 Next panel is what is the future of the Marine Corps look like in 2030 and it's going to be moderated by Colonel Ike Wilson who is a He ran the commanders initiative group group at st. Com Deployed to northern Iraq with 101st where he was a chief of plans He's a war planner. He's a strategic He was a strategic advisor in Afghanistan. He's also was a professor of politics and policy at The social department at West Point. He's a visiting professor at George Washington and not least He's a fellow at New America. So over to you colonel Wilson. Great. Thanks very much in a good afternoon everyone We're really privileged today To have the 37th commandant of the Marine Corps General Robert Kneller with us he's going to discuss the future of the Marine Corps and As many of you already know General Kneller is no stranger to asking hard questions about the future Nor is he a stranger to Critique in his own service. In fact shortly after taking office as commandant in late 2015 He published the Marine Corps operating concept which explicitly stated quote The Marine Corps is not organized trained and equipped to meet the demands of the future operating environment in quote So then in an effort to address some deficiencies He helped oversee the development of a vision for Marine Corps force 2025 Oversaw the creation of marine expeditionary force information groups the establishment of a cyber MOS and the development of new naval concepts Such as expeditionary advanced base operations. He even changed the size of the basic element of the core the rifle squad Again, it may be a an understatement to note That not all of these changes were accepted with hope and arms Quite the opposite in some of these cases. So General Kneller Thank you for taking the time to join us again at the future security forum to share your thoughts So I'd like to jump right into the questions will start 30,000 feet and then get down to the to the nuts and bolts at ground level. So first sir I'd like to jump right into the discussion by asking in light of the new strategic guidance the 2018 national defense strategy How will the Marine Corps adapt for a future characterized by great power competition? You've made some headway over the last few years, but what needs to change moving forward? Well, the strategy is pretty clear for us and I guess the C&O was here earlier today for the naval force. It tells us Well, the strategy tells you increased lethality and readiness Maintain build partnerships and alliances and improve the process as the Pentagon and it tells the naval force To be able to compete in the contact and blood zone tells us who the pacing threat is and Not at the exclusion of other missions But gives us direction in that. So if you know What you're looking at as there are is a potential adversary and I think we kind of anticipated that because the Marine Corps has historically been a Pacific oriented force, although globally employed around the world So it gave us an opportunity to look where we were in the implementation of force 2025 things that We thought we're going to be helpful like the MEF information group and the increased ability to do information operations when which I include cyber electronic warfare and management of the spectrum and Let us look at the other priorities, which is maintain and secure and resilient network Improve our ability to long-range precision fires be able to do distributed logistics have protected maneuver and be able to distribute the force across the battle space, so We're gaming that we're practicing that we're rehearsing it. I think we still have some deficiencies and we're looking at You know how we are how we've moved along as far as force 2025 I think there's still some changes and things we have to make as I get near the end here You start to think about all the stuff that didn't get done I mean you get nostalgic on once one hand, which is you know, mildly interesting if you're sitting around having a bourbon, but But more importantly, it's like, okay, what do we need to do? And so we're having those discussions now. So I'm confident that we'll continue to evolve and adapt this thing. I think you know, you're never done And but I think in today's environment your pace of change not just for technology But your organizational structure is got to go faster. You got to be able to turn faster and that's It's it's not something we do as well as we should So we'll continue to exercise. I mean I'll give you an example so about a month ago where there was an exercise called Pacific Blitz on the West Coast and It was a naval exercise where with the third fleet and first marine expeditionary force They attempted to replicate some of these expeditionary advanced based ops They used the naval lift to get ashore establish a forward army and refilling point We had aircraft come in and we tried to break it down move it around use the sea as maneuver space we tried to use preposition shipping and Get people out we actually but the most interesting thing I think we did Because that's not really anything new It's just new and what we were trying to achieve by it But as we took the both the third fleet and the one meff staff and coming created one staff Excellent a blue-green staff. So that's not entirely new, but it's it's something that doesn't happen all too often I think They'll that will realize the benefits of that going down the road sir was that innovation on the flyers that's something you had planned. No, that's something that General Osterman and the commander third fleet kind of worked out on their own But you know, we've been looking at naval integration and it's more than just trading people on staffs. It's it's how do we actually operate? In a naval campaign To leverage each other's capabilities in the past I think we've we can't we've