply chains, and increases mission sharing and interoperability with trusted US allies and partners. Our efforts are more timely and more important than ever.
▶ 0:29:32The current threat landscape is changing more rapidly than at any time in my 35 years in uniform. Our adversaries are deepening cooperation with each other across multiple domains and developing and proliferating advanced technologies which generate novel methods to threaten our interests. Starting in the US homeland, we face a twofold threat.
▶ 0:29:53First, along our southern borders, transnational criminal organizations, drug traffickers, and terrorist groups are attempting to circumvent host nation laws and evade US law enforcement, including by exploiting migration flows to conduct activities aimed at harming US citizens.
▶ 0:30:10Our long-standing cooperation with US law enforcement agencies has enabled DIA to respond quickly and DIA has surged analytic, collection, scientific, and techn technical capabilities to support US Northcom, US Southcom, the Department of Defense, the Department of Homeland Security, and the FBI.
▶ 0:30:27Second, our adversaries are pursuing technological advances to improve their ability to directly threaten the US homeland with military capabilities, including expanding the scale and sophistication of their conventional and nuclear capable missile systems. China and Russia are building a diverse array of delivery systems to exploit gaps in current US ballistic missile defenses.
▶ 0:30:50They are developing hypersonic glide vehicles as well as fractional orbital bombardment systems which are ICBMs that enter a lowaltitude orbit before re-entering to strike targets. DIA is currently providing the authoritative intelligence assessments to assist the department in designing and deploying the necessary defenses to support the Golden Dome for America initiative.
▶ 0:31:12And during the future operational phase, DIA will provide collection, sensor networks, data fusion, and operational support to detect and counter strategic missile threats to the homeland. Our priority threat, as described in the interim national defense, strategic guidance is China. The Chinese Communist Party is rapidly developing military capabilities across all warfare domains, air, land, sea, space, and cyber.
▶ 0:31:38And all these are designed to seize Taiwan by force while preventing intervention by the United States or other third parties. Along its periphery, China is executing multi-dommain pressure campaigns against the Philippines, Taiwan, and others that resist its territorial claims. In response, our China mission group stood up in 2022 to synchronize DIA and enterprise analysis, collection, and intelligence operations against the global China threat.
▶ 0:32:03And since then, numerous intelligence disciplines have increased collection by at least 30% against China. And we have brought new collection and exploitation capabilities online. DIA has also increased analytic production by double digits. And through our machineass assisted analytic rapid repository system or MARS and the common intelligence picture efforts, we are delivering next generation foundational military intelligence to the war fighter.
▶ 0:32:27And soon we'll deliver real-time authoritative force tracking data layers to enable all domain AI enabled battle space awareness warning and sensor to shooter capabilities. Additionally, China's advancements in AI, biotechnology, quantum sciences, and micro electronics are heightening the threat environment and positioning Beijing to dominate a range of advanced and emerging technologies that are foundational to military innovation.
▶ 0:32:53Beijing is working to integrate AI into a variety of military capabilities, including uncrrewed systems, decision support systems, ISR, cyber, and influence operations. And to meet this challenge, DIA is redesigning its collection strategies and enhancing Mazit, human and open source capabilities, ensuring that we stay ahead of emerging threats and technological advances. Regarding other threat actors, Russia remains a significant, aggressive, and enduring threat to the United States and its neighbors.
▶ 0:33:21Moscow has remained steadfast in its demands for Ukrainian neutrality, authority over the size of Ukraine's armed forces, and is a further partitioning of the Ukrainian state. Russia will continue its military strategy of attrition, focused on degrading Ukraine's ability and will to resist while facing its own significant losses of equipment and personnel. With this threat environment in mind, I want to thank you for the opportunity to provide our insights and our perspectives during our discussions today. It's an honor to join my colleagues, Mr.
▶ 0:33:50yardwise and Lieutenant General Hartman before this subcommittee. I'm truly privileged to lead the Defense Intelligence Agency and represent his talented and dedicated workforce who serve with distinction and in harm's way all across the globe. We're grateful for your support and I look forward to your questions. Thank you, General. I appreciate that. And we will begin questions and I will start by recognizing myself. Um Mr. Gard, I was just going to ask you a real quick question here.
▶ 0:34:17Um, I I'll just read this real quick because some of our audience may not u fully appreciate this, but the US intelligence community is statutoily comprised of 18 organizations, nine of which are elements of the Department of Defense.
▶ 0:34:31The Defense Intelligence Agency, the National Security Agency, the National Geospatial Intelligence Agency, the National Reconnaissance Office, US Air Force Intelligence Surveillance and Reconnaissance, US Army Intelligence, US Naval Intelligence, US Marine Corps Intelligence, Surveillance, Reconnaissance Enterprise, and US Space Force intelligence. That's a big piece of the pie.
