▶ 0:16:47Chair Wicker: The hearing will come to order. Thank you for being here. We're meeting to consider the nomination of Mr. elbridge colby to be under secretary of defense for policy. I want to thank him for his willingness to serve again. I want to thank his wife, susanna, and their children for being here today. It also says a lot that Mr. colby will be introduced today by two distinguished friends.
▶ 0:17:19Chair Wicker: Vice president jd vance and senator banks. We are informed that the vice president is in traffic, so after consulting to my right and left, we will proceed again, because there are time constraints. When the vice president arrives, I think he will be arriving just in time. So, if confirmed, Mr.
▶ 0:17:45Chair Wicker: Colby would oversee the developments of policy and strategy for the department of defense. He would assume these responsibilities during the most dangerous security environment since world war ii. The deepening military cooperation between china, russia, iran, and north korea represents a complex and far-reaching set of threats that demand a generational investment to revitalize american military strength.
▶ 0:18:14Chair Wicker: They demand rapid pentagon reform and a fresh look at strategies needed to achieve our national security objectives. The american people need to understand what is at stake. We should help the country appreciate the risks to our way of life. Beijing is leading an emerging alliance with one clear objective, to use economic and military power to tail down -- tear down the united states and impose their will on global affairs.
▶ 0:18:42Chair Wicker: The new axis of aggressors is a greater threat than we have faced in decades. Under the leadership of xi jinping, the communist chinese party has undertaken one of the largest military buildups in history. Their speed has been astounding. In a few short years they have built more nuclear intercontinental ballistic missile's than the U.S. in decades.
▶ 0:19:05Chair Wicker: They have tested orbital bombardment weapons and unveiled what may be the world's first six generation fighter aircraft. They possess a shipbuilding capacity of over 200 30 times that of the united states. 230 times. That's almost inconceivable. Three years ago, vladimir putin launched the first invasion of a european country since world war ii.
▶ 0:19:33Chair Wicker: He has barraged of the ukrainian people with constant missile and drone attacks. The kremlin has developed a variety of new weapons capabilities, including nuclear arms satellites. Meanwhile, russia actively provides enriched uranium to china to support beijing's nuclear buildup. Vladimir putin has also speak been suspected of aiding the north korean nuclear missile programs.
▶ 0:19:58Chair Wicker: North korea, the nuclear arsenal there continues to advance unchecked. Kim jong-un has been aiding russia's war machine as it terrorizes europe. Pyongya pyongtheir missiles could soon e able to overwhelm our defenses if reports of russian assistance are accurate.
▶ 0:20:24Chair Wicker: In the middle east, israel has sufficiently crippled proxies in the area, but there could be a new weapon to permanently alter the balance of power in the region. If understand how this axis of aggressors is working to make americans less safe. If confirmed, I hope that Mr.
▶ 0:20:51Chair Wicker: Colby can help secretary hegseth as he makes sure that the public sees these threats for what they are. I spoke about the importance of building a motivated and competent team of professionals at the pentagon during the hegseth hearing. In this regard, Mr. colby is qualified for the role to which the president has nominated him.
▶ 0:21:12Chair Wicker: For two decades he has worked on defense policy and previously served as the deputy assistance secretary of defense for strategy and force development and in that role he played a pivotal role in the formulation of the 2018 national defense strategy. The first real strategy in years. His leadership was crucial in helping the united states articulate the need for a new defense posture.
▶ 0:21:38Chair Wicker: One focused on strategic competition with russia, china, and the modernization of our military. Mr. colby and I have been bringing the same bill on military -- winging the same bell on military unpreparedness for years as it relates to china , echoing exhortations on defense policy in the western pacific. We should make taiwan a porcupine and taipei is sprinting in that direction.
▶ 0:22:10Chair Wicker: We should build a larger U.S. military footprint in east asia and accelerate the most important weapons programs to deter china. President trump has made it clear that he intends to rebuild the military and the pentagon. Peace through strength. We all want to keep america safe and prosperous and to secure that peace we will enable a golden age for america.
▶ 0:22:34Chair Wicker: But we do not now have the strength that can guarantee us the peace. Given the threatening environment facing us, I strongly believe we can't simply pivot attention and resources from one threat to another. It's an approach that the obama administration tried and it failed. We must be focused and strategic . We need to be clear, beijing sees its fight against america as a global fight.
▶ 0:23:03Chair Wicker: They are not pivoting between or among theaters. Significant american withdrawal in europe, africa, or the middle east will allow the chinese communist party to overcome us strategically. Even if we are able to prevent military conflict in east asia in the near term.
▶ 0:23:26Chair Wicker: In the past few weeks, the president has killed five top al qaeda isis in terrorists. Good for him. He has green lit a more aggressive campaign against the who these -- houthis, all in line with the desire for lasting prosperity of the united states. I'm sure that's your desires well, Mr. colby.
▶ 0:23:55Chair Wicker: Your views on each theater have seemingly evolved since 2018 and I'm sure there will be discussions about that that are worth exploring. It goes without saying that the elephant in this hearing room today is the recent developments between this administration, ukraine, and russia.
▶ 0:24:23Chair Wicker: I was disappointed and dismayed as I watched the televised meeting involving the president of the united states and presiden zelensky. I was distressed that the white house meeting ended without the signing of the minerals agreement which was they are be signed, as I understand it.
▶ 0:24:52Chair Wicker: This was followed by a television appearance by presiden zelensky and then a visit to some of our friends in europe, where there is much concerned about the failure of the agreement to be signed. It was also followed that weekend by Mr.
▶ 0:25:15Chair Wicker: Pruden's continued barrage of attacking apartments, civilian targets, and other areas in ukraine. Not, not a good weekend for peace in ukraine or for world peace. The president is trying to get a peace deal in ukraine and I certainly hope will be able to get this back on the rails.
▶ 0:25:44Chair Wicker: I would like to hear your views on the potential there. Your views on the president's crystal clear iran policy seem to have hardened considerably, get your views on the importance of taiwan to the united states seem to have softened considerably. I hope we can clarify those views today. And your views on the relevance of nuclear weapons in the next decade remain unclear to me. I would appreciate your comments on each of those issues.
▶ 0:26:16Chair Wicker: You have spoken frequently to audiences who are skeptical of the idea that U.S. peace and prosperity requires to wheeled U.S. power abroad. I am grateful you have led those discussions. Discussions that U.S. foreign policy professionals do not like having. I expect your points on the limits of U.S. power remain nuanced and complementary to the peace through strength agenda.
▶ 0:26:45Chair Wicker: It will be crystal clear that you will speak for the president in this regard. If you are focused on finding innovative ways to blend america's comparative advantages in this global fight against chinese communists, I strongly believe you will be a boon to the president and to the united states of america. I would like to hear your strategic vision for the next four years. I would like to hear your comments on the plans I released for rebuilding and reforming the military.
▶ 0:27:16Chair Wicker: In confirming secretary hegseth, he was charged with four guiding principles as he assumed office. Lethality, efficiency, speed, accountability. I also appreciate the easy access that he and I have had in conversations with each other since his confirmation.
▶ 0:27:36Chair Wicker: As the undersecretary of defense policy, I would like to know how you would plan to execute in these areas for the peace through strength agenda. Thank you very much for being here and we look forward to your testimony. I now recognize ranking member read for his opening remarks.
▶ 0:27:55Sen. Reed: Thank you very much, Mr. chairman. Mr. colby, congratulations on the nomination and welcome to today's hearing. I would like to recognize your wife, susanna, sons orlando, thomas, your parents, siblings, and family members who are with us today. In anticipation of his arrival, I would like to welcome the vice president and my colleagues.
▶ 0:28:23Sen. Reed: You have been nominated to be the undersecretary of defense of policy. The ust p. They serve as the principal adviser to the secretary of defense and play a critical role in developing long-term defense policy. You would be doing so have confirmed that a consequent some time. There's a common understanding that the future of our national understanding is tied significantly to arc competition with china.
▶ 0:28:55Sen. Reed: It's occurring across every field of power, military, political, tucker -- technology -- technological and more and across every region of the world. As you have written extensively, america's success in the competition will depend on our credibility in the eyes of our allies and adversaries. If our allies in the indo pacific perceive us to be untrustworthy or unreliable, they will hesitate to stand with us when we need them to.
▶ 0:29:24Sen. Reed: If china believes that we can be worn down through cajoling or bullying, they will take bold risks. I'm deeply concerned that the trump administration is surrendering our credibility at this very moment. For three years the united states has stood with ukraine and with our nato allies in the face of vladimir putin's unprovoked and bloody assault on ukraine.
▶ 0:29:50Sen. Reed: Indeed, for the better part of the century we have stood against russian aggression and bend the global standard bearer of democracy. After barely a month in office, president trump has attacked of this legacy and signaled that he would rather align the united states with vladimir putin than our democratic allies. Make no mistake, china is watching.
▶ 0:30:12Sen. Reed: We should be proud that the united states has led a formidable group of nations to support ukraine and defend democracy in the world stage. However, president trump seems eager to strike a deal with vladimir putin at any costs, even conceding our most valuable points of leverage before reaching the negotiating table. His recent claim that ukraine and not russia started the war is offensive.
▶ 0:30:41Sen. Reed: His attacks against presiden zelensky are left -- badly misguided. The spectacle in the oval office last week was a failure of american leadership. Presiden zelensky and the people of ukraine are fighting for their very lives and to suggest that they are not grateful for american aid is absurd.
▶ 0:31:01Sen. Reed: Many of our colleagues, including those here today, have traveled to ukraine many times and seen firsthand the death and destruction brought by vladimir putin against innocent people. To deride them as allies is a mistake that only benefits putin . Just last night, the president cut off all military aid to ukraine.
▶ 0:31:25Sen. Reed: Make no mistake, the kalus decision will only endanger innocent ukrainians in encourage russia to escalate their attacks. The united states is paying with money, ukrainians are paying with their lives. The actions of the administration are doing great harm to the american standing in the world, showing anyone paying attention that the united states can no longer be trusted. President xi is certainly taking notice.
▶ 0:31:55Sen. Reed: >> [inaudible]
▶ 0:31:57Sen. Reed: Thank you. You have argued against support for ukraine and culver city productions to the role of america in europe. I ask you to explain these views and how it confirmed he would work to repair america's standing with our allies as well as our competitive position with respect to our adversaries.
▶ 0:32:15Sen. Reed: The department of defense has long built its strategy around the idea of winning armed conflict and defeating china and a military dominance. The plan has changed. Capacity through -- the capacity of victory through military power should not be the only measure of the event -- success.
▶ 0:32:39Sen. Reed: We need to better understand the chinese strategy for increasing influence, including in the so-called gray zone, below the threshold of traditional armed conflict. We must develop new tools of competition and integrate our activities with those of our allies. You have written extensively about these concepts.
▶ 0:33:01Sen. Reed: You are the lead author of the 2018 national defense strategy and played important roles in your previous positions in this department and a number of think tanks. I would ask for your views on how the department of defense should pursue deterrence and competition in china especially as it relates to our relationship in taiwan and network of allies in the future.
▶ 0:33:26Sen. Reed: I would like to also know your priorities in the forthcoming round of defense policy views, including the national defense strategy. You have argued that the U.S. must rigorously prioritize our efforts on great power competitions with china to preclude withdrawing forces from other theaters. I agree that we should be thoughtful and disciplined about how we use the military.
▶ 0:33:50Sen. Reed: It's why I'm skeptical of the president's deployment of thousands of troops to the southern border in guantanamo bay. Border security and immigration enforcement are critical to our national security. But the current missions are dubious at best. The department estimates that they will spend $1 billion to $2 billion for unplanned border missions this year. Even as illegal migrant encounters are at their lowest level since august of 2020.
▶ 0:34:22Sen. Reed: The government accountability office assessed these missions in recent years and found that separating units in order to assign a portion of them to the southwest border mission was a consistent trend in the great -- degrading readiness ratings.
▶ 0:34:37Sen. Reed: I have serious doubts about these missions and would like to know what role you believe military forces should play in border security and whether the defense department should be involved in enforcing immigration policies that fall under the purview of the department of homeland security and artists -- are essentially law enforcement operations.
▶ 0:35:01Sen. Reed: Finally, you will need to reconcile your views of the current ones around the bipartisan approach of the united states to the middle east. The region remains unstable after a year of violence between israel, hamas, iran, its proxies, and the fall of the assad regime. You have advocated for a much more limited role in the region and suggested the U.S. should be willing to tolerate a nuclear armed iran.
▶ 0:35:27Sen. Reed: I hope you will address your views on these issues and the advancement of U.S. national security interests in the middle east. If confirmed, you will need in a challenging moment. All of our potential adversaries, including china, russia, iran, and north korea are seeking ways to undermine our interest and supplant our leadership. I would ask how you plan to pursue every opportunity to advance national interests and I look forward to your testimony. Thank you very much, Mr.
▶ 0:35:58Sen. Reed: Chairman.
▶ 0:35:58Chair Wicker: Thank you, Mr. ranking member. Before we proceed, guests and members including the chair are sternly admonished to silence all phones and electronic devices. Mr. vice president, I see that you have arrived and are next on our list. Thank you very much for joining us this morning to introduce your friend and the nominee. I now turn to you for your comments. Thank you so much.
▶ 0:36:28V.P. Pence: Great. Thank you, chairman, and thank you to the ranking member, senator reed, and to all my friends for -- from across the aisle who permit this brief intrusion into what was otherwise I'm sure a very distinguished and interesting conversation. I wanted to be here because I thought it was important to tell you all about my friend, elbridge colby, and why I think he's important to the defense policy and what the president is trying to accomplish with national security.
▶ 0:36:58V.P. Pence: First, I think that bridge, more than any person I have ever spoken to, appreciates that military power influence is downstream of economic power, as we have seen in so many of the conflicts we have engaged ourselves in over the last 30 or 40 years. We can't fight wars unless our troops have the ammunition that they need.
▶ 0:37:20V.P. Pence: We cannot defend our own national security unless we have the tank, artillery shells, and increasingly drones and advanced weapons systems necessary to fight battles when, god forbid, they are necessary to fight. Bridge has been particularly aware of and worried about the degradation of our defense industrial base and how we must rebuild it if we want to preserve our own national security. I have had many conversations with him.
▶ 0:37:48V.P. Pence: Before I was a senator, before I was vice president, where in so many ways he predicted what we would be talking about for years down the road, five years, 10 years down the road. He saw around the corners that very few other people were seeing around.
▶ 0:38:05V.P. Pence: Doesn't mean he's always right about every issue or that you will agree with him on every issue, I say that to the democrats and the republicans on the committee, but he has the type of perspective that we need so desperately at the dod and his role there will be important in seeing around the corners of the next five years and 10 years , one of the most important reasons why I think we should support his nomination at this great committee and here in the senate.
▶ 0:38:34V.P. Pence: Let me say a couple of other things about bridge and then I will let you get on with the hearing. He's a person of incredible intelligence and -- integrity and intellect. To my democratic friends, you will find he's a person who can work across the aisle. Looking at his long career in defense policy, he has said things that frankly alienated democrats and republicans and also said things that I think both democrats and the republicans agree with.
