Welcome back to my channel and welcome if you're new here. Thank you so much for clicking on today's video My name is Jen and I am a certified nutrition coach and I am on the WW blue plan today. It's Friday. It is way in day. We talk all about the WW workshop I share my way in we talk about my week We set some goals for the next week and we set ourselves up for success starting a new week Make sure you're checking out the description box down below where you'll find my nutrition coaching website I have several coaching options for you everything from figuring out your macros Calories and how to work that into your points to one-on-one coaching check out my website down below There will be something perfect for you also in the description box is the links for my favorite things Discount codes that I can offer you the website where all of my recipes are featured as well as the link to head over and join My Facebook group. We'd love to have you be part of that amazing community over there So head on over and join us if you are new. Thank you so much again for clicking on today's video Make sure you're subscribed and that your notification bell is turned on I do a way in video every single Friday So you don't want to miss a single one again Give this one a big thumbs up if you are here for these way in videos and welcome to my office you guys and fall Decor is in full bloom. So I thought this was the perfect place to film today's video So let's jump right in this week went pretty well for me If you watched last week's Wayne video, you know that I set up some pretty lofty goals for the month of September I stayed within those goals this week. I drank all my water. I did my jazzer size I stayed within my points and calories There was one not-so-fun thing that happened this week and I'm gonna let you take a wild guess what that might be That is correct. My favorite time of the month is here It actually started on Sunday So we're kind of at the tail end of it, but it's still here unfortunately So that always just kind of puts a damper on my week when it is my time my favorite time of the month I am extremely tired and fatigued. That is one effect that I get I'm also usually very snacky and I'm just kind of blah just kind of hum drum So this week was a little bit of a challenge in that aspect Just the motivation to go work out the motivation to eat right when I'm feeling really snacky And the motivation to just stay active during the day because I'm so tired and fatigued But I would say overall all things considered. I did have a really good week I am filming this video on thursday because later today We are headed to an airbnb right on spirit lake in Idaho for the weekend a well needed getaway for my husband And I were taking the dogs and we're just going to relax My plan is to vlog so you'll definitely see that video coming your way here in the next week or so So I am actually weighing in one day early this week. I did attend the virtual workshop Not my normal one, but one of the ww virtual workshops right before I sat down to film this video So let's talk about the topic that was discussed So this week's topic was called the activity slash identity connection So the basis of this week's topic was a little bit about how we identify ourselves No matter what hat we're wearing whether we're a mom a doctor a cook a stay at home wife A pet mom a dog mom. We all identify ourselves a little bit differently And we also identify ourselves when it comes to physical activity Some of us identify ourselves as heavy exercisers. Some of us identify ourselves as non-exercisers or very mild Exercisers and how we look at ourselves whether it's in our day to day life Or how we look at ourselves even when it comes to activity can really play a big role in how we're identifying ourselves overall So today we're going to talk about how we can reframe our thinking when it comes to how we identify ourselves when it comes to physical activity Or exercise So i'm going to share four tips with you from ww on how to kind of reframe your thinking when it comes to physical activity Tip number one First we need to think about what is it that we really want to do? We really need to pinpoint and narrow down what type of activity or exercise interests us Maybe running is your jam. Maybe going to jazzer size like myself is your jam Or maybe just going downstairs in your basement on the treadmill is perfect for you Really pinpoint and narrow down what activities or activity you think that you would be most interested in doing Make sure that what you're selecting is something that fits within your activity range that you are right now So you can remain consistent so you cannot just start an activity program and then three days later stop that activity So make sure that it's doable for you in your present state And make sure it's something that you're looking forward to or something that you're actually going to want to do Number two no matter how small think of some type of activity You've been successful at in the past now. This doesn't have to be running a marathon This could be simply running down the street after your kid Maybe walking a little brisker to get your mail at the end of your driveway Think about things that resonate with you when it comes to being successful in activity Again, it doesn't have to be a major milestone. It can be just the small things that add up to activity These past experiences are actually called proof points Use these proof points to form a new thought based on your past activity Evidence so this is fact this is evidence of activity that you've done in the past For example walking briskly to get your mail at the end of your driveway You actually did that it is fact it is evidence So use that as a proof point to determine what the next step is in activity for you Maybe now it's walking briskly around the block rather than just to the end of your driveway to get your mail Or instead of chasing your kids down the block Maybe taking your kids on a walk or a short jog around your neighborhood Once you've determined your proof point make sure that you're repeating it to yourself at least on a daily basis Whenever you feel like you don't want to go do that activity or you don't want to go exercise Remind yourself that you can do it. You have proof. You have evidence You have a history of being able to do physical activity That will help motivate you to get out the door and get on the ball when it comes to the activity that you've set yourself up for Whether big or small long or short any type of intentional Movement every single day is so beneficial to not only your health and your weight loss journey But to your body it helps you become a leaner stronger. You get a little bit more endurance You just become a better overall version physically of yourself So come up with a new activity to try this week Try to get at least 30 minutes of intentional movement every single day Take advantage of times where you can stand instead of sit Maybe take the long way to the coffee machine if you're in the office Or if you're working from home make sure you're getting up every hour and maybe just doing a lap around your house Really think about how this intentional movement can benefit your health journey. I really like today's topic I think that it resonates with literally everyone Sometimes just taking baby steps to get a little bit more movement in every day is all that we can do And that is awesome. The more baby steps we take The shorter time it will take before we can take big leaps and bounds when it comes to activity So let's talk a little bit about my week. Like I said overall my week went really well other than my favorite time of the month Overall, I had a fantastic week and even though it is that time when I stepped on the scale today I lost one pound on the nose on the dot I'm an additional pound down and let me just tell you past history did not repeat itself Normally I gain when it is this time normally. I don't lose sometimes I can pull off a maintain But most of the time I actually see an increase on the scale So I am incredibly proud of myself that I was able to lose and not just lose but lose an entire pound During my time of the month, which is a huge accomplishment for me I am going to attribute this to being consistent in my food My activity and just making sure that I'm staying in those september goals that I set for myself I want to remind you guys again setting small goals is so important. It keeps you motivated It's something new and exciting to look forward to each month or each week or however often you choose to set these new goals So I highly recommend setting some fun goals for yourself for the remaining month of september I also want to remind you about all of the coaching options that I have for you So many of you have taken advantage of my new nutrition coaching, which I very much appreciate I'm so excited to help you reach your health goals. If you haven't I highly recommend you head over to my website I'm going to put it right here on the screen for you. There are options for every single person Most importantly have me determine your macros calories and points if you're on w w Because this is going to give