▶ 0:34:51I would like to ask you and I won't say are you getting everything that you need because are you that you the question of that answer is usually no but do you think that your piece of the pie uh of the DoD budget is sufficient to uh to do what you're being asked to do today. Chairman, thank you for the question. I am incredibly proud of the work that our enterprise does today in support of the Department of Defense, our war fighters, our commanders, the secretary and and the president.
▶ 0:35:21um the the the the threat environment that we're facing is increasingly complex. Uh you mentioned in your opening statement uh the that we're facing China the pacing threat while we're responding to uh events around the world. Uh right now what I can tell you is that we're postured and aligned to support the priorities of the secretary.
▶ 0:35:40Um, and I look forward to having a conversation with you once we're able to discuss the details of the FY26 budget about the areas uh where we're taking risk um and how and and where we are aligning those resources to ensure that we are taking less taking less risk in in priority affairs. Thank you. I appreciate that and I I'll do everything I can and I know the other members of this committee as well to make sure that you have everything you need because our war fighters obviously can't do their jobs without the uh without the support that you provide. Um for General Cruz and General Hartman, I just want to ask you a real quick question.
▶ 0:36:10And I think you you both uh touched on this or mentioned this in passing. I know General Cruz you did with regards to China uh in your opening statement, but um with regards to you know this is and this is why partly why I asked this question as well because we understand that the big the big focus in the military for uh you know the last few years has been to uh to pivot and to great power competition away from counterterrorism so on so forth. But we also understand and General Cruz and I recently talked about this that the counterterrorism mission did not go away.
▶ 0:36:38it's still there that perform support still has to be provided but then you have other things that are also uh you know uh really gaining I'm sure taking lots and lots of your time as they become more and more a part of your day-to-day expectations and uh you know what you're what you're going to what you're going to have to deal with with regards in particular to artificial intelligence machine learning and now uh open- source uh intelligence um can can you tell me uh are we keeping up with that and in what ways are
▶ 0:37:08you approaching that so that we don't get behind the Chinese on this? Uh and um what is your biggest hurdle here? I mean, what what are you not getting or what is your your biggest concern regarding uh what I just mentioned uh in in in in the day-to-day uh conduct of uh of your mission? I'll start with either one. General Hartman, you want to start? Chairman, thanks for the question.
▶ 0:37:35From our standpoint, we We continue to to be laser focused on China and our plan to meet that threat is really depend on the Chinese relationship with private uh which uh
▶ 0:38:05in the United states, we still have a strategic advantage as it relates to technology like artificial intelligence. Uh, and I believe that we'll continue to remain so. Okay. Before we go to General Cruz, I was just going to ask you real quick. So, do you think are you are are you you are you having any issues with recruiting people? I mean, I know that's always an issue, but are you getting good people that understand these issues that want to come into the organization versus going off into the private sector?
▶ 0:38:33And are there any authorities that you don't have? I mean, you know, it's going to cost more money, obviously. We understand that, but are there any authorities that you need from Congress that you don't have to stay on top of uh of this and and outpace the Chinese on this? Chairman, we continue to get extraordinarily qualified young people from the services and from the civilian community that are experts uh in artificial intelligence and high performance computing and machine learning.
▶ 0:39:01uh we certainly need the resources to provide them the uh the technology that they need to work the problem. Uh we've got a great plan for that. I think we'll be able to talk about that plan more when when the budget comes out. But uh right now I believe that we're very well positioned. We have a roadmap uh thanks to our work with Congress. We have stood up an artificial intelligence task force. We've executed over a dozen pilots. Uh and I do believe we are positioned well from an authority standpoint. There are really no authorities that we don't have right now in order to execute this plan.
▶ 0:39:31Thank you, sir. General Cruz, do you have anything to add on that? Uh, just very briefly, I will just echo what General Hartman said. Um, the workforce at DIA, we prioritized in the most recent series of uh personnel reductions and workforce optimization, the retention of our younger probationary and recently recruited personnel because of the skills that they bring. Uh, and I think that will pay uh dividends uh for us in the long run.
▶ 0:39:54uh to your earlier question about um where are we balancing and how are we taking risk uh what I would offer is uh as the department at large and as the nation at large focuses on the priorities that are articulated appropriately by the administration um there is a need for a minimum capability to reside in the low priority theaters against counterterrorism and I think that's the intelligence community's responsibility to be able to continue to collect at a certain level to be able to give uh policy maker ers the
▶ 0:40:24opportunity to address those threats uh should they arise. And so for me it is um the challenge that we have is how do you balance uh the remaining capability on the lower priority systems while we move out extraordinarily aggressively and I think when you see the 26 budget come forward you'll see DIA and the administration reaching heavily into the current priorities and we look forward to additional conversation of how those will balance in close session. Thank you General I appreciate that.
▶ 0:40:48I have some more questions I'll ask you in the classified session and I'm going to yield back now and recognize ranking member Crow for as much time as he would like. Thank you, Chairman. Um, I wanted to start by visiting this 8% cut issue and again I'm I'm in favor of efficiencies and trying to find them where we can find them and there are places where we could we could find savings for the American taxpayer.
