▶ 0:15:19>> this hearing will come to order. And the 10 general -- lieutenant general dagvin anderson to be commander of the united states africa command. I think them for their willingness to serve our nation. If confirmed, admiral bradley wilson command when socom faces a formidable challenge.
▶ 0:15:48Socom is being asked to build a force capable of combating the advanced military of china and russia evolved remaining fully engaged in the fight against violent islamic terrorism. Special operators must be ready to respond at a moments notice as our nation's premier crisis response force. It is clear the role and importance of socom is greater today than at any time since its establishment four decades ago.
▶ 0:16:18Socom's budget does not reflect the reality. It's but it has remained flat since 2019, adjusted for inflation that amounts to a 14% cut in purchasing power. To amplify that point, socom identifies $757 million in unfunded requirements for fiscal year 2026. We want to ensure that socom is fully resourced.
▶ 0:16:49Admiral bradley should tell us how many -- how they plan to meet those demands and how we can help. If confirmed, general enter missing -- anderson will deal with threats on the african continent. The chinese party has used africa as a link for the global military expansion and continues to purchase new basis for the people's liberation army.
▶ 0:17:13Vladimir putin remains fully engaged in his destabilizing campaign to trade security assistance for access to africa's abundant natural resources. This is one of Mr. putin's ways to fund his maligned activities while extremist groups aligned with isis and al qaeda remained an enduring threat in africa.
▶ 0:17:42Despite the growing complexity and scale of threats on the continent, africom remains under resourced in manpower and critical capabilities like intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance. I look forward to the assessment of africa's importance to our national security in his description of what africom's strategy should be to counter china, russia and other adversaries across the continent.
▶ 0:18:10I'm interested in how general anderson plans to use america's economic tools, including the office of strategic capital to combat chinese influence. If confirmed, the nominees will confront a global security environment that is defined by him bold and aggressive dictators in beijing, moscow, tehran and pyongyang.
▶ 0:18:37They view this as a global fight, unconstrained by geographic boundaries and the traditional forms of warfare. This axis of aggressors blends military power with asymmetric tactics like this information in the use of proxy networks to undermine american security interest. The witness today will play a key role in the department of defense's efforts to combat these challenges.
▶ 0:19:07I look forward to hearing them address these and many other concerns. I turned to my friend and colleague, ranking member read. --reed.
▶ 0:19:19Sen. Reed: Welcome and congratulations on your nominations. I want to thank you for stepping forward to continue your long careers of service. I would like to extend my appreciation to your families who were with you every step of the way and will continue to serve alongside you. Admiral bradley, you have been nominated to lead united states special operations command, socom, at a time of important transferred -- transformation.
▶ 0:19:53Sen. Reed: The threat from isis, al qaeda and other violent extremists groups have been diminished. Now the national security account by the aggressive and often coordinated ambitions of china, russia, iran and north korea. Our special operations forces are not only needed to maintain pressure on violent extremists groups that threaten the homeland, they are key to addressing the challenges posed by these adversarial nations.
▶ 0:20:22Sen. Reed: As the released soft operating concept proposes joint soft capabilities to help deter conflict by changing our competitors' political calculations, denying achievement or imposing courses that outweigh benefits. This concept is ambitious and will require close partnership with the military services and other elements of the interagency, especially the intelligence community. With our network of allies and partners around the world.
▶ 0:20:54Sen. Reed: Admiral bradley, he confirmed, I expect you are experienced operators and seals will serve you extremely well. I would ask that you share how you would plan to lead the special operations community to adjust to the rapid pace of change on the battlefield and how lessons learned from ukraine, gaza, the red sea, syria and elsewhere can inform a modernization of socom.
▶ 0:21:22Sen. Reed: I'm interested in how you would leverage unmanned systems, artificial intelligence, space, cyber, information operations and other capabilities for so come -- for socom missions. Socom needs and deserves a senior civilian to provide a service sector oversight and advocacy for our special operations forces. Congress has sought to empower the assistant secretary of defense of special operations and low intensity conflict to fulfill the mandate.
▶ 0:21:53Sen. Reed: Admiral bradley, I asked for your support as a department works to fully implement those reforms. General anderson, you have been nominated to lead the U.S. africa command, africom. Our adversaries are focused on building trade relationships while seizing influence from us. China's military ambitions are no secret.
▶ 0:22:21Sen. Reed: More than 100 seaports have been financed or operated by chinese enterprises, including dual use for future military contingencies. Russia has also expanded its military engagement in africa. It's investing heavily in disinformation campaigns across the continent to spread anti-western movements, undermine democracy, and promote russian-backed authoritarian leaders, especially in west africa.
▶ 0:22:48Sen. Reed: General anderson, africom must continue to explore new methods to maintain U.S. security interest in the region. Our forces continue to train and will be asked to do so with fewer resource fewer resources and troops going forward.
▶ 0:23:10Sen. Reed: Your views on maintaining close partnerships with partner nations, and how we can seek to engage the whole of government effort to address the political and economic instability in africa. Stability is essential for any successful nation. For decades, we have relied upon our state department diplomats in the U.S.
▶ 0:23:31Sen. Reed: Agency for international development, usaid, to develop lasting relationships in africa that cannot las cannot l outlast the coercion. General langley described our, competitive advantage against russia as, the story needs to be told about the successes of usaid and state department collectively for all of our operations activities and
▶ 0:24:01Sen. Reed: Investments. I'm concerned that our soft power leadership in africa has been significantly undermined in the past several months. General anderson, I would like your perspective on the importance of diplomacy and development tools to achieve our national security objectives in africa and how to work to make sure competitors do not capitalize on the dismantling of usaid in the region.
▶ 0:24:28Sen. Reed: Thank you for your service and your willingness to lead in these challenging times.
▶ 0:24:33Chair Wicker: Thank you very much. Admiral bradley, you may make your opening statement and feel free to introduce any friends and relatives you have with you supporting you today.
▶ 0:24:47Adm. Bradley: Thank you and good morning, chairman reed -- chairman wicker, ranking member reed. Is an honor to appear as a nominee to be -- I'm grateful to the president, secretary defense and chairman kane for the trust and confidence in me for this important nomination. I would like to recognize and think the current socom command team first.
▶ 0:25:18Adm. Bradley: For the leadership of the socom for sand families the past three years. I'm privileged to be a long teammate, lieutenant general anderson. If we are confirmed, I look forward to working in teaming with him again in our new capacities. I would like to recognize my family with me today. They have been critical to my service and our nation and without him I cannot imagine being here today. My best friend and wife of 34 years, katie.
▶ 0:25:50Adm. Bradley: The grounding rod and conscience of our family. She has weathered the storms, mentoring young families and our four children and keeping me humble and centered throughout. She grew up in an army family, the daughter to it and infantry officer in vietnam before joining me in the navy and has moved households 27 times in her life. A testament to resilience if there ever was one. Our children, their families are with me as well.
▶ 0:26:18Adm. Bradley: Mary catherine and husband ralph, scientists and parents to our first granddaughter rosemary louise. Our oldest son henry, and fbi special agent and his wife rihanna, also an fbi employee. We make interagency cooperation a family business. Our son, lieutenant frank bradley, a fellow seal and his wife kylie, a public servant in hawaii. In her youngest son, james, a data scientist working in the national industrial base and on autonomous underwater systems.
▶ 0:26:49Adm. Bradley: I come from a small ranching community in southwest texas where he learned the foundations of meritocracy at an early age. I'm the son of a world war ii veteran, army air corps master sergeant who worked on p 38's from operation torch to the final assault on berlin. After the war, my father arranged and served as the justice of the peace, and elected judge in our small texas community.
▶ 0:27:14Adm. Bradley: I learned a deep appreciation for our democracy and the tree -- and the judicial system watching him dispense judgment. His example of service and the allure of adventure where what drew me to the united state navy academy in the seal community. I have had ample opportunity for both in my 37 years since leaving texas. My mother was the compassionate influence. She and my grandmother where the matriarchs who would weave discipline with love and appropriate measure.
▶ 0:27:45Adm. Bradley: Their influence looms large in everything I do. I must thank my siblings and countless coaches, professors and pastors who have helped shape me both on and off the field. Special operations is the ultimate team sport. To win is to live and toulouse often means someone you care for does not. I am grateful to be a member of the most precise and lethal fighting force the world has ever known.
▶ 0:28:11Adm. Bradley: On a strategic landscape where the adversaries and competitors challenge the rules-based international order, we provide the agility, precision and new ones needed to confront and disrupt these threats and competition. Should the need arise we are ready to integrate and respond to crisis and engage in high-end conflict where the precise delivery of violence will be critical to shaping success on the battlefield. To this committee and your predecessors I say thank you.
▶ 0:28:40Adm. Bradley: Socom's existence reflects the strong bipartisan commitment of congress to ensure the united states leads the world in special operations and that commitment has paid off. If confirmed, I will work closely with my fellow commanders, service leadership in the chairman, the secretary of defense in this committee to sustain and strengthen the force demand, trade, -- trained, equipped software's and their families. I will provide the sec.
▶ 0:29:09Adm. Bradley: Defense defense and president candid and clear military advice and remain fully transparent with this committee ensuring you have the information necessary to continue your critical constitutional oversight of our national defense. I thank you for your service to our country. I look forward to answering your questions and engaging with you on the important work ahead.
▶ 0:29:27Chair Wicker: Thank you very much, admiral. General anderson, you are recognized.
▶ 0:29:32Lt. Gen. Anderson: Chairman wicker coming ranking member reed, committee members, thank you for the the opportunity to appear this morning. It is a humbling honor. I'm honored by the president's trust and confidence to nominate me to serve as the commander of U.S. africa command and the support of the sick secretary of defense of the joint chiefs of staff. I would like to write rise general langley's 40 years of strong leadership and the team he and sergeant major mike woods forged.
