ukraine, ambassador from poland, ambassador from georgia, ambassador from lithuania and ambassador from estonia. i have met most of you on my travels. i can't thank you enough for coming today and sharing with the committee and really the american people what is going on in your backyard because you live in a very difficult neighborhood. i would like to welcome to the committee senators rubio and van holland. hopefully we can do things together good for the country. and i will make a short opening statement followed by senator leahy and we will have five-minute rounds and again to each of you, thank you very much for coming. very briefly, everybody talks about what happened in our election in 2016. and let me tell you my views. the russians tried to interfere in our election. i don't believe they changed the outcome but the russians hacked into the democratic national committee. the russians compromised podesta's e-mails. in my view the russians provided information to wikileaks in an effort to interfere with our election. it is my belief we forgive and forget regarding our own election

lowered. bordering poland and lithuania became the most militarized region in europe. russia had anti-access denial capabilities. this aims at limiting the freedom of maneuver and action on the territory. it's spending from northeastern poland to the baltic states and moreover com, it is equipped ine systems and able of hitting targets in latvia, poland and even in eastern parts of germany. they conduct large-scale exercises with openly aggressive scenarios. we also observe an unprecedented number of military incidents provoked by russia that the most alarming issue is russia's ability to take prompt actions. we saw that in crimea. third, the hybrid dimension. the trend of the actions go beyond the conventional military realm and we see them in the cyber informational energy domains. russia deliberately inflates the hybrid means. there's vulnerabilities in the sensitivities and this might involve actions in the cyber domain frequently backed by the propaganda efforts. they try to diversify and russia promotes the north pipeline creating divisions among the member states. should the pr

lafayette, ambassador from lithuania and ambassador from estonia. i've met most of you on my travels and i can't thank you enough for coming to this hearing today to share with the committee and with the american old west going on in your back yard because you live in a difficult neighborhood. i would like to welcome to the committee senators rubio and then holland hopefully we can do things together good for the country. don't make a short opening statement followed by senator leahy and we will have five minute rounds. again, to each of you can't thank you very much for coming. very briefly, everybody talks about what happened in our election in 2016. let me tell you my views. the russians tried to interfere in our elections. i don't believe they changed the outcome, but it was the russians who had been to the democratic national committee. it was the russians who compromise podesta's e-mails. in my view the russians provided the information to which he leads in an effort to interfere with our election. it is my belief that we forgive and forget regarding our own election. we'll inv

statue to a public square, or in lithuania where they invited members of the ukrainian parliament that were in exile from crimea in kiev and invited them to lithuania to celebrate their 25th anniversary of independence from russia and then they attempt to hack into the computers of the members of the parliament in lithuania. this is not just, as senator marco rubio noted, this the not just about one party or one candidate. well, it's not even about one country. this is an assault on democracies across the world. last month we learned that the very day president obama imposed sanctions on russia for its unprecedented attacks on our democracy, general flynn, a member of the trump transition team, spoke to a senior russian official regarding those sanctions. the national security advisory, the person charged with the most sensitive matters of u.s. national security, misled the vice president of the united states and in turn the american people. he resigned, as did the former chairman of the trump campaign. he resigned. and now we have learned that attorney general sessions met with the ru

expensive contractors to fill in the voids. when i went to europe a month ago to visit lithuania and ukraine they are very worried, they were encouraged by statements you made and statements by mike pence munich some relief that nato was alive and well. you talked about russian adventurism or however you characterize and they limit every day, they can look across the border at the plant military exercise of 100,000 russian troops and see some real threats to the borders of the country's i just named. i want to know why in your supplemental request there isn't money being set aside, more money set aside for the european reassurance initiative? >> we prioritized the request for what we could execute this year. the second point, as you know, there are four framework nato nations, united states, canada, germany, etc. that are mounting reinforce italian combat teams in poland, lithuania, latvia, to make a clear demonstration of nato's firm and unified response for further adventurism by russia. this is a time when miscalculations can occur. we need to make certain our scout does not miscalculate

went to europe a month ago to visit in poland, lithuania, and ukraine, they're very worried. they were encouraged by statements that you made and statements by vice-president pence in munich. that seemed to give them some relief in the -- in their belief that nato was still alive and well. you talked about russian adventurism or however you characterize it, and they live it every day. they can look across the border at the planned military exercise in september of 100,000 russian troops in bell ruse and see some real threats to the countries that i've just named to you. i want to know why in your supplemental request there isn't more money being set aside for the european reassurance initiative? >> senator, we prioritized the request for what we could execute this year. that was one point. a second point is that as you know, there are four framework nato nations, the united states included, canada, germany, et cetera, that are actually mounting reinforced battalion combat team to the some of the nations you visited. poland, lithuania, estonia, latvia, to make a clear message to an