it's been too easy for us to be compartmentalized And I think now we realize we got to be the more and more We're in the same space on the same comms the better the better we're going to be in the more effective We're going to be so I'd like to riff on this question a little bit more here So what are some of the challenges to modernizing the Marine Corps over the next ten years and more specifically? Why is why is change so difficult throughout our forces? You've you've enjoyed a fair share amount of critique and criticism for some of the recommended changes you've made Is that just a natural derivative of modernization? You know, I I think it's just a natural inclination of people that when you tell them you're going to change they mistakenly Interpret that that what they've done was not good And it has nothing to do with that has to do no what you did was good It's just not gonna we just don't think it's gonna meet what we look forward to and you can say well You can argue about with scenario and you say what's gonna happen in 2030? I mean there's a really good article in the in the media today I can't remember the forum but from Peter Singer about the three things gonna happen and how do you do? The different types of warfare and I'm I always always read everything he writes because I think he's a really smart guy And I don't know if he's here or not, but sir I should I should get a commission on all the books I've helped himself but But you know, but I think Actually, we are gonna do a Marine Corps cyber auxiliary by the way just for the record If anybody wants to join you can sign up you can be our first member You get a t-shirt you can't have purple hair, too But no EGA, but I Mean just I think it's just a natural order of things so But I think as time goes on and I think as you as you expose people to things I mean a lot of times you just you don't know what you don't know. I think for me I went to Singularity University in January of 2015 and I was in a room with a bunch of biochemists and Venture capitalists and cyber people and they're from all over the world I mean I was like a Klingon captured by the Federation and But I sat there for five days and and all these very experienced knowledgeable Scientists and something matter experts came in and talked about energy and biomechanics and added a Manufacturing and artificial intelligence and energy and you just sit there and you go like wow I Had no idea So, you know you have to you have to kind of open up your mind a little bit But at the same time there are certain parts of this as you know I mean you still got to have good people you still got to train hard you still have to be disciplined At some point in the fight there may be a time where somebody's gonna stand on a piece of ground With a weapon in their hand and say this is mine. You can't have it And that But we'll see how that all plays out But you got to get to that point and to get to that point you got to have you got to be able to control your network deny them theirs and Manage your comms and be able to deliver your fires accurately and timely manner Which means you have some access to the space and hopefully they don't So I think everybody we're training that and it's happening Excellent So let's dig a little deeper and specifically look at future employment of the force the core itself Knowing the deeply constrained physical environment perhaps specifically in Europe, but certainly beyond How will we ensure that allies and partners keep pace with our emphasis on emergent technologies? How do we ensure that our allies and partners retain enough technical capability to provide certain like-for-like? Functional capabilities and not be relegated to niche capability contributions in a coalition warfare context Well, I'm not I'm not sure you could say the last two years when we've had the highest budgetary levels that we've had a fiscally constrained environment I mean we'll try to do the best and spend that money now previous to that you could make that point But and we're hopeful this year that that the Congress will be able to Figure out that they're willing that a way to at least maintain a certain level of sustained Reliable funding because that's really what's changing our readiness But with our partners You know, I I think they there's a recognition On both sides of what's what they can and cannot do and I think that's fine I think we have to be more open to what they can do and focus less on the other And I think there's a lot of great capability amongst our allies I won't name them, but I mean whether they're in the NATO alliance or in other parts of the world And I think we will figure out a way We figure out a way to pass information and communicate and I think part of that's on us I think we need to be more flexible with our policies I'm not sure we'll ever get away at certain levels of classification where we don't have parallel networks But I think the where those networks touch and where we can pass information I think both sides have to be a little more flexible in doing that so I You know today the Commandant General of the Royal Marines is visiting here We've we've done a lot of work with the Royal Marines Particularly in in the European theater. They've helped us in Norway with our co-weather training and There's gonna be other employment deployments where they're gonna take advantage of their aircraft carrier the Queen Elizabeth and we'll Try to support that effort. So we'll work through that I but I I know people are worried about somebody's gonna get too far ahead and the other Most of the time the uniform people can figure out a way to do that But you got to bake that in and I mean as of as as much concern is is that even within the joint force that we have it As much interoperability and we have commonality and