▶ 0:39:05V.P. Pence: He's a conservative, he's a nominee of president trump and we nominated him because we think he is going to do a great job, but I think you will find he's the kind of guy that you can engage in meaningful conversation with, no matter your agreement or disagreement with his views. That is again one of the things we need to bring to the department of defense. He's a good guy. I said this.
▶ 0:39:26V.P. Pence: The only other confirmation hearing in which I introduced a guest, secretary let nick, you need good people in government, people who will tell you the truth, who will look you in the eye and disagree, sometimes amicably, and to be willing to look you in the eye and have an important conversation that you can trust to tell you what they actually think, agree or disagree, that's a kind of person he is. He's a great family man.
▶ 0:39:51V.P. Pence: He comes from a life of service and a family of service going back many generations and is the kind of guy that we need working on policy at the senior levels of the department of defense, of course that's why the president nominated him. The final thing I want to say about him is that so much of this question of rebuilding the industrial base, it's one of the few areas of genuine bipartisan agreement.
▶ 0:40:14V.P. Pence: We may not always agree on how to do it but I think everybody pretty much agrees that we have to build the industrial base in the united states to support the national security policy of the next generation. Whether you have a democratic or republican president in 20 years, you need to ensure that the troops under the command of that commander-in-chief have the weapons systems necessary to support themselves and accomplish the mission. That is not a simple matter of throwing money at the problem.
▶ 0:40:43V.P. Pence: It is not a simple matter of saying we need to buy more weapons. It goes deeply into the question of procurement. How do we buy them? How do we engage with the technologists of the 21st century? We won't beat china in a war a population. They have 1.4 billion and we have just north of 300 million.
▶ 0:41:03V.P. Pence: What we can do is actually have the kind of technology that gives our troops and people the advantage over the long haul, meaning not just buying more weapons, but being smart about how we buy them in a way that enhances our technological edge and make sure upstarts, not just a big five incumbents, but upstarts can participate in the process of procurement and of giving our troops the weapons systems that they need to. We need to think deeply about these questions.
▶ 0:41:33V.P. Pence: I think the president and the department of defense, secretary hegseth on down, our thinking deeply about these questions. Bridge colby is an important part of thinking about these questions and accomplishing important policy. So, with all respect to all of you and knowing that all of you will make up your own minds, I highly encourage you to give bridge your stamp of approval.
▶ 0:41:59V.P. Pence: He's a good guy, smart guy, he will do a good job for the united states of america. Thank you all for having me.
▶ 0:42:05Chair Wicker: Thank you very, very much, Mr. vice president. We appreciate your being here. We know you're busy but would be delighted to have you stare around. -- stay around. Thank you so much. Senator banks, can you top that?
▶ 0:42:24Senator Banks: Hard to follow our good friend. Thank you, chairman liquor, ranking member reed. Members of the most important committee in the congress, the armed services committee, good to be with all of you today to introduce my friend, elbridge colby, the president's choice to be the under secretary of defense at the pentagon. I've known elbridge colby for a long time. I got to know him in the first trump term.
▶ 0:42:53Senator Banks: He became an advisor to me on the house armed services committee and more importantly, became deeply involved in the republican study committee that I chaired, the largest caucus on capitol hill and in the house, helping us to understand the world, how to talk about it, what to do about complex issues around the world. The threats that we face around the world are increasingly sophisticated, but I'm confident that with bridge in charge of implementing our defense strategy, america will be wholly prepared.
▶ 0:43:22Senator Banks: He already knows his way around the pentagon from his time as a senior official in ost policy in the first trump term. The very office we are considering his nomination for today. He's eminently qualified for this role. While there he co-led and was the key architect of the development of the trunk 2018 national defense strategy.
▶ 0:43:46Senator Banks: After two deck at -- two decades of higher pricing wars in the middle east, the defense strategy under bridge rightly refocused U.S. military on great power competition with china, maintaining american superiority in the pacific. He has been a leader in courageously stating this truth, american focus must be on the military threat from communist china and the U.S., our allies are running out of time to act on it.
▶ 0:44:17Senator Banks: Bridge has risen -- written numerous reports on defense and has a widely studied book, the strategy of denial, which I will admit is dry but incredibly substantive. I recommend that every member of this committee read his book. I believe that his answers to your questions today will underline his expertise, his unique qualifications for this role and position.
▶ 0:44:43Senator Banks: He will make an excellent secretary of under -- under secretary of defense for policy and I look forward to working with all of you to swiftly confirm his nomination and get him on the job. You won't be disappointed. Mr. chairman, thank you, it is an honor to be with all of you today. >> thank you much -- chair
▶ 0:45:04Wicker: Thank you very much, senator banks. You are welcome to resume your seat or stay there at the desks, but thank you very much. Again, thank you to our vice president. Mr. colby, you are now recognized for your opening statement.
▶ 0:45:21Mr. Colby: Mr. chairman, ranking member reed, distinguished members of the armed services committee, it is an exceptional personal honor to be considered before you today for the position of under secretary of defense for policy.
▶ 0:45:38Mr. Colby: I would like to present my greek -- deep gratitude to the president for nominating me for this role and I'm committed to implementing his vision of a defensive foreign policy of putting american interests first in peace through strength and I'm deeply honored by his confidence in me. Thank you in particular to the vice president for his exceptionally kind introduction and confidence. I am profoundly honored by his support in his presence here today.
▶ 0:46:07Mr. Colby: Thank you very much to senator banks for his generous introduction. I am deeply honored as well. I would like to express my great gratitude to the secretary of defense support and confidence. I would like to thank the members of this committee for their consideration. I have appreciated my engagement with you and your staffs over the last weeks and have learned a great deal and if confirmed, I look forward to deepening this engagement.
▶ 0:46:33Mr. Colby: Finally, I would especially like to express my personal thanks to my family for their love and support, especially my wife, susanna, and my sons, orlando and thomas, seated behind me. I would like to thank my parents, jonathan and susan, and other family and friends here today, as well as those who are not here who have supported me through this process, my life, and my career. With your permission, I will keep my opening remarks brief.
▶ 0:47:00Mr. Colby: The position of under secretary of defense for policy is a role that comes with genuinely profound and great responsibilities and my nomination comes at a time that, as this committee eloquently laid out, is of deep peril for the country. Peace cannot be assumed. There's a real risk of major war and we cannot afford to lose one. I recognize these realities in my bones.
▶ 0:47:25Mr. Colby: My great hope is that we can get through the coming years peacefully, with strength in ways that put us and our alliances on stronger and more sustainable footings. If confirmed, I would do all within my power to make it so. I know we have different views on different important issues but I can assure you of several things.
▶ 0:47:44Mr. Colby: I'm deeply committed to a foreign defense policy that realistically protects and advances all american security, freedoms, and prosperity, am willing and rally -- willing and ready to engage with those who disagree with me and adapt my views based on persuasive arguments and facts. I value alliances deeply even as I think they must be adapted. I love our great country and will put its interests first and foremost.
▶ 0:48:09Mr. Colby: If confirmed, I pledge to stride with every fiber to meet the great responsibilities of this important office with judgment, commitment, and determination. I look forward to your questions. Thank you.
▶ 0:48:20Chair Wicker: Thank you very much. At this point, I am required to ask you a number of questions, which we ask all nominees. So, have you adhered to applicable laws and regulations governing conflicts of interest?
▶ 0:48:38Mr. Colby: I have.
▶ 0:48:39Chair Wicker: Have you assumed duties or taken actions that would appear to presume the outcome of the confirmation process?
▶ 0:48:47Mr. Colby: I have not.
▶ 0:48:48Chair Wicker: Exercising our oversight responsibilities exit important that this committee, subcommittees, and other committees of congress receive testimony, briefings, reports, records, and other information from the executive branch on a timely basis. Mr. colby, do you agree, if confirmed to appear and testify before this committee, when requested?
▶ 0:49:12Mr. Colby: I do.
▶ 0:49:13Chair Wicker: Do you agree to provide records, documents, and electronic communications in a timely manner when requested by this committee, subcommittees, or other appropriate committees of congress, and to consult with the requester regarding the basis of any good faith delay or denial on your part in providing such records?
▶ 0:49:35Mr. Colby: I do.
▶ 0:49:36Chair Wicker: Will you make sure that your staff complies are in debt -- with deadline set by this committee over report records and other information, including timely responding to hearing questions for the record?
▶ 0:49:48Mr. Colby: I will.
▶ 0:49:50Chair Wicker: Will you cooperate in providing witnesses in response to congressional requests? And refers? -- briefers? And will they be report -- protected from reprisal?
▶ 0:50:05Mr. Colby: I will.
▶ 0:50:07Chair Wicker: Thank. We are going to begin a round of five-minute questions. A round of questions limited to five minutes per member. I'm going to hold myself as chair to that five minutes also. So, at this point, let me begin by asking about a couple of policy advisers that are already in place. What -- one of your advisors, if confirmed, would be Mr.
▶ 0:50:36Chair Wicker: Michael dimino. You did not choose him for that.
▶ 0:50:40Mr. Colby: I did not.
▶ 0:50:42Chair Wicker: Recently he said that there are no vital or existential U.S. interests in the middle east. Mr. colby, to your understanding, does that reflect the president's policy in the middle east? >> the president has made it
▶ 0:51:01Clear That -- Mr. Colby: The president has made it clear that we do have important interest in the middle east.
▶ 0:51:08Chair Wicker: Does his policy announcement reflect your views?
▶ 0:51:11Mr. Colby: No, he does not speak for me and I have a number of views that differ materially from his from what I understand of public reporting.
▶ 0:51:20Chair Wicker: Another policy advisor is Mr. andrew byers, the adviser on southeast asia. He believes that thinking about communist china through the lens of deterrence is wrong. He thinks that maybe we should give up what he calls belligerent policies towards china and see if they will reciprocate. Apparently he thinks that pressing beijing on trade is a bad idea. Mr.
▶ 0:51:48Chair Wicker: Colby, does that reflect the president's policy on china, in your view?
▶ 0:51:54Mr. Colby: It does not, senator, and I would say it does not reflect mine. I did write a book really focused on the lens of deterrence and as a vice president rightly mentioned, we need to be thinking about the economic dimension that the administration has already taken in that direction. I'm not intimately familiar with the work, but it seems like a quite different perspective from my own.
▶ 0:52:19Chair Wicker: I understand you have made no determination as to whether those men will be retained in those positions?
▶ 0:52:28Mr. Colby: As a part of not presuming, my understanding is that I should not be even thinking in that way. What I would say is that, if confirmed, obviously I would be only one person in a chain, including the secretary of defense, the personnel office, president and vice president and so forth. I would commit to you that anyone in my organization if confirmed should be in line with the presidential agenda, including the issues you mentioned.
▶ 0:52:58Chair Wicker: Very well. Thank you. In my opening statement I mentioned what I called your clear articulation of core U.S. interests in taiwan, which are infrequently discussed here in america.
▶ 0:53:13Chair Wicker: As you wrote last year in "american compass," "nothing that could happen abroad is more gravely threatening to americans than china invading taiwan." your 2022 article at stanford has about as good a one paragraph summary of our interest in taiwan that I have seen.
▶ 0:53:38Chair Wicker: Yet in november of last year, some people believe your position may have taken a marked turn, as you wrote "america has a strong interest in defending taiwan, but americans could survive without it. " I will let you serve -- respond to that.
▶ 0:54:01Chair Wicker: Can the united states enjoy a golden age to america with increasing prosperity for our citizens in this century if we failed to deter china in taiwan, or worse yet, lose that war?
▶ 0:54:14Mr. Colby: Thank you, senator. The fall of taiwan would be a disaster for american interests. The underlying logic behind my position is that the myth -- military balance vis-a-vis china, as you have eloquently pointed out, has deteriorated dramatically.
▶ 0:54:33Mr. Colby: I have been trying to shoot a signal flare over the fact that it is vital for us to enable our own forces for an effective and reasonable defense of taiwan, and the taiwanese, and for the japanese to do more. My position in terms of the value of taiwan is consistent and what I'm fearful of, senator, and I think it is agreed upon across parties, the military balance has declined.
▶ 0:54:57Mr. Colby: I'm trying to avoid a situation in which because we are not adequately were -- prepared, we get into the winston churchill situation where he wanted to spend -- send spitfires and hurricanes to the battle of france but marshall dowdy saying that we cannot defend the home islands if we do that. That's an extreme example.
▶ 0:55:16Chair Wicker: How soon would it take us to be prepared?
▶ 0:55:19Mr. Colby: It would be one of my number one priorities, getting us prepared as quickly as possible.
▶ 0:55:25Chair Wicker: You and I are united on that. Thank you very much. Chairman reed?
▶ 0:55:30Sen. Reed: Thank you very much, Mr. chairman. Mr. colby, you have advocated for reduction in support, which you characterized as a distraction -- distraction from taiwan. Bill burns, former cia director, an astute commentator about russia, a former ambassador and cia director, stated that no one is watching U.S. support for ukraine more closely than chinese leaders.
▶ 0:56:00Sen. Reed: And that one of the surest ways to recant chinese perceptions of american fecklessness and stoke chinese aggressiveness would be to abandon support for ukraine. So, what message are the president's actions sending?
▶ 0:56:18Mr. Colby: A couple of things. My arguments about ukraine were based on strategic need for prioritization. I don't contest that china is looking at what we are doing in ukraine. But my view that should be of interest to this committee is that we have to have the military capabilities in asia or relevant to asia in order to conduct a local defense of taiwan at a costs and level of risk that the american people are prepared to tolerate. That has been my main focus.
▶ 0:56:47Mr. Colby: My aspiration, to build on what the vice president was saying, a longer-term top priority for me would be if confirmed to revivify our defense industrial base so that we are no longer in a position where it cannot produce at levels where we can resource in multiple theaters at the level we need. That is where we want to get back to.
▶ 0:57:08Sen. Reed: I don't think that there is dispute over reinvigorating the industrial base. But I think there is, from astute personnel like bill burns, to fear that we are sending dramatically the wrong lesson. Indeed, december of 2023, you stated that the invasion of ukraine is an people act by the russians and I morally support the ukrainian defense. Do you still agree with that statement?
▶ 0:57:38Mr. Colby: I stand by my record, but at this point there is a very delicate diplomatic process going on where the president is trying to resuscitate a peace process, and I don't think it would be appropriate for me to weigh in.
▶ 0:57:52Sen. Reed: The president indicated that the russians invaded ukraine and that zelinski is a dictator, completely erroneous. It's an awkward situation now. He is cutting every sort of tool that we have. That's not the way to negotiate. I don't think that was in the art of the deal. I think we are in a serious situation.
▶ 0:58:24Sen. Reed: Changing topics for a moment, general matus, who I respect immensely as a marine and former secretary of defense, stated that if you don't fund the state department fully, then I need to buy more ammunition. It raises the question of the wisdom of eviscerating the usaid. In many places of the world, and you know this, that's the only american presence.
▶ 0:58:52Sen. Reed: That's the counterpoint to chinese incursions. Now we have put them out of business. It has been indicated that this will pause millions of -- because on -- because millions of unnecessary deaths, particularly to children and women, and it seems to be undercutting our soft power in the world.
