    [House Hearing, 117 Congress]
    [From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]

                              [H.A.S.C. No. 117-2]

                          UPDATE ON THE DEPARTMENT OF

                            DEFENSE'S EVOLVING ROLES

                           AND MISSION IN RESPONSE TO

                             THE COVID-19 PANDEMIC

                                   __________

                          COMMITTEE ON ARMED SERVICES

                            HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                        ONE HUNDRED SEVENTEENTH CONGRESS

                                 FIRST SESSION

                                   __________

                                  HEARING HELD

                               FEBRUARY 17, 2021

    [GRAPHIC NOT AVAILABLE IN TIFF FORMAT]

                                  __________

                        U.S. GOVERNMENT PUBLISHING OFFICE
    44-982                      WASHINGTON : 2021

    -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------

                          COMMITTEE ON ARMED SERVICES
                        One Hundred Seventeenth Congress

                        ADAM SMITH, Washington, Chairman

    JAMES R. LANGEVIN, Rhode Island      MIKE ROGERS, Alabama
    RICK LARSEN, Washington              JOE WILSON, South Carolina
    JIM COOPER, Tennessee                MICHAEL R. TURNER, Ohio
    JOE COURTNEY, Connecticut            DOUG LAMBORN, Colorado
    JOHN GARAMENDI, California           ROBERT J. WITTMAN, Virginia
    JACKIE SPEIER, California            VICKY HARTZLER, Missouri
    DONALD NORCROSS, New Jersey          AUSTIN SCOTT, Georgia
    RUBEN GALLEGO, Arizona               MO BROOKS, Alabama
    SETH MOULTON, Massachusetts          SAM GRAVES, Missouri
    SALUD O. CARBAJAL, California        ELISE M. STEFANIK, New York
    ANTHONY G. BROWN, Maryland,          SCOTT DesJARLAIS, Tennessee
    RO KHANNA, California                TRENT KELLY, Mississippi
    WILLIAM R. KEATING, Massachusetts    MIKE GALLAGHER, Wisconsin
    FILEMON VELA, Texas                  MATT GAETZ, Florida
    ANDY KIM, New Jersey                 DON BACON, Nebraska
    CHRISSY HOULAHAN, Pennsylvania       JIM BANKS, Indiana
    JASON CROW, Colorado                 LIZ CHENEY, Wyoming
    ELISSA SLOTKIN, Michigan             JACK BERGMAN, Michigan
    MIKIE SHERRILL, New Jersey           MICHAEL WALTZ, Florida
    VERONICA ESCOBAR, Texas              MIKE JOHNSON, Louisiana
    JARED F. GOLDEN, Maine               MARK E. GREEN, Tennessee
    ELAINE G. LURIA, Virginia, Vice      STEPHANIE I. BICE, Oklahoma
        Chair                            C. SCOTT FRANKLIN, Florida
    JOSEPH D. MORELLE, New York          LISA C. McCLAIN, Michigan
    SARA JACOBS, California              RONNY JACKSON, Texas
    KAIALI'I KAHELE, Hawaii              JERRY L. CARL, Alabama
    MARILYN STRICKLAND, Washington       BLAKE D. MOORE, Utah
    MARC A. VEASEY, Texas                PAT FALLON, Texas
    JIMMY PANETTA, California
    STEPHANIE N. MURPHY, Florida
    Vacancy

                         Paul Arcangeli, Staff Director
                    Will Johnson, Professional Staff Member
                     Kyle Noyes, Professional Staff Member
                              Emma Morrison, Clerk

                                C O N T E N T S

                                  ----------
                                                                       Page

                  STATEMENTS PRESENTED BY MEMBERS OF CONGRESS

    Rogers, Hon. Mike, a Representative from Alabama, Ranking Member,
      Committee on Armed Services....................................     3
    Smith, Hon. Adam, a Representative from Washington, Chairman,
      Committee on Armed Services....................................     1

                                   WITNESSES

    Nordhaus, Maj Gen Steven S., USAF, Director of Operations,
      National Guard Bureau..........................................     7
    Salesses, Robert G., Performing the Duties of Assistant Secretary
      of Defense for Homeland Defense and Global Security, Office of
      the Secretary of Defense.......................................     4
    Taliaferro, Maj Gen Jeffrey B., USAF, Vice Director of
      Operations, Joint Chiefs of Staff..............................     6

                                    APPENDIX

    Prepared Statements:

        Salesses, Robert G., joint with Maj Gen Jeffrey B. Taliaferro
          and Maj Gen Steven S. Nordhaus.............................    53

    Documents Submitted for the Record:

        DOD Diagnostics & Testing Update Charts......................    75

    Witness Responses to Questions Asked During the Hearing:

        Mr. Langevin.................................................    79
        Mr. Scott....................................................    79
        Mr. Waltz....................................................    79

    Questions Submitted by Members Post Hearing:

        Mr. Brown....................................................    84
        Mr. Kahele...................................................    83
        Mr. Morelle..................................................    83

                     UPDATE ON THE DEPARTMENT OF DEFENSE'S
        EVOLVING ROLES AND MISSION IN RESPONSE TO THE COVID-19 PANDEMIC

                                  ----------

                              House of Representatives,
                                   Committee on Armed Services,
                          Washington, DC, Wednesday, February 17, 2021.
        The committee met, pursuant to call, at 11:02 a.m., in room
    2118, Rayburn House Office Building, Hon. Adam Smith (chairman
    of the committee) presiding.