▶ 0:30:03Lt. Gen. Anderson: I'm joined by my wife of 26 years, liz, a native of maine. Her unwavering support and sacrifice have initial rental to my service in the success of the mission. Liz is the heart of our family and despite nice schools in six states and three countries she's the reason we have two strong and talented daughters, hal who -- my grandmother, a
▶ 0:30:36Lt. Gen. Anderson: Nurse, serve your community well into her 80's. My grandfathers, a sailor and world were worn marine in world war ii were ordinary people who answered the call during extraordinary times. My mother reverter was a teacher and my father was a police officer who modeled public service, selflessness and integrity. These values have guided me through 33 years of military service.
▶ 0:31:03Lt. Gen. Anderson: My parents are watching for my hometown in michigan, home of rosie the riveter where the age of 17 I learned to fly alongside the symbols of american ingenuity and resilience. It's an honor to sit beside vice admiral bradley, a special operations teammate. If confirmed, I concur with admiral bradley that it's truly a team sport and look forward to collaborating closely with him and all the combat and commanders to confront the complex emerging challenges of today.
▶ 0:31:36Lt. Gen. Anderson: My career has followed a nontraditional path with seven joint assignments across four commands, ranging from conventional war fighting exercises in the indo pacific to conducting special operations in the middle east and africa. My experience has shaped my career. I had the privilege of studying in the czech republic where I witnessed an outpouring of support for america after 9/11.
▶ 0:32:03Lt. Gen. Anderson: Almost 23 years later, I had the honor to speak at the 80th anniversary of the liberation of pilsen by patton's third army. Thousands gathered waving flags. A powerful reminder of our shared values and enduring ties. While I have flown several aircraft, the missions flying the u 28, a modest prop were among the most rewarding.
▶ 0:32:27Lt. Gen. Anderson: In under two years the team of operators, engineers and acquisitions experts turned an urgent need into a mission ready , highly capable surveillance platform. A testament to empowered innovation meeting battlefield requirements. As commander of special operations command africa I witnessed how africa strategically positioned between the atlantic and the indo pacific is increasingly at the convergence of great power rivalry and terrorism.
▶ 0:32:54Lt. Gen. Anderson: China's expanding approach from economics to military information operations. Russia's actions are destabilizing and run counter to U.S. interests. Terrorist networks exploit ungoverned spaces posing a direct threat to our safety and security.
▶ 0:33:11Lt. Gen. Anderson: During my time in africa, an american citizen was.taken hostage within 96 hours relocated him, coordinated multiple african partners into european allies and joint special operations command executed the rescue. The speed and success of that mission underscored the seamless integration of the joint force and the importance of strong relationships. When we called in the middle the night, our partners answered.
▶ 0:33:39Lt. Gen. Anderson: If confirmed I look forward to building on that success in those relationships. I will keep this committee informed. I will be a responsible steward of taxpayer dollars. I will lead by example to advanced U.S. interests and counter adversary threats. Thank you for your unwavering support to the men and women of the U.S. military and thank you for this opportunity. I look forward to your questions.
▶ 0:34:01Chair Wicker: Thank you very much, general anderson. Thank you both for being with us. It is time for me to ask some standard questions we ask of all military nominees to exercise his legislative and oversight responsibilities, it's important that this committee and other appropriate committees of the congress be able to receive testimony, briefings and other communications of information.
▶ 0:34:32Chair Wicker: If you will just answer yes or no, you can answer simultaneously and we will be watching. Have you adhered to applicable laws and regulate galatians governing conflict of interest? >> yes.
▶ 0:34:44Chair Wicker: Just a yes or no sign. Do you agree when I ask you to give your personal views even if they differ from the administration and power? >> yes.
▶ 0:34:58Chair Wicker: Have you undertaken any actions which would appear to resume the outcome of the confirmation process? >> no.
▶ 0:35:03Chair Wicker: Will you ensure your staff complies with deadlines established for requested communications including questions for the record in hearings? >> yes.
▶ 0:35:15Chair Wicker: Will you provide witnesses and breeders in response to congressional requests? >> yes.
▶ 0:35:24Chair Wicker: Will those witnesses be protected from reprisal for the testimonial briefings? >> yes.
▶ 0:35:30Chair Wicker: If you agree to appear on request before this committee? >> yes.
▶ 0:35:33Chair Wicker: Do you agree to provide documents and copies electronic forms of communications in a timely manner when requested by a duly constituted committee or consult with that committee regarding the basis for any good faith delay or denial in providing such documents? >> yes.
▶ 0:35:55Chair Wicker: Indusind's are standard questions -- and thus ends our standard questions. And one that has become somewhat standard and we have got encouraging responses from all of our witnesses. Much of the funding in the defense reconciliation bill, the big beautiful bill as the president calls it, is unspecific and it will technically be at the department of defense. This committee will write recommendations for them.
▶ 0:36:25Chair Wicker: We do that because of the rules. Do you commit to follow the congress's spending recommendations on defense reconciliation unequivocally?
▶ 0:36:38Vice Adm. Bradley: Yes.
▶ 0:36:40Lt. Gen. Anderson: Yes.
▶ 0:36:44Chair Wicker: Admiral, you will receive quite a sum of money for socom priorities and we want to make sure it is used for the most pressing needs. I thank you for your answers. General anderson, you talked about -- you talked about the activities of china in africa.
▶ 0:37:15Chair Wicker: You talked about the activities of russia under their dictator vladimir putin. Why do they do this? Are they helping africa out of the goodness of their hearts?
▶ 0:37:31Lt. Gen. Anderson: Senator, I appreciate the concern. I see from my time at soc africa and at the joint staff that there is going activity from both china and russia on the continent. Both those nations see their futures running through the continent. It is key to their strategy. I think we can look at several things that have been done to not -- that have not been good for the people of africa. I think they are aware of that and we can highlight that.
▶ 0:38:00Lt. Gen. Anderson: It helps them understand the risks of dealing with china and russia, whether that be debt diplomacy from china or the corrosive effects of the africa core, previously known as wagner in those societies.
▶ 0:38:15Chair Wicker: When we have programs such as that far -- pepfar or usaid, we would like to feel that really helps the people there but we have a strategic security purpose in doing that ourselves, do we not?
▶ 0:38:38Lt. Gen. Anderson: Yes, senator.
▶ 0:38:39Chair Wicker: What is that?
▶ 0:38:43Lt. Gen. Anderson: These programs are important as long as they provide for the security and prosperity of our nation. I think as we target those in key areas they can build stability in key regions.
▶ 0:38:54Chair Wicker: If we abandon the playing field in that regard, what would be the response in moscow or beijing? I think they would be celebrating, with a not?
▶ 0:39:08Lt. Gen. Anderson: If there is opportunities, they will sees them. -- sieze them.
▶ 0:39:19Chair Wicker: On socom, the budget has been inadequate. There has been a 35% increase in combat command requests for socom support over the last three years. In the last decade there has been a 200% increase in crisis response missions executed by socom. 14% budget cut though in socom.
▶ 0:39:53Chair Wicker: As I pointed out in the opening statement when adjusted for inflation. 4000 troops cut from socom and 700 $57 million in unfunded requirements establish -- $757 million in. Unfunded requirements -- unfunded requirements.
▶ 0:40:25Chair Wicker: Do you agree with me that so ocom's budget is inadequate for global demands?
▶ 0:40:37Vice Adm. Bradley: I believe the statistics to be true.
▶ 0:40:41Chair Wicker: Let me point out to you and make sure you agree that reconciliation was always meant to be additive, not a replacement for the core budget absent real growth in socom's future budget request. Your command will face significant resourcing challenges, correct?
▶ 0:41:05Vice Adm. Bradley: We will absolutely use the resources provided to us with ruthless prioritization to go down through the tasks that are given to us. Inevitably though with the current operations commitment that exists that will mean we will have to mortgage some of our modernization initiatives to be able to pay for those -- for the readiness to sustain the current operations.
▶ 0:41:29Chair Wicker: We will not be able to be generous with either of you, but we do want to hear what you really need. We are going to be depending on the two of you and your teams to let us know that. If something goes wrong and you did not have the capacity to cover it, then they should not look to you if this body has not provided you with the resources.
▶ 0:42:00Chair Wicker: Thank you very much. Senator reid, your recognized.
▶ 0:42:04Sen. Reed: General fenton said, "our interagency efforts also have included close cooperation with the department of state and U.S. agency for international development, with the limitation of the global fragility act and coastal -- in coastal west africa preventing crisis and failed states where they can occur.
▶ 0:42:29Sen. Reed: Africom commander general langley testified he was investment focused on stabilization, conflict prevention and peace building, democracy, governance, economic growth and public health to attack the roots of terrorism and tyranny more than bullets, airstrikes ever will." for both of you gentlemen, why are such efforts in are such efforts vital first security interest and not just humanitarian good deeds?
▶ 0:43:02Sen. Reed: What do we risk by walking away from these investments? Admiral?
▶ 0:43:08Vice Adm. Bradley: In my 34 years I have had the opportunity on many continents to work closely with our humanitarian and a and diplomats. And I have seen the executors even at the non-governmental organization level provide improvement capability for the U.S. I recognize that there are many priorities as we talked about in the prioritization of the budget across those is a difficult thing to balance and manage.
▶ 0:43:37Vice Adm. Bradley: I pledge and I believe throughout time we have always worked as an integrated interagency to be able to bring the multiple levers of influence and power the U.S. needs to achieve its policy objectives. If confirmed, I would pledge to continue that.
