Hearings to examine the nomination of the following named officer for appointment as Chief of Space

The committee meets today to consider the nomination of Lieutenant General Douglas Shiss, who is nominated to be Chief of Space Operations for the US Space Force. This hearing comes at a pivotal moment for both our nation's security and the future of the Space Force. If confirmed, General Shiss will become the third Chief of Space Operations. That distinction reflects the relative youth of this service. While the Space Force has already proven its value to the joint force, it is still building the institution's culture, talent pipeline, and operational concepts that will define this service for generations. The Space Force was established because our nation recognized that superiority in space is essential to maintaining deterrence on Earth. Today, that mission is more important than ever. the next chief of space operations will assume responsibility as two trends converge. First, the strategic environment is becoming more dangerous, even as the demands of the service continue to grow. The United States no longer has the luxury of viewing space as a permissive environment. China and Russia have made clear that they see space as a critical war-fighting domain. They continue to invest in capabilities designed to challenge America's military advantage. Beijing and Moscow are developing weapons to disrupt our satellites, degrade our communications, interfere with navigation, and threaten the systems that enable every joint military operation. So to meet that challenge we need two things, increased resources, and faster production timelines. Faster production timelines. On the latter point, I'm pleased to see how the Space Force is adopting the Forged Act's requirements for portfolio acquisition executives. This is a significant opportunity to streamline decision making, improve accountability, and accelerate the development and fielding of the resilience-based capabilities that our warfighters need. We must successfully implement these reforms if the Space Force is to keep pace with rapidly evolving threats and deliver operational advantages at the speed today's strategic environment demands. All of this will require an agile workforce. Congress enacted the Personnel Management Act, PMA, to help the Space Force build such a team. The PMA gives the Space Force the flexibility to build and sustain a workforce that can move seamlessly between full-time and part-time service, which can attract specialized talent and adapt as mission requirements evolve. Congress has an important role to play in ensuring that the Space Force has the resources, authorities, and leadership necessary to meet those challenges. We also have a responsibility to help the american people understand why the space force exists and why its mission matters. Space capabilities underpin our national security, our economy, and our way of life. Space technology enables the systems we use for missile warning, precision navigation, communications, intelligence collection, and the operations of every military service. As the thread in space grows, public understanding must grow as well. The American people should understand that investments in the Space Force are investments in our security, our prosperity, and our strategic advantage. One of the defining responsibilities of the next Chief of Space Operations will be ensuring that the Space Force grows at a pace that matches the threat. Our competitors are rapidly expanding their forces and fielding new capabilities. The United States cannot afford to respond with incremental growth while the threat accelerates. So, I look forward to hearing how General Shiss will expand the Space Force to meet increasing mission requirements. With that, I turn to my friend and colleague, Ranking Member Reid.

Thank you very much, Mister Chairman and General Shiss, and welcome to you and your family and congratulations on your nomination to be the next chief of space operations and thank you for your continued willingness to lead uh take a moment acknowledge the the conflict in iran which has tested the space force considerably in the past five months space force assets were among the first to be employed in operation epic fury and among the first to be targeted iran has specifically targeted space force command and control nodes and weapons systems throughout this conflict. Clearly space is no longer a support domain, it is a war fighting domain. And our adversaries understand its importance to our war fighting capabilities. General Chess, your experience in the domain is welcome and encouraging. Your predecessor General Saltzman and General Raymond spent the better part of the past five years building an organization from scratch, initially relying heavily on the air force, personnel and infrastructure for everything from base maintenance to legal and medical support that was appropriate for a new service finding its footing but the space force is quickly becoming a mature war fighting entity and i want to understand your version vision rather for what the next phase of institutional development will look like i'd like to know how you see the space force organizational footprint and support infrastructure evolving over the next five years and what framework you envision for determining where it makes sense to build independent capacity versus maintaining the current relationship with the air force in the same vein i i would note that the air force and space force each possess electronic warfare capabilities that if integrated would be considerably more effective than operating independently the fy twenty twenty seven national defense authorization act includes language directing a joint air and space force electronic warfare road map and would like to understand your commitment to supporting that effort and where you believe the institutional barriers to integration are the greatest finally it's confirmed you will face significant challenges to prepare our guardians and the broader force for future conflicts in particular china has built a space-based kill chain capable of tracking carrier strike groups from the moment they leave and cueing missile systems in near real time. That capability among others poses a serious threat. Tactical space-based ISR, offensive and defensive space control, and electronic warfare from both ground and space will determine whether the joint force can operate in a future contested environment. I would appreciate your perspective on the existing gaps and space force capabilities and what resources we need to close them. General Chask, congratulations again on your nomination. I look forward to your testimony. Thank you, Mister Chairman.

