WEBVTT 00:04.189 --> 00:06.162 - Hello again, and welcome to another edition 00:06.162 --> 00:09.738 of Strategic Studies Quarterly, Issues and Answers. 00:09.738 --> 00:11.967 Today it is my great pleasure to welcome 00:11.967 --> 00:15.218 a very special guest, the honorable Heather Wilson, 00:15.218 --> 00:18.167 Secretary of the United States Air Force. 00:18.167 --> 00:21.673 Secretary Wilson is the highest ranking civilian leader 00:21.673 --> 00:24.785 in the Department of the Air Force responsible for 00:24.785 --> 00:28.035 organizing, training and equipping airmen 00:28.035 --> 00:30.822 and air forces in defense of the nation. 00:30.822 --> 00:32.703 Madam Secretary, thank you for being here. 00:32.703 --> 00:33.701 - It's my pleasure. 00:33.701 --> 00:36.186 - So let's get to some of the large issues 00:36.186 --> 00:38.136 facing the Air Force today. 00:38.136 --> 00:40.806 And I'd like to start with an overarching question 00:40.806 --> 00:43.221 and see if you can give us an idea of what 00:43.221 --> 00:46.774 are some of your greatest short-term and long-term 00:46.774 --> 00:49.839 challenges for the Air Force that have 00:49.839 --> 00:52.231 National Security implications? 00:52.231 --> 00:54.808 ^- We've actually set five goals for the Air Force. 00:54.808 --> 00:57.409 ^The first is to restore the readiness of the force 00:57.409 --> 00:59.684 ^and second is cost-effective modernization. 00:59.684 --> 01:01.890 ^We've got modernization across the board 01:01.890 --> 01:05.582 ^over the next 10 years, fighters, bombers, space assets, 01:05.582 --> 01:07.254 ^the nuclear deterrent. 01:07.254 --> 01:09.019 The third is the development of leaders, 01:09.019 --> 01:11.178 which long-term matters more to the Air Force 01:11.178 --> 01:12.502 than just about anything else. 01:12.502 --> 01:14.917 If we can get the right leadership for the long-term 01:14.917 --> 01:17.584 and continue to develop leaders. 01:17.912 --> 01:20.884 The fourth has to do with innovation and driving innovation 01:20.884 --> 01:24.460 so that we stay ahead of the adversary for the long term. 01:24.460 --> 01:26.944 And finally, it's deepening our partnerships 01:26.944 --> 01:28.277 with our allies. 01:28.849 --> 01:30.056 - Those are all very, 01:30.056 --> 01:32.773 very important challenges and I'm glad you mentioned 01:32.773 --> 01:35.071 innovation because this is one of the things you talked 01:35.071 --> 01:39.238 about very early on in your tenure and it seems to mean 01:39.553 --> 01:43.448 integrating artificial intelligence and autonomous systems. 01:43.448 --> 01:45.865 So can you give us a sense of 01:46.815 --> 01:50.181 what Air Force areas are most promising for that? 01:50.181 --> 01:52.573 - Well, actually it's not limited to artificial intelligence 01:52.573 --> 01:54.036 or autonomous systems. 01:54.036 --> 01:56.637 It has to do with what are the basic 01:56.637 --> 01:58.935 and applied areas of research 01:58.935 --> 02:01.745 that we're looking at and how do we drive those 02:01.745 --> 02:04.671 into systems, how do we get from the lab bench 02:04.671 --> 02:06.807 to the flight line faster? 02:06.807 --> 02:09.222 So we've got a 12 month review on, 02:09.222 --> 02:12.055 on the science and technology strategy of the Air Force, 02:12.055 --> 02:13.819 where we're going to invest and then how 02:13.819 --> 02:15.236 we're going to do it. 02:15.236 --> 02:19.000 But the culture of innovation really also goes beyond 02:19.000 --> 02:21.578 just science, technology and acquisition of systems 02:21.578 --> 02:25.130 to the way in which we do our jobs and our business. 