▶ 0:43:55Sen. Reed: General anderson, particularly in africa?
▶ 0:44:00Lt. Gen. Anderson: From my time in africa I worked extensively with the state department,, usaid ngo's across the continent. To be requirements. Africa is very much an economy force theater so we have to maximize limited resources.
▶ 0:44:17Lt. Gen. Anderson: Going forward we will look at where we can find those opportunities, whether it is with state department and the aid they can provide, working with the nongovernmental organizations we worked within africa and opportunities with the office of strategic capital or private equity as private firms may be able to invest and help in some of these areas.
▶ 0:44:39Lt. Gen. Anderson: One of the things that africom's position to do was convene people to have these discussions, understanding we provide the military aspect of it and provide a venue to bring folks together to look at the security implications of these investments.
▶ 0:44:56Sen. Reed: Given the current situation in which the state department is being hollowed out and usaid is being effectively abolished, have you lost a valuable strategic tool?
▶ 0:45:03Lt. Gen. Anderson: I understand that is still under review for the foreign assistance. Much of that is being transferred to state. If I'm confirmed, I would have to assess what is available and how to best use that for our national interests.
▶ 0:45:16Sen. Reed: Admiral bradley, same question. Are you losing a valuable tool?
▶ 0:45:26Vice Adm. Bradley: I'm very confident that however the distribution of those tasks and efforts are made we will continue to work with that it closely to make sure we bring the best combination of those levers and tools to bear.
▶ 0:45:37Sen. Reed: Admiral bradley, what are your modernization priorities for socom?
▶ 0:45:42Vice Adm. Bradley: Thank you. As we look to the future the conflict that socom might be called to participate in, I've had the opportunity this last three years to participate in general fenton's leadership team as a member of the board of directors. We focused, as you have seen and in his testimony on how to penetrate and power project in contested environments.
▶ 0:46:10Vice Adm. Bradley: We see that through the lessons learned on the battlefields of ukraine, even into the red sea and certainly as we contemplate what a future fight against china might look like. Contested environments and being able to arrive for the element of surprise are critical components. A second priority is also the ability to operate within the ubiquitous technical surveillance environment that is evolving around us today.
▶ 0:46:35Vice Adm. Bradley: It provides challenges to our ability to arrive at that element of surprise but also opportunities. Here the partnership with cyber com space, com and -- space com is important.
▶ 0:46:56Sen. Reed: Thank you. General anderson, you have had valuable experience on the ground as commander of special operations in africom. With respect to somalia, is a continued presence essential?
▶ 0:47:15Lt. Gen. Anderson: I'm sorry, where?
▶ 0:47:18Sen. Reed: Somalia.
▶ 0:47:19Lt. Gen. Anderson: We have had a presence there for quite some time. We have seen some limited success there in training their forces. It is capable -- a capable anti-terrorism force. Al-shabaab has the will to attack united states and in united states interests.
▶ 0:47:43Lt. Gen. Anderson: There is continuing cooperation with the houthis.it's in our interest to have some engagement in the region. Whether that is with the federal government or the member states, that is something I would have to assess if confirmed.
▶ 0:47:56Sen. Reed: Thank you.
▶ 0:47:57Chair Wicker: Senator fischer.
▶ 0:48:00Sen. Fischer: Thank you to both of you and your families as well for your many years of service and sacrifice. Countering china has been and will continue to be an important mission for both socom and africom. The indo pacific region, one of the strategically vital and expansive regions in the world, we have socom.
▶ 0:48:29Sen. Fischer: Socom must be able to rapidly engage where the need is paramount over an immense expanse of land, sea and air space. Admiral bradley, has the military prepares for a potential war with china what do you envision special operations forces, what kind of role will they be playing in the indo pacific, and how will you be able to balance that with other soft responsibilities?
▶ 0:48:59Vice Adm. Bradley: Thank you. I believe the role that soft has played over its history has been found on a critical value proposition. It's very relevant, even more against china. That is our ability to build strong relationships, to partner and build capacity, to be a force multiplier across a strong alliance and strengthen the alliance by doing such.
▶ 0:49:25Vice Adm. Bradley: The credibility we generated over the last two plus decades in counterterrorism give us great ability to be able to help sustain and extrapolate that credibility into the indo pacific we are building partnerships with our allies will be very critical. That will allow us placement and access to then help develop enhanced understandings of actions that might be against us.
▶ 0:49:53Vice Adm. Bradley: If we cascade the crisis of conflict we will leverage that placement and access for the delivery of a regular kinetic and non-kinetic effects.
▶ 0:50:01Sen. Fischer: Thank you. General anderson, we talked a little yesterday about the growing influence of china on the continent. Talked about that influence that they have and the threats they are posing. What you think are the greatest areas of threats you are going to have to focus on if you are confirmed?
▶ 0:50:27Lt. Gen. Anderson: I appreciate the discussion we had on this. I think china does pose a significant threat to U.S. interests on the continent. We have seen how the abuse the belt and rode it up to be economic focused in the past. We are seeing them expand into more information operations on the continent, providing the communist propaganda to the continent. We are seeing them engaging in more military to military engagements which is concerning.
▶ 0:50:57Lt. Gen. Anderson: We are looking at the infrastructure they are looking to develop imports that could become dual use -- in ports that could become dual use, especially on the atlantic. In atlantic sea-based chinese ships would greatly complicate our security picture writ large. Working across africa to identify where china is not working in everyone's interests is important.
▶ 0:51:24Lt. Gen. Anderson: Also engaging in the information domain to highlight some of these maligned activities is important.
▶ 0:51:29Sen. Fischer: We spoke a little bit about losing some of our nation partners who have been a great help to us on the continent. We talked about looking at national guard and the partnerships they have in various countries. Not just in africa but also around the world.
▶ 0:51:54Sen. Fischer: Briefly could you hit on the importance of developing those for using those partnerships as tools to help develop good relationships?
▶ 0:52:04Lt. Gen. Anderson: I think the state partnership program is one of the best we have in our department. It establishes long-term relationships and allows engagement and builds capability and readiness for our forces as well as theirs. When you brought up is interesting, especially nebraska who has partners on the continent but also with the czech republic. There's opportunities the state partnership program can bring these partners together and help burden share the effort so that we can use the expertise.
▶ 0:52:35Lt. Gen. Anderson: The czech bring great expertise. There are some opportunities there were, without a doubt.
▶ 0:52:44Sen. Fischer: Admiral bradley, what is your view on the importance of the space domain with special operation forces and how would you leverage that new command? The chairman is anxious to gavel me out.
▶ 0:53:06Vice Adm. Bradley: I will.
▶ 0:53:09Chair Wicker: Very fine question which will require a lengthy response on the record. Senator king.
▶ 0:53:17Sen. Kaine: Congratulations to both of you for your nominations. I noticed looking at your bios that you both have had in your professional career significant experience in programs within -- with international partners. Admiral bradley, you are posting to the italian equivalent of their seals. General anderson, your reception of the scholarship.
▶ 0:53:47Sen. Kaine: Talk about had in each instance this was important to your professional development.
▶ 0:53:51Vice Adm. Bradley: Thank you. I was most surprised and rewarded with being able to see the world through the eyes of a different culture. As close as the italian culture is too american -- many immigrants, a large portion of the country here. They can still see the same event and he did a decidedly different way.
▶ 0:54:14Vice Adm. Bradley: I believe that experience looked deep into my family's closeness and appreciation for the world would help to deepen my empathy to understand the way other people might see things.
▶ 0:54:28Sen. Kaine: You conveyed a benefit to the italian allies by being posted there but also received a benefit in return that help to you in the leader you are today. General anderson, tell us about the olmstead program?
▶ 0:54:44Lt. Gen. Anderson: He was a transformative program to study abroad and be immersed in the culture. Like I said, when I was there after 9/11, we could not walk through any town square without seeing memorial to the united states and the americans that were lost. When I walked to school that morning on september 12, there was a statue of the first president of the czech republic. On that square you cannot walk through it because it was covered in flowers and candles.
▶ 0:55:16Lt. Gen. Anderson: Across the statue was a banner that said we stand with you for democracy. It was a pretty powerful reminder of what those relations mean and what the american way of life and values stand for to many people.
▶ 0:55:30Sen. Kaine: This was a number of years ago when it probably would have been hard to imagine a land war in europe. The relationship the united states had with the czech republic, including in the current conflict in ukraine has been a very important one. We also have a lot of programs were we bring military leadership from other nations to the U.S. to participate at the naval war college, the army war college and others.
▶ 0:55:56Sen. Kaine: If you benefited from the expanses in the czech republic and in italy, I believe from my own observation these programs are pretty important to building relationships with foreign military leaders who come to the united states. Do you share that view?
▶ 0:56:10Lt. Gen. Anderson: I do.
▶ 0:56:12Sen. Kaine: I was interested in the commonality in your resumes in this way. I'm very worried about the budget the administration has submitted. The package we voted on his dramatically undercutting these exchange programs. I have not yet seen the effect in the dod. In the rescission package we passed last week it was very not specific about details.
▶ 0:56:43Sen. Kaine: You can tell a little bit from how these rescissions will be used'for looking at the administrations submitted budget -- the administration's submitted budget. For 2026, it eliminates a lot of funding that goes into this. The bureau of education and cultural affairs, the recommendation that it be cut by 93%. Many of the rifts that were done a couple of fridays ago.
▶ 0:57:15Sen. Kaine: This is the fulbright program. This is other exchange programs. These programs at the U.S. has funded have educated more than 600 current or former heads of other nations. They come to the U.S. and gain experience here. 88 nobel prize winners are alumni of these exchanges and the administration proposes to cut the budget by 93%. Let me ask one other question. How important is your work in africom were special forces that the U.S.