Thank you very much for that fine statement, Mister Ranking Member. Lieutenant General Schultz, you are recognized for your opening statement, sir.

Chairman Wicker, Ranking Member Reed, and the distinguished members of this committee, thank you for the opportunity to appear before you as the President's nominee to be the next Chief of Space Operations of the United States Space Force. I'm grateful for the confidence placed in me by the President, the Secretary of War, the Secretary of the Air Force, and the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs. To start, I'd like to recognize the most important people in my life, my family. My wife, Debbie, and I will celebrate thirty-six years of marriage later this month. Debbie is a passionate advocate for military members and their families. She has put her own career ambitions aside to serve our military families for decades. She's been by my side for my second lieutenant commissioning. through thirty-four years of military service, eighteen military moves, many operational alerts and shifts, and a year-long deployment to the Middle East. I know if I am confirmed, she will do everything she can to advocate for and serve our military families. Also today we are joined by our daughters, Caitlin and Kendra. They have endured multiple moves in many different schools to include going to several different high schools. Caitlin has just completed the curriculum for a doctor of theology, and is finishing her dissertation. And Kendra recently graduated with a Juris Doctorate and will be taking the bar soon. Both of our daughters continue to make us proud for the many accomplishments, but more importantly for the incredible women they are. We're also thankful for our son-in-law Matthew and Caitlin's fiancee Noah. Both our mothers, Vicki and Eleanor, will be watching online today, and if our fathers were still with us, they would be watching too. I know the demands of military service are borne by our spouses, our children, parents, and loved ones. I'm deeply thankful for the support my family has given me throughout my career, which makes my service possible. Space Operations General Chance Saltzman and his wife, Jennifer, who have tirelessly worked for the last four years to transform our space force to the war fighting service it is today. Debbie and I have had the privilege of working with and for them for many years, and we are thankful for their thirty-five years of dedicated service to our nation, our military, and their families. We wish the best for them in their upcoming much-deserved retirement. I would also like to acknowledge the uniform and civilian guardians, families, and mission partners who secure our nation's interest in, from, and to space. The United States Space Force was created by the President and Congress, recognize that the space is a war-fighting domain. Our way of life, our economy, and our national security all depend on our ability to achieve space superiority. The Space Force must organize, train, and equip forces for several related but distinct purposes. We must defend our nation's space capabilities so the joint force can project power. We must protect the joint force from space-enabled attack, and we must deliver the capabilities the joint force needs to prosecute The president has directed that the department of war maintain a favorable balance of military powers in the Pacific region. US space capabilities are foundational to this pursuit. The threat China poses is real. The People's Liberation Army has rapidly expanded its space capabilities, and is fielding systems designed both to exploit space for intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance, and to deny US ability to use space capabilities in a crisis or a conflict. Albeit not at the same scale. as China, Russia continues to field and employ capabilities, including systems that threaten satellites, ground infrastructure, and the electromagnetic links that connect our forces. Along with other actors, the result is a domain that is contested. Our purpose is not confrontation, but deterrence. Considering ensuring no adversary believes aggression against the United States will succeed. As I speak, guardians around the world are standing watch for our nation. They provide missile attack warning. They enable precision strike. and they connect forces across the globe. They protect and defend the space domain. They develop, acquire, and field war-winning capabilities. They support national decision-making, and they operate in a domain where mission failure can have strategic consequences for the US national security and our way of life. I believe my past assignments to include service staff, joint, and command have prepared me to be the CSO. If confirmed, it will be the honor of my professional life to lead the guardians of the United States Space Force. And I promise to lead the Space Force into its next chapter, building on the legacy of our past leaders. I will work tirelessly to ensure our guardians are ready, our capabilities are robust, our partnerships are strong, and our service is worthy of the trust placed in us by the American people. Thank you for your support of the Space Force and for your consideration of my nomination. I look forward to your questions.

Thank you very much. It's now in order for me to ask standard questions. We ask all military nominees. And, sir, if you'd just answer yes or no. To exercise its 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. Have you adhered to applicable laws and regulations governing conflicts of interest?