02:25.130 --> 02:27.940 The Air Force can be a little bit top-down sometimes 02:27.940 --> 02:29.273 and a little bit 02:29.612 --> 02:32.863 dependent on Air Force instructions and we want to 02:32.863 --> 02:35.092 get away from that so that we 02:35.092 --> 02:38.064 tell people what to do and not how to do it, 02:38.064 --> 02:41.897 and let them surprise us with their ingenuity. 02:42.035 --> 02:44.821 - Another point you mentioned that I'd like to 02:44.821 --> 02:47.700 focus on is since becoming Secretary, 02:47.700 --> 02:50.626 you've made some major changes in the space realm, 02:50.626 --> 02:53.459 and those have not gone unnoticed. 02:53.644 --> 02:57.811 So can you share with us the Air Force vision for space 02:57.847 --> 02:59.847 and where do we go next? 03:00.703 --> 03:02.004 - Well, we built, 03:02.004 --> 03:04.528 you know the Air Force has been really the leader 03:04.528 --> 03:07.314 for the services in space since the 1950s. 03:07.314 --> 03:10.565 We provide weather, we provide communications, 03:10.565 --> 03:13.421 we provide command and control for the President 03:13.421 --> 03:16.463 and the Secretary of Defense, we provide position, 03:16.463 --> 03:19.713 navigation and timing, GPS for the world so, 03:19.713 --> 03:22.407 and we provide indications and warning of missile launch. 03:22.407 --> 03:23.939 So there are a lot of important things that the 03:23.939 --> 03:27.956 Air Force does in space but we built all of those things 03:27.956 --> 03:30.487 at a time when there wasn't much of a threat in space. 03:30.487 --> 03:32.461 So, so we built a glass house 03:32.461 --> 03:34.713 before the invention of stones, 03:34.713 --> 03:37.871 and now we are in a situation where China in particular 03:37.871 --> 03:42.038 but also Russia are developing the ability to deny us 03:42.121 --> 03:46.045 access to space and the ability to function and operate 03:46.045 --> 03:46.878 in space. 03:47.229 --> 03:49.342 So we are shifting to a new environment, 03:49.342 --> 03:51.850 where we have to not only be able to operate, 03:51.850 --> 03:55.704 we have to be able to deter and defend in space. 03:55.704 --> 03:56.621 That is new 03:57.585 --> 04:01.207 and it will require both resources, changes in training, 04:01.207 --> 04:04.621 development of doctrine and operating concepts 04:04.621 --> 04:05.875 and then, of course, 04:05.875 --> 04:08.777 the equipment to be able to take a punch 04:08.777 --> 04:10.527 and keep on fighting. 04:11.819 --> 04:14.740 - One of the things we do a lot of publishing on 04:14.740 --> 04:16.823 in SSQ is nuclear issues. 04:17.998 --> 04:20.165 And in October, the Chief, 04:21.016 --> 04:23.176 on a visit to the nuclear force, 04:23.176 --> 04:25.428 to several of the nuclear bases, 04:25.428 --> 04:29.011 the Chief encouraged air men to think about 04:29.120 --> 04:32.673 beyond Cold Wars uses for ICBMs, bombers and 04:32.673 --> 04:35.552 nuclear cruise missiles and particularly 04:35.552 --> 04:37.874 he talked about thinking about new ways that 04:37.874 --> 04:40.985 nuclear weapons could be used for deterrents, 04:40.985 --> 04:43.238 not only for deterrents but also for 04:43.238 --> 04:46.321 even combat, so is this an early sign 04:46.558 --> 04:50.459 of a possible change in nuclear weapons policy? 04:50.459 --> 04:52.108 - We have the Nuclear Posture Review 04:52.108 --> 04:53.849 which we expect to be, 04:53.849 --> 04:54.682 to be 04:54.894 --> 04:55.811 released in 04:56.311 --> 04:58.424 early next year, but I think what the Chief 04:58.424 --> 05:00.699 was talking about was thinking about what our 05:00.699 --> 05:04.449 adversaries are doing and how they are likely 05:04.461 --> 05:06.458 to use nuclear weapons in a conflict? 