you the foundation to be successful when it comes to choosing the right foods Staying within your points and calories Staying where you need to be nutritionally wise to keep your metabolism revved and going But still see a loss on the scale. So definitely head over to my nutrition website reach out with any questions or leave them in the comments I'd love to coach you and help you reach your goals. Also down in the comments I want to hear from you how your week went. What were your september goals? Did you reach your goals so far in the month of september? How was your weigh-in? Did you gain? Did you lose? What do you think about having some intentional movement every day and setting some small goals when it comes to activity or exercise I promise once you get started It becomes a habit truly it does and I know people say that all the time But you crave your workout. You crave your exercise after you've developed a habit So I highly recommend just taking those baby steps and getting started when it comes to exercise Also, if you are new again, make sure that you are subscribed and your bell is turned on So you don't miss a single video. I do these weigh-ins every friday So you don't want to miss out check out that description box Thumbs up this video. It really means a lot to me and helps kind of get my Channel out into the youtube world and again, thank you guys so much for spending a little bit of time with me today When you guys see this video, I will be relaxing at the lake I can't wait and of course i'll see you guys all in tomorrow's grocery haul. Have a wonderful friday. Bye friends


Hello. I'm Dr. G. Christine Taylor, Vice President and Associate Provost for Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion at the University of Alabama. From the first time I stepped on the UA campus, I have been impressed by the passion and engagement of our students. With more than 100 majors in education programs and over 600 student organizations, you have an abundance of opportunities at UA. As you and your family consider the University of Alabama, discover how you belong at that place where legends are made. One of UA's goals is to provide an accepting, inclusive community, and we're doing that through developing diversity-related curriculum and fostering diversity and inclusion-focused student organizations. Our new Intercultural Diversity Center is committed to cultivating a campus diversity community in which we can learn from and with each other through education, outreach, and advocacy. Our students are passionate and engaged and we're looking forward to your being among them. Now the second annual, our Alabama, a one-day event introducing incoming multicultural students to the campus that we hold each spring, is coming in March. Our capacity may be limited due to COVID-19 safety precautions, however we foster opportunities throughout the year for our students to interact with culturally diverse faculty, staff, students, and alumni. One of our most important goals is to make sure that every graduate from the University of Alabama has tools that they're going to need to effectively engage in the next phase of their life. I regularly talk with corporate leaders who recruit our graduates. Increasingly, employers are telling me that they want people to join their organizations who work effectively and competently with a diverse group of people. My personal goal is to build opportunities for you to develop cultural competencies that offers you that competitive edge. College can be such a rewarding time of tremendous growth. We're ready to be a part of yours.


So, the other day on the program, we talked about how Donald Trump claims that the United States government will now designate Antifa as a terrorist organization, which doesn't make sense because Antifa isn't an actual organization. It doesn't have organizational structure. There's no leaders. Antifa just means anti-fascist. And as Ben Norton pointed out, you know, it'd be as absurd as if you designated environmentalists or socialists loosely as an organization, right? So the reason why he did this, obviously, is because he wants to give the United States government a justification to crack down on civil rights and civil liberties. So anyone who the U.S. government deems as Antifa can be indefinitely detained, for example, or have their civil rights or civil liberties violated with impunity. That's what this is about, although I have to admit that I underestimated just how ruthless the Republican Party is. We're not just talking about using this as permission by the U.S. government to crack down on protesters. One Republican lawmaker in particular is using this as permission to extrajudicially kill American citizens. And as I say this, it's honestly unbelievable to hear those words come out of my mouth because Republican or Democrat, you know, I never thought that I'd see a day where anyone who is an elected official would suggest that we should murder U.S. citizens. But that's what Matt Gaetz decided to say via Twitter, saying, now that we clearly see Antifa as terrorists, can we hunt them down like we do those in the Middle East? He's talking about United States citizens. Now let's put aside the absurdity that allows the United States government to illegally hunt down terrorists because the war on terror has been a failure. We're just ruining other countries. But he wants to do that here. Matt Gaetz just tweeted a sitting elected member of Congress just openly advocated to hunt down American citizens. Let me ask you this, Matt Gaetz. How many terrorist attacks has Antifa committed that is akin to the terrorism we see from, I don't know, right wing militias in the United States? See if you're advocating for the extrajudicial murder of American citizens, you are the one who is the terrorist.  And this is so absurd that every single person in this country should be outraged by this. Not just Democrats and members of the media, but Republicans. Here's the thing. I would never advocate for the extrajudicial murder of American citizens, no matter how morally reprehensible I think their political views are. So look at the MAGA chuds.  I think they're disgusting and ruthless and morally bankrupt, but I would never in a million years say that they should be murdered. And Matt Gaetz, a pro-death Republican, excuse me, he considers himself pro-life, is saying we should murder American citizens. So for those of us who thought that this designation of Antifa as a terrorist organization would be used to crack down on civil liberties, we gave them too much credit. They want to use this to kill people they disagree with, anti-fascists. So Matt Gaetz, an elected official who's serving in the United States Congress, wants to be able to murder anti-fascists in this country. He should step down. He should resign, because any lawmaker who thinks we should murder US citizens is not fit to serve. This is psychopathic. We are seeing his thirst for blood displayed in the open. And guess what? If you look at his Twitter feed, he doubled down. He was angry that Twitter limited who could view this, because it's obviously inciting violence. He doubled down. He was outraged. He couldn't understand why Twitter would hide this violent tweet. This is a psychopath. And it's not just him. You have Tom Cotton saying no quarter for the Antifa terrorists. I mean, these people are so psychopathic that we can no longer just say that the Republican Party is mostly proto-fascist. This is outright fascism. When you start openly calling for violence, yearning for violence of American citizens, you're just a fascist. And that's not hyperbole to say. If you disagree with me calling Matt Gaetz a fascist, read the tweet again. And we hunt them down like we do those in the Middle East. This is deranged psychopathic behavior from a member of Congress. He wants to murder U.S. citizens. And what's crazy about this? Haven't really heard much about this from the media. Now, I understand because they're covering the protests in a very shitty way, by the way, but you can't just be a sitting lawmaker and say something like this, advocate for the murder of American citizens and get away with it. Even in authoritarian regimes when this happens, it makes international headlines. So for a U.S. official to openly advocate for the U.S. government to hunt down and kill United States citizens, that is beyond the pale. And he's got to resign and step down. And there should be pressure on him to do just that. Because I don't care who you are, Republican, Democrat, socialist, it doesn't matter. Nobody should be allowing this to happen. Nobody should allow this psychopath to continue governing if he hates Americans so much that he wants to hunt them down. As we do the terrorists in the Middle East. I'm honestly shocked by this. And I've covered politics for years, so I didn't really think there was much that the Republican Party could do to shock me because they are the party of death and destruction. But usually, you know, they resort to dog whistles.  But now they're just openly saying it. Let's hunt them down. This party is a fascistic death cult. And if this party does not collapse, then the American system will.