▶ 0:57:44Sen. Kaine: Be a strong competitor in the information domain?
▶ 0:57:49Vice Adm. Bradley: It is critical. Truth is the high ground. We in the united states have a history of leveraging the truth, telling the truth and I think that is powerful.
▶ 0:58:03Lt. Gen. Anderson: Senator, it is critical across the continent and I agree with admiral bradley . The fact we are a credible news source and we tell the truth is a very powerful information operation.
▶ 0:58:15Sen. Kaine: The proposed budget /is the U.S. agency for global media's budget by 82%. The voice of america, the middle east broadcasting network, voa persian, these are being dramatically reduced in many riffs are in that space. I would conclude and introduce to the record an article from the washington institute of mary's policy. I would impede U.S. policy.
▶ 0:58:46Sen. Kaine: July 3, 2025.
▶ 0:58:47Chair Wicker: Without objection, so ordered. Senator cotton.
▶ 0:58:53Sen. Cotton: Congratulations and thank you to your service and for your families. Special forces were targeted for reductions in funding in recent years by the past administration. Could you explain what it takes to turn a conventional soldier, sailor, airman or marine into a special operator? How many years does it take to build that kind of expertise and ability?
▶ 0:59:21Vice Adm. Bradley: I have to say we have the benefit of being able to draw from the best and the brightest across this great population of the united states. Our services to the principal recruiting and we have the opportunity to be able to draw from within the recruits. Special operations provides a very valuable recruiting tool for those services as well.
▶ 0:59:44Vice Adm. Bradley: Once a candidate assesses into a service and has the initiative to want to volunteer to come to one of our selection assessment programs, a rigorous process both of their resume, of their psychological resilience, of their physical capabilities begins. Followed by some amount of training and grit and determination. On the backside of that, that may take anywhere up to a year depending on the program.
▶ 1:00:17Vice Adm. Bradley: The advanced training will continue and finally the operator, the member will assign an operational unit where frankly another amount from apprentice to master progression begins. For an up and around operator to reach leadership status it is not uncommon for that to take six or seven years.
▶ 1:00:40Sen. Cotton: Special operations forces were to face cuts, you don't just lose capability, you lose time as well, correct?
▶ 1:00:51Vice Adm. Bradley: It does take time to build the operator, yes.
▶ 1:00:55Sen. Cotton: For the sake of comparison, the army can send someone from the first day of basic training through infantry training to infantry platoon and maybe 6 -- in maybe six months? Obviously they are a brand-new private but six months versus many years. We should be mindful of that contrast. What is your assessment on how drones are changing the model -- the modern batter -- the modern battlefield?
▶ 1:01:27Sen. Cotton: We saw a couple of months ago ukraine launch audacious attacks from inside of russia with pre-positioned drones. Israel may have done something similar inside of iran. You have probably given this a lot of thought in your job and looking forward to your future job.
▶ 1:01:42Vice Adm. Bradley: I don't think it's unfair to call this a revolution in military affairs. The changing accelerating pace of technology, the ubiquitous information environment, and the advent of manned machine teamed autonomy on the battlefield to the world today are absolutely changing the character of warfare in our very eyes.
▶ 1:02:08Vice Adm. Bradley: Within special operations and I believe the initiatives you have initiated here with the forged act, the speed act across the way, and the president and secretary's initiative to drive innovation in the department are critical to allowing us to use the innovative spirit of our operators to be able to capture those problems and opportunities we see on the battlefield and turn them into new manned machine teams approaches.
▶ 1:02:32Sen. Cotton: General anderson, given your current role and the threat of drone attacks from various groups, what are your thoughts?
▶ 1:02:42Lt. Gen. Anderson: I appreciate that. It is transforming the battlefield. We are at a critical inflection point, just like the industrial age in the early 20th century in the digital age now. It is not just the drones we see today. It's what happens when we have autonomy nai behind the drones with swarm attacks? That's not necessarily science fiction. That is in the future.
▶ 1:03:09Lt. Gen. Anderson: We have to take this seriously, not just taking on the throne operations but also how to counter them and defend against them. This is a grave concern for me as a look at the african continent as there are vulnerabilities there for our forces. It's also a vulnerability for our partners as well.
▶ 1:03:25Sen. Cotton: I should say it is not as potential terrorist groups. It's also insurgencies, uprisings, clashes of the kind we see with unfortunate frequency in africa. Thank you, delmon.
▶ 1:03:38Chair Wicker: Senator king.
▶ 1:03:42Sen. King: I want to welcome both of you and congratulate you on your nominations and acknowledge liz in the audience. A resident of maine. I hope you will convey your family and maine that you -- in maine you saw me working. Mr. chairman, I have a statement from our brother jim emhoff on the africom legislation in 2008.
▶ 1:04:15Sen. King: I would like incentive enter it into the record in this hearing.
▶ 1:04:17Chair Wicker: Without objection, it is so ordered.
▶ 1:04:20Sen. King: Senator inhofe was a great champion of the interests in africa, probably the greatest in the senate. I noted in the statement from 2008, "the strategic importance of the african continent and encourages the department of defense, the state department and usaid to work cooperatively together with our african allies to bring hope to the continent. We sort of have been talking around this today.
▶ 1:04:49Sen. King: We made one of the greatest geopolitical mistakes in my lifetime in the last several weeks by essentially abolishing usaid. I don't expect either of you to answer questions directly about that. It could jeopardize your appointment. There is no question that the term soft power is kind of unfortunate because the word -- the emphasis is on soft, but it's power. As you have testified, communications is important.
▶ 1:05:20Sen. King: Relationships with the countries' stabilization , the malaria program, education programs, democracy promotion programs are essentially -- are essential to our ability to compete with the chinese and the russians in the african continent.
▶ 1:05:42Sen. King: Talking to some friends who have been deployed there, their view was that we just made an enormous gift, particularly to the chinese. As the chairman suggested in his opening statement, and questions there's no question that our recent actions essentially dismantling and abolishing usaid has met with celebration approbation -- and approbation in russia and china.
▶ 1:06:14Sen. King: General anderson, one thing that concerns me and relates somewhat to the aid question is the rise of terrorism. You mentioned september 11. That was 19 people. My concern is with our so-called pivot to the indo pacific we are taking our eyes off the terrorism ball. Could you share your thoughts about the status of al qaeda and isis in africa?
▶ 1:06:45Sen. King: What we should be watching out for and being concerned with?
▶ 1:06:50Lt. Gen. Anderson: I appreciate the concern. If confirmed, I will make this a priority to assess as it has been four years since I was at soc africa. We have seen terrorist groups move into the ungoverned spaces of africa. We are seeing isis active in somalia and west africa. Isis west africa.
▶ 1:07:15Lt. Gen. Anderson: Aqim and their affiliate art active, both with intent to attack U.S. interests. Whether or not they have the capability is not clear. To your point, when the greatest concerns we have is having enough resources and enough relationships to be able to understand how the threats are progressing. We have an adequate amount of indicators and warnings and we know with the threat to the U.S. could be so we could take action.
▶ 1:07:46Lt. Gen. Anderson: The access is critical with our partners to understand what is happening with these threats. I would say what is happening with some of the other powers and how they may be working with them or maybe not acting in our interests so we can understand what the threat landscape is on the continent.
▶ 1:08:05Sen. King: One of the new duties of your job as you take this on, since state department and usaid is essentially retreating, you will have diplomatic duty whether you sign up for that are not. You will have to build relationships. Not necessarily strictly military but with the local governments and local leadership. Do you see that as a priority?
▶ 1:08:28Lt. Gen. Anderson: Where those areas -- where we prioritize those areas we have the best return on investment. It is important to build those relationships. It's important to look at creative ways as we go forward. One of the greatest powers the united states brings is our economy that is largely done through private investment. Finding opportunities on the continent as it continues to expand and grow in population is an opportunity. Working with ngo's to identify some of these.
▶ 1:09:00Lt. Gen. Anderson: I worked with several of the past that have been very productive in engaging some areas you are talking about. They are able to execute the engagement.
▶ 1:09:13Sen. King: I will have a question for the record for admiral bradley and protecting troops from traumatic brain injury.
▶ 1:09:24Chair Wicker: Thank you for your interest in that. Centered around.
▶ 1:09:29Sen. Rounds: Thank you for your service to our country. To your families also I want to say thank you. You sacrifice a lot as well. We appreciate what you do to help the gym and be successful in their careers.
▶ 1:09:51Sen. Rounds: I have heard from 29 senior department officials, including every service chief and combat commanders that vacating the 3.1 to 3.5 gigahertz of the spectrum would have negative consequences for the war fighting capabilities. It would have the same impact.
▶ 1:10:18Sen. Rounds: Admiral bradley, does the special force have capabilities operating on the 3.1 to 3.45 band and the seven and eight bands of spectrum which would be used in a conflict with china.
▶ 1:10:36Vice Adm. Bradley: I am not intimately aware of all the systems across socom. I can speak to my personal experience in the last three years. I do agree that both directly some of our systems operate in those bands and we rely on them but also indirectly the service systems that operate on those bands are very important for us as we integrate with the joint force.
▶ 1:11:02Sen. Rounds: Thank you. Would those capabilities be negatively impacted if the dod was forced to share those bands?
▶ 1:11:12Vice Adm. Bradley: I believe they would.
▶ 1:11:13Sen. Rounds: General anderson, same question. Does africom make use of those bands of the spectrum?
▶ 1:11:21Lt. Gen. Anderson: Senator, africa being a remote location we depend upon satellite communications and we use some of those bands, as well as the air and missile defense systems on the continent.