05:06.458 --> 05:07.851 What is their doctrine 05:07.851 --> 05:09.778 and potential use of them? 05:09.778 --> 05:10.611 So I think 05:11.171 --> 05:12.338 if we look at, 05:13.563 --> 05:17.325 at the future of warfare, it is not inconceivable 05:17.325 --> 05:20.599 that you might have an adversary use nuclear weapons 05:20.599 --> 05:21.849 in a way that's 05:22.270 --> 05:25.010 limited in conflict and we won't just have a 05:25.010 --> 05:28.702 nuclear conflict, it may be a conventional conflict 05:28.702 --> 05:31.048 in which a nuclear weapon had been used 05:31.048 --> 05:32.381 by an adversary. 05:32.580 --> 05:35.088 What does that mean for us as an Air Force? 05:35.088 --> 05:37.781 How do we operate in that environment 05:37.781 --> 05:39.781 and continue to prevail? 05:40.336 --> 05:42.797 And I think that's probably what he was talking about, 05:42.797 --> 05:45.212 that we need to think about that. 05:45.212 --> 05:46.795 It may not be with, 05:46.953 --> 05:49.415 beyond the realm of possibility and that's also 05:49.415 --> 05:52.596 potentially true in the North Korean threat as well. 05:52.596 --> 05:54.616 - This is something we would not have, 05:54.616 --> 05:56.752 have not historically thought about? 05:56.752 --> 05:59.097 - Historically when we think about deterrents 05:59.097 --> 06:02.650 and deterrents of the use of nuclear forces and then 06:02.650 --> 06:06.342 certainly in the Cold War, the possibility of, 06:06.342 --> 06:09.500 of what happens if deterrents fails facing, at that time, 06:09.500 --> 06:12.402 the Soviet Union, the presumption was that once 06:12.402 --> 06:14.235 something went nuclear 06:15.096 --> 06:16.096 that it was, 06:16.744 --> 06:18.327 it was all nuclear. 06:19.461 --> 06:21.365 I don't think that's the presumption anymore, 06:21.365 --> 06:23.292 or that we can make that presumption anymore 06:23.292 --> 06:27.314 and we need to be thinking about what would happen 06:27.314 --> 06:30.425 if a power used a nuclear weapon in the context 06:30.425 --> 06:33.092 of a largely conventional fight? 06:34.465 --> 06:35.673 - I want to go back to 06:35.673 --> 06:37.972 something you mentioned in the answer to the first question, 06:37.972 --> 06:40.201 and that's the idea of readiness. 06:40.201 --> 06:42.964 So Congress is debating whether to authorize another 06:42.964 --> 06:44.964 round of space closures. 06:45.866 --> 06:48.560 What is your perspective on BRAC and what is, 06:48.560 --> 06:51.927 what do you think the probability is that it will occur? 06:51.927 --> 06:54.574 - The Congress did consider it this year in the 06:54.574 --> 06:56.478 Bill that the President of the United States 06:56.478 --> 06:57.778 just signed this morning. 06:57.778 --> 06:59.636 There is no authorization for 06:59.636 --> 07:01.354 Base Realignment and Closure. 07:01.354 --> 07:03.955 I think the thing they were thinking about this year 07:03.955 --> 07:05.836 was authorizing another round of 07:05.836 --> 07:08.506 Base Realignment and Closure out in the future 07:08.506 --> 07:11.269 so that the services could do the full analysis of what 07:11.269 --> 07:14.032 we really need and that that round of 07:14.032 --> 07:17.199 Base Closure could be better informed. 