Congressman's certainly welcome to his opinion. You know, we all thank you for your service. I, you know, I don't take a back bench to, when it comes to patriotism or devotion to our cause here or protection of our troops. I don't take a back bench to anybody.  So I get it. And I command it. I command it, Boggram Air Force Base. So I know a little bit about Boggram Air Force Base. But again, you're welcome to your opinion. And so I'll leave it at that. Yeah. It's my time to speak, Mr. Chairman. Mr. Visee is recognized. Secretary Austin, I hear from service members often about delay or issues with their pay and entitlements, especially when they PCS duty stations. And I know that these delays may result in service members having to manage large amounts of debt, which in turn may negatively impact their credit rating and security currents. I was hoping that you could tell me what the department is doing to minimize these issues across the service. Could you say that last piece? I was wondering if you could tell me what the department is doing to minimize these issues across the services. Well, we always want to do everything we can to make sure that we're responsive in terms of taking care of our troops. I expect that our commanders at every level will work to make sure that their personnel, personal services are being provided in a timely and effective manner. And those things that are systemic, that rise to our level, certainly our PNR section will continue to focus on making sure that we eliminate barriers to providing compensation. Thank you very much. Chairman Milly, when you talk about retention, we obviously need to talk about quality of life infrastructure. And I know that across the department, barracks, dormitories are in poor and failing condition. As a matter of fact, whenever you go in a co-dale, that's the first thing that they wanna talk with you about before they show you anything else that's going on the base is the need for infrastructure. And across the department, and I know that this is not merely a matter of basic keep up, I'm talking about buildings that are long past our service life, buildings that do not meet the department's own standards and policies for housing service members. And I hear anecdotally that conditions in some barracks are so bad that service members fear for their safety and are worried that broken windows could allow people to break into their rooms. We hear a lot of people talking about this being a top priority for departments, but according to the last several budgets, they are an unfunded priority at best. Giving competing military construction priorities, what innovative solutions are you looking at to ensure that service members are housed appropriately and how do you protect facilities sustainment funds that have been used as a bill payer across multiple administrations to fund higher priorities? Yeah, your last point is the most critical one. To protect the funds for the sustainment of these facilities. We have 560 or so camps, posts and stations around the world. Barracks are on almost all of those and a lot of these barracks are in disrepair and is probably in the range of 10 to 15% or at the lowest ratings. So that's the ones that they work on through milk on this point 1.2 is in terms of privatized housing or not privatized housing, but military housing, we got about a quarter of a million housing units that were responsible for throughout the entire uniformed military at all those bases. Of those, a lot of that at ours, almost all of it has been privatized. That is probably the best methodology technique, but we also have to make sure that we have adequate accountability of the civilian companies that are running these things because we have had issues with PFAS, we have had issues with mold, et cetera. So privatization is the best technique to do that for the actual housing on base housing, but that requires supervision and oversight by all of us, especially commanders, post commanders to make sure that they're fulfilling their duties. Thank you very much. I yield back my time, thank you. Gentlemen yields back. Gentlemen from Georgia, Mr. McCormick has recognized for five minutes. Thank you, Mr. Chairman and thank you all for appearing before us today. Particularly what I understand is your last appearance before the committee, General Milley, in your capacity currently. In order to trust that future defense spending is gonna be used appropriately, I think you can see we have, with the Afghan veterans especially, just that we're held accountable to learn from our past mistakes and I hope we admit that we make some of mistakes. I'm cognizant that you guys have engaged in plenty of post-mortems inside the Department of Defense and Congress with our withdrawal from Afghanistan. And General Milley, I appreciate your prior candor in finding it as a logistical success but a strategic failure, end quote. I was a logistician in a squadron and I was in Afghanistan as the head of emergency medicine in Kandahar. My opinion would be strategically, tactically and logistically we kind of failed in this war. We talk about the money in military spent over there in Afghanistan and as usage strategically, we spent 20 years over $2 trillion in lives of about 20, over 2,400 Americans to take a country from the Taliban only to end up with the Taliban owning that territory again. Before the withdrawal we had, I would make the argument that Kabul was probably safer than Chicago and women had the ability to participate in the workforce, politics and had relative freedoms that they no longer have. And now this country strategically is housing terrorist groups again against the United States. So strategically I have questions about our engagement tactically in our withdrawal. We gave up Bagram and I appreciate your prior service and I really do mean that.  We didn't authorize deadly force in certain scenarios which I think would have been appropriate. And I think we resulted, the result was the single greatest loss of life in about 10 years which I think we'd all agree was at least tragic. Logistically we left behind $86 billion of military equipment, some of it brand new which can now be used against us like it's been found to be used in Kashmir against India. I think it's fair to say some of it could show up in Ukraine if Russia's so deemed to purchase it from the bad guys which I wouldn't put them above. I think we really need closure and we need healing on this topic. I think everybody agrees that I don't care if you're Democrat or Republican when we need closure and the only way to do that is to at least admit that we made some mistakes and that there's accountability which I don't feel like as a veteran of this war that we have accountability. So with that I just wanna ask whose plan was it that we executed for the withdrawal and did we have accountability for the mistakes made? When you say plan, do you mean decision or what are you? The plan, obviously the decision that comes from the Commander-in-Chief but the plan executed, where did that plan originate that we executed? Well, certainly the SENTCOM Commander is a guy who puts the plan together, his staff with the joint staff and we integrate all elements from the interagency to make sure that it's supported but it's Department of Defense, that's right. If I could just make a comment. Yes, sir, of course. There's really two plans. Plan one is done by Scott Miller, subordinate to Central Command, so Central Command owns it. That is the withdrawal of U.S. military forces. That was done by July 3rd, 4th with zero casualties. All U.S. military equipment was taken out. The military equipment you're referring to and it's not 84 billion, it's seven billion according to the SEGAR, that military equipment was transferred over a course of years, that 86 billion, that's 20 years worth of military equipment transferred to the Afghan security forces. That's not U.S. military leaving that equipment. That's a little bit of a mischaracterization out there. So that's $7 billion worth of military equipment that was transferred to the Afghan security forces was left behind because the Afghan security forces dissolved. So plan one was the U.S. military departs, July 4th or so, they did. And then we had to secure the embassy with about 700 personnel. You can't secure a bargram and the embassy with 700 personnel. And it took 8,000 personnel to secure. With due respect, sir. I'm sorry. You're making a good, you're making a good case. Withdrawal plan and the neoplan. Okay, so. The neoplan is done by SEGAR. I guess my point is we made some strategic, I see me tactical errors. There were strategic mistakes made over 20 years. Yes, sir. And I can point to every one of them. There's a huge amount