secretary of defense for policy i believe this is your very first time in appearing before this committee we certainly welcome you this is a second full committee event on this subject the first was a classified briefing on july the twenty second of this year and i doubt it will be our last right now the united states has over one hundred twenty thousand combat forces in iraq under the current plan we will in the year with eleven combat brigade totaling somewhere around one hundred thousand personnel in august two thousand and ten our combat mission in iraq will end and our military presence in iraq will consist of six and vise an assist brigade with about fifty thousand american military personnel reducing our military presence by over fifty thousand people and thousands of vehicles in just a few months while simultaneously closing bases consolidating headquarters continuing to conduct both combat and training operations will not be a simple understanding such an enormous operation conducted in a complex environment demands extensive planning and inspired execution assuming this phase of the period in the period immediately afterward could well provide a jarring transition for starters the iraqis will have to assume full responsibility for internal security and their questions if they will be fully capable in that area by the time we leave we've provided that our department with the request authority to transfer some current u s military equipment to the iraqi security forces and i hope our witnesses will address how that process will work in particular how we will ensure that this process will not hurt the national guard's capability to respond to disasters another emergencies here in the united states i hope that they will take a minute to discuss potential future requests for assisting the iraqis i hope that witnesses also take a moment to discuss how iraq will be provided protection from external threats and how long such a commitment might last a military command iraq will also be transitioning a number of responsibilities to the united states embassy in the government of iraq during this point some of these such as providing protection for prevention reconstruction teams may be relatively easy to move to the state department others however such as providing for the training of iraqi police or resourcing future military assistance through the foreign military sales or foreign military financing process may prove more challenging for the state department in its ability to manage and i hope our witnesses can take a moment to lay out what major functions will have to transition how this will happen how it will come to pass this an ongoing process and one thing anyone on this committee thinks will be the last hearing on the subject we've been involved in iraq for a long time as you know and i believe will be involved there for a long time to come we owe it to those outstanding and brave men  women who've given their lives to get to this point to make sure that we get it right now well this may not be the last hearing on iraq it is the last hearing for aleesha haley one of our able holding this very important hearing and i join un welcoming our witnesses and thanking you all for being here today we've made remarkable progress in iraq violence continues to stay at a level comparable to two thousand and three the provincial elections earlier in the year were a success and salt agreement has held together most recently in june the iraqi security forces assumed primary security responsibility with an iraqi cities and u s combat forces departed the last remaining cities as i've previously stated the question we face in iraq is not whether we won the war but whether we will win the peace we heard encouraging testimony from general o month while he acknowledged that security is improving he cautioned and i quote it is not yet enduring end quote and noted that again quote there still remains underlying unresolved sources of potential conflict this is what he calls drivers of instability and that's what we need to keep an eye on with a national election set for january a referendum on the sofa on the horizon as well as other significant unresolved political hurdles like the status of kirkuk there are many unknowns that will determine the prospect of enduring domestic peace in iraq the president's february two thousand and nine plan calls for a dramatic reduction to the u s footprints in iraq by august and ten by next summer the president plans to decrease our troop strength by sixty percent in addition to closing bases and moving materiel out of the eight or there seems to be widespread agreement that a peaceful nationally lexan january is critical for rocks emerging democracy and the successful implementation of the president's redeployment plan last month general odierno was hopeful that the election will occur on time if we get the election l passed the london times reported yesterday that the iraqi parliament is now talking about delaying the elections in january yesterday president obama reaffirmed his commitment to his redeployment timetable i'm concerned that if the national election is delayed is indeed delayed the president's timetable for redeployment offers general odierno little room to maneuver do we have contingency plans in the event the security situation demands revisiting the august two thousand and ten timeline this plan arguably made sense in february does it still make the same sense today many of us here have consistently held the position that scheduling troop withdrawals in iraq should be based on the conditions on the ground the standard should continue to be that we do not draw down forces if it means sacrificing security i hope our witnesses will affirm their commitment to that standard as we begin executing the president's redeployment plan we also need to keep an eye on the future this leads me to concerns about the normalization of our relations with iraq after all we've been invested in iraq we should be taking steps to endure to ensure that we pursue a robust security relationship with baghdad our increase in combat forces was not the only reason the surge was successful rather ambassador crocker and general petraeus knew how to leverage our presence to ensure iraqi leadership made the right choices i'm concerned that we may be retreating from this posture too quickly in an effort to normalize our relationship with iraq in particular we need to keep an eye on how our military in iraq hold hands over responsibility to our embassy in baghdad multinational security transition command iraq has a critical role in developing and sustaining the iraqi security forces we need to make sure that the embassy is ready for the handoff as general already odierno emphasized last month this is an embryonic democracy while the situation in iraq has improved i think it's fair to say the situation is far from normal so long as we have a force presence in iraq our leadership should continue to involve itself in iraqi political affairs to ensure the right decisions are made robust engagement seems to engagement seems to be the key to a redo point deployment plan i look forward to a candid discussion on these important issues again thank you for being here this morning  thank the gentleman from california one statement has been furnished from the witnesses as i understand it's a consolidated statement over understand that each of you will be testifying this morning and we will begin with the undersecretary and then the same time we welcome you again chairman skelton representative mckinnon distinguished committee members we very much appreciate the opportunity to appear before you today we've briefed the committee on in july on the president's iraq john strategy and we're pleased to be able to follow up today to discuss the d o d s continuing afrin efforts to draw down equipment in iraq as you know on february twenty seventh of this year the president announced that in accordance with the u s iraq security agreement he would begin a responsible drawdown of our forces in iraq he directed a fundamental change of u s military mission by august thirty first two thousand and ten u s forces in iraq will complete the transition from combat and counterinsurgency activities to a more limited mission we will shift to focus on training and advising the iraqi security forces conducting targeted counterterrorism operations providing force protection for u s personnel and facilities and supporting civilian agencies and international organizations and their capacity building efforts we've continued along with a timeline laid out by the president on june thirtieth of this year as you know s combat forces repositioned out of iraqi cities and for the first time iraqi forces assumed responsibility for security within cities villages villages and localities across the country the i s f have performed quite well since june thirtieth of two thousand and nine and to underscore what general odierno told you in his recent testimony the security situation in iraq continues to improve despite a few high poll high profile attacks our nischelle force repositioning also helped to demonstrate to the iraqi people that we remain committed to the timeline agreed upon in the us iraqi security agreement while the iraqi security forces have improved greatly in recent years they still require  