with AFRICOM and SETCOM. I want to thank our witnesses for being here today and for your service to our country. I think many Americans assume that we could move on from two decades of conflict in the Middle East and pivot our attention to the Indo-Pacific. The events of the last six months have proven that assumption wrong. The October 7th attack on Israel was barbaric. It was the most vile attack on the Jewish people since the Holocaust. Israel has a right to defend itself and has a moral obligation to ensure its people are free from terrorism. That's why we need to continue to provide Israel with security assistance as they seek to defeat Hamas. Make no mistake, Hamas would never have attacked if it wasn't for years of support from Iran. We all know Iran has been a patron of terrorist militia and the main source of instability in the region for over 40 years. But over the last few years it seems the Aitola has become even more emboldened and this administration's approach is doing little to the term. In just the last six months the Aitola's terrorist proxies in Yemen have attacked commercial vessels and coalitionships over 50 times, sinking one commercial vessel and killing three crew members aboard another. His IRGC hijacked an oil tanker in international waters and is confiscating the 145,000 metric tons of oil on board. He's okayed the transfer of hundreds of one-way attack drones to fuel Putin's brutal invasion of Ukraine. Now he's entertaining sending Putin ballistic missiles as well. Last week he oversaw one of Iran's largest naval exercises, this time with dozens of warships from China and Russia. He's increased his stockpile of enriched uranium by 20%, giving him enough material for three nuclear weapons. He's been applying enormous political pressure on Iraq to expel U.S. coalition forces and he's finance trained and equipped terrorist militias that have carried out over 175 attacks on U.S. troops in the region, including the January attack at Tower 22 that took the lives of three American soldiers. The President has responded with air strikes on terrorist proxies, which have done little to stop them from lobbing missiles at ships in the Red Sea. He's threatened more sanctions on Iran, which have yet to make a dent in the Aitola's war machine. Then in January, a terrorist rocket, rockets and drones were raining down on U.S. service members. He sent delegations to Iraq to begin negotiations on reducing U.S. presence. I can't think of a better illustration of appeasing the Aitola than that. This administration needs to articulate and employ a real strategy to counter Iran and protect U.S. interest in the region. It appears we may also need a new counter-terrorism strategy in Africa. This weekend, the military junta running Niger announced it was kicking out U.S. forces conducting operations to counter ISIS and al-Qaeda in the region. This comes on the heels of reports that Niger is negotiating security-related deals with Iran and Russia. It appears Niger will soon join Mali, Libya, Sudan, Mozambique, Burkina Faso in welcoming Russian troops and mercenaries into their country. Meanwhile, Chile is looking to expand its military footprint beyond the PLA naval base in Djibouti. They've set their sights on the West Coast to give the PLA strategic access to the Atlantic. China has already built and is currently operating several large commercial ports along Africa's West Coast as a part of its Belt and Road Initiative. Unless the administration steps up, it's only a matter of time before the PLA is operating with impunity off the Atlantic coast. At the end of the day, it is critical for the U.S. to have a footprint on the continent. Even a little goes a long way. The same can be said of U.S. business investments. Africa is a vital strategic importance to the United States. We can't let China or Russia become the preferred security or business partner. I look forward to hearing General Langley and Karilla's best military advice on how we can counter Iran, Russia, and China and better protect U.S. interest in their AORs. And with that, I yield to my friend and colleague, the Ranking Member, for any comments he may have. I thank the chairman for his comments. I thank our witnesses for their leadership and support and for being here today. We had the Indo-Pacific and the Korean commanders in yesterday. And as I started off that meeting, I'll start off this meeting, this is a global interconnected problem. And I think that is the greatest challenge that we face right now. In this region, the focus is Iran in CENTCOM. But Iran is now increasingly, as the chairman alluded to, working with Russia. Russia is working with China. They're all working with North Korea. There is this consortium that has formed and is working together in a way that we haven't seen. And how do we counter that? How do we rally the rest of the world to recognize the threat that all of these nations pose and to work with us to confront that threat? In the Middle East, certainly it starts with Iran. I will disagree with the characterization of the chairman. The administration and DOD responded forcefully to the attacks that happened at Tower 22 and attacked back to the Shia militias in Syria and Iraq. And we're now, I think, on 46, 47 days without any of those attacks having happened. And in part, that's because Iran has been asking them to stand down because of the pressure that was put forward. We did not stand back and do nothing in the face of it. We do need to figure out something about Yemen. And I look forward to hearing from the witnesses because despite our best efforts there, it's been much harder to stop those attacks. And that too is linked with China. As China ships are able to sail through the Red Sea unfettered because of their relationship with Iran. We need to work more to figure out how to reduce Iran's malign influence, but I will point out that that malign influence has been going through multiple administrations in multiple attempts. The maximum pressure campaign under the previous administration did not stop Iran from attacking both Saudi Arabia and the UAE and ships in the Persian Gulf at that point. So we have to come together and figure out a comprehensive strategy to deal with this. It's not going to be a simple solution. And yes, in this region, without question, the war in Gaza right now is the biggest flashpoint. And our support for Israel is important for a lot of reasons, but one is that they are threatened in multiple areas. If this war were to spread to Lebanon, if Hezbollah felt free to attack from Lebanon, if Iranian proxies in Syria and Iraq felt free to attack Israel from there, we could see this war blow up even further throughout the Middle East. So making sure that Israel has a credible deterrent to those threats is crucial to keeping this war from spreading and growing and causing even more suffering across the region. I would also point out that the second, the October 7th attacks happened. The President responded by surging U.S. troops in the region. Any rumors of negotiating to reduce our presence are just that, rumors. I've asked multiple officials, there is no such plan. In fact, we've done the exact opposite since October 7th, and I believe it's had an impact. It's had an impact on reducing Iran's desire to more directly attack Israel and to more directly attack U.S. interests in the region. So I think that is an incredibly important part of this. The other thing that I do want to point out, humanitarian assistance in Gaza is crucially important. I was just part of a delegation that was in Egypt and Israel. We went up to the Rafa Gate to see the efforts at getting humanitarian assistance. We met with Israeli officials. I understand where they are coming from in terms of their concern that any assistance that goes into Gaza will wind up in the hands of Hamas, but that risk is worth taking versus the risk of the humanitarian catastrophe that is happening in Gaza right now. We have got to work with Israel to get more humanitarian assistance in to reduce the human suffering that is present there. Now, just a few days ago, for the first time, Israel allowed aid to come in from a different gate from further up north, which is helpful, but we have to continue that pressure. The effort to try to get aid in from the Mediterranean is also a positive step. But I hope that anyone who supports Israel understands that the suffering in Gaza right now is a huge threat, not just to the people in Gaza, but to Israel itself. We need to find an effort, we need to lead an effort to reduce that. Africa is a huge challenge. I look forward to General Langley, you know, walking through some of the challenges there, but I do want to dispel the notion that somehow the US should just come in by brute force and push out China and Russia from having influence in Africa. A, that's not going to happen. B, it would be incredibly unwise to do it. Russia and China are global powers. They are going to be present. What we have to make sure is that we maintain our presence, and in that, in that region, it is all about partnerships and alliances. And this has been frayed without question. There has been a lot of instability throughout West Africa, certainly in Libya as well, but we do have partners in the region. I'd be interested to hear from General Langley, the partnerships that are most important and most positive and how we work going forward to strengthen and build on those partnerships. But again, I want to make clear, I don't think it would be a wise idea for the US to view Africa as, you know, some sort of, you know, chip in a broader gain that we have to go in and force our influence on above all else. We have to be able to balance that with the interests of the nation in the region and work with them to make sure that we reduce the malign influence of Russia and China in what is going to be a competitive environment. So I think this is an incredibly important hearing. I thank our witnesses. I look forward to their testimony and to the questions and answers. And with that, I yield back, Mr. Chairman. Thank the ranking member. Without objection, the chair may declare the committee in recess at any point. No objections are ordered. I'd like to introduce our witnesses. The Honorable Celeste Wallender is the Assistant Secretary of Defense for International Security Affairs. General Eric Carrilla is the commander United States Central Command. And General Michael Langley is the commander United States Africa Command. Welcome to our witnesses. Dr. Wallender will start with you. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Chairman Rogers, ranking member Smith, distinguished members of the House Armed Services Committee. Thank you for inviting me to testify on our defense posture and policy in the US Central Command, US CENTCOM and US Africa Command, US AFRICOM areas of responsibility alongside commanders General Carrilla and General Langley. The world has significantly changed since our posture testimony in 2023. The crises proliferating in both the US CENTCOM and US AFRICOM AORs have created a level of instability not seen in years. Although the Department of Defense finds itself operating in a dynamic environment, the 2022 National Defense Strategy, the NDS, is still our guiding light for how the DOD will operate in the world. DOD applies principles of partnership, deterrence, diplomacy, integration and values as it works to strengthen integrated deterrence, reduce conflict and promote stability. A strong, principled, adaptive US military remains a central pillar for US leadership in the world while supporting a stable and open international system. First and foremost, we support diplomacy as our preferred means to achieve our objectives. Second, sustainable security relies on expanding regional security constructs, alliances and partnerships, and integrating our partners with one another as well as the United States. Respect for fundamental freedoms and human rights expands sustainability in our security partnerships. As we take decisive action to address threats and challenges today in the US AFRICOM and US CENTCOM AORs, we continue to stand with our partners and allies to win what we view as the competition of coalitions that is becoming increasingly critical to our common security. In both regions, we closely monitor efforts by the PRC to expand its military footprint through its overseas logistics and basing infrastructure to project and sustain military power further. In the CENTCOM AOR, a prosperous, peaceful, integrated Middle East supports the long-term security and prosperity of the United States. Unfortunately, the Middle East faces several crises. Hamas brutally killed 1,200 Israelis on October 7th and continues to hold some 130 American and Israeli hostages. We are alarmed at the significant loss of life throughout the conflict, which followed. Israel has an obligation to protect civilians and uphold international and international humanitarian law. Maline actors across the region, chief among them, Iran, cynically exploit events unfolding in Gaza. Iran-backed militia groups attacked US and partner forces over 175 times since October 17th throughout the region, killing three US service members at Tower 22 in Northeast Jordan. A US contractor died of a heart attack and over 180 service members sustained injuries during these attacks. In the Red Sea, the Houthis seek to affect this vital channel for global trade with at least 50 attacks against commercial shipping and naval vessels. We mourn those we have lost. Our prayers are with their families always. Amid these crises, the Department of Defense is rising to the occasion to defend the nation's values and interests across the region. Significant US assistance to Israel aims at ensuring that what happened on October 7th can never be repeated. The United States unequivocally stands for the protection of civilian lives during armed conflict consistent with the law of war. We continue to underscore with Israel and regional counterparts, both publicly and privately, the importance of obligations related to civilian harm mitigation and risks of conflict to civilians during Israel's operations against Hamas. We closely monitor the situation in Lebanon to Israel's north. We continue working to contain the conflict while deterring state and non-state actors seeking to escalate tensions. DOD continues to hold Iran and its proxies accountable for their attacks on US and coalition forces. We do not seek conflict in the Middle East, but attacks on American forces will not be tolerated, and we remain postured and prepared to use all means necessary to prevent a nuclear armed Iran while working to counter Iran's destabilizing activities. On the AFRICOM AOR, Africa is not merely important, it is essential. African partnerships are critical for the Department of Defense to maintain its technological edge, accomplish its geopolitical and strategic objectives, and power our futures. Despite Africa's boundless potential, threats such as political instability, democratic backsliding, and the presence of violent extremist organizations are the focus of DOD efforts. Thank you, Mr. Chairman, ranking members, and members of the committee for inviting us today. Thank you, Ms. Wallander. General Carilla, you're recognized. Chairman Rogers, Ranking Member Smith, ladies and gentlemen of the committee, on behalf of the Soldiers, Sailors, Airmen, Marines, Coast Guardsmen, and Guardians who serve this command and our nation, I welcome the opportunity to talk to you today. I recently returned from my 27th trip to the Central Region. As I sat here just a year ago, the region was on the verge of improbable, unprecedented and transformative progress. Today, the Central Region faces its most volatile security situation in the past half century. This is not the same Central Region as last year. The