of mistakes. I guess my point is, have we held anybody accountable for those mistakes? I will tell you, from my perspective, there were many people over the course of 20 years that were held accountable for writing things. I'm just gonna say at the strategic level, I'm out of time, so I'm just gonna say, I appreciate it, but I will say, hopefully we'll have some true accountability for the ultimate decision maker. There's a large AER. The gentleman's time has expired, the gentleman's foot. This is an AER, five minutes. And we owe you that. The Chicana has the time. Thank you, Mr. Chair. General Milley, I wanna thank you for your distinguished service to our country. And I appreciate both you and Secretary Austin sticking around till 3 p.m., commitment to the democratic process. I would argue that the United States Department of Defense has been the most innovative institution, probably in humanity over the last 50 years. When you look at what has come out of the Department of Defense, obviously things that have helped my district, the internet, the mouse, GPS, radar, stealth technology. I have a joke with the entrepreneurs. I said, yeah, you commercialized it, but the Department of Defense invented it. And this has been the history of DARPA and other institutions. I wanna make sure that we stay the most innovative Department of Defense. And to that point, Secretary Austin, I commend you for starting the Strategic Capabilities Fund, which is going to be investing in cutting edge technology that could be disruptive. I guess I am puzzled and maybe you can help and generally give us some guidance on how we solve this issue of getting funding to the Strategic Capabilities Fund and how we get more of the funding put into the purchase of advanced technology, not just the funding of the companies, but actually the acquisition. Because we've got almost a trillion dollars which we're heading into the defense budget. Here we're talking about a few billion dollars and yet it seems hard to get that funding and the challenge with China and others, as you know, is asymmetrical. They're not gonna compete with us conventionally. So it seems to me very prudent that we take asymmetrical bets. And I just love with that, I have one question. And my question is just how do we get more of the acquisition into emerging technologies and asymmetrical approaches and what can Congress do to help? And I love both Secretary Austin and General Milley's comments on it. Well, we certainly worked hard to stand up this office because we think it's important to incentivize investors to help create the technology that we need. We've accounted for some of this in our budget. We're partnering with a small business bureau to make sure that we're pulling every lever. We have initiatives such as Raider, which is incentivizes small businesses to come forward with the technology that we've said that we need to help the war fighters so that we can create relevant capability for the war fighters now. And so that has created things like, you've heard us talk about switchblade that's been relevant for the Ukrainians in this fight over the last year. We're able to get that to the war fighters in really record time because of the initiatives like that. So we'll stay after this, but I agree with you this is really, really important that we try to do everything we can to speed technology being introduced at scale where appropriate to support our war fighters. General Milley? Same thing. I think the importance of it is critical. As I mentioned several times today, this change in the character of war is on us and we are seeing the rapid advance of a whole series of technologies that are gonna fundamentally change how militaries fight.  So the faster we get after this and the better we integrate these technologies into our military, the better off we're gonna be against China or Russia or anybody else for that matter. So I think speed and sense of urgency is critical and we need all the help we can get from Congress for that. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Will the gentleman yield? Yes. Secretary Austin, is it the position of the Department of Defense that we need to keep the 2002 AUMF? You're asking me if that's a decision by the Department of Defense? Is it your position? That's something that Congress will decide. If we repeal the 2002 AUMF, will it? What I ask for is that we have the relevant authorities to do the work that we need to do against transnational terrorist organizations. But the 2002 AUMF was about Saddam, right? It was and 2001 AUMF provides us what we need. Still? We still need the 2002 AUMF, you think? 2001 AUMF provides us what we need in terms of authorities. So in your mind, we could repeal 2002 then? That's up to Congress, but if Congress does that, then we still have the ability to do what we need to do based upon the 2001. Thank you. I appreciate the gentleman. I support that questioning. Yeah, I appreciate the gentleman yielding on a matter of mutual interest. The gentleman from New York, Mr. Lillow, does recognize for five minutes. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Secretary Austin, in your opening statement, you referenced several DOD initiatives good for the quality of life of our troops, including access to childcare, more affordable products to commissary and better base housing. And these are commendable advances and I know our troops appreciate them. As you know, Mr. Secretary, another way we take care of our troops overseas is by having proper and enforceable status of forces agreements with our allies. And these compacts guarantee our service members certain rights when they're overseas, including rights the Americans are generally comfortable with when they're under arrest by a government. Can you tell us, Mr. Secretary, how important you think status of forces agreements are, both with respect to troop welfare and mission accomplishment? I think they're really important. I want to go into a little more depth, Mr. Secretary. Yeah, it's very difficult to us to operate in an area where we don't have the ability to protect our troops. And so it's important that we do everything we can to go after the right measures to ensure those protections. In the United States, if a citizen is arrested, there are four basic rights, like a right to a lawyer if they request one. Mr. Secretary, do you think that our troops overseas, if they're arrested by a friendly foreign nation, should also be afforded to the right to attorney before being questioned? Yeah, and I think those things ought to be addressed as we work out those visiting forces agreements. But yes, I always want to make sure that our troops have access to legal counsel. In a friendly foreign nation, when in U.S. service members, liberty is at risk, and when that friendly foreign nation doesn't have English as their primary language, do you think our troops should be afforded to the right to a translator, Mr. Secretary? I do, but again, if there are specific cases that you're talking about, again, we probably ought to talk about what those specifics are. Are you familiar with the case of Lieutenant Ridge Alconas, Mr. Secretary? I am. Would you mind telling me a little bit about it? Yeah, he was charged with the killing of a couple of Japanese citizens as a result of an automobile accident. Right, no drugs or alcohol were involved. He was on a liberty weekend coming back from Mount Fuji, I understand, innocently fell asleep at the wheel, which resulted in the death of two Japanese nationals. He admitted to guilt. He was of the understanding that if he admitted to that guilt, and if he paid a restitution of about $1.5 million, half came from insurance, half came from his own personal funds, that he was led to believe that his liberty would no longer be at risk. Currently, he's serving three years into a sentence in a Japanese jail with subhuman standards, Mr. Secretary. Notwithstanding that, the committee does understand that our relationship with Japan is critical to our strategic interests in the region. We know that the most dangerous conflict if it comes will be with one with China, and possibly with North Korea. We understand value of that relationship, but the unjust imprisonment of Lieutenant Alconas has begun to erode that relationship, and looking how harsh our ally has treated the Lieutenant, including being confined without any real basic rights that might be afforded to a U.S. prisoner, it's starting to erode that relationship and having a chilling effect on our troops. Mr. Secretary, a prisoner transfer request under the Council of Europe Treaty has been submitted to resolve this issue and to bring Lieutenant Alconas home. The President, the Vice President, and the National Security