sustained support the global economic turndown has driven down the price of oil causing budget shortfalls for the iraqi government the shortfalls have resulted in hiring freezes and hindered some of the i s f ability to field critical equipment much remains to be done to enable the i s f to assume full responsibility for internal security by december thirty first of two thousand and eleven when the security agreement comes to an end and the drawdown of u s forces is slated to be complete m f i assesses that in order to maintain stability already when the u s drawdown is complete the i s f must at a minimum have the capacity to secure its population conduct internal defense and conduct basic exter all defense over the past several years the government of iraq has steadily increased its capacity to fund its own defense needs in two thousand and five the iraqi government was only able to contribute two point four billion of the cost of funding the and nine the iraqi government can contribution increase to nine point six billion nonetheless without our assistance the i s f will not be able to develop the needed capabilities and address their remaining budgetary and equipment shortfalls within the necessary timeframe we believe that increasing ice of capabilities is the best way to ensure that our hard fought security gains in iraq will not be lost as we draw down and to that end m f i has developed and i africa quitman requirements list and the joint staff has revalidated that list to develop solutions that address iraqi shortfalls to assist the i s f the administration is requested the authority to provide the government of iraq with unlimited access material this includes everything from commercial trucks to individual clothing and equipment such as helmets and body armor we've also requested the authority to transfer non excess equipment such as pistols cargo trucks up armored humvees and we'd like to thank the committee for including this authority in in the authorization bill it will certainly help to ensure that the i s f can can fulfill their mission by the time the u s forces depart and absolutely vital step towards the goal of a sovereign stable and self reliant iraq given the government of iraq's budget shortfalls and the i assessed requirements the aca iraqi government may ultimately require additional assistance beyond the transfer of access and on access equipment we are still evaluating how much and what type additional assistance may be needed and we look forward to coming back to you at a future date with a plan in those areas in order to balance our own needs with those of the s f as well of as well as the needs of the afghan national security forces which we're also seeking to address the department has a stablished a very robust process to determine which equipment can appropriately transfer a core principle in our decision making is that equipment will only be considered for transfer if it is not needed by u s forces in iraq and afghanistan as plans for the transfer of non access equipment to the iraqi  security forces are refined d o d will also work with the military services to manage the cost of replacing that transferred equipment the financial requirements associated with the replacement of transferred equipment will be part of the department's normal budget development process in that process will be taking into consideration the timing of the transfer equipment and the urgency expressed by d o t components for reimbursement or replacement this committee has previously and again today expressed concern about the impact on reserve component of transferring non access items and we're pleased to report that reserve component equipment will not be used as a source for i s f requirements in fact reserve units serving in iraq are being offered the opportunity to take theatre provided equipment back to their home station to fill any authorized shortages also mostly the i s f will only be effective if they review if they are viewed as legitimate across iraqi society and to help ensure that the i s f remains a nonsectarian nationalist element loyal to the government of iraq we are tying continued i s f assistance to their nonsectarian performance  let me close with a word on the equipment drawdown and president obama direct it has direct by out august thirty first of two thousand and ten we will seek to reduce our footprint in iraq to a transition force of no more than fifty thousand and we've already begun that drawdown we have over over one hundred forty three thousand troops were serving on the ground in january of this year we are now just under one hundred twenty thousand needless to say the challenge of drawing down our troops is paralleled by the challenge of drawing down all the equipment that is not appropriate for transfer to the iris f or the afghan national security forces at the moment roughly three point three million pieces of equipment remain in iraq although some of this equipment will be provided to the i s f to help improve their capabilities the vast majority of the equipment will remain with u s forces and will either be returned home or were transferred to afghanistan d o d and cent planning this equipment drawdown for over a year we've now begun to execute it the services of all identified which pieces of equipment are not missing mission essential and can there for be retrograded early in this way will be able to draw down the equipment gradually as the troops draw down throughout the equipment process drawdown process the relevant d o d components will be meeting on a regular basis to resolve various issues that will inevitably arise during this very complex logistical operation let me close by emphasizing that we continue to plan for an implementor responsible u s drawdown wanted that advances our goal of a stable sovereign unself iraq reliant iraq we are continuing our efforts to train and equip the s so they can effectively defend the iraqi people and protect iraqi institutions by the end of two thousand and eleven we're also committed to conducting the drawdown of troops equipment in material in a manner that addresses the needs of our own military  obligations to the american taxpayer while doing all of this present presents significant challenges we are confident that we are made progress towards our goals on the timeline laid out by the president again i'm happy to take any questions on potential developments in iraq that may we may need to respond to and as as we refine and adjust our plans going forward during the q and a period and i want to thank you for allowing us to testify today we look forward to working with  committee on these issues and as we move forward thank you that is thank you very much admiral one of the german skelton ranking member mckeon members of the committee good morning and thank you for the opportunity to meet again with you  to discuss progress in executing the president's strategy for a responsible drawdown in iraq i'd first like to tell the members how thankful we are for the support we've received from the committee especially with regards to the f y ten and i'd like to publicly congratulate your staff members for their hard work and significant contributions to our progress they've done a really really good job since our last hearing in july u s central command and multinational forces in iraq have remained on track to meet the president's guidance for the responsible drawdown in march of this year when we spoke to you the coalition footprint in iraq was one hundred forty one thousand troops when i spoke to you in july when we spoke to together it was hundred thirty two thousand and by the end of this month we expect our footprint to be approximately one hundred twenty thousand we also have our first to advise and assist brigades on the ground doing the work they were designed to do a commensurate reduction in the number of bases we occupy has put is ahead of the schedule outlined earlier for you this year we have thirty five thousand fewer contractors on the ground in iraq than we did in january of this year and based on the security gains made to date as you've heard recently general odierno decided to off ramp a brigade combat team the first of the tenth mountain scheduled for deployment to iraq on january first two thousand and ten this will move us towards timberg combat teams at the time of the iraq elections well on our way to the six advise and assistance  remaining brigade combat teams talian by battalions through the summer of two thousand and ten this approach will allow him an effort to maintain key partnerships with regional leaders particularly in iraq for the maximum time possible while reducing the force to fifty thousand and five currently planning for the final phase of the drawdown after september first of twenty ten this plan which will be completed in the spring timeframe late winter early spring will ensure the execution of training and assistance operations after september first two thousand and ten and ultimately the transition to a strategic partnership with iraq meanwhile the iraqi security forces which will refer to as i assess have come a long way since the security agreement was signed in november of two thousand and eight and we've witnessed a number of operational successes of which you're aware these include our successful withdrawal from the