then we have to share that so that people can get on a common ground Because we have to be able to communicate so we'll it's a constant struggle But I think we everybody's a recognition and I think we're moving toward that to try to make it better So let's shift a little bit towards technological nuts and bolts Into the challenges and opportunities of modernizing the core first I've got a couple of questions in this regard first. How is a new technology shaping how the Marine Corps operates? How do you envision Marine Corps working with the established market to enhance its technology? Well any communications are probably the first area Where we're trying to take advantage of what's out there whether it's tablets or or Different pieces of saw are of hardware and software that allow us to do things faster and better The ability we have to buy straight from the market though is is somewhat There is some friction there based on the rules and regulations we have to do for acquisition But I think we make a very our best level effort to do that You know, I'm not sure I know that artificial intelligence and things like that obviously autonomy robotics manned unmanned. That's all happening Whether it be ground vehicles or air vehicles or unmanned aircraft You know, we pretty much every ground vehicle you have can be driven and operate autonomously I mean the other day they ran an amphibious assault vehicle up and down the beach You know driven by somebody with a controller But and that sounds great until that throws track and then you know the robot can't put the track back on and the robot Can't do security and and then you're I'm gonna ask you if we're gonna put your your son or daughter in the back of that Thing without a human being being driving that thing. So there there's issues with that But I think unmanned aircraft under unmanned Ships, I know this C&O's got a considerable effort there unmanned under sea vehicles Billy to put you talk about swarming drones in the air you can put swimming swarming drones in the water to go find things and Find a precision location on them and then if you wanted to potentially remove them So the autonomy the robotics. I think that's gonna be a player as long as we can figure out how to Scale it and get the price down Added to manufacturing is a big deal for us as an expeditionary force because if you can make it And you don't have to bring it with you and you're not you completely untether yourself from the supply chain So we own about 180 3d printers three of them print and metal My goal if I were to stick around and I'll pass this on to my successor I mean I think every marine maintenance battalion of which there are three and every marine air logistics water in which there are three Actually, there's more than the three. There's probably about ten. They all need to be printed in metal in less than five years Because the people that are selling the stuff we're buying when I talk to them. They're telling me they're printing this stuff And my question them is well if you're printing it and I can print it Why am I paying you to do what I can do? All right? I'll pay you for the technical data package Which is fair be kind of like buying music from Apple. I'll pay for the tech data package for the part And so we've got approval. We're printing We've probably a couple hundred parts and most of it in polymers and plastics some in metal that we've got approval And we actually use it and and I think as you scale that that's going to both make your readiness go up Get parts faster and it's going to save you a lot of money So autonomy robotics a man done man Aircraft vehicles printing. There's a lot of stuff going on the medical field as far as analytics for large amounts of data for planning or petting information or huge amounts of data they're going to be collected by unmanned aircraft or manned aircraft like the F-35 we're going to need to have an Algorithm is going to look through all that stuff to quickly find it. Otherwise, we'll we'll be buried in this stuff so This is all happening the Secretary of Defense The prior and the current I've got a lot of activities going on Dr. Griffin's got a lot of money for long-range precision fires for Cybert hyper hypervelocity Weapons for directed energy for lasers all this is happening and we're testing and we'll get there because we got to go fast so you you You mentioned the 180 3d printers and the fact you're producing over a hundred think around 125 ground and 83 aviation parts You kind of stole my question on that one I'm very intrigued at how that changes the whole calculation of how we think about or have thought about traditionally about readiness and Really in terms of verses for the most part a ready for force versus a force for deployed and ready to fight tonight It seems like this capability allows us to finally break out of that versus that supply versus demand That whole notion of having the cycle all the way back to home station terra firma here in the United States for quote-unquote readiness and Moves us more towards I think what the Chairman's even talked about in terms of combined Joint readiness a continuum of readiness. I just wondered what you thought about that. Well, I think It's I think it's kind of intuitively obvious if I can make it. I don't have to I don't put in the requisition I don't have to wait for it to get sent back I don't have to wait for the DHL flight if they can get there to arrive or five months see in the middle of the ocean And I can print apart for whatever I don't have to wait weeks and weeks and weeks and there's still stuff We have that's legacy and it's there may not be a vendor for the people that did that stuff may have gone out of business But we can still scan it and then and make the part So the ground vehicles are easier