STATEMENT OF
ADMIRAL JAMES O. ELLIS, USN
COMMANDER
UNITED STATES STRATEGIC COMMAND
BEFORE THE
HOUSE ARMED SERVICE
COMMITTEE
UNITED STATES HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
MARCH 13, 2003
Mr. Chairman, Congressman Skelton, and Distinguished Members of the Committee,
It is an honor to appear before you representing the outstanding men and women of United States Strategic Command. As you know, the President has given all of us in the Department of Defense clear guidance to "challenge the status quo and envision a new architecture of American defense for decades to come." The new US Strategic Command is a clear product of that revolutionary and continuing effort. Today, the finest Soldiers, Sailors, Airmen, and Marines - representing active duty, Guard and Reserves - joined by a cadre of talented civilians, are building an entirely new command, instrumental in fighting the war on terrorism and focused on reshaping the nation's military capabilities for the demands of the 21st Century.
Capitalizing on the historic work of our predecessors, we have made tremendous strides in the short time since the key elements of US Space Command and US Strategic Command were reshaped as the new US Strategic Command. Specifically, we
· Created an entirely new unified command, while streamlining headquarters management and supporting the establishment of the vitally important US Northern Command.
· Provided world-class deployed and reach-back intelligence, planning, space, and information operations expertise to the Regional Combatant Commanders either engaged in the war on terrorism or planning for potential operations around the globe.
· Completed a sweeping revision of the nation's strategic planning in support of the Nuclear Posture Review, updating our deterrent force posture for the needs of the new international environment.
· Successfully supported the initial launches of both the Atlas V and Delta IV, a major step in sustaining assured access to space for the next decade.
· In accordance with Presidential direction in Unified Command Plan Change Two, assumed four global missions previously unassigned to any combatant commander.
· Developing new partnerships with NASA, the National Security Agency, the Missile Defense Agency, and the Intelligence Community in order to better satisfy the nation's defense needs in the 21st Century.
Each of these ongoing efforts is important to our future, but represent only the first steps. They are a foundation for aggressively pursuing, with our strong and growing team of defense and Agency partners, our next set of challenges and opportunities. As we work to reshape ourselves for the future, we are guided by the six transformational goals Secretary Rumsfeld identified and shared with this distinguished Committee last month:
· Defend the US homeland and bases of operations overseas
· Project and sustain forces in distant theaters
· Deny enemies sanctuary
· Improve our space capabilities and maintain unhindered access to space
· Harness our advantage in information technology to link different types of US forces so they can fight jointly
· Protect US information networks from attack and disable the information networks of our adversaries
The new globally-focused United States Strategic Command plays an integral and defining role in each of these six areas, and I welcome the opportunity to address the Committee on the opportunities, policies, and programs supporting the command's posture.
Creation of the new Command
In 2002, following a series of high-level studies that included the Space (Rumsfeld) Commission, the Quadrennial Defense Review, and the Nuclear Posture Review, the President and Secretary of Defense directed the creation of a new unified command to effectively and efficiently anticipate and counter the diverse and increasingly complex global threats our nation will face for the foreseeable future. These threats to our homeland, our allies, and our interests abroad range from conventional military capabilities to the asymmetric and indirect dangers of cyber attack, weapons of mass destruction (WMD), and terrorism - each designed to circumvent US strengths and exploit any vulnerabilities on the ground, in the air, at sea, and in space. These threats are global in scale and often transcend geographic or regional boundaries.
The new US Strategic Command was established October 1, 2002 to address these very threats. The command is chartered to pursue an integrated, trans-regional approach to both deterrence and warfighting, and to further strengthen our complementary and supporting relationships with the regional combatant commanders, each of whom retain the full responsibility for the regional challenges within their respective area of responsibility (AOR). Initially assigned responsibility for nuclear deterrence, and space and computer network operations, on January 10, 2003, the President expanded the command's role to include four additional missions previously unassigned to a unified command. These include global strike planning and execution; integration of Department of Defense information operations (IO); global missile defense integration; and oversight of command, control, communications, computers, intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance (C4ISR) in support of strategic and global operations. These newly assigned missions will broaden our global supporting role, further strengthen our nation's deterrent posture and bring focused responsibility and authority to our space and information operations missions.