Advisor have all personally pledged, not only for the prisoner transfer request, but also to the Alconas family. Is your department doing anything to execute the Commander-in-Chief's intention to bring Lieutenant home? We continue to work with the interagency to provide support wherever we can. Great, and my time is almost up, Mr. Secretary. So I want to leave you with two things. I hope that the department continues to use all the tools at its disposal to bring the Lieutenant home, but going forward that we negotiate proper and forcible status of forces agreements that give our forces overseas the basic civil rights that are afforded to most Americans without a yield back. Gentleman yields back. Mr. Finstead of Minnesota's recognized for five minutes. Thank you, Mr. Chair, and thank you, Mr. Secretary and General, for being here. I appreciate the time you've given us today and just really want to say thank you for your service. Both of you have touched on the importance of the industrial base and ways in which the President's budget will benefit and strengthen that. While this may be true in some cases, there's still quite a bit of a concern with the recent growth in our outsourcing of many critical aspects to our supply chain, and most notably, critical minerals. It's been widely reported that in the last couple of decades, China has significantly increased its footprint, most notably in the mining and mineral processing realm. And as someone from Minnesota, you can imagine that this is concerning for me. And so at the same time, we've really undervalued the critical minerals that we have here at home, again, including my home state of Minnesota. So Mr. Secretary, what's your level of concern with China's newfound global dominance over strategic resources and critical minerals? And what concern do you have if we were to find ourselves in a position of direct conflict with China on that front? Well, critical minerals are important to us, obviously, and you see us asking for the monies to invest in critical minerals. I think we're asking for $253 million to support that effort. We're doing a number of things to reshore some of the capabilities that we need for our supply chain to the United States of America. So this is important, and where we can, we will continue to stockpile critical minerals that support the important weapons and munitions that we'll need to maintain our competitive edge. I appreciate that, Mr. Secretary, and I would just very humbly ask that you use that wisdom and knowledge to communicate with your fellow members of the cabinet and the administration to really hammer home the importance of us being able to provide those critical minerals. And we know we can do that right here in the U.S., and now is not the time to sit back and let others do it. We have to take ownership of that and control of that. So again, I appreciate your answer. I appreciate you being here today. Mr. Chair, I would yield back. Gentlemen, yields back, and we'll take one moment as this makes our way to the chair. General Lady from South Carolina has been recognized for five minutes. All right, thank you, Mr. Chair, and thank you, gentlemen and generals, for being with us this afternoon. And it's an honor to serve on the Armed Services Committee. My father served for 28 years in the United States military and have many family that are serving in our active duty today. So I appreciate your time and your commitment to our country and to our questions today. I've been deeply concerned about what's been going on. It's watching the invasion of Russia and Ukraine, watching China line up with Russia as well, and looking at some of the technology advances that have been happening over the last, not just a couple of months, but also a couple of years in cybersecurity and in AI. And would just like to ask you generally, your thoughts on seeing some of the technology advances, my sense is, and whether or not to that we are ready, we have the resources financially to support what's going on within DOD with regards to cyber and the advances we're seeing in AI, because my sense of it is that this is gonna happen so fast. And we're seeing advances quickly and swiftly in ways that we've never seen before, I even could even imagine. And my sense is that DOD and the Pentagon, they're going to, you all will be the most, I think, prepared for the future in technology with regards to our defenses and even offense. But I am worried about China and what they're doing and their investment in AI and other technologies. And wanted to get your sense too of the technological resources that we have, the partnering with private industry and within the DOD and how you see that moving forward. How do we stay ahead of China? How do we learn from what the war in Ukraine and Russia's invasion and sort of this new battle front? I'm curious to sort of get your thoughts on some of that too today. Certainly share your concern on, in terms of our ability to not only keep pace, but stay ahead of advancements. And that's why we're investing, we're asking to invest $145 billion into our DT&E, some $13 billion into cyber, which I think is critical. And also the investments that we're making, we're looking to invest $1.8 billion into AI. And it's things like that to your point that will help us maintain a competitive edge. Now we're not just doing things by ourselves, but we're working with allies and partners as well. And one of the benefits that AUKUS brings is that it enables us to not only work on conventionally armed nuclear powered submarines with our allies, but we're also working on other things like long range fires, hypersonics, AI, and those kinds of things. And so working together with our allies and partners I think is key. And that creates, that'll magnify our efforts going forward. And some of those countries have great capability. Congressman, I would say you're exactly right. Time is key here, sense of urgency is key. And I try to mention that in my opening statement, the Secretary mentioned it, it's so important. In terms of time, I think we're probably inside of 10, maybe we have 15, I don't think so. I think it's probably in around 10 years. The key technologies, precision guided munitions, they've been around for 30, 40 years. You combine that with the ability to see, we can see today like we've never been able to see in human history. Combine that with the ability to crunch numbers, quantum computing, artificial intelligence, and combine with robotics in about four or five, maybe six other really key technologies that are all converging in time and space. The nation state that maximizes those technologies with a way of war and optimizes them in the military is gonna have a decisive advantage in all the domains, space, cyber, land, sea, air. That's fundamental. This fight up, this budget is really critical to that and maybe the next one. But this one has gotta put us on the path to really transform this military into that operating environment. If we fail to do so, we're gonna be on the wrong side of the curve relative to China or Russia. Both of them have access to the same technologies we do. Whoever goes fast and gets there first will have a decisive advantage in my view. Right, and I agree with that assessment and I certainly don't want China eating our lunch in that regard because it's important for us to lead and to win in that. In terms of the budget and looking at that and the resources that we're investing there, our long term or even short term of the next five, 10 years, are we seeing enough recruitment in this area to be able to fill some of the positions? Are we relying very heavily on private industry? Where's that balance of finding the right assets to help with and assist in that investment, those investments we're making? You mean? Recruiting for the military, for some of those jobs. For the military? Mm-hmm. Yeah, you've heard us talk about recruiting a number of times a day and this remains a point of focus for us. I truly believe that based upon the things that we're doing, we're going to continue to recruit and retain high quality people. And again, the fact that we're working and leading the way in some of these advance investments will help in that regard. I think young people want to work with things like this and want to work in space and cyber. And so I'm optimistic that we will be able to recruit the right kinds of people. The gentlelady's time has expired. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Thank you. Thanks to the witnesses for their participation today. It is likely that over the next five legislative days, members will submit additional questions for the record, and we look forward to your prompt response. With that, the committee stands adjourned.