because if you make something out of metal and it breaks the vehicle just stops So if you if you make something for an airplane and it breaks, you know falling out of the sky is really not an acceptable option So there's got to be a metallurgy and there's got to be a quality control and there's got to be a certain Skill level there, but but we'll continue to work that so we you know as in what we found is most successful is Get a bunch of young Marines We have there's a makers lab that we have and there's a group of people that help train them And they kind of open their eyes to the stuff and then they start thinking about well, I can make this I can make this So for me that the aha moment was in the sounds this is really kind of small But I think it speaks to the potential is so as a wet rainy afternoon in November a couple years ago and we were on our way home and they go Hey, we're gonna stop it at the logistic squadron the aviation logistic squadron and it's Friday And I saw on the Marines. They've been waiting. Okay, so we'll go see him. So I walk in this big kind of van Shipping container van where they because expeditionary shelter and there's this last couple there And he's showing me that he had printed a switch a knob for a intercom an intercom so I'm like So what's the big deal, I mean great great job, right so he says So so but what he said was but so you don't understand is that so the unit of issue I can't buy this knob. I have to buy the whole plate For the ICS box and that plate and all that stuff cost me $11,000. I Printed this for two and a half cents. I Said make a whole bag of them He says but I don't have authority to put the knob on I said You Are granted my authority as a common on the Marine Corps to put this knob on that switch on that intercom box And so I mean there's so we've gone back through the naval bureaucracy enable air and say hey look and so you gotta go there's a process But now that process is there and said so there's you know, hey, we want to print this Marines. Hey Can we print this can we print this we want to print this you want to make this this tool here We can print this so like whoa. I said no I told them to go do this so now we have to create the process to where you you Acknowledge it and you approve it and So I think it's just gonna go. I mean I that's how many we've gotten done that doesn't say how many are waiting Right, but but the metal print in plastic and polymers. I mean there's a lot of stuff We make I mean I could give you other examples where rather than wait for something simple We just print it and we just put it on and it's good enough it works and if it breaks, okay There's a bag of them put another one on but back now, sir I don't know. It's probably hanging inside that probably hanging inside that airplane. I hope but But the metal thing is really when you start to print steel aluminum titanium and and other composites That's when it'll really start to take off I'm haunted again by my earlier question and a conversation That's really been a common thread throughout all the panels today And this is this question of whether or not what about allies? What about partners? Whether we are at risk of Unintentantly outpacing allies and partners particularly with this kind of technology what we can do this within ourselves on the fly Concerns any kind of concern. No, I don't think so. I mean it's partners No, but I think particularly I mean for that in manufacturing not at all because I think in many cases Many of our partners are ahead of us in the machines that do this. We're buying them from them So I I'm not I'm there. They're more they're aware of this And they're knowledgeable of this. I think the big thing is probably the command and control and Being able to access Space and the network and all that and being able to be particularly in a classified domain because that's where those things As you know, they start to rub against each other and people get Concerned that that stuff is going to leak over and then that allow you to get in not just not from them but from anybody so the security of the network and is is a big deal and so we need to be you know, we need to be Witting to that because to me that's That's where the fight is going to begin and it could end right there So I'm gonna ask you one more question and we'll open it up to the living room. Okay conversation in the My final question for you sir is just let me ask you one more question and It's this as you continue to identify assess recruit and train Marines Do you foresee any challenges or necessary changes given the differences in various generations? Will Marines in the future be the same as Marines today? I've actually had young Marines asked me this question because I think they sense that you know, obviously they're digitally they're digital natives and They grew up in a different way. They never grew up not knowing what a cell phone was They never grew up The way I grew up and probably you grew up, you know where you you had you know He had little and expected less and you may do and you figured it out I mean, they're very adapted. They're smart and but you know, I think it's you know We look at each generation and try to figure out. What is there? What kind of makes them do what they do but at the end of the day? I think I think it's the same for the Army the Navy the Air Force or the Coast Guard I mean if you want there are young men and women out there a virtual character They want to serve and it's up to us to bring a man teach them if we need to teach them or reinforce the values and culture They already have make sure they understand. This is not about them It's about the team and that they're not here to make a lot of money they're here to serve and They're here to execute orders to the best of their ability and