cities to which the chairman referred this past june which provided a significant psychological boost to the iraqi security forces and contrary to some reports at the time actually helped cement our relationship with those forces and as horrific as the attacks on august nineteenth were we saw in their aftermath an iraqi security force that was capable enough to conduct a thorough investigation and flexible enough to just their procedures to reduce the possibility of a reoccurrence that's we're seeing an iraqi security force that's increasingly independent of u s support and assistance however iosif still have a long way to go to achieve the capabilities and capacities they need including rounded out internal security forces and a foundational external defense that will allow our complete draw down by december thirty first of tw eleven the government of iraq will not achieve these capabilities without the continued dedicated support of m n f i and the rest of the u s government the legislative authorities recently granted to the secretary of defense to transfer excess and non access equipment to the iraqi security forces are absolutely essential and very much appreciated in meeting the identified down if i capability requirements that we have in conclusion to the efforts of u s central command and m f in concert with embassy baghdad we will continue to plan and execute a responsible drawdown from iraq that ensures we meet the objectives outlined by the president by january odierno pointed out during his recent testimony concerns remain including arab kur tensions the election process which we've been watching unfold over the last day or so government capacity and the potential for interference from violent extremists nonetheless we do remain on track and we intend to continue the drawdown in a manner that protects our military forces and civilians exercises good stewardship over the resources provided to us does not jeopardize the readiness of our military as we reset and leaves a stable secure and self reliant iraq as a long term strategic partner to the united states once again thank you for the support you've provided and that you've consistently provided to our soldiers sailors airmen and marines and i look forward to your questions thank you very much several thank you mr rest of in my capacity as the acting deputy undersecretary of defense for logistics material readiness i'm responsible for developing overarching with just policies for the deity to include logistics policies but supporting general odierno drawdown strategy for combat forces in iraq given the president's decision on troop strength productions concerted effort is ongoing in the department to assess and synchronize logistics drawdown actions and policies to fully support the drawdown strategy having said that the department's mission is not only focused on systemically and responsibly drawing down our forces supplies of material in iraq but also on fulfilling u s combat equipment requirements in afghanistan and on providing equipment capabilities to the iraqis  security forces and the afghan security forces the magnitude of our logistics challenges associated with successfully supporting these mission requirements is enormous today in iraq we have over two hundred eighty nine of the four hundred ninety five forward operating bases remaining to turn over roughly three point three million pieces of equipment forty nine thousand sealand containers thirty four thousand short tons of ammunition twenty two supply support activities and twenty one thousand short tons of supplies the good news is we know how to do this we know how to redeploy we have been doing it as part of our force rotations for six years and we have the capacity and the multinational forces iraq in coordination with the military services proactively developed an integrated and coordinated logistics plans policies and direction to ensure the systemic and responsible drawdown supplies and major and items in iraq in two thousand and eight the military services reduce the amount of equipment and supplies flowing into theater and instructed units to start shipping non critical items out of iraq and directed the party units to follow for step disposition process for drawing down excess supplies and equipment before step disposition process that is in effect and being executed today is to consume redistribute transfer despite hours the responsible drawdown actions that we've taken t have been accomplished while retaining logistics flexibility to adjust to operational changes in the mission requirements access property in iraq is being reviewed against combat equipment requirements in afghanistan and  requirements the department in coordination with the general services administration which is responsible for the transfer of excess property to state and local entities has established a process that would allow state and local entities the opportunity to screen access property in iraq prior to being transferred to the iraqi government however it is unlikely that much of the property is suitable for state and local agencies based on the properties operational condition or items that meet foreign specifications standards in other words or running on to twenty volts rather than one thousand military departments continue to emphasize the importance of maintaining property accountability and visibility throughout the equipment drawdown retrograde  process senior level video teleconferences between the iraqi theater and department are proven invaluable in synchronized coordinating and were still attending solutions affecting the successful execution of the overarching drawdown mission  closing mr chairman thank you for the opportunity to testify before the committee the department is achieving logistics unity of effort and executing the president's directive to systemically and responsibly draw down the size of u s forces in iraq we have a plan for the equipment coming out of iraq and have been working this for many months we are tracking drawdown progress against pacific calls and will provide whatever policy assistance is required to meet president timelines with continued support from this congress the department  ranking member mckeon and distinguished members of the committee good morning and thank you for this opportunity to appear before you and to discuss the department of defense strategy and ongoing initiatives to responsibly draw down from the united states united states assets from iraq i'm lieutenant general kathleen gagne director of logistics on the joint staff as director of logistics on the principal advisor to the chairman of the joint chiefs for the entire spectrum of joint logistics to include reviewing the logistics policies and processes that are guiding the drawdown strategy in iraq as well as the joint staff lead in the effort to equip the iraqi security forces chairman we have developed we have been redeploying significant amounts of forces out of iraq and kuwait for each of the past six years the department of defense has been planning for and executing the mandated drawdown of forces from iraq for over a year the planning and execution have been a coordinated effort among multinational force iraq the services the department of state central command and its components central command its service components is orchestrating the process that determines the responsible drawdown strategy and additionally have positioned teams in iraq whose primary focus is providing on site assistance for the drawdown those teams in concert with their parents service have identified materiel and equipment no longer required to support operations in iraq and can either be re postured to support operations in afghanistan or sent back to united states my assessment concludes that the process guiding the drawdown and the strategic transportation infrastructure in iraq and in kuwait are sufficient to fully support the drawdown strategy if needed we have the option to direct the flow of some equipment to our regional partners ports such as those in jordan and turkey a key component of the drawdown strategy is the development in the use of metrics to measure our progress toward the required posture for the thirty one august two thousand and ten and beyond the various components within iraq and central command area of responsibility have established milestones such as total containers or numbers of the locals on hand to chart their progress relative to that end state these leading indicators enable commanders degrade themselves and gauge their progress against this established goal as you heard testimony from secretary loren oyur earlier it is an essential element of our drawdown strategy is equipping iraqi security forces as the joint staff lead i am responsible for overseeing the process of equipping the iraqi security forces a process involving multinational force iraq central command defense security cooperation agency the joint staff the services and the national guard bureau this calculated process which includes validating requirements adjudicating risk to the services developing sourcing solutions and we have reached a successful conclusion and the recommendations were briefed to the joint chiefs two days ago was on one thousand knocked over of the approximately one thousand equipment categories forty two percent were sourced from