      OPENING STATEMENT OF HON. ADAM SMITH, A REPRESENTATIVE FROM
           WASHINGTON, CHAIRMAN, COMMITTEE ON ARMED SERVICES

        The Chairman. Good morning. We will call the meeting to
    order.
        We welcome our witnesses, members, and staff. This hearing
    will be hybrid. There are a few members here in committee, and
    most members are participating remotely. So I have a script
    that I must read to explain how all of that will play out.
        Members who are joining remotely must be visible on screen
    for the purposes of identity verification, establishing and
    maintaining a quorum, participating in the proceeding, and
    voting. Those members must continue to use the software
    platform's video function while in attendance, unless they
    experience connectivity issues or other technical problems that
    render them unable to participate on camera.
        If a member experiences technical difficulties, they should
    contact the committee staff for assistance. Video of members'
    participation will be broadcast in the room and via the
    television/internet feed. Members participating remotely must
    seek recognition verbally, and they are asked mute their
    microphones when they are not speaking.
        Members who are participating remotely are reminded to keep
    the software platform's video function on the entire time they
    attend the proceeding. Members may leave and rejoin the
    proceeding. If members depart for a short while for reasons
    other than joining a different proceeding, they should leave
    the video function on.
        If members will be absent for a significant period or
    depart to join a different proceeding, they should exit the
    software platform entirely, and then rejoin it if they return.
    Members may use the software platform's chat feature to
    communicate with staff regarding technical or logistical
    support issues only.
        Finally, I have designated a committee staff member to, if
    necessary, mute unrecognized members' microphones to cancel any
    inadvertent background noise that may disrupt the proceedings.
        Well, thank you. We are here this morning to get an update
    from the Department of Defense on their evolving roles and
    missions in response to the COVID-19 [coronavirus disease 2019]
    pandemic. We have had a number of these hearings over the
    course of the last 9 or 10 months. I very much appreciate the
    Department's cooperation in that process.
        And this morning we have with us Dr. Robert Salesses, who
    is performing the duties of Assistant Secretary of Defense for
    Homeland Defense and Global Security; Major General Jeff
    Taliaferro, who is the Vice Director for Operations for the
    Joint Chiefs; and Major General Steven Nordhaus, who is the
    Director of Operations for the National Guard Bureau.
        I appreciate all of you being here this morning. And for
    the record, our witnesses are here in person. We have many
    members who are here virtually.
        And before we get started, I do want to thank our staff, in
    general, Doug Bush, in particular, who has done an outstanding
    job of making this process work. It hasn't been easy, but I
    think it has been very, very effective. We have been able to
    conduct the business of this committee effectively while still
    accommodating the needs to deal with the COVID pandemic. So it
    has been a lot of work, and I definitely appreciate that work.
        I also want to thank the Department for their leadership
    and efforts on the COVID pandemic. There is a number of
    different layers to this, which we will want to get into today.
    Obviously, at the top, you know, is the protection of the
    force, Active Duty, civilian, and guardsmen. How are we able to
    continue to maintain readiness, maintain performance of the
    duties, while at the same time protecting our service members
    from the pandemic and stopping the spread. There has been a lot
    that DOD [Department of Defense] has done to make that happen.
        Learning more about how it is going, how it has gone, is
    enormously helpful, because I think in many ways the Department
    of Defense has been a leader in some of that, in guiding all of
    us into how we can get our work done and still contain the
    virus. So I appreciate hearing about that.
        Also, as we know, the Guard has been called up to help
    support States and localities in a variety of different ways
    from the beginning of this pandemic. Most urgently, in some
    cases, when communities have been overrun, they have set up
    field hospitals, and they have provided staff to meet those
    needs.
        I remember in my home State of Washington which got their
    sort of first burst in March. You know, we set up a field
    hospital at a local stadium. It turned out we didn't need it,
    which was good, but we definitely needed the support staff that
    was provided, as I know many other States have as well.
        And now as we go forward, it is going to be really
    important to see how the Department of Defense can help with
    the vaccine distribution. I would really like to learn this
    morning more about how you are participating in that, how you
    are coordinating with FEMA [Federal Emergency Management
    Agency] and HHS [Department of Health and Human Services] to
    maximize the most rapid distribution of the vaccine possible.
        Also, there are the issues surrounding, you know,
    production of the vaccine as well. I am curious what DOD is
    working on in that regard.
        And then lastly, there is the industrial base. Now, the
    industrial base is enormously important for maintaining our
    national security needs. They obviously have been stressed in
    all the ways that the rest of us have in terms of maintaining
    the workforce, in terms of providing safety for their workers.
    How is that going? How do we feel about the level of production
    in making sure that we are meeting our defense needs?
        And, again, while that may start with a focus, certainly,
    from this committee and from the Department of Defense's
    perspective on, you know, how do we protect defense needs, it
    has larger implications. Many of these companies, obviously, do
    both commercial and defense work. How are they handling that?
    Are they adequately protecting their workforce? Are they able
    to meet their needs? If they are not, how are we adjusting to
    those shortfalls?
        Many questions to be covered in this conversation and
    discussion. I look forward to the testimony and to the question
    and answer.
        And with that, I will yield to the ranking member, Mr.
    Rogers, for his opening statement.

