00:00Thank you, Senator Rhoads, and I particularly want to thank Senator King for chairing the
00:05committee in my absence.
00:06I was at the appropriations markup, so we're moving forward on our appropriations, which
00:11is important.
00:14Let me ask a few questions.
00:16Ms. Wilkerson, CNA Director Burns recently published an article, and he emphasized the
00:21importance of strategic declassification or the intentional public disclosure of certain
00:27secrets to undercut rivals and rally allies.
00:31In fact, many of our geographic combatant commanders have also asked for this type of
00:37operation.
00:38What are your views on the importance of strategic declassification in support of information
00:44operations?
00:45Senator, thank you for the question.
00:49I do believe that it is necessary to be able to be strategic about how we might consider
00:58opportunities that exist to be able to declassify information for specific purposes.
01:04I do think that there are processes in place that help us to be able to effectively do
01:09that.
01:10As an example, we've seen in the Russia-Ukraine crisis where information has been able to
01:17be declassified and more openly shared.
01:21That has paid dividends in the success of the crisis situation as well as being able
01:27to continue to inform the public.
01:29So that would be an option that you would consider, at least, in your new role, if confirmed?
01:36If confirmed, I certainly would consider this as a particular option, and I would look forward
01:42to more in-depth conversation with subject matter experts to ensure that I'm guided in
01:48the right way.
01:50Senator Elmire, could you give us a sense of your evolution of the threat in cyber and
01:58also what that means for our cyber forces, both the doctrine and also integration into
02:07tactical operations?
02:10Thank you, Senator.
02:11The threat in cyberspace historically often was around intelligence collection and theft
02:17of intellectual property.
02:19So the compromise of the confidentiality of information.
02:24I think where the threat is now and is growing is the threat of the availability of systems
02:32like critical infrastructure and also the integrity of data, that is, its deletion and
02:37modification.
02:38So if confirmed, I can't take your eye off the ball on confidentiality, but really also
02:44have to focus on availability and integrity as well.
02:47And that also implies a cross-governmental approach to cyber security, since you're talking
02:54about infrastructure, both civilian and military.
02:58And you, I presume, in the Department of Defense, would be the point for that integration.
03:03Is that your sense?
03:06Yes, Chairman.
03:07If confirmed, I would be.
03:10Yes.
03:11Just appropriate modesty is always considered important here.
03:20One of the provisions we passed in the fiscal year 2024 NDA, Ms. Wilkinson, was directing
03:29the Secretary of the Air Force to be responsible for presenting space-based ground and airborne
03:34moving target indications to combat commands.
03:38As we know, as I mentioned in my opening statement, JSTARS and AWACS aircraft are being taken out
03:44of service, so we're going to depend on space for a lot of information that was usually
03:49provided within the Department of Defense from one of their platforms to our forces
03:55on the ground.
03:57And we are giving that responsibility now to the Secretary of the Air Force.
04:02In your role, will you ensure that this provision is adequately and appropriately enforced?
04:09And also, if there are problems, let us know.
04:13Senator, you know, space is an operations domain and not necessarily one that is assigned
04:20to a specific organization.
04:22I am very, very much tracking the current direction and am supportive of the decisions
04:30that have been made to date by the Secretary and the DNI.
04:34And so what I would look to do, if confirmed, is to ensure that we don't take our eye off
04:40of the ball of exactly ensuring that the right information is getting to the right people
04:45at the right time, which is really the outcome that we're trying to drive with respect to
04:51the new architecture.
04:53And so certainly I would be focused in that way.
04:56Thank you very much.
04:58Again, thank you for your previous service.
05:00It's been outstanding.
05:02And if confirmed, I look forward to working with you.
05:06So with this, let me recognize Senator Jill Brennan.
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