events of 7 October not only permanently changed Israel and Gaza, they created the conditions for malign actors to sow instability throughout the region and beyond. Iran exploited what they saw as a once in a generation opportunity to reshape the Middle East to their advantage. Iran has worked for decades to encircle the region with its proxies and in the past six months, we have seen every proxy in the Iranian threat network operationalized in Iraq, Syria, Lebanon, Gaza, the West Bank, and Yemen. Iran's expansive network of proxies is equipped with advanced, sophisticated weaponry and threaten some of the most vital train in the world with global and U.S. implications. Houthi attacks on our warships and international shipping coupled with Iranian-aligned militias attacks on our forces in Iraq and Syria are a direct result of an Iranian threat that has been incrementally spreading. Violent extremist organizations have also seized on this opportunity. ISIS surged their attacks in Iraq and Syria earlier this year and the risk of attack emanating from Afghanistan is increasing. I assess ISIS Coruscant retains the capability and the will to attack U.S. and Western interests abroad in as little as six months with little to no warning. Strategic competition has also continued to evolve across the region. China and Russia have been quick to capitalize on destabilizing influences. They have shown meager interest or capability to reduce regional tensions, but they have also increased their efforts to compete with the U.S. and pressurized regional partners across all elements of national power. Collectively, Iran, Russia, and China are strengthening their relationships and fostering a chaotic landscape favorable to their exploitation. Iran continues to sell 90 percent of its oil to China, funding Tehran's subversive and malign activities across the region. And Iran has developed a production pipeline for supplying weapons to Russia, fueling the war on Ukraine. The ramifications of this partnership have global implications. The convergence of crisis and competition makes the CENTCOM area of responsibility the most likely region to produce threats against the U.S. homeland, trigger a regional conflict, and derail the national defense strategy. The CENTCOM region also remains critical to the world's energy supply and remains essential to the flow of global commerce. U.S. CENTCOM provides strategic depth to our defense of the homeland and security is at risk if we seed this space to Iran, terrorism, and China. Iran knows that its decade-long vision cannot be realized if the countries in the region continue to expand integration with each other and deepen their partnership with the United States. Our partners in the Levant, the Arabian Gulf, Central and South Asia are committed to advancing the region and the United States remains their partner of choice for now. U.S. CENTCOM strategic approach of people, partners, and innovation reinforces the vision of an integrated central region and supports the whole of government effort to secure regional and global interests. Our people are the bedrock of everything we do. We are laser focused on optimizing their talents and highlighting their character and competence to our partners. Our strategic advantage remains our strong military-to-military partnerships while our adversaries and competitors rely on parasitic transactional relationships. We also innovate with our partners, developing approaches, concept and technologies to address the threats we face, protecting our forces and creating depth in our forced posture. These efforts have saved lives. We are clear-eyed about the task before us. The shockwaves of the past year continue to reverberate globally. Our service members are standing the watch side-by-side with our regional partners right now. They operate in harm's way every day, whether it is small outposts fighting in Syria, fighting ISIS or a destroyer knocking down a barrage of ballistic and cruise missiles fired by Iranian back Houthis, and they do so with honor and courage. Five of our teammates gave the last full measure of devotion as they lived out the oath we swear protecting the freedoms we cherish. They represent the very best of us. It is the honor of my professional life to serve as their commander and I look forward to your questions. Thank you General Carilla. General Engley you're recognized. Chairman Rogers, ranking member Smith, distinguished committee members, it's an honor to appear before you today representing the outstanding service members, civilians and families of United States Africa command. I'm proud to testify with my friends ASD Wallander and General Carilla. Joining me today is my command senior enlisted leader Sergeant Major Michael Woods. He is at the heart of AFRICOM's efforts to help African partners professionalized during listed and NCO forces. I'm also joined by my USAID advisor, minister counselor, Mrs. Mara Barry Boyle and my State Department foreign policy advisor, Mr. Phil Nelson. They represent AFRICOM's holo government team and integrated approach to Africa. Now in the last year thanks to your authorities, resourcing and support, AFRICOM's all-star team responded to numerous crisis and conflicts across the continent. I'm honored and proud to serve among them. Now today's global events ranging from the Russian Federation's war in the Ukraine to the Houthis attacks in the Red Sea directly impact the lives of millions of Africans. Terrorism, poverty, food insecurity, climate change, and mass migration shatter African lives. These factors sow the seeds of violent extremism and Russian exploitation across the entire regions of the continent. We're seeing these impacts as these threats unfold in a year. Challenges to democratic governance and in order continue to occur across us the hell complicating our relations with key partners. However, working closely with our interagency partners, we continue to engage on the continent in order to safeguard U.S. interests and advance our campaign. AFRICOM's campaign revolves around central themes of ensuring strategic access, countering threats to homeland and U.S. interests and preparing for and responding to crisis and lastly bolstering our allies and partners. Now this campaign places our African partners at the center, achieving positive change by executing African-led but U.S. enabled operations. All focus on our shared objectives. In today's dynamic environment our whole of government partners require appropriate resourcing. I strongly advocate for our State Department and USAID partners to receive the resources they need to guarantee our combined success. Now in Africa, modest investments and resources go a long way towards advancing our national security interests. Now Africa faces many challenges but offers even more opportunities. With our African partners at the forefront, reinforced by our efforts and the efforts of our allies, we will continue to gain ground towards achieving, lasting security stability and prosperity on this crucial continent. Thank you for giving me the opportunity to be here today. I look forward to answering your questions. Thank you, General. Thank all of you and recognize myself for questions. General Carilla, have the recent conflicts in the Middle East done anything to strengthen the partnership between Iran, Russia and China and if so what does that mean for our security? Chairman, thank you. I am very concerned about the this renewed or this new relationship between Russia, China and Iran. What we see is Iran is relying on China and Russia is reliant on Iran. Iran sells 90 percent of its oil, all U.S. sanctioned, to China so in effect China is funding Iran's subversive and malign behavior in the region. Iran went from hundreds to now thousands of one way attack on mandatorial systems, suicide drones that they are providing to Russia. They were providing them both complete systems and they built a factory for Russia to now produce them themselves, still relying on a supply chain and they are now doing over a hundred one way attack drones a week in Ukraine. What I can talk in a classified setting is what Russia can provide in return back to Iran which is concerning. We're also seeing China which gets 50 percent of its oil from the Middle East. What they are doing in the Middle East to advance their their elements of national power, diplomatic, informational, military and economic. General Langley, how concerned should we be about China and Russia's growing footprint in Africa? Chairman, we should be extremely concerned. As I would say that both are very much exploitative when possible but they are also coercive when necessary. They're trying to get what they want. They're trying to replace the West and more over the United States in our access and influence across this crucial continent. We're seeing this through this misinformation campaign. It's very influential and it really is across the Sahel but there are other regions that for geopolitical regions or social economic regions or even military in which the Russian Federation offers across the Sahel in exchange for mining concessions. So Chairman, we should really be concerned. We need to get our act together, collective as a whole government or information campaign. Thank you. Ms. Wallander, the administration strategy for dealing with Iran obviously and containing Iran obviously isn't working. What can we expect to be done differently that might yield some results? Thank you Chairman. Containing Iran requires a whole of government focus which entails sanctions, diplomatic work in the UN and with global partners who similarly are concerned and affected by Iran's destabilizing efforts and activities which we have seen yield some fruit with global participation in Operation Prosperity Guardian to defend against Houthi, Iran enabled Houthi attacks against shipping and also the EU mission speedies. So it is bringing the international community in which sees a clear harm to their interests but then it is also focusing on building the capabilities and the security partnerships in the region which has focused on Gulf countries and which was advancing quite successfully under General Corrilla's and Sencombe's leadership until the October 7th Hamas attack on Israel not by accident. Iran saw that approach which was bringing in partners, building capacity, creating integrated defensive capabilities as a threat to their freedom of action and so we need to continue to work with those partners because Iran will be constrained by the capabilities and the good work of our partners in the region. Thank you. Chair, I recognize the ranking member for any questions he may have. Thank you. Following up on that point, the current dynamic is not to our advantage as you described as Iran has been building the partnerships with Russia and been getting a little bit of a free pass in this. The way to shift that dynamic is to get back to the Saudi Israel peace agreement with the U.S. as well. If in fact we were able to get back to a place where Saudi Arabia, UAE, Israel and the U.S. were a leading partnership against Iranian influence, I think that would improve things but walk us through how that would improve things and what the path back to that type of partnership is and that's for both General Corrilla and Dr. Wallander. Thank you Congressman Smith. I think that the first aspect of getting back to that partnership is working with countries in the region to find a long-term solution to the plight of the Palestinian people which means getting back on the path of a two-state solution, the creation of a capable, stable, responsible Palestinian state alongside the state of Israel. That will create the diplomatic space to get back to discussions with Saudi Arabia and other Gulf partners. And towards that end, if I may, sorry, sorry to interrupt. It'll be clear. I mean is the reason Israel does, they are threatened on multiple sides and there are too many people around them that have never accepted their right to exist as a country and they're trying to figure out how do they survive in that very complicated world. How do we convince them that one of the ways they survive is to embrace the idea of self governance for the Palestinian people? Well, the first and foremost that in order to embrace that possibility, the people of Israel need to feel secure. Absolutely. And so first and foremost is the defeat of Hamas and the creation of permissive security conditions in which Israel can then look towards that longer future. Those aspects are interactive and we work, we talk with our Israeli partners every day about the importance of civilian harm mitigation and avoiding civilian harm, not only on the moral merits and not only because it's consistent with the international law, but because it's in Israel's interest to create that deflection. Thank you, sir. I'm a little tight on time. I have one question for General Langley. I want to get General Krill a chance to respond as well. Go ahead. One of my Arab partners tell me is just that that there has to be a viable process and a path to a two-state solution is where they would see being able to come back to the table on some type of normalization. Thank you. And General Langley, one of the worst wars and worst humanitarian crisis is going on right now that nobody's really talking about and that's the war in Sudan. Can you talk to us a little, is there any prospect of that war slowing down coming to end? What is our role in working with partners in the region? Because that is a humanitarian crisis, quite frankly, rivals Gaza right now. And nobody seems to be discussing it. What should we be doing about it? What is the future? Ranking member Sudan is still in the consequence right now of Burhan and Hamele. And as they back in 15 April, 2023 was a problem. I know that we've engaged a whole government with the State Department going in, in Jeddah, and trying to get those parties together to solve it. But it hasn't worked. So we're still keeping engagements globally, whereas other leaders are going. But I'll just tell you, especially the RSF, Himele, his forces are backed by some, I'll just say, egregious members on the globe that are pushing for their own great power competition goals in that country for access. And I'm talking about the Russian Federation. They would love a warm water port. They'd love to have the port. They're in Sudan as their own. That's against our global campaign plans. I can talk with a higher level of specificity in closed session, but that is a concern. Thank you. And just quickly, General Krilla, Afghanistan. It's interesting, Pakistan is becoming more concerned about the Taliban. What is the potential for partnerships there to try to help us keep an eye on the Taliban and ISIS and whatever else is going on in Afghanistan? I apologize. You've got 25 seconds. Congressman, so I literally talked to the Chief of the Army staff from Pakistan this morning in a regular scheduled call. They have tremendous insight into the violent extremist organizations inside of Afghanistan. And I think there is tremendous opportunity to be able to partner with Pakistan on that. Great. Thank you. That's why I want to yield back. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Chair, I recognize Jen from South Carolina. Mr. Wilson. Thank you very much, Mr. Chairman. Thank you to you for your service. I really would like to begin today by paying tribute to the three army reservists from Georgia who were killed just seven weeks ago, murdered by Hezbollah, a puppet of Iran. And you very recognized Tower 22. And but three young people who should be remembered, Kennedy Sanders, William Rivers, and Breonna Moffitt. They were killed. And additionally, there were a number of troops who were injured. And Madam Secretary, I have sent a letter to Secretary Austin for an accounting of how many were injured. What are the conditions? The American people need to know this because the puppets of Iran have every intent to fulfill their goal of death to Israel, death to America. I also want to point out that it is bipartisan. And I agree with the ranking member that we have global interconnectivity. The interconnectivity is a war we did not choose. And that is dictators with rule of gun invading democracies with rule of law. It began on August 22nd, 2022, February 22nd, 2022, with the war criminal Putin invading Ukraine. Then October 7th, the puppets of Iran invading Israel. And I think, sadly, much of this relates to the weakness that was shown of the appeasement by Mr. Biden in Afghanistan. Thirteen young Marines killed at Abbey Gate. And then I was really grateful this week with General Mark Milley and General Frank McKenzie. It was clearly identified that the decision to abandon Afghanistan was solely by Mr. Biden. Mr. Biden on August 26th, 2021, blamed the military, said he had letters. That's not accurate. And indeed, it was his decision which has led to the weakness around the world and the incredible situations of instability all over the world. With that in mind, Dr. Secretary, in your testimony, you mentioned the retaliatory strikes of American forces carried out on targets in Iraq and Syria after the attack on Tower 22. It's been reported that the Iranian Revolutionary Guard instructors returned home to Iran once America announced the warning of our incoming strikes. Madam Secretary, the purpose of the retaliatory strike should be to hold Iran and their puppets accountable for the act of violence, de-escalate the threat they pose and defer further attacks on U.S. service members and our allied partners. But giving notice to me is utterly irresponsible and it actually underscores weakness. What is the purpose of giving notice? Thank you, Congressman. My understanding is the notice that was given is to our Iraqi partners. Who we owe that as part of our partnership, as part of our strong relationship and as a matter of respecting their sovereignty. Well, I just find it totally irresponsible and really it relates also back again to the Houthi attacks, over 150 on American personnel in the past couple of months. And there's been really no response. And what they should be alerted, we know trajectory today. We knew trajectory 150 years ago where the launch sites were. They should be notified now that there would be an immediate response and not given notice. And this is just so irresponsible. Equally, to me, General Corrilla, it's shocking to me that we have Iranian oil exports which are being used to finance the killing of Americans around the world. Are there any sanctions to stop these exports? All of the Iranian oil is sanctioned right now, Congressman. And it's sanctioned. Are there waivers? How does this occur that there would be sales to China, to the Chinese Communist Party? Let's get real. And then additionally, we have incredible and unfortunate and irresponsible sales and exports from war criminal Putin to the world's largest democracy, India, which is inexcusable. And so what are the sanctions being waived? They're not being waived, Congressman. What's happening is Iran is evading those sanctions by using an entire ghost fleet called a dark fleet of ships to be able to go out and do ship-to-ship transfers and using other methods to bypass those to get the oil where 90% of it goes to China. And I appreciate you say China. It's the Chinese Communist Party and they have every intent of world domination. And we should be making every intent to protect the American people in Western civilization. I yield back. I think the gentleman, she and I recognize him from Connecticut. Mr. Courtney. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Dr. Wilder, on February 13th, the U.S. Senate voted 78 to 22 to approve a national security package, which among other things included help for Israel to replenish its Iron Dome program, funding for Ukraine and funding for humanitarian assistance. When we talk about Iran's malign behavior, I think one of the most obvious manifestations is the fact that they've now become a major weapons supplier to Russia in the war in Ukraine. And actually one of the reasons why Ukraine is in such desperate straits right now is because of the torrent of drones that again are being used by Russian forces to weaken the front line. Can you just again, for a moment, just reiterate about why the U.S. House now has had five weeks to take up the Senate passed package and why it's so desperately important and it has a spillover effect into CENTCOM in terms of trying to get that measure through. Thank you, Congressman. Yes, one of the global aspects to the challenges that the United States and DOD in particular face is that there is this relationship between Russia and Iran and they are enabling one another's development of new technologies, adaptations of tactics, of the use especially of UAVs but also the capabilities on the battlefield. And so we are in a competition with helping our partners stay ahead of both the technical capabilities, the platforms, and adapting to the growing cooperation between Russia and Iran on tactics. And we have long warned that the relationship between Russia and Iran, which is enabling Russia in Ukraine, is threatening our partners in the region and we are seeing that with the ability that the Houthis have to threaten and actually attack shipping among other capabilities that threaten our partners in the region. Thank you. I mean, again, it's blindingly obvious if people are sincere about trying to stop the malign influence of Iran, we should pass this supplemental package tonight and get it to the President's desk. General Perilla, a few weeks ago, the U.S. Army vessel General Frank Besen departed Virginia to the Mediterranean where they're now setting up a seed pathway to get humanitarian assistance into Taghaza. Can you talk a little bit about just what steps are being taken to ensure safe transport and how this whole pure construction process is going to take place? I think it's an extraordinary effort. It's not a substitute for land access for humanitarian assistance, but again, I think it's a great example of the Army stepping up. Sure, Congressman. What it is, is it's a joint logistics over the shore, it's coming out of the Seventh Transportation Brigade Expeditionary. When I commanded the 82nd Airborne Division, it was one of my subordinate units and what they're going to do is set up a floating pier out at sea and then a Trident pier which basically comes off of the beach to be able to transition a humanitarian aid from Cyprus out to the floating pier and then take it by these Army watercraft onto the pier and then push it into a marshaling yard and then for onward distribution. Right now, the five of the ships have departed and the large medium speed roll-on roll-off, the Benavides, was actually supposed to depart at 10.00 this morning. It finished loading up about three this morning and that'll be heading across and all of that should be arriving in the theater in the first couple of weeks of April. In terms of safety, you know, for the crew and also who's going to be at the receiving end when this is actually makes it to the beach? Can you talk about that? Yeah, force protection is one of my top priorities and right now my deputy commander and much of my staff is currently in the region in multiple countries as they work out the fine details of this. Thank you. And again, Dr. Wallender, the humanitarian component of the security package, again, as a global humanitarian assistance, I mean obviously Gaza is in dire need for assistance, but also it's in general Langley's sphere as well in terms of the Sudan as far as getting humanitarian assistance into that region. And can you talk about how that helps us in terms of U.S. presence and a positive posture? Well, we have a moral imperative as well, but yes, there is a strategic element of this which is that to lay the groundwork for a peaceful resolution once Israel has defeated Hamas we need to be sure that we have the relationship and we have supported the civilians, the people of Gaza who require that humanitarian assistance and same element, the value proposition in Sudan of the United States being there has to be supported by Congress. I thank the gentleman. Chair now recognizes Jenna from Colorado, Mr. Lambert. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. General Carrilla, and thank you all for being here today. General, you spoke eloquently about Iran using its proxies in your AOR. Many of us believe that Iran will continue to use its proxies to attack us, our allies, and our friends, unless and until we take direct and forceful action against Iran. There are many ways that this could take place. I have no prescription on what that should look like. Shouldn't we be more forceful against Iran directly? Congressman, thank you for the question. As the combatant commander, I provide options. Those include everything from cyber to kinetic and identify the risks associated with those options. And then the policy makers and the president make a decision on which options to choose. I would tell you that when we look at actions that we have taken, for instance, in Iraq and Syria, on our last strike that we did, we hit 85 targets. We killed the commander of Qatayb Hezbollah who was responsible for all Qatayb Hezbollah inside of Syria. We killed Abu Taqwa, the head of Haarakat, al-Nujiba, one of the Iranian-aligned militia groups, operational commanders. And what that did is that caused them to pause and a period of deterrence has been established in Iraq and Syria. And we're on day 46 right now, but I would tell you all deterrence is temporal. But I do believe there has to be cost imposition on Iran for them to be able to cease their malign behavior. Well, thank you. And I hope Dr. Secretary Wollander that you take a message back to the White House that we need to show more backbone against Iran. I'm going to shift gears here, General Carilla, and ask you about directed energy and with the engagements that are coming against the Houthi attacks. Many are arguing, and I would agree, that we are on the wrong side of the cost curve and that the cost per shot is unsustainable. And what's even more important is that we're depleting precision munitions that may be needed in the future for another fight or for ourselves somehow. So what is the utility of directed energy and why aren't we doing more to use what we do have? I know it's not perfected yet, but it has great capabilities against drones and things like that currently. Why aren't we doing more in the Red Sea? It does, Congressman, and what we also need to look at not just directed energy is high powered microwave to be able to go after drone swarms. We do have, I just, the Army is losing its transformation in contact. They've given us 350 kilowatt lasers that are striker based that we have inside of Iraq right now. We are experimenting with those and the best and most effective way to use those to help them learn from that to be able to make better systems. I encourage the Navy to employ directed energy systems. I know there is at least one destroyer, the Preble, I believe, that has a 60 kilowatt helios. We would welcome being able to bring systems in, but directed energy is not the panacea. It'll be part of a layered defense and we have to be able to get further out with it to be able to bring down these systems when it's only costing a dollar a shot minus the acquisition to be able to do that. But I would tell you what's worse than shooting a million dollar missile at a $20,000 drone is that $20,000 drone hitting the $2 billion ship with 300 sailors on it. And I think our Navy is performing marvelously right now. Well, I think I have to agree with everything that you've just said. Please lean on the Navy to use the Preble and we can continue to make advances in what we learn operationally under the strain of these attacks under the stress of the attacks. So I appreciate what you're doing and I would ask that you really use more of directed energy and high powered microwaves because there's a capability there that we've been testing but not really using operationally and we need to start doing that. I'd hate to see a repeat of tower 22, for instance. Congressman, would I tell all the services, give me systems, we will experiment with it. We'll tell you if it works in a real live environment. Fantastic. Thank you so much. Mr. Chairman, I yield back. I thank you gentlemen. Chair, I recognize gentlemen from California, Mr. Gary Mindy. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. First of all, just sort of off topic here but it's been talked about the pullout from Afghanistan. It would be good for all of us to review the total history and time frame for the pullout from Afghanistan recognizing that the previous administration set a specific date in early March to be out of Afghanistan. The Biden administration extended that by over six months. So moving on. My question really goes to General Langley and the work that you're doing in Africa. That is specific interest to me since my wife and I were Peace Corps volunteers there many, many years ago. You speak of the whole of government. Please describe in as much detail as possible what you mean by the whole of government and use the example of the whole of government in the eastern part of Africa. What is it? What is necessary? And then how the military would participate in that? Congressman, thanks for that question. As we are in a competition environment to a strategic level, we compete with PRC and Russia and their offerings of offering the bright shining objects if you will to our African partners. But collectively with our whole of government approach with USAID and State Department and what they bring together. When we do the Africa campaign plan of OAI's which is the operations activities and investments a good portion of that is across the interagency. So as far as assurance actions I would just say give you a good example of the President Hassan Sheikh Mohammed in Somalia as his operations were going in the Iran region he used his clearing forces that we trained to be able to achieve objectives. And then by happenstance USAID as a result of the floods and desertification and the drought came in and provided those clans out there in the central region of Somalia turn that was how that playbook actually works the whole of government. That's just a clear example. I have numerous examples down in the southern piece of Africa as well time permitting. So it's a combination of USAID and the State Department. Is there are there sufficient resources for those two entities to meet the goals of your operational plan? Congressman no there isn't. What State Department does and what USAID does just the way the the budgets are structured they don't have much flexibility outside of humanitarian assistance. They need to have the flexibility to take these budgets and reorient money at the time and the point of consequence. If they had that we would really be more effective in the in the in our campaign plans. I think it's important for the committee. We tend to focus on the military piece of this. Is it true that the military piece of the Africa strategies to success the military is small compared to the other whole of government participants? It is congressman but with modest investment we're getting asymmetric synergistic effects with our asymmetric approach of being able to codify all of the activities and investments across the interagency and across the departments to metastasize into a whole whole of government effects desired effects that protect U.S. interests and also protect the homeline. Aside from the Wagner group are the militaries of China and Russia directly involved in Africa? Yes