     STATEMENT OF HON. MIKE ROGERS, A REPRESENTATIVE FROM ALABAMA,
              RANKING MEMBER, COMMITTEE ON ARMED SERVICES

        Mr. Rogers. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I appreciate you
    having this hearing today.
        Since the earliest days of the pandemic, the U.S. military
    has been on the front lines of this response, providing
    critical support to civilian authorities at Federal, State, and
    local levels.
        They repatriated thousands of Americans; hosted dozens of
    quarantine, testing, and vaccination sites; deployed two
    hospital ships and set up military field hospitals to surge
    healthcare capacity in hard-hit areas; provided thousands of
    ventilators and millions of respirators and other PPE [personal
    protective equipment] to civilian authorities; and helped
    develop the therapeutics in vaccines under Operation Warp Speed
    that are saving lives and putting an end to this pandemic.
        For this, we are eternally grateful. And while we know--
    while I know there is a desire to see DOD do more to assist
    civilian authorities, I am primarily concerned with its
    impacts--that COVID is having on our military readiness.
        Over the past year, nearly 200 Navy ships have suffered
    outbreaks, which in some cases disrupted training and
    operations. Across the services, hundreds of training exercises
    have been canceled, curtailed, or altered. This is especially
    problematic for our service members overseas who rely on
    international exercises to maintain their proficiency.
        At our shipyards and depots, and across the industrial
    base, COVID workforce reductions are cutting production
    capacity, delaying maintenance cycle, and pushing planned work
    back by months.
        While the services have done a tremendous job to mitigate
    these impacts to keep our troops on station, I remain worried
    about the cumulative impact they are having on our readiness. I
    am also very concerned with a lack of progress the DOD is
    making vaccinating our service members. It is my understanding
    that since the vaccine only received emergency use
    authorization from the FDA [Food and Drug Administration], the
    DOD is reluctant to make vaccinations mandatory at this time.
        The Department typically waits until full FDA approval
    before issuing such orders to vaccinate. However it could be
    another 2 years before these vaccines receive full FDA
    approval.
        With new variants popping up across the globe, I am not
    sure we can wait for 2 years. It is critical for our national
    security that every service member, as well as DOD civilian
    personnel and contractors, receive vaccines as soon as
    possible.
        I am interested to hear from our witnesses what percentage
    of our service members have been vaccinated, what the refusal
    rate has been, and what steps are being taken to get more shots
    into arms.
        Finally, my job is to ensure our service members have the
    resources they need to successfully carry out their mission.
    This pandemic is making that mission much harder. I hope our
    witnesses will explain what more Congress can do to help the
    services adapt and overcome.
        Thank you for being here today, and I thank you, Mr.
    Chairman. I yield back.
        The Chairman. Thank you, sir. And we will begin testimony
    now with Mr. Salesses. You may proceed.

       STATEMENT OF ROBERT G. SALESSES, PERFORMING THE DUTIES OF
    ASSISTANT SECRETARY OF DEFENSE FOR HOMELAND DEFENSE AND GLOBAL
              SECURITY, OFFICE OF THE SECRETARY OF DEFENSE

        Mr. Salesses. Good morning, Chairman Smith, Ranking Member
    Rogers, distinguished members of the committee, thank you for
    the opportunity to testify before you today on the Department
    of Defense's response to the COVID-19 pandemic.
        The COVID-19 pandemic has posed an unprecedented challenge
    to our Nation. Since the start, DOD has protected its people,
    supported the national response, ensured the readiness of the
    force to meet its national security mission.
        To protect DOD personnel from the pandemic, DOD implemented
    measures to contain and mitigate the effects on the force,
    including forced health protection guidance, restriction of
    movement orders, social distancing, mask wearing, telework on
    an unprecedented scale, and testing and contact tracing. DOD
    has also established a tiered vaccine plan, following CDC
    [Centers for Disease Control and Prevention] guidance tailored
    to DOD's unique requirements.
        As of 16 February, DOD has administered approximately
    860,000 doses of the vaccine. DOD support to the national
    response to the COVID pandemic has evolved over the last 13
    months.
        DOD assistance began in late January 2020, supporting
    embassies and consulates around the globe to repatriate U.S.
    citizens and U.S. persons to the United States. In support of
    the State Department, USTRANSCOM [U.S. Transportation Command]
    facilitated the safe return of more than 4,500 Americans. In
    support of HHS, USNORTHCOM [U.S. Northern Command] and
    INDOPACOM [U.S. Indo-Pacific Command] and the military
    departments aided the quarantine of more than 3,000 individuals
    at 13 military installations.
        As the pandemic spread over the late winter, early spring
    of 2020, hospitalizations increased rapidly, and State and
    local demands rose for both medical facilities and medical
    providers. HHS and FEMA turned to DOD to help meet this demand.
    NORTHCOM deployed almost 15,000 DOD personnel, including nearly
    5,000 Active Duty and Reserve medical professionals to 10
    States and multiple locations within those States.
        INDOPACOM provided similar support to Hawaii, Guam, and the
    Northern Mariana Islands. The Army Corps of Engineers designed
    and constructed 38 alternate care facilities providing
    additional medical bed capacity in multiple States.
        Working with FEMA, DOD also authorized National Guard
    personnel to carry out FEMA COVID-19 mission assignments in
    title 32 status. More than 47,000 National Guard supported
    testing, emergency medical care, medical sheltering, public
    health communications, transportation, logistics, and first
    responder support.
        DOD also played a critical role in strengthening the supply
    chain for medical resources and PPE in short supply. HHS and
    FEMA leveraged DOD's acquisition logistics expertise to
    reenforce nearly all facets of the national supply chain. FEMA
    and HHS established the Supply Chain Task Force in late March
    of 2020 which was led and heavily supported by DOD experts. The
    task force accelerated acquisition, expended production by
    generating new capacity, and allocated key resources and
    supplies to priority hotspots around the Nation. USTRANSCOM
    supported Project Airbridge which also airlifted millions more
    of critical PPE and medical supplies to fill the supply chain
    gaps.
        In late March 2020, DOD also established the COVID Joint
    Acquisition Task Force to serve as the DOD's nexus for
    supporting Federal acquisition and logistics needs. The JATF
    awarded nearly $2 billion worth of contracts to restock the
    national--the Strategic National Stockpile and expanded the
    domestic industrial base for medical supplies and equipment.
        The Defense Logistics Agency also executed more than 25,000
    contract actions for medical supplies and equipment. Building
    on decades of work studying infectious disease such as Ebola
    and the coronaviruses, research and development efforts of DOD
    experts helped genetically sequence COVID-19, and established
    the first treatment protocol for the Remdesivir in March 2020.
        Furthermore, DARPA [Defense Advanced Research Projects
    Agency] funded projects helped lay the groundwork for rapid
    development of RNA COVID-19 vaccines produced by Moderna and
    AstraZeneca.
        The Joint DOD-HHS Vaccine Task Force established in May of
    2020 accelerated the development, the manufacturing, and the
    distribution of COVID-19 vaccines in record time.
        Now at approximately 60 million vaccine doses delivered, 42
    million which have been administered, and expecting 600 million
    vaccine regiments delivered by the end of July of 2021.
        As Secretary Austin made clear in Day One message to the
    Department, DOD must move further and faster to help counter
    the COVID-19 pandemic. To that end, DOD, with FEMA, has
    developed plans to support vaccine centers able to administer
    up to 6,000 vaccines a day.
        DOD has also supported our allies and partners through the
    provision of transport of lifesaving medical equipment, PPE,
    and humanitarian aid. DOD has provided more than $200 million
    in assistance to 143 countries, including testing, diagnostic
    support, infection control, PPE, and contact tracing, and more.
        Going forward, DOD is actively implementing President
    Biden's national strategy, executive orders, and national
    security policy memorandums and is committed to executing the
    President and Secretary Austin's direction to defeat the COVID-
    19 pandemic and defend the force while protecting our Nation.
        Chairman Smith, Ranking Member Rogers, distinguished
    members of the committee, thank you for the opportunity to
    testify today. I appreciate the critical role and partnership
    Congress plays in ensuring the Department is prepared to face
    every challenge at home and abroad.
        [The joint prepared statement of Mr. Salesses, General
    Taliaferro, and General Nordhaus can be found in the Appendix
    on page 53.]
        The Chairman. Thank you. And I should have asked this up
    front, but are both of you gentlemen planning on offering
    opening statements as well?
        General Nordhaus. Yes, Chairman.
        General Taliaferro. Yes, Chairman.
        The Chairman. Then we will go to General Taliaferro.