▶ 0:59:16Mr. Colby: I certainly think it's important to have in a fashion -- an efficient and effective diplomatic arm. It is not necessarily within my purview, the number of issues you're raising, if confirmed, but I support a tight interaction and integration with the arms of national power as we said, in the defense strategy, where we are no longer in a militarily dominant situation.
▶ 0:59:44Sen. Reed: With respect to nato, one of the fallouts from our ukrainian decisions over the last few days is that our european allies feel essentially abandoned. That the nato alliance is as fragile as it's ever been.
▶ 1:00:03Sen. Reed: And as we all recognize, nato was the key, since 1949, to our ability to stabilize the world and to promote a democratic and economic agenda that favors the west. That's in danger now. The president, in his last term, was insisting on 2% from everybody at nato. Now it's more.
▶ 1:00:32Sen. Reed: Almost like a landlord saying I'm raising the rent unless you do something, something, something. Do you believe the nato alliance has made us stronger and that if jeopardized, we will be in serious trouble?
▶ 1:00:45Mr. Colby: I believe that the nato alliance has been exceptionally successful but if it can be sustained, it has to lead in the direction that trump is leading it in and where the europeans are going, if you look at the chancellor in germany, france, england, they are spending more than 2%, and are looking for real combat capabilities.
▶ 1:01:10Mr. Colby: The conversation has materially improved over the last few years to where we can get nato into a more balanced fashion and I believe that's much more consistent with the model of nato that existed during the cold war rather than the post-cold war model, which was heavily lopsided and american responsibility and it needs to change to be sustained.
▶ 1:01:32Chair Wicker: Thank you very much.
▶ 1:01:36Senator: Mr. colby, welcome to your family and friends. In your answers to advanced policy questions, you stated "U.S. nuclear forces underpin our entire defense posture of the -- deterrence." and "ensuring that we maintain capable and effective nuclear deterrence should be our top priority." I agree with those statements.
▶ 1:02:02Senator: Nuclear deterrence must be the top foundation for any defense strategy, but it is threatened because of decades of poor management and underinvestment. I'm confident that this administration can correct the course of those programs through adequate resourcing and through approving our acquisition strategies. Mr.
▶ 1:02:27Senator: Colby, if confirmed, will you work to commit to this committee to fully modernize all aspects of our nuclear triad and continue the work of the first trump administration to rebuild our nation's first -- most important military capabilities?
▶ 1:02:43Mr. Colby: I do, senator.
▶ 1:02:45Sen. Fischer: Thank you. Russia has nearly completed their modernization of all of their nuclear forces. China is modernizing and growing their arsenal at a breathtaking speed. It's a combination of industrial base that we continually worry about in this country and an overly complicated acquisition policy that holds us back from keeping pace.
▶ 1:03:14Sen. Fischer: You have talked about that, the vice president talked about that in his introduction to you as well. If confirmed, what policies would you recommend to increase the overall capacity of that industrial base?
▶ 1:03:28Mr. Colby: Senator, I think a number of things that the vice president and president have spoken about, brought or re-industrialization in my view is necessary -- broader reindustrialization in my view is necessary with military forces and conventional forces.
▶ 1:03:48Mr. Colby: That is to say that, and I know this committee drew attention to this problem, despite the investment in money, results are often less than people would like to say -- see because of workforce issues. I wouldn't address it by saying I have all of these particular policy ideas set in terms of improving industrial production, but I would see my role as making it clear that revamping and restoring a healthy and robust defense industrial base is a national priority.
▶ 1:04:18Mr. Colby: But I have said is a private commentator and public official was that if confirmed, we need national mobilization of the defense industrial base, to be able to get better results. Seems to me that is something that could get wide agreement.
▶ 1:04:33Sen. Fischer: Do you have any acquisition policies in mind that you would revamp at this point in time? That you would recommend changing or even eliminating?
▶ 1:04:45Mr. Colby: At this point I wouldn't have any specific ones. A lot of them would be under the purview of the secretary of defense. I would be delighted to dive into that issue further to give you more concrete answers, but I would again see my role if confirmed as usdp would be to get better results out of defense industrial.
▶ 1:05:09Sen. Fischer: Should be utilize the defense industrial act?
▶ 1:05:12Mr. Colby: Absolutely. The regulation at that level, all options should be on the table, including things that seem pretty dramatic. As the chairman rightly said, we live in a dramatic situation in this world.
▶ 1:05:26Sen. Fischer: The department is also modernizing our nc3, with the strategic forces subcommittee, they call it the fourth leg of the triad. If confirmed, would you make sure that this effort gets the necessary attention and resources it needs?
▶ 1:05:45Mr. Colby: Yes.
▶ 1:05:46Sen. Fischer: Thank you. Would you prioritize it along with our triad as the top priority of the department?
▶ 1:05:52Mr. Colby: Certainly. Command and control is essential. We are living in a world of much more capable cyber capabilities, missile threats, and not just the traditional strike threats, but also a range of different threats evolving very quickly. We have to pay critical attention to nc3.
▶ 1:06:13Sen. Fischer: Thank you. Senator gillibrand?
▶ 1:06:18Senator Gillibrand: Thank you for bringing your family. This is a significant role and brings an enormous amount of responsibility and thoughtful judgment. I want to talk about the threats we face from around the globe. We continue to see cyber threats from russia. Solar wind, the colonial pipeline compromise, the 1916 effort to undermine electoral infrastructure.
▶ 1:06:45Senator Gillibrand: It was reported last week that secretary hegseth ordered a halt on cyber, operation against russia. We have not heard anything from russia that they are similarly disarming. What advice will you give to the president with regard to how to keep the united states safe from russian attacks through cyber and other means?
▶ 1:07:03Mr. Colby: I haven't seen the actual documents, I only have what I'm going on based on public reporting, but my recommendation would be to maintain the highest level.
▶ 1:07:18Sen. Gillibrand: Would you unilaterally disarm?
▶ 1:07:23Mr. Colby: I can't comment exactly and what's going on, but I think that these reciprocal steps should be reciprocated.
▶ 1:07:36Sen. Gillibrand: Would you consider russia to be postured as an adversary or ally?
▶ 1:07:42Mr. Colby: From a military and defense point of view, as I put in my responses to the advanced policy questions, russia presents a significant military threat to europe and the homeland. From a defense point of view, we need to regard that in a clear eyed way. At the same time, as an overall strategy that can support and be compatible with an effort to diminish the potential for direct confrontation with russia. In the same way with china as well.
▶ 1:08:11Sen. Gillibrand: Who started the war in ukraine?
▶ 1:08:14Mr. Colby: As I said earlier, this is a delicate time and I have spoken about this in the past. I would hate to inhibit or disrupt the progress of peace. The president and vice president have been clear that words matter and it's not appropriate for me to comment on these delicate topics.
▶ 1:08:34Sen. Gillibrand: Given that you won't make a public statement, will you tell this committee that you will advise the president on the truth of all matters?
▶ 1:08:42Mr. Colby: I commit to you to tell the truth and the conduct of my duties.
▶ 1:08:47Sen. Gillibrand: With regard to china, you are aware of the typhoons. Do you agree that china has pre-position cyber threats around the united states -- pre-positioned cyber threats around the U.S. with regards to taiwan?
▶ 1:09:11Mr. Colby: That is consistent with my understanding and I agree with your assessment.
▶ 1:09:16Sen. Gillibrand: What advice would you give to the president regarding how to posture appropriately to protect against incursions from china to the U.S. national security?
▶ 1:09:25Mr. Colby: This is something I would want to dive more deeply into, as cyber is an area where the information is classified, and having not had access to it in some time, certainly not the cyber issue, but I would say, and I said this in response to advanced policy questions, I would bring in my background in the areas of deterrence to bring in an integrated approach to bring in things like resilience,
▶ 1:09:55Mr. Colby: Defensiveness, intelligence gathering, cyber operations, and so forth. My understanding is that there has been good work on this that can be built on, but there can be sensible policy changes on the table that could be worth taking. Again, I don't know enough to say specifically, senator.
▶ 1:10:11Sen. Gillibrand: I would be interested in what sensible changes you are interested in. I'm highly concerned that should china decide to invade taiwan, we haven't done enough cyber defense domestically to prevent the type of chaos that these types of attacks have created. Whether it is salt typhoon, bold typhoon, or flax typhoon. Everyone of them is designed to create enormous chaos and instability.
▶ 1:10:44Sen. Gillibrand: Decision-making would be at a minimum challenging and chaotic.
▶ 1:10:46Mr. Colby: I fully share your concerns. Based on what I'm seeing, it would cause not only chaos, but it could inhibit or breakdown military operations. I share your alarm, but I'm not read into those specifics.
▶ 1:11:00Sen. Gillibrand: I would like to work with you on the plan for cybersecurity on incursions from russia, china, going forward. My last statement, can you speak briefly about your view regarding iran and the threat they posed to the united states and their allies?
▶ 1:11:16Mr. Colby: I welcome working with you on cyber. Briefly, ron poses a sick -- iran poses a severe threat to the U.S. and our allies and I look forward to elaborating on that situation in time.
▶ 1:11:30Chair Wicker: Senator cotton?
▶ 1:11:34Senator Cotton: Let's talk about the threat of a nuclear iran. I have concerns over what you said in the past. That if we had to choose between hoping to contain nuclear iran or preventing them from military -- with military force from getting nukes, we should tolerate a nuclear iran and try to contain it. Containing nuclear iran is eminently plausible and practical, you wrote.
▶ 1:11:57Senator Cotton: "the only thing worse that the -- then the prospect of an iran with nuclear weapons would be the consequences of using force to try to stop them." that's not my view and more important, it is not the trump policy. For over a decade, he has said that iran cannot be allowed to get nuclear weapon it -- weapons.
▶ 1:12:18Senator Cotton: Last month he declared that a nuclear iran poses an existential danger to the united states and can never be allowed to develop or acquire nuclear weapons. In your written answers to the advance questions, you seem to now echo the trump policy, saying that the U.S. should deny iran from getting a nuclear weapon. It seems we all agree that iran cannot be allowed to get nukes. The question is, how to stop them. Let me be clear on a couple of points.
▶ 1:12:49Senator Cotton: First, everyone would welcome a diplomatic deal in which iran turns over the nuclear program that libya did in 2003. Second, I don't think anyone -- here's the question, diplomacy fails, ron is racing to a bomb. We have a choice -- iran is racing to a bomb.
▶ 1:13:15Senator Cotton: We have a choice, tolerate nuclear iran, or use nuclear force to stop iran from going nuclear. In that case, would you commit to providing credible, realistic military operations to stop iran from going nuclear?
▶ 1:13:29Mr. Colby: I do.
▶ 1:13:31Sen. Cotton: To be more precise, credible and realistic options being more than simply saying we can give israel some bombs and they can take care of it?
▶ 1:13:39Mr. Colby: I agree with you.
▶ 1:13:41Sen. Cotton: We all know israel lacks capabilities that we have, like aerial tankers and heavy bombers with penetrative ordinance. Do you believe that one option for the president to consider and how to stop iran from going nuclear should be to use our tankers and bombers, whether in tandem with israel or in the lead?
▶ 1:14:02Mr. Colby: I wouldn't want to get ahead of the president on specific decisions, but I think those are the kinds of things that should be a part of the discussion. If confirmed, those would be the kinds of things I would raise for the consideration of the secretary and the president.
▶ 1:14:17Sen. Cotton: To be clear on why this is so important to us, to the united states and not just israel or our arab friends, why president trump says a nuclear iran is an existential danger to us, do you agree that it's an existential danger? Not just a severe danger?
▶ 1:14:39Mr. Colby: Yes, a nuclear armed iran, given as we discussed, that they have >> they have a space launch program which is a flimsy cover for the program that can be used to hit us here in the continental united states. It is an immediate threat to israel.
▶ 1:15:05Mr. Colby: It is a there in the not-too-distant future probably just a couple of years to the united states.
▶ 1:15:09Mr. Colby: I don't have access to the intelligence information but that sounds consistent to me.
▶ 1:15:16Sen. Cotton: Do you believe that providing president trump with those options is one ways to increase leverage to have an airtight diplomatic deal and a lack of military options would make it harder to get a deal?
▶ 1:15:32Mr. Colby: I do.
▶ 1:15:34Sen. Cotton: Thank you. I want to turn to taiwan. You have said taiwan is a critical matter for us. You wrote in 2016 that you thought we should give explicit security guarantees to taiwan reversing a decades-old policy of strategic ambiguity.
▶ 1:15:52Sen. Cotton: Implied in 2020 in response to a hearing in the house of representatives over the past couple of years you started to say that taiwan is of vital interest but it is not essential to us. It seems that you have changed your thoughts in the last couple of years. That is not because of taiwan's defense spending which is still inadequate and has been trending upward for seven straight years.
▶ 1:16:23Sen. Cotton: Could you explain why in the last few years you have seemed to have softened somewhat about the defense of taiwan?
▶ 1:16:29Mr. Colby: Absolutely. Taiwan is important to the united states. It is not an existential interest. It is an important core interest. What has changed is the dramatic deterioration of military balance. To use the churchill example again, it is different to engage in a futile and costly effort that will destroy our military. You have written very eloquently about this danger in your recent book.
▶ 1:16:55Mr. Colby: The other point I would say is that I believe we have implicitly relationship in our commitment and our relationship to taiwan is customary. We have specified our commitment through things like the designation of the scenario for the department. My view that the combination of the greater threat from china and the lack of preparedness on our part, I have a different assessment about taiwan's efforts. I think it is a portion of gdp that is well below 3%.
▶ 1:17:23Mr. Colby: I agree with president trump that it should be 10% or in that ballpark really focused on their defense. We need to properly incentivize them. My focus has been with the shooting of the flare metaphor that I use earlier, to get taiwan motivated to avoid precipitating a conflict that is not necessary with beijing and giving us time to be able to rectify this problem because that is my goal.
▶ 1:17:45Sen. Cotton: Thank you.
▶ 1:17:47Chair Wicker: Senator blumenthal. Sen. blumenthal --
▶ 1:17:59Sen. Hirono: Thank you. I will ask the following two questions with relevance to the fitness to serve. Since you became a legal adult, have you ever made unwanted requests for sexual favors or committed any verbal or physical harassment of a sexual nature?
▶ 1:18:16Mr. Colby: .
▶ 1:18:17I Have Not Sen. Hirono: Have you ever entered a settlement later to this conduct -- related to this conduct?
▶ 1:18:24Mr. Colby: I have not.
▶ 1:18:27Sen. Hirono: It is interesting that you would not say whether russia invaded ukraine and saying that this is a complicated situation right now. I think I also heard you say that you would give the president your best advice regardless of what you think he might want to hear. I will ask you a simple question.
▶ 1:18:51Sen. Hirono: Pertaining to whether russia military forces invaded ukraine in february 2022, did russian forces crossed the border and invade ukraine, yes or no?
▶ 1:19:00Mr. Colby: You are describing a factual reality that is demonstrably true.