▶ 0:41:10But this 8% cut and I understand that some of your entities you're able to define that just by expediting retirements, you know, kind of natural attrition with within your organization. But I'd love you both of you, General Hartman and General Cruz, to very briefly talk about what the impact is going to be as you currently understand it. And I know you're still working through it. Start with you, General Ranking member, thanks.
▶ 0:41:38you know, each year in the at the National Security Agency, we we lose uh approximately 7% of our workforce uh through natural attrition. Uh the the difference in the 8% this year is it will be executed over a a much shorter period of time. You know, really about a 90-day period. Uh and and so that will be impactful. Uh that being said, all of the personnel that are leaving the the agency have done so on a voluntary basis.
▶ 0:42:07They have generally been retire retirement eligible and they have taken advantage of one of these programs uh that that allow them uh a bit more advantageous circumstances to leave. We're a large agency. Uh we have a tremendously skilled workforce. uh and I do believe that uh we will have uh senior leaders that will move into the position uh and continue to execute the very important mission that we have to defend the nation at the National Security Agency.
▶ 0:42:35General Cruz, I think I would um relay similarly every year we have four to 6% attrition across the agency. So we will do an accelerated um you know version of that this year. Um we our targets were as you saw from the secretary 5 to 8% we we will certainly achieve uh those percentages. Um but I I have faith that the younger generation will step into those leadership positions.
▶ 0:42:58To answer very specifically what is the impact uh for those more senior people that are leaving what I am losing very clearly are uh senior leadership. I'm losing expertise and I'm losing combat experience. Uh, but I go back to um there are people that are mid-grade that are going to step into these roles that also have combat experience from our 20 years of CT and we'll pick up the flag and run with the baton as quickly as as possible. In in a closed session, I happy to tell you where um we're taking more risk than others.
▶ 0:43:28Uh there will be impact, but I I think great Americans are going to step into these roles. And I have no doubt of that. I mean, I have no doubt that that these younger talented folks will will step up and do their best. I think, you know, I think about um my military time and and you all have experienced this a lot more than me. There was this process called the relief in place, right? When we were when we were in Iraq and Afghanistan and I was being um replaced by a unit, you it's called a RIP.
▶ 0:43:54And you know this uh you you rip out the other unit and it's essential that those overlap and they have to overlap because the unit that had been there that knew the locals that knew the threats that had learned all the lessons from the sector all of that knowledge had to be transferred to the new unit.
▶ 0:44:15And if it didn't, if you didn't have that overlap, that knowledge was lost and the new unit had to learn the lessons the hard way, sometimes with blood. So when you talk about expedited losses and retirements in accelerated timelines, to me it seems like we're losing that overlap that's essential and there's going to be costs to it.
▶ 0:44:39General Hartman, ranking member, thanks for uh for those points. Uh it will be more challenging. All right. and and because of that, but we do know who is going to leave the organization and for the most part we know who is going to replace them.
▶ 0:44:59And it's my job as the person performing the duties of the National Security Agency to have a plan and to execute a plan that ensures we can continue to provide this fundamentally important mission for the nation. And I'm going to do that. And it'll be difficult, but that's what they pay leaders for. And and you're a ranger. I am a ranger like me. Absolutely.
▶ 0:45:20So, you've been given a mission and there's no doubt in my mind you will execute it the best to the best of your ability, but now it's incumbent on us in Washington to make sure that the mission you've been given is actually smart and makes sense. General Cruz, the one additional thing that DIA has in in its arsenal is in addition to the headquarters and all the centers that are directly reporting to me, I also man uh the J2s out at each of the combatant commands as well as the joint staff J2.
▶ 0:45:47And that allows me when I have holes in expertise in very specific areas to move personnel. So for example, some of the key leadership positions uh that are showing up on the joint staff, we're bringing in personnel for in Indopaccom to fill these roles to try and achieve exactly what you're talking about. How do you do a a RIP a uh replacement in place when you're not actually in place? And so we're working through the lessons learned that we've done and as we have led our units in in previous ways, what is the modern version of that using modern technology?
▶ 0:46:14Well, you all have a very hard task ahead of you and and I'm not going to wish you luck because luck doesn't do it. Um, we're going to work hard to to make sure that we resist uh policies that don't make sense and would put America in uh in danger and that we support you in that mission. Thank you. I yield back. Thank you, Mr. Crow. And Mr. Cineros Cisneros from California, you're recognized for five minutes. Well, thank you, Mr. Chairman. Appreciate that.
▶ 0:46:41Um, Lieutenant General Hartman, um, like you stated just a few minutes ago, right? Um, you continue to get top talented individuals that come in, but it does take all these individuals to kind of get trained up and built up to speed. And General Nakason used to always state that, you know, I get these individuals are there with me for like two to four years and it's time for them to transfer right at the time where they actually really start to get good at what they're doing.