    STATEMENT OF MAJ GEN JEFFREY B. TALIAFERRO, USAF, VICE DIRECTOR
                  OF OPERATIONS, JOINT CHIEFS OF STAFF

        General Taliaferro. Thank you, Chairman. Chairman Smith,
    Ranking Member Rogers, and distinguished members of the
    committee, thanks for the opportunity to talk about DOD
    operations in response to the pandemic today.
        The joint force has been committed to supporting the
    national COVID response effort from its beginning in early 2020
    and has responded to 374 FEMA mission assignments, 47 requests
    for assistance from other departments and agencies with many
    more expected.
        In the early days of this effort, DOD provided facilities
    to house personnel evacuated from overseas, and in March of
    2020 began providing support to the States through FEMA mission
    assignments.
        The capabilities needed by FEMA in the States evolved over
    time, but included everything from direct medical support to
    hospitals and nursing facilities, to the deployment of field
    hospitals and hospital ships, to the staffing of alternate care
    facilities, mortuary affairs, transportation, and sustainment.
        As the States and medical community learned more about
    treating the disease and responding to the pandemic, our
    primary operational headquarters, U.S. Northern Command,
    innovated and evolved its response to best meet the needs of
    our partners.
        In our initial response, we deployed traditional military
    capabilities, like field hospitals and hospital ships. But over
    time, it became clear our capabilities could be much more
    effective augmenting existing hospitals with medical personnel,
    specifically, doctors, nurses, and respiratory therapists. This
    model met the patients and hospitals where they wanted to be,
    in the treatment facilities they were used to, and enabled
    those facilities to handle the increased patient load.
        Over the past year, U.S. Northern Command has put more than
    15,000 title 10 forces in the homeland in support of COVID-19
    response efforts, including at its peak over 45,000 medical
    professionals. They have supported 63 different hospitals, 9
    alternate care facilities across the country, and today have
    over 200 personnel supporting non-hospitals in Arizona, the
    Navajo Nation, and Texas.
        U.S. Transportation Command has also moved over 900,000
    pounds of supplies, helped repatriate over 4,000 American
    citizens using military or commercially contracted aircraft.
        As the Nation's response evolves again towards the focus on
    vaccine distribution, the joint force is equally committed.
    Today, we are already supporting two vaccination distribution
    centers, one in California and one in New Jersey, and have
    ordered over 4,000 additional forces to prepare to deploy to
    support the first 25 different centers as needed.
        We are anticipating FEMA mission assignments that can come
    quickly for New York, Texas, and elsewhere, and will stay in
    lockstep with FEMA as the lead Federal agency for this effort.
        The DOD vaccination teams utilize some of the same
    capabilities from our medical facility support, but also lean
    more heavily on medics, pharmacists, and more nurses. These
    teams come in a variety of scalable sizes based on the need of
    the States.
        Just as last year, we will stay agile and continue to
    innovate and evolve this response as we learn more or the needs
    of the States change.
        Thanks for the opportunity to share experience today and
    for the work of the committee to support our efforts and our
    service members over the last year. We look forward to
    continuing to work with the committee on these important issues
    going forward. Thank you.
        The Chairman. Thank you.
        General Nordhaus.