▶ 1:11:31Sen. Rounds: Thinking. Admiral bradley, your predecessor testified that socom makes of 3% of dod forces in less than 2% of the budget. Paul well missions have increased by over 170% compared to the last decade. Is it fair to say that if we are going to continue to ask more of socom, more resources will be needed to enable those increased missions?
▶ 1:11:57Vice Adm. Bradley: Thank you. As I watched general fenton make the case about that exact equation you described I think that is a conclusion that comes out. An alternative is we just do less. We do fewer missions. We have to say no more time.
▶ 1:12:16Sen. Rounds: It seems to me we should be doing everything possible to make sure those young men and women have the best and capable technologies and weapon systems available to them. General anderson, how do you assess africom's role countering chinese and russian influence in africa, particularly grantee such as the wagon group for the p.r.c. Affiliated commercial ventures are exploiting governance for security gaps? What strategies are most effective in addressing these challenges?
▶ 1:12:47Lt. Gen. Anderson: I appreciate that question. That is a critical area. How do we counter with these powers are doing when they run counter to U.S. interests? One area when I was in soc africa was engaging with the partners and explaining to them what those risks were when they were working with these partners. Especially when wagon was trying to expand -- wagner was trying to expand.
▶ 1:13:15Lt. Gen. Anderson: We were able to explain the risks that would entail, the corrosive nature of those engagements, the lack of human rights those nations bring. That was helpful in buffering. It also helped in some of the other coastal west african states as far as china. It's a similar engagement against the security operations. We saw counter western, counter friends, counter U.S. propaganda take hold.
▶ 1:13:44Lt. Gen. Anderson: That turns the populations against our interests.
▶ 1:13:47Sen. Rounds: Is it fair to say there is a combination of hard power, military power, but also the desire to have not just that stick but the ability to offer other capabilities as well? Could you give me examples of what we would call soft power that might be available or helpful to you based upon our current situations in africa?
▶ 1:14:12Lt. Gen. Anderson: Across the breadth of what the nation brings is important. Whether that is called hard power or soft is hard power or soft power, its influence in how we can engage constructively with them. Can we encourage investment, can we open sources to critical minerals, can we partner with the nations that are in our interest but also benefit them as well.
▶ 1:14:38Lt. Gen. Anderson: Those are opportunities as well that are slightly outside the military lane but I do believe we have the opportunity to convene some of the right folks to have these types of discussions and again engagement and building trust and partnership is critical. As we have down in the past.
▶ 1:14:52Chair Wicker: Senator ernst.
▶ 1:14:56Sen. Ernst: Thank you both for being here today and your continued service to our great united states, our families as well. We appreciate their selfless service and sacrifice on your behalf as well. General anderson, we will start with you. We will continue to build upon what senator rounds was discussing.
▶ 1:15:19Sen. Ernst: History has shown when america reduces her presence, our adversaries are quickly seeking to fill the void. A sustained U.S. leadership is essential to deterring those threats and preserving stability. This is something we talked about in my office that I firmly believe that presence is power, especially when it comes to the forward posture of our american service members.
▶ 1:15:49Sen. Ernst: General anderson, can you speak to why continued american leadership around the globe is essential? And in your particular case, in africa, why it is essential that we maintain a presence and how it is in america's best interests?
▶ 1:16:06Lt. Gen. Anderson: I appreciate the question. I agreed that that engagement is absolutely vital. Having that access and that engagement and building of trust makes a difference in times of crisis or need. When we call in the middle of the night, we want our partners to answer and we want them to help. At the same time, needs to be mutual interest.
▶ 1:16:31Lt. Gen. Anderson: One thing I found is you talked about in soc africa, we can often bring parties together we normally would not. You can bring your p and partners together with the african partners and create a dialogue stop sometimes you set an american presence as a trusted partner come open that door to be more effective. I would also say as you mentioned, small investment in small teams go a long way on the continent in working with our african partners.
▶ 1:16:58Lt. Gen. Anderson: As an example, was the first officer to go back after 19 years most of the very first person the chief of the army and the first thing he told me was he thanked me for the training the special forces team had given him as a captain in 19 years before. He says, the best training he ever had any was very excited that we were able to restore relationship because it was the best training he had received and was looking forward for that or his army.
▶ 1:17:25Lt. Gen. Anderson: It did not take a persistent presence, it took episodic engagements and continued investment in that partner. What I have found in africa is many of those partners we work with are critically good partners. They're not looking for a handout, they are looking for a helping hand. If we can help them build that capacity, they are willing to try to stand on their own.
▶ 1:17:47Sen. Ernst: Amazing. Thank you for reaffirming what I've always believed as well is that relationships matter. Our friends will never forget that, neither will our enemies. So we will continue on. We can talk more about china's presence.
▶ 1:18:07Sen. Ernst: I think a number of our colleagues have covered down on that so we will go ahead and turn to socom and admiral bradley, thank you for your continued leadership within the organization. And we have already talked a little bit about the fact that socom, you have earned the reputation that the command can do more with less.
▶ 1:18:31Sen. Ernst: I have heard socom commander after socom commander come in front of the committee and state it really doesn't matter, we will just salute smartly and move out and execute our mission. But we are reaching a point where, as you have clearly stated today, that if you don't continue to see growth, especially adjust for inflation within the department, that you will have to do less. You will have to dig in deeper and make the necessary cuts.
▶ 1:19:04Sen. Ernst: So we are in an era of heightened threats and expanding mission demands. I believe that do more with less mindset can no longer sustainable. Do you agree with that?
▶ 1:19:14Vice Adm Bradley: I do and in fact we have adopted the term less with less to ensure we apply the ruthless prioritization to achieve the highest priority of those missions.
▶ 1:19:27Sen. Ernst: Giving the increasingly complex threat environment, we need to be able to strengthen socom's capacity. So that does require us moving beyond a stagnant budget. If confirmed, admiral bradley, what is the vision for socom and how do you do that ruthless prioritization?
▶ 1:19:49Vice Adm. Bradley: If confirmed, our priorities are the properties of the department. Defend the homeland, ensure we deter china and ensure our force multiplication of an already strong alliance is strengthened even further.
▶ 1:20:06Sen. Ernst: Thank you very much. Again, your families, thank you for your sacrifice as well.
▶ 1:20:12Chair Wicker: Senator schmitt.
▶ 1:20:16Sen. Schmitt: Admiral, I am glad you ended that way because those prioritization's of america, which is defend the homeland and really this into the indo-pacific has been absent in the questions. I feel like I've been teleported into the foreign relations committee.
▶ 1:20:37Sen. Schmitt: I want to ask you since it was brought up, I had no plan to talk about this, I want to read off a few things, half $1 million for electric buses in rwanda, $3.3 million for civic engagement in zimbabwe, $300,000 pride parade, I $900,000 for electrical reforms and voter education in kenya, $1.2 million for public opinion survey, 116 $1000 for media strengthening activity in liberia, $8,000 for promoting vegan food in zambia,
▶ 1:21:10Sen. Schmitt: African-camping mentors venture camps for backpackers, graphic design training in nigeria. Do you think these are in the best interest of the united states of america given the scarcity we have?
▶ 1:21:20Vice Adm Bradley: Senator, I know there are a lot of priorities that have to be balanced the budget process.
▶ 1:21:27Sen. Schmitt: I appreciate your story. You are willing to opine about other things that were sort of policy matters in my view. These are policy matters. I think when we do this stuff, it totally undermines the desire to have -- I am not disputing the idea soft power exists.
▶ 1:21:48Sen. Schmitt: My contention is all of this nonsense that continues to be defended in many ways inhibits the ability to do exactly what you articulating, at which there are smart things to do that aren't just about blowing things up and killing people. But that has been crowded out with a mission creep in this wandering foreign policy that just believes we can just do all of this do getting stuff around the world.
▶ 1:22:13Sen. Schmitt: And getting back to what you said at the end of your last statement, which is defend the homeland and understand our chief threat isn't china. I can't let this go without being responded to. We are moving away from this stuff. Whether people like it or not. Like, the american people don't support it and we have an administration that wants to move away from this stuff. I applaud it. I might be in the minority on this committee, I don't really know.
▶ 1:22:42Sen. Schmitt: I don't really care because I think that is in the best interest of the united states and we can have a robust debate about it. I do want to ask you, because we are in this great powers competition, how do you -- how does socom assess the right balance between the counterterrorism mission that has existed for a long time and isn't necessarily going the way this kind of direct action and especially as it relates to deterrence in this gray zone activity that is happening in
▶ 1:23:13Sen. Schmitt: The south china sea and places where our allies are a real threat -- we're not talking about electric buses in rwanda, we are talking about communist china here.
▶ 1:23:23Vice Adm Bradley: Having had the opportunity to be a part of our counterterrorism operations since 9/11, I have seen us achieve some great successes to diminish the threat against the homeland. The credibility that has come from that gives us very powerful entree with the alliance members in the indo-pacific.
▶ 1:23:45Vice Adm Bradley: All of our national defense strategy since 2018, the ind sg all eliminate the imports of that alliance. I believe force multiplication effort is a critical capability. As you know, general fenton is the coordinating authority for counter vo within the department of defense. Still maintains her principal responsibility to be able to oversee and advise the secretary on the approach for counterterrorism.
▶ 1:24:15Vice Adm Bradley: The most acute of those threats, thoseveo's are the top priority threats that we as a whole integrated interagency orient our priorities against.
▶ 1:24:30Vice Adm Bradley: I believe in many cases, and one instance in particular, the case of the philippines is a great example where our work with the filipinos over the last two decades has allowed them to be able to keep that terrorist threat at bay and, frankly, allowed us to whether a very difficult diplomatic season with a particular leader there. And now come out even stronger ally.