congressman I'll start with the most pressing immediate acute threat right now across the Sahel. I would say some of the activities layered threats that we have across the Sahel are actually fueled by the Russian Federation and I say this because given the demise of the beginning of the progression we thought that the the Wagner group was going to demise in on on the continent but it's gone in other direction because now they're sponsored by the M.O.D. of the Russian Federation. That's a concern. And I would note that the migration from that Sahel is a major challenge for our allies in in Europe as well as in the northern African countries. With that I yield back. Thank you very much general. I thank the gentleman chair and I recognize gentlemen from Virginia Mr. Whitman for five minutes. Well thank you Mr. Chairman I'd like to thank our witnesses for joining us today. General Corrella I want to begin with you. I was just a few short years ago that the Army says hey we're getting rid of our watercraft we're divesting. Guess what today. The seventh transportation brigade at a joint base Langley Eustis is spinning up. Guess where they're going to Gaza. Joint logistics over the shore. They're going to be there. Sounds like to me there's a little bit of contradiction there. Anyway very difficult mission we'll take them a little over a little less than a month to get there. Once they're in Centcom I think they're going to be at extraordinary risk because they're going to be targeted. Hamas the Houthis Iran back terrorist groups in the region. I think there's going to be extraordinary risk with them focusing on that job. First question how are you going to protect those forces how are you going to make sure that they are not in the headlines unfortunately weeks after by being targeted by those groups how are they going to do their job while they're looking over their shoulder. How how is that going to happen. I want to know what the long term plan is for that. Second of all is how do you sustain protecting that pier so once it's constructed then all of a sudden you have to look at it and say well it's great to have that pier to to have the logistics how do you protect that in in the long run. So how do you protect now then how do you protect in the future. Congressman force protection is a top priority for this my deputy commander like I said is already in the region working with our regional partners over there in a classified setting I can talk to you specifically about the force protection measures that will be there with our partners as well. You know they're going to be under continual operations there so once the pier is constructed they're going to be offloading. We know as we speak today Army personnel Navy personnel civilian personnel working 24 hours a day at the port of Virginia to put together the necessary pieces to be able to go there into theater and to be able to construct this infrastructure. It's interesting to me that we say that there are going to be no boots on the ground in Gaza. Can you tell me how you physically make that happen because my understanding is a pier actually connects to shore there will be some construction activities on shore. Tell me our our personnel going to levitate how are they not going to go from the water to the shore and have boots on the ground in Gaza. Again congressman like I said I used to command they used to one of my subordinate units I'm very familiar with how the 7th Transportation and Joint Logistics over the shore does this. We are working with our partners in the region that will assist with this and I can talk to you in a classified setting exactly how this will operate. So you're very confident there'll be no U.S. personnel with boots on the ground there. There is no plan to put boots on the ground. We look at this in the longer term obviously this is going to be at risk in that in that particular area. Give me a little more idea about what the cost will be for us to continue to to protect that facility. What's going to happen we're going to have civilian ships there coming in with cargo. Obviously they're they're going to be targets. What's the plan not just to protect the facility there on shore but what's the plan to protect the civilian ships that come in and offload that cargo. There will be protection for them congressman that I can talk about in a classified setting and tell you exactly how that'll work. And you're confident that we will be able to protect against all threats. Force protection is a top priority from your congressman. Got you. Very good. General Carilla I know that you talked about the threats posed by the Houthi in the Red Sea. You know we see a number of different assets that they're that they're putting in our direction whether it's drones loitering munitions. I understand the effort to have to protect our men and women on those ships to protect our assets but is it a sustainable long-term strategy to use million dollar munitions to shoot down drones and loitering munitions that are 10, 15, $20,000 apiece. Congressman what's worse than that is that $20,000 I understand. I didn't I didn't ask you today. Listen I'm not questioning at all whether we should protect our sailors, our soldiers, our marines, our airmen and our coast guardsmen. Top job is it sustainable to continue to use those costly munitions against the price of these threats? What we need is for Iran to quit supplying the Houthis. I know. I listen you're a great talking around the question. My question is is it sustainable is it sustainable to use that level of weaponry against the level if we can degrade that capability on ground where they're shooting it from it can be. And what we need is the services to create more cost effective where they has the same probability of kill on these munitions. I welcome directed energy. I welcome high powered microwaves. So you'd be fully in favor of the army doing everything they can to get into the counter UAS business? I am all about counter UAS and if we pass the supplemental there's $686 million for counter UAS in that which will save lives. Very good. Thank you Mr. Chairman. You're back. I thank the gentleman the chair and I recognize gentlemen from Massachusetts Mr. Keating. Thank you Mr. Chairman. Quick fact check. General Langley just quickly. This historic relationship with the then U.S.S.R. and the African countries that sustained itself in terms of their equipment supply. So when you say that that foundation has is historic in nature as well. Just a simple yes or no. Yes it is historic. Well thank you. So to say this all occurred in the last two years is infactual. Secondly Dr. Wallner is Iraq important to us as a as a linchpin to our ability to provide security and economic benefit in the Middle East? Iraq is absolutely vital to the ability to ensure the enduring feet of ISIS. So us conducting a military strike on Iraq on their sovereign territory without telling them would have been endangering that to some degree. So it was good that we notified Iraq. We are we are in Iraq at the agreement of the Iraqi government. All right thank you. I just want to deal with that. We've talked here and it's one of the most critical things underpinnings about this relationship with Iran, Russia, China. How you know that is so so much of an issue. It's one of our greatest threats going forward. We have a better coalition. One of our biggest difference makers is the coalition that we have in Ukraine alone over 50 countries all working together. And that comes from dates back to the World War II days where we came back to the greatest period of prosperity and peace that we've had with sacrifices like 400,000 Americans who died including my own uncle killed in action. What do you think that coalition is thinking when we sit here? This is like, well you know other than that Mrs. Lincoln how did you enjoy the theater? We're sitting here about to go home for two weeks tomorrow going into April. We still have not acted on a security package that's vital. People on the front line in Ukraine are dying right now because this Congress hasn't acted. So what message does that give to our coalition? Congressman there is concern in Europe and in the Middle East about the way forward for American support and I would just emphasize as well that it's very clear that Russia in particular thinks that it can outweigh us because of our inability to provide security assistance to vital partners. What message does this give to our enemies? What was China thinking as this occurs right here in this Congress? These are important issues we're talking about. But presently right now today we have to act. What message is this giving to those countries that we're worried about? Iran, Russia, China about our inability to just do what we're supposed to do which we pledged to do provide aid to these allies. We have done our best to reassure them with words but they are waiting to see our actions.  There's 185 Democrats who signed a discharge position on that security package that was a huge bipartisan package by the Senate bipartisan. It does happen around here. And I know for a fact just looking at press accounts and talking to people there's easily over 100 members I think more on the Republican side. That's about 300 members right here in this Congress willing to pass that package. Today one person's holding that up the speaker of this House. He has the ability to put that on the floor for a vote today. So as we go around here you admit you can see my frustration as we go around here ready to go home and nitpick and the important issues these other things we're abrogating our own responsibility to a far greater degree than any of these other issues. Yet we sit here and bring our military here and try and nitpick issues to get political advantage when we're not doing our own job. I can't tell you how angry that makes me how disappointed that makes me and how I think it affects our security far greater than anything I've ever seen in the over a decade I've been here. So I just ask my colleagues and I demand of the speaker put that on the floor before we go home and do the right thing. I yield back. General from Massachusetts yields back Chair and I recognize the General from Georgia Mr. Scott. Thank you Mr. Chairman and I don't pretend to speak for every Republican but generally speaking I think the majority of us believe that Israel, Ukraine and Taiwan are three separate issues and it should be three separate votes. We do not like having multiple issues tied into the same piece of legislation with regard and I think that all three would pass if they were individually put to the floor. There are a couple of things that we've asked for in the Ukraine vote. We have asked for the enforcement of sanctions. The fact of the matter is President Biden's refusal to enforce the sanctions that were put in place against Vladimir Putin and the Kremlin have allowed the Kremlin to become one of the most cash rich countries on the face of the earth right now and as much as I dislike Putin he's used that cash to rebuild his military industrial complex and he's been very effective with what he's used that cash for. So we've asked for the enforcement of the sanctions. We have asked for the USA to become primarily in the way of weapons. We have asked for a seizure of the Russian assets which I understand while the Biden administration would agree with us on. Maybe some of our NATO partners don't agree with us on we'll deal with that. And we've asked for the Biden administration to fulfill our commitment to our NATO and treaty partners where we told them if you broke your dependency on Russia for energy that we would supply energy to you and what did the Biden administration do after our NATO partner spent billions of dollars to increase the capacity to import LNG and other energy from the U.S. the Biden administration canceled it. So that's what we've asked for for things as Republicans in the Ukrainian age package basically just doing what it takes to win. And so that's what we've asked for. I'll move to you General Langley. I want to talk I want to talk about Africa. I want to talk specifically about Niger. The U.S. has spent hundreds of millions of dollars in that country invested in that country less than a year ago. It was one of our strongest partners. We are now being as I understand it from the open source reporting pushed out of the country and they have turned towards Russia. Can you just outline for me how this partnership fell apart so fast. I mean so fast. And then how was the Russian military able to so quickly become if you will Niger's apparently partner of choice now. And and it's baffling to me that we just totally missed this from the standpoint of our intelligence community. What indicators were there that we missed. Congressman, now thanks for your question and also thank you for getting down onto the continent and even going into this year and looking at some of their members of their government and look at them and the face and assess where they were in their democracy. Well I would say just an answer to the question is holistic as we saw the Domino's fall. When I did my assessment I said yeah across us the hell all these countries are at a tipping point. Molly had already fell Bikino Faso as I took command had already fell and sat there over a year ago over there at the Gay Lord where we had the 30th anniversary of the SPP and one of the general officers from this year as we're sitting there with General Liles from Indiana said we are our island of stability and the sea of chaos you can depend on us. So I would say what actually stoked at the drivers of that's why I laid out on the regional disinformation campaign. The Russian Federation had their playbook they had their passing game through their disinformation campaign. Years ago seven years ago you only had about 200 folks across the continent after they were on the internet. Now there's 600 millions very compelling across the civil society but moreover very compelling in their militaries right now driving and putting a wedge between what we teach law of armed conflict civilian led governance I think is failing because it's being drowned out and that's why I asked for more capabilities in the State Department and in their global engagement center and also in our information operations in the military. So the number that you gave approximately three times the number of people that are engaged in social media in the United States are engaged in social media in Africa. I watched I watched as the Russians it was Wagner group at the time but Russians whatever they're one in the same right. French ISR picked up a mass grave in Mali I believe it was and before the French were able to convince the government of Mali or share the intel with them that what Wagner had done Wagner had used social media to convince the public that it was the French that had done it. Is that am I correct in that? That's how savvy they are in congressman the various savvy's and we need to step up our game as far as being able to reveal what their activities are in disinformation. Gentlemen's time expired. You're now recognized a gentleman from California Mr. Carvajal. Thank you both thank you very much Mr. Chairman and thank you to all the witnesses for being here today. Last month I went to Israel in the West Bank I saw firsthand the devastation this war has caused for both Israelis and Palestinians. I went to the side of the Nova Music Festival where over 250 civilians were murdered. I also saw the violence against Palestinians by settlers in the West Bank. I have said time and time again protecting innocent Palestinians and rooting Hamas out of Gaza are not incompatible goals. Secretary Wander can you speak to why it is important for this region that we find a solution that ends this conflict and how congress can help support these efforts? Thank