Elise Stefanik

Are there other training opportunities that would make sense for the legislative branch to participate in, such as other Continuity exercises or smaller scale cyber technical or operational training?

I have made cyber and cyber warfare one of my main priorities.

What recommendations would you make to improve how we conduct building partnership capacity and security force assistance missions, especially when trying to train and equip partner forces?

I can say from firsthand experience that I am continually impressed and humbled by the men and women conducting these important missions, and our Nation can truly be proud of their accomplishments.

Since that time, this force has been preserving strategic options for our Nation, and their track record is second to none.

I am pleased to welcome everyone this morning to a very important hearing entitled, 'Three Decades Later: A Review and Assessment of U.S. Special Operation Forces 30 Years After the Creation of U.S. Special Operations Command.'

Information technology represents over $30 billion of the Department's total budget; however, too often it is treated as a support tool secondary to platforms, weapons, training, and the operations of the Department.

It is nonetheless imperative that we achieve every ounce of efficiency out of our back office and IT operations.

The subcommittee will come to order.

The 2016 Annual Report on Developmental Test & Evaluation stated that the Department's current knowledge management capabilities and processes used to gain, collect, and analyze the information necessary to conduct acquisition assessments…

In addition to investments in IT to improve its use of data to inform decision-making, DOD also needs to address the cultural barriers that hinder effective information sharing throughout the Department.

Absolutely. I think that increased flexibility is the right direction, particularly when there are opportunities outside of the military certainly within the government broadly, but also in the private sector.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman, and thank you gentlemen for your service and for your testimony today.

And then just quickly before I have to run to votes, I want to ask specifically what the impact of a CR would be on your cyber efforts.

Near-peer adversaries such as North Korea and Iran are building super-hard and deeply buried facilities to conceal weapons development and other activities.

It is important for us to get on the record the negative impacts that a continued CR would have on the DOD.

This is modernizing Pell. It is bipartisan, and I am hopeful we can get this passed in this Congress.

I also was the first member of my immediate family to graduate from college, so making higher education more affordable and more accessible is one of my top priorities.

Thank you to all of the members from both sides of the aisle for such thoughtful questions.

And that is something that Russia does, unfortunately, effectively. They have country-specific strategies when it comes to their disinformation and propaganda.

Cyber warfare and influence campaigns that are being waged against our country represent a national security challenge of generational proportions.

ObamaCare is not working, and we must find a way for better options, more affordable options for health care.

Unfortunately, the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) has had a difficult time managing the high demand of Family Caregiver enrollees.

It is vital that we do not leave them behind - this is especially true for our military caregivers.

I look forward to discussing this key issue moving forward.