      STATEMENT OF MAJ GEN STEVEN S. NORDHAUS, USAF, DIRECTOR OF
                   OPERATIONS, NATIONAL GUARD BUREAU

        General Nordhaus. Chairman Smith, Ranking Member Rogers,
    distinguished members of the Armed Services Committee, it is
    truly an honor to testify before you today on the National
    Guard support to COVID-19 in defeating it.
        I would like to start by highlighting the historic efforts
    of our National Guard members in our 50 States, 3 territories,
    and the District of Columbia. These are the same National Guard
    men and women who spent over 10 million days in 2020 serving
    their communities and their Nation both domestically and around
    the world. Four times more than in the previous year.
        They helped battle wildfires that damaged over 9.5 million
    acres. Over 43,100 service members helped maintain order in 34
    States, territories, and the District of Columbia last summer
    when civil disturbances threatened the public's ability to
    safely protest. And they saved lives and expedited recovery
    efforts after a record-breaking hurricane season, including 12
    named storms impacting the United States.
        As you know, the National Guard's primary focus within the
    homeland has been supporting COVID-19 operations. We currently
    have over 28,400 soldiers and airmen dedicated to COVID-19
    operations across all 54 States, territories, and the District
    of Columbia, performing a wide range of missions.
        In 2020, alone, our National Guard members tested nearly 13
    million people, provided medical planning support to local
    communities, and conducted warehouse operations to support the
    distribution of personal protective equipment and medical
    equipment to hospitals and community medical centers.
        The National Guard also provided nearly 550 million meals
    to families in need, disinfected over 9,600 long-term care
    facilities, and delivered nearly 37 million masks for frontline
    workers.
        General Hokanson, Chief of the National Guard Bureau, has
    made maximum support to COVID vaccination efforts his number
    one priority. Since early January, the National Guard has grown
    from a few civilian vaccination sites to over 350 across 42
    States and territories; 33 States and territories are employing
    National Guard service members to vaccinate citizens; and 9
    States provide wraparound services and support to local vaccine
    centers.
        As I speak, Army and Air National Guard members are
    administering on average over 72,000 vaccines a day to local
    citizens. We estimate that since the beginning of our
    vaccination efforts, the National Guard has administered over
    1.2 million vaccinations to our civilian population.
        Also, vaccinating our National Guard members and their
    families, and our civilians remains a top priority. To date,
    over 71,000 have received at least their first vaccination, and
    that number continues to climb today.
        Next, I would like to highlight to the committee the
    significant use of the dual status command in efforts to fight
    the virus. In the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina in 2005, the
    dual status command concept gained acceptance and allowed a
    National Guard officer to command both Federal and State
    members--service members responding to a domestic emergency.
        Thanks to Congress making the dual status commander a
    matter of law in the 2012 NDAA [National Defense Authorization
    Act], Governors are enabled to provide seamless command and
    control of National Guard, Active Duty, and Reserve service
    members fighting wildfires, hurricanes, and, of course, this
    virus.
        During the peak of our response in May, we had 47,400
    service members supporting COVID operations, with 41 dual
    status commanders approved, of which 9 were activated for
    command and control of Active Duty and Reserve service members
    within their State or territory. Today, there are currently 21
    approved dual status commanders with 2 activated in California
    and Texas.
        The continued investment and the readiness of the National
    Guard has paid dividends both on the battlefield and in our
    communities. Not since World War II has our National Guard been
    called upon to serve in such numbers. Last June, we had over
    120,000 service members supporting missions in our homeland and
    overseas.
        Every day, we are reminded of the sacrifices of these brave
    and women and their families, and it is with those sacrifices
    in mind that we remember the eight National Guard members who
    died as a result of COVID-19. These soldiers and airmen, while
    not serving on the front lines of COVID operations, still gave
    their full devotion to our Nation. Their legacy of service will
    live on in our memories.
        In closing, I want to thank you for this opportunity to
    tell the National Guard story. On behalf of over 443,000
    National Guard soldiers and airmen, I want to express our
    gratitude to you for your consistent and unwavering support.
        We are especially grateful for Congress' support of the
    TRICARE Transitional Assistance Management Program, known as
    TAMP, which provides 180 days of premium-free transitional
    healthcare benefits after regular TRICARE benefits end. This
    protection is crucial to our transitioning National Guard
    warriors as they demobilize and return to civilian life.
        We will remain laser focused with our interagency partners,
    civilian and military leaders, and frontline workers to help
    vaccinate our citizens and defeat COVID-19. Every day, tens of
    thousands of National Guard members, many of whom left their
    families and jobs, serve on the front lines of this battle
    saving lives and minimizing suffering across the Nation. The
    National Guard remains always ready and always there.
        I look forward to your questions.
        The Chairman. Thank you very much. Mr. Rogers alluded to
    this in his opening statement: What is the plan for vaccinating
    the DOD workforce? And that is Active Duty, civilian, Guard,
    Reserve, how are you implementing that and particularly in
    light of the comment Mr. Rogers made about not being able to
    actually mandate it?
        Mr. Salesses. Mr. Chairman, the Department has developed--
    --
        The Chairman. Could you pull the microphone just little
    closer to you there? There we go.
        Mr. Salesses. The Department has--developed a vaccine the
    material approach to the way that we will vaccinate. For
    example, in the first year, is medical professionals that are
    working----
        The Chairman. Yeah. You have to speak up.
        Okay. We are having a hard time hearing him in here as
    well. Are you sure your microphone is on?
        Mr. Salesses. Can you hear me now?
        The Chairman. Yeah. It was off.
        Mr. Salesses. That is the key to success, I guess.
        The Chairman. So, yeah, the key part--and I know the whole
    you're on a tier, you are going to do all of that.
        Mr. Salesses. Yeah.
        The Chairman. What is your estimate on when, you know, how
    soon you will get the entire force vaccinated? Are you having
    problems with members saying, ``Hey, I don't want it''? What is