you congressman the first and foremost of course the United States supports Israel's right to defend itself and we agree that the events of October 7th must never there must be no chance that that ever recurs but how Israel conducts its operations is absolutely vital to Israel's long-term security and security and stability more generally in the region and Secretary Austin and all of the administration leadership are clear with Israeli counterparts on that offer our assistance offer actually U.S. military experience on conducting military operations while maintaining those high standards. Thank you. I appreciate the work being done balancing diplomacy while securing U.S. interests and supporting partners and allies in two very complex AORs General Langley good to see you here again I saw you last in Africa on one of my trips there addressing violent extremists has been a significant challenge in Africa now that you have served as the commander of AFRICOM for over a year and a half what other strategies should we be focusing on that have been not been widely explored either due to funding constraints or other limitations to fight insurgency groups in the AOR Congressman first of all thank you for your visit to the continent as you went there to assess and looked at their whole of governments acts such as the Global Fragility Act should be working and their retort is yes we wanted in more capacity so it can work like what they're concerned Africa's Marshall plan I think does the enduring defeat of violent extremist organizations is building out these fragile governments and their capability to fight so it's not just a military solution it is a it is a whole of government by by these countries to be able to affect some some strengthening measures in development other democracies that is the enduring solution that is the panacea to violent extremist organizations because as it as that ideology false ideology came down through the Maghreb they grasped onto it but we're talking about the Fulani tribes we're talking about the sheepherders and also we're also talking about the farmers conflict so all those layer threats is causing that problem and so it's a false caliphate and which that it can be interdicted intervening by good governance and democratic norms thank you General Carilla since October 2023 Iranian-backed militias have launched approximately a hundred attacks on U.S. forces in Syria can you speak to what you are doing to detour Iran and its proxies from becoming more emboldened especially with Russia and China's growing influence in the region how do you how do our allies help help you hear so we have a partnership with our partners inside of Syria that we work with in the enduring defeat of ISIS and the same thing with our Iraqi security forces that we work inside of Iraq for their enduring defeat of ISIS as well specifically to the attacks inside of Syria we continue to bolster our defenses our counter-UAS the supplemental has 686 million of it for counter-UAS if that has passed specifically though we have responded to attacks inside of Syria and inside of Iraq with the most recent attack and we're on about day 46 right now of a temporary deterrence I have no illusions that this will be enduring because we do think that they will try and attack again in the future thank you general I'm out of time with that Mr. Chairman I yield back I thank the gentleman from California and I recognize this is the gentleman from Tennessee Mr. Desjardins and thank you chairman because we got a lecture on the 100 billion dollar supplement that hasn't been passed I gotta agree with my colleague Mr. Scott from Georgia that if we would break these things up they might get legs Dr. Wallander in this 100 billion dollar supplement which our government's very good at writing big checks without really explaining where it all goes my understanding was 65 billion went to Ukraine how much of that is actually for military equipment Congressman I believe I'm sorry I don't have the numbers right in front of me that was the point 65 billion is a big number Admiral Aquilino just yesterday was talking about a 10 billion shortfall and unfunded mandates that we need for the China Taiwan and I would argue that China is a greater threat immediate threat to us than Russia so if we would break these things down we can actually look at the numbers but it little easier for Congress to pass and explain the constituents back home where this money's going when we're having so many issues here at home can't secure our own border et cetera but that's not why we're here today General Carilla it's been over five months since Hamas attacked Israel on October 7th and six Americans remain alive among the hostages supposedly in Hamas captivity while two have died can you elaborate here about what efforts are being made to bring these Americans home unfortunately congressmen it's five Americans that are left alive right now with the death of one announced I think two weeks ago in a classified setting I can talk to you exactly what we're doing okay but we just don't want to forget about that and I know you haven't how much operational control does Iran exercise over its proxy forces and I ask this because you lend any credibility to the recent reports of the fissures between Iran and its proxies as well as among the proxies themselves and what does that mean for Iran's regional escalation I would say Iran has tremendous control over its proxies particularly in Iraq Syria and Lebanon what steps could the Biden administration and or congress take right now to exploit the fissures if you didn't really comment on that and strengthen deterrence against the Iran led escalation while Iran must be compelled to cease their malign behavior and their actions of directing supplying funding and training these proxies so do we have plans to interdict that are they in place so that's when we were specifically talking about like the Houthis for instance that is one of the lines of effort we want to deny their ability to be resupplied that'll take a whole of government actually an international effort much like we did with counter piracy to be able to go after that because only two ships can res can resupply the vast majority of the equipment that we've destroyed so far of the Houthis yeah I mean they certainly seem undeterred at this point and Mr. Whitman brought up or maybe Mr. Lamberm brought up the fact that how do we get at these to determine you said that if we could go at the sources you know we we could stop using very expensive interdiction methods or why are we not going after them so I'll tell you the to restore freedom of navigation in the Red Sea which is our campaign going on right now in the Red Sea it's five efforts the first one is to protect the shipping that's prosperity guardian the other is to grade their offensive capability third is to deny Iran's ability to resupply which we see and we try and interdict unfortunately we lost special operations one chambers and special operations to Ingram both seals and that interdiction when we got medium range ballistic missiles and anti-ship cruise missiles we have to stop that we have to increase the international effort to be able to do the inspections on the vessels that are going into who data we need to isolate the Houthis in the information environment and we have to impose cost on Iran so that there is consequence to their behavior and certainly it's not just an American problem where are our partners in the fight what accounts for more allies and partners not joining the coalition so we have 24 partners in the Operation Prosperity Guardian 17 of them are public there's also an EU mission just this very morning about six hours ago our French partners shot down two anti-ship ballistic missiles our German partners shot a unmanned surface vessel in collaboration with the the Eisenhower and we destroyed a unmanned surface vessel as well our partners are out there they are protecting ships and there are some that are partnering with us on the offensive actions inside of Yemen okay let me just finish with this what what steps is the department taking to resume the pre-October 7th progress on Israel's military integration with the U.S. regional partners particularly building on its integration into CENTCOM and the breakthroughs of the Abraham Accord so we work with my job is on the military to military level we work with all of our partners in the region part of that we have several efforts that we do everything from integrated air and missile defense cyber security maritime security we do that and these forms that bring these efforts together I think there's a diplomatic effort on the Abraham Accords thank you sir I yield back chair now recognizes the ranking member sorry to belabor the Ukraine thing but I just want want to point out in six months we haven't had a vote on Ukraine supplemental in the House on any in any shape manner or form so if you all got a different way to do it I know there's some who oppose it and if you oppose it God bless you Mr. Gates yes I respect that but if you actually support Ukraine you haven't put a vote on on in any form one way or the other divided up this amount that amount the other but you haven't given the House a vote and now Ukraine is hanging on by their fingernails and the only vehicle that we have that can pass is the one the Senate passed so if you got something else A I wish you'd given it to us months ago but B any day any time put something on the floor to give us the opportunity to at least have a vote to to support Ukraine keeps well we could do this we could do that well what if we did it this way what if we did it that way that's a fascinating conversation whether Ukrainians are dying and why Putin continues to think he's going to be able to take Ukraine give us a vote on something to help Ukraine and the final point on the 60 plus billion dollars I'm going to get the numbers slightly off here but well over 30 billion of that money is to go to restock us munitions it's going to us that's the overwhelming majority of it I believe the humanitarian portion is less than 10 I'm going to be slightly off on that but I see nodding heads out there from people who know so so those aren't but whatever your excuses and I've heard every single excuse going back to six months ago when I had a meeting with Kevin McCarthy and Jake Sullivan and others and Kevin was speculating about well we could do this we could do that what if we did it this way what if we did it that way and I said at the time wonderful just do it you know with a ranking member yield for 10 seconds I will and I'm sorry I just I just want to try to find some way to get it done because I I know there are a lot of Republicans that do want to get it done so I'm not I just want to point out there's something I didn't want to point out there was a 14 billion dollar Israeli bill brought to the floor that failed a couple months ago standalone I'm talking Ukraine for the moment okay Ukraine so anyway I yield back thank you for your indulgence Mr. Shepard gentlemen's welcome chair now recognizes the gentle lady from Michigan Ms. Slutkin thank you and I firmly agree with the ranking member just bring us whatever you want but bring it forward they don't need talking points they need artillery and air defenses okay General Krill it's good to see you you are one of the most decorated officers we have in service now I was looking through your service record Panama Desert Storm Haiti Kosovo Bosnia Iraq Afghanistan you were seriously wounded in Mosul in 2004 and won the bronze star there help us understand in Gaza you know you're engaging with your Israeli counterparts the military strategy on Rafa and the military strategy for the next day we struggled with this as a country the United States struggled with counter-terrorism and counter-insurgency you were wounded in Mosul and we were back in Mosul taking it back from ISIS in 2017 what in your understanding is the military strategy for Rafa and do you support that strategy congressman thank you for the question you know my relationship with them is military to military I do not advise them on the actual day-to-day operations I do talk to the Israeli chief of defense on a routine basis and what is your understanding of the plan so what I would tell you what Israel's overarching plan what they have told me in terms of just Gaza is they want to they're going after a lot of the leadership and destroy the strategic tunnels that are in their strategic tunnels as defined by those that have command and control and the ability to manufacture weapons right so that they can't use those again and what I would tell you when you look at the the leadership that's in there there's five brigades inside of Gaza north Gaza city central Khan units and Rafa in underneath those there are battalions there's also specialized battalions much like we have a UAV units or etc that they have they're going after the leadership of those to do that what I do know is what they've told me is they are not going to take action until they have the ability to protect the civilians and move them out of the area I don't think they have finalized the plan for that until they do I am not aware of their current plans to be able to do the civilian harm mitigation for Rafa they are still have you asked them I have asked them they are finalizing that and they've said they will provide that to me when when they are complete with it and when you were serving in places like Iraq and Afghanistan especially as battalion commanders etc what were your responsibilities around humanitarian aid and making and did you give me your sort of responsibilities as a military leader around civilian harm reduction and getting humanitarian aid to those areas where you served so at one point I was the commander of all of western Mosul as a battalion commander and we wanted to make sure we took care of the civilians that were underneath our sector of western Mosul while also going after the elements that we were trying to fight so you worked to facilitate humanitarian aid into those areas even as you searched and effectively hunted down al-Qaeda and others that is accurate congresswoman okay and do you feel like the Israelis are doing everything in their power to maintain as low as possible civilian harm your military estimation I think they're very conscious of the civilian harm we talk about it every time I talk to my counterpart we talk about that what I'm trying to do though is help alleviate some of the human suffering there and that's coming either through we just did an airborne operation of aid this morning we've approached now almost a million meals in the north with eight other countries we're also working to increase the land line of communication to bring some in there has been some progress in the last two weeks I talked to ambassador Satterfield who is the special representative for humanitarian efforts and he has seen some progress on the challenges internal security and distribution inside of Gaza and that is effort there is some progress being made we just had a conference in Rome with USAID and others on how the distribution will work and eventually we get the maritime domain as well what's your understanding given again the United States we struggled with this so much in Iraq and Afghanistan the end game the day after planning the fact that you were injured in 2004 and we were still in Mosul and we were still dealing with Mosul in 2017 and beyond what's your understanding of the military end game for Gaza I think they're still working that ma'am okay I yield back thank you gentle lady chair I recognize gentlemen from Wisconsin Mr. Gattaker I'll just a follow up on that maybe attempt to simplify it I mean we are fortunate to live in a democracy and Dr. Wollander would you say that the United States military in general