▶ 1:19:04Sen. Hirono: That would mean that ukraine -- I'm sorry. Russia invaded ukraine. That is a question that you would not answer. That is important. We hear about what xi jinping thinks about this president and what he does and what he thinks.
▶ 1:19:25Sen. Hirono: If xi jinping thinks we have a president who does not separate fact from fiction such as who invaded ukraine, I would think that maybe president xi jinping has some conclusions that he would draw having to do with as our ranking member said, U.S. fitness. One of the reasons our nato allies are increasing their spending on military is that they do not think that they have a particularly stable partner in the U.S.
▶ 1:19:54Sen. Hirono: And therefore they better look to their own interests because they can no longer rely on the U.S. I think that is a very bad situation for the united states to be in especially as we identify china as a threat and also whatever russia is thinking along these lines. Clearly they think that they now have a friend in the president.
▶ 1:20:19Sen. Hirono: I don't think that helps us vis-a-vis our strength regarding russia, regarding china. I think that we are placing ourselves in a very weak position regarding how we are viewed by our adversaries. China as well as russia. And our allies. Not a good situation to be in.
▶ 1:20:47Sen. Hirono: We need a president who can separate fact from fiction. Let me move on. Since the administration has identify china as a threat and the importance of indo pay, to face that threat, would you agree with that?
▶ 1:21:02Mr. Colby: Yes.
▶ 1:21:05Sen. Hirono: It provided congress with an $11 billion unfunded priority list. This says to me that there is a misalignment of our funding decisions and strategy if we consider indopacom to be a priority, what would you do to decrease the unfunded priority
▶ 1:21:39Sen. Hirono: Is to align our strategies and would you agree that may be we should provide indopacom with more direct input into the department's budgeting and resourcing priorities?
▶ 1:21:52Mr. Colby: If I may, this is exactly the kind of baseline reality that so much of my strategic argument comes from. A lot of what I'm saying is many of us in the public debate are acting as if we can do everything. But the reality is there is an $11 billion unfunded priority list. I bet the real deficit is higher.
▶ 1:22:21Mr. Colby: If confirmed, I would make it a priority given the priority that china must get across administrations, this is a matter of strategic consensus to not only drive that down but to reform the department and reprioritize it to actually go through and carry out the strategic shift that has been talked about since bob worked with secretary of defense at the end of the obama administration.
▶ 1:22:45Sen. Hirono: Would you agree that indopacom should be provided with more direct input into the department budget and resource process?
▶ 1:22:55Mr. Colby: I don't have enough information to say specifically where I would follow that but certainly that perspective needs to get an elevation.
▶ 1:23:03Sen. Hirono: $11 billion, that is the largest unfunded priority. Thank you.
▶ 1:23:10Chair Wicker: Thank you. Let me observe Mr. colby, that I have been somewhat critical of the cocoms that have not come forward with realistic unfunded requirements. I appreciate the exchange that you and senator hirono just head.
▶ 1:23:39Chair Wicker: Our next member is senator rounds.
▶ 1:23:41Sen. Rounds: I appreciate the time I spent with you in my office. I appreciate your comments and thoughts. To your family, thank you for allowing him to participate in this. It will be a lot of time away but it is the right thing to do.
▶ 1:24:01Sen. Rounds: There is a there is always an opportunity to look ahead, particularly with the defense of our nation now that we recognize five different domains. We also recognize that new ways of defending our country are needed as well. Space-based assets are one of those in which is the president has indicated, he would like to have a golden dome over our country over the communities within our country. I don't think that is far-fetched.
▶ 1:24:32Sen. Rounds: I think it is something we have to consider today. We have systems along our coastlines that protect many of our spaces. A lot is protected with destroyers that have radar capabilities and so forth. If the president were successful in creating an iron or golden dome, he would not only need space-based assets but he also needs land-based assets as well that require the use of certain parts of the spectrum for radar purposes.
▶ 1:24:59Sen. Rounds: This committee would be shocked if I did not bring this up with someone in front of us today that will have something to say about the use of the spectrum in the future. We talked about this in my office. Forcing the department of defense as some people have suggested to vacate any portion of the 3.4 five gigahertz band of the spectrum would have severe consequences on our war fighting capabilities including homeland defense missions and
▶ 1:25:31Sen. Rounds: Force protection for deployed forces. It is also part of the spectrum that any land-based system would use to identify incoming weapons using radar. If confirmed, will you advocate for protecting the department of defense's war fighting systems that require spectrum to function optimally including the radars that will make president trump's golden dawn possible?
▶ 1:25:56Mr. Colby: I will.
▶ 1:25:58Sen. Rounds: Will you speak candidly with congress on the effects of any spectrum related policies entertained by the interagency that may have an effect on the department of defense's capabilities to use those portions of the spectrum that they currently control?
▶ 1:26:14Mr. Colby: I will.
▶ 1:26:16Sen. Rounds: Thank you. In my office, and I consider it very courageous. You called for a genuine focus on countering china as the principal threat to the united states, providing the commensurate resources to indopacom. In my office we discussed the fact that in the event the U.S.
▶ 1:26:39Sen. Rounds: And china engaged in hostilities , adversaries like russia and iran will seek to press their own advantage in europe, the middle east and elsewhere. It is for that purpose that the nba requires a review to see whether we are capable and what our needs are to sustain a war on more than one friend. I'm convinced that if we have a war on warm front, we will have a war on two fronts.
▶ 1:27:08Sen. Rounds: Can you talk about what your thoughts are on that and whether or not in your role as a planner you have to be able to respond to adversaries on more than warm front?
▶ 1:27:16Mr. Colby: I appreciate that. I agree with your fear and the chairman has made this a concern and I applaud the focus. We have to have a multi-front or a multi-war strategy even though that the reality is that the planning construct or national defense strategy is not a three war military. It is a one and change.
▶ 1:27:38Mr. Colby: That is a real problem because not only do I think that other hostile actors could act, I think there is a good chance that if china wanted to take the cosmic role of the dice that they would induce their other partners with whom they are much more closely collaborating to also go at the same time, perhaps even before you draw us away. -- before to draw us away. Our own strategy is to revamp our readiness.
▶ 1:28:09Mr. Colby: The president has a justified desire to restore military strength, more capable allies. I think that what is happening in europe is very positive that the europeans are saying we need to do more farro defense. People having dealt with the europeans ad nauseam for many years on this thing, there is finally an acceptance that there needs to be more to be done.
▶ 1:28:27Sen. Rounds: I want to make something very clear. If we are expecting that our european allies will be able to defend us in the case of having a war on two fronts, I don't think we can do that. I think they can help us but we have to be in a position to respond. Would you agree?
▶ 1:28:46Mr. Colby: We have to be able to defend ourselves without relying on anybody else.
▶ 1:28:50Sen. Rounds: Thank you.
▶ 1:28:51Chair Wicker: Senator kaine.
▶ 1:28:55Sen. Kaine: Who instigated the war in gaza?
▶ 1:28:59Mr. Colby: On october 7 the barbaric attacks against israel where the precipitating factor.
▶ 1:29:09Sen. Kaine: By hamas. There is a delicate cease fire negotiation going on right now but you did not have any trouble saying who was the instigator of the attack. You equivocated about the russian invasion.
▶ 1:29:24Chair Wicker: If I could stop both of my friends. There has been some talking over and we are having trouble. If we could avoid that.
▶ 1:29:35Sen. Kaine: You were introduced as a truth teller but the vice president -- by the vice president. If you tell the truth about the hamas invasion of israel, and he would do the same for the russian invasion of ukraine. Let me ask you about two particular topics. In your advanced policy questions you were asked about transnational criminal organizations. I am curious about this.
▶ 1:30:02Sen. Kaine: Tco's pose a direct threat to americans. I believe this is an important matter for the government to address. The united states should do so in ways that are practical and sustainable. In light of this, lead organizations are likely normally to be non-d.o.d. You said the dod plays an important role. Talk to me about how you see the role of d.o.d..
▶ 1:30:28Mr. Colby: I know this is a special focus of yours. This is something I want to learn more about. I am very conscious that and just give to the back and forth that military force is not a panacea. It is pinnacle. In needs to be part of the presidents menu of options and in certain cases, it can solve the problem. Things like transnational criminal organizations, crime has been with us since we got out of the jungles. It is going to be there.
▶ 1:31:00Mr. Colby: But we can reduce it. A big part of that is going to be integration with the diplomatic arms with capable partners who are willing to do more in places like latin america and other places as well. I think it is important for the department to be more aware and active in those conversations. My impression somewhat from within the department but often from the outside is that that is out of the department's purview. It is important that the department is there not always saying everything can be solved with a hammer but to be part of the conversation.
▶ 1:31:32Mr. Colby: I think the kind of people who are being populated in the senior levels of the state department and elsewhere, I would believe I could have a good conversation and integration and collaboration along those lines on those issues.
▶ 1:31:45Sen. Kaine: When you talk to the south, leadership they will emphasize that a lot of non-dod assets are very important as well. I am on foreign relations and armed services. I have been involved in that framework. We are pretty heavily invested in virginia. You did a tweet august where you said it was a great idea but I have been skeptical in practice.
▶ 1:32:13Sen. Kaine: I remain skeptical, agnostic but more inclined based on new information. I believe it would be crazy to have fewer assets. Talk to me about your perspective, the promise of the concept and what that is.
▶ 1:32:28Mr. Colby: This is another area where the facts arrived and my perspective is realistic and pragmatic and data-driven, adaptive based on the facts. The idea of empowering australia, perhaps our closest ally, they have been with us even in her left advisable wars. It is a good idea.
▶ 1:32:56Mr. Colby: As secretary rubio has said, there is a threat of a conflict of becoming years. It is absolutely essential for making the defense of taiwan a viable and practical option. If we can produce it in sufficient number and speed, then great.
▶ 1:33:19Mr. Colby: If we can, that becomes a different problem because we do not want our servicemen and women to be in a weaker position and more vulnerable and worse that they are not in the right place at the right time. My perspective is if confirmed, I think it should be the policy to do what we can to make this work and as we talked about in your office, this is getting back to restoring our defense industrial capacity so that we don't have to face these awful choices but rather can be in a
▶ 1:33:49Mr. Colby: Position where we can produce not only for ourselves before our allies.
▶ 1:33:53Sen. Kaine: Having more capacity even if it is joint capacity is a good thing. We just have to be careful even if we tried to produce an australian capacity that we do not end up in a time period we are less than we would otherwise be. Thank you.
▶ 1:34:07Chair Wicker: Senator ernst.
▶ 1:34:09Sen. Ernst: Thank you Mr. chair. Good morning to you Mr. colby. I want to welcome your family as well. Thank you for joining us today. I do appreciate your ongoing service and commitment to our department of defense. For years I have been calling out the waste, fraud and abuse we have had at the pentagon to ensure that our taxpayer dollars are used for support our war fighters and protecting our nation.
▶ 1:34:39Sen. Ernst: The department of defense which controls the largest portion of our discretionary budget in the federal government has never once passed a full financial audit. The failure erodes public trust and prevents efficient use of taxpayer dollars for critical defense priorities. Mr. colby, what policies will you put into place to ensure that the d.o.d. Passes an audit as the law requires by 2028?
▶ 1:35:08Mr. Colby: Thank you very much. Thank you for the kind words to my family. I would regard it as a priority if confirmed, to make sure policies are in place to ensure efficiency. I agree with you. For the amount of money we our spending, we should be getting better results. This is a real potential where we could get much better results and have a better defense industrial base situation and readiness for our forces.
▶ 1:35:39Mr. Colby: I don't have a specific recommendation at this point but I am welcome to hearing your thoughts about how to do that.
▶ 1:35:45Sen. Ernst: Thank you and I look forward to working with you on that issue as well. Let's go to the middle east. There has been a lot of discussion this morning about the middle east and central command. The signing of the abraham accords during the first trump administration, significant achievement. It was monumental, a strategic breakthrough for the region. I worked to expand this agreement through legislation and previous defense bills.
▶ 1:36:14Sen. Ernst: We focused on enhanced integration with our partners which could be the examples that we have had area missile defense, artificial intelligence, capabilities and maritime cooperation to counter iran. What are your thoughts on expanding the abraham accords? How can we accomplish that?
▶ 1:36:35Mr. Colby: I think the abraham accords were a triumph of president trump's first term and I am hopeful that they can be built on. They are an example of where diplomacy is and even though it is unorthodox, can come about. It offers part of the solution for dealing with iran's regional hegemonic aspirations although it is not exclusively so.
▶ 1:36:58Mr. Colby: If confirmed, this is an area where there is a lot that can be done to build up the capabilities of those like the saudi's consistent with israel's qualitative military edge. I am a really big fan of the abraham accords and the model. If confirmed, I would put a lot of shoulder into it.
▶ 1:37:18Sen. Ernst: Wonderful. You mentioned the saudis as well. Thoughts on normalization and how we can assist with the kingdom.
▶ 1:37:34Mr. Colby: I am not fully briefed. The more we can approach, that would be great. I have seen reporting on that in the press. I don't know where things stand. That is an area where diplomacy is probably the most effective. I think that would be an incredible thing and if confirmed, I would support efforts in that direction.
▶ 1:37:59Sen. Ernst: I do too. That would lead to additional stability across the middle east with the addition of that normalization between jerusalem and riyadh. As we discussed during our office meeting, I have been working a long time to combat sexual assault in our military. Secretary hegseth committed to appointing a senior official to ensure a focus on sexual assault prevention within the department of defense. Mr.
▶ 1:38:26Sen. Ernst: Colby if confirmed, will you work with me on this appointment to ensure focused leadership on this critical issue and will you commit to providing congress with regular updates on the progress made in this area?
▶ 1:38:39Mr. Colby: I will.
▶ 1:38:41Sen. Ernst: I appreciate being straightforward on that. Thank you. Again, an remaining time and I know my dear friend from alaska will talk more about nato. Talking about how relationships matter around the globe, in the remaining time, give me your stance on america remain engaged on the world stage.
▶ 1:39:05Mr. Colby: I think america should remain engaged on the world stage. A lot of what I argue for is a way to do that and is sustainable with the threats that we face and the national resources we have and our long-term interests.
▶ 1:39:19Sen. Ernst: Thank you very much. Thank you Mr. chair.
▶ 1:39:24Chair Wicker: Mr. colby, I think I will ask you to enlarge on that on the record. At this point, I think that would be helpful. Senator warren is here so she gets to go first. Senator king.
▶ 1:39:50Sen. King: Mr. colby, the vice president characterized you as a truth teller. Yet today you have not told the truth about who started the war in ukraine. Who started the war in ukraine?
▶ 1:40:06Mr. Colby: I don't think I am saying anything untrue but it is important to be discreet we say things at the appropriate time and place.
▶ 1:40:12Sen. King: Utility will tell truth the partner and the most obvious truth is that russia invaded ukraine. Everybody in the world knows that and you will not say it here today because it appears that you don't want to offend the president but that is the whole point of the vice president customer testimony. But you will not do it here today on the record. This is an obvious truth. It reminds me of the old country song. Who will you believe. Me or your own lying eyes?