Yes.

Do you agree when asked to give your personal views, Even if those views differ from the administration in power.

Yes.

Have you assumed any duties or undertaken any actions which would appear to presume the outcome of the confirmation process?

No.

Will you ensure your staff complies with deadlines established for requested communications, including questions for the record in hearings,

Yes.

such as this? Will you cooperate in providing witnesses and briefers in response to congressional requests?

Yes.

Will those witnesses be protected from reprisal for their testimony or briefings?

Yes.

Do you agree, if confirmed, to appear and testify upon request before this committee?

Yes.

Do you agree to provide documents, including copies of electronic forms of communication, in a timely manner when requested by a duly constituted committee or to consult with the committee, regarding the basis for any good faith delay or denial in providing such documents.

Yes.

Very good. Now let's turn to um uh round of uh five minute questions. Um and uh let me let me ask you this um you know uh you're the third you're going to be um um hope uh the the third person to hold this position. And so, uh, we're still, even after two others, we're still sort of developing the personality of, um, uh, of the, um, space, um, domain. Um, you say that, um, in, in particular on page three of your testimony, uh, you mentioned China, and then to a lesser but still important extent, you mentioned Russia. Um, why do you say that, um, that the space capabilities are particularly important in the Pacific? And, and then you say that China, the, the threat China poses is real. What can you say to us and to the public today, um, to expand on why you believe that the, the threat of China is real? senator thank you for uh allowing me to take your question

senator thank you for allowing me to uh to take that question uh as i said in my in my written testimony china's threat is real and what i would say what they are doing with uh what i'll call counter space uh and space superiority uh capabilities is breathtakingly fast they have watched uh the space force and the air force before that and the activities that we have had uh to enable the joint force and they have determined that they need to come up capabilities to do that so we've seen anti-satellite tests from the ground uh there are capabilities in space that hold our uh satellites at risk uh and they continue to do that uh in a rapid pace and uh uh love to to have a conversation with you in a a more classified session to talk about that but i would say their electromagnetic jamming the capabilities that they continue to develop are are very uh uh worrisome and specif specifically in the pacific Um, they are, as uh as uh has been said, they are using their intelligence surveillance and reconnaissance efforts to target our forces much farther than they ever have in the pace. They've built a kill chain uh to be able to see our uh carrier strike groups, our bombers at much uh farther um uh pace speed and distances. And they've also developed uh missiles and weapon systems to go after that. So the Space Force needs to be able to bring capability to deny degrade that uh uh, Kill Webb to be able to protect the joint force.

With regard to the threat against the satellites, what would that mean to um, um, Americans and to American service people?

Uh, specifically to service people, it would, it would, it puts us in danger of, of not having the capabilities that the joint force needs. Uh, you can think about global positioning system, um, uh, satellite communications, um, uh, as important as we've seen in, in many different, uh, flicks. a missile warning. Um, and so, uh, it puts those, all of those at risk from some of those capabilities. I would say to our economy and our and our way of life, uh, when I talk to my mother and mother-in-law about a global positioning system and rea- tell them that that's the space force that does that for them, uh, they obviously need that to get around, uh, where they're going, uh, be able to do financial, uh, transactions. And so it's not just, uh, our our, uh, military, but also our way of life.

OK. Um, i mentioned um the need to move seamlessly between full-time and part-time service i hope you agree with my statement and if if um if you do tell me why that's particularly pertinent to the space force

thank you senator uh the the the ability for our uh folks to be part-time or or uh full-time is a is a kind of a novel thing that the space force is doing and many of my conversations with many on the committee here i i i believe that some of the other services might want to start to look at that too uh what it does is it allows us to have uh guardians that come in wanna serve their country be able to do incredible things in the service and then they may decide to do things different uh go out and get a job within industry or or something else maybe even a government job in a in another um uh organization but then still be able to serve and we're able to capture that uh knowledge that bring it back into the Space Force. Uh, they could also do that for a a way of life. They they need to take some time off to take care of family, but it still allows them uh to bring that back uh to the service. Uh, one of the things that we continue to work is is how we how we do that, uh, how we allow them to to continue to serve in other ways or work in industry and then bring that back. But we believe uh we're just at the beginning stage of this, we believe this will be something that is very, very effective for the Space Force.

Look forward to uh watching how that develops. Senator Reid.