The Synergy of Space and Strategic Forces
The strong and productive relationship between on-orbit sensors and communications capabilities and nuclear deterrent systems is deeply-rooted in our recent military history. The historic Strategic Air Command was the forerunner of both the former US Space and US Strategic Commands, leading the nation's successful efforts to develop preeminent space and nuclear programs during the Cold War years. Our success in developing strategic space-based capabilities such as missile warning and survivable communication links, coupled with a strong nuclear deterrent, contributed in many ways to a peaceful end to the Cold War.
In the years that followed, both US Space and US Strategic Commands pursued their own well-defined mission areas. From 1985 to 2002, US Space Command made tremendous progress in enhancing on-orbit capabilities, while simultaneously expanding their application from the purely strategic arena to the tactical battle space. The warning of Scud launches during Desert Storm and the broad application of the Global Positioning System (GPS) to navigation and weapons guidance are but two examples of how the space community transformed our on-orbit capabilities into combat tools capably employed by warfighters at all levels. The combat power, networked systems, and global reach of our military today are a tribute to the contributions of America's space program and US Space Command's diligent work over the course of 17 years.
Over the decade since 1992, the former US Strategic Command stood at the ready, supporting strategic deterrence through rigorous and disciplined planning, effective training, and robust command and control of our nation's strategic nuclear forces. The professionals of STRATCOM still bear the enormous responsibility of overseeing our nation's nuclear arsenal, confident that the command's readiness is the most effective guarantee that the use of such weapons will never be required. Most recently, in response to the dramatically changed international security environment, US Strategic Command conducted exacting analysis in support of the development of the 2001 Nuclear Posture Review which is already reshaping our deterrent posture for a very different future.
The new US Strategic Command, in bringing together the great strengths of these two commands, brings a new dimension to the planning and conduct of global operations, and represent a major step in implementing the vision of the Nuclear Posture Review.
The Future of our Nuclear Force Structure
I am proud to report our Nation's nuclear deterrent forces remain ready. They are manned by a cadre of true experts, trained and disciplined to effectively support the goals of our national security strategy. Importantly, the rigorous oversight of our nuclear arsenal will continue under the new command as it has for more than half a century. We are implementing the operational planning recommendations of the Nuclear Posture Review, establishing a deterrent strategy better aligned with the new and more demanding international security environment. In so doing, we have already begun to move toward the President's goal, as codified in the Moscow Treaty, of between 1700 to 2200 operationally deployed strategic nuclear weapons by the year 2012. As we begin to reduce deployed strategic weapons by two-thirds, we have initiated deactivation of all 50 Peacekeeper ICBMs, removed four Trident submarines from strategic service, and are making plans to retire the oldest warheads in the nation's nuclear stockpile.
As we address the issues of our aging strategic nuclear forces, we will work with our partners in the Department of Energy, and with the Congress to address each important issue. Beyond the Navy's submarine launched D-5 missile, still in low-rate production, we are no longer building any of the weapons or platforms that comprise our strategic forces. With no new systems under development, the important task of supporting and modernizing delivery systems, aging warheads, and infrastructure must be pursued energetically and pragmatically in order to ensure our nuclear forces remain a ready, reliable, and credible element of our Nation's security posture.
As the nation's nuclear stockpile continues to age, we must carefully monitor its condition. Through the National Nuclear Security Administration's science-based Stockpile Stewardship Program, we continue to improve our surveillance, modeling, simulation tools and processes to provide the critical data we require in the absence of testing. I thank you for the committee's long-standing support of the Department of Energy's critical life extension and modernization programs.
As we discuss future deterrent concepts, the role of advanced conventional and even non-kinetic weapons should be addressed along with possible modifications to our strategic stockpile. Informed dialogue is essential and, as the Secretary of Defense has noted, there is a substantive difference between conducting a study of these relevant issues and actually developing or deploying weapons.
Newly Assigned Warfighting Missions
The vision for US Strategic Command is exciting. It requires re-thinking, operationalizing, and, in some cases, building from the ground up, every mission in our portfolio. Fortunately, the experience gained from carrying out our space operations and our nuclear deterrent roles will facilitate development of our newly assigned missions. The rigor and exactness of nuclear planning, the robust command and control for our operational forces, and the warfighting focus and cutting edge technology of our space and information operations missions translates directly to the global strike, missile defense integration, information operations, and C4ISR missions now assigned to the command.