service declared excess equipment and fifty one percent were recommended for sourcing through sale from stock the remaining seven percent represents roughly two hundred thirty three million unique quitman and requires the second terry of defense to direct the transfer under the authorities provided to us by section twelve thirty four of the national defense authorization act during our last testimony before this committee of chief concern was the potential impact to the national guard in the ability to respond to domestic incidents i am pleased to report that we were able to arrive at a previously stated recommendation and that for sourcing iraqi security force without having to expend national guard reserve component equipment additionally national guard reserve component units currently serving in iraq have the opportunity to take the water provided equipment back to their home station to fill any authorized shortages in closing mr chairman thank you for this opportunity to testify before the committee we firmly believe that the description of the drawdown as a responsible drawdown is fundamental to this process and we understand the critic ality of good stewardship and property accountability of the united states assets in iraq and therefore we are diligently tracking draw down progress against specific goals at the same time we are also focused on doing everything within our power and the authority to enable the iraqi security force to operate effectively once the drawdown is complete i would be happy to answer any questions that you were members of the committee may have thank you general thank you for your testimony admiral it's kind of you to compliment the committee for our work in for what we have done for the young men and young women in uniform and i think you remember the order that lays out the organizations and responsibilities for various functions and how the redeployment will work despite repeated requests by our staff of the department of defense that poured over nine or one has not been provided nor has there been a legal reason given for not providing it for us now we pass legislation based upon testimony based upon briefings based upon documents and all of this goes together and to put us in a position to receive compliments morning has not been furnished sir i am we are quite happy to have to bring that open land over to you to have staff to brief you on the details and you will leave it with in our classified and i regret that we were not risk responsive to your requests earlier but what we'd like to do is come over and and share with you brief you on it and we can work out the details of how really want to know there is no intention to keep information from you at all and again we we want to be responsive to your request but it was july twenty second and i understand i think it was recently brought to my attention and we want to make sure that we are responsive to your request this as quick as possible so i don't have it physically with me today but i can promise you that we will get in there bring it over and leave it with those in a classified manner so we will have the time to go through the four hundred page is that correct yes thank you that's m what what they're basically saying is that they're threatening to move back the election from january the election can't be held until their parliament passes an election law and qaeda doesn't want to have an election and they want to do what they can to disrupt that general odierno feels that he needs to keep his troops there thirty to sixty days after the election to ensure a peaceful transitional government do you have any intelligence showing that or any feeling that that the election is going to be postponed let me start by saying you drawdown plan that we have is conditions based it's in it creates multiple the decision points for reevaluating and if necessary changing our plans based on developments on the ground  although the government of iraq self imposed deadline of october fifteenth for passing the elections law has passed we judge that the c r still has another week or two to come to some kind of agreement on elections law before it will put the january date the early january date in jeopardy in terms of the election commission's ability to actually physically execute the the election if a new law with open lists is not passed the fallback position option for them is to return to the two thousand and five election law which is based on the close this system and that but that could be still used for upcoming elections in the c r would simply have to vote on an election date if that law is not passed in the next two weeks they will be looking at slipping the data later in january which would still be compliant with the constitution but would be later than originally planned in that instance m f i would need to engage with the government of iraq to do some contingency planning on how to secure the elections at a later date and that might well have have implications but i just want to reinforce right  now on the ground in baghdad here in washington just yesterday our focus is on trying to stick to the current election timeline the president personally impressed upon prime minister maliki the importance of sticking to the constitutional a specified timeline for the iraqi elections and we are putting all of our diplomatic effort towards that end that's and of course that said of course we will have contingency plans to adjust if necessary but right now we're using all of our diplomatic and other leverage to try to make sure the elections happen on time we won't be forcing general odierno to withdraw troops if they don't hold the election in a timely manner we we will still be flexible and allow him to keep the troops there to provide the national security so they don't they don't put themselves at risk in trying to rush out plan is not rigid it is it is got it is conditions based it leaves room for a reevaluation an adjustment in terms of the pace of the drawdown between now and the end of his thousand and eleven so if need be we will reexamine things based on conditions on the ground one of my concerns has been who will make that the say just about what equipment would be reset into the army or the marine corps versus what would be provided to the iraqis what are they criteria for those decisions because we do have and i have no idea the three million pieces of equipment how many of those have been damaged and how much of that equipment belongs to the research or how much of that equipment belongs to the national guard and specifically what are the army's last forty eight are provided equipment in iraq especially the rolling stock in the inventory and what is going to be brought back to the united states for reset if i would be used to replenish people seats in stock and that has been a problem for several years and in regard to reset what has been done to increase in the pool capacity in preparation for the but thankfully huge influx of equipment equipment and maybe both of you can at least enlighten me a little bit senator thank you very much the items to determine what is the retrograded back and what remains with the iraqis as a possible item for transfer of that decision is made by the services they look first at their equipment shortfalls back here in the united states and what the requirements are for our services back here they meet those needs first then they can identify that equipment which is excess which they have done those items are predominantly what we are looking at to transfer there is also items that we have what we call long in supply and so those items are then categorized for sale from stock because we have sufficient back in united states to sell from our stocks here then that last category is that non access that's that seven percent of that i talked about and those are critical items to allow the iraqi security forces to be stood up at a stage which they can then do internal defense and basic self defense that those items are the ones that we have identified that the services feel that they can assume the risk in to their readiness and have designated those items as acceptable to transfer to meet the requirements of the iraqi security forces or the depo capacity we feel that the depo capacity we have today is sufficient we have the plan in concert with the retrograde coming out the retrograde will not negatively affect any of the depo workload we will adjust workload given the requirements of what we have to reset to meet the force generation model to send forces back over and to make them ready for any future contingency thank you sir  will go into depth depending on the status of its repair requirement and then flow back into the army forces based on their needs and eventually everything will flow through it'll probably be about a two year process after redraw down in fact it is completed but that said we are still going through processes and things are found on fobbed we should have had on the books but we've gone through a definitive   late august timeframe in fact there was an uptick in the number of items that we had in iraq versus a decrease while we were retrograding out and that was because of the process of capturing those items on to property but we are the three point three million number which is down from three point four because we have