that they have to be disciplined focused and Selfless and you they are they're gonna constantly be asked to do to deny themselves They're gonna have to deny themselves They're gonna have to forego what their normal natural inclination is to do something for themselves To do what's right for the good of the group and good of the unit and I think that's I think that's I don't think that's impossible. I'm I'm I have great confidence. I mean everybody's worries about you read the history What about the next generation and they're not gonna and they always seem to Must step up and do their job. So at the same time, I think it's up to us That we have to set the right example. We have to model our behavior we have to not just talk the talk but walk the walk and Hold ourselves accountable and along with them. And if we do that, I think we'll be fine who Ross are Let's open it up just for the record the soldier said who Ross I did I did so I had to practice that for that Was very well done. Hey, it's like you get your foreign language credit for that But not the extra pay no pay we don't need any people more people that speak Marine Henry Thank You Commandant. Thank you so much for coming. It was a fascinating conversation. So I I'm the designated Game of Thrones fan in this audience. I was really disappointed last night. Were you I was I was Why there's a lot of you know, John Snow and the Khaleesi flying around in the dark in a dragon. I mean like do something Another example that your weather's bad air support could be a problem That's the line of the day But on a more serious note, although it may not sound it Yeah, Arya Stark is one of the top warriors of the game of Thrones and she's Absolutely awesome and I wonder to what extent seeing women like that as warriors absolutely as warriors skills and Powerful to what extent that changes the ability to recruit women and to engage with women You know in a core of true warriors Well, I'm really proud of the women that not just serve in the US military But particularly those that serve in the Marine Corps and we've increased the number of women in the last few years to buy about 1600 not to the degree that I wanted to because We're trying to find talent Whoever they might be the most talented men and women that want to serve so When when we went through the process of you know integration of all units and MOS's we knew that would be a phase-in period and so it's been pretty slow, but the numbers are there and But at the end of the day, it's all about standards So, you know, I think most people know what they're good at and what they want to do And if that's what you interest you to be in a close combat or a ground combat unit And you meet the standard then you'll be given that opportunity to compete and do that job so, you know, I You know, there's there's I mean I'm as I travel around and see Marines I'm always impressed by All Marines and what they're able to do and their physicality and their motivation and their drive So I'm I don't I mean to me that issue Is not something I I spend a lot of time on every day I'm you know I want to make sure that remains put in the late in the position in the organization where they can Contribute them most effectively and where they feel that their talents are being used In the best way and if they meet the standard then they they get the job full stop Sir, please Auto-carriage or c-power magazine you have made They mentioned the tough decisions on changing the rifle squad But you know some more even more difficult decisions in reducing your infantry You're all three grunts In order to put your manpower into other things cyber special ops Communications those kind of things, you know, how's that going going? Are you getting the people you need in those those skills and are you seeing any any? kickback from from the the grunts on Downsizing your infantry Battalions no the infantry of the most understanding group in the Marine Corps, so they're fully on board I'm sure there's I mean we we still talk about this But the real point of the question is you know, we we did not know at the time What our end strength was going to be and we felt that it was critically important that we create these other capabilities Whether it be increased intelligence analysis whether it be cruise increased electronic warfare where there was increased cyber capability whether it was increased Information operations and how you're gonna leverage the information domain and there were some other things so It was a it was a difficult Decision to make but I think now looking back at it. I think it was the right one We'll see in the next ten years because I think we've seen the that the battle goes on every day in the information domain Many of which many of you are involved in that in that contest So We're always managed in risk We continue to have discussions about do we have too much of this and not enough of this, you know You're always hedging your bets So I you know, do we have too much, you know too many Vehicles do we need this much lift our vehicles too heavy? Can we get them on ship? How are we gonna get them to the fight? So we're always in that kind of give and take in fact we had another discussion today about it So it'll never end and I think as we look at our potential adversaries and see the capabilities that they're building I think we We got to look at that because if you don't pay attention what your adversaries are doing and what what they're and you Don't learn from them Then you're not gonna be a good position if and when you have to compete with them and we compete with them every day Gentlemen in the back here, please Thank you, sir at the beginning of your marks you mentioned how the Marines generally are Pacific oriented looking Branch, how would you how do you describe the Pacific