Thank you very much, Mister Chairman, and thank you, General Chess. Uh, some companies wanna lease certain space assets uh that are actually military weapon systems that can be used to destroy other systems and even uh kill people. And last year's NDAA prohibited temporary ownership of space weapon systems. And and the analogy is very plain we don't lease uh m four rifles we don't lease f fifteenth etcetera uh this year's nda further clarifies the space force must own title to a space weapons system uh what are your views on this matter

thank you ricky member um i i agree that uh the space force has uh many things that they need to be able to do with commercial Uh, and there are definitely different mission areas where having commercial, uh, leasing, different, uh, ways to do that makes sense. Uh, satellite communications, space domain awareness, things like that. Uh, but I also agree when it is a weapon system or a capability, uh, that, uh, would be able to harm, uh, uh, another person's, uh, equipment, uh, their assets, or even people, uh, that needs to be, uh, completely owned by the space force and needs to be controlled. That, there's other ways that we do this, the National Reconnaissance Office has contractors that operate systems but they always have a a uh military member or a a national reconnaissance office civilian that is the mission director over that i i if confirmed happy to uh work with you on that but i but i uh agree that uh we have to have guardian uh control over those systems

oh thank you um it's important that obviously that you work synergistically with the air force on combined efforts uh since you're both in really sort of overlapping spaces uh one area of cooperation is electronic warfare whether it's in the ground air or space and each service is developing capabilities that combined will be better than one individual weapon system uh what are your views on joint operations and integration with the air force in electronic warfare

thank you i i believe there's a lot of work that we can do together with the air force and i would say not just the air force but the other services as well uh in my past i was the service component united states uh space command uh and i was the combined joint force space component commander which i had capabilities from all of the services the the navy has electromagnetic uh warfare uh capabilities as as the marine corps is bringing that on too and then of course the air force and so i believe that we can be complimentary of each other and i believe that we can work together um obviously a little bit different sometimes uh and so we just made sure that we're not duplicative but we're complimentary of our efforts and if confirmed uh look forward to working with the chief of staff of the air force general wills bach and others and the other service chiefs as a member of the joint chiefs uh to make sure that we do that right

well the ideal situation would be that every sensor is connected to every shooter um we're not there yet is that right

yes senator i i agree with you on that as the the department of the air force battle uh network is is going through where uh the space force is a big part of that working through and then as you've seen in our budget request with the uh the uh sdn the capability to um connect all of those forces together i do agree that we need to be able to bring all of the information to the right person at the right time to make the decisions they need to make to be able to uh have the right effect against uh the target

and uh lately this is an inescapable question but ai will be an important component of doing that

Yes, Senator, I believe that uh AI is is a huge part of how we do things. I would say there are certain areas that we're gonna push that, space domain awareness and and the ability to sense and see what's going on in the domain is ripe for that.

Mm.

Uh, and we will continue to work that. Obviously we need to make sure that we uh uh have still have a guardian in the loop on that,

Mm.

but use that to the most uh effective ability to make those guardians uh uh better at their job.

Now, uh, General Salisbury and I are a great deal of time standing up organization uh that was very small and lean about ten thousand uniformed personnel five thousand civilians and the air force has provided most of the infrastructure for base maintenance and legal medical services etcetera what do you see changing over the next five years how much will you absorb and how much will continue to depend on the air force

ricky meyward thanks i i agree that uh the air force has been an incredible

Well, you're too young to have served in the Army Air Corps, but I forgive you. Thank you.

Thank you, sir.

Thank you, Senator Reid. Senator Fischer.

Good morning, General. Uh, thank you for your service and my thanks to your family for their service and sacrifice for many years. Um, I'm I'm glad that you want to continue your service in this new position. Can you explain, um, to the committee but also to the American people why it's, uh, why we need that steady and predictable funding for programs like the airborne moving target indicator satellites important for our war fighters and if there is a pause in fielding these capabilities what risk does that present to our forces

senator fisher uh incredible discussion on amti and airborne mobile target indicator and the and the need for that what i would say to the committee and to the american people It is something that we need to do for, for multiple reasons, but I think one of the first reasons is to, to save American lives. Um, as I had talked about uh previously, the, the capability of the Chinese and others to target our forces at much greater distances, and much greater speed, with missile systems and, and ability that, it, it sometimes pushes our forces out farther, and we need to be able to get our forces in. And so uh, airborne mobile target indicator and, for that matter, ground mobile target indicator allows us to have our forces, uh farther out and be able to still provide that capability. I think those are complimentary. We we will we will have uh airborne forces and others that do that mission as well, but we will be complimentary with them. Uh but in in the end it it saves American lives, but it also can provide us much greater fidelity of information uh that we can get. And as we continue to use other capabilities with automation and the networks behind that to bring bring that capability right to the warfighter will help us uh, be able to be more effective in our missions.