pulled equipment out of iraq is a good number for us to work with thank you might buy me some thank you so much thank the gentleman jim from missouri mr aiken th mr chairman i guess it was a year or two ago getting a status of the iraqi troops and we're talking about well they're pretty good at fighting they're pretty good at this pretty good that there's a number of things that were the last things they had to learn to do or that they didn't have capabilities and one they didn't have much the way of air support to logistically they weren't strong in that area and then three medically they didn't have the kind of medical resources that we had have we made some progress in those areas o the iraqi troops able to at least make some efforts at air support old logistics and medical and then the second question would be the the equipping of iraqi troops which apparently doing are we getting paid for that or is this just a freebie thank you i would say that the iraqi security forces have come a long way in the last year since you asked that question i don't have any specifics at my fingertips in terms of exact numbers aircraft medical units and the like i can tell you that since we talked to the committee in july that the iraqi security forces operational readiness the number of their units that have come up the operational readiness rating one has gone up by about fifteen percent just in that short period of time which is indicative of pretty good progress and that's the after the army the m a lie the internal security forces have almost doubled the number of units that have come up to that operational readiness that the precise numbers are classified but i can give you those percentages that include then the logistical piece they are getting better at the logistics and among the m the exact numbers of increasing up to our one includes commanding control units and logistics units and the medical unit so they are improving they're not anywhere near that where they need to be for us to draw down completely but they are definitely making progress troop equipment that we're giving him water those are those uniforms and it's a mix some of the items that we are transferring they are getting gratis some of the items they are transferring they are paying to refurbish some of the items that they are buying particularly the major weapon i want to thank our panel for being here as follow i was lucky enough to start off in local government and i think what we're seeing now around the country is sort of what i saw way back when which is that almost every state and almost every city's revenues are down and the things that they would have liked to have bought new there in many years this is buying used or looking through the government surplus for these things i did very much remember after katrina getting then chief of naval operations mike mullen on the phone and informing him that almost every hospital in coastal mississippi is going under water that every generator coastal mississippi gone underwater and that we had a desperate need for things like tents to take the place of the hospitals desperate need for generators and i remember him saying something to the effect that we don't have any they're all in iraq and afghanistan something like a train is going to happen again whether it's manmade or the hand of god and to that point and knowing what a big problem the lack of electricity was a lack of just shelter was to what extent are you taking those things that the military says they don't need anymore putting them online for number one other government agencies like home security but beyond homeland security in a tiered manner much like we do with the d r ammo the defense or use management office to what extent are you making those things available to return to mississippi they had left every piece of equipment behind now they'd a magnificent job after katrina with only sixty percent of the equipment they should have a it but the fact of the matter is they only had sixty percent of the equipment they should have had  i heard with the general had to say but but my gut tells me that two or three years in no from now i'm gonna be looking at an episode of sixty minutes that shows me billions of dollars of equipment that got left behind in iraq is probably good and up on the world market may end up in china or some other place what steps are you taking to alleviate some of these problems up front because it did happen when we left panama it did happen when we left the philippines heck it happened when we left we left a lot of that is a big deal what are we doing to make this equipment that we think of as little stuff but to us to a city or county is a big deal what are we doing to make it available to them congressman if you don't mind i'll take that question let me start with the accountability as i said to congressman ortiz we have gone out things on our property books that we know we have it is standard military gear and it not access for bringing it back running through the depo process and sure enough the force and i mean the total force guard reserve active has what they need on their books for nonstandard gear which includes commercial generators  clarification yes any state surplus office can go online and will be made what is potentially going to be left behind in iraq yes or ok what do they do then if they see something they want they can put a claim against that they have the same fourteen days that they would have here to say i want that they can get more information about it for example how the generator could be two twenty and they could decide they don't want it after the fourteen days if they wanted to have another freight forwarder that the state association has to come and claim it in iraq ok do you have if my office wanted to take a look at that master list of what you have on their none sectarian performance no i suppose that means continue on the not shooting the sunni held this work how we make judgments on this and we placed any other conditions on future assistance tell us about it i think this is something that we are in dialogue with the iraqi government about it and  i commanders about on an ongoing basis that we are supporting the element of the i s f towards a certain set of objectives and one of those is a is making sure that the military is truly representative of the iraq it's a national institution it is not a tool that any one individual or party or person in power can use for sectarian aims we continue to monitor that in many instances we've we've had many opportunities to work through specific issues and frankly the iraqis have been very responsive over time on this point they understand that the only way we can get the support of the support here to support them is to demonstrate that they truly are a nonsectarian institution so we continue to bring that home at every level from the tactical all the way up to the headquarters to here in washington when we have interactions if we do see some sectarian performance them and worked out remedial steps to either you know isolate a unit to step in and deal with a new situation and so forth and they've also taken very proactive initiatives such as initiatives to try to get the i s f for example in the peshmerga working much more closely in border areas where the two forces come up against each other and so i think they're there but done both reactive steps and proactive steps but again we have seen we have you know we've seen a decrease a decline in that kind of behavior over time and so that that is the good news is something we need to continue to be watchful for but it's something that has been  very well managed to this point if there is a severe sectarian and at what point do we say sorry we're out of here well you know again i think you know i don't want to speculate on exactly what could provoke that kind of thing what i what i can say is we take it very seriously we have taken it very seriously and seriously they certainly understand when this is have you know in the instances this is happened the reaction from us has been very swift and very clear and it's had impact so i don't think there's any n in iraq and the ability to surge troops in afghanistan there's not a direct correlation in the sense that we are making judgments about the the debate that's going on right now the discussion if you will about the strategic strategy for afghanistan and tying that directly to the drawdown from iraq we have adequate capacity right now to do what we believe whatever decision the president makes on afghanistan within well within the current draw down plan for iraq so there's no direct tie between the two where you know you can't do this unless you do this that's not that's not happening right now but it obviously will alleviate strain overall strength of the force i think there is the impacted you know that if you were to keep more forces in iraq and more and you plus up in afghanistan of course you would be imposing more self force risks on the force but i don't we're not in that situation right now and the chairman is in very close consultation with the service chiefs to make sure that we keep that in mind at every step that's what force would you say iraq right eleven brigade combat teams so in terms of combat troops on the ground you multiply that out and you know about four to four thousand five