challenge today as opposed to World War two when the Marines Sort of made their reputation in the minds of many Americans of that generation Obviously China's a rising power in Japan's not the adversary any longer, but Distances are the same. How would you assess the differences that you're looking at please? Thank you. I Mean you the geography is geography You can't you can change geography, but in the Pacific I mean the fact you've had these huge distances and the geography is very similar to what what the nation faced in 1941 and even some of the places where the Chinese are trying to influence things with One Belt One Road and the network and all the stuff I mean, it's a very effective strategy where they where they have operationalized capital to come in and try to influence governments That have give them a geo geopolitical position so It won't be the same it's not the same But if you look at the ground and the and the distances out there there are some comparisons So I think we're competing out there in that area I mean the Marine Corps lay down when the beginning of World War two the Marine Corps was probably very It was probably under 50,000. I don't know the exact number at the end at the end of World War two We were 400,000 six divisions and five airwings and and then after the war went down to about 80,000 and then the strength came back up for Korea and I can you know show you this so The lay down that we came up with just about two-thirds of the operational Marine Corps is on the in the Pacific working for a commander of Indo-Pacon So that's where the force is it doesn't mean that's where we have to employ ourselves But the strategy tells us that's where our focus should be So we're watching what's going on in all the different places not just in the Pacific with throughout the world and you know, you can look at You know, there are certain Geographical choke points if then part of the mission of the Navy is to control sea lines of communication to facilitate commerce and The safe passage of energy and other things So I think you can kind of figure out where the key points are And I think the Navy the Marine Corps are trying to position themselves to where if we had to control those areas Or any other area that we'd have the wherewithal to do that, which is what our mission is and Season secure advanced naval bases in the prosecution of a naval campaign conducts sustained land operations ashore in support of that campaign That's how you say it Sir Right here right here in the middle. Just wait for the mic, please. Thanks How do you help facilitate the coming home of Marines and in line of the crisis with suicide? You know, that's a difficult question So I think at the beginning of OIF we realized that we didn't really have a plan And we anticipated a lot because what we learned from other armies like particularly the Israeli army that there had to be a way to bring warriors back and people back who had seen the horrors of combat or had just been through that trauma and We came up with a program and there was part of a transition But and we tried to track those people and then when you saw other people that we became home with wounds Physical wounds that we could see and then later on wounds. We couldn't see we created a wounded warrior regiment to try to Take care of those Marines follow up on their care and make sure that they had a lifeline or somebody to call So fortunately until a couple weeks ago. We hadn't had a Marine dying combat since 2016 Staff Sergeant Cardin was killed in Northern Iraq and then we had the three Marines killed in Afghanistan a couple weeks ago And you saw I think most people saw the funeral of Staff Sergeant Slutman up in New York City. He'll be buried at Arlington tomorrow The suicide that we're experienced that we're having now Is very different and I mean I'll put the veteran suicide over here on the side but last year we had The highest number Marines take their own lives was 58 in the active force and Another 18 in the reserve force and the great great great majority of those Marines have never deployed That doesn't mean they didn't have trauma. They didn't have something in their lives. And so we're we're trying to figure out Where we now you're never gonna have enough mental health capability, but we have probably the greatest amount of mental health capability We've ever had we've set up Tried to train the force to be to be aware of this try to encourage people to seek out try to Make people understand, you know, what's going on, but we're still having a hard time and So I'm I'm of all the stuff that's happened since I've been in this office That's probably one of the ones that's the most frustrating to me Because you know and again I Can profile it I can give you reasons I explain it to you But it doesn't change the fact that it's it's still an issue So we'll look we'll continue to work on it, but if there's if there were a Specific answer than the Army the Navy the Air Force and the Marine Corps would have found it We would have implemented it sir and then Sir, good afternoon George Nicholson the special operations horses foundation a little over a year ago You were the Atlantic Council and you stood up and you said the biggest threat the Marines face in the future is The dependence upon GPS and sitcom and you alluded that you had been in Afghanistan the month before and Ask one of Marines were driving around with to show you something on the map and they said we don't use maps anymore We've got smartphones and we've got got tablets There was an earlier panel here on the what the US military will be doing in space in 2030 What's your comfort level about what's being done to solve your concern and question? Well first of all like if you went to the field and saw Marine unit and if they didn't have