Global Strike. US Strategic Command's newly assigned global strike mission extends our long-standing and globally-focused deterrent capabilities to the broader spectrum of conflict. The incorporation of conventional, non-kinetic, and special operations capabilities into a full-spectrum contingency arsenal will enable the command to deliberately and adaptively plan for and deliver rapid, limited-duration, extended-range combat power anywhere in the world. This innovative approach to global strike will provide a wider range of options to the President in responding to time-critical global challenges.
As envisioned, global strike can be conducted either at the direction of our national leadership, or in a supporting role to a regional combatant commander. At the direction of the President or Secretary of Defense, global strike will provide the nation an immediate ability to engage a select set of targets by moving rapidly from actionable intelligence, through adaptive planning, to national-level decision-making and the delivery of effects across thousands of miles. In its supporting role, global strike will provide to a regional combatant commander what may be the most critical element early in the fight - time. As a regional combatant commander assembles and moves forces into position, needs strikes into denied areas, or prizes the element of surprise, US Strategic Command can provide early planning and tangible, long-range combat capability. This committee's support of advanced conventional weapons initiatives such as SSGN reconfiguration and the Common Aero Vehicle (CAV) will play a large part in improving our future joint warfighting effectiveness in the global strike arena.
Information Operations. Delivering on the promise of information operations is one of US Strategic Command's top priorities. This nascent mission area promises to dramatically improve our offensive and defensive capabilities, which could very well reduce the number of weapons required in our arsenal and the force size required in future conflicts. Quite simply, I believe that effective, integrated IO comprises the next revolution in warfighting, and US Strategic Command's objective in our new role as the integrator of DoD information operations is to bring a joint perspective to improvements in the capabilities provided to our national leaders and warfighters in the field.
Today, each Agency, Service, and command operates an information operations program, and is working diligently to develop and field cutting edge capabilities that may offer innovative new ways of bringing decisive effects to the battle space. STRATCOM will provide ready access to IO planning, reduce stovepipes, test and validate new capabilities, and provide a responsive command and control system to the joint warfighter. We will focus our efforts on integrating and coordinating all of the DoD core IO capabilities, which include military psychological operations, electronic warfare, operational security, military deception, and computer network attack and defense.
Our vision is for US Strategic Command to become the central IO arsenal for the warfighter. While we should not and will not own all IO programs, nor execute all IO missions, we will have full insight and access to all DoD IO capabilities. With this knowledge we can build on our 56-year foundation of rigorous planning and analysis to bring an integrated, deliberate planning process to the IO realm. We envision providing weapons with a known system reliability and analytically-based estimates of consequences and effectiveness, just as we have done for decades with the nation's nuclear forces. We will support an expeditious national-level approval process for conducting IO, and we will work to ensure warfighters have what they need at their disposal, not only during crisis but also during the critical planning, training, exercise, and deployment phases.
Just as we look to information operations as a potential avenue for bringing asymmetric effects to the battle space, so do our adversaries. With our dramatically growing reliance on the Department of Defense's computer networks, we must continue to effectively address the difficult issue of cyber security. Through our component, the Joint Task Force - Computer Network Operations (JTF-CNO), we are again taking a global approach as, in a real sense, each of our DoD information assurance programs is dependent on the adequacy of all the others. We will work in concert with each of the unified commands, the Services, Defense Agencies, and our allies to collectively meet the computer network defense challenges of the 21st Century.
Missile Defense. The danger posed by weapons of mass destruction and their delivery systems is clearly one of our nation's top concerns, and the Missile Defense Agency is actively developing a multi-layered missile defense system to provide an additional level of protection for our homeland, our allies, and our forces in the field. As General Myers noted recently before this committee, missile defense is inherently a multi-command and multi-regional task, and, as the Missile Defense Agency acquires missile defense systems, US Strategic Command will bring a warfighter's focus to most effectively and efficiently integrate and operationalize the system on a global scale. US Strategic Command is fully partnering with the Missile Defense Agency, and is developing a global missile defense concept of operations and battle management architecture to provide the full support needed by the regional combatant commanders to defend their theaters, including the ballistic missile defense of the continental United States by US Northern Command.
