DAYTON: Thank you. I was intrigued by your answer on page 20 of your response about you believe it's in the national security interest of the United States that all land-based ICBMs be de-MIRVed. And you said there are no significant military advantages to the elimination of MIRVed, land-based ICBMs, which has particular relevance, given President Putin's comments that that might be a Soviet response to our pulling out of the ABM Treaty.

Could you elaborate on that, please, sir?

MYERS: As I recall that question, I think I was talking about the significance of U.S. missiles. We have, as you know, de-MIRVed some under previous agreements. And we still have some that are MIRVed.

DAYTON: Maybe I'm misinterpreting because the question that preceded that referred to the Russians, that they may not de-MIRV. And you pointed out correctly that START II Treaty is not in force.

MYERS: Right.

DAYTON: So that they're not being required to do so. So maybe I misunderstood. Let me just rephrase it then and say would that be of strategic and security concern to the United States if Russia took the position that it would not de-MIRV its nuclear warheads in response to something such as withdrawing from the ABM Treaty?

MYERS: I don't think the issue of whether they're MIRVed or de- MIRVed is really the issue. The issue to me would be, first of all, what is our strategic relationship with Russia? And today, I think it's quite different than it was, obviously, during the Cold War.

The second point would be that it would be the overall levels of warheads that would be of concern. The missile defense system is conceived as one of limited defense, so whether they're MIRVed or de- MIRVed, that's really not an issue about overwhelming defenses because it will probably never be the case that we'll have a defense against a large attack. I would be more concerned with the total number of warheads that are on delivery vehicles and, in accordance with presidential guidance, trying to take that to the lowest level possible, consistent with our national security needs.

DAYTON: Thank you. Finally, I was very impressed with your statement about the lessons you learned in your previous positions. You said, "First the armed forces aren't made up of people; rather, that the people are the armed forces." Sometimes we lose that focus. I thought that was very well stated and very appropriately so.

This committee, in my brief time here, has focused itself on meeting some of the needs that haven't been sufficiently addressed in support of the men and women who make up our armed forces. And I know that the authorization bill we're going to be acting on next week will take a further step forward.

What else can we do or must we do to provide the kind of support they deserve?

MYERS: I think we need, senator, I absolutely agree with you. And we made great strides. And this committee has led the charge. And, in fact, the Congress has led the charge in making sure we have appropriate pay.

We've worked some housing issues. We've worked medical benefits. These are issues, though, that if you don't keep working them, you're going backwards.

And so pay comparability is an issue we need to continue to work. And you saw in the '02, the bill you've just all worked very hard on, that was a big issue. There is the housing issues, not only the adequacy of the housing that we provide, but the housing pay to our folks to make sure there is not exorbitant out-of-pocket expenses for their housing needs.

And then I would say access to medical care continues to be an issue, as we try to find that right balance between what we do in- service and what we do with managed care. And I'm sure your constituents have probably told you, there are issues there with access that we need to continue to work.

DAYTON: Thank you very much, general. I'm assured that you will help us not only make sure we don't go backward, but also that we can move forward. We're going to ask you also to apply that consideration to the reserves as well, the National Guard, the men and women who make those up.

MYERS: Any time I talked about armed forces, sir, I'm talking about the total team, which includes, by the way, those civilians, those Department of Defense civilians, some of whom were tragically killed in the recent attack on the Pentagon. We are one team.

DAYTON: Well stated. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman.

BEN NELSON: Senator Sessions?

SESSIONS: Thank you, Mr. Chairman.

Congratulations, General Myers. It's a great honor to be given this high post. And I know that you will give your very best to it. I congratulate your wife and for your great career together.

Everybody wants to claim a piece of your background. And I certainly will. I note that you attended Maxwell Air War College in Montgomery, Alabama and got your master's degree from that great -- one of America's great universities, Auburn University.

MYERS: Yes, sir.

SESSIONS: So we're delighted to see you achieve this great and high honor. You know, I was at the Pentagon yesterday. And in the course of that, had the opportunity to talk to a lieutenant colonel who was in his office when the plane hit, on that very side.

He said he was blown across the room, up against the wall. He got outside and realized just how bad it was.

And he and a sergeant broke out a window and went back in; described one person coming out all in flames, that they had to put him down and put the fire out. And that gentleman was saying over and over again, "There are others in there. Please go back and help those who are in there." And they went back repeatedly until the fire marshal told them not to go back in.

It's the kind of courage and commitment and dedication to unity and to one another, I think, that is characteristic of our armed forces. And I do believe we have the greatest armed forces in the world. And I know that you are terribly honored to be able to lead that.

MYERS: Definitely, senator.