., lithuania and poland. they are all there to guarantee and be ultimate guarantees and tangible symbols how they guarantee safety and security and if we had left already three of those missions would be led by non-e.u. countries, it would be the u.s., canada, the u.k. i mean, i think that is a sense in which of course the e.u. is very important, but the enter connections between our various countries go much, much deeper than that and anybody who imagines that somehow or another leaving the european community is going to change that i think is really got it profoundly wrong. >> all right. thank you. as i sit here, i see the image of president trump on the screen there. let me ask you a bit of an unfair question. which is to what degree do you think the president's call echoed by secretaries madison, tillerson for european members of the alliance to increase their defense spending has had any residence, that it will have any effect on defense spending in -- on the continent? >> well, as a matter of fact, i think it has had quite a lot of residence. it is a subject of conversation, probably n

nations you visited, poland, lithuania, to make a clear demonstration of nato sperm and unified response to any further adventurism by russia. this is a time when this calculations can occur. we need to make certain moscow does not miscalculate and we believe we have led with the right sort of firm unified action out of brussels that permits us to send a clear and unambiguous mission to the russians. >> thank you mr. secretary. >> we now recognize the distinguished senator from alabama. >> thank you, mr. chairman. mr. secretary, we just have a few minutes here, but which you briefly some of our strategic challenges, if you can, our challenges asymmetrically and had we meet them? you are in the right committee and we have had a history of supporting the defense. i believe we will hear, but we need-- i think the american people and the-- really need to know the challenges that you face as our secretary of defense >> sir, i think the most import-- import an issue idea with his had we keep high-quality force, all volunteer force fully capable of carrying out his response abilities. the strat

representatives of the governments of ukraine, poland, georgia, lithuania, and estonia, all these nations know better than any others just how serious the russian government is today about fulfilling the goals the c.i.a. quoted jowtline -- outlined in that report from 1950. russian troops today mass on the borders of many of these countries. in the case of ukraine, russia has recently invaded and continues to illegally occupy crimea while arming and supporting separatists in the eastern 20% of the country. russia previously invaded georgia in 2000 # and continues to -- 2008 and continues to occupy its territory. the russian government has tried and in several cases succeeded in executing cyber attacks against these countries' governments most famously against estonia in 2007. its ongoing disinformation campaigns have created widespread doubt about western institutions, like nato, the european union, the osce, institutions that have helped to maintain a stable and peaceful world for seven decades. these ambassadors and the foreign minister who testified yesterday before our appropriations subco

-- picked of in estonia, which is a beautiful country. latvia, lithuania, ukraine, and georgia. i was struck by the stories of all of the hacking. months, just today, to russian spies and some hackers indicted for hacking into yahoo! with millions of americans as victims. bestdo you see is the deterrent? >> it has yet to determine cyber capability with another cyber capability. it to provide deterrence into different kind. cost and position. if a nation takes an activity we don't like, we will punish the nation. andcost has to be credible we have to communicate that. activities beyond power outages and so forth. we probably do a better job of generating cost and position options. the other thing is deterrence by denial. making it worth the time to break into the videos. those of our allies is vitally important. fake news has been discussed at length. my favorite stories what sheldon and i heard in munich. and senator graham heard the story of the norwegian prime minister that russia has been running stories that their economy is in the tank and that they ran out of fruits and vegetabl

battalion combat troops to lithuania estonia and latvia to make a clear demonstration of nato's firm in unified response and further adventures in by russia. this is a time when miscalculations can occur and we need to make certain that moscow does not miscalculate and we believe we have led with the right sort of firm unified action out russell's that permits us to send -- brussels to send a clear unambiguous message to the russians. >> thank you very much general. >> i now recognize the distinguished senator from alabama. >> once a general always a general but we have just a few minutes here. but would you briefly sum up our strategic challenges and our challenges asymmetrically and how do we meet them? you are in the right committee and we have had a history of support in the defense and i believe we will here. i think the american people really need to know the challenges that you face as our secretary of defense. >> sir i think the most important issue i deal with is how do we keep the high-quality force all-volunteer force fully capable from carrying out its responsibilities. t

about two months ago with senator mccain, lithuania, estonia, and the other baltic nation that i can can't remember right now, georgia and the ukraine are all under siege by putin. here's what the russians are trying to do. they're trying to break the back of nato, the european union, trying to get -- elected in france, who wants to withdraw from nato and the eu. this five star party in italy is being very i think supportive. so i've introduced legislation to punish the russians. and here's what i will predict will happen. that the congress in a bipartisan fashion will pass my bill to punish the russians for interfering in our elections and trying to break the backs of democracies all over the world, and if we forgive and forget putin, then he will keep doing it all over the world. and if you don't stop him, iran and china are next. >> this question is from janie shipley from seneca. this question is from janie shipley from seneca. please discuss your position on allowing pharmaceutical companies to claim a drug is safe and effective for use that has not been approved by fda. these o