    your guess on when you can get basically all of your personnel
    vaccinated?
        Mr. Salesses. So, just a little bit more perspective. This
    past week we vaccinated 170,000 members. It includes both
    military members, civilians, and contract folks, and obviously,
    beneficiaries; 170,000.
        In this tiered approach, again, we are focused on the
    frontline folks that need the vaccine to care for others, then
    we move through that process making sure that we are focused on
    specific high important mission areas, like strategic forces,
    then we move through that to the most vulnerable ages 65 and
    above, and operational forces.
        As we move through those tiers, tiers one, two, they are
    segmented in a certain way to get after everybody. The bottom
    line--your question relative to when do we think we will have
    everybody vaccinated. It will probably be sometime in late
    July, August timeframe. And we are making great progress.
        As you know, the vaccine delivery has picked up
    significantly. I mean, the vaccine delivery for the country
    this past week was 13 million doses. So it is picking up
    exponentially.
        The Chairman. Yeah, and that leads me to my second
    question, in terms of the distribution chain, and I know you
    guys are certainly focused on, you know, DOD personnel and
    those folks, but you are also involved in speeding up the
    chain. And it is simple to explain--you need to produce the
    vaccine, and then you need to get it out to people.
        Mr. Salesses. Yes.
        The Chairman. But there are, you know, a lot of details in
    that. As you are looking at the distribution chain, is there--
    how to ask this question?
        So, and I have seen the report that basically once we get
    to July, that is when we are going to get there. What are the
    bottom--what is the most important thing that DOD can do to
    speed that up? Where do you think you can be helpful? Where are
    the bottlenecks here?
        Is it, just, we don't have enough of it? Is it it is not
    getting distributed to the States, once it gets to the States,
    it is not getting out fast enough? Or is it--or are we pretty
    much doing the best we can right now'?
        Mr. Salesses. My sense is that we can do better, but we are
    doing a lot to make it happen. If I can give you a bit of a
    perspective, and I can talk specifically about what the Defense
    Department is doing.
        Obviously, the Defense Department is working very closely
    with FEMA to establish these mega and large centers. That will
    be very helpful. In fact, I visited the center in Glendale,
    Arizona, about 2 weeks ago. They are providing 8,000 shots a
    day at a drive-through center out there. That is a tremendous
    amount of vaccine shots in one day in that area.
        Our mega centers that we are working with FEMA on will also
    be able to provide up to 6,000 vaccine shots. The one is just
    established in Los Angeles, we have plans to establish them in
    Texas and New York over the coming days. And that will be very
    helpful.
        But, as you know, if I could just back up, because the
    vaccine, Pfizer and Moderna, right now we expect 100 million
    doses by the end of March of each one of those. We expect
    another 100 million doses from Pfizer and Moderna by the end of
    May, and another 100 million doses by the end of July. That
    gives you some perspective of what the supply side is.
        On the distribution side, the Defense Department is
    obviously helping with these mega and large centers. At the
    same time, there is about 30,000 centers identified the across
    the Nation with State and local authorities.
        As the vaccine becomes more readily available, it will be
    coming, obviously, in greater quantities. As I just pointed
    out, yesterday we did 1.6 million doses in arms around the
    country.
        The Chairman. And that all sounds good, and I apologize.
    Other members here are going to want to get in. Just quickly,
    is there a particular chokepoint where you are like, here is
    what we need to do. This is--I have seen this. We really need
    to get after this, or is it just sort of all kind of moving
    forward as you described?
        Mr. Salesses. Sir, I believe it is all moving forward, and
    it's beginning to ramp up much faster than what we've seen.
    Again, this started December 14th when we started to take the
    first doses. I think you are going to see a great acceleration
    over the next 30, 60, 90, 120 days until we are at the end of
    July we have delivered over 600 million doses of vaccine.
        The Chairman. Thank you very much. I appreciate it.
        Mr. Rogers.
        Mr. Rogers. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. To follow up on that
    line of question with the chairman, has there been a lack of
    supply that has held up from vaccinating more members of the
    service?
        Mr. Salesses. I think, in general, yes, sir, that is
    reasonable. I mean, it had not been produced. Obviously, we
    have hundreds of millions of people to vaccinate. If we focus
    just on DOD, our increase in supply has been growing every
    week.
        Mr. Rogers. Okay. Well, I was looking at your Joint Staff
    COVID-19 Update of February 17th and I see that between first
    dose and second dose you all have administered right at 916,000
    doses. And this could be, I guess, for General Taliaferro. I
    thought I heard you testify there were 860,000. So what is the
    delta there?
        General Taliaferro. Ranking Member, I think that certain--
    just the timeline between preparation of the remarks and
    products today, there are a lot happening each day. So as of
    today, 916,575.
        Mr. Rogers. Okay. Do we know how many of those are for
    service members as opposed to like depot workers, civilian
    personnel?
        General Taliaferro. The majority, Ranking Member, focus on
    the higher tiered members. Tier 1a and 1b which are primarily
    our healthcare workers, critical personnel. So more heavily
    focused in those areas.
        Mr. Rogers. Okay. My understanding, this puts us at about
    20 percent of the individuals we are trying to vaccinate. Is
    that about right? That is including civilian personnel and
    contractors, et cetera?
        Mr. Salesses. Correct.
        General Taliaferro. That is correct.
        Mr. Rogers. Okay. Do we know how many service members have
    received the vaccination of that 916,000?
        Mr. Salesses. Sir, I do have the numbers. What I show, and
    again these numbers, obviously, depending on when they were
    captured, either yesterday or today. I show 359,000 initial
    doses for service members. And then fully vaccinated, that
    means two shots, obviously, 147,000. I also have the civilian
    numbers and the contract numbers, if you would like those, sir?
        Mr. Rogers. Okay. What about concerns? Have you heard many
    concerns from service members about apprehensions in taking the
    vaccine? And if so, what are those concerns and how are you all
    managing them?
        General Taliaferro. Sir, Ranking Member, I think we believe
    that, of course, the vaccine is the right thing to do, it is
    clearly safe for service members, and we need to continue to
    educate our force and help them understand the benefits and
