Rosen Emphasizes Need For ‘Technological Advancements’ For ‘Great Power Competition With China’

3 months ago

Earlier this month, Sen. Jacky Rosen (D-NV) questioned Department of Defense nominees on cyber warfare during a Senate Armed Services Committee hearing.

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Transcript

00:01Senator Rosen.

00:02Well, thank you, Senator King, appreciate it, and I want to thank you to the nominees

00:07today for testifying, for your willingness to serve, it's so important.

00:12And I want to talk a little bit about intelligence and great power competition.

00:16So Ms. Wilkerson, as the U.S. transitions to great power competition with China and

00:21giving the increasing emphasis on technological advancements and cyber capabilities, how is

00:27the U.S. intelligence community adapting its methodologies to ensure comprehensive intelligence

00:33collection from both traditional and emerging sources?

00:37And additionally, what strategies are being implemented to integrate diverse sources of

00:43intelligence?

00:44And if confirmed, how do you plan to coordinate integration across the defense intelligence

00:48enterprise?

00:49Senator, thank you for the opportunity to speak a bit on that topic.

00:54Of course, a continuous modernization and deeper integration across the defense, intel

01:00and security enterprise are critical to supporting the objectives of the National Defense Strategy.

01:06And I think as part of that, really focusing in on how we develop ways to be able to leverage

01:11effectively emerging technology and then also expand our ability to share intelligence effectively

01:19as well with our allies and partners.

01:22From my seat at NGA, one of the things that we've been focused on is how do we take full

01:28advantage of the proliferated architecture and how do we take best advantage of AI, for

01:35example?

01:36On GEOINT, AI is where our focus would be.

01:39And so I recognize from those experiences the importance of always thinking ahead with

01:45respect to and being open to new innovations and being able to pull those in and do so

01:51at a rapid manner.

01:53And so if confirmed, I would look to work across the department, the IC, and as well

01:58as with other stakeholders to include allies and partners to make sure we're casting a

02:04broad net and understanding what exists and where there may be shortfalls that might need

02:09to be addressed.

02:11Yes, technology moves faster sometimes and we can adapt to it.

02:14But I'm glad you brought up AI because, of course, there's issues around the ethical

02:20use of AI.

02:21And the Department of Defense has adopted a set of ethical principles for artificial

02:26intelligence, including minimizing unintended bias and protecting civil liberties and privacy.

02:33However, we do know our definition of ethical AI does not align with that of our adversaries.

02:39So Dr. Solmeier, as we work to leverage AI into our cyber capabilities, we know it's

02:46going to better enable our warfighters to execute their missions, whatever they are.

02:51How do you intend to balance the opportunities that we have before us, challenges and opportunities,

02:57and the ethical use of AI?

03:00Good morning, Senator.

03:01And I think the opportunity that artificial intelligence offers our warfighters really

03:08is open field right now.

03:11But what we bring that our adversaries don't is a professional military, a military of

03:16humans that we do trust and that are trusted with very serious responsibilities at even

03:23very junior ranks.

03:24And so to use artificial intelligence to empower them, to keep the human in the loop, but to

03:29empower them, that is different than what our adversaries will use AI for because I

03:34don't think they trust their militaries in the way that we can trust our professional

03:37force.

03:39And I do think that AI just potentiates what humans can do, right, just helps us make those

03:46better decisions.

03:47So I would agree with you there.

03:49And it's important, though, that we have AI, we are going to have professional warfighters,

03:55but we also have to have a cyber workforce and really robust cyber workforce.

03:59We have to think forward into the future.

04:01And last year, DoD released its cyber workforce strategy really to address those gaps in workforce

04:06management, ensure we're really capable of addressing the growing cyber threats from

04:13our adversaries.

04:14So again, Dr. Solmeier, what's your view on implementing nontraditional methods of expanding

04:19cybersecurity workforce, including establishing a cybersecurity reserve or implementing a

04:26skills-based hiring in order to increase the number of qualified candidates for cyberspace

04:31operations and roles?

04:32I'm interested really in the civilian cyber reserve.

04:35I was a former computer programmer myself.

04:38Yes, Senator, and I've appreciated your leadership on cyber issues and in particular on the civilian

04:45reserve.

04:46I've read the legislation, and we currently have the beginning conversations going between

04:53the Army, where I work now, and U.S. Cyber Com to very consistent with the law to see

04:58what we can do and how we can meet the steps to start that pilot.

05:04So I'm excited to see what we can do there with this civilian reserve, mostly to be able

05:09to have folks from industry who want to serve, but not in a full-time capacity, maybe in

05:14a quiet way, we can call in a crisis or call in the run-up to a crisis to help us with

05:20technical expertise, a few days, a week or two at a time, and then they can go back.

05:25Maybe teaching a course, some of those different things.

05:28That's exactly right.

05:29Yeah.

05:32I appreciate your time.

05:33Senator King.

05:35Senator Reid, you're back.

05:36I am.

Rosen Emphasizes Need For ‘Technological Advancements’ For ‘Great Power Competition With China’

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