▶ 0:47:09Um, I'd like to see how we can change that. Um, I I don't know if you feel the same way. I'm going to assume maybe you do, right? That, you know, you get these individuals built up and they get good at what they're doing and then it's time for them to leave and transfer to something else. But how can we kind of work with you to kind of get it where maybe we can kind of get out of this mold that the which is we do it this way because it's the way the military's always done it. You're in a duty station two to three years and it's time for you to transfer.
▶ 0:47:38But we're losing a lot of that knowledge and kind of shortening up and and building that expertise before somebody had goes on and moves to something else. But I would like to hear from you how maybe we can kind of uh fix that and get to them to that get instead of getting them to the point where they actually become good keeping them there and allowing them to build their skills instead of transferring them. Congressman, thanks for the question. Uh I 100% uh concur with uh your your analysis.
▶ 0:48:08We have over the last couple of years made significant progress working with the services in order to do really three things. One is to extend the tour length for an individual after they become fully mission qualified. And that's really important because at that point we can employ an individual you know to the greatest uh their greatest capability in order to work the mission. So that's the the first piece.
▶ 0:48:32The second is a number of services for key work roles have supported multiple tours uh in uh either the national security agency or cybercom. And then the third piece that we're really working is to ensure synergy between assignment policies at the national security agency and US cyber command for the same work role.
▶ 0:48:54and so allow a service member to move between the agency and the command in a way that best utilizes their training and experience for the good of the nation. I I think we're making good progress. Uh and we've got a plan to continue to do so moving forward. General Cruz, I'm sure the same thing happens in the intelligence agencies. So, let let your response too. It certainly does. The um workforce that DIA enjoys actually uh gives us a little bit of a a buffer here.
▶ 0:49:20Um 70% of my workforce is civilian and about half of those are former military. So I have this fantastic mix of civilian, former military and active duty military. Uh we have uh worked over the last couple years to start to extend our civilian tours as we rotate around the globe and several of the services are looking at doing the same thing. So that becomes really uh important for us.
▶ 0:49:41And then for new mission areas where I have low density just small numbers uh for example in the cyber realm where we man the cybercom G2 uh but we are also building up some additional uh capability at Congress's direction. Um my intent is to have those career paths actually be from service cyber into NSA into cyber common to us so we can keep people into the same mission space regardless of tour length. All right. Well, anything we can do to support that um legislation wise or anything uh please let us know. happy to support that uh fully.
▶ 0:50:12Um Lieutenant General Cruz, another question for you. Um we know during the Trump the first President Trump administration, he was at times kind of um very cautious about some of the intelligence that he received from our stuff and even had a tendency maybe to believe it from somewhere else. But um and and we can either take this here or maybe take it in the next realm.
▶ 0:50:34Um but you know h how can you work with the administration there to ensure that what you're giving them is going to be heard and that it's going to be kind of taken in as for what it is and that this is good actually good intelligence that you are presenting them. I think it just hit on both sides of the coin.
▶ 0:50:54So I think we owe uh candid intelligence assessments u non-political the best we can do the most authoritative regardless of source and then provide that and it's building a trust relationship from all of our stakeholders. We've done this with war fighters for for many many years. I've worked with soft there's a really dynamic feedback loop. You're either good and you're trusted or you're not. Uh and the same thing is actually okay with the administration. Our goal is to provide um the most accurate intelligence that we can and build a trust relationship over time and that's my intent to do so. All right.
▶ 0:51:24Well, thank you both for your answers. Thank you all for being here. And I yield back. Thank you, Mr. Cisneros. And now recognize Mr. Scott from Georgia for five minutes. Thank you, gentlemen, for being here. And um we all know that our prior president ignored the advice of his military commanders with regard to Afghanistan and other other key areas. Uh fortunately, we have a president now that is uh wanting to secure the border. And so my question gets to uh to you Mr.
▶ 0:51:54Guardweis with the president's direction to leverage defense capabilities to reduce the flow of illegal immigrants and fentinel and other illegal drugs that are killing American citizens across our borders. How is the defense intelligence enterprise providing support to that mission? Congressman, thank you for the question. I'm incredibly pleased with how the department has shifted and aligned rapidly to support the president's priorities along the border. that includes the defense intelligence enterprise.
▶ 0:52:21We have surged uh defense intelligence analysts uh to support both northern command as well as uh homeland security CBP in particular customs and border protection um in the sectors along the border. Um we have uh increased the use of and actually for the first time uh leveraged uh airborne uh collection platforms, ISR platforms uh to enable uh these missions and uh we have increased the priority um in both of the agencies to my to my left and right
▶ 0:52:52um increasing both the collection and production um in support of the priority not just with regards to um migration uh but also with regards to uh fentinel and uh and the counterdrug uh or drugs um coming from uh from from our southern border. I think it's important that we do anything and everything we can to protect the American citizens um from the flow of illegal illegal drugs into this country. A lot of Americans die from fentanyl and we all know people who have died from it.