    ensure there is leadership involvement in the discussion of the
    benefits of the vaccine.
        Mr. Rogers. So do you have a handle, General Taliaferro,
    what percentage of the service members has declined?
        General Taliaferro. And so, Ranking Member, I think our
    initial, initial look--and this, of course, is very early data,
    is acceptance rates are somewhere in the two-thirds territory.
    And, of course, it varies by different groups.
        Mr. Rogers. Okay. What about--are they deployable? Somebody
    who is not vaccinated, is that individual deployable?
        Mr. Salesses. So, Ranking Member, we have--the services and
    the combatant commands have worked very hard over the last year
    to make sure that we can operate in a COVID environment. Before
    vaccines were available, the addition of the vaccine should
    make us more capable in that environment, but we have already
    demonstrated over the last year that we are fully capable of
    operating in a COVID environment.
        Mr. Rogers. So I take that to mean, yes, they are
    deployable even if they have not been vaccinated?
        General Taliaferro. Yes, sir.
        Mr. Rogers. Great. Finally, what is the current state of
    readiness across the services when it comes to COVID, and how
    has it been impacted by COVID?
        General Taliaferro. Sir, Ranking Member, I think that the
    services have been very adaptive and resilient. When larger
    formation exercises weren't possible, they substituted those
    with some smaller formations, smaller formations that have
    allowed them to maintain their basic proficiency and currency
    and combat readiness.
        At the same time, of course, there is some quality lost in
    those larger formation training and exercises. But I would say
    the overall C ratings or readiness ratings for all the services
    and combatant commands have stayed within historic norms,
    largely because of the adaptive and aggressive action by the
    services and the combatant commands.
        Mr. Rogers. Thank you, Mr. Chairman, I yield back.
        The Chairman. Thank you.
        Mr. Langevin.
        Mr. Langevin. Thank you Mr. Chairman. Am I coming across
    okay?
        The Chairman. Yeah, we got you loud and clear.
        Mr. Langevin. Very good. Thank you.
        I want to thank our witnesses for your testimony today. Let
    me begin, sort of on a follow-up to the ranking member's
    question, I am concerned about, focused on readiness as well.
        So we have seen--obviously, COVID-19 outbreaks disrupt our
    military's operations, especially Navy deployments. And while
    the Department is doing well in distributing the vaccine, it
    has a hand--last week Secretary Austin said that the Department
    does not know how many service members have declined to get
    vaccinated.
        General Nordhaus, what would be the force readiness impacts
    if fewer than 50 or 60 percent of service members accept
    vaccinations? And, just for the record, I would assume, but I
    don't want to assume, I want it to be just for the record, do
    service members have the right to refuse to get vaccinated?
    This, obviously, impacts readiness.
        So, if you could address both those aspects of the
    question.
        General Nordhaus. Congressman, thank you for the question.
    Yes, it is voluntary to receive the vaccination. As far as
    numbers that we are seeing in the National Guard, it is just
    like General Taliaferro talked about, very similar to what is
    out in the population.
        In the two-thirds to 70 percent readiness impacts, if they
    were lower than the 40 to--30 to 40 percent as you discussed, I
    can't really speak to--we have been able to operate within a
    COVID environment.
        Like Major General Taliaferro talked about, the individual
    capability of our adjutants general and how they have worked
    with flexibility and adaptable to make sure that our service
    members have, one way or another, gotten the training they need
    to be ready and to deploy. They have been very successful at
    that.
        And to this date, we are able to meet all current and
    future projected deployments for the National Guard.
        Mr. Langevin. Thank you, General.
        Mr. Salesses, the Biden administration modified the cost
    share agreement to fully fund the National Guard in title 32
    status at 100 percent and extended the authorization until
    September 31, 2021. What criteria will the Department use when
    determining whether or not to recommend any further extension
    of funding the National Guard in title 32 status after
    September 31, 2021?
        Mr. Salesses. Congressman, thank you for the question. We
    are working closely with FEMA. Obviously, the National Guard is
    filling FEMA mission requirements in support of FEMA. And so as
    we work through this together, we will make a determination as
    we get closer to the September whether the continuing efforts
    of the National Guard, obviously, is necessary. And if that is
    the case, obviously, we would be supporting 100 percent
    reimbursement going forward for that too.
        Mr. Langevin. Thank you. And I understand that the
    Department is responsible for, obviously, supporting civilian
    efforts for vaccine distribution and tracking.
        Mr. Salesses, can those responsibilities be taken over by
    large companies, like Amazon, for example, who are experienced
    in last mile delivery, what would be best in terms of actually
    function of how do we get this, get this out? Is it best in the
    National Guard, or should we be looking at the private sector
    like Amazon?
        Mr. Salesses. So, Congressman, if we are talking about
    distribution from the manufacturers, that is being done right
    now by FedEx and UPS and those kinds of organizations to the
    State level. And they are maximizing the commercial capability
    to do that. Is that helpful, Congressman?
        Mr. Langevin. So, give me a--take it from there what the
    National Guard is doing versus what the private sector is then
    doing?
        Mr. Salesses. So, once the vaccine has arrived at a
    distribution point within the State, then the State, obviously,
    the Public Health/Emergency Management State officials take
    over from there, and as far as making sure that the right
    resources at that distribution point and at that vaccination
    point are available.
        And I think that is where the National Guard has been
    tremendously helpful throughout the States with all of the
    ability to inoculate the citizens in support of their public
    health and individuals at the State level. But I will defer to
    General Nordhaus if he wants to add to how the National Guard
    is exercising that in the States----
        The Chairman. He is going to have to do that in 8 seconds.
    So why don't we take that for the record, because I think your
    time is pretty much up. But thank you. I appreciate that.
        [The information referred to can be found in the Appendix
    on page 79.]
        The Chairman. And next up is Mr. Turner, recognized for 5
    minutes.
        Mr. Turner. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I want to thank all of
    our witnesses today. DOD certainly has been extraordinary in
