During a Senate Armed Services Committee hearing last week, Sen. Roger Wicker (R-MS) questioned former Lieutenant General John D. Caine, the nominee to be Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, about claims he wore a ‘Make America Great Again’ hat.
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NewsTranscript
00:00Thank you very very much
00:02General Cain. I am required to ask you some standard questions that we ask of all
00:09nominees in your situation and so if you will just answer yes or no to these questions to keep your
00:19Keep your talk button pressed
00:22Have you adhered to the applicable laws and regulations governing conflicts of interest?
00:28Yes, Senator, I have. Have you assumed any duties or taken any actions that would appear to presume the outcome of the confirmation process?
00:37No, Senator, I have not. Exercising our legislative and oversight responsibilities makes it important that this committee
00:43its subcommittees and other appropriate committees of Congress receive testimony, briefings, reports,
00:49records, and other information from the executive branch on a timely basis.
00:54Do you agree, if confirmed, to appear and testify before this committee when requested? I do, Senator.
01:01Do you agree, when asked before this committee, to give your personal views even if your views differ from the administration?
01:09I do, Senator. Do you agree to provide records, documents, and electronic communications in a timely manner when requested by this committee?
01:17I do. Its subcommittees or other appropriate
01:21committees of Congress and to consult with the requester regarding the
01:26basis for any good-faith delay or denial in
01:30providing such records? I do, Senator. Will you ensure that your staff complies with deadlines established by this committee for the production of
01:38reports, records, and other information including timely
01:41responding to hearing questions for the record? I will, Senator. And two more, General.
01:47Will you cooperate in providing witnesses and briefers in response to congressional requests?
01:53Yes, Senator, I will.
01:54Will those witnesses and briefers be protected from reprisal for their testimony or briefings? They will, Senator.
02:01Thank you very, very much. Now, let me just
02:06start out by
02:09asking about
02:11some
02:12hyperbole that may have been out there in the press.
02:16General King,
02:18did you wear a MAGA hat in front of the president? No, sir.
02:23Did you wear a MAGA hat at any time? No, sir. Okay, would would you like to
02:28elaborate on that answer? Sir, for 34 years
02:31I've upheld my oath of office and my commitment to my commission, and I have never worn any political merchandise.
02:38Okay, thank you for that answer. Now,
02:42previous chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff
02:45have somewhat equivocated when asked about top-line spending issues.
02:53I think you know that
02:55about the proposals that will soon be
02:59before this Senate and this Congress. Is it in your best military advice, based on your experience,
03:07is it your opinion that we need real growth in
03:11the defense budget to maintain deterrence
03:15against the very
03:18capital cities and
03:20interests that you mentioned in your testimony?
03:23Well, Senator, thank you for that question. We definitely must have a sense of urgency related to the budget.
03:28I think it comes down to ultimately
03:31finding more deployable or allocatable capital, and there's really three ways to do that.
03:37We can find greater efficiencies in the budget through cost savings,
03:42we can reprogram from different programs, or we can get a higher top line.
03:47I think of it in terms of a business model where we get more revenue.
03:50So we've got to move quickly and figure out how we can get real purchasing growth over time.
03:57Okay.
04:00Well, let's talk about efficiency.
04:02In the special operations community and with the CIA, you've worked with some of the most innovative and
04:11risk-taking parts of national security enterprise. You also mentioned your experience in the private sector,
04:18which I think can serve you well.
04:22Startup
04:25ventures in the private sector, is that right? Yes, sir.
04:29If confirmed, you will conduct oversight on the military's requirement processes.
04:37We hear constantly from our combatant commanders that it takes years for their military needs to be converted into requirements.
04:46Based on your experience, do you believe the requirements process needs to be
04:52fixed?
04:54And do you agree with those who say it needs to be
04:57entirely torn down and rebuilt to get our warfighters what they need according to a timeline in which they need it?
05:04Well, Senator, I definitely agree something has to be done.
05:09The solution is probably somewhere in the middle. I don't know that we need to tear the whole thing down.
05:15I definitely agree that we need to
05:18improve the speed and agility of our requirements process.
05:23Technology is evolving so fast, our requirements process does not evolve at the same time.
05:28And we've got to have our combatant commanders voice in the requirements process.
05:34The one area that I think we also need to do is to keep a global picture on those requirement processes.
05:40No two combatant commands have the same requirements and only the joint staff
05:46has the global view on those requirements along with OSD.
05:50So I, you know, if confirmed, I'd like to continue to work with you and the rest of the Congress to sort through this.
05:56So I appreciate it.
05:58Well, have you had a chance to
06:01read my
06:03white paper on
06:05the FORGED Act and that proposed legislation?
06:09Yes, sir.
06:11Don't you agree that it's a masterful piece of legislation?
06:14I do, sir.
06:16It was a beautiful read, sir.
06:19Would you like to elaborate on that?
06:22Yeah, well, sir, I mean, I think it certainly lays out a lot of good markers for improvement in the requirements process.
06:29Well, it seems to me
06:31you've worked in the private sector and you work with startups.
06:36The number of people in DOD who have to touch
06:41something, touch an idea,
06:44sign off on an idea to actually get something done, is far different from those people who are actually
06:54making innovative changes in the private sector. Is that correct?
06:58Yes, sir.
07:00Do you agree then that we need to move in the direction of efficiency and that a lot of the
07:07the top-line money that I mentioned in my second question can be found by efficiencies and
07:14moving things faster and also get to the warfighter what they need in a timely manner?
07:21Yes, sir.
07:24Well, let me ask, I've got 12 seconds. I might do a follow-up at the end there.
07:30But thank you very much for your testimony, Senator Reid.
07:33Thank you very much.