▶ 0:53:21Uh we had two young people um in my area die from it just a couple of weeks ago and uh I hope we continue to increase the pressure and the intelligent sharing to stop it. U I want to talk with you about integrating commercial space-based ISR with what we do. Uh the TAC SRT program provides uh commercial space-based intelligence to the war fighter.
▶ 0:53:47Uh, how is the DoD uh integrating com commercial space-based capabilities in its Sorry, Congressman, we absolutely are. Uh, we are leveraging commercial uh space-based capabilities across a range of missions uh whether it be for war fighting or for intelligence analytic purposes. Uh both space force, the national reconnaissance office and others. Um I will also say that we are increasing um the application of that.
▶ 0:54:16We've seen that play both in terms of uh commercial electrooptical which pictures and and radar um both in terms of augmenting and complementing our national systems and our government systems that we have increased the use of that for sharing um broader use um and frankly um in some areas they're they're just uniquely positioned to support from a from a DoD standpoint that includes foundation requirements right to support national geospatial intelligence agency for mapping and a variety of other purposes.
▶ 0:54:43So, Congressman, we absolutely are focused on space-based commercial capabilities um and how they can apply to the department. I I have one other question and I want to preface it with this. Um, I know China is the priority right now, but it's not the only mission that I expect we will have.
▶ 0:54:59And one of my primary concerns is that as we draw down uh systems that will work in non-year um engagements um that that we're drawing them down faster than we're putting up systems that are that will work in the near-per engagements.
▶ 0:55:20So my question for you is as the DoD devest from you kind of the traditional ISR platforms and more space-based sensors, I mean, how are we making sure that our combatant commanders don't lose their abilities right now that they need today um in favor of future missions?
▶ 0:55:43Congressman, I believe that relative to China, we are going to increasingly and need to increasingly rely on space, but also to your point, we need a range of capabilities to give our combatant commanders options in their theaters, and we are attempting to balance just that. I believe that there will continue to be a requirement for airborne platforms. Um, but we need to balance that with our investment in space and I look forward to having a conversation with you and the committee once we're able to discuss our FY26 budget that we put forward. Thank you, Generals.
▶ 0:56:13I have several other questions. I'll wait until we're behind closed doors for that. Chairman, I yield. Thank you, Mr. Scott. Mr. Jacobs from California, you're now recognized for five minutes. Thank you so much, Mr. Chairman, and thank you to our witnesses for being here. Um so um the 2025 interim national defense strategic guidance refocuses our intelligence posture towards strategic competition.
▶ 0:56:38How is the defense intelligence enterprise aligning with that new guidance while also ensuring its assessments of major adversaries like China remain objective and free from confirmation bias? Maybe General Cruz, you could start. Um so the uh interim national uh security guidance that we're all now transitioning to and implementing um takes us down a pathway.
▶ 0:57:06Uh I don't know that it changes uh necessarily who the f the threats are, but it reframes a little bit about where the focus is and where we need to put uh a variety of our efforts. So this somewhat ties back to Congressman Scott's question in my view on the balancing piece. uh one of the things that u the defense intelligence agency in particular owns is a lot of the other intelligence disciplines. So for example on the airborne ISR layers we pull that and reduce that in other theaters.
▶ 0:57:33Africa for example it does become uh the humid the overt the clandestine human the technical collection of variety of the other pieces that if we can stitch together along with commercial and open source data we start to fill in the blanks uh to go down that path. What that does is get back, I think, to your question about how do you avoid confirmation bias. It is making sure that you're willing to go in and check all of the other all source issues.
▶ 0:57:56For me, every problem now has to be an all source and both an exquisite intelligence and an open-source question to get to the best possible answers. Thank you. And Mr. Guardwise, same question to you. I echo General Cruz's comments with regards to the pacing threat of China and strategic competition.
▶ 0:58:16I think that that the alignment um uh to focus on uh as we discussed southern border other priorities um I have every confidence in in our enterprise to ensure that they're providing intelligence that's free from bias um in support of uh any decisions that may be made by our war fighters and and and our leadership in the executive branch. Okay, great. Thank you.
▶ 0:58:36Um, and then, um, I I want to talk about Syria, and obviously I know we'll have to do more of it in close session, but, you know, I actually agree with the Trump administration lifting certain sanctions, um, to ease Syria's crisis. How do you make sure that you all are getting the most dynamic picture or the most accurate picture in this very dynamic situation of what's happening?
▶ 0:59:02um if you can anything you can say in open about sort of how you currently assess the conditions in Syria following this policy change and what possibilities if any you see since the political opening maybe Mr. Guardwise, I'll start with you, Congresswoman Jacobs. If I might, can I may I refer to General Cruz initially given in his analytic expertise? Thank you. So, I would offer there's probably two parts to this. One is how are we making sure we understand what's going on.
