>> dr. francis, i apologize. we are having a little bit of an audio problem. thank you so much and i apologize. i had to make the same roll call. thank you so much for all of your great work going to put that hearing into recess. thank you so much.

>> the subcommittee hearing will now reconvene. i appreciate the witnesses cooperation and flexibility, as we are voting in the senate.

miss madison, i wanted to get back to you with regards to your testimony and with regard to what admiral ray had said, with regard to the incident that you mentioned. it really was an outrage. as adam bovee mentioned, there were some miscommunications by the coast guard. asking for action from northern command coast but as weu.s. navy, are looking at this, what do you we, maybe others involved can prevent future incidents from happening again?

what specifically would you and your members want to make sure happens with regard to coast guard actions? >> thank you, mr. chairman. we lay out three actions. we need to hear from our government, not the russian military about any activities. what we have discovered is that i do not know how to describe it, other than that was a gap in communication. i think that is one. they need to communicate among themselves. is, ifer important part we know that these exercises are

legal and will continue, we need coast guard assets on the ground. so that there is someone not to hundred miles away that can provide some sort of protection or guidance. senator, you might know as you go further north, it gets very constrained. we were the ones that got impacted this year, but i am concerned about some of those smaller vessels that could also be impacted. we really have to look at a variety of communication systems. we need to have coast guard assets there. a greatnk that is recommendation. aware --being made

that should have already been happening. the size and nature, to have our own assets in the region to protect, with regards to what we are doing. i agree with that. i think that is something that we live strongly encourage. general.k in the issue of infrastructure. fleet. a large fishing as see stocks move north. infrastructurere in alaska is not just a national security requirement but a safety requirement. making substantial

, but where else and what else would you like to comment on with regards to infrastructure, as it relates to ,rotecting national security fishing opportunities and other issues, with regard to arctic infrastructure. >> if i might start, i lived out in dutch harbor for years. i am a little bit passionate about -- no port of the charter as one of the main water port in important asvery the arctic becomes more open.

they have definitely been identified. thank goodness for the coast fishinglping us enforce regulations, provide safety and rescue. it is difficult to have been respond kodiak and to where we were fishing over the summer. that would also encourage and as thethe fishing fleet distribution changes, to help us feel secure. including the polar ice breakers. you.ank i would like to offer condolences. i did not get a chance to say that, but condolences to you and your family for your loss.

first of all, great question. i looked at this strategically. we are continuing to rise. you look at the idea of creating , not only the national security interests, but places where vessels can operate from and an opportunity to provide an intervention that is so needed. we must have a viable future and career, as opposed to the economic engine there yet. the idea of the economy.

where activities could be pursued. .eginning the process it is in our national interest. communications are critical. we are focused on commencing a new study called the alaskan and arctic maritime connectivity analysis. to really just right down what are the communication shortfalls that they are facing? to be able to have that communication, so that they can be notified and communicate.

looking at the dutch for burying-suited and projecting power into the pacific. it is a shallow port. there is also the idea that several have talked about. mentioned this in my relatively lengthy written statement. complex aboutport what is being built out there. idea of a port complex on the gulf coast. the idea of building this over time, the opportunity to serve as a place that

could connect with transportation nodes. working towards the long-term connect.etworks that long-term ideas, but at the end of the day, if we are going to realize our interests, we do need to think about partnerships and how the commercial sector could be of use. of 20reating the idea ventures that could provide the residence that lived there a place to operate. >> thank you. those are great. to theto go back admiral's comment on the issue of the coast guard's focus.

he talked about it from the perspective of the coast guard and sustainability of our oceans and fisheries around the world. i would like your perspective. is you share how critical it ? it is one of the first bills i was able to get through the ofmittee, the implementation the fishing treaty, domestic legislation that did this. how important is this? how equipped is the coast guard to combat fishing issues, particularly as admiral ray talked about, the fisheries migrating north? what would you like the coast guard to know or other federal agencies to do more, in this

regard? >> thank you for that question. , we compete on the global market. enforced, that means our markets are being impacted. , that is awell aware big impact to all of our fisheries. i believe that support of the coast guard, funding, but is bigger than just the coast guard . internationally, we have to pull our resources together. it is critical and important. one of our direct competitors is russia. thinkve been now a and i it will come down to persistence, funding and very

strong actions that indicate that we will not stand for it. issues, whether it is protecting our economic interest, our environmental , they allnterests come in many ways converge on --s issue, coast guard feis vessels. so that the u.s. can actually be in the region, protect the said, as the admiral focus on what the coast guard does through the rest of the nation and the sovereign interest of the country. i was glad to hear the admiral say that. me ask a more specific question.