▶ 1:40:43Mr. Colby: The way I see it is diplomacy especially during a delicate period where I am hoping things that get --
▶ 1:40:52Sen. King: Shouldn't diplomacy be based on the truth? You have major non-point. Let's talk about terrorism. Deterrence does not work with terrorism. I am afraid this country has taken its eye off of terrorism. We are talking about china and the middle east but terrorism is a consistent threat. Isis-k is trying to make a comeback in syria. The al qaeda is active in afghanistan and other places.
▶ 1:41:24Sen. King: Deterrence does not work. They don't have a capital city to blow up. They don't care about dying. Intelligence is our best defense against terrorism and yet we are seeing the greatest loss of jobs in the cia in 50 years. How do we deal with terrorism when we are cutting our intelligence capacity?
▶ 1:41:43Mr. Colby: I agree with you about the threat of terrorism. When I wrote my book and I did the defense strategy in 2017, this was something I was thinking of. I was working with my two sons who do not remember this but on the last 9/11 and conveying them however member that. That is not something I take for granted.
▶ 1:42:09Mr. Colby: This absolutely does and I would ensure that preventing terrorist attacks against americans where possible should be an enduring role of the military.
▶ 1:42:27Sen. King: As I have thought about this for many years, intelligence is really the best defense. Deterrence does not work. Yet we are eviscerating our intelligence capability as we sit here today.
▶ 1:42:39Mr. Colby: I could not speak intelligently by just reading the news reports about what is going on in terms of the cia and others but I have confidence that director radcliffe and others are making things more efficient, more focused, more lethal. They are trying to encourage case officers to go into more dangerous settings to prevent such an outcome.
▶ 1:43:04Sen. King: I hope you are right. Just a note on taiwan. One of those critical questions is how much taiwan has committed to its own defense. It disturbs me that in recent months that the parliament of taiwan is moved to cut their defense budget. How are we expected to think about sending americans into harm's way on behalf of an entity that does not seem all that interested in protecting itself?
▶ 1:43:33Sen. King: Are you disturbed by that movement in the taiwanese parliament?
▶ 1:43:35Mr. Colby: I am profoundly disturbed. The question you are raising is what I have heard that only democrats but republicans raise often in private. Secretary mattis said we cannot care more about defense than you can.
▶ 1:43:51Mr. Colby: I have been trying in my communication and recommendations for policy to try to induce them in whatever way possible to become more like south korea so it is a very plausible model with a much more serious military because not only do I not think it is fair to americans to ask our servicemen and women to suffer if our allies are not pulling their weight but also that it will not be viable.
▶ 1:44:15Sen. King: One more truth to power question. Last week the united states stopped supporting the restoration and protection of the electorate in ukraine. Yesterday the administration announced the cut off of military aid to ukraine. Do you believe that those two things together undermining the security of ukraine in this critical moment are good ideas?
▶ 1:44:42Mr. Colby: As I said I think the critical thing at this point is for advancing the peace process and for us and kyiv to cooperate.
▶ 1:44:54Sen. King: You are all about policy. You think the cut off ukraine is good policy?
▶ 1:44:59Mr. Colby: I am only seeing the recent reports but the president has a plan for us to end this war and sustainable model for a sovereign ukraine and europe that can be more defensible. That is the route we should all take.
▶ 1:45:17Chair Wicker: Thank you very much. Senator sullivan.
▶ 1:45:22Sen. Sullivan: Thank you. Mr. colby, good to see you and your family. Thank you for serving. You and your father have served this country admirably as well. Thank.
▶ 1:45:40Sen. Sullivan: You, all of you four years ago when the under secretary of defense for policy was testifying at his confirmation hearing, he said that one of his top priorities was to stamp out systemic racism within the ranks. My view is that began the vocal assault on the military. Do you believe our military is racist?
▶ 1:46:02Mr. Colby: I do not.
▶ 1:46:03Sen. Sullivan: Will you work with this committee and secretary hegseth to stamp out the remnants of woke assault that we spent four years dealing with?
▶ 1:46:20Mr. Colby: I will continue to work with secretary hegseth to restore these values.
▶ 1:46:26Sen. Sullivan: That is the right focus and our military is not systemically racist. Despite what the last demonstration told everybody. Alliances, I'm glad to see in your powerful opening statement talked about the power of alliances. Do you agree that our alliances throughout the world are a source of american power and strength.
▶ 1:46:48Mr. Colby: They need to be adapted and made more sustainable and that is the approach I would take.
▶ 1:46:55Sen. Sullivan: The ambassador for nato is having his confirmation hearing as we speak upstairs or downstairs in the foreign relations committee, matt whitaker. He has testified already this morning. He is a strong supporter of the nato alliance. Are you a strong supporter of the nato alliance and getting them to 2% or 3% or do you still think that is a useful alliance?
▶ 1:47:19Mr. Colby: I do. I believe in nato but I believe it has to adapt to change to stay the same. It has to go back to something closer to what it was in the cold war. The western military in 1988, two thirds the size of current germany and had two active divisions. We have one single division now. We are seeing progress but the question is how do we manage this dangerous period of transition.
▶ 1:47:47Sen. Sullivan: It is worth performing because it does provide power and strength to the united states.
▶ 1:47:52Mr. Colby: I think the nato alliance is important.
▶ 1:47:54Sen. Sullivan: Let me reinforce senator cotton's important line of questions this morning and I appreciate those. Just to be clear, your suggestions in previous writings, you had an editorial highlighting that we could tolerate iran with a nuclear weapon suggestion is no longer your view, correct?
▶ 1:48:17Mr. Colby: If I could elaborate.
▶ 1:48:19Sen. Sullivan: I would just be really quick.
▶ 1:48:22Mr. Colby: We should not allow iran to have a nuclear weapon and if confirmed, it is my response ability to provide credible --
▶ 1:48:30Sen. Sullivan: That is your personal view. A lot of times you can say well, -- you believe that.
▶ 1:48:37Mr. Colby: Yes. I agree. First of all, I have been in a policy debate a long time.
▶ 1:48:47Sen. Sullivan: I get that. You are a public intellectual.
▶ 1:48:50Mr. Colby: Not anymore. I am up for a public job with great public response ability. I understand that. A lot of what I was arguing about at the time, these conversations 15 years ago, these opponents had a flippant attitude toward the employment of the military force. That is what I was arguing against. Was my wording and framing appropriate? No.
▶ 1:49:14Sen. Sullivan: Iran with a nuclear weapon is not a threat to the united states.
▶ 1:49:18Mr. Colby: Yes. We now have a leadership who understands that we need to be militarily strong but also understand the downside risks.
▶ 1:49:25Sen. Sullivan: Do you fully support the president's return to maximum pressure?
▶ 1:49:30Mr. Colby: . I do. .
▶ 1:49:33Sen. Sullivan: I only have 40 seconds left. Your 2018 national security strategy I thought was excellent. Well done. The rebalance to focus on great power competition, very important.
▶ 1:49:53Sen. Sullivan: But also there is an element of deterrence in that it is still important and you have written in your excellent book strategy of denial that we need to provide ache credible deterrent -- need to provide a credible deterrent. But on deterrence itself, here is my question. Is deterrence divisible for the united states?
▶ 1:50:14Sen. Sullivan: What I mean by that is people say, we can let bad guys putin, europe, iran, but we will be strong in the taiwan strait. Is deterrence divisible in that way? I think it's not. Look at joe biden, afghanistan. That was a disaster. Guess what happened? I predicted this. Every bad guy in the world said I am making my move.
▶ 1:50:40Sen. Sullivan: Putin probably would not have invaded ukraine had it not been for afghanistan. The same for hamas and iran and israel. We have to rebalance but is deterrence divisible? That is where you and I may have a disagreement. Are we getting in the danger zone there? I think it is but what do you think?
▶ 1:50:59Mr. Colby: Things are definitely interconnected. What I will say is it is really important. You have to have the right stuff in the right place at the right time. We need to make sure we have that so we have to do both of these things. We have to pay attention to the political credibility issues. At the end of the day, giving your service, we need the right stuff in the right place to have the right effect.
▶ 1:51:25Mr. Colby: As macarthur famously said, the two most famous words of the military are too late. That's out of the equation is what I'm driving toward.
▶ 1:51:33Chair Wicker: Thank you very much. A vote has begun. This hearing will continue and members if they will, may just run to vote and then come back. The ranking member has gone to vote now. Senator kelly, you are recognized.
▶ 1:51:53Sen. Kelly: Thank you Mr. chairman. Mr. colby, great seeing you and your family here. Vice president jd vance said the following when introducing you. "we need good people in government who will tell the truth, a look you in the eye, who will disagree sometimes amicably but actually be willing to look you in the eye and have an important conversation, how you can trust to tell you what
▶ 1:52:24Sen. Kelly: They actually think, agree or disagree." on his larger point, I agree strongly. In any business or organization, you need people willing to speak their mind. It is especially important in this role where you would be setting the policy of the department of defense at a very dangerous time. I have a couple of simple questions for you. Are there russian troops fighting in ukraine?
▶ 1:52:52Mr. Colby: Yes.
▶ 1:52:55Sen. Kelly: Thank you. I appreciate you being straightforward. Is it easier or harder for the united states to shift its focus more toward the pacific if putin is successful in ukraine?
▶ 1:53:11Mr. Colby: I think it is certainly a critical factor. There are other factors that we talked about. It would be better if there was a secure and sovereign ukraine and nato that is capable of defending itself.
▶ 1:53:26Sen. Kelly: If putin is perceived as being successful and if he comes out of this feeling that this worked out in his favor, does that put other european countries at risk?
▶ 1:53:41Mr. Colby: It is clear european countries need to take more responsibility for their own security. That is already happening. We want to encourage that. I have a different view from senator hirono. The dynamics going on where leaders are saying we will do a lot more. That is something we should encourage and enable.
▶ 1:54:00Mr. Colby: I would say a new approach that I would advocate for and have been advocating for would be to enable work with europeans and the positive trajectory that they are on now to give them the capability to do so.
▶ 1:54:12Sen. Kelly: That is one side of the risk calculation. The other side is putin and how he feels. My concern is if we set the conditions here where he feels years from now that this was worthwhile for him, he gained territory. Maybe ukraine is not a member of nato, that that puts our european allies at risk regardless of the steps they take now.
▶ 1:54:41Sen. Kelly: I have spoken to leadership in baltic nations and poland and finland and this is a concern of theirs as well.
▶ 1:54:49Mr. Colby: What I would say and what others have said is that we should put emphasis on the verify. We can trust but definitely verify. We should not take anything for granted. I think the europeans and our own military reforms going forward should make sure that putin or whoever is in charge of the kremlin does not see it as advantageous to test the batteries -- test the boundaries of our security perimeter.
▶ 1:55:18Sen. Kelly: Do you view putin as a war criminal?
▶ 1:55:21Mr. Colby: I don't think I am the right person to comment this one way or the other. There are factual matters that I can comment on but at this point my personal interest is in making sure that I don't do anything that would disrupt the resumption of a move toward peace.
▶ 1:55:38Sen. Kelly: Do you believe that war crimes were committed in ukraine?
▶ 1:55:41Mr. Colby: Senator, I don't think it is appropriate for me to be commenting on these delicate issues.
▶ 1:55:49Sen. Kelly: Can you explain how negotiations are harmed if we state something that is self-evident? How does that harm negotiations?
▶ 1:55:59Mr. Colby: In all negotiations there is a time and place to have something in a private conversation that is much different. We should be clear eyed and understanding how what is going on and be frank with russians and others. I think having that in public is a very different. The one china policy, I think we touched on it. There are certain things that we understand.
▶ 1:56:22Sen. Kelly: You don't think it is a good idea to negotiate things in public?
▶ 1:56:26Mr. Colby: I generally think that these things should be conducted behind closed doors in the appropriate forms. Sometimes it might be in public but that is not something I'm driving the train on.
▶ 1:56:37Sen. Kelly: I agree with you. I don't think we should negotiate in public. That did not happen last week.
▶ 1:56:44Mr. Colby: The vice president's point was exactly that.
▶ 1:56:49Sen. Kelly: On another subject here. D.o.d. Is focused on providing and I know I am out of time but we talked about asymmetric advantage in my office in the indopacom aor. It is important that we maintain an asymmetric advantage. I hope you take a very close look at ngad as we move forward.
▶ 1:57:22Mr. Colby: I will commit to taking a closer look at that.
▶ 1:57:28Chair Wicker: Senator cramer.
▶ 1:57:33Sen. Cramer: Thank you and thank you Mr. colby for being here. By the way, just to prove that I get along well with my democratic friends, I agree with senator kelly and his point about ngad. Air dominance needs to be a high priority for our air force. I also understand your frustration.
▶ 1:58:02Sen. Cramer: You have done marvelously in answering their attempt to get you to say something that may upset the delicate balance going on right now between the various players in this hopefully negotiation to peace in ukraine. You are so much younger than me but at least you are a student of history. Ronald reagan was the first president I was able to vote for.
▶ 1:58:32Sen. Cramer: I believe he referred to communism in very negative terms and called the soviet union an evil empire. I also sort of recall that he once referred to gorbachev as his friend. It must be easier to negotiate with a friend than an evil empire. Just a point I'm trying to make historically, granted not every situation is the same. These are not identical.
▶ 1:59:01Sen. Cramer: The human beings in this matter are not the same. I think the process is similar. I applaud your diplomacy in this room today. Speaking of age, literally the year I was born, the first intercontinental ballistic missile was invented and two years later the first one was installed in north dakota, the minuteman one.
▶ 1:59:27Sen. Cramer: The minuteman three came along after some time and we also have 70-year-old b-52 bombers, both of those are vehicles for securing nuclear warheads. And the air force base contains and protects a large majority of nuclear material in our arsenal. I literally watched nuclear deterrence work up close and personal.
▶ 1:59:58Sen. Cramer: I was very much appreciative of my career in congress and the U.S. senate getting to know not just the processes and the systems, the very old systems, every bit as old as I am, but also the airmen that protect them, that fly them, that operate them. Really rather remarkable. I want to drill down with that a little bit with what you were visiting with senator fischer about.
▶ 2:00:25Sen. Cramer: Maybe even get a little bit more specific in the sense that the particular land-based deterrent sentinel has had some challenges. We do not do this very often. We find ourselves in a crunch financially regarding the sentinel.
▶ 2:00:47Sen. Cramer: Will you commit today that you will advise the president and congress but especially the president that we really do need to have that deterrence? It has worked so well for so long that not a single icbd long that not a single icbm with a nuclear warhead has had to be fired.
▶ 2:01:09Mr. Colby: I commit to advising the support for the icbm and the triad and the sentinel program. There are concerns about the program so if confirmed,, that would be a priority to try to get that thing back on track. You have my commitment.
▶ 2:01:29Sen. Cramer: While we are on the issue of the air force, many recent administrations have been recent administrations have &een shedding the responsibility of the air force to provide good isr airborne isr. Lately with the advent of space force which I strongly support has provided another layer of isr. However airborne isr remains very important.
▶ 2:01:59Sen. Cramer: And yet we are seeing what I believe is an escalation of shedding isr by the united states air force particularly modern isr. I would just ask what your level of commitment is. First of all, how important you feel I airborne isr is and your level of commitment to overseeing it.