▶ 0:59:31Uh we um when the uh HTS organization took over the Syrian government, I would offer that's really the substantive change. It's not the policy change. It is now what do we do in response to that? And um we need a good partner that's going to allow us to put pressure on uh ISIS and Syria and other organizations. And so the policy change is about allowing the ability to be able to do that.
▶ 0:59:53uh as far as the ability to collect in there if we have a smaller footprint or um based on the uh changes we've seen over time uh what I would offer is we're relying heavily on allies and partners we are going back to some of the activities some of the human sources a variety of things that we did uh during uh 20 years of counterterrorism and being able to go back and try and leverage some of those accesses and intelligence feeds. Thank you.
▶ 1:00:16And to the extent you can talk about it in open session, can you talk about sort of what the threat from extremist groups like ISIS currently is? I would offer that um ISIS is getting stronger globally uh every day in small areas.
▶ 1:00:35Um, it is probably the most competent at external operations planning and is increasing uh out of Syria in particular or ISIS K um ISIS Corazan as being the most likely to present a threat to Western governments.
▶ 1:00:54And I think uh beyond that I would offer al-Qaeda in particular is more of a regional threat against uh US forces in particular areas and uh I would offer probably a richer conversation in close session. I'll look forward to that. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Thank you, Miss Jacobs. And Mr. Kitty from Massachusetts, you're now recognized for five minutes. Thank you, Mr. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. and it's been a privilege uh that I've had being in this committee because I've gained a new window and insight over the service men and women that serve our country.
▶ 1:01:25U Mr. Guard Weiss in the first few sentences of your testimony, you said that uh your goal is to restore the warrior ethos. So, I'd like to ask General Hartman, General Cruz, have we lost our warrior ethos? Not I haven't seen it. A simple yes or no would be uh sufficient. Is this lost? Our warriors ethos is lost on our servicemen and women. A simple yes or no work.
▶ 1:01:55Congressman microphone. I am proud. General Cruz. I am very proud of the warrior ethos that my organization displays every day around the globe. So Mr. The guard Weiss, could you do me a favor and uh define what you think warrior ethos is? What did we lose here? What's lost? I I didn't think it was missing.
▶ 1:02:19Congressman, from my perspective, it is about ensuring that we are sighted on the needs of our war fighter. And that in my mind in a simplistic term for our defense intelligence security enterprise is ensuring that that is that is consistent with the secretary's priorities for the department. So the secretary defines warrior ethos. The secretary has strategic priorities for the department of defense.
▶ 1:02:44My obligation in this seat is to ensure that our defense intelligence enterprise No, but I mean you one of your first sentences said we've got to restore warrior ethos. I I didn't know it was lost. Where is it? Congressman, what is it? Congressman, I think I think my statement was was referring to the fact that our enterprise is postured to support the secretary's priorities. One of which is being to restore warrior ethos. What is that? I like it was one of your first statements. I look forward to I What does it mean to you?
▶ 1:03:14What does it mean to the secretary? I guess that's what it's all about. What is it? If it was so important it was in the beginning and so important that we lost it, we have to you have to tell us what is gone before we could find it again. I mean you said it has to be restored. please just enlighten me. Congressman, my obligation is to ensure that our enterprise is postured to support I know that you said that but what is warrior ethos you keep talking about the secretary keeps I'm hearing it all the time.
▶ 1:03:43It's lost somewhere but we have to find it. Where is it and what is it? Congressman I I refer back to my statement which is to ensure that our enterprise I was referring back to your statement too sir. The first thing was warrior ethos. So, look, uh, I'm going to move on to another issue that concerns me. Uh, it was in all the opening statements really, and you know, we're facing an 8% uh, mandatory personnel cut, and so we've got some hard decisions in front of us, and it was all mentioned about the Golden Dome. Uh, so, Mr.
▶ 1:04:12Guard Weiss, can you tell me the cost of the Golden Dome, the Golden Dome? I know there's an iron dome in Israel and have an idea what that cost. And Israel is very small land area. the United States is expansive. Uh so what is the cost of of the Golden Dome? Congressman, I am not aware that uh of what that cost is for Golden Dome.
▶ 1:04:34I can I can tell you that we are postured from a defense intelligence enterprise to provide the intelligence um and options uh in support of homeland defense. Uh may I also just reference back to your comment about about 8% reduction. I think we've we've discussed that previously um and would be glad to have a conversation with you about about that as well. Um I will also just say in that regard that we have presented the risk to the deputy secretary and the secretary for their consideration.
▶ 1:04:59We are still waiting for the final budget uh to proceed and so um to say that it was that it was exactly 8% we will determine what that looks like as we uh bring the budget forward. General Cruz, you mentioned the uh one of the greatest advantage you have personnel wise are the young people on probationary status that you have and and the knowledge that they're acrewing and and what they learned. Can you just comment uh on the value of those uh people uh on probationary status?