Hello and welcome to the OIS podcast, bringing you the latest in science and tech from the Okinawa Institute of Science and Technology Graduate University. My name is Lucy Dickey, and for this episode of the OIS podcast, I speak to marine science students Michael Izumiyama and Billy Moore. They're in their first year of their PhDs and have just returned from a two-week research expedition to New Caledonia. We talked about their research, their favorite dive sites, and when they first became interested in the ocean. First up is Michael. I've been interested in the ocean probably since I can remember. I used to live, when I was younger I lived in Japan for a little bit next to this fishing port, and we have this fish processing plant that we used to carry all their loads in, and that's when I first just started staring at fishes and things like that, and that was when I was really young, maybe kindergarten or so. Have you always wanted to work with tropical marine ecosystems? In the beginning I didn't want to work in traffic, actually that was kind of funny, but just because the environment that I grew up in, we didn't have tropical reefs, and I loved what it was, and I felt like a lot of people study tropical reefs, so I wanted to study something that was local that I was really familiar with. But once I started getting more opportunities to dive in these tropical reefs, I just realized how beautiful they are, the biodiversity, the water temp is really warm, so you don't have to wear thick wetsuits, things like that, so they've just captured my attention, I've loved them so far.  I mean Okinawa is right next to the ocean, OIST is right next to the ocean. I remember the first week I came here all I did was swim, because it's right there, so it's in a great location with beautiful reefs and a lot of great fish and great opportunities. And so now onto what you're going to be researching for your PhD. What are you looking at over the next few years? So the main focus of my project is actually looking at these CO2 seeps in tropical reefs, where from volcanic seeps carbon dioxide is getting released into the water, and that causes an acidic environment that's similar to something future predicted oceans with this ocean acidification. So what I'm looking at is how fishes, those reefs actually do have fishes and coral growing in them, just like unhealthy reef, but the water itself is acidic, so I'm looking at how fishes adapt to this future condition of ocean acidification, and seeing if there's any population structure differences, or how do they actually adapt to it. So you're kind of like looking into the future of coral reefs? Basically. Cool, so what's the coolest experience you've had whilst diving? That's hard. I think one of my favorite reefs that I have actually dove in, I was helping out a friend who was doing some fellowship at the Riki University in Okinawa. They were actually at the Irioma to Marine Station, and that was probably one of the most beautiful reefs I've ever dove. There's lots of sea snakes everywhere, which was really cool. I mean, that was one of the first times I've ever seen so many sea snakes, and I thought it was kind of cool just diving with sea snakes. Yeah, sounds awesome. So are you particularly interested in sea snakes, or was it just like a new experience? Just a new experience. You know, because I didn't come from diving in a lot of tropical reefs, everything was kind of new when I was diving out there, and then I just saw, I don't know, probably 10, 20 sea snakes, which at first kind of spooked me just because I was like, I'm not used to this many snakes in the water, not even on land, right? So it was really cool. And what's your favorite kind of marine creature? I mean, I love fishes in general. It would be hard to pick one fish, but if it was like the family of fishes, I think flat fishes, like soles and halibut and things like that, that would be my favorite family of fishes. Why is that? They're just so cool. When I used to fish a lot, that was one of the target fishes that I loved catching, and I just think it's really cool how when they develop, they have eyes on both sides of their head, but as they grow, it switches on to the other side. That's just something that always fascinated me. You've just returned from a research expedition, which sounds amazing. Could you talk for a little bit about where you went? Definitely went to New Caledonia, which is a small island near New Zealand, a little off New Zealand. It's a French territory, so everybody speaks French there, which was really cool. And we're in this place called Boracay, which is a... It's about an hour from the airport, the main airport in Nomeo. It's a cool site where there's a mangrove forest, and what happens is usually in mangrove forests, it's just a silty bottom, but there's actually a coral reef that's right inside that mangrove forest, and what happens at low tide when the water comes out? Because of the soil composition, the water that's left in the forest actually gets acidified and then pulls into the coral reef, so that reef itself gets subjected to this slow acidic situation twice a day, and it's every day. So it's a really cool, really interesting site that we do research in. And what were you specifically looking at? In that reef, it's a healthy reef, and what's really interesting is in that reef there's actually fishes that are present outside the reef, just a few hundred meters away in these healthy, regular coral reefs in open water. So there's the same species of fish inhabit inside that mangrove forest where they're subjected to low acidic conditions, and then also that exact same species lives outside. So we wanted to see what the differences were between fishes inside the reef, or we called it the future site, and then outside in the control, which is the present site. And did you see any differences while you were there? So the structure of the reef itself is a little bit different. There's a lot of the corals you see outside are also in there, but they're a little bit more different. Some of the corals are a little bit more brittle, but that might be due to either acidity or just the current flow and things like that. But in terms of the fish in there, you see a lot of fishes that you see outside, which is really amazing, and it's not just one or two fishes, there's a ton of them, just a healthy reef inside that really cool space. That's not very cool. How long was the expedition for? So our expedition was scheduled for two weeks, and then what happened was the last few days got cut short because of a cyclone that came in. So with that we did get to go into town and kind of experience the city life also, which was nice too. Yeah, so you got like a good balance. Yeah. And could you describe what regular day looked like while you were on the expedition? Definitely. So we'd wake up around 5, 36 o'clock in the morning, and this all depends on the tide. So the tide does switch from day to day, but usually it'd be like 5, 36 in the morning. So we'd go for a little breakfast and then drive to our site where the research vessel comes out with a small boat to pick us up to take us to the main research boat. Then we'd suit up, get ready, get our gears ready, and go out to the mangrove site, which depending on the tide, we want to get there at low tide. Two hours before low tide is actually when the pH swings to about two hours after.  