Many of our uh space-based programs, they rely on that guaranteed access to electromagnetic spectrum. Can you speak to this committee on the importance of ensuring that that access continues?

Yes, Senator, it's very, very important that we have the proper accesses that we need for different frequencies and different spectrums. And if confirmed, uh I'll continue the work I do now in my current role working with uh our our uh cyber folks, uh, the CIO of, uh, OSW as well to ensure that we are providing that necessary information to the administration on what frequencies what spectrums are needed, uh, and the cost associated with them if we were to, to move those spectrums. But it is very, very important to make sure that we can have the spectrum be able to do our missions.

And not just the cost but also the time factor involved in, uh, having to move all those assets that are currently in certain spectrums. Correct?

Yes, Senator.

Thank you. Uh, section fifteen O five of this year's NDAA, it requires the department to ensure that space weather is integrated into space domain awareness into that doctrine and operations. And I'm deeply concerned that space weather, in other words, understanding how solar activity, how radiation impact our satellites has been historically under-prioritized. If we allow this to decline we could incur serious risks, for example, not being able to react in time to protect our satellites from harmful solar flares. If confirmed, will you commit to working with me to ensure that this mission is appropriate, appropriately elevated?

Yes, Senator.

Thank you. Uh, General Shess, what uh does combat readiness look like? for the Space Force.

Senator, combat readiness, make sure that we've one, have the equipment that we need at the right place at the right time, but we also have the guardians trained with advanced training. They have all the capabilities and then we can actually run them through the paces. And so we can do exercises and things uh like that to make sure that they're qualified, that they're ready to do the mission. And if confirmed, I promise you that that will be a high priority for me.

Good. Do you believe that the Space Force is organized and resourced appropriately to meet that goal.

Senator, I believe the Space Force is organized uh properly, obviously with our uh FY twenty-seven uh President's budget request, uh we are asking for more. Uh, I believe that the threats that are out there

I think it's a hundred and twenty-four percent more.

Uh, seventy-one point one billion dollars for the Space Force. Uh, I believe those are needed because of the threat from China and Russia, uh and uh the capabilities of the joint forces needs.

What do you think are your most pressing challenges? in the next uh three to five years short term.

Senator, I believe uh obviously with that amount of money being able to acquire those systems, but we're thankful to the Congress uh for and this committee for some of the acquisition reforms and the things and if confirmed I'll work with the Secretary Mink uh and our Secretary Assistant Secretary of the Air Force for Acquisition and Integration to make sure that we can field those capabilities rapidly. Obviously we're bringing on more people too.

Do you have worry about uh supply chain?

Yes, Senator, supply chains are always uh important issues that we gotta make sure that we have at the right time and and if confirmed I promise you to work on that.

OK. Thank you, sir.

Uh, General Schiff, you're not adequately resourced right now. If the proposal is um uh adopted by the House and Senate and signed by the President, you would be. Isn't that correct?

Yes, Senator.

OK. Senator King.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman, I I wanna begin by uh an acknowledgement that I was a skeptic of the Space Force when it was Senator Kramer was a principal sponsor and as painful it is for me to acknowledge, he was right and I was wrong. Uh, I believe that the space force now is is providing an an essential part of the deterrent and the defense of this country. Um. Yeah. Put put put that in the bank, Senator Kramer. Uh, but uh uh general he been touched upon in terms of your budget. Um, your budget's increasing by a hundred and twenty-four percent this year. This country is facing a serious budget and deficit problem, as you know. And, uh, uh, please explain to the committee and to the American people why this really massive increase is necessary. My father used to say, "When I put my rat in your trap, I expect him to lose his tail but not up behind his ears." And, uh, uh, a more than doubling of the budget is, pretty substantial, so please make that case.