07:17.213 --> 07:19.721 They actually didn't do that in this year's 07:19.721 --> 07:21.971 Defense Authorization Bill. 07:22.020 --> 07:23.761 Of course, they can do it any year. 07:23.761 --> 07:26.130 I think it would be highly unlikely they would do it 07:26.130 --> 07:29.172 in an election year, it's very hard to get the votes 07:29.172 --> 07:32.237 for Base Realignment and Closure particularly in the House, 07:32.237 --> 07:34.350 and it's even harder to get those during an 07:34.350 --> 07:35.517 election year. 07:37.136 --> 07:39.714 - You also talked about and mentioned the, 07:39.714 --> 07:43.797 the difference between the demand signal and the, 07:43.916 --> 07:47.290 and the supply balance between what the combatant commanders 07:47.290 --> 07:51.006 are asking for and what the services can deliver. 07:51.006 --> 07:51.839 So, 07:52.492 --> 07:55.301 how close is the Air Force to saying no to some of that 07:55.301 --> 07:57.507 demand and if that's the case, 07:57.507 --> 08:00.007 where might that happen first? 08:00.549 --> 08:04.716 - We are too small for all that the nation is asking of us. 08:05.170 --> 08:07.167 And it has affected our readiness. 08:07.167 --> 08:09.953 Our readiness rates are far too low. 08:09.953 --> 08:12.020 ^And it's not, it's not that we're not ready for the 08:12.020 --> 08:15.433 ^missions that we're doing now, particularly against ISIS, 08:15.433 --> 08:19.032 ^it's that those wings and squadrons that are, 08:19.032 --> 08:22.051 ^that are forward deployed and in the fight against ISIS 08:22.051 --> 08:26.068 are not simultaneously prepared for a high-end fight 08:26.068 --> 08:27.818 against an adversary, 08:27.972 --> 08:29.690 you know, a high-end adversary. 08:29.690 --> 08:30.940 So, so, we are, 08:31.594 --> 08:33.261 we are not ready for 08:33.637 --> 08:35.518 all of the missions assigned to us. 08:35.518 --> 08:37.515 Now that doesn't mean we won't go. 08:37.515 --> 08:38.432 We will go. 08:38.932 --> 08:40.859 But what the nation needs to understand is that 08:40.859 --> 08:42.716 fewer people will come back. 08:42.716 --> 08:45.712 That's what lower levels of readiness mean. 08:45.712 --> 08:46.989 With respect to, you know, 08:46.989 --> 08:49.404 when do we come to point where we tell the 08:49.404 --> 08:51.540 combatant commander we can't do this, 08:51.540 --> 08:53.522 and the Air Force airmen are all in. 08:53.522 --> 08:54.636 We are after the mission. 08:54.636 --> 08:57.028 We do what the nation demands. 08:57.028 --> 09:00.348 The only area where we have said we can not do more 09:00.348 --> 09:01.181 than x, 09:01.277 --> 09:04.180 was in the remotely piloted aircraft community where 09:04.180 --> 09:07.776 we have said we can't do more than 60 combat air patrols. 09:07.776 --> 09:10.191 That's what we can do until we get well. 09:10.191 --> 09:12.274 And it was because we had 09:12.629 --> 09:15.950 crews that were flying, you know, 12 on, 12 off, 09:15.950 --> 09:17.867 six days a week with no 09:18.225 --> 09:22.392 break in sight and we had to be able to man that force 09:23.125 --> 09:26.792 and have it be a more reasonable expectation 09:27.211 --> 09:28.711 for the long-term. 09:30.207 --> 09:32.459 - So this is an, should be an easier question then, 09:32.459 --> 09:34.209 related to readiness. 09:35.501 --> 09:37.916 If you had complete authority to change three things 09:37.916 --> 09:41.083 within the DOD, what would you change? 09:41.120 --> 09:43.303 - Well, that's an interesting question. 09:43.303 --> 09:44.470 The first one, 09:45.021 --> 09:46.925 probably has to do with operations tempo 09:46.925 --> 09:48.597 and the size of the force. 09:48.597 --> 09:50.597 We are too small and so, 09:51.244 --> 09:55.077 so I would increase the size of the Air Force. 09:55.563 --> 09:59.510 I would probably do it to prepare for the high-end fight 09:59.510 --> 10:01.760 but also to reduce the cost 10:01.832 --> 10:04.247 of the fight against violent extremism. 