a map in their pocket pocket I'd be pretty upset Because we're we're operating and training at least our major exercises on the assumption that the network is Likely not going to be there or it's going to be intermittent or worse It's not reliable. In other words what you see is not true That's to me the biggest threat. It's up. It looks the normal, but it's off and So I I think The creating a I mean we there is a space command it's part of stratcom now To emphasize this to understand that the the priority of space is the ultimate high ground I think that's a good idea I think we need to be more active in being able to protect the satellites and put a new constellation up there and quickly establish More communication satellites if they are if they're lost for whatever reason but I think everybody realizes that This is the number one issue for the Department of Defense is a reliable resilient recoverable network and We all accept the fact that it's going to it's not going to be there a hundred percent like it's been the last 17 years because There's been nobody to contest it there will be in the future at the same time You still if you lose a network you're you can't just stop and throw your hands up You know you've got other means to communicate you've got other means to navigate and There's other ways to deliver a precision munition other than with GPS or to find your way or to drive or get your timing and You know if we got to go to HF radio and paper maps and yellow stickies and messengers and land Landline and wire Then we'll do that if we have to but that But hopefully if we have to do that we've done the same thing to the other guy and in the adversary We're fighting on a level playing field, but to me that's that's gonna be the first salvo of whatever competition there is I mean that that goes on if I'm not gonna speak for General Nakasone But if he were here or any of his folks he'd tell you that fights going on every day every second right now One more question, ma'am Sharon Burke from New America and trying to figure out the right way to ask this question You mentioned China's Belt and Road Initiative and their geopolitical positioning and that it's a successful strategy The national defense strategy is really focused on lethality and on great power competition and and Where does the Marine Corps and the Department of Defense fit in our? Overall strategy and I say this advisedly with you know down the hall from us where we're sitting right now is the agency for international development Which is losing people and consumed in a reorganization state departments in the same kind of condition We're what's our strategy? How do we how does the Marine Corps fit into a broader strategy with the focus on lethality these days? Well, I remember the strategy has three parts the first is increased lethality and and readiness of the force The second one is build and maintain alliances and partnerships And you can't do that unless you're out there with your partners Building new partners maintaining the alliances of partnerships you have and you do have to do that by being physically present and Obviously the interagency piece is part of that for the military You know for the naval force we see ourselves in the strategy talks about the contact force which is out for deployed Postured and so we're out there every day training with our allies moving through the battle space The adversary sees us We're out there competing with them below the level of conflict trying to ensure that our allies understand we're gonna be there they can trust us they can we're reliable and The economic piece is something that we work with the embassy on So it could so it's not just they can't just be that the am and dime has got to be the diplomacy the information in the economy so We are all about Increasing the capability of whether it's USA ID or people doing Peace Corps or anything else in the in the area But at the same time, you know, we may be able to create an entry point there or go there Along with other American agencies so in the South Pacific for example throughout ocean and Micronesia all those islands We probably could use a little more coverage a little more help, but you know, we're out there Admiral Davidson's out there working to try to get us into all these places We haven't been because we know that others are gonna go there and And they're gonna try to influence the action and we we can't just rely on our good Well good will and the fact that people probably would like to work with us More than others if you don't have something to provide them whether it be Rebuild the school fix the power grid pave the road increase the depth of the port improve the airport Whatever it is. You got to do something And I think there's I think there's clearly a recognition within a department I think within the government that that's where we need to go and not just our government I think it's with our partners throughout the Pacific and throughout the NATO and other places in Africa We can't be everywhere So we have to be very specific on where we go and focus on those places where are critically important to us But at some point I mean that you mentioned the Chinese I mean they are expanding and at some point though If you get too big You potentially could cure your own vulnerabilities, but We'll see what happens, but I'm confident that there's a recognition Within the within the government that that's what we need to go and then just like you know I don't think anybody in the military wants to see a reduction in any of the what you would call soft power things because that's really What at the at the end of the day is going to help keep us from going to war which is our ultimate goal And so with that we are out of time. Please everyone join me in thanking the commandant