hundred team and then of course there are a lot of other forces over there that i would battalion by battalion within the brigade combat teams that are there in order to get down to the six advise and assist brigades we have very difficult decisions that we do make between regarding enablers in terms of making sure that we've got the correct balance of enablers between iraq and afghanistan and those are drawn down paste as required with the combat forces and then the combat service support there's a lot of base closure that has to happen like we need to provide for their force protection so it's a sort of a complicated animal and i would say it's not a straight line very good hearing on afghanistan policy and one of the witnesses was general jack keane that you all know retired at the end of two thousand and three and in his testimony i was actually shocked by what he said and i want to read what he said  he said quote it is a fact that afghanistan beginning in two thousand and two and increasingly so in two thousand and three became a secondary priority in the war in iraq indeed it remained as such until this year two thousand and nine when only now we are beginning to shift our priority effort from iraq to afghanistan as such as a secondary effort despite the addition of nato forces and resources afghanistan has always been operating at the margin and in most of those those years below what was required in forces and resources that's what general keane has written statement and he testified to there were a lot of us have been confused i think for some years about at what point did iraq become the priority when we all said and we as a legislative body the american people were united in our resolve to take down the taliban and go into afghanistan but one of the things we said was we were not going to abandon afghanistan and then again general keane who was involved the highest levels of leadership said we started banning afghanistan at the end of zero two that certainly wasn't part of our discussion in the months leading up to the debate over the iraq war resolution that certainly wasn't a discussion as the years went by that we had had abandoned afghanistan admiral you in response to two hundred so we have adequate adequate capacity to do both what things really go badly in iraq and president obama who has already made the decision has already sent in seventeen thousand additional troops is change the leadership in afghanistan and clearly is making up and a higher priority what if he were to decide we need to secretary's words be flexible we're going to have to put troops back  that we needed to return troops to iraq i would say right now our principal focus right now is to make sure that iraq goes on the same trajectory that it's on and that we don't have to confront that decision and so far by every indication and general odierno i think was quite eloquent week or so ago and describing how even though there are concerns and there are potential drivers of instability that iraq is on track and that he's he and his partnership with the embassy over there are determined to keep it on track but if there were there are probably scenarios out there and i don't want to speculate in public on what those might be that could cause you to need to delay the drawdown a little  or make the hump a little bit further out in the planning cycle there but i believe that with the temper again combat teams we will have on the ground early next year the general odierno has a very capable force on his hands to handle any number of contingencies that could arise you know i accept your reassurances just i would hate to see as having this discussion several years from now that says well when we ship priority to have general jack keane come back and testify who's where maybe you as a think tank or some years and say well we began shifting our priorities and things didn't go well and we didn't have the resources because that's clearly what has occurred and it's only been finally got the attention as president obama came in and said we're going to put more troops in afghanistan i just wanted to you know we are very cognizant of the fact that we do not want to take our eye off the ball in iraq and i can assure you that we are have the secretary continues to have equal you know equally frequent video teleconferences with general odierno and the team on the ground the deputies committee meets every other week on this we are monitoring this as closely as we possibly can to make sure that we're getting after any kind of in claiming any kind of instance of indicator of instability as soon as it occurs the one thing i will say that i am hearing more and more from iraqis is that a growing confidence that despite the efforts of al qaeda in iraq the remnants of the insurgency they are trying very hard to try to spark sectarian reaction in with their attacks it's not  working groups that they were able to provoke and incite before have opted to participate in the political process and that is the greatest insurance we have against the kind of scenario that you're worried about thank you thank  for calling mr wilson let me ask you the g a o tells us that the iraqis have approximately forty eight billion dollars in the bank and with that as a background what additional funding sir i i can't give you a firm answer yet we are in the middle of an inner agency discussion developing our our proposal to you for a long term approach to transitioning our relationship with iraq to kind of a normal security assistance relationship over a multi year period there will be deity elements of that plan state department elements of that plan certain assumptions about what the iraqis themselves will pay for we will come back to you when we have a clear sense of our bottom lines on that and i expect that will be sooner rather than later but i don't have specific you know answers for you today i'm sure that's what our colleagues will as members of this committee particular pretty large bank like that mr wilson thank you mr chairman thank you all for being here today and thank you so much for your comments in that we certainly can count on general odierno we have excellent military leadership in iraq and i'm just so proud of his service and i appreciate your recognizing that as a representative of fort jackson parasolid buford marine corps air station i am grateful for the success in iraq i also agree with president obama he met yesterday at the white house with prime minister maliki the washington examiner reports today we quote we have seen in the last several months a consolidation of commitment to democratic politics inside iraq i think the president's absolutely correct and it i have a firsthand knowledge to him my son served in iraq i have a nephew currently serving in iraq we have a very humble member of congress here who didn't identify himself but congressman duncan hunter served in iraq and afghanistan felt general odierno has confirmed before this committee that the relationship between the multinational forces in iraq in iraq and security forces are actually for a more positive than the media portrays what is your assessment of the relationship what measures can be taken to further improve communication cooperation i would certainly agree with your military know that the relationship is good i think those of you who have been to iraq of observe that personally cooperating together with each other and also cooperating well with us as we taught them how to protect their oil platforms general odierno as reflected recently on how the both the  withdraw from the cities and the august bombing have taken that bond between us he will speak eloquently of the close cooperation we have with the iraqi special special operations forces in and continual successes daily and weekly successes in rolling up extremist elements that threaten the iraqi government in iraq the stability so you know every now and then there might be a little friction that you would expect to happen when such large forces are intermingled with each other but  the partnership is close and it's instructive that that close partnership where we have been embedded with them for several years now has really paid off so i think that we've never never had a better partnership with them they have confidence in us in our that we're going to stick to what we say we're doing and turning responsibility over to them in two months ago i had the opportunity to see a joint operating center el nasiriyah and to see the iraqis and americans working together and secretary indeed there was stopping the sectarian violence it was so inspiring and i was happy to see the special forces were using him to forty ninth's in manufacturing of columbia south carolina so this is good also advanced equipment is this redeployment be sent back to our marines within the united states additionally i know you avi's have been shifted from iraq to afghanistan and i would hope as we need reinforcements in afghanistan that more equipment would be sent to afghanistan sir the national guard and army reserve and all forces reserve have performed incredibly well they are truly part of the total force as far as their equipment they will redeploy with their equipment that is the forty six percent of the equipment that is over there you know is unit equipment and will redeploy what their forces