 Ladies and gentlemen please join me in welcoming my boss, a man who oversees, manages and leads the United States Navy and the United States Marine Corps, our 78th Secretary of the Navy, the Honorable Carlos del Toro. Mr. Secretary. Good morning everyone. As I prepare to deliver my speech I think I'm going to give my staff some added direction. I think we need to reschedule my calendar to visit the spouses room. I think some of the most powerful people at this conference are going to be there and I certainly want to meet with them. Thank you Admiral Gilday for those salient observations and for hosting this great gathering of the world's greatest naval strategists. On behalf of President Biden, Secretary Austin and every U.S. sailor and marine around the world I'm honored to welcome you all here to Newport. President Chatfield thanks for welcoming me back to campus it's simply great to be here. Memories are alive as I walk the halls of this great institution. I do have great memories of studying here as a young naval officer in my very small closet office under the stairs at 134 Jones Street on base housing while my wife cared for our four children. I've got a bigger office now thank goodness. But the world is still very much smaller than it was back then and far more connected. Right now colleagues are joining us from around the world through high speed video networks that rely on undersea cables. Goods and services move between our nations at unprecedented speed and volume. And as Admiral Gilday pointed out much of that commerce is carried on the seas. So in a very real world sense the world's economy relies on the cooperation and commitment of our naval forces. It is this very interconnected world. It's never been more important to strengthen and build effective respectful global partnerships. I'm talking about true partnerships. True partnerships rooted in common values and a shared commitment to international rights. Our economic prosperity depends on our maritime freedom. Our security depends on cooperation, communication and mutual respect for each other's national security interests. Our ability to respond to danger, disasters and threats depends on the work that we do together here going forward. Every nation here brings their own experience, capabilities, specialized knowledge that can help protect our mutual interests. Respect and cooperation at every level of command has never been more important than it is today. The global security environment has never been more complex and more at risk by those who mean us harm. The rules based international order, the very bedrock of civil society is under assault. Only in the Indo-Pacific. Echoes of Cold War aggression are on the rise in the skies, on the surface and under the seas. Terrorism threatens ports, facilities and straits around the world. The Arctic is opening up with new sea lanes and opportunities for collaboration but also unfortunately the potential for conflict. The impact of climate change in places like here and Newport and Annapolis is an essential threat to all of us. And the global pandemic has changed the way we all train, build and maintain our operating forces. Our response to each of these challenges must resonate in this year's theme, strength and unity. Strength and unity. I'm here this week with two goals. One, to strengthen our long-time alliances and two, to generate new and inclusive partnerships with any nation willing to uphold our standards of behavior, rules and international laws. In my five weeks as Secretary, I have made these a priority because I've seen the value of partnerships firsthand. It was here at the Naval War College that I was privileged to study Mahan, Sonsu, Oswitz, along officers from other nations under the tutelage of Professor Hadendorf, then Director of the Advanced Studies Program. While I learned much from the scholars, the most valuable lessons were the ones that we learned from each other. And those are the friendships that still hold true today. Later as an executive officer in the Pacific, as a commanding officer in the Atlantic, I sailed beside you, our partners at sea. I learned there is no substitute for the shared experience of allies working together to deter our adversaries. That's why we're so proud to be part of the HMS Queen Elizabeth's historic deployment to the Indo-Pacific. It's why we conduct exercises around the globe, including Trident Juncture with our NATO allies, RIMPAC in the Indo-Pacific, Phoenix Express on the North African coast, and UNITASC with nuestros colegas en este hemisferio. Right now, today, Herschel Woody Williams is training and operating with partner navies from Senegal to Djibouti, Tunisia to South Africa, and everywhere in between. These deployments, these naval deployments strengthen us in unity. It's a strength that goes well beyond just the exercise of military power as we stand ready together to heed the call of humanity for a more just and peaceful world. Following the recent earthquake in Haiti, our sailors and our Marines worked alongside their counterparts in French, British, and Dutch navies to move critical supplies ashore. We also partnered with military members and relief workers from Mexico and Panama to move supplies inland and get medical attention to people in need. During the recent events in Afghanistan, we worked with our partners in Italy, in Spain, in Bahrain, and many others to help thousands of Afghan refugees reach safety. And it was a Norwegian field hospital at Hamid Karzai International Airport that cared for our very own personnel following the bomb blast that took the lives of 13 brave American service members. And I truly appreciate all of your messages of support following that cowardly attack on our troops and on over 100 Afghani civilians. The sailor, the soldier, and the 11 Marines who died that day were serving with honor, putting the lives of others above their own as so many of you have done throughout your careers. I know that's also true of the thousands of others who serve in our collective armed forces. I know you are always driven to make sure they are prepared that they're equipped and led properly to the fullest extent possible. And that's why we gather here today, many of us, as one, to work together and make sure that our sailors and our Marines have what they need to confront the dangerous world and return home safely to their families. Let's spark that innovation. We need to stay ahead and preserve the freedoms of the seas and that of our people. President Biden has said we should lead through the power of our example, not the example of our power. Over the next few days, we will set the example for all nations to follow. We may not agree on everything, but we will agree that cooperation and principles must always stand above aggression and isolation. But unfortunately, not all the nations share that commitment. Now let me state clearly, the United States believes that every nation has a right to defend itself when truly threatened, when truly threatened. Every nation has a right to build, exercise and operate military forces to protect legitimate national security interests, legitimate national security interests. Every nation has the right to promote prosperity, opportunity and innovative capabilities of its own people. And every nation has the right to navigate the sea lanes and the skies in accordance with international laws. But no nation, and I say this again, no nation has the moral high ground to deny these rights to its peaceful neighbors. No nation has the right to claim long standing international waters as their own. No nation has the right to sponsor cybercrime and theft. And no nation has the right to endanger sailors and pilots with reckless approaches in harassing, bullying behaviors. Our hand will always be extended to any notion willing to support and defend the international norms that we depend upon. We stand prepared more so than ever, along with all of you, to protect these norms wherever and wherever there is a need to do so. We will always stand by our allies and partners in defending your right to be free, especially those democratic nations that are most threatened. And we are prepared fully to do so. Our Navy and our Marine Corps is today modernizing our equipment, tactics, procedures and operating concepts for the trials that lay ahead. We're fielding a distributed, agile and connected fleet to project unified power from many places at once, and we're transforming our Marine Corps for the modern battle space ready to protect the shorelines and contested spaces. We are promoting a higher culture of learning and excellence for our war fighters from the most junior personnel to our most senior flag officers. And great institutions like this one here, the Naval War College, are using the lessons of the past to keep us leading on the edge of tomorrow. So let's be inspired by history of innovation surrounding us. Let's live up to the Mahanian legacy that Admiral Gil Day so eloquently described a few minutes ago. Be bold. Be bold with your ideas. Be innovative. Be blunt with your concerns. Let's pose hard questions to each other this week and develop actionable plans that we can take back to our respective fleets and our respective nations. And above all else, let's continue to stand firm in defense of the security, the prosperity and the values that we all hold so clear. To quote a former Assistant Secretary of the United States, Navy Franklin Roosevelt, President Franklin Roosevelt, together we simply cannot fail. Thank you very much. Thank you, Mr. Secretary, for your timely and silent remarks. We're going to take a break right now and we'll reconvene at 10 o'clock. I think a schedule here. So we have a 10 o'clock and then we'll meet back in here. And if I ask the speakers for the regional forums to come and come to the front room after this break and talk to me about how we set up for the next panel. Thank you so much.