So we'd get there around maybe 7, 8, 9 o'clock, do our work for about 2 to 4 hours, and then wait for the tide to come back up, go back out to the boat, have lunch, and do the same thing again. And did you find anything unexpected in your trip? In terms of in the reef, I was surprised when I saw these apex predators come to the mouth of the lagoon site. So you had like these trivales that are large fish that are chasing all these little fish into the mouth and things like that. That was really cool. Also, it seemed like a lot of the, the huge problem with fishes is that fishes do get spooked when people are, there's strong hunting pressures on them. So outside in the regular reefs where people actually do some spear fishing and things like that. Soon as you go in, any big fish will hide from you. But inside this lagoon site, because it's well protected, people don't really go in there. These fish are just, there's some large fish just staring at you, looking at you like, Oh wow, what are you doing here? Kind of thing. So it was really, it was really nice seeing that environment with a healthy ecosystem in there too. Yeah, quite a unique experience, I suspect. Definitely. And so what's next for your PhD project? So right now, there's not much field work that we could do, but the plan is there's two locations in Okinawa, in Japan itself. There's one in Okinawa, it's Io Torijima, which is you have to go by boat and it's a small island that they used to mine sulfur out of. And there's a CO2 vent in that island, which has a similar reef with CO2 bubbling into it. And then also there's another one in the Shinkai Islands, which would be another site that we'll try to do within Japan. And hopefully if we can, our goal is to go back to the New Caledonia site and also Papua New Guinea has a similar site with CO2 seeps. So my goal is to look at three to four sites that have these CO2 seeps and look at the population structures of those fish. What's your favorite place in Okinawa to dive? To dive, actually I haven't done a lot of diving on the main island. I've done it a little bit in the past in Idio-Mint island, which is a really cool place. If you ever get to go there, it's beautiful. So that island, I've dove a little bit more than here, but for here I just snorkeled around and it's been really pretty. Yeah, really shallow enough. I did go out to the local spots here like Apogama, which is really cool. Right now you can hear the whales, which is awesome.  So it's really fun. Do you think you'll get the chance to go diving more? Oh definitely, yeah. I think it was just when I first started here, I didn't have enough time to do it, so I'll be doing a lot of diving for my research on here. That's another project that I'm doing. We're looking at population structures of clownfish and anemonefish. What would you say to anyone who was thinking about doing marine science? Would you have any advice for them?  For me, when I first started school, I wasn't a big fan of school work and the traditional way things were taught. I think that's because I just wasn't passionate about it. So for people who want to study marine science, if you're passionate about it, it's not a chore anymore. For me, it's not a chore to read these papers. It's not a chore for me to write these reports and papers and things like that, because it's just something I'm really passionate about and I care about. So it just makes life a lot easier. If that's what you're doing for your work, I feel like if you love it, then you should give it a try. Next, I spoke to Billy Moore. He's from the UK but was drawn to marine science through an internship at the University of Western Australia. He's especially interested in how climate change will impact coral reef ecosystems. I completed an internship in Australia during my undergraduate degree and this is where it was kind of... Even though I was already undertaking a marine biology degree, this was where I really became kind of thinking, I'm definitely going to pursue a career in this. What did you do your internship in? So I worked at UWA and it was kind of a similar topic to what I study now. It was essentially looking at the effects of ocean acidification on corals and coral in algae. So similar to this trip I've been on recently, we went to a certain field site that has extreme conditions and what we did was kind of investigate whether corals and coral in algae in these extreme conditions are able to survive in the future and how are they surviving in these extreme conditions. So that was kind of really what set me on this track of climate change studies and coral reefs. Why did you decide to come to Ocean Hour at least? Well, being from the UK, whilst the oceans are nice and the areas around are nice, there's not a lot in terms of coral reefs because it's not a tropical area. So getting the chance to come to Ocean Hour where there are literally coral reefs on your doorstep essentially surrounding the place where you live, it makes conducting the research a lot easier. So yeah, this was one of the main reasons for me in terms of wanting to pursue coral reef research and this environmental change research, having coral reefs essentially on your doorstep and being able to access them and conduct research very close to home was one thing. But yeah, then also the draw of oyster was a very nice thing for me. So the kind of opportunity to design which classes I take and have a bit of input into the project I complete. So that was a big draw for me as well. Yeah, it must be really nice to be able to like walk out of the uni and into your field site. Yeah, essentially like people that I speak to here at oyster go in snorkeling and dive in recreationally around Ocean Hour and whilst I do that as well with my friends, that is essentially a part of my job kind of. So yeah, it's very nice to be able to do that so easily here rather than having to undertake these large field trips which are good but they can also be expensive, hard to plan so being able to just go to reefs around an Ocean Hour make conducting field work very easy. Do you have an idea of what you're going to be researching over the next few years as part of your PhD? So I have a rough idea currently so at the moment I'm in my first year and that means I'm completing rotations between different lab groups but at the moment I'm in the lab of Professor Ravassi so this is a marine climate change unit and this is the group I've just essentially completed my rotation with and it seems like I'm probably pretty much definitely going to be joining this lab and the likely area of research within this unit that I'll be studying is kind of looking at things like I've done in the past so the effects of environmental change particularly over warming so maybe heat waves or acidification on coral reef organisms so this is in the marine climate change unit this is particularly focused on coral reef fish and how they respond to either increased frequency of heat waves or perhaps acidification. This is likely what I'll be studying but it's still not completely defined yet so it's nice that I have the chance to sit down with Professor Ravassi and discuss this is what I want to do this sort of process which is very nice at least. And I bet it must have been an amazing opportunity to find out that you were going on this research trip down to New Caledonia when you were still in your first year? Yeah it was very unexpected actually so completing these rotations obviously we're told we undertake quite a short research project that we do for a few months so when I spoke to Professor Ravassi and he said there's the opportunity to come to New Caledonia with us learn a lot of new techniques which can be very beneficial work with a lot of scientists from around the world which is quite a unique experience and then collect some data, bring it back and this will be the basis of your rotation it was kind of unexpected but yeah it was a great opportunity for me to actually go out there and get some hands-on practical experience and kind of get more experience doing the sort of research that I would do for my actual PhD so if I joined his lab this sort of field where we did in New Caledonia is what I will continue to