part of this hearing, i was on the phone with national security advisor. on thethe lead presidential memo that came out in june that i thought was very positive. something that we had been pressing the trump administration on, how to protect our economic and security interest in the region. , quites an interest soon, looking at urging the gap with regards to icebreaker coverage that we currently have, fire, for two the medium-sized icebreakers. there is strong interest at the white house to do this and to have these home ported in alaska. forou had a recommendation

the national security advisor on this issue, where would you look to home port? it would have to be relatively to start to protect america's interests. just being built. what you think the best places, given what you talked about earlier, would be to home port ,hese two vessels in alaska where would you recommend that? >> thank you for the question, senator. let me offer a suggestion. there are some very important to know details. intent to havean repairs provided on scene, where

it is home ported? you need to have that kind of capability, so what would the enterprise provide? would they provide a vending logistics to not only the medium level -- my goodness. through vessel missions, when toy come and go, and back .tation at home port if that will be conducted by the vendor providing the vessel and its ability to bring that theyility forward, that lies the challenge. anticipating to be a nato partner, they have

aspects that are familiar to people. they are certainly capable. is it bridging the gap? fact that ifto the they had a robust capability to bring forward, to do the kind of maintenance work needed, i would get as far forward with that as i could. they are incumbent upon the vendor to provide that capability. this, itre limited in could be a place to operate from . using air logistics to the airport, a time sense of delivery and materials and just six. it would be a critical aspect to this. >> side to interrupt.

this was a leasing decision soon , a homeport decision soon, i get that it is important. details of the leasing package, but from what exists currently in alaska in terms of coast guard capabilities, stations, what would be 12 locations that you would think would be top on the list? see, kodiak.ok and withof those are known existing space. is something there in dutch harbor, perhaps in kodiak, been-year term, it would

kodiak, dutch harbor, looking to the north, as soon as you could graded. and retro >> i will close the hearing with file -- with one final question. we have covered a lot of ground here. we know that the arctic is challenged ivory mootness, extreme environmental issues, but it is also a a resource.ea what we have not talked too much about is emerging technology to cope and overcome some of these challenges to play a greater role. technological

approach to some of the challenges that we are not thinking about that we might be able to take advantage of in the future? to domaines awareness, observer capabilities, any of those issues, given the expertise of the witnesses on the panel that you would like to highlight for the community as a final topic before we close? >> i would like to take a look at that question, if that is ok with you. about platforms, autonomous platforms, whether under, surface or aerial. the coast guard highlighted then

where environmental change and creating permafrost is causing many of the old shares to their close monitoring. using aerial systems to monitor essential. they are things that technology has solutions that can be of support. it is which for onward discussions. they fail to have communication and connectivity to mariners. the defense community is incredibly important. i would love to dive into this deeper, but i know that the time is short. i really appreciate the previous

, to me, what matters is the point. , to me, howerators -- i think it will matter tremendously as we look to advance more activities. thank you. >> dr. francis collins du have a you on this? >> yes. thank you very much for this question. it goes back to what i said earlier. i agree with what was just said. that so manyerate of the coast guard's operating, their mission depends on having

good information about the weather, ocean currents, what the ice is doing, and they all depend on getting good information from the environment so that our forecast models can provide then with the best information about what is going on in their neighborhood, but also the forecast for the next day, week or longer. if there was an early -- oil spill, or a man overboard, we know that cruise ships are headed up there. .t is still very likely it is still possible that a cruise ship could be going along in the open water, the wind , it pains it in a

location and runs it aground into rocks or whatever. i think the coast guard would be hard-pressed to respond to that kind of emergency. i think we need to do a better job so that we can do a better job with the forecasting of the weather and the ocean's behavior. you toll leave it up to close with that question. >> thank you very much. we are pretty proud up in alaska about the science that we have. we have a pretty extensive climate model. i focused on fish, but the climate model extends far beyond that. scientistsome of the in this regard. that have beenns

taking different measures of different things. we need to continue those time series. we need to use and work a little bit better on cooperative research. bewarethat this year unable to get the fishery surveys done, but with the help of the science center, many took data loggers to collect temperature, so that we could try to identify and inform as much as we could without the surveys. ,here are opportunities here but we do have the models in the north pacific. we need to continue to inform those models. dual focus and purpose. we get the data to inform those

models, but also the data to up in the north pacific. we have great science up here but we just need to double up and make sure that the funding is there to encourage. senator, we do appreciate all of the work that you have done for the north pacific and the fisheries. i cannot let the hearing close without thinking you once again. job on soone a great many of these issues. general, u.s. well. dr. francis, i know the senator holds you in very high regard as well. thank you to the witnesses for a productive hearing. we saw a lot of bipartisan participation in this hearing

and the record for the hearing will remain open for an additional two week. if the senators have additional questions, they will submit them for the record. back aset those answers soon as you can and we would greatly appreciate that. thank you you to the witnesses again. a lot of good information and important issues that we need to work together on. informationortant to digest, living forward on -- moving forward on. with that, this meeting is adjourned.

[captions copyright national cable satellite corp. 2020] [captioning performed by the national captioning institute, which is responsible for its caption content and accuracy. visit ncicap.org]

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