During a House Armed Services Committee hearing prior to the congressional recess, Rep. Gil Cisneros (D-CA) questioned General Christopher G. Cavoli, the Commander of the U.S. European Command, about preparing the United States’ Baltic allies for a possible future invasion.
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00:00Sir, the gentleman's time has expired.
00:02Chair now recognizes the gentleman from California, Mr. Cisneros.
00:05Thank you, Mr. Chairman, and I also want to give my prayers and sympathies to the families of the service members who lost their lives.
00:13General Cavoli, thank you for your years of service as you kind of approached the end of a fantastic career that you've had.
00:20So thank you, sir, for everything.
00:23So when I was under Secretary of Defense for Personnel Readiness, I had a meeting with my counterparts from Latvia.
00:28Who was really concerned about how they could build up their reserves.
00:34I mean, to the point they were worried about the Russians and the possibility of them coming there.
00:40That they were actually drilling, you know, elementary school children, preparing military drill, ensuring that they're learning that in elementary school to get them ready as they matured and got older.
00:51Obviously, I think all the Baltic states, Lithuania, Estonia, Latvia, they're all very concerned about the Russians and the invasion into Ukraine probably did not ease their tensions.
01:02But how are we preparing our Baltic allies, getting them ready for the possible threat of a Russian invasion?
01:10And really, maybe this might be more for the classified briefing, but what is the possible threat of later on if the Russians are successful in Ukraine,
01:22that they will continue their aggression on other former Soviet states?
01:28Thank you, sir.
01:29So we we help them in a variety of ways.
01:34First, how does how does NATO help them?
01:37NATO's new defense plans give a structure for them to plan and to nest their national defense plans inside.
01:47So those plans go together with the NATO plans.
01:50And this really helps a defense planner clarify a whole bunch of things about how much of what he needs, where, et cetera, et cetera.
01:58Second, the command structures that have been outlined and the relationships that have been outlined as a result of the plans or inside the plans,
02:09gives them permanent relationships for units to build readiness with and headquarters to build procedures with.
02:15So that's one big advantage that that helps them a great deal.
02:20Bilaterally, we work very closely with those allies because they're so intent on buying American stuff.
02:26So it's one thing to buy a high Mars.
02:29It's another thing to know how to use it.
02:31That's pretty simple.
02:32But it's another thing entirely to know how to integrate that capability into your warfighting methodology.
02:39And so, for example, I've got a battery of high Mars, American high Mars in Estonia,
02:45that's been working for well over a year and a half with them on how exactly they're going to incorporate their long range fires into their operational methodology after this.
02:55I just was on the phone with the – I just received a letter from the chief of defense of Lithuania who's interested in having a similar program,
03:04some sort of a high Mars academy.
03:06I could go on and on.
03:07On a third level, we also do special security assistance initiatives.
03:11So there's the Baltic Air and Missile Defense Initiative.
03:14There's the Baltic State Security Initiative.
03:17And those are focused appropriations for us to be able to help them buy the American stuff that matters to us.
03:26Focused on air and missile defense and domain awareness in the air right now, of course, because that's the most important thing.
03:31I guess I could go for hours.
03:33There's some classified things we do as well, Congressman.
03:35All right.
03:36Ms. Thompson, can we still be confident that we're going to keep troops in Europe there and keep supporting NATO,
03:43that the United States will step up if, in fact, Russia does invade the Baltic states?
03:50Thank you for the question, Congressman.
03:52On the first piece, I would just emphasize, again, we're in the midst of a global posture review,
03:56so certainly we're taking these priorities and these considerations into our analysis as we conduct that.
04:02And then I would also emphasize the Secretary was very clear that we remain committed to NATO,
04:06and that includes all facets of the treaty, and so I would say yes.
04:09And I would also just add perhaps a bit of color to what General Cavoli was talking about,
04:13specifically with the Baltics, and just emphasize that we have been so appreciative in this administration so far
04:19of how our Baltic friends acutely understand the threat perception,
04:23and we hope that and we have encouraged our Baltic friends to communicate that threat perception
04:27to the Western and Central European powers as well as we try to encourage the alliance as a whole
04:32to focus on defense spending.
04:34All right.
04:34And then I've got 30 seconds, but so very quickly, General Cavoli,
04:38you and your counterparts, INDOPACOM, AFRICOM, are always, you know, I don't want to say at odds,
04:44but always fighting for assets to kind of come into your areas of your command
04:49and areas of operation there, responsibility.
04:51How are we kind of working through that to get to this point there,
04:55to kind of make sure that we're not asking for too much, but, you know, you're getting what you need?
05:01Sure.
05:01So our job is to articulate our requirements based on the tasks we're given, sir,
05:05and the Secretary of Defense, with the advice of the chairman, allocates the resources.
05:11There's another step, though, right?
05:14Eric Carilla and I have known each other our whole lives.
05:17We can communicate.
05:19There are things that I can do to help alleviate some of his challenges and vice versa.
05:24Mike Langley's headquarters is right next door to my headquarters in Stuttgart.
05:28We talk back and forth.
05:29Gentlemen, time's expired.