10:04.247 --> 10:05.617 What do I mean by that? 10:05.617 --> 10:07.950 I don't think we really need 10:08.729 --> 10:12.896 and F 22 to go after a narcotics factory in Afghanistan. 10:14.092 --> 10:16.832 I think we may be able to do that with, 10:16.832 --> 10:18.665 with different kind of 10:19.294 --> 10:21.627 lower-end air power or less, 10:21.662 --> 10:23.543 you know, we don't need stealth aircraft 10:23.543 --> 10:25.029 to be able to do that. 10:25.029 --> 10:27.181 And so how can we do that at a, 10:27.181 --> 10:28.264 a lower cost? 10:29.642 --> 10:30.805 I would say that so, 10:30.805 --> 10:32.673 so increasing the size of the service 10:32.673 --> 10:34.949 is probably one of the most important things. 10:34.949 --> 10:38.153 The second thing is to continue to streamline acquisition 10:38.153 --> 10:41.334 so that we can get capability to the war fighter faster, 10:41.334 --> 10:42.542 and that's across the board. 10:42.542 --> 10:44.260 That's the setting of requirements, 10:44.260 --> 10:47.929 that's using experimentation and prototyping, 10:47.929 --> 10:49.762 it's not having to do, 10:50.485 --> 10:51.902 to take two years 10:51.916 --> 10:54.610 to do an analysis of alternatives 10:54.610 --> 10:57.193 to be able to set requirements. 10:57.210 --> 11:00.949 We need to move faster when it comes to acquisition 11:00.949 --> 11:02.876 and that means taking some more risks. 11:02.876 --> 11:04.734 There are gonna be some things that fail. 11:04.734 --> 11:06.800 Well let's fail fast and learn from it 11:06.800 --> 11:09.717 and then move on to the next thing. 11:10.353 --> 11:12.675 - I'd like to change focus slightly 11:12.675 --> 11:14.672 and focus on a couple of, 11:14.672 --> 11:15.856 on a personal question 11:15.856 --> 11:17.249 on a personal level. 11:17.249 --> 11:19.548 What are the, or were there some formative events 11:19.548 --> 11:22.845 in your life that you feel may have helped prepare you 11:22.845 --> 11:25.864 to become Secretary of the Air Force? 11:25.864 --> 11:27.837 - There's probably nothing that prepares you 11:27.837 --> 11:29.504 for a job like this. 11:30.067 --> 11:30.900 I think, 11:31.831 --> 11:33.155 so I grew up around Airmen. 11:33.155 --> 11:36.591 I mean, my grandfather was a flyer, my father was a flyer, 11:36.591 --> 11:37.868 built airplanes as well as, 11:37.868 --> 11:41.050 so both my father and grandfather were mechanics 11:41.050 --> 11:42.550 as well as pilots. 11:43.093 --> 11:45.260 So I grew up around flyers 11:46.158 --> 11:49.269 and of course went to the Air Force Academy. 11:49.269 --> 11:52.269 So I think that sense has helped me. 11:53.217 --> 11:55.980 I don't come from completely outside the ethic 11:55.980 --> 11:58.418 of the service but I would also say that I've had 11:58.418 --> 11:59.672 a really unusual career. 11:59.672 --> 12:01.971 I've served in the Congress, I've been a college President, 12:01.971 --> 12:03.735 I've worked with the National Labs, 12:03.735 --> 12:04.896 I've started a company. 12:04.896 --> 12:06.684 I've done a lot of different things. 12:06.684 --> 12:08.797 And every day in this job, 12:08.797 --> 12:12.964 there is some experience in life that I'm drawing on. 12:13.270 --> 12:14.187 And it's a, 12:15.020 --> 12:18.176 when I remember being a kid, I lived at the end of this 12:18.176 --> 12:21.259 dead end road in rural New Hampshire. 12:22.447 --> 12:23.864 And my dad would, 12:25.235 --> 12:27.902 remember the snap-on tool truck? 12:27.905 --> 12:29.066 They come to the, 12:29.066 --> 12:30.436 they had a traveling salesman, 12:30.436 --> 12:32.804 you know the red box with the snap-on tools? 