▶ 1:24:56Sen. Schmitt: I think that is a great example. Do you feel like our other really important allies in that region, say australia and japan, are prepared or sufficiently ready to work alongside us the way the philippines have?
▶ 1:25:15Vice Adm Bradley: I believe the australians are and I believe our other allies are working to come to that place as well.
▶ 1:25:22Chair Wicker: Thank you. Senator warren.
▶ 1:25:27Sen. Warren: Congratulations to both of you on your nominations. The american military is built to defeat our enemies, not to create more of them. And that is why republican and aquatic administrations have worked to reduce risks to innocent civilians as part of military.
▶ 1:25:51Sen. Warren: In fact, the last trump administration issued dod's first instruction to establish policies to mitigate civilian harm after concerns grew about civilian casualties in the campaign against isis.
▶ 1:26:07Sen. Warren: One of the tools that commanders now have in the toolkit is working with civilian harm and medication response advisors from refining wargames to real attack planning in the middle east and africa operations we had and more.
▶ 1:26:25Sen. Warren: Vice admiral bradley, your predecessor at special operations command recently said these experts "assisted commanders and staffs, to getting civilian harm without compromising lethality.
▶ 1:26:41Sen. Warren: Once more, their knowledge enhanced precision preserving legitimacy and enabling mission success." vice admiral bradley, if you're confirmed, will you commit to keeping civilian harm prevention experts at socom to advise you and your team?
▶ 1:26:59Vice Adm Bradley: First, just to resonate, it is not only an obligation to adhere to the law of armed conflict to protect civilians, it is critical to our success in competition to represent our values. I believe every uniformed come every civilian, and every contractor that is employed or in oversight of the use of lethal force as a critical obligation to be able to do that and I do commit to keeping that as a focus for our command if confirmed.
▶ 1:27:28Sen. Warren: That is a strong answer and I appreciate it. Other tools in the toolkit here are the civilian harm medication and response action plan and dod's policy instruction on civilian harm, which outline dod's plans and policies to reduce civilian harm risks. Africom has made progress in limiting these policies, including through training allies and partners on how to reduce risks to innocent civilians.
▶ 1:27:57Sen. Warren: We are serving as a model that our other partners are now beginning to adopt. In may, the nigerian air force announced its own civilian harm prevention plan. These are efforts that save innocent lives. Lieutenant general anderson, will you carry forward these efforts to integrate civilian harm mitigation planning into socom -- africom operations and training allies in the region to help them do the same?
▶ 1:28:28Lt. Gen. Anderson: To echo vice admiral bradley's importance of this, this is a critically important show of our values. It is also important we maintain the laws of armed conflict. When we engage with our partners that we help them educate and that we model this and this has been something that when I was in special operations command africa, we did.
▶ 1:28:52Lt. Gen. Anderson: We worked with partners and when we saw things or heard of things that were credible, we encouraged him to investigate and to look into this and then we gave them assistance as needed in order for them to conduct their own investigation. I will continue if confirmed to take that on at africom.
▶ 1:29:08Sen. Warren: I appreciate that. I want to hit one other point because we also need to reduce harm to our own special operators. I have worked with senator ernst and others on this committee for years to address high levels of brain injury caused by glass overpressure, exposed service members have reported debilitating symptoms from seizures to depression to suicidality.
▶ 1:29:37Sen. Warren: Now high rates of heart disease, chronic pain, hypertension, even links to brain cancer and neurodegenerative diseases. Clearly, we have a lot more we need to learn. Vice admiral bradley, if confirmed, will oversee tens of thousands of special operations personnel. Do you support dod partnering with outside experts to study the long-term effects of blessed overpressure?
▶ 1:30:06Vice Adm Bradley: I do. I've seen great benefit from our partnerships with academia and other organizations that are studying this problem critically. Our number one soft truth is people are more important in hardware and a critical part of those people is the intellectual capacity. Of course, that is jeopardized by these brain health issues. We see them as her critical contract with our operators in our operators families to ensure that we keep them sustainable.
▶ 1:30:37Sen. Warren: I appreciate that very, very much. There is language and both the house and the senate ndaa that would help us get this study and there are lots more organizations like home-based massachusetts who had the expertise to help us get these answers. We owe this to our service members. Thank you.
▶ 1:30:58Chair Wicker: Senator tuberville.
▶ 1:31:01Sen. Tuberville: Thank you. Good morning and thank you for what you have done for our country over your careers. You and your family, what a sacrifice it is been but an outstanding job. Admiral, I think far too long we have had our eyes on other things and not on our hemisphere. Whether it is illegal migrants, drugs, or both. What is special operations community doing to assist governments military like panama to combat narco terrorists?
▶ 1:31:35Vice Adm Bradley: , current capacity, I am not privy to all the activities socom is engaged in in the southern hemisphere. But in listening and watching general fenton and his leadership over these last few years, I know the partnerships that our teams have been engaging in and developing remain critical to being able to help them build capacity to be able to defend themselves but also to provide security locally
▶ 1:32:07Vice Adm Bradley: Which of course helps to prevent and secure our southern border as well.
▶ 1:32:11Sen. Tuberville: I am sure you are up on the point of the darien gap and the problem has caused over the years. In relationship with our special ops in that area, training people. That will probably be in your forte going forward. What are your thoughts about cooperation activities with latin america going into this job?
▶ 1:32:34Vice Adm Bradley: As a counterterrorism fight informs us, it is far better to find the root of the problem well away from our borders and it is to have to defend them internal to the united states. So if confirmed, making a priority to provide assistance to all of our combatant commanders as far forward as possible and with those partnered forces to help them to be able to secure their own territory.
▶ 1:33:03Sen. Tuberville: Have problems all over the world but if we don't watch our back door, we are going have problems within our country which we already have. General, I think we need to be reinforcing our military presence in africa. Unfortunately, under the previous administration we seem like we were doing just the opposite. Niger. We talked about this in a meeting in my office.
▶ 1:33:25Sen. Tuberville: The vacuum that was caused there, china, russia, iran were happy to fill the things we were doing there. What is your assessment of our withdrawal from airbase 201 and how we learn from these lessons and your thoughts that may the future there?
▶ 1:33:43Lt Gen Anderson: Senator, I appreciate that question. It was a significant investment that went into that airbase. It was in a key area for us to be able to monitor the threat. The loss of that is when we will have to find creative ways to continue to get the indicators and warnings of what the terrorists are doing in the area. I think we also have to understand that there is some volatility across the continent. So how do we make smart investments with the partners that we can continue to sustain.
▶ 1:34:15Lt Gen Anderson: I will say the relationships that we built in niger with the military over several decades are still there. When the time is right, I believe there will be an opportunity. That will have to be determined and if confirmed, I will look at what that is.
▶ 1:34:34Sen. Tuberville: After your confirmation, I guess by telling -- even people watching at home, why do we need to have prices in africa? What is your thoughts?
▶ 1:34:41Lt Gen Anderson: Africa is key to any strategy. The waterways it forms between the straits of gibraltar all the way down through the suez canal and the red sea. It is critical minerals and resources that are on the continent that we need for the future economy.
▶ 1:35:03Lt Gen Anderson: Both china and russia see their strategies going through the continent and they are going to engage their and so we can see the background or we can compete in the ground. I think we have a very powerful tool to compete with as admiral bradley mentioned, nobody brings more credibility to the counterterrorism fight than the U.S.
▶ 1:35:24Lt Gen Anderson: As a matter fact, when we rescued that hostage in niger come the next morning was an influential blogger that posted the americans came like a lion in the night. They killed their enemies and rescued their own. No other nation on earth can do that. That is a powerful symbol across the continent and around the world of what our military and what the united states is capable of. I do think that some level of engagement in africa does matter.
▶ 1:35:53Lt Gen Anderson: A small investment goes a long way. So we don't have strategic surprised that then distracts united states from focusing on the rising threats in the pacific and other areas.
▶ 1:36:02Chair Wicker: Senator tuberville, thank you. Senator sheehy.
▶ 1:36:09Sen. Sheehy: General, I wanted to thank you for what you just said because we have been hearing a lot today about how pulling back investment in certain programs in africa is going to end the world and see the entire dominus to china. The reality is, what you just said, it is what the real power projection is. We can display to the world that we are going to protect our interests and our people ruthlessly no matter what. That is what the real power projection of U.S. military's about.
▶ 1:36:36Sen. Sheehy: The soft stuff is important, projecting economic power is important, but nothing will ever supersede what you just said. Thank you. Thank you to both you and your families for what you've done for this country and continue to do. Admiral, we are facing a very challenging naval atmosphere against china. They are building ships faster than we can, 230 times faster than we do as a matter of fact.
▶ 1:36:57Sen. Sheehy: If we should face a maritime conflict, are most advantage is going to be our undersea special operations capability, how we can protect that power manned and unmanned. Would you take a moment and explain your commitment to that program and how we are going to make sure it remains dominant?
▶ 1:37:13Vice Adm Bradley: Thank you and thank you for your service in that community as well. I believe from my time serving in our undersea community that the partnership between special operations and the navy in this regard is singular in the world in its sophistication. The ability to arrive with the element of surprise is unparalleled through this approach.
▶ 1:37:40Vice Adm Bradley: It gives us advantage from asymmetric advantage not just in were fighting but also in the ability in competition and in crisis. The special operations community as a unique and growing and deepening relationship with united states navy in this regard will stop if confirmed, I would very much look forward to advancing that and continuing to maintain that asymmetry.