Senator, I will. I I won't talk about the rat, but uh um but uh yes, I w- I will uh do that. One thing I would say right away is the Space Force budget is uh fairly small compared to the other services but I do understand and as a taxpayer, I wanna make sure that we're we're being as uh um as judicious in that as possible. I would say that the seventy-one point one billion dollars that the President has asked for is exactly what we need and a couple areas in there, we talked about. threat earlier. I think that is uh the thing that is driving us to that. Uh, holding our satellites at risk that then danger American uh soldiers, sailors, airmen,

I- i- is it accurate to say that

marines.

heaven forbid there would be another major conflict, it would really probably start in space?

Senator, I I believe that's a possibility uh that it could start in space. Uh, but if not, uh definitely space would be a very uh at the very beginning of any conflict, especially with uh uh potential adversaries of China or Russia.

I I I interrupted. Please go ahead uh to to make the case for the for the budget increase.

What I'd say is for for decades uh before the Space Force uh in in the Air Force and then now we have provided incredible combat relevant effects to the joint warfighter we can talk about GPS we can talk about SATCOM uh what is different now is we need the ability to have space superiority and what that means is we have to have the ability to counter someone else's ability to um to hold our satellites at risk.

And and the vast bulk of that money is for is for equipment,

Uh.

not not personnel. You you you're you're not a very large organization in terms of personnel, but you're talking we're talking about space-based infrastructure. Is that correct?

Yes, Senator, uh, uh, weapon systems, facilities, uh, training capability, all of those things are in there. We are requesting an increase in in guardians, uh, two thousand eight hundred personnel, but, uh, it is mostly equipment.

I also serve on the Intelligence Committee. Assure me that we're not. gonna be duplicating with NRO.

Uh, Senator, I have a great relationship uh with uh, well with Doctor Scalise who just retired, but uh looking forward if uh confirmed uh with the new NRO director, but uh the Space Force provides uh many different guardians that work within the NRO, and I believe that we are not duplicative and if confirmed I will ensure that we we do not do duplicative efforts.

You mentioned personnel uh, the mindless cuts in the in the civilian defense establishment last year. cut the the guard the uh uh the civilian personnel at the space force by something like fourteen or fifteen percent are you rebuilding that and i i worry that a lot of expertise walked out the door during that period

senator we did have uh uh large uh uh folks that took uh the drp and other programs and so that that was a significant uh cut to us but we are working to bring those back as a matter of fact space systems command is trying to hire a hundred civilians a month Uh, and we're thankful to, to the Congress and to.

Are you able to find those hundred civilians a month?

We are, uh, uh, we are able to do that. Some of those are different locations, uh, but, uh, we're, we are, uh, the Space Force doesn't have a, a problem with people wanting to join it, it's just finding the right spot for them. Uh, and so, and then in our request we also asked for an additional two thousand civilians.

Uh, finally briefly, uh, do you see the Space Force modernizing and scaling up launch capacity working with the various now competitors in terms of launch?

Senator, yes, launch is obviously very critical for our ability to get our new assets into space, and having done the launch business several times in my career, uh, we will continue to work to make sure that the infrastructure is needed. We're we're at an incredible pace right now and we and that pace is gonna continue to grow.

Thank you. Thank you and congratulations on your nomination. Thank you, Mr. Chairman.

Thank you, Senator King. The chair recognizes perhaps the most prescient member of the armed service committee, Senator Kramer.

It's amazing how good timing and luck can make you look really smart, but thank you for the compliments. Um, thank you, General, for for stepping up again. And Debbie, thank you for being a good partner. I've appreciated your hospitality at Vandenberg and look forward to working with you. And to Caitlin and Kendra and, more importantly, to the two young men that, uh, like all of us, are going well above their heads. Uh, thanks for being in the in the fight with with everybody, but but I know it's a family effort and I appreciate you acknowledging them right up front. Um, as you know, th- this year's NDAA authorized the two hundred and fifty million dollars for a space operations facility at the Grand Forks Air Force Base. And, and I know you know Grand Forks well, like General Raymond, I'm Miss Soler from Grand Forks at one point, and, and we're delighted by playing a, an important role going forward. So, um, my first question is simple, I just wanna make sure that you, you maintain the commitment that your predecessors have made to Grand Forks as we as we look forward.

Yes, Senator.

