During a Senate Foreign Relations Committee hearing before the congressional recess, Sen. Rick Scott (R-FL) questioned State Department Nominee Thomas DiNanno about nuclear weapons negotiations with China.
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00:00Sure. Thank you, Chairman. Well first of all, congratulations to each of you. You
00:05have great opportunities to have a big positive influence on what happens in
00:09the United States around the world and I'm sure you'll do a great job. Ms. Rogers,
00:13as we as we know, we clearly have governments in the world that have
00:18chosen to be our enemies. You know, Russia, China, Iran and others, North Korea. So do
00:24you do you think that our historically that our public diplomacy has has
00:29reflected the attitude of governments that want to destroy our way of life?
00:34Thank you for that question, Senator. I had an earlier exchange with ranking
00:39member Shaheen on the Global Engagement Center and I think one thing that was
00:42striking is some of the information that the Global Engagement Center suppressed
00:46according to court records was information that China would have wanted us to
00:50suppress. So at the behest of the Global Engagement Center and other organs of the
00:54government, we had American companies pressured to censor American speech
00:58broadcast to American audiences on American domestic issues like COVID
01:03lockdowns and the 2020 election and speech was censored regarding whether the
01:09COVID virus originated in a lab in Wuhan. So the idea that we need to censor
01:14American speech to counter disinformation from China just doesn't stand up to
01:19scrutiny because if we look at how these censorship efforts operated we were
01:22doing China a favor and so if I'm confirmed everything my office does it'll
01:27happen in the light of day if we see foreign propaganda from China or Iran we'll
01:31call it out and we'll say it we'll we'll tag it for what it is and honestly if we
01:36look at the Russian disinformation the purported Russian disinformation that was
01:40identified as a result of the Mueller investigation this is not formidable
01:44content this was a hundred thousand dollars worth of Instagram ads that we very
01:48clearly could have mocked derided or dismissed and so I think a more
01:53transparent approach to countering disinformation would better serve the
01:57American interest and it would pose a greater threat to our adversaries than
02:01simply censoring Americans who say things that are inconvenient. Thank you. Mr.
02:06Donato, so tell me what what pressure can we put on China to come to the table with
02:12regard to to nuclear weapons. Thank you for the question senator as I referenced in
02:20the in the chairman's earlier question as diplomats we have we have fewer options
02:24than say our partners in the in the military certainly when comes to diplomacy
02:31China has an obligation under the NPT to negotiate arms control reduction in good
02:37faith per NPT article 6. I have a hard time sitting before you today grant I'm
02:43not in the government I'm a nominee in any way shape or form having personally
02:48witnessed the the stiff arming by the Chinese and saying that there any how
02:53they could be in not in violation of article 6 of the NPT so that's a
02:58diplomatic lever we need to use it and again a reference into my testimony and if
03:02confirmed I'll look into the details of it but that's a face value pretty obvious to me.
03:07and how would you do that I mean what what pressure where did where they get
03:12the pressure for that well sir the NPT requires it and what's the enforcement
03:19there's no enforcement mechanism per se again as a reference to my opening
03:24statement some of the issues we have with arms control agreements there there is
03:29no enforcement per se there's no punishment for the Chinese but if we're
03:33going to be part of the NPT if we're going to be use a be part of the
03:37multilateral lateral framework we need to show up and use it and that would be my
03:43intention I did in the private prior administration being a part of treaties
03:48that are not enforceable or verifiable or where other partners cheat I have a
03:53record we've withdrew from the INF treaty because the Russians were cheating and I
03:59spoke earlier about the implications of that we withdrew from the open skies
04:03treaty because the Russians were cheating we were not so we should not be
04:06part of these agreements where that are one-sided to speak specifically about
04:13what we can do diplomacy and deterrence work hand-in-hand and exquisite US
04:21military hardware the military's moved aggressively I think the last four years
04:26since I left the government it's been surprising to me and I'm encouraged that
04:30some actually INF range capabilities are now coming online the army prism system
04:36the hypersonic system some conventional prompt strike platforms in critical
04:42partners and allies in the region are critical to deterring China
04:48Mr. Kerr what you've got a lot of background you've got a significant background in
04:52government how's this gonna impact your ability to do your job what do you what
04:56do you bring to the table what do you feel you want to get accomplished thank
05:01you senator for that question well I if confirmed it would be a great honor to
05:05return to public service as you as you noted I spent more than 20 years serving the
05:13American people in both the State Department and in the White House and it
05:17would be a great honor to return to that if confirmed I look forward to
05:21supporting the president supporting the secretary as as they best see fit I
05:27serve at their pleasure as I said my opening statement my background has been
05:33in Asia but I this is a global position and I'm very eager for that challenge and
05:39look forward to again serving the president serving the secretary and
05:42ensuring that I'm the American people are well served as well thank you thank you
05:47chairman thank you senator Scott thank you for asking that question to miss
05:50miss Harker I've had