▶ 2:02:24Mr. Colby: Thanks very much. As we discussed in your office, I think airborne isr is very important especially for its own reasons but also because we cannot solely rely on the space-based layer. I would also say it is really nice to see you and I hope your recovery goes well. Thank you for being here today.
▶ 2:02:47Mr. Colby: I believe president reagan when he went to moscow and he was asked about the evil empire during the period when he was engaged with gorbachev and he demurred. He said something like, I would not put it that way at this time. I think that shows president reagan is a great example of having a clear moral vision but also understanding that there is a place and time for everything and being able to move and adapt to take advantage of new circumstances.
▶ 2:03:11Chair Wicker: Senator peters.
▶ 2:03:14Sen. Peters: Mr. colby, good to see you. Congratulations on your nomination. It was good spending time with you in my office discussing a variety of issues. One of the things we talked about was how detroit is a major contributor to the allied war effort now but famously back in world war ii producing tanks and aircraft guns and other weapons, nicknamed the arsenal of democracy by president franklin roosevelt.
▶ 2:03:45Sen. Peters: I think you described it as the detroit deterrence. I like that saying. Your previous work on the national defense strategy emphasized shipbuilding dominance and you stated improving the industrial base would be one of your top priorities, if confirmed. We share the same goal to expand the industrial face not just in michigan but around the country. My focus is not just in michigan.
▶ 2:04:13Sen. Peters: What policies or initiatives would you lead to mobilize national military industrial base? We have to up produce our adversaries which will be critical but how would you they were toys that?
▶ 2:04:27Mr. Colby: Thank you. I appreciate the kind words and your attempt to move this forward. A lot of the responsibility for these issues would be in places like the service secretary and acquisition and sustainment. I would see my role will be a welcome hearing more from you and your staff on this topic is really driving at a national level from the department down.
▶ 2:04:53Mr. Colby: If we look at the statutory responsible abilities of the undersecretary of defense for policy, it is defense strategy which should be the primary guidance for the department as well as dealing with the interagency. That is a very important platform and basis to engage both within and outside the department to drive what I would think of is really a national mobilization of our defense industrial base as part of a broader re-industrialization effort. It is not going to work if it is just a defense industrial base and try to restore some of that detroit deterrence.
▶ 2:05:22Sen. Peters: Wonderful. There are a proposal for a space-based iron dome for america that has gained traction in some political circles despite what are known technical challenges and the cost as well. Northcom and southcom face challenges including awareness cap, critical infrastructure and a whole host of challenges.
▶ 2:05:51Sen. Peters: My question for you is how do you evaluate the feasibility of such a concept for defending the entire U.S. homeland given the competing operational challenges of northcom and southcom?
▶ 2:06:05Mr. Colby: I understand where you are coming from. Studying the history of missile defense capabilities, those are very valid questions. I support the president's eo and the golden dome approach in large part because I think of the range and scale of sophistication of missiles and other unmanned threats so we need to keep pace with that.
▶ 2:06:27Mr. Colby: One of the reasons where the facts change and the recommendations change is I think some of the technology breakthroughs we have seen in things like drones, unmanned systems and artificial intelligence could really drive down the cost and offer of technology capabilities and solutions and results that would give us a much better bang for our buck.
▶ 2:06:54Mr. Colby: It would be in r&d and other places. It is a reasonable basis to move forward and not just pie in the sky thinking.
▶ 2:07:04Sen. Peters: The air force has requested billions of dollars to research and build a collaborative combat aircraft, which is the unmanned powered aircraft controlled by a very advanced ai system that can complete missions on its own or be deployed in combination with human fighters. These autonomous aircraft are particularly crucial we think about the indo-pacific.
▶ 2:07:36Sen. Peters: My question for you is if confirmed, how do you see ccas being integrated into indopacom and is that the place where they would have the most use?
▶ 2:07:46Mr. Colby: Unfortunately my knowledge of this is really from reading the defense press and on the outside so I don't feel I have the basis to give you a really informed answer. I do think we need to see unmanned systems operating alongside main systems an integrated fashion as part of the operational concepts of the future especially in places like the pacific given up on the long ranges but the scale and the and sophistication of china air
▶ 2:08:17Mr. Colby: Defenses.
▶ 2:08:18Chair Wicker: Senator scott.
▶ 2:08:21Sen. Scott: Congratulations on your nomination and thanks for being here. Thank you for taking the opportunity to meet with me. You made a commitment when we met that you would do everything you can to enact president trump's agenda, standing with our allies including israel, bringing to spectrum strength.
▶ 2:08:42Sen. Scott: As we talked about, I represent florida that has a very big jewish population, a very pro-israel population. After president biden's abandonment of israel and appeasement of dangerous regimes, thank god we have president trump back in the white house, the most pro-israel president in our nations history. He has made clear that as long as he is president, iran will not have a nuclear weapon. I am encouraged by the decisive actions he is taken to restore maximum pressure on iran.
▶ 2:09:14Sen. Scott: Can you please talk about your previous comments on iran and your commitment to supporting israel and the president's agenda?
▶ 2:09:21Mr. Colby: Thank you. I am honored to be nominated by president trump and serve in this administration. I believe he has the right perspective. He is an excellent negotiator. I believe I have a very strong record, more than strong, airtight record on support for israel. I think it is of key interest to the united states.
▶ 2:09:50Mr. Colby: Security has taken a huge blow as a result of the hamas attack's and the concurrent attacks and subsequent attacks from iran. I have publicly stood with israel. It is important to have the memorandum of understanding to stand behind israel not only politically but financially wherever possible as part of our strategy militarily.
▶ 2:10:12Mr. Colby: On the issue of iran I have made clear that my position, senator sullivan rightly underlines is that iran should not have a nuclear weapon and if confirmed, it would be my personal responsibility and my duty to present the president with very good possible options that are consistent with the president's overall approach which is to try to have a trust but verify agreement or something like it
▶ 2:10:43Mr. Colby: But you have to have the hammer there available. What I would say and I was discussing with senator sullivan is the way that I would look at it at the overall arc of my thinking is to say the thrust of my thinking and advocacy over the years of my strategic approach has been we have to get the ways and means together. We have to have something close.
▶ 2:11:05Mr. Colby: What president trump is talking about, very similar and president reagan saying you need to be strong to get peace but if we are going to put american forces into action, we will have a clear goal. It will have an exit strategy. That is the kind of thing. A lot of my advocacy and commentary as a public intellectual was pushing back against a lot of people who frankly I would say are quite cavalier about the military force.
▶ 2:11:33Mr. Colby: To your point with president trump's leadership and the vice president, we have a team that understands the strengths, that understands the role of negotiation but also understands that it is important, the downside risks of use of military force and the importance of not being cavalier about employing our men and women in uniform.
▶ 2:11:51Sen. Scott: The prior administration slowed down eight to israel -- provision to israel . Will you commit that you agree that we should reverse the former administration's anti-israel policies and correct any bureaucratic holdups?
▶ 2:12:13Mr. Colby: I agree. What I have said is if confirmed I would advocate removing the bear hug which is to say israel is a model ally in the sense that it is capable and willing and not asking us to fight all of its own fights. It wants the capability and backing to take care of business.
▶ 2:12:34Mr. Colby: A very effective example is israel's actions against hezbollah and iran a few months ago which I think were very effective and they left us in a better position and solve the problem of hezbollah and iran. I think the israelis are realists. They have put themselves and us in a better position by the robust application of military force in a smart way.
▶ 2:13:01Sen. Scott: Really easy question . Do you agree that the government of china has made the decision to become our adversary?
▶ 2:13:08Mr. Colby: Absolutely, that's correct.
▶ 2:13:11Chair Wicker: Thank you. Mr. colby, in the context of your answer, what is the bear hug?
▶ 2:13:19Mr. Colby: My understanding of the bear hug from what I have been reading is a hovering control over israel's decisions that some people advocate which is saying we will pick and choose exactly what you can and cannot do. My view that I think is consistent with the president's view is that we should be looking for allies who are able but also willing to do things more autonomously and take action.
▶ 2:13:48Mr. Colby: In the case of hezbollah, just relying on public reporting, I am not sure we really knew about it but it was very effective and it ended up being in our interest.
▶ 2:13:58Chair Wicker: Thank you for that explanation. Senator warren.
▶ 2:14:04Sen. Warren: Thank you Mr. chairman. Congratulations Mr. colby on your nomination. The U.S. does not target innocent civilians. Not only because that is what is right, that is also what is effective. General stanley personally coined the term insurgent math meaning that for every civilian you kill, you create 10 new enemies. U.S.
▶ 2:14:30Sen. Warren: Airstrikes killed as many as 48,000 civilians between 2001 and 2020 one. You can do the math on that. Most people know that killing civilians is wrong. When it has happened, our troops filed reports. Too often those reports do not receive a response from anyone and we do not learn how to avoid future accidents.
▶ 2:15:01Sen. Warren: That is why congress passed several reforms in the wall to reduce civilian harm and to improve our guidance for our service members including establishing the civilian protection center of excellence that helps make military operations more effective and it also supports troops in preventing and responding to civilian harm. Let me ask you Mr. colby, if confirmed, will you oversee implementation of these reforms.
▶ 2:15:33Sen. Warren: Do you agree that preventing civilian deaths enhances U.S. national security, including reducing risks to our own troops?
▶ 2:15:42Mr. Colby: I agree.
▶ 2:15:44Sen. Warren: I am glad to hear that. It is very important. During the first trump administration the print again -- the pentagon was concerned about the number of civilian deaths resulting from operations that were in place to try to defeat isis and it launched a study. The secretary mattis and esper and austin all took steps to reduce civilian harm across the administration's.
▶ 2:16:15Sen. Warren: Today the center of excellence helps commanders sharpen their campaign plans so they can make smarter decisions about strikes that they need to deploy. Mr. colby, do you agree that commanders can make better decisions in the field when they are equipped with training on how to avoid civilian casualties?
▶ 2:16:34Mr. Colby: I do.
▶ 2:16:35Sen. Warren: I am glad to hear that. Following the laws of war helps set us apart from terrorists and from adversaries like russia which has targeted civilians in ukraine. American troops also rely on judge advocate general's corps for legal advice. Senator graham was a jag and rightly called them the conscious of the military.
▶ 2:17:05Sen. Warren: Is it important that commanders have legal advice that they can count on and trust?
▶ 2:17:11Mr. Colby: I do.
▶ 2:17:13Sen. Warren: Secretary hegseth has outspoken that the rules of war endangers U.S. troops and his firing of top military lawyers in the army of the navy and air force and his plans to reduce the rank of jag leadership from a three star role to a two star role are
▶ 2:17:46Sen. Warren: Concerning. Your views will send messages from the top about whether the laws of more matter. I urge you to take this seriously. I appreciate your answers today. If you want to expand on them, you are welcome to do so.
▶ 2:18:00Mr. Colby: Thank you. I have seen the reports in the press so I cannot speak about it more deeply. I trust secretary hegseth judgment. If confirmed, I will take the laws of war very seriously. It is something I have studied in the past. It is part of the overall rational use of military power, not to be sanguine about it.
▶ 2:18:26Mr. Colby: But to say that observing the laws of war, understanding them in a reasonable way that is consistent with combat and military effectiveness and achieving our goals, that is a very important part of the picture.
▶ 2:18:39Sen. Warren: I appreciate that. I think that keeps our war fighters safer and our nation safer thank you.
▶ 2:18:47Chair Wicker: Thank you very much. We have senator tuberville. Simple tuberville --
▶ 2:18:58Sen. Tuberville: Thank you. Good morning. We know this job will be difficult but you can handle it. You advocate for a strategy of the mile end military and geopolitical context. How does this concept translate to central and south american place like panama and the troubling amount of influence that china is starting to have in that area.
▶ 2:19:26Sen. Tuberville: They just announced that one of our major corporations is purchasing both ports at the panama canal is very good news.
▶ 2:19:33Mr. Colby: Thanks, senator. The president's early initiatives on our hemisphere are very encouraging. This is a department's overall strategy both to secure our own interests directly, to secure the territorial integrity of our homeland from unchecked migration and lethal fentanyl flows that are killing americans.
▶ 2:19:56Mr. Colby: But also as you said, to ensure that china does not gain a foothold in critical areas of latin america. That is a big part of the strategy. Part of it is up to the military. A lot of it is part of the other agencies of government. I know the former ambassador of mexico is going through his hearing downstairs. I think he is up for deputy secretary of state. That is the kind of relationship between d.o.d.
▶ 2:20:25Mr. Colby: And state department where you have a clear picture that we have to have a handle on our hemisphere and pursuing our strategies and we are empowering countries in the region to contribute more through development, through better governments themselves, through alignment with a common sense approach that we are following here. That can result in better outcomes for all of us.
▶ 2:20:48Sen. Tuberville: Panama is very receptive. When you get in your position, you will find out. I have been there several times. They need help. We need more access to the c1 in 2023, president biden overrode president trump, the findings of multiple studies including an inspector general review and directed the headquarters of space command remain in colorado instead of moving to its selective location
▶ 2:21:20Sen. Tuberville: In alabama, my state. If confirmed, will you be the senior dod official in charge of space policy, you will be as well as strategy plans and capabilities for the entire department, do you agree with me that as a matter of policy, it is in our nation's best interest to make basing decisions on merit and not on political agendas?
▶ 2:21:44Mr. Colby: I do, senator.
▶ 2:21:45Sen. Tuberville: Thank you. Much of your work is about prioritizing our defense policy toward deterring aggression with china,. What do you make of the progress made over the past few years by our adversaries in integrating their militaries?
▶ 2:22:11Sen. Tuberville: Since ukraine and russia have had their conflict, all the people in the east, what are your thoughts on?
▶ 2:22:17Mr. Colby: I think it is really disturbing. I think there has been this counter coalition. China, russia, iran, north korea. China is the cornerstone of the coalition, the largest economy. Their support has become the russian war effort in ukraine sustainable. They are helping the iranians. The iranians are helping them. The russians are helping the north koreans. I think there are a couple things to be done about that.
▶ 2:22:42Mr. Colby: I think it is important for us to work with our allies to plug the gaps in our perimeter, and a lot of that is getting our forces in a better state of readiness, putting them in the right place. Robust defense funding, and getting our allies to step up. A big part of this is we have allies, israel I mentioned, india, south korea, poland, they are pulling their weight. You can add finland up there. A lot of the biggest economies are not pulling their weight.
▶ 2:23:11Mr. Colby: They are starting now so there is a real opportunity to capitalize on that. Together, we are much wealthier than this counter coalition. But we have to turn that into real military capability.
▶ 2:23:20Sen. Tuberville: Your quick thoughts on bricks?
▶ 2:23:22Mr. Colby: Bric's ra representation of the changing world dynamic. I think secretary rubio put it well. We are no longer in unipolar world. The united states is the strongest country out there but china is the most powerful rival in probably 150 years. Other countries are making those decisions. We should really deepen that and if confirmed, I would make a big priority of that.