SESSIONS: I thought I would just ask you a few questions that are real fundamental and will go to your challenges in your job, not unlike what you and I discussed when you came by for a visit, and that is basically about our budget. President Bush this year is proposing -- and will achieve, I believe -- a $38 billion increase, over $30 billion increase in our defense budget from $290-something (billion) last year to nearly $330 (billion) this year and with a supplemental in between.

So it's a major increase. But we've committed to do more for our men and women in uniform and their pay and benefits. And much needs to be done.

It's distressing to me -- and I'll ask you if you will agree -- that even with this largest increase we've had in over a decade, that we still are not able to do as much as we need to be doing to recapitalize our aircraft, our ships and our Army and Marine equipment.

MYERS: Senator Sessions, that's absolutely the case. The account -- the modernization account, if you will -- has been, for a lot of this past decade, been used to ensure current readiness and current operations. So we borrowed from that account to make sure we're ready to do what we have to do today.

We're reaching the point now where our shipbuilding accounts, our aircraft modernization accounts, Army transformation accounts are short. And the average age of our aircraft continues to go up. Things are just getting older.

The consequences of that are that it costs more to maintain them and that they're not always as ready as we want them to be when we have to call upon them. That is a major challenge, is how to balance our modernization and transformation needs with our current readiness needs and our personnel needs, the three major elements of our budget.

So I agree with you. That's the challenge. That's one of the things that I feel that I have to focus on and have to provide advice to the secretary, as required to do so.

SESSIONS: As chairman of the joint chiefs, that will be, perhaps I would suggest, long-term service to the Department of Defense, that will be your greatest challenge, would you agree? How to handle our transformation and recapitalization?

MYERS: Yes, senator. It's got to be right up there. I would mention one other, and that is to make sure that the national military strategy, the national security strategy, national military strategy and our defense strategy are in balance with the force structure we have to do the job.

And that, I mean, it kind of goes hand in hand with what you're talking about. But those are probably the biggest challenges.

SESSIONS: Well, I think that's well said. So let's look at this. I've heard several talking heads in the last several days say that this terrorist attack was what we're going to see in the future. It's the 21st century war.

I believe Secretary Rumsfeld has said something like that. We know that doesn't mean there won't be any other kind of wars. We have to be prepared for others. But it certainly, I think, has an element of truth to it, that we are in an asymmetric threat situation that presents new and unique challenges, different from the time when we faced the Russians on the plains of Europe.

Question: do you think the leaders of these services fully understand that we do need to make transformation? Do they also understand that there will not be as much money as we'd like to have to hold on to everything that we may like to do? And is there enough commitment within the uniformed services to make the transformations that will be painful at times to get us ready to handle the threats we will be seeing in the future?

MYERS: Senator Sessions, as you know as well as I do, the service chiefs, members of the joint chiefs that I've been with here for the last year-and-a-half are the best this country has to offer. They are very smart men and they understand very well the challenges of the future.

They understand the need to modernize. They understand the need to transform their capabilities, to be responsive to the asymmetric threats that we have faced and that we will face. And I think they are absolutely the right ones to do that.

The question is always this is a tough balance between today's problem and tomorrow's challenge. And it's one, I mean, we wrestle this every day. But they are absolutely the right people to do it. And they are committed to doing it.

SESSIONS: Well, I think you're going to have to lead that. And at times, some are going to have to give up with cherished dreams for their service. Some of us in Congress may have to find some more money than we actually have been able to find so far. Even with this large increase, it's still not enough.

So I think it's going to take a combination of change, refitting for the future. I believe Secretary Rumsfeld is doing the right thing. I think he's got to challenge old established thinking. I hope you'll help him in that.

MYERS: Sir, I will. And I am committed to that as well.

SESSIONS: Thank you, Mr. Chairman.

BEN NELSON: Thank you, Senator Sessions.

I believe Senator Allard is the -- you've already asked -- have you asked questions? Okay, it's 5:00. And we are going to move to Hart 219, which is out that door. And we will ask those senators who are within my sound of my voice to come there.

Secretary Wolfowitz, I believe, is within earshot and we'll notify him.

One other announcement, which is important, which is going to affect the length of this executive session. There's going to be a 5:20 roll-call vote on the Harkin Amendment on Commerce, State, Justice, which means that we're going to have perhaps a half an hour probably for our executive session. So we are going to begin immediately. Room 219, just for senators, General Myers, Secretary Wolfowitz.

Again, general, thank you. And we look forward to a very speedy confirmation.

MYERS: Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Thank you all.

NOTES:
???? - Indicates Speaker Unknown
-- - Indicates could not make out what was being said. off mike - Indicates could not make out what was being said.

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