do for the next four or five years so yeah it was very nice it was a very good trip. And with this two week trip could you sort of describe what one day looked like like if you had a favourite day whilst you were on the trip what was it like so most days we would we stayed at a kind of campground that was off of the research cruise off of the research ship sorry and what we would do we would wake up essentially go to a small boat in dock where we would then be transported to the research ship once we got onto the ship we would kind of make a rough plan of what we were going to do in terms of when we were there we had two sites we visited or three sites so we had control sites which were normal conditions that are found throughout the world and we would have a future site so this site had conditions that were representative of the future under climate change so this included lower pH, higher temperatures and lower oxygen concentrations so we would make a plan to in the morning we visit the future site and we collect some fish so we would essentially prepare this plan we would then kind of prepare all of the gear load all of the gear that we need for sampling diving snorkeling etc onto the boat we would then travel to the site and when we were at this site there would be people diving in the water collecting fish then there would be people snorkeling that would transport the fish that were collected to the boat there were then people on the boat that were dissecting the fish involved extracting the brain liver, gills from these fish storing them in for later analysis basically so yeah so we would go to the travel to the site do this and essentially come back and repeat again in the afternoon so this is what most days look like and in the evening we would have dinner before returning to our ground so in terms of a favourite day the days were quite similar but that's not a bad thing in the fact that we've been snorkeling on these nice reef environments so for me every day was very nice and every day I was learning new skills that I'm going to use in the future so yeah that's what a normal day kind of looked like but I wouldn't say there was a specific day that stands out over all of the others perhaps at the start of the trip we were these were kind of exploratory days is what we call them so we were trying to identify what fish species are there and kind of just exploring the reef essentially so this was quite a more relaxed introduction into the trip but these days were quite nice to actually firstly see the reefs that we're going to be exploring so yeah whenever you can complete marine fieldwork there's always challenges because you're kind of at the mercy of you know the weather the tides also we were part of a large research cruise so maybe 20 people all from different universities so everybody is conducting their own work so these things all bring challenges so there's always these challenges within marine fieldwork and yeah we certainly kind of encountered some so at the future site so this was the site that we were really interested in that had the extreme conditions these conditions were created by the tides so at low tide is when you find the really extreme low pH conditions high temperature conditions and this is a good thing because this is how we obviously study this site and that's what creates these conditions but the problem is trying to get a boat into a low tide coral reef when the water depth is you know less than a meter is tricky so but it's not tricky it's pretty much impossible so there were some days when we couldn't visit this site so we had planned to go to the future site and the control site every day but because of the tides towards the end of the trip we had to cut this short essentially which wasn't a problem because we still got all of the samples we needed but it would have been nice to have a little bit more time there and also when we were there towards the end of the trip there was a tropical cyclone which you can't really plan for so because it was a long trip so all together it was two weeks so right at the start of the trip we didn't know that this cyclone was going to hit you know when it was planning we had no idea and this made us cut short our time on the research cruise by maybe it was we had to leave two days early or something which again wasn't a problem because we already had our samples that we needed but yeah so things like this are kind of expected and challenging but you deal with them and kind of adapt essentially and did you see anything really cool while you were out snorkelling and diving whether any really cool fish or corals that really stood out? So the entire future site actually was a really cool thing to see because as I mentioned the conditions there were really extreme and harsh it's a harsh environment so to see any corals there let alone the kind of extensive formations that we've seen and the diversity of corals so to see this itself and the fish there was very interesting to me but in terms of just general cool marine organisms when we were at the control site we saw I think I saw a turtle and I also saw a couple of sharks like black-tipped reef sharks so this was really cool for me to see it was very interesting to me and there were a lot as well it wasn't just one I seen multiple of these black-tipped sharks so it was very nice Not afraid of sharks then? No not afraid of sharks but if you are at first you look twice but then once you realise it's a kind of harmless reef shark you're okay Cool Do you have a favourite dive site around Okinawa? There are a lot of amazing sites around Okinawa so since I've been here I've visited a couple I like to snorkel at a site called Apogama this is quite close to Oist it's about 10 minutes away and this is a very nice reef where there's diversity of fish diversity of corals and it's quite easy to access quite easy just to walk down there with your snorkeling gear and jump in the water with a friend and have a look around so this is one of my favourite sites but there's also one I investigated the other day Diving is called Grilla Chop so it's quite a strange name it's due to a rock formation but I dove there and it was an interesting site as well there were some interesting things to see coral, fish, cuttlefish turtle What's the best part about doing a PhD in marine science? There are multiple things that I enjoy about it but obviously the field work and trips like the one to New Caledonia are pretty unique to marine science almost perhaps some other field to do these sort of trips but yeah I think for me being able to conduct this field work and then come back and see the data and analyse the data is very interesting to me And finally What's your dream job? What does it look like post-oist? Post-oist so kind of what I'm doing right now essentially so when you're a PhD student you essentially do the same thing as you maybe do at post-doc level or maybe not professor level but the idea is still the same you know you identify an area that you want to research you come up with a plan of how you're going to research it you then go out and do the field work collect the data analyse the data etc so yeah I think just kind of carrying on down the academic track where you perhaps go into a post-doc position and then go into a more senior research position and then into a professorship position that's the sort of thing I would like to do at the moment because yeah it seems very interesting to me Awesome, well thank you for chatting with me Thank you very much for having me Thanks for listening to the podcast It was recorded and edited by me Lucy Dickey Thanks especially to Michael Izumi Yama Billy Moore and the rest of the team at the Marine Climate Change Unit If you enjoyed the episode subscribe to get more as soon as we release them See you next time