12:32.804 --> 12:34.731 He'd come around and he'd, 12:34.731 --> 12:37.309 whenever my, that guy came to our house, 12:37.309 --> 12:40.119 my dad lit up like it was Christmas. 12:40.119 --> 12:42.185 And he'd go out and he'd lean against the truck 12:42.185 --> 12:44.832 and he'd laugh with this guy and they'd talk and so on 12:44.832 --> 12:47.781 and eventually my dad would buy some tool, you know, 12:47.781 --> 12:50.126 some new socket wrench or some, you know, 12:50.126 --> 12:51.636 set of screws, whatever it was. 12:51.636 --> 12:54.445 The guy would come about every month or so, you know, 12:54.445 --> 12:57.139 and he'd, my dad would just be chuckling and walk back 12:57.139 --> 12:59.321 in the garage and he had a box, a tool box, 12:59.321 --> 13:02.270 and he'd put another tool in his box. 13:02.270 --> 13:03.826 Life's like that, you know? 13:03.826 --> 13:06.729 We're always putting tools in our box 13:06.729 --> 13:08.229 and you never know 13:08.377 --> 13:11.068 when one of those tools that you got 13:11.068 --> 13:13.226 couple years ago for something 13:13.226 --> 13:15.178 can come in handy for a new job. 13:15.178 --> 13:16.965 And so I think that my best advice 13:16.965 --> 13:19.496 and my best thing in life has been to always keep 13:19.496 --> 13:21.238 putting tools in my box. 13:21.238 --> 13:24.465 - Wow, that's good, and don't throw them out. 13:24.465 --> 13:28.632 So 2017 marks the 70th anniversary of the Air Force. 13:29.133 --> 13:33.300 What do you see as the promise for the next 70 years? 13:33.846 --> 13:35.193 ^- I think 70 years from now 13:35.193 --> 13:37.933 ^we will be an Air and Space Force, 13:37.933 --> 13:40.139 ^or maybe even a Space and Air Force. 13:40.139 --> 13:42.252 ^You know, I was talking to an Airman this morning, 13:42.252 --> 13:44.342 ^and he said, he told me this story, 13:44.342 --> 13:47.175 ^it was a wonderful story, that he remembers 13:47.175 --> 13:48.707 when he was eight years old, 13:48.707 --> 13:52.874 walking into the theater in Cape Cod, Massachusetts 13:53.281 --> 13:57.114 and watching Luke Skywalker get into his craft 13:57.136 --> 13:59.621 and flying from the Earth into space 13:59.621 --> 14:00.758 and then back. 14:00.758 --> 14:02.639 It wasn't Earth, it was one of those planets 14:02.639 --> 14:04.472 in Luke Skywalker but, 14:04.543 --> 14:05.626 in Star Wars, 14:07.442 --> 14:08.347 but we're gonna, 14:08.347 --> 14:10.530 we're gonna be there where, 14:10.530 --> 14:12.113 where that boundary 14:12.411 --> 14:15.968 between Earth and space doesn't make as much 14:15.968 --> 14:17.385 difference to us. 14:17.546 --> 14:18.546 And I think, 14:19.474 --> 14:21.935 I think that's coming for the Air Force. 14:21.935 --> 14:24.698 I think we will have integrated domains, 14:24.698 --> 14:27.554 air, space and cyber to protect this country. 14:27.554 --> 14:30.387 And I think we will continue to be 14:32.175 --> 14:34.358 a bunch of bicycle mechanics who innovate 14:34.358 --> 14:35.775 and get after it. 14:36.889 --> 14:37.892 - Madam Secretary, 14:37.892 --> 14:40.470 you've given us a lot to think about 14:40.470 --> 14:42.387 and detailed quite well 14:42.397 --> 14:44.301 the challenges and the opportunities 14:44.301 --> 14:45.485 facing the Air Force. 14:45.485 --> 14:47.485 So on behalf of team SSQ 14:47.784 --> 14:49.572 and all of our viewing audience, 14:49.572 --> 14:51.546 thanks very much for sharing your ideas and 14:51.546 --> 14:53.612 your valuable time with us. 14:53.612 --> 14:55.029 And we wish you all the best 14:55.029 --> 14:56.236 as Secretary of the Air Force. 14:56.236 --> 14:57.069 - Thank you, sir, appreciate it. 14:57.069 --> 14:58.486 - You're welcome. 14:59.162 --> 15:01.995 (whimsical music)