▶ 2:23:52Mr. Colby: They are part of it. It's complicated. People will be moving around, the saudi's are talking to the russians and us. That is how the world is going to bp that's the reality of the world system.
▶ 2:24:02Sen. Tuberville: Thank you.
▶ 2:24:02Chair Wicker: Thank you very much, senator tubb irvo. Senator duckworth.
▶ 2:24:08Sen. Duckworth: Thank you, Mr. chairman. While I do not agree with many of your policy positions, I do recognize that you are one of the most experienced and knowledgeable nominees from this administration to come before this committee. I appreciated our conversation in my office very much. It is clear to me that unlike most trump national security nominees, you actually have been working in -- put -- putting in the work to become an expert in your field. Expertise is not enough.
▶ 2:24:39Sen. Duckworth: Integrity, adherence to the rule of law and upholding our institutions are just as essential. As I do with every trump administration candidate to come before this committee, I must ask, if president trump or secretary hegseth ask you something to do something illegal or in direct violation of your oath to defend the constitution, would you to obey?
▶ 2:25:02Mr. Colby: Thank you for the kind words. I can test the premise of the question. I don't think the president or the secretary would ask such a question. But; I would absolutely not follow an unlawful.
▶ 2:25:09Sen. Duckworth: Thank you. That was so easy. Why can't the others do that? Thank you for saying that. The global threat is more volatile than it has been in decades. Russia's aggression, china's assertiveness and challenges into pacific command clear eyed leadership and a commitment to our alliances.
▶ 2:25:31Sen. Duckworth: Rather than reaffirming america's leadership, this administration has undermined our allies, cast our commitments to nato, and most disturbingly, cozied up to adversaries like russia. The credibility of the U.S. as a reliable partner has been called into question by our own actions. Our president has refused to knowledge -- acknowledge the reality that russia's aggression in ukraine has shattered global security norms, and our recent gesture of support for russia has emboldened adversaries.
▶ 2:26:00Sen. Duckworth: Can you tell me if russia invaded ukraine?
▶ 2:26:02Mr. Colby: I don't want to disrupt anything going on with commentary on fraud matter at a delicate time. I'm committed to making sure whatever I can do, or not do anything that would hinder the ability to get the process on track. -- get the peace process on track.
▶ 2:26:20Sen. Duckworth: Why does acknowledging whether russia invaded ukraine, which is a known fact, affect the peace process?
▶ 2:26:28Mr. Colby: Words matter in these times of delicate diplomatic negotiations along the lines of what senator kramer was saying. It is not my place. I am here as a nominee. I'm not part of the conversation. I would not want to do anything to weigh in on -- especially at the sensitive time, where I hope things do get back on track, where we can have moves toward peace. I don't think it is my place. I'm not authorized to speak on this matter as a representative of the government. I am a nominee here.
▶ 2:26:58Sen. Duckworth: It is astounding to me that you can't answer the question of whether or not russia invaded ukraine, when it is a known fact. That would be as if saying you don't know whether or not hitler's invaded poland. It is astounding to me that you cannot answer that question. At -- after last friday's display in the oval office, it is clear top is in the middle of a capitulation, not a negotiation.
▶ 2:27:28Sen. Duckworth: The refusal of this administration's nominees to acknowledge and establish fact of russia's illegal and immoral full-scale invasion of ukraine, ultimately vladimir putin, is one of the most shocking and disturbing things I've seen in my life. Let's move on. You have been a vocal advocate of prioritizing the prc upgrading to your political challenge. We had a good conversation about this. I look forward to working with you on opposing our adversaries.
▶ 2:27:55Sen. Duckworth: Often arguing our focus should shift from other regions, and you have said, sometimes we need to shift from europe and the middle east, and focus on the indo-pacific. Under this administration, we have seen a surge in deployment of active-duty U.S. military personnel to the southern border and guantanamo bay. Not to counter an active military threat, but to inform law enforcement and accomplish tasks that are typically handled by civilian agencies.
▶ 2:28:23Sen. Duckworth: Given your state of concerns about the need to strengthen deterrence against the communist republic of china, do you believe diverting military assets to perform domestic political theater at the border is an effective use of our limited resources, or a distraction from the real threats we face?
▶ 2:28:38Mr. Colby: I would not regard it as domestic political theater to pers irvo our border. But if confirmed, I would make it a real priority to make sure those rightful efforts to ensure our territorial integrity and secure our border don't attract from our -- don't attract from our prioritizing the external state fright we face as a country.
▶ 2:29:00Sen. Duckworth: Good to hear you back. Thank you.
▶ 2:29:02Chair Wicker: That was a very helpful answer. Senator budd.
▶ 2:29:06Sen. Budd: It's great to see you. Congrats on your nomination. Great to see your as well. If confirmed, their influence on the national defense strategy and planning guidance will shape the department for years to come.
▶ 2:29:20Sen. Budd: In the past, I have highlighted through section 908 of the 2025 ndaa the importance of special operations forces, and the need for those strategic documents to better reflect how the unique size structure and posture of special operations forces enables them to serve as a preventer of conflict, and if god there is a conflict, than an enabler of it. How does special operations forces fit into your vision of a national defense strategy?
▶ 2:29:49Mr. Colby: Thank, senator budd. I think special play a important role, not only in the prevention of conflict, but there are a lot of things to do for building capacity. Also god forbid in the event of a major power war, it is a way apropos of discussion with senator king to keep an eye on the ongoing terrorist threats. It plays a very important role in our military posture.
▶ 2:30:17Sen. Budd: Thank you for that. How does irregular warfare fit into the strategy of denial in context of china or other adversaries?
▶ 2:30:25Mr. Colby: As discussed in my responses to the advanced policy questions, that something I have some broad thoughts about. About the ability to present -- create dilemmas for china in the event of conflict, or before conflict to deter it along some of the secondary angles for china.
▶ 2:30:46Mr. Colby: As well as building capacity and the potential, god forbid, in the event of conflict, to create difficulties and dilemmas for china directly in a military sense. Those are some of the areas, that is an area I would want to dive deeper into.
▶ 2:31:05Sen. Budd: In strategy of denial, I know that has come up a lot today, it was one of the first meetings I had in that early basement office in the senate when you came and saw me a few years ago. You talk about the importance of coalitions and maintaining regional balance of power. If the coalition is too small, it lacks a fluent spirit too bad -- big, it may lack commitment from the members. What does an optimal coalition look like to maintain a balance of power in the indo-pacific?
▶ 2:31:31Mr. Colby: That is something as you may recall, I discuss in my book a lot. I think we are in good shape in terms of the formal security commitments. We have strong alliances with japan, south korea, the philippines. We have a very strong security relationship with taiwan, australia is very strong. We have a very deepening and important relationship with india that is directly approximate.
▶ 2:32:01Mr. Colby: I think we can also build affectively on a partnership with vietnam. We have a long ends fraught history with vietnam. But the vietnamese are committed to defending themselves in they see the challenge from china. Those are some of the places where we can work. If we can hold the line at that way, that would be an effective model going forward. There are ways at the diplomatic level and political level to use mechanisms like the quad to build on that.
▶ 2:32:28Mr. Colby: From a defense point of view, the defense perimeter is the one that makes the most sense.
▶ 2:32:31Sen. Budd: Thank you. Given china's activities in the indo-pacific, do you see any states hedging and what do we do to minimize those states concern about the U.S. commitment to regional stability and security?
▶ 2:32:43Mr. Colby: I think that is a really important question. You see hedging behavior all the time. You see balancing behavior by countries that take taiwan or japan for instance. Japan is far too slowly increasing its defense level of effort, it needs to go farther and faster. You also see hedging behavior. You see an engagement with beijing. All of the countries are kind of continually reevaluating. .
▶ 2:33:11Mr. Colby: The most important thing we can do is have credible, capable military forces that are in the right place at the right time. To be able to defeat, sustain chinese aggression against a country within our security perimeter.
▶ 2:33:24Sen. Budd: What are your thoughts on on nato like alliance and the indo-pacific?
▶ 2:33:30Mr. Colby: I'm not theologically opposed but I am skeptical. I was in korea last year, and there was though trilateral with the united states, japan and korea. That is encouraging in some ways. If we look at the south korean political dynamics, it is not clear that that will be entering. I think there is a lot of political work cap that is put into a multilateral organization.
▶ 2:33:54Mr. Colby: Something may be building up to have more multi-lateralization in the region, but not huge ambition of an asian native, especially because you have japan over here, india over here. There are circumstances that are quite distinct.
▶ 2:34:04Sen. Budd: Thank you very much.
▶ 2:34:05Chair Wicker: Thank you very much. Senator rosen.
▶ 2:34:09Sen. Rosen: Thank you, chairman wicker, ranking member read, for holding this hearing. Thank you, Mr. colby, for meeting with me earlier and for your willingness to serve. Before I begin my question is, I want to add my voice to those of my colleagues to express my deep frustration with friday's shameful oval office performance. Followed by the president's decision last night to halt the delivery of U.S. military assistance to ukraine in their fight for their country against a brutal dictator's invasion.
▶ 2:34:42Sen. Rosen: I cannot believe that the united states would side with dictators over democracies, over our democratic partners and allies. We must stand with ukraine. With that, I will move on to a different part of the world, iran. We have to combat iranian aggression. Iran is the world's leading state sponsor of terrorism. It remains the primary source of instability in the middle east. It endangers the world for its support of proxies and its pursuit of developing a nuclear weapon.
▶ 2:35:11Sen. Rosen: We know hamas would not have been able to carry out the october 7 terrorist attack in israel without iranian support. We know this to be true. Across the region, iran also continues to work against american interests, and poses one of the greatest threats to U.S. military personnel, and to those of our allies and partners. Mr. colby, like many of my colleagues, I worry that limiting U.S.
▶ 2:35:36Sen. Rosen: Military involvement in the middle east, which you have advocated for in the past, could only allow iran to further grow its influence in the region. What other risk to U.S. national security and the security of the broader region if iran continues, as you may have advocated in the past, to expand its reach on -- unchecked? If we take a ride off iran, what happens?
▶ 2:35:59Mr. Colby: Thanks. To be clear, I have always opposed iran's hegemonic ambitions. To the contrary, my view is, how can we handle the situation? If I put stress from the realistic predicative of where our military is now, if you look at the 2022 --
▶ 2:36:16Sen. Rosen: Let me take you with that. Over the last year, iran has escalated U.S. personnel. Iran's proxies have targeted U.S. forces in iraq and syria. For many years. How are we going to address the ongoing threat?
▶ 2:36:31Mr. Colby: I don't contest iran is a threat or a malign regime in the slightest. I fully agree with you. I think the intelligent application of our own capabilities in the region, but also using and bolstering the capabilities of our allies, also others in the region, the ability to bolster the arab states and other european partners that may have an interest, that this can be a broader thing.
▶ 2:36:59Mr. Colby: Israel has significantly did -- degraded hezbollah's capability, hamas capability, but also iran's capability. My view, to be clear, is not that we should ignore the middle east or get out of the middle east. I am gay sliding off the reality that all of us must baseline off of, which is that you don't have a multi-war military. We mention the things the iranians have been doing.
▶ 2:37:20Mr. Colby: The chinese are now basically in the business of conducting rehearsals, not even exercises care the secretary of the air force said a couple months ago, he said not only are they chinese on track to get ready by 2027, but they will say it is ready.
▶ 2:37:41Sen. Rosen: Let's talk about china. I want to live by china's lessons from ukraine. China has been identified for the department of defense across both the trump and biden administration's. As ranking member read has quoted former cia director burns, no one is watching U.S. support for ukraine more closely than chinese leaders. And then abandoning ukraine, would be one of the surest ways to rekindle chinese perceptions of america's fecklessness and stoke chinese aggressiveness.
▶ 2:38:11Sen. Rosen: After friday's shameful performance in the oval office, what message did president trump and vice president pence send to china regarding american resolve to back democracies against brutal dictators? And how does taking our eye off the ball anywhere make us any less safe?
▶ 2:38:27Mr. Colby: I would point out that director burns, who is a distinguished foreign policy professional, has also said repeatedly that china was continuing to plan to move toward the 2027, and that xi jinping did have the intent to alternately resolve the issue. Director burns is obviously a foreign policy expert of great distinction.
▶ 2:38:48Sen. Rosen: Can I ask you a quick question. Do you think china, russia, iran and north korea are working in concert against to present this multilateral challenge against us so we won't fight back? How do you justify taking your eye off of -- your eye off the ball?
▶ 2:39:03Mr. Colby: It is arithmetic.
▶ 2:39:05Chair Wicker: Your answer to that question was yes. And now you are elaborating on that answer.
▶ 2:39:12Mr. Colby: Yes.
▶ 2:39:13Chair Wicker: Again, I hear much slower than you two talk.
▶ 2:39:19Mr. Colby: I apologize.
▶ 2:39:24Chair Wicker: If you would elaborate on your affirmative answer to that question.
▶ 2:39:26Mr. Colby: Yes, I do believe there is a counter coalition that is working, in the chairman you talked about this extensively. The factual predicate that we all must proceed from is that as the 2020 22 national defense strategy set, we have a one war military and change. We don't have a military fighting four adversaries at the same time. I would like in theory to have that. That's not the reality.
▶ 2:39:49Mr. Colby: Especially because the threat is so acute and realistic, and because of the very real possibility of multi-front war, we must have a realistic plan. I feel a special obligation that if confirmed, I must deliver a strategy that deals with that. That's not in collecting the iran -- that is not neglecting the iranian threat, but it is a realistic plan to deal with it. Part about his greater defense investment and revitalization of our base.
▶ 2:40:13Mr. Colby: It is also making intelligent use of our allies and in particular in the case of europe and countries like japan and taiwan, pressing them to take greater responsibility which they can and must do.
▶ 2:40:22Chair Wicker: Thank you very much. Thank you for that elaboration, which allowed us -- which required us to take extra time. Mr. colby, I think you will acknowledge that is precisely the situation that my peace through strength plan attempts to address, and address beginning right now.
▶ 2:40:43Mr. Colby: Absolutely. I have the pleasure of reviewing it, and I for we are keying off exactly. And I'm a big supporter of that perspective of restoring american strength and getting our allies even more, which is also the perspective of the president and secretary of defense.
▶ 2:40:59Chair Wicker: Senator schmitt.
▶ 2:41:01Sen. Schmitt: I will give you the opportunity to elaborate as a fellow realist. I think there are a lot of hard truths that need to be told. We can't be everywhere all at once all the time. That's the truth. Why wet -- whether it is this jacksonian or jeffersonian, or realist, whatever you want to call it, I think this town has been in denial for a long time about a fundamental issue of scarcity.
▶ 2:41:31Sen. Schmitt: We have to make decisions. And protecting the homeland, focusing on china, those are -- those are our top two priorities. That's not to say there are not other things of concern. Our industrial base has been strained.
▶ 2:41:47Sen. Schmitt: There is no daylight on this committee about trying to reinvigorate, but I think this adventurism that is defined post-cold war foreign policy has been a huge distraction about what our poor national interests are. You have been a leading advocate on. I want to give you an opportunity to expound on that.