Ballistic missile defense has evolved from an effort focused on a mid-course intercept of ballistic missiles to an integrated, multi-layered, cross-AOR approach to meet the challenge of achieving an Initial Defensive Operations (IDO) capability by late 2004. A critical element of any global missile defense capability will be detailed and effective tactical warning, which we will continue to provide to national leadership and regional commanders. US Strategic Command currently supplies sensor information for the missile warning component of integrated tactical warning and attack assessment, and we appreciate your support of the systems that will improve our warning capabilities in response to changing threats and expanded intelligence requirements. The Space Based Infra Red System (SBIRS), appropriately funded in the President's budget, is a prime example.
Enabling Capabilities and Missions
In the fast-paced and complex national security environment of the 21st Century, US warfighters must have access to superior information to conduct decisive operations. US Strategic Command provides oversight and authority for many of the systems and missions that serve as the enablers for the nation's defense, including responsibilities in the command and control, communications, computers, intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance (C4ISR) and space arenas.
Command, Control, Communications, and Computers (C4). Although "C4ISR" represents several related and essential capabilities, US Strategic Command is deliberately parsing out the acronym into its key elements to better address the very different challenges in each area. Under the Unified Command Plan, the command is assigned the role of tasking and coordinating C4 in support of strategic force employment. Our objective is to provide the means to integrate, synchronize, coordinate, and convey information to support superior decision-making and tasking at any level from the President to the front-line warfighter. The events of September 11, 2001 illustrate the need to improve our national command and control architecture. We are working with our partners at US Joint Forces Command, the Defense Information Systems Agency (DISA) and the Assistant Secretary of Defense for Command, Control, Communications, and Intelligence (ASD/C3I) to craft a new national-level C4 system that provides improved information flow, rapid decision making, and dramatic improvements in our current bandwidth constraints. While this is important for all missions, it is imperative for the integrated missile defense and global strike missions, where data gathering, decision making, and execution must occur within minutes. Your continuing support of the communications architecture initiatives in the President's budget will enable the Department to dramatically improve our critical national level and joint warfighting capabilities.
Intelligence, Surveillance, and Reconnaissance (ISR). US Strategic Command is also tasked under the Unified Command Plan to plan, coordinate, and integrate ISR for the Department of Defense in support of global and strategic operations. We are working closely with our partners in the national Intelligence Community to move away from Cold War military force collection strategies and toward the creation of the processes and systems necessary for comprehensive, synergistic, and flexible contingency ISR operations. We see great value in assisting the warfighter in determining the optimum use of scarce collection assets by focusing on ISR information requirements versus specific platforms. This will also enable us to better maximize and prioritize the capabilities of our collection systems, whether space-based, air breathing, at sea, or on the ground, and integrate their collection with critical human intelligence and technical data to meet the needs of both the warfighter and the national decision-maker. It will enable us to better assemble integrated, synchronized strategies and architectures that provide persistent, actionable, predictive intelligence and streamlined dissemination. We look forward to working closely with the Intelligence Community as they develop systems such as the Future Imagery Architecture (FIA) that will play a large part in our intelligence collection capabilities of the future.
Space Operations. The United States is the preeminent space-faring nation in the world. As the nation's designated space warfighter, US Strategic Command will continue to bring an operational perspective to our space capabilities. Our space systems are essential, not just enabling, to each of our disparate missions, and they underpin many of the distinct technological advantages we have over our potential adversaries. From a special operations soldier on horseback navigating by GPS to our global communications architecture providing intelligence and command and control around the world, never again will this nation fight without significant contributions from space. The alignment of our new missions under the same command with responsibility for capabilities on orbit holds great promise for the continuing operationalization of space, and we are striving to assist the combatant commands in integrating and blending these unique and essential capabilities into all of their plans and processes.
Assured access to space is the precursor to all our on-orbit capabilities, and is clearly in our vital national interest. As the heritage systems Titan II and IV, Atlas II, and Delta II near the end of their lives, the Evolved Expendable Launch Vehicle (EELV) program remains the Department's chosen option for ensuring the ability to safely and responsively launch orbital assets. Although the contraction in the commercial launch market has changed the business case for EELV, the EELV remains a promising avenue, as demonstrated by the recent successful launches of both vehicles.
Inextricably linked to assured access is maintaining viable gateways to space. Our East and West coast ranges continue to provide safe and effective spacelift and test and evaluation services to military, civil, and commercial users, and we must continue to search for the most effective and fiscally responsible strategies to ensure they remain adequate for the long-term.