    its response in what has been an unbelievably difficult
    situation for our country, and it has been essential.
        General Nordhaus, I have a couple of questions about the
    National Guard. The Secretary mentioned that we are trying to
    prioritize the vaccine for those service members who are on the
    front lines, if you will, or performing functions which are not
    only essential but in which they might have exposure.
        Are the members of the Guard being appropriately
    prioritized, who are, as you indicated, serving their
    communities in the COVID response, such as serving in food
    banks, serving in vaccine supply, assisting their communities
    in ways in which they are backfilling as part of the COVID
    response, are they appropriately prioritized?
        General Nordhaus. Congressman, thanks for the question, and
    I do have to state that I am an Ohio guardsman. First of all,
    yes, we are in lockstep. We have been fully integrated in a DOD
    priority schema for the vaccination. We receive our allotment
    of vaccines, and then we follow right down the list from 1-A
    through 1-C.
        And in that top list of--in the 1-A, our guardsmen that are
    serving in COVID operations across the 54, and so they have the
    ability to get the vaccine. And we have been pushing it out
    weekly to the States so that they can get vaccinated.
        Mr. Turner. Excellent. General, I have one more follow-up
    with you. Since both of us have, you know, our roots in Ohio, I
    do want to say that this question is based on information I
    have actually in other States besides Ohio.
        Could you, please, tell me how is the chain of command
    working when National Guard work with community partners and
    are embedded in, for example, food banks, supply systems, or
    vaccine supply where there are community organizations that are
    actually conducting it? If a member has--a service member has
    concerns about how it is being operated, or even has
    recommendations, how does that work with respect to their
    participation--because they are not just obviously labor, they
    have great intellectual capability--how are we able to ensure
    that that is leveraged and that their thoughts or concerns are
    taken into consideration?
        General Nordhaus. Congressman, across the 54, from the
    beginning of this, we have been focused on the federally
    supported, locally managed. And that has been a great
    opportunity for our guardsmen as they are out and able to
    assist at the local level to help local communities be able to
    expedite, whether it is food banks or vaccines, to those in
    need.
        I will give you a for instance, this is a quote from the
    the Louisiana director of community outreach of testing and
    vaccination programs, and he talks about that the Louisiana
    National Guard have been very helpful in assisting them with
    logistics of all the sites within Louisiana, all the traffic
    control, and they are helping getting patients registered and
    really keeping things safe, orderly, and moving properly and
    efficiently.
        And so because our guardsmen are traditional, and they have
    civilian jobs all across the different entities, they bring
    those different perspectives and thoughts to every mission set
    that they go to.
        So, in South Carolina, Major General McCarty talks about
    how those guardsmen are able to come up with creative solutions
    to help solve complex problems. And so every State is using--is
    working with our interagency partners, whether it is FEMA, or
    whether it is the State health department, or whether it is the
    local community to make sure that we can support them as best
    as possible.
        Mr. Turner. Excellent. Thank you, General.
        Thank you, Chairman. I appreciate you holding this hearing.
        Mr. Garamendi [presiding]. Thank you, Mr. Turner.
        Mr. Courtney, are you participating? Apparently, you are
    not on, so that would be my turn.
        This will be a question to--well first, for all of you. It
    has been an extraordinary year. And clearly, the U.S. military
    all across all of the services has been a very, very important
    part of the American response to the pandemic. And I thank you.
        This morning, as I drove into the Rayburn building, I had
    the pleasure of seeing National Guardsmen here at the Capitol
    protecting us and doing so all across the Nation.
        Yesterday, the Readiness Subcommittee did a briefing to
    learn from the five services, the impact on readiness. I will
    just not go through all of that and ask you gentlemen to go
    through it again. However, I will put it this way. The services
    have been very creative in addressing the issues, and learning
    along the way.
        If we knew today--if we knew at the beginning what we know
    today, the impacts across the military would be significantly
    less. Nevertheless, learning has taken place. There are
    concerns--and we will go into those concerns in more detail in
    the subcommittee work.
        But my question really goes to the future here. The new
    administration wants to use the military, particularly, the
    Defense Production Act.
        Mr. Salesses, if you could take this issue up. What is
    taking place with regard to the Defense Production Act? We are
    thinking PPEs here, perhaps even the issue of vaccinations
    being produced and distributed. So if you could talk,
    generally, and then perhaps, specifically, about some examples
    of where the Defense Production Act is or is not in operation?
        Mr. Salesses. Congressman, thank you. I am going to ask
    Brent Ingraham who is with A&S [Acquisition and Sustainment],
    he actually manages, oversees Defense Production Act, and he is
    going to speak to that. Brent.
        Mr. Ingraham. Good morning, Congressman.
        Mr. Garamendi. You can bring your chair up and have at it.
    Please introduce yourself for the record.
        Mr. Ingraham. Good morning. For the record, I am Mr. Brent
    Ingraham, Department of Defense, Acquisition and Sustainment.
        Mr. Garamendi. Thank you.
        Mr. Ingraham. From the Defense Production Act perspective,
    the Department has used some of our own resources, along with
    supporting both Health and Human Services and FEMA to execute a
    number of onshoring of medical resources across the--for the
    need of COVID, across both PPE, testing and diagnostics,
    pharmaceuticals, N95 masks.
        So to date, the Department has awarded about 885 million
    Defense Production Act dollars of our own that has been both
    towards medical resources in the defense industrial base. And
    then about--we have--about $1.6 billion on behalf of HHS.
        So we have seen--we have done medical investments to
    include $250 million in N95 respirator masks, $10 million in
    surgical masks to get the production of over 445 units per
    month, $22 million in glove production for over 38 million
    units a month, and over $880 million in COVID test production
    kits to get over 86 million units per month.
        Mr. Garamendi. Are you able to--does the Defense Production
    Act allow for the prioritization of both the purchases and then
    the distribution in the--in 2020, it was principally left up to
    the States to try to acquire the