▶ 2:42:11Sen. Schmitt: What does in your role, hopefully your new role here, could you elaborate on what that prioritization, how that would play out. How you think about those things. If you have a strained industrial base, if you are building things for landor europe, you might be -- how do you view all of this?
▶ 2:42:33Mr. Colby: Really an honor and a very similar perspective. I would say that I think, and I talk about this and my responses to my policy questions, so-called lippmann gap, a famous journalist who talked about the danger of a gap between what you are aspiring to do and what you can do. If you get that bluff called, that is catastrophe. Forgive me for getting a little emotional, but I feel that we are at the precipice. The president is right.
▶ 2:43:02Mr. Colby: And if you are right that we could be at the precipice not only of a major war with china, but by deduction, of a multi-front war. And we do not have the capacity. And I don't luxuriate in that limitation. I would like to get to a position, and we spent a lot of time in this hearing, saying let's do the things necessary to get us out of the situation not only for our own forces, but to supply our allies.
▶ 2:43:30Mr. Colby: What I have found it difficult challenge is I feel there is a recognition in one part of the collective brain of the american system that this is a reality but the behavior has not adapted yet. What I fear is if we don't have a realistic plan, that the worst could happen and we could find ourselves in the worst possible outcome, like losing a war. That is why I mentioned it in my opening statement. I think that is actually possible. And I want to avoid that at all cost.
▶ 2:43:58Mr. Colby: By the way, I also don't want to abandon the middle east. I don't want a nuclear iran. I don't want russia to run russia out of europe. If we know as a factual empirical matter that we can do all of those things, don't we need to have a credible plan for how to do so? Part of that is greater resources, Mr. chairman as you have advocated for, and the reconciliation. Hopefully that will be part of that.
▶ 2:44:26Mr. Colby: The secret sauce, senator sullivan, as you were saying, is our allies. Japan is an incredibly wealthy economy. Taiwan, look at the investments. These are incredibly wealthy societies. Why are they not spending at levels commensurate with the threat? I don't understand.
▶ 2:44:44Sen. Schmitt: And the type of spending matters too. When our european allies talk about stepping up, they can't be for pensions.
▶ 2:44:51Mr. Colby: Exactly.
▶ 2:44:52Sen. Schmitt: In tough talk, in percentages of increases for gdp, don't win wars, weapons do. The deindustrialization that has happened in europe, and most recently in europe, has kneecap their ability to be a serious player on this. Which is concerning to me. I know it is concerning to you. As it relates to the industrial base, and we had Mr. feinberg here last week, I think that is a really important confirmation.
▶ 2:45:24Sen. Schmitt: I think yours is as well. How do you see working together with him? Because I agree, I am fully supportive of the chairman's initiative for the plus and up and peace through strength. How do we get to a place where we are more nimble? What are your views as far as procurement? And no that is not specifically your job but it is related.
▶ 2:45:45Mr. Colby: Thank you. And I think the -- I have spent time with Mr. feinberg and we have a natural complementarity. He has presented himself more as the coo of the department to get better results, and I am more the licy and strategy guide. There is obviously different expertise, different experiences. I would welcome him.
▶ 2:46:08Mr. Colby: The secretary has his own set of extraordinary, not to say that mine are extraordinary, but his extraordinary background and experiences and expertise. Confirmed, I would be excited to work as part of that team, that I think has a natural complementarity.
▶ 2:46:22Sen. Schmitt: Thank you.
▶ 2:46:23Chair Wicker: Thank you. Senator banks. Several banks thank you. Since we started this hearing, a lot of things have happened. Don't know if you are in a position to follow the news. It is laughable to me to hear that democrats called the meeting in the oval office on friday "shameful." I had to step out and go to a veterans committee hearing. I had to go vote.
▶ 2:46:50Chair Wicker: But I'm sure I missed a lot of the rhetoric from my democratic colleagues about the terrible, shameful meeting in the oval office on friday. You might not be aware that one hour ago, president zelenskyy tweeted. He called the meeting on friday regrettable. He said, ukraine wants peace, not forever wars. He even thanked president trump and americo for our support, even for the javelins that president trump provided in the first trump term that kept ukraine on its feet. Here's the kicker.
▶ 2:47:21Chair Wicker: President zelenskyy now said one hour ago, he is ready to come back to america and signed the peace deal. The minerals deal. Is it possible that president trump's unconventional approach is actually very effective?
▶ 2:47:33Mr. Colby: Yes, absolutely. I think the proof is in the pudding. And I think that is a really encouraging thing to say. I'm delighted to hear the news that we are making progress. Knock on wood. I think it shows trusting president trump with his particular deputies with this high-level diplomacy is really important. It is not for me as a nominee to be spouting off and potentially interrupting this progress. It's very encouraging.
▶ 2:48:00Mr. Colby: I speak for myself, but I'm pretty confident you too want peace there, you want europe and ukraine to be in as good of a position as they can be. That's very encouraging news.
▶ 2:48:09Sen. Banks: It seems like a pattern with president trump.
▶ 2:48:12Mr. Colby: I think so.
▶ 2:48:13Sen. Banks: Zelenskyy and iran. Our other enemies abroad. It is the tariff approach. It seems like president trump's unconventional approach is actually very effective.
▶ 2:48:24Mr. Colby: It is very effective. He is a master negotiator, a dealmaker, he understands leverage. And he is not going to be calculable. One of the main critiques that we probably all have over the last administration is that they were highly calculable and could measure it. The russians could precisely calibrated. And after three years of conflict, things were going worse. With president trump, you have a very different dynamic. You don't know what he is going to do but you can get a deal with him.
▶ 2:48:55Mr. Colby: This is the point about not having ad hominem's is an important thing. I don't think he misunderstands who vladimir putin is. To the contrary. I think he understands as part of a deal, a good deal, a verifiable deal, a positive deal, and the same logic would go with iran, and god willing he is able to achieve that as well, or make progress in that direction. That would be the same approach you would take.
▶ 2:49:23Sen. Banks: I totally agree. Last year, it had the most unfunded priorities in its history, $11 billion. One of and ok,'s biggest shortfall was missile dependent -- missile defense. We have been giving patriot missile defense systems to ukraine. We have fired hundreds of missile shooting down thousand dollars who the drones. How wise is it to burn through our missile-defense stocks and less -- in less important parts of the world when we are short of those weapons?
▶ 2:49:57Mr. Colby: This is exactly the problem. That is not to say we should not be doing anything in europe or the middle east. It is to say that if we all agree that china is the top challenge in china is the most formidable threat, we need to act like it. Given what they are saying, and bill burns of saint, that we need to act like this could happen. There is a very real threat under president trump, in the term he has been elected to, that a war could happen. I agree that president trump has said china would not attack taiwan under his watch.
▶ 2:50:27Mr. Colby: If confirmed, I would make it my business to give him the military strength to back that up, coupled with the negotiating ability that you just referred to.
▶ 2:50:35Sen. Banks: On that note, our navy is not as big as it needs to be. We especially don't have enough navy ships in the pacific to counter china's rapidly growing fleet. President biden decided to permanently deploy more navy ships in europe to counter russia, a nation which lost most of its black sea fleet to a country without a navy. Should we be putting more vessels in europe when we already don't have enough in the pacific?
▶ 2:51:07Mr. Colby: I think we should be putting the military capabilities, especially that are relevant, in the priority area. Ships, muscle -- it has to be deterring a conflict over taiwan, and if it happens, giving our soldiers and sailors and airmen and offenders and marines the best shot. That is something I feel deeply. I'm not in europe -- in uniform but it would be my job to make sure those who are in uniform or stand in harm's way, the best shot at winning. Because the american military should be in a fair fight.
▶ 2:51:34Sen. Banks: Thank you.
▶ 2:51:35Chair Wicker: Thank you very much. Thank you, senator banks, for mentioning the really encouraging developments that have taken place since this hearing began. I am going to take the liberty of reading into the record the exact statement of president zelenskyy today. And I quote "I would like to reiterate ukraine's commitment to peace. None of us wants an endless war.
▶ 2:52:07Chair Wicker: Ukraine is ready to come to the negotiating table as soon as possible to bring lasting peace closer. Nobody wants peace more than ukrainians. My team and I stand ready to work under president trump's strong leadership to get a piece that lasts. We are right to work fast to end the war. The first day could just be the release of prisoners and truce.
▶ 2:52:34Chair Wicker: Ban on missiles, bombs on energy and other civilian infrastructure, and cruise in the sea immediately, if russia will do the same. Then we want to move very fast through all of the stages into work with the U.S. to agree on a strong final deal. We really do value how much america has done to help ukraine maintain its sovereignty and independence. And we remember the moment when things changed, when president trump provided ukraine with javelins. We are grateful for this.
▶ 2:53:05Chair Wicker: Our meeting in washington at the white house on friday did not go the way it was supposed to be. It is regrettable that it happened this way. It is time to make things right. We would like future cooperation and communication to be constructive. Regarding the agreement on minerals and security, ukraine is ready to sign it at any time in any convenient format.
▶ 2:53:29Chair Wicker: We see this agreement as a step toward greater security and a solid security guarantees and I truly hope it will work effectively." and I would then remind those within the sound of my voice and those reading the record, that our president, president trump, has said the government of the united states of america supports ukraine's efforts to obtain security guarantees needed to establish lasting peace.
▶ 2:54:02Chair Wicker: To end the quote, let me just say this. I probably will not have an opportunity to take to the floor today. But I hope this is a day when we can refrain from some of the rhetoric that it is tending to make.
▶ 2:54:28Chair Wicker: I hope this is a day when senators and members of the house of representatives can take a deep breath, and hope that the excellent hopeful signs that come from this statement by president zelenskyy, come to fruition, and come to fruition quickly. I have had fights with my roommates over time. We got over it.
▶ 2:54:55Chair Wicker: I'm even told sometimes there are family fights. It's regrettable when they spill out into the front yard. But friends get over it. Friends decide to move on. And I think we are seeing that process today. I hope to see that that is the case.
▶ 2:55:21Chair Wicker: Since senator banks mentioned it, I took the liberty of bringing it to the attention and into the record. Mr. colby, senator sullivan wants to question you for another half an hour. No, senator sullivan has a question or two to tie it down, if you don't mind. And I realize this has been a long hearing for you and your family.
▶ 2:55:50Sen. Sullivan: I wanted to make sure when you tell your kids that you went through this confirmation hearing, that you said it went through two rounds of tough questioning. So this is the second round. So, thank you, Mr. chairman, for indulging me. I think you are doing a great job right now. You are answering a lot of questions very quickly.
▶ 2:56:17Sen. Sullivan: The wicker plan that you have reviewed is outstanding, and I'm not just saying that because that is our chairman, your hearing senator banks and senator schmitt, many of us, democrats as well, like that. Can you commit to work with this committee on getting to those levels, the 3% to 5% gdp that he puts forward? It is an excellent plan on shipbuilding, all of the things we have talked about. I know you have to go through the process. But just to fight for that.
▶ 2:56:45Sen. Sullivan: You might lose, but we hear about a percent cuts, I have talked to secretary hegseth. That is not what he is planning. We want to hear from the pentagon officials that they will fight for this. A lot of these traces we are having to make but you are eloquently talking about, they become less difficult if we have a stronger industrial base and stronger military.
▶ 2:57:06Mr. Colby: Yes, senator. I commit to advocating for the higher defense levels that I think are consistent with what our security dictates. What exactly that would be, I can't say. Both because I don't know, and ultimately it would not be up to me. I think we are in a situation where robust levels of defense spending are needed.
▶ 2:57:24Sen. Sullivan: Let me go back to taiwan briefly. I would agree the kmt, and it is the kmt by the way, they control the legislature, it's different from the president's party, they are playing a dangerous game in their defense budget. If anyone from taiwan is watching this hearing, they need to be -- they need to realize they are playing a dangerous game. Cutting defense spending right now is not the right signal. We all agree with that.
▶ 2:57:55Sen. Sullivan: As you know, the taiwan relations act requires the U.S. to make weapons available to taiwan for its defense. Every administration since 1979 has pledged to abide by that, and how scared the trump administration did a great job its first term.
▶ 2:58:13Sen. Sullivan: If confirmed, will you work with us to make sure that we will turn the taiwanese around, but that we will commit to work with taiwan and us to comply with the taiwan relations act?
▶ 2:58:29Mr. Colby: Certainly. Even more than that, I would make it a special focus to accelerate and revamp and focus those capabilities and expand them, those weapons transfers and sales, to assist taiwan and its ability to defend itself. I mentioned the pressure we need to put on taiwan. I think you are right. We also need to do our part on the U.S. side to make real capabilities available in a timely fashion.
▶ 2:58:52Sen. Sullivan: Get those weapons out there. I met with the previous president. She had a great statement with me when I talked about will. She said will is often a function of training and capability. If you are stronger and have weapons, we have this giant backlog of harpoons, that we should give to the taiwanese. I think that is an important point she made.
▶ 2:59:13Chair Wicker: Final question.
▶ 2:59:14Sen. Sullivan: Final question is the most important of the whole hearing. We are talking about protecting the homeland. A lot of focus on the southern border. Not always a ton of focus on the northern border. My part of the world. Alaska. The architect. The north pacific. But I'm sure you have noticed, Mr.
▶ 2:59:36Sen. Sullivan: Colby, in the last couple years we have had a huge increase in the incursions of russian ships, russian bear bombers, chinese strategic bombers doing joint patrols with russians, joint naval task force, all in the eez of america in the arctic in the north pacific.
▶ 3:00:04Sen. Sullivan: President trump after he got elected said we will "ensure alaska gets more defense investment as we fully rebuild our military, especially as russia and china are making menacing moves in the pacific." this is just an example of how many, the northcom commander recently testified that they think that they will see more of that. We had two bear bomber incursions in 48 hours two weeks ago.
▶ 3:00:32Sen. Sullivan: Both commanders said it is time to look at -- they committed to reopening the navy base here, which is a very strategic base. I like your commitment to come to alaska, company, come up there with me and see all of our great military up there, and work with me on strengthening our northern border. And particular issues like infrastructure, which will provide our forces the ability to respond to the attack on the northern border.
▶ 3:01:03Sen. Sullivan: Which does not get a lot of press.
▶ 3:01:04Mr. Colby: You are preaching to the choir on this. I would be privilege to visit alaska with you and would be honored to do it.
▶ 3:01:11Sen. Sullivan: Thank you.
▶ 3:01:12Chair Wicker: Thank you, senator sullivan. I would point out, Mr. colby, that it is cold up there, even in the summertime. So, bring your longjohns. This is one of the papers that I have produced, the second one of restoring freedoms forge.
▶ 3:01:32Chair Wicker: I hope you will agree that the best way to begin immediately getting enough submarines to have in the pacific, and doing so efficiently, and using more modern techniques is to explore this very tight -- type of innovation.
▶ 3:01:48Mr. Colby: I do agree, senator.
▶ 3:01:50Chair Wicker: This concludes today's hearing. I would like to thank our witness for his testimony, and thanks to the family. The restrooms are right down the hall. For the information of members, questions for the record will be due to the committee within two business days at the conclusion of the hearing. We are adjourned.