of the specific national guard has the total equipment there only four percent of that is national guard equipment and for the army reserve it is sixteen percent most of the marine corps equipment is already redeployed to your question on equipment that is being transferred we have already redirected several units and equipment over to afghanistan to include clearing equipment for roads you know the hotkeys and cargo vehicles automation equipment communications equipment etc so as equipment is free you for being here today i just want to follow up a little bit on the national guard and reserve issue if we could just get a little bit more from your folks but before i ask you to elaborate a little bit more i just want to thank my colleagues here who have  concern we all do but certainly wilson doesn't and personal connection to the national guard but also mr taylor with what have what's happened on the gulf coast with those with the hurricanes and what have you and of course in iowa when we had the great flood last year we were able to utilize our national guard for those emergency services obviously prior to during and after that flood  and so we can see the national guard engaged in those domestic kinds of operations as well as going overseas i'm really proud of the i when i asked the guard next fall we're going to be deploying somewhere between thirty five hundred thirty nine hundred national guard to afghanistan that was just made public today i believe well i do have a real concern obviously on the equipment front appreciate the answers that you gave so far today but i want to give you an to make certain i think that we continue to equip our national guard not just for combat missions when called want to do so but also for those domestic missions that they perform here so i spend a little time elaborating if you would on your testimony  secretary and general gainey please i'd like to defer to the general issue is really working that the details of this before the general speaks may i put in a plug and i would i would simply say that during our testimony in july we we heard your message loud and clear both from the u n mr taylor and others that you were very interested in the national guard and also the civilian capacity piece and believe me it was a real challenge for us to get through the internet technology systems and the like and all of the services are working very hard to continually review the requirements for our national guard and reserve units to look at what are their shortfalls and to a dentist if there is any equipment that is currently in iraq that could be used to fill their shortages as well the services all look at that which is coming back through the reaper basement system of the depos to then fill the shortages where they had been directed to leave equipment in theater they may not get back t he exact same truck or m wrap or tank that they left in theater but they will get one of those out of depo those those pieces of equipment are identified for transfer back to the reserve components to meet the requirements of their missions and our daily requirements i appreciate that because on page five your testimony madam secretary you said in fact reserve units serving in iraq to iraq are being offered the opportunity to take the it or provide equipment back to their home station to fill in the authorized shortages of what you're saying general kayani is that those who previously were deployed to iraq are also able then to replenish their resources for that equipment that they had previously had to really leave in theater guard has performed in iraq certainly sir sir i had served over there as the director resources and sustainment for multinational force iraq so i have personally seen the great work that the national guard and all of our reserve units have performed as well i've seen them perform in previous conflicts as well so you bring alongside them particularly in desert storm when you look at the total force and you're forward deployed and you're expecting support on your left and right you're not looking to see what unit they came from you're looking to see that you've got a competent leader on your side and a subordinate that knows their job and is trained to standard and that's what we have in our reserve forces you to say that about the national guard i would indeed sir when we talk to our national guard units back home what message can i tell them about redeploying the equipment but resetting the equipment back to them so you can tell them that the equipment is coming back will be put through the refurbishment program that equipment then will be balanced with the requirements for the forces that have to go back out to the fight the services look at that and generate that equipment back out of the  units that are the next to deploying that may be a national guard unit that may be a reserve unit that may be an active unit those are the units that will be filled first with the equipment coming out of depos so that those units can train on that equipment prior to going back into the fight as more and more equipment comes out of the depo shortages will be filled in units that are still back in the united states that don't currently have a deployment mission immediately on the horizon thank you mr kaufman one of the questions that i raised at that time was that mosul the second largest city in iraq at i think a population of about two point me and that was still had tremendous security concerns that still  fact asked for an extension of the june thirtieth deadline at that point they told me no because they felt that the political considerations would outweigh the tactical considerations that i in fact agree with them can you give me an assessment of mosul at this mosul remains a an area where we are still where you know the some of the insurgent elements are trying to kind of make a last stand if you will in terms of urban areas so it remains an area of focus in the campaign that said i think there's been substantial improvements since the period when you were there i think you have increasingly effective iraqi forces in the city you have the u s forces when invited in backing them up providing support doing joint operations with them and so forth so we have made progress i think again most importantly i would underscore the political evolution in the area you have a population that is really turned in the process of turning against the more extremist elements and opting into the political process at the local level the provincial level and now in january with the at the national level i don't know if you have anything to add to that but it is it's it is still an area that we're keeping a close eye on we are working it hard but it is moving in the right direction in terms of redeployment as far as equipment goes to new you mean a category or categorical definition as to what we are giving the iraqis versus selling the iraqis defer that to my colleagues sir i can't give you a specific item but i can tell you that the type of equipment that would be identified for transfer might range from nonstandard equipment like generators or tents to equipment that is that they are purchasing that's an end item weapon system they may also be purchasing some of the items or we might be using iraqi security force funds to support them for repair or for training also for possible repair parts the types of equipment that we have identified for transfer that we are looking at today ranges everything from again ten to two perhaps the  you know armored security vehicles humvees that's the sort of thing that it is excess that is going to go ahead and be transferred but most of the newer weapons systems would have to be purchased for that which could be an exportable version we are december thirty first when you let me answer that you know we have a process by which we are going to be bringing that equipment out and staging it in various locations so we believe that we will be well to meet that requirement there may be some items that might be in the r m mode that we're still processing through that would not have totally departed the location does that answer the question concerns about the rest time for service members who have experienced three in four tours and we know the impact on reading this and also the impact on our troops and their families you know about the p t s d the divorce rates increasing suicide rates etc after  the election i know that we plan to redeploy sixty eight thousand troops well there now be an opportunity to provide these troops more dwell time at home i don't have the exact numbers for you but the answer is yes and the army is very very focused on trying to get boots on the ground versus to dwell time to an acceptable number and general casey of course i believe would like to see a three to one ratio it's going to be a long time before we can get there the current goal is to get it to two to one but clearly if the aggregate number of forces that are deployed outside the continental united states comes down as it will significantly and we should start to be able to build that dwell time back up then we already are so you could tell as soldier in his or her family today that if all goes according to plan and they can expect to have have their loved one home more often between deployments is that something that gradually increasing