00:00I recognize the gentleman from Guam, Mr. Moiland.
00:03Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
00:04Thank you to our distinguished witnesses, Ms. McDonald, Secretary Headstaff, and General Cain for your service and appearing before us today.
00:13Secretary Headstaff, I also want to thank you for visiting Guam, and it's great to see you once again, sir.
00:19Thank you very much.
00:20I appreciate your keeping an eye on the Pacific Deterrence Initiative, sir, and wanting to make sure that our construction, our readiness projects on Guam stay on time and on budget.
00:33Considering the complexity of working in our isolated territory, of course, with workforce constraints and logistical constraints as well,
00:43tell us about the mechanisms that you have in place to ensure we maintain our time and budget on the Pacific Deterrence Initiative, sir.
00:53Well, thank you for the question, sir.
00:55It was great to visit you.
00:56I will say a big part of that is focus and attention and time, and I was struck, not to be critical of any of my predecessors in this context,
01:06but that it had been over 20 years since the Secretary of Defense had visited Guam.
01:09It was one of the first places we felt like we should go because our focus is in the Indo-Pacific,
01:16and the troops we have there, the capabilities we have there, the facilities we have there, the forward posture we want to maintain there,
01:22Guam being a central part of that.
01:24So seeing is understanding.
01:26We came back from that with an even better understanding of what that island and other parts of multiple island chains needed to consider deterring China,
01:34and our group went right to work, responsive to many of the things we spoke about, but also to ensure that this budget funds those priorities.
01:44So, indeed, the Pacific Deterrence Initiative has increased robustly through this budget,
01:49and then a lot of other ways in which Guam will be a part of the future fight.
01:53I thank you, and I also ask for your continued support.
01:57Our main workforce there is the H-2B workers, which we'll be looking at to extend once again with your support.
02:04So thank you, Mr. Secretary.
02:07One thing that would be helpful for our contractors on Guam is regarding the design bid and build.
02:15So this makes a lot of delays and change orders and cost overruns due to our site locations and our logistical complexities.
02:27As the department, or I ask the department also to review some lessons learned from the design build versus design bid build models.
02:38Instead, that would really speed things up, and I'm hoping your budget will enable more flexibility for our contracting strategies to do just that.
02:48One of the core pillars of how we're changing MilCon acquisitions is flexibility,
02:55with a recognition that each site, CONUS or OCONUS or more far-flung, has unique complexities, workforce complexities,
03:02logistical challenges, resourcing challenges that need to allow the local leadership there to adapt as quickly as possible.
03:12And the last thing the DOD usually does well, especially the bureaucracy, is adapt.
03:16So we're trying to give maximum flexibility and latitude, sir.
03:20That would be extremely helpful.
03:22Thank you, Mr. Secretary.
03:24And then, General Crane, you know, with the transition to fully integrate Guam defense system, GDS,
03:32how are we synchronizing the existing capabilities like THAAD and Aegis Ashore and the Golden Dome?
03:39Architect plans to ensure seamless integration with global missile warning and reconnaissance systems.
03:47Well, sir, thanks for the question, and thanks also for your service in the Army previously.
03:54You know, the importance of integrating our defense capabilities is critical.
04:00And as we look at systems like THAAD and Aegis Ashore, you know, the department is looking carefully at what has to be true
04:07to make sure that the other systems like GDA are able to bring forward a layered defense system from sensing layer
04:14all the way through the kinetic layer to ensure that we don't have any gaps.
04:19And so that's something I know the team that is running GDA, the team that's running THAAD,
04:25and Aegis are doing, sir, down in the services.
04:30And I think a lot of research will be done for the island of Guam to make sure this is right to protect our nation
04:37and our island at such a forward proximity.
04:40And then this lessons learned from that will help our nation build on the Golden Dome.
04:46Would that be a correct statement?
04:49Sir, I think, you know, our goal is to share lessons from not only your home,
04:54but the other places that GDI and Golden Dome will be a part of.
04:59And so they do accelerate our learning, sir.
05:02The gentleman's time has expired.
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