holds itself to the highest ethical standards moral and ethical standards yes congressman would you say that our military takes great effort to avoid civilian civilian casualties wherever possible yes congressman do you believe the United States intentionally targets civilians I believe the United the US military does not intentionally target civilians and in Israel we have a vibrant democracy as well this is a great thing do you believe that the Israeli defense forces hold themselves to a high moral and ethical standard just as the United States does I do believe that the Israeli defense forces hold themselves to that high standard and Israel does not target civilians and take steps to avoid civilian casualties wherever possible correct I believe that is a true statement sir and is there any evidence at present that they are you emphasizing your testimony that they have a responsibility to protect civilians I agree I think they're doing to go into great lengths to do just that and to uphold international law is there any evidence that they're violating international law I am not aware of any evidence that they are deliberately targeting civilians and so contrast that the the high moral and ethical standards of the United States military and our allies in Israel with Hamas Hamas is a terrorist organization correct yes congressman and Hamas does not care about human life including the civilians in Gaza correct worse Hamas exploits others concerned for civilian life by placing their capabilities in their fighters protected by human shields that's what's going to be my next question you anticipate the use of human shields and many civilians in Gaza have died from Hamas rockets landing inside Gaza and Hamas's attacks on civilians correct I believe there have been such validated incidents yes congressman the thing I'm curious about is Hamas could if we apply the same standard they have a responsibility to protect human life Hamas could surrender today released all of the hostages in the war presumably would be over correct if Hamas ended their war against Israel the conflict could be over today do you want Hamas to be removed from control of Gaza would you like to see Hamas regain control of Gaza at the risk of another October 7th type of ask administration fully supports Israel's goal of destroying Hamas's ability to conduct these operations thank you I appreciate that general talk to me a little bit about how do you how do you characterize the relationship between Iran Russia and China I know the expanded influence and presence of China in the Sankam AOR is a particular concern for you help help me understand the connection between these these three entities so if I could go congressmen to just China and Iran what we are seeing Iran is selling 90 percent of its oil and that is the largest part of their GDP is oil is is being purchased by China it's all sanctioned oil by the U.S. so Iran is dependent upon China in effect China is funding their subversive behavior throughout the region their malign and subversive behavior the relationship between Iran and Russia that really started when they asked for them to provide the one-way attack UAS specifically the Shahad 136 they started providing complete systems and they built an actual factory in Russia and those same Shahad 136 is a very capable system are now going at a rate of over 100 a week from Russia into into Ukraine and then what I'll talk in a classified setting is the concerns of what Russia can provide back to Iran and we're actually seeing interest of China interested in purchasing some of Iranian UAVs as well so it's not interdependent but it is a cooperation that is happening between all of them what do you think China's goals are in the region in the Sankam AOR they want to be they want to be able to replace the U.S. as that as one of the dominant forces in the Middle East and you you mentioned our strategic advantage being our close partnership with our allies whereas in contrast to our our adversaries have far more transactional relationship how do you think the CCP views Iran in the region as a as a client state as a source of hydrocarbons that it can control I think it's a source of hydrocarbons like they do many of the other countries 50 percent of their energy comes from the Middle East they import about 70 percent of their energy I appreciate that I yield back the remainder of my time I thank the gentleman chair now recognize the gentleman from California Mr. Pertheta thank you Mr. Chairman gentlemen ma'am thank you very much for being here appreciate this opportunity focusing on Niger clearly we bet big okay we bet big on Niger and right now we're in we're at a point in which we either want to double down or we want to fold unfortunately and look I get the bet as I called it in my visits there it was the Alamo in an area that I've also now called area of deja-cous seems to be happening often but now we're dealing in Niger with the military junta a military junta that is basically kicking out our partners it kicked out France it revoked a security pact with the EU and now unfortunately the regional security coalitions in that area ECOWAS ACRA G5 let's be frank they lack strength they lack credibility and then after the meeting that you were at General Langley Langley with assistant secretary fee soon after they kicked they ended the security pact with the United States unfortunately or at least that's their intention at this point and I appreciate the direct and frank conversations that you had with the junta at that point talking about Russia talking about the potential agreement to sell uranium to Iran but unfortunately it appeared it backfired backfired based on their statement now at the same time during all of this the United States has formally declared a coup back in October that legally prevents the United States from providing the new regime with security assistance so it seems that our approach to Niger and our approach to this junta is divided and disconnected and it's sort of a two prong approach and that one I get it we want to support our democracy and our values but two we're trying to be friendly with this junta and it's leading to a point where we have a kind of a judgment of Solomon and that we're splitting the goals and what we don't want is it to leave us with nothing because we know that nothing will be filled by China by Russia by Iran we also know that the VEOs of island extremist organizations are not going to stop in Niger and there's going to be consequences throughout the Sahel as the DNI put out its threat his annual threat assessment last and I think it was recently the instability in Sahel is going to raise especially in Niger Mali and Burkina Faso raises the likelihood that the crisis will musta mustastasize and spill over to the Latorals of Africa and so my question to doctor my question to general Langley is what is our coherent and consistent strategy towards Niger and what do we plan to do to prevent Russia China and Iran from filling that void and what do we plan to do in order to continue our effort which I think is necessary to go after the VEOs in that area Thank you Congressman I think you've framed the dilemma and the challenges extremely well and I fully agree with your assessment I would like to clarify that at this point the CNSP the self identified government of Niger has not asked or demanded that the United States military depart there is actually quite a mixed message we are following up and seeking clarification what they have declared is that they have declared the SOFA the status forces agreement to be non-operational they have assured us that American military forces are protected and they will take no action that would endanger them so while we work through that with them we are seeking ways to be able to continue to have access and ability to conduct counter VEO operations that said I will just footstomp something you mentioned which is countries that are run by military hunters are not reliable security partners and part of the value proposition for us having access in Niger would be a return to democratic civilian rule in Niger got it General Langley Congressional I'll just give an operational viewpoint as far as because this is this is a question of strategic access at the great power competition level it's essential it's essential that we double down with the within the authorities that we still have after imposition of 7008 but I will just take a regional view on that we do need to engage with other countries to increase their partnership of capacity we need more take the disinformation campaign we need to hit it front and center front and center because Russia does have a passing game now they have a ground game as well with the Russian core and being introduced in Mali gentlemen's times the king of irons here now recognized gentlemen from Florida Mr. Gates this is Colonel Mamaday Dambuya and this is a photo of of him did we train and equip him by name I cannot identify that that's him with a bunch of US service members outside of our embassy and just months after this photo was taken in 2021 he led a coup in Guinea and throughout the the leader does that concern you congressman core values is what we start off with in highway programs do we share core values with Colonel Dambuya core values I'll repeat that he led a coup we do so I guess my I guess four months after that exchange general Langley you had general Musa Bamu overthrow the government in Niger and it won't surprise anybody here that we trained him the person who overthrew the democratically elected government in Niger went to the national defense university trained at Fort Benning Georgia so do we share core values with Musa Bamu congressman let me just go ahead and state that core values is what we start off with but there is no syllabus for overthrowing the government not in our institutions well they're learning it pretty well even in the absence of a syllabus right because if you look at Chad Burkina Faso Molly Mauritania Niger in a lot of these countries the coup is led by someone we trained now I put in the national defense authorization act a requirement for you to issue us a report as to how many coup leaders our taxpayers have funded the training for that report is due tomorrow will we be getting it on time I'll do a follow-up on that congressman well this this was the follow-up right because first I asked you in that clip how many coup leaders did we train you didn't know and so then I put it in the law for you to tell me the law requires you to tell me by tomorrow so can you give us a preview of coming attractions you get that you'll get your answer congressman just but but but let me say let me say there's no correlation and there's no causation of us training to these members well that's what I'm trying to find out because in like a dozen countries the coup leaders are people we trained like what a difference a year makes March 16th 2023 Secretary Blinken calls Niger quote a model of resilience a model of democracy a model of cooperation one year and one day later Dr. Wallander the spokesperson of the Nigerian military Colonel Amadou Amabramé says quote the American presence in the territory of the Republic of Niger is illegal a year and a day after our government said they were the model of resilience and democracy they are throwing us out by the scrubs of our neck and so is it safe to say that this failed General Langley it's safe to say that there's no correlation or causation of us training to a coup happening period it certainly isn't there's no causation or correlation to the training we do creating more stability I'm trying to ascertain whether or not all this money we spend in Africa makes the place less stable or more stable and just for a country lawyer like me if we're funding the coup leaders that probably strikes me as making it less stable now are you aware of the Iranian efforts to now mine in Niger General Langley Congressman we could talk about it in a classified section on that well I mean Fox News is reporting it they're saying that Iran is working on on economic arrangements to get uranium from Niger so well in classified section we're going to talk real intel yeah I I guess I mean we've spent more than 500 million in the country what can you say we've got for that 500 million as we sit here today if it's like being turned into an Iranian mine the Russians are the preferred security partner and and we're training the coup leaders there is a buy down on an insurance policy for protecting the homeland I don't think we're doing that though I don't think there's that there's evidence to suggest that that's your opinion you you went to I respect I respect your opinion okay but General Langley you went to Niger and you went to have a meeting with the people we trained who overthrew the democratically elected government and Fox News is reporting that you didn't even get a meeting with the principal decision maker is that right I had a meeting with my counterpart well here's the quote sources say last week's meeting with the junta was extremely difficult the administration's envoys did not get to meet with Niger's principal decision maker is that a true statement or is that a false state my responsibility is to meet with my counterpart not not not I would just I would just I would just I would just I would just at least book a meeting you know since it's the model of democracy gentlemen's time expired chair and I recognize general lady from Pennsylvania Miss Huland thank you very much for the opportunity to listen and learn from you and thank you for your service to the country was hoping generals that I could ask you to reflect a little bit on some of the history of this nation specifically interested in going back to June 6th of 1944 which was D-day which I'm certain you all know can you tell me to the degree that you recall your education and your history what happened on that day obviously that's operation over Lord going into Normandy I did command the 82nd airborne division which has a strong history and to help liberate the first city liberated was St. Mary Glees and we're coming up on our 80th anniversary this year and in general Langley do you have any reflections on that day? Yes I was at the 79th and I'm planning to go into the 80th and seeing those those members that went across that beach it was a memory and being able to meet with them was very telling of those that had what we call common valor and that was very striking and it was able to all the generations that followed as far as our war fighting ethos in supporting and protect our constitution and serving in the military in the United States has gone through from the great greatest generation to present Yeah I had the opportunity to go to the 75th anniversary as well and it was a remarkable observation of a really powerful moment in history when we were able to liberate Europe and we were able to lead with our values and the reason why I'm asking this is I would love to be able to ask you specific questions about this posture hearing but I'm so troubled by the fact that I believe history is repeating itself again I'm so deeply concerned that we're in 1939 again and that we're ignoring our common shared history which led us because of isolationism because of inaction to participating in World War II arguably too late arguably we could have stopped it earlier than we did and arguably D-Day didn't ever have to happen in my opinion we are heading into the 80th anniversary of D-Day and my understanding is the Speaker of the House is really interested and excited in going to the 80th anniversary of D-Day and I'm just struck by the irony I don't even know what the right word is that we will observe that and not understand that we could indeed prevent something like that from happening again if we the Congress could act on the supplemental and