the amount of time between home between deployments will occur if all goes well yes ma'am some in addition to the force management something that's helped in this regard has been the authorization to grow the over the last couple of years and then the temporary authorization for additional twenty two thousand for the army all of that is designed to help reduce some of the pressure right but i also am wondering do you have any idea of how many numbers of men and women will then be sent to afghanistan or is there a a guarantee that there will be some time back in the states are you able to do that with the decision on the disposition in afghanistan is yet to be made the president is working through that but i can tell you that in the discussions as a very explicit address all of the impacts of any options that we're considering on dwell time for our men and in uniform ok thank you i also would like to ask about increasing numbers redeployment efforts cause contractors to stay longer and will there be more of them i know that we have had decreases here but did you mention that they're expecting that will actually have to increase or leave more contractors there to do the work as the troops leave is that what you're expecting also contractor number will continue to decrease it will not be creases rapidly as a force so for a while we are about a one to one ratio maybe a little higher by next july we expect for august  be a little higher number of ratio of contractors there will be an overall decrease in the number of contractors in iraq question about the contractors who is going to be left behind providing accountability and oversight joint contracting command iraq afghanistan will still be in place for additional contracting officers as we speak in fact help us manage that and they will have flexibility between afghanistan and iraq with a number of contracting officers in addition we've required any units that are very now to have trained contracting officers representative to oversee our contracts there's a regimen that we put in place based on lessons learned and one last question i understand that iraq is interested in purchasing some pretty sophisticated equipment tanks f sixteen s are you concerned about the long term stability of iraq after the election are you comfortable with leaving them some advanced military equipment again i think that that will certainly be factored into any decision i may be a major weapon sales going forward but i think that we are on given the path that we are on we are on the path to having iraq as a stable ally the united states in the region should indicators change that we're on a different path we've had that would obviously have to be considered factored into our decision making on weapon so i had time i would ask you to define stability for iraq given that they have other issues within but thank you and they yell back they very m on the status of forces agreement and specifically my understanding is the plan now is it will have roughly one hundred thousand troops through the election early next year and then to begin drawing down to the roughly fifty thousand by august of next year the other vote i guess it still is pending or proposed is a vote on the status of forces agreement that there be a referendum and that if that was rejected that we could perhaps have to withdraw all personnel and equipment within one year so my guess to four question is what is the status of that proposed referendum vote as best we know it and given the logistical challenge of just going from  hundred fifty if we were required to withdraw completely and you know a year of it being voted and denied are we planning for that very challenging scenario our understanding is and this is been confirmed by a number of iraqis is that iraqi politicians have pretty much put aside for the time being any plans to push for the referendum on the security agreement so that's very good news the the should the referendum be held though and if u s forces were requested to leave before the end of two thousand and eleven they would have still have a year to complete the the drawdown from the date of notification by the government of iraq but again you know obviously we would have to deal with that continued see should it arise given the politics of the situation we think that's an increasingly remote possibility especially because we have worked so hard to be totally compliant with the terms of the agreement to date and i think the iraqi government is very satisfied that we are completely committed to implementing the agreement in full i would agree that it is good news if they're not going forward that it may be a quick follow on that is is your more definitive insights on the date of the election itself or is that still work in progress with the council they the constitution requires that the should be held by the end of january the council of representatives has not yet passed a law either a new election floor or a vote to use the old election law and set a date again we are pushing very hard for that so that the commission has the elections commission has time to actually do the logistics necessary so we continue to push for a january date that is still very much in the cards i think if several weeks from now we have not made progress then we'll have to do some rigs am inning of our plans and i are planning for th withdrawal once that election occurs to get down to the fifty thousand by august is that assuming two three four months of one hundred thousand level after the election generally yes the past election general asked for sort of a buffer before and after the election to keep our forces levels relatively stable during that time so that we can adequately secure the process and then actually ensure a stable environment for the ceding of it you know for the for the inquiring i mean the last time there was a national election it was a pretty excruciating long drawn out process of forming the maliki government and since so much of this time what are the the drawdown is sort of hinges on  the election process i mean if if we go through that again where it's you know four months six months before they finally get their act together in terms of forming a government i mean you know is that going to bump back the  fact we're sort of expecting that that government will take until potentially june to form his desire for the sixty days is principally based on his assessment that if there is going to be post election environ violence if the elections contested that that violence would occur in the first sixty days it would be very clear clear that asked within the first sixty days if that were going to happen he called that the most dangerous time after the election and once it appears that that's not going to happen and of course that's what we hope for then it will take the natural time to form the government but he did not expect that there would be violence that would prevent him from from recommencing if you will the draw down to support it in when he was here last time in a sort of asked a question about the interaction between  and state as far as working together the way crocker and petraeus did and i guess you know i mean obviously the political part of this is so critical to our military operations i mean i soon that that together in fact the drawdown planning there is a whole civilian side to this i mean they're there it's actually they've developed a joint campaign plan for the coming period and we're actively working a number of transition issues between d o d and sta in terms of handing off response abilities making sure that our military repositioning plans are absolutely in sync with the eventual footprint for the state department in terms of embassy consulate team deployable teams and so forth so that that is done absolutely and gloves and so i think that is something they're working daily and again as we get a little more clarity on the details of that will be coming back to you to walk you through those plans and you'll back i thank the gentleman you may now have the information with you but i'm sure there is a list of functions  that will be transferred from the united states military to the state department to other agencies and i would ask you if memo and or secretary of that information could be  transmitted to us within a reasonable time i know it might take some time to gather it all together but i know that it's coming and it would be very helpful to our committee to see that information within a reasonable time so we are developing that as part of as heard the conceptual basis for f y eleven budget requests across the government on iraq with regard to iraq and so in that sort of timeframe of developing that we will we will get it we will get it to you as soon as we have a whole of government approach that would be very helpful and i think you we on our committee you wish to express our great appreciation to the young men young women who serve with you and under you you know iraq as well as in afghanistan and elsewhere they are truly our national treasures and you know appears that the work and the efforts and the challenges that have been met in iraq deserve a so sincere compliment from a stew them you know we wish them continued success putting america in the position of redeploying the very difficult challenges that we're face to the