▶ 1:38:03Sen. Sheehy: And for both of you, similar question last time we fought a war and into pay, had about 5000 seaplanes that were critical part of our logistical tactical network across the region from moving insurgents to spies to supplies to logistics to rescuing down crew. Right now we're precisely zero planes that can land or in aircraft that can land on water in the entire U.S. military.
▶ 1:38:31Sen. Sheehy: General, your background in aviation, and I used to fly seaplanes nbc 12's like you, this is a capability that as we are entering a new era of power competition, I believe we need to reinvest. I recently worked with into pay, or try to reinvigorate the ability for them to access this capability. Would either of you care to comment on what you think amphibious aviation could mean for our ability to project power all over the world?
▶ 1:39:02Lt Gen Anderson: I think there are new technologies we need to invest in that allow for different types of logistics and support. Seaplanes can be part of that. I think unmanned systems, semi submersibles, a plethora of capabilities that allow us to operate in a contested environment with unmanned -- manned and unmanned systems is critical in the indo-pacific, there is a lot of water across that area so having the ability to operate in those areas and be able to resupply small islands I
▶ 1:39:34Lt Gen Anderson: Think will be very important to potential pacific fight.
▶ 1:39:38Sen. Sheehy: I would say in some cases, over 90% water. Having the entire ao be a runway seems like a pretty good idea. I was recently in kenya, djibouti, egypt. Africa is now going to have 2.5 billion people become the most populous continent in the world here, potentially in the next decade. It is very possible the 21st century could be an african century.
▶ 1:40:07Sen. Sheehy: Is that 2.5 billion people plug into the global economy, become global citizens active on the internet, as they become crypto citizens, we are going to have to reckon with great power competition that is happening there. As I look at some of our engagement across the horn of africa, and through all of africa, really, what do you see is your biggest challenge?
▶ 1:40:30Sen. Sheehy: What are your first 90, 100 20 days going to look like as you grapple with the fact we have a massive geopolitical that a field emerging in field emerging ?
▶ 1:40:41Lt Gen Anderson: I agree africa is growing rapidly. Youth can either be channeled to contribute to the global economy or they can become terrorists or other nefarious actions. What I would say to that is the first thing I would look at is do we have the right access and placement in order to have indicators and warnings to present -- prevent that strategic surprised?
▶ 1:41:08Lt Gen Anderson: To your point earlier, it is a combination of hard power and soft power as you put it but having the relationships and the trust to have the access when needed in order to project power, to be able to counterterrorism, to be able to respond to a crisis anywhere on the continent, and then also to understand what other powers are doing. So my first few days if confirmed would be focused on assessing that and do we have the right foot print and what can we do to maximize warnings?
▶ 1:41:36Sen. Sheehy: I would also encourage you to take a look at the upper is required at camp see him. Thank you.
▶ 1:41:43Chair Wicker: Thank you. Let me ask both of you comment with regard to the first set of questions senator sheehy brought up about seaplanes and that sort of capacity, is there anything on the horizon in that regard?
▶ 1:42:04Lt Gen Anderson: There are a few out there developed. I know darpa is working on a project. There are other companies looking at seaplanes and unmanned seaplanes as well.
▶ 1:42:16Vice Adm Bradley: Across special operations, there had been experiments with that kind of capability.
▶ 1:42:23Chair Wicker: Thank you very much.
▶ 1:42:27Senator Kelly. Sen. Kelly: Thank you. Thank you for being here and for continuing to volunteer to serve our nation. Socom and africom leverage economies of force principles. So applying limited resources for having an outsized impact. And this requires some careful planning and using the right assets against the right problem.
▶ 1:42:57Senator Kelly. Sen. Kelly: Within this economy a forced principal, how important are interagency partners like the department of state for socom and africom's campaign plan?
▶ 1:43:11Vice Adm Bradley: Across a special operations community, our partnership with the integrated interagency come also our law enforcement, federal, and, frankly, even our local law enforcement, partnerships have been critical to us over these last 25 years. And I see that is nothing but growing in the future.
▶ 1:43:32Vice Adm Bradley: If confirmed, the relationships that we have inside our integrated interagency, cultivating those and sustaining them, I think would be -- what had to be a top priority. I can tell you that today the state of those relationships from my current experience is, frankly, a high watermark, certainly of my 34 years, and I suspect even longer than that.
▶ 1:43:58Sen. Kelly: General, do you share that view?
▶ 1:43:59Lt Gen Anderson: I agree we have limited resources so we have to partner across all government agencies to maximize those resources and to find what -- where we can complement each other. We provide the military piece of that but to admiral bradley's point, my entire career with special operations has been working with multiple different agencies in order to maximize that whether that is the fbi and using legal authorities in different parts of the world, working with our intelligence community, or was state department and others to make sure we leverage the full
▶ 1:44:31Lt Gen Anderson: Authorities capabilities of our nation.
▶ 1:44:33Sen. Kelly: One of my big concerns here is the impact that the cuts to usaid within the state department is going to have on our ability to build some trust with partner nations. That is a concern of mine. I'm not going to put you on the spot on that topic but I think it is something that I hope the two of you think about.
▶ 1:44:55Sen. Kelly: Admiral bradley, china and russia currently waging some irregular warfare campaigns against us and our allies and a lot of different places. P.r.c. Is using violence to impose their will in the philippines, russia has a long history of using irregular warfare. Most recently, in ukraine. And it leveraging your most recent experience as a commander of j stock, how does the U.S.
▶ 1:45:24Sen. Kelly: Effectively wage irregular warfare to compete and win with russia and china in the gray zone?
▶ 1:45:32Vice Adm Bradley: In my last three years, I've had the opportunity to be a member of the socom board of directors and watch our leaders special operations command who are responsible for operations the joint soft community inside those areas. I can tell you are principal advantage that the soft value proposition brings is understanding -- and in his understanding of those insidious actions which really are preying on our alliance structure.
▶ 1:46:01Vice Adm Bradley: Being able to illuminate that predatory activity gives our diplomats and our whole of government and our allies power to be able to stand against it and be resilient to it. That in turn strengthens our alliance and deepens our credibility when we want to partner in the build capacity there.
▶ 1:46:19Sen. Kelly: In my last-minute, general, I traveled in the suhail and parts of africa where wagner is pretty active, especially on social media, to exploit coups in western africa, commit human rights abuses.
▶ 1:46:45Sen. Kelly: And when the russians gain a foothold in these countries, they use a significant amount of disinformation to intimidate the local population, stifling opposing views while they claim to provide security. General, how does russia's social media impact stability and africom?
▶ 1:47:08Lt Gen Anderson: That is one of russia's greatest weapons they are deploying across the continent. One of the things they use quite often is disinformation. They play on distort grievances, historic colonial issues, fears of sovereignty, and they play that up to an antidemocratic, anti-western that has impacts to U.S. support.
▶ 1:47:31Lt Gen Anderson: I believe the russian influence and information operations are critical in turning populations against the french in the suhail . I think it is very much not in our interest with what the russians are doing in the information domain.
▶ 1:47:48Sen. Kelly: Do you feel like we are losing this information warfare with the russians, chinese, iranians?
▶ 1:47:54Lt Gen Anderson: To refer to what we discussed earlier, the truth is incredibly powerful. We have that still. We are still a very credible source of information. We need to leverage that. I think we need to be more aggressive about that in this domain, but I would not they were necessarily losing it. But if we do not engage, we risk losing it.
▶ 1:48:15Chair Wicker: Senator scott.
▶ 1:48:20Sen. Scott: Thank you. Congratulations. Thank you for your service. Thank your family for being here thank you for their sacrifice what you served. You're both going to do an outstanding job. Do you believe the government of china has decided to be our adversary?
▶ 1:48:37Vice Adm Bradley: I do.
▶ 1:48:40Lt Gen Anderson: I concur.
▶ 1:48:43Sen. Scott: So we put this -- this committee has put a lot of effort into getting rid of chinese drones will stop the military and our country. We have made a lot of progress. As you know, we are seeing drone warfare increase around the world. We have watched what is happened in ukraine, in the red sea, what the houthis have been doing a few gunships. Do you believe drone technology will be important warfare going forward?
▶ 1:49:11Vice Adm Bradley: I do.
▶ 1:49:12Lt Gen Anderson: Absolutely.
▶ 1:49:16Sen. Scott: Important to make sure we don't have chinese products in our military such as drones?
▶ 1:49:21Vice Adm Bradley: I know there are nefarious aspects to chinese products that come out and we must be careful not to include any of those.
▶ 1:49:30Lt Gen Anderson: I would agree we need to make sure we don't open back doors or other vulnerabilities -- we need to understand what products we are using.
▶ 1:49:42Sen. Scott: So whether it is chinese drones, computers, printers, drugs, products like garlic that is thrown in raw sewage, think it is important we make sure none of that is used by our military and we are never dependent on any of it?
▶ 1:49:56Vice Adm Bradley: Senator, I do resonate with those thoughts. Though I can't speak to all the details, certainly, we must be cautious of anything that comes from china that would be part of our kill chain or part of the military chain of production.
▶ 1:50:13Lt Gen Anderson: I think that is something we need to assess, where those critical vulnerabilities are and where do we need to ensure we have ultimate supply chains as we look at the future.
▶ 1:50:25Sen. Scott: What about drugs? Should we be fine -- buying drugs for our servicemen and women?
▶ 1:50:31Vice Adm Bradley: I can't speak to the details of our drug production chain. Sorry.
▶ 1:50:37Lt Gen Anderson: I'm not familiar with the details of that.
▶ 1:50:41Sen. Scott: Off the top of your head, do you think we should be reliant on chinese drugs will be go to war?
▶ 1:50:48Vice Adm Bradley: Senator, that could be a risk --lt gen
▶ 1:50:52Anderson: Senator, that could be a risk anytime we become dependent on a sole source. I would prefer american-made medicines.