on the Senate's bill that's already passed if we could help Ukraine fight the fight that is the fight for all of us for democracies around the world was hoping that you all could comment on how you're seeing from your your history your heritage your careers what is unfolding in Europe I recognize that's not your area of interest right now but would love to understand how you reflect on it in terms of the history that we are all facing right now and I don't expect any specific answer I'm genuinely interested in your thoughts I'm keenly interested obviously because we have Russia in our AOR congresswoman they're in Syria they have a warm water port now in TARDIS they have an air base in Latakia and we watch what Russia is doing both in Ukraine I talked to Chris Cavoli on a routine basis as he updates me what's happened and I watch Iran's support to Russia and their illegal invasion of Ukraine he's made it clear Putin has made it clear this is an imperial effort to retake Russian territory so to speak and his intentions have been clear and he's executed on those intentions General Langley do you have any comments as well as activities that Russian Federation's doing on the continent of Africa's very destabilizing and what they're doing just from the geopolitical piece of it they're trying they want to change the rules based international order and they want to reshape the world economic order as well just doing it through socioeconomic coercion and also dependence here we have a military construct and we will put a court on around your home to newly formed governments in exchange for mining concessions all those mining concessions go up to the Russian Federation and I appreciate you gentlemen very much I have only eight seconds left but the reason I asked these questions is because I would urge our speaker to please allow us to vote on the Senate package so that we cannot have another D-Day thank you and I yield back thank you General Lady Chair and I recognize the gentleman from Nebraska thank you Mr. Chairman and I appreciate all three of you being here my first question deals with Iran so looking on the the left side of the dice over there now Iran is the taxes how many attacks have there been done against our forces by proxy forces I lost the count in which country congressman just combined when you look at Iraq, Syria Iraq and Syria it's about 175 since the about 46 days ago and the Houthis which is an Iranian proxy the numbers upwards of 200 that's just an incredible number what concerns me is we strike back at the proxy forces I don't think Iran cares I don't think Iran cares if you hit their junior partners you know in the nose they care if you hit them in the nose so why haven't we made a gone after Iran more directly because I don't think we can deter them by just going after their proxy forces and I was probably more of a policy question but I defer to whoever wants to answer thank you congressman we have struck and would defer to general Corrilla on details we have struck Iranian assets in that are used to launch those attacks against American or partnered forces in Iraq and in Syria so we have struck at those to rode their effectiveness but also to signal that we will strike at Iranian forces that are threatening Americans I believe if we don't go after Iran more directly they are going to see it as weakness and they are just going to keep amplifying these attacks we have already lost three Americans on the border of Jordan and I just I guess I implore a more aggressive thing because I think in the end once Iran knows we are serious they will have those proxy forces back off my view anyway to general Langley what is the impact of what is going on in Niger operationally to us thanks for the question congressman as we approach our operational approach would be to deter threats holistically and the greatest end state is being able to protect homeland all of those violent extremists organizations whether we are talking about ISIS Sahel ISIS West Africa JNM or any other faction Boko Haram is still alive and well we need to be able to do indications and warnings we need to be able to monitor and respond and that's what we need long-endurance ISR so the impacts will be great if we lose our posture is there alternative countries to Niger that we can operate out of congressman we're spoiling that now I can talk more in the closed session about because it's in the diplomatic realm right now outside of maybe Egypt what are some other nations that are working closely with us that we should be investing in and nurturing better in Africa I would say that I'll just say for East Africa and Somalia for instance so you know we were working and to be able to support the efforts to run the campaign help President Mohammed run the campaign but there's other countries there as well Turkey, UAE the UK so they call that the Quint it's way ahead for sustaining operations in Somalia a follow-up to General Carillo when it comes to Afghanistan so we I think we have enough evidence to say al-Qaeda's re-establishing itself in Afghanistan or reconstituting their leader was killed there for starters and we're reading about training camps can you give us a little more information what is al-Qaeda doing in Afghanistan in a classified session I can give you great detail but I would tell you that we do see the Taliban as harboring al-Qaeda they're also harboring Triki Taliban Pakistani and other violent extremist organizations the only one that they're actively fighting I think it's important for our citizens to know what we can't tell them because we saw what happened prior to 9-11 and now we're seeing the same Taliban regime partnering with al-Qaeda and I think there's a future threat to our country there so with that I appreciate your leadership and thank you for being here today I yield back I think the gentleman Chair would announce that remind folks that we are going to have a classified session after this public session so the public session will end just before one o'clock we'll go in a classified session we'll be called for votes at 1.30 so just as a reminder for awareness Chair now recognizes Mr. Moulton from Massachusetts thank you Mr. Chairman in recent months US troops in Iraq and Syria have faced approximately 167 attacks by Iran-backed militias and in Jordan three US service members were of course tragically killed by an Iranian linked drone attack so many Americans are wondering why we still have troops in the region and are asking what our service members are fighting for General Carilla how would you explain why maintaining a small US troop presence in Jordan, Syria and Iraq serves US interests as a good investment international security and ultimately makes us safer back home thanks congressman we have forces in Iraq and Syria for the enduring defeat of ISIS and if I could describe ISIS for you we have ISIS at large those that we are going after every day every night about 1500 inside of Syria and about a thousand inside of Iraq you have an army an ISIS army in detention 9,000 of them across 27 detention facilities in Syria about 20,000 inside of Iraq I don't worry so much about the detention inside Iraq I worry about those that are inside Syria and the last category is the next potential generation of ISIS and those are the ones that are in the Al Hall and Al Roj camps used to be 70,000 now it's down to about 43,000 I was just there two and a half weeks ago it is my assessment if that we were to completely pull out that you would see a resurgence of ISIS in about one to two years so what we are doing is we are defending forward we are going after those forces the ones that we specifically target inside of Syria are those that are trying to break out that ISIS army and they did that in January of 2022 where they broke out there was 4,401 detention facility a thousand made it outside of the camp killed 125 of our SDF partners but there was 450 of them killed the rest were captured and about 100 got away and to be clear they are interested in attacking the United States and the next ones we go after are those that are doing external operations defined as outside of Iraq and Syria and we have thwarted several of those that would be really against Western interests in Eurasia or in Europe would you recommend to the president that we withdraw our troops from Iraq I would not until the conditions are met that Iraq can handle that fight by themselves Dr. Wallander would you recommend to the president that we withdraw our troops from Iraq I would not on the conditions that General Carrilla also articulated Dr. Wallander some suggest that US troops are just a target for rival nations and actually increase tension in the region how would you push back on that argument US forces are a target in particular because Iran seeks to eject the United States from the Middle East so that it can have free operational access and effects that are very contrary to American national security interests as we're seeing in the Red Sea and elsewhere in the Middle East and of course this isn't just the case in the Middle East General Langley you wrote in your written statement that quote if we fail in Africa our strategic competitors will move in how does the US military presence in Africa counter Russia and China so Congressman with our approach as a codified in national security strategy building partnership capacity where there needs to be African led so in order for it to be African led and their security construct they're developing armies they need our assistance to be able to so they have the capability and capacity to deter threats and of course China is not just competing with us in the military realm so where do you find that you run into limits of what you're able to do as a military command going up against a real whole of nation effort from China and Russia and where does the interagency need to do more now congressman across the board like I said we are losing the disinformation from the Russian Federation we need to meet that or with the truth so as far as you know the global engagement center from the from the State Department or other activities we need to close a say-do gap we're doing a lot across USAID and State Department and it's also within DOD but we're not telling us a story we're not telling the story because we're getting drowned out by the disinformation campaign across civil society and also to the militaries and as a hell and that's what we get we're not saying that Russia caused it but they did accelerate the coup d'etats as you're seeing in Mali, Burkina Faso and Niger so as you say General the disinformation is a national security threat to the United States absolutely it is it really is it's very compelling especially in civil society especially in young generation that's the youth balls across the African countries thank you Mr. Chairman I yield back thank the gentleman chair and I recognize the gentleman from Florida Mr. Gates I'm sorry Mr. Waltz big difference thank you thank you Mr. Chair General Crilla these should be I think very easy questions but important to get on the record on the abigate families I understand the reinvestigation is complete correct the supplemental review is complete and out of respect for the families we're gonna debriefing them in the next several weeks can I ask they have repeatedly asked me that you have those families together for that briefing rather than individually 100 percent congressmen they're all we've invited them to a specific date and though we have many of them that have can I also ask that we have no time limit on that briefing there will be no lock them in the room until they're done asking questions we will stay as long as they want and answer all the questions fantastic can I also ask and you know here here's a tough one but can we declassify whatever needs to be declassified to give them the answers they need or give them temporary read-ons I don't care but let's not have we're doing the latter congressmen and we're giving them all the information that they require that's great to hear thank you General Crilla now let's switch to I think some very important statements you've made on Iran I think the best way to stop the Houthis is to dry up the supplies from Iran I agree and the best way to do that is to dry up the cash and Tehran correct I agree and as you've said that Iran's selling 90 percent of its illegal illicit sanctioned oil to China correct correct so really the heart of the matter and let's just you know nothing like visuals let's let's look at all of Iranian oil that is going this way right I mean the money is here and the money is coming from here correct interestingly though the oil coming from Gulf and other partners that are coming through here in Europe that's what the Houthis are hitting correct they are so going back to the money in Iran we've got Hezbollah being funded by Iran correct correct we have Hamas being funded by Iran correct we have the Houthis being funded by Iran correct correct we've got the all the militias in in Iraq and we now have dead Americans because of the money being going back to Iran correct all roads go back to Iran but really it's Chinese money that is fueling Iran that is fueling terrorism 90 percent of the Iranian oil goes to China and yet all of our policy is focused on the symptoms of the disease of now a port dealing with the humanitarian crisis in Gaza a coalition shooting down $50,000 drones with $2 million missiles now the Houthis are threatening to go at the Indian Ocean as well we've got shipping being diverted all the way around the Cape of Good Hope our policy is focused on the symptoms not the core problems not the disease which is Beijing and their relationship and funding of Tehran would you disagree with that I think Iran is the single biggest malign actor in the Middle East so here's my question Dr. Wollander responsible for policy how have we fundamentally shifted our policy to dry up the cash in Iran and please don't tell me the oil is sanctioned I know the sanctions the house has passed the ship act which will put secondary sanctions on the shipping companies the ports the Chinese buyers would you support that as a matter of policy secondary sanctions on China Congressman your analysis is compelling on the specific question I would have to defer to the Treasury Department which is responsible for you as a matter so here's the problem Dr. Wollander and you just kicked the can there nice try bad policy has these generals and our military I mean the bad policies the tail wagon the dog here running around being as target practice around the desert and in the Red Sea meanwhile what are the consequences of that well we are burning naval readiness are we not in the Red Sea and in the Mediterranean General Perilla we're using a lot of munitions we're burning readiness for every month that a ship's extended you're burning two months that it now has to be in dry dock we're out of amphibs you know the big winner here the big winners China because rather than those ships being in the Indo-Pacific they're running around the Red Sea and they're running around the Mediterranean and now we're going to build a port I mean I know we're going to talk about in a classified session General Perilla but are you very are you extremely concerned about force protection for that port from drones from missiles from underwater unmanned vehicles all of these will be supplied by Iran gentlemen's time is here and I recognize the gentle lady from New Jersey Miss Cheryl thank you General Perilla I believe there are over a million people in Rafa right now I was just recently at the Rafa crossing on the Egyptian side and then we went to Israel and the Israelis are suggesting that they are continuing their plans for an invasion of Rafa and so if you're thinking about the vetting that would need to take place to move that population and