▶ 1:05:26Um I had approximately 875 people on probationary status and uh according to uh the executive orders and all the guidance uh that we received. Uh we removed them from service if they had performance issues. And so there are a handful uh that we um asked to depart government service. I was able to retain then a vast majority of those 875 and these were people that we've intentionally recruited.
▶ 1:05:53They've got STEM skills, they've got cyber skills, they've got language skills, uh they've got uh really and a passion for service and a patriotism that they want to join the US government and a DoD organization. Uh and I look forward to seeing I I just want to thank you for referencing that because these are important parts of our entire uh federal workforce uh not just in the military. and thank you for highlighting that. I yield back. Thank you, Mr. Kadine. Mr. Mills from Florida, you are now recognized for 5 minutes. Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
▶ 1:06:22Let me first help out some of my colleagues. What warrior ethos is. Warrior ethos is prioritizing the war fighters so that they can guarantee they have everything they need to do their job based on meritocracy, not based on diversity, equity, inclusion. And to go to another one of my colleagues who had made a comment that President Trump in the first administration didn't listen to the intelligence that was provided. Well, I would argue that the former under secretary of defense for personnel and readiness also didn't listen, which is why we had such a recruitment deficit.
▶ 1:06:51So, we may want to talk about some of these things in a closed session any time. I'd like to get to the panel now that we've debunked some of the nonsense on this uh committee. How is AI going to contribute to our ability to thwart a lot of the cyber and a lot of the economic resource and supply chain warfare that China is engaged in. Uh, Lieutenant General K.
▶ 1:07:20So, I'll leave a little bit of the cyber piece for General Hartman because that's more of his Bailey Wick, but I would offer AI is uh the only way we're going to be able to sift through the large volumes of data uh that shows what adversary actors, foreign intelligence enterprise uh agencies and um uh foreign industry and research activity and what they're trying to deliver and what that technology is trying to deliver.
▶ 1:07:43uh AI is critical to help us synthesize that data and then tip and cue uh sort of the the uh experts that we have, the STEM uh population that we have to start to distill where is China taking their activities and then how do we get ahead of that either through supply chain work through cyber security and a variety of other areas. Um, the key for me on AI though is you got to deploy it, you've got to trust it, and you got to be able to do independent verification and validation of the outcomes of the AI back so you can trust and it's authoritative.
▶ 1:08:13And General Hartman, if you'll and just kind of enlighten me on Yeah, Congressman, thanks for your question. uh the the force that we uh we face in China is significantly larger than ours, but our workforce is more talented and our ability to arm that talented workforce with artificial intelligence is the way we get to scale as it relates to the China problem. Uh we use it every day.
▶ 1:08:40We use it in all of our operations and I would look forward to in a close session to to be able to cover that more in detail with you. Thank you so much. You know, obviously the Endopaccom fight is one that we're eyeballing heavily uh with the potential unification of Taiwan, knowing that that would impact 92% of semiconductor and microchip capabilities.
▶ 1:09:01Uh also why it's so important to eliminate the double taxation on Taiwan and be able to do more onshoring, which is truly what the America first agenda is about is American innovation, American workers, American solutions. Um but I'm not convinced necessarily based on coastal defense plans. um based on seventh fleet capabilities, based on a hub and spoke uh strategy that China's really willing to go allin on this strategy. I think economically it doesn't necessarily make for a sound strategy.
▶ 1:09:30They have too much to lose. I think from an economics perspective knowing their economy is far worse off than our own. I think that one of my big issues that I face is not understanding how the Directorate Defense Trade Controls is holding $9 billion. however, of Taiwanese money for defense stuff that's not ever been exported.
▶ 1:09:53Is there any reason that you could think of of why these types of goods and defense materials would be held as opposed to just getting them there to be more of that porcupine, that spiky sense to prevent China from even thinking it's a plausible three-month strategy? And I'll let you, Mr. Guardwise, if you'd like to just anyone to hit on it. By the way, you're 100% correct on the worry ethos stuff.
▶ 1:10:14Regardless of what our colleague might have said, that's exactly what the Secretary of Defense is doing right now and that's exactly what we're getting back to is the old days of be all you can be, which is what it was during my days in the Army. Congressman, thank you. Uh I am not familiar with that issue and so uh I I will if I can take that for the record, we'd be glad to get back to you with a response. And I would love to see the Pentagon put pressure on the State Department, DDTC to get those DSP5 approvals and make sure we can export the necessary goods cuz this wasn't even American.
▶ 1:10:43This isn't FMS or FFS money. This is $9 billion that came from Taiwan to buy goods like the harpoon and other things in an effort to try and guarantee a more robust coastal defense plan. And so I'd love to see what that's looks like. Um, with that, I think a lot of my other questions are going to be more for the classified section, but I really appreciate your time and keep the warrior ethos running. With that, I yield back. Thank you, Mr. Mills. And against my better judgment, Mr. Van Orton, you are recognized for five minutes. Thank you. I think Mr.