I also look forward to uh maintaining that relationship with the University of North Dakota and Grand Forks, as well as you know as General Raymond signed the very first Space Force University partnership with them and and uh they built up quite uh an expertise at the school. I want to talk now though a little bit about the SDA culture because of course Grand Forks started with Space Force as the you know uh an S with an SDA investment that's growing dramatically. And we eliminated in this year's NDA space development agency. That wasn't my idea, but I'm willing to play along and and go along with this and I understand the vision, and I'm confident because of Space Force's vision that the new PAEs, you know, the the portfolio acquisition executives will operate and function much like space development agency director, particularly um as a result as it it aims to get a a constellation, the Leo constellation, the transport layer, utilizing spiral development. But I also know we need to go fast. And I would love to get sort of your your vision for how that will operationally work, because you're you're coming in at such a critical time when the those decisions are being made or have been made. Now you get to implement them. And I'd be interested in how you how you see that playing out.

Senator, thanks. Um, the Space Development Agency has been an incredible organization and we've we've learned a lot from them and and obviously doing great work and as a matter of fact uh i believe we have a launch later today out at vandenberg uh for some capabilities there so we're hoping for the best for that what i would say in working with secretary mink uh and if confirmed continuing to work with him the portfolio acquisition executive is trying to take all of the things that the sda did correct and put those in all of the paes and so uh you know secretary mink talks about giving ninety percent of contracting to them and so what i would say to you if confirmed Uh, I promise you to continue to work that so that all of our PAs take some of that capability to bring on fast uh systems.

Uh, that's great, you just sparked a a memory uh in in the uh that discussion, because I remember saying to to General Raymond in early on, you've been given a white sheet of paper in a brand new organization, try, try to be innovative and don't gravitate, you know innovate, don't gravitate to what you know, not that everything you learned was bad obviously. Um, and so I'm I'm and I in fact I remember saying to him one thing, time in fact what i would suggest is that you'd show a new way for the rest of the forces and i think that's sort of what you've described and also just add something something you in your answer to um to to senator king was uh with regard to nro and i appreciate and i think we should highlight i think this is an a moment and an opportunity and i think space and nro and the and the various silos the various silos working more jointly is is an example that can be built upon by the entire joint force because it's necessary. I mean, we just can't afford duplication, but we also can't afford a a clumsy, uh, you know, a clumsy joint force. So with that, I just thank you again for your service and, and your willingness to step up and look forward to working closely with you. Thank you, Mister Chairman.

Thank you very much, Senator Blumenthal.

Thanks Mister Chairman, thank you and your family for your service. I think the, the common refrain is that we're all learning from Ukraine. uh i would be interested in knowing from you how and what we've learned uh the space force has learned from the war in ukraine and how those lessons have changed the way you were thinking about war in space and more broadly how it should effect our thinking about it

senator thanks uh appreciate that question so it's really important for us to always learn uh from any conflict uh whether we're in it or not uh and obviously we're we're uh providing support uh through nato and others to to ukraine what i would say some of the lessons that the space force has learned is one obviously one way attack uh uavs is is been huge not there only there but also in iran and so our ability to track those and ability to to use uh uh capabilities against those so that's one thing that we've learned i think also is the jamming environment uh gps jamming satellite communications jamming in a previous job as the the commander of uh this US space command uh component, we were continually working through jamming situations on satcom and we learned a lot about how to do that very quickly to re uh give uh the capability to our our forces. And so uh we'll continue to do that. As a matter of fact, we we're always uh working with the the J seven of the joint staff to bring those lessons learned uh and make them uh part of our uh, tactics, techniques, and procedures.

Is there a way to do the golden dome? at a scaled-down version.

senator uh if confirmed uh i i look forward to working with uh general gutlein in his derpam role uh from the space force perspective what i would say is a lot of the things that we are doing in golden dome uh also provide us capabilities for uh space superiority whether that's tracking communications data all those uh kind of things so i do believe uh that we will continue to get um good things from that from um golden dome but uh if confirm looking forward to working with general guttline on on what that looks like for the future

uh let me let me ask you um whether you think in space warfare china is ahead of us

senator united states is a very very capable space force and we're the best in the world uh but what i would say is china is rapidly trying to uh make that gap much much smaller and they are bringing on capabilities on a daily basis and would love to talk to you in a different uh uh session there to talk about some of those capabilities but i think our budget that request that we have asked helps us to continue to stay uh in the lead uh and uh we need to do that to make sure that uh the chinese can't catch up

well i'm very gratified to hear that i didn't mean to imply that the united states was second uh but obviously we hear a lot of worry and anxiety about china being ahead of us in space and i would like to explore that issue with you uh in a classified setting