if you're thinking about the humanitarian corridor that has to happen would you say that those that group of people that population could be moved out of Rafa for an invasion in two weeks I believe the number is about 1.3 million that's in Rafa I was at the Rafa gate two and a half weeks ago as well I believe it'll take weeks I can't give you without seeing their definitive plan I cannot give you a timeline and to your knowledge is there currently a place in Gaza that is set up to receive 1.3 million people should they be moved from Rafa I don't know of a place right now ma'am thank you and as we're looking at the new require or not the new the traditional requirements that the united states has as outlined in the recently signed national security memorandum 20 the memorandum reiterates that the secretary of state must assess the assurances that human rights and humanitarian laws are being upheld by a recipient of U.S. defense articles and services as Israel continues its fight to uproot and destroy the Hamas terror network we've seen the casualty rates of civilians including children and a looming humanitarian crisis so can you explain how your headquarters will monitor the situation collect information and report your assessments and findings to the state department regarding the requirements of the national security memorandum 20 so I believe that comes from both verbal and written assurances from reliable and credible assurances that they will follow the law of armed conflict with the weapons provided I am not humanitarian yet I am not involved in the advising for the day to day ground operations or air operations so you've not been asked to provide any information as to whether or not to provide any information for the assessment I have not and so the national security memorandum 20 requires assurances to include that the recipient country will facilitate the transport and delivery of U.S. humanitarian assistance and U.S. government support of IGO efforts not deny not restrict not impede so Dr. Wallander what more must Israel do to facilitate aid do you believe Israel should provide security for the transport and delivery of humanitarian aid and what of the practice of turning away full shipments with a single dual use item thank you congresswoman yes Israel has has an obligation on many counts for allowing for access to humanitarian assistance we are working with them now or SENTCOM is working now with Israel on the line of effort on the maritime delivery access and we are working daily with Israel on ground transport including increasing the number of trucks moving along those ground transports and access and we have worked with them on clarifying issues of inspection that Israel requires to be able to in order to approve the movement of specific shipments and is that ground transport within Gaza as well or simply ground transport to get to the access points of Gaza the focus of our conversation with Israel is access to Gaza and separate arrangements are being worked right now for the internal security of an internal distribution safe distribution of the humanitarian assistance inside of Gaza and do you intend to publicly provide what those provisions will be once they are I think they will become public once they are finalized and we're working on that because now this maritime access is ready to move and we are seeing additional movements on Israel's support for ground transportation and do you have a timeline for any of this I don't have a timeline for you on the ground transportation right now congresswoman and I think general Carilla noted the first half of April on the maritime access thank you and I yield back thank the general lady chair and I recognize general lady from Michigan thank you Mr. Chairman thank you Mr. Chairman general Carilla last year you highlighted the fact that you were suffering suffering from a significant drop in ISR capabilities in Afghanistan since the August 2021 withdrawal former chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff general Mark Milley testified this week before the House Foreign Affairs Committee that the withdrawal was a strategic failure in your testimony today you highlight that both ISIS-K and Al Qaeda are using Afghanistan as a safe haven you also say that the Taliban's inability or unwillingness to reign in violent extremists organizations could destabilize Central and South Asia general do you due to the continued lack of ISR in Afghanistan can you explain how the 2020 2021 withdrawal has opened up the United States and our allies to increased terror threats congressman my number one priority is to protect the homeland to prevent an attack from coming out of Afghanistan but every day I am balancing risk I'm balancing risk between an attacks in Iraq and Syria the Red Sea in Afghanistan and I'm dynamically shifting ISR to be able to do that and manage that risk based on the imminent threats and we do that on a daily basis what we are seeing internal to Afghanistan right now is an increase in activity of the violent extremist organizations we are working with our partners that includes Pakistan Tajikistan Uzbekistan who have access into these countries and tremendous insight both through their human networks to be able to understand exactly what has happened to augment the airborne ISR that we have with the continued lack of ISR though how can the administration the administration actually effectively monitor any Iranian or CCP influence efforts in Afghanistan so not all ISR is airborne so I would tell you that you know when we look at the intelligence piece of it we're looking for human as well as we try to rebuild some of the human networks since we have pulled out to be able to monitor that and we work through our partners as well so do we have more boots on the ground then we don't have any boots on the ground so what you can have is you can do over the horizon human and we can also work through partners and allies and how are those going I think we are getting some insights it is very difficult there's also in a classified setting I can tell you some of the other means in which we monitor them have you requested additional assets be deployed to Afghanistan I have identified the requirements that I have to the Department of Defense so you have identified them have you requested them I don't think any combatant commander I've had I have requested them I don't think a combatant commander has the numbers they need what is the response from the secretary in the White House regarding those requests or identifications again I would say that there's no combatant commander Mike Langley included who doesn't have all the resources that they require but what I do is identify the risk of not getting those okay maybe we're not tracking here you have identified the need correct correct and what has the response been from the secretary in the White House so we get we receive some assets some of the things I've requested I have not received and so based on that I adjust my ISR throughout the region to identify the risk at the time would you say you receive 10 percent 20 percent 80 percent 90 percent of what you've requested I couldn't give you exact percentage right now ma'am give me a gut feel I'm trying to I want to be sincerely this is a big this is a very concern well it is and I mean we have so what you look at the requirements the only place I'm not being shot at right now is Afghanistan so yet so I'm adjusting that ISR where we were being shot at in Iraq and Syria and I put it on and I understand that I understand that sir I'm just trying to get an answer to my question so you've requested some some could be a little a lot you don't have any gut feel on you know I've requested X and I've received Y I do know the number of what I've requested a lot of its big wig ISR to be able to do things in what I can do is I get ISR in one area I can shift it over to another area but we are to reduce number inside of Afghanistan right now okay I mean I know the world is focused on violent conflicts in Gaza and Ukraine as they should be and the potential threat of China moving against Taiwan but the threat of terrorism is looming right Afghanistan right now is a hotbed for terrorism it is I mean it's Afghanistan has fallen back into the hands of the Taliban which has no interest in deterring terrorism against the West it is imperative that Congress provides sent com the necessary resources to better monitor and engage in necessary any potential terror threats thank you Jenley's time has expired Chair and I recognize Jenley from California Ms. Jacobs Thank you Mr. Chairman and thank you to our witnesses First General Langley I know that we spoke already about South Com's Human Rights Office I just wanted on the record can you commit today to working with me to try and help AFRICOM create a similar capacity and to make sure that we're giving you the resources you need on on Human Rights in the region Yes Thank you and I also really want to thank you for your comments earlier on the importance of the whole of government response to violent extremism especially through the Global Fragility Act I was wondering if you could briefly discuss the ways in which DOD has contributed to the Global Fragility Act so far and in particular how the civil affairs teams in coastal West Africa have been in U.S. strategic interests Congresswoman thanks for that question because our integrated approach into the AFRICOM campaign plan Global Fragility Act is at the center of that just giving an example of Ambassador Davis Baugh in Cote d'Ivoire they're one of the first ones to get their country planned done but as I start with helping them as they asked us we want a whole of government approach to fight terrorism so that's where they are building out their governance but also working on the security construct too in unison codified within that campaign plan so they are showing that they take the leading edge at implementing the spirit and intent of the Global Fragility Act thank you so much General Krilla I'll turn to you as you know the war powers resolution requires the White House to submit a report within 48 hours of the onset of hostilities a key role in this is to start the 60-day clock as part of the war powers resolution so for the purposes of the war powers resolution at 60-day restriction when did hostilities begin with respect to U.S. military involvement in the Red Sea Yemen and the Gulf of Aden against the Houthis after October 7th I believe for the Houthis I think our first strike was around 12 January okay thank you and you know I think it's important to note I recognize the administration views the strikes against Iranian proxies in Iraq Assyria as covered by both the 2001 and 2002 AUMF but that no one has tried to make that case about the ongoing hostilities with the Houthis and so I I hope that I can receive from your office and that you can commit to a written analysis of when the 60-day clock will be running out and when and if you'll be coming to Congress for the authorization needed per the war powers resolution I would defer to policy and the administration on that one Dr. Wander Thank you Congresswoman the assessment of the interagency lawyers group is that the operations in against Houthis threats and attacks on shipping is covered by the president's inherent right under Article II and the authority of the combatant commander to authorize strikes in self-defense of U.S. assets and forces I think a key part of the war powers resolution is continuing and ongoing which is a key part of the administration's messaging around that so I look forward to continuing this conversation and making sure that you all are in compliance with the law the war powers resolution Lastly I will turn again to General Langley we've seen an increasing number of regional players in Africa including Turkey and the UAE in fact, both of these have recently played spoilers in various conflicts particularly in Ethiopia and in Sudan how often do you meet with the UAE and Turkey to raise our interest on the African context and then General Krill and Secretary Wallander and recognizing that we have many priorities in a complicated relationship with both those countries how do we ensure that our African interests are raised at a high enough level Congresswoman as far as Turkey and UAE no direct contact I'll just say in Somalia with President Saunders Sheikh Mohammed taking all players that's going to be able to help build out his army they have established a quint but Ambassador Fee she goes to the quint meetings on that so I don't have any direct mill to mill with them other than de-confliction of the airspace in terms of Turkey we have just de-confliction of airspace in the mill to mill domain because that's actually a Yukon country and in terms of our relationship with Turkey in particular in Africa and Somalia Turkey has contributed to capacity building and we believe that's positive we just ask that Turkey in particular make sure to keep us informed of those operations General East Times expires here and I recognize General from Texas Mr. Jackson Thank you Mr. Chairman and thank you to our witnesses for being here today I appreciate your time with the recent focus being most of the time focused on Indo Paycom this hearing is a great example of why we can't lose focus of the threats in Africa and Centcom so I appreciate you being here and give us an update on that in 2023 I'll let a codell along with my colleague Ms. Jacobs to Centcom in Africa to learn firsthand about some of the unique challenges faced in your respective AORs last week Russia, China and Iran concluded their annual sea belt or sea security belt exercise in the Gulf of Oman which included a large number of troops warships aviation assets along with numerous other nations participating through observer status these joint drills promote cooperation between China, Russia and Iran while sending an undeniable signal to the U.S. and to our allies the aggression in the Red Sea has certainly been the focal point for our forces but a major joint exercise being conducted by our strongest adversaries happened right outside of our bases in Bahrain, Cutter and UAE General Carilla does this type of hostile military activity cause an increase in the regional tension as the military ties amongst our adversarial nations grow around us how much does it undermine our efforts in the Red Sea and what other concerns do you have for Centcom Thanks Congressman appreciate that we call the Chinru exercise was done in the Indian Ocean I don't think it raised regional tension but it just does show this relationship that we're seeing between China, Iran and Russia of interest the Houthis just announced that Russia and China have a buy on any movement through the Red Sea so what you're seeing is Iran is using its proxy to allow access for Russia and China to go through the Red Sea while blocking access to others and the Houthis even give it wrong when they hit a ship about two weeks ago that was curing Russian oil from the North Sea to India Thank you sir I appreciate that and I have some some following questions I'll ask you in the classified portion I have one more question for you General Langley East Africa sits in in a critical area which is seeing corruption and heightened hostilities from violent extremist groups such as El Shabaab and ISIS as I mentioned I was just in Somalia last year where I got an understanding of the threats that exist but in that region the situation on the ground can and does shift daily in the last decade the PRC opened a military base on the continent of Africa right next to our American base in Djibouti simultaneously Russia is increasing its footprint there and hoping also to establish a base in East Africa General as both Russia and China establish significant footprints on the East coast of Africa what would be the impac