▶ 1:11:13Chairman, hey, I would remind um my my colleague that um we lost Afghanistan and Iraq. And so when we're looking for lessons learned, you know, and how we should structure our forces and do rips and everything, probably should look somewhere else. Um because we lost those wars and we fought in them and I don't want to do that anymore.
▶ 1:11:39Um, and so when we look at how we gather intelligence and disseminate it, I think we need to look at it a little differently because we missed the the collapse of Vietnam, the fall of the Soviet Union, 9/11, Afghanistan being run over by the Taliban in 5 minutes. We missed all of that with the the, you know, over the decades, trillions of dollars we invested in in the national intelligence architecture, right?
▶ 1:12:03So I'm saying maybe we should, you know, take a knee, think about how we're doing stuff and apply some nonlinear thinking to this problem set. As far as my other colleague, you seem to have stepped out. If he goes to www.nsw.nav.mmill and uh types in SEAL ethos, he will see a document that me and 62 other SEALs wrote in 2005. And it describes in adnauseium exactly what the warrior ethos is. And you're spot on, dude. Listen, Pete Hexith is a warrior warrior.
▶ 1:12:32And we need warriors to lead warriors. Enough of this panty waste stuff going on. Forget about it. The goal of the Department of Defense needs to be intimidating our adversaries to the point where they don't attack us, but if they decide to, we utterly destroy them and grind them into dust. So we we prevent other adversaries from attacking us, our allies. Other than that, the Department of Defense should be doing nothing. So I have a question for you, sir.
▶ 1:13:01Um, I'm I'm the longest serving enlisted member of the military to ever get elected to Congress. I was also I did human intelligence at a very high level. So, are there any authorities that you are missing that we can grant you congressionally to make sure that you can do your job to protect us? Congressman, thank you for your statement and for the question. Um, I think we can provide some additional details in the closed session. Okay.
▶ 1:13:27But uh but suffice it to say for this uh for this setting uh yes there are some additional authorities that would enable us to ensure that we're able to operate in an increasingly challenging environment uh particularly in one of ubiquitous technical surveillance and others um to enable us to be able to uh to do what we can to operate and succeed in that environment and decrease risk to those individuals who are in harm's way. Okay, check it out. Now, now here's the one thing that I need to we need to talk about. When the Patriot Act came out, I was all for it.
▶ 1:13:56I wanted to find everybody that harmed my country and kill them. Right? And but the problem was mission creep took place with the Patriot Act when we started spying on American citizens. And everyone knows this to be true. So how are we going to make sure with additional authorities that you guys don't allow mission creep to take place when we start, you know, spying on American citizens again? What type of oversight things do you have internally?
▶ 1:14:16And what do you need from Congress to make sure that we are watching the people that are watching Congressman on as to the additional authorities I was referring to, they do not fall into that realm of uh collecting on Americans, but in terms of Patriot Act, it should not I listen dude, I I know everything about this sort of stuff about who can do what legally and all that. I'm asking, you know, how do we make sure that there's oversight in place so that doesn't happen again because it did happen. I mean, let's learn from the past. That's what I'm that's all I'm asking. Congressman, I agree.
▶ 1:14:45We absolutely have are learning from the past have implemented stringent uh compliance regime. I I will let General Harbin speak to how he how his agency ensures compliance with uh intel oversight and US person concerns and 123 and the like. I can't read that. Congressman, uh thanks for the question.
▶ 1:15:04You know, I will tell you that the day after uh I was put in uh in the position of performing the duties of the director of the National Security Agency, uh the the first thing I spent most of my day on was compliance. All right.
▶ 1:15:19I believe that we have learned lessons from the past and we have a rigorous compliance network that ensures we are accessing legally information against foreign adversaries operating outside of the United States and that we are doing everything humanly possible to protect the rights of the American citizens. General that is exactly the right answer. So, thank you.
▶ 1:15:48And again, if we need to do something, you know, restructure something for oversight, just tell us and we'll do it. We we want to eliminate the enemy, but not at the cost of sacrificing Americans constitutional rights. So, thank you for that. Mr. Chairman, I yield back. Thank you, Mr. Van Orton. And this is perfect timing. We're about to have to go to the floor to vote. Before we leave, I would like to ask Mr. Crow, do you have any closing remarks you'd like to make? Um, I I don't, Chairman. I think we can we can move it along to close session. Thank you. Absolutely. Thank you.
▶ 1:16:15And I just want to thank you uh the witnesses once again for your time today. Thank you to the gentleman here in uniform and everyone else here in the room that's in uniform for your service and your sacrifice. We would deeply appreciate it. We will be adjourning. We will reconvene in Raburn 2337 immediately after votes on the floor. And with that, this hearing is adjourned.