▶ 1:51:02Sen. Scott: I was encouraged to say hegseth sank moving cloud services out of the dod, which was during the obama era initiative. Last question, do you think it is really important we continue to do everything we can to get all chinese products, all chinese apps, everything -- drones, computers, printers, drugs come everything -- as much as we can out of our supply chain for our military?
▶ 1:51:30Vice Adm Bradley: I do agree with that.
▶ 1:51:32Lt Gen Anderson: I agree we should eliminate as many vulnerabilities as we possibly can.
▶ 1:51:37Chair Wicker: Thank you very much. Senator rosen.
▶ 1:51:42Sen. Rosen: Thank you for holding this hearing. I want to think our nominees and your families of course for your service will stop it takes the whole family when you get a lifetime of service. And of course her willingness to continue to serve and congratulations on your nominations. I want to go right into the houthis and the relations with al-shabaab.
▶ 1:52:08Sen. Rosen: The iranian backed group are diversifying their military cap abilities and leveraging regional conflicts to expand their influence. U.S. intelligence report indicates their working to provide weapons to al-shabaab. This development is incredibly concerning as al-shabaab could utilize more sophisticated houthi weapons to target U.S. equities in the horn of africa such as our base in djibouti.
▶ 1:52:30Sen. Rosen: To you both, to the extent you are able in this open setting, can you share more about the growing partnership between the houthis and al-shabaab, the risk that imposes dental into the U.S. equities but personnel in the region, global shipping in the red sea come the gulf of aden, how we are going to just this challenge -- address this challenge?
▶ 1:52:53Vice Adm Bradley: The houthi militia and iranian supported renegade limit inside yemen has been a destabilizing force in the southern arabian peninsula and across the horn for some time. And continues to act belligerently.
▶ 1:53:15Vice Adm Bradley: Any connection that they might make as an outreach to another -- to a violent extremist organization like al-shabaab and al qaeda affiliate definitely bears close concern and, frankly, interdiction. The potential for them to partner is -- we would see with grave concern.
▶ 1:53:39Vice Adm Bradley: If confirmed, as a socom commander, I would have the responsibility as a coordinating authority and advisor to the secretary on counter violent sure missed organization in a culmination of those two actors would be a serious measure.
▶ 1:53:58Lt Gen Anderson: As being the commander of special operations plan africa, well aware the al qaeda affiliate al-shabaab is is fully intent and has full intent to attack U.S. interest in U.S. homeland. If they can build the capability. The concern is cooperation now across the red sea with the houthis who are backed by the iranians and what that could mean and give them the capability not just to have the will but now the capability to attack the U.S. or U.S.
▶ 1:54:28Lt Gen Anderson: Interest in a more robust way. Again, the houthis and al-shabaab operate in critical terrain for the united states and for global shipping. And so that means for them to disrupt that and have impact on her interest is significant.
▶ 1:54:45Sen. Rosen: So need to do everything we can to stop that partnership. I want to move on to talking about our isr strategy in the suhail. Senator kelly was talking about the suhail a little bit but I want to go further because since our withdrawal from the two air bases in niger last year at the behest of the host nation, our ability to conduct isr within the suhail throughout the african continent has been severely degraded. This is also hurting other activities as well.
▶ 1:55:13Sen. Rosen: To both of you, can you speak to the challenges of our withdrawal from niger, the loss of our isr -- what it poses to countering this violent extremists in the region, these partnerships between the houthis, al-shabaab, and other things and any other groups? What are the latest updates to establishing isr elsewhere in africa?
▶ 1:55:39Lt Gen Anderson: I appreciate that question. We did use the isr coming out of niger extensively. The loss of that does make it more difficult. There is never enough isr to be -- meet global demand as I understand and africa is in a, four theater will have limited assets available. I think this importantly balance the exquisite high-end isr capabilities were most needed.
▶ 1:56:04Lt Gen Anderson: And then look at investing in other capabilities whether it be emerging technologies that can allow some surveillance, partnering with key partners within the area, having intel sharing agreements so we can gain understanding from them on the ground. I think those are all critical areas as we look at balancing the isr demand across the continent. As to where they could be in the future, if confirmed, I would look into that. I'm not privy to those plans at the moment.
▶ 1:56:31Vice Adm Bradley: The evolving ubiquitous information environment provides us an opportunity here. The space off cyber triad an opportunity to leverage what we call horizontal isr, to be able to leverage more and more information available publicly that people are freely giving through their use of social media.
▶ 1:56:55Sen. Rosen: Thank you.
▶ 1:56:55Chair Wicker: Senator budd.
▶ 1:56:59Sen. Budd: Thank you post thank you both for being here. I enjoyed our meetings last week in the office. Congratulations on your nominations and thank you for your service and your sacrifice and that of your family's as well. Admiral bradley, in our conversation last week and I have said it publicly in this room many times before this hearing, we need more and not fewer special operations forces. A large reason is the ability to help train our foreign partners.
▶ 1:57:33Sen. Budd: You highlighted in your dance policy questions that soft are uniquely suited for building part of capacity and sensitive areas. How is socom building partner capacity particularly in the indo-pacific and what is the joint force getting in return for those efforts?
▶ 1:57:53Vice Adm Bradley: I very much appreciated the time to visit with you and thank you for your great support for all of our bases, current headquarters there in the great state of north carolina. Sir, I think the example that best illustrates the essence is the philippines. For over a period of 20 years, well, for over 100 years, our strong societal relationship with the philippine society has been strong.
▶ 1:58:23Vice Adm Bradley: Just within the/20, our ability to help train, advise, assist the philippines to counter the terrorism threat in their country has deepened that relationship. And helped us to withstand a very troubled period diplomatically during the duterte regime.
▶ 1:58:43Vice Adm Bradley: On the backside, we have an even stronger alliance with the philippines, which will be critical as we look at any action of deterrence in the indo-pacific. I certainly would not want to speak for admiral to talk about the overall region and where this fits relative to his priorities, but I know from a soft perspective, our contribution to partnerships throughout the region are important and we really bring that credibility from the
▶ 1:59:15Vice Adm Bradley: Counterterrorism fight to help live in and deepen those.
▶ 1:59:19Sen. Budd: General anderson, I want to read a quote from the dod's 2024 and report to congress on let your insecurity to elements involving the prc. It says "some of p.r.c.'s belt and road initiative projects could create potential military advantages such as poa access to select foreign ports to pre-position necessary logistics to sustainable developments or deployments in water such as
▶ 1:59:52Sen. Budd: Distant as indian ocean to the atlantic ocean." here's my concern. I'm concerned the prc's access to reports and the potential military advantage this could give them. Alongside senators kelly and scott, I introduced the strategic ports reporting act. It is a bill to require monitoring of the prc's access to foreign ports.
▶ 2:00:16Sen. Budd: So if confirmed, do you commit to looking into the prc's access to foreign ports in your area of responsibility?
▶ 2:00:23Lt Gen Anderson: If confirmed, I will look into that, definitely.
▶ 2:00:28Sen. Budd: Would you be willing to share some of your concerns in that area, particularly with prc access to foreign ports?
▶ 2:00:34Lt Gen Anderson: As we have seen across the indian ocean and to the african area into the atlantic and the mediterranean, china is investing in ports globally. I think that should be concerning to us. I think it should be concerning to us not only they could potentially use those as dual use military ports but what access can they deny U.S. forces or U.S. commerce is necessary in time of conflict.
▶ 2:01:02Lt Gen Anderson: I think this is an absolute critical area we need to understand them vulnerabilities that may be posed by this. It doesn't mean we don't believe in free commerce and economics. At the same time, we need to understand our national security interests, what these may entail.
▶ 2:01:16Sen. Budd: Thank you. A question about the north carolina national guard. In particular we have state partners in africom, or, malawi, zambia, botswana. General, how do you view the future of state partnership program and disability to strengthen regional stability in africa?
▶ 2:01:38Lt Gen Anderson: I think it is one of the greatest programs we have within the department. It builds long-term relationships. The nice thing about the national guard and the partner nation is those same people will see each other decade after decade. That builds a really powerful relationship that I think -- I know we can build upon. As a matter fact, it was the california national guard be called upon to get the first information in ukraine because they had long-standing relationships with that state partnership program there.
▶ 2:02:08Lt Gen Anderson: The same thing can happen in africa where a small investment can have a great return for us in the future.
▶ 2:02:16Sen. Budd: Thank you.
▶ 2:02:16Chair Wicker: Further questions. We are told senator shaheen is on her way. >> I can fill a little time. I was struck by the admiral's comment that they move 27 times in their career. My first job was moving furniture for allied van lines in this area.
▶ 2:02:44Chair Wicker: Most of our customers were military families and I'll never forget a military spouse think in terms of damage to the furniture, seven moves equals a fire. [laughter] so congratulations on surviving multiple fires.
▶ 2:03:00Vice Adm Bradley: Thank you.
▶ 2:03:02Chair Wicker: Senator king, I'm a veteran myself and I only served four years active duty. It seems to me this people has made 20 moves have been able to throw away a lot of things that my children and grand children may have to deal with since I have not moved now in over 30 years.
▶ 2:03:33Chair Wicker: We think within 10 seconds senator shaheen will materialize. There is a vote going on. We are trying to do our best. I don't believe we will be able to go on with our hearing. I want to thank our witnesses for the testimony and there will be an opportunity for questions on the record.
▶ 2:04:00Chair Wicker: I would remind -- I will inform members questions for the record will be due to the committee by 5:00 p.m. Today. With that, we are adjourned. [captioning performed by the national captioning institute, which is responsible for its caption content and accuracy. Visit ncicap.org]