Space will continue to be a realm we share with industry, our allies, and increasingly our adversaries. Importantly, the same flexibility and freedom of action the US currently maintains in the terrestrial, maritime, and aerial environments, consistent with international law and customs, is the goal of US Strategic Command's space control efforts. While the US enjoys significant military and economic benefits from our current lead in space communications, navigation, and remote sensing, threats may well emerge to challenge these interests. Our role is to ensure the US fully meets these challenges, providing uninterrupted access to space and on-orbit capabilities. We will accomplish this through our role in US military, commercial, and scientific launches, and through military representation to US national agencies, commercial endeavors, and international organizations for matters related to military space operations.
Similar to our growing reliance on computer networks, and potential growth in vulnerabilities if left unaddressed, the security of our nation's space systems is of utmost importance. US Strategic Command is studying and identifying critical components and defining the most effective ways to safeguard our capabilities on orbit and on the ground. An important aspect of our on-orbit security is ensuring space situational awareness through greater surveillance capability, and improvements to our global sensor network will remain one of my highest priorities.
Mission Integration. As we further refine our current missions and build to our new taskings, the interrelationships and interdependencies among all our missions are increasingly apparent. Global strikes may include options for employment of information operations. Information operations may require a space-based communications architecture for implementation. Space-based communications and intelligence capabilities will be a crucial enabler for global missile defense. And missile defenses may include complementary offensive global strike options. US Strategic Command is committed to improving joint combat effectiveness by modernizing systems, streamlining processes, and providing fully integrated mission capabilities to the warfighter and our national leaders.
Warfighter Support
Winning the war on terrorism remains the Department's top priority, and US Strategic Command has played an integral role from the moment the President arrived at Offutt AFB on September 11, 2001. Since that day the men and women of US Strategic Command have provided support in all areas of our expertise - intelligence, planning, space, IO, and communications. Specifically, we
· Provided federated intelligence support to multiple regional combatant commands, conducting battle damage assessment and intelligence analysis, and leading the intelligence community-wide effort to find and characterize underground facilities in Afghanistan.
· Deployed Theater Planning Response Cells (TPRC) on ten occasions to three theaters to provide counter-WMD planning and consequence of execution analysis to regional combatant commanders facing the difficult challenge of targeting WMD facilities.
· Provided a continuous Space and Information Operations Element presence at US Central Command, enabling immediate access to space-related and IO capabilities.
· Optimized bandwidth allocation in support of operational deployments, working with the regional combatant commanders and making recommendations to the Joint Staff to better maximize the communications capabilities available to forces in the field.
· Assured peak GPS performance for precision strikes through our GPS Enhanced Theater Support program, reducing the number of sorties required and minimizing collateral damage.
Although successful in each of these endeavors, US Strategic Command is striving to even further refine our support to the warfighter. We are developing a single team of professionals that bring the full suite of our global capabilities - strike, space, IO, missile defense, planning, communications, and intelligence - to the joint warfighter in an even more integrated fashion. Rather than sending multiple, disparate teams to arrive at a deployed commander's doorstep, we are developing a consolidated team that will fit seamlessly into a regional combatant commander's organization and provide both deployed and robust 24/7 reach-back capability to our headquarters. We are working with the regional combatant commands and US Joint Forces Command to integrate our team and communications architecture into the regional combatant commanders' training and exercises in order to establish and mature the relationships that will enhance joint warfighting effectiveness in future conflict.
Optimizing the Organization
Serving as robust stewards of our existing missions while simultaneously developing our four newly assigned missions and capabilities is a monumental task. Understanding we cannot grow substantially in a reduced manpower environment, we are instead flattening and shrinking the overall organizational structure of our headquarters to work more effectively and efficiently. Additionally, with the help of the Services, we are developing new relationships to fully utilize DoD capabilities and expertise, while not duplicating in our headquarters what other professionals already do so well.
Componency. As we design concepts of operations for the globally-focused and increasingly operational US Strategic Command, we are pursuing innovative concepts for new Service relationships that employ the capabilities resident in other organizations that US Strategic Command can tap for unique skills and expertise. US Strategic Command is fortunate to have strong relationships with many national Agencies, and, as we move forward in each of our new mission areas, we will need even stronger ties to both our current and new Agency partners. We are exploring component-like relationships with the Agencies, as well as with our national laboratories who play a large role in supporting our technological and planning needs. We're excited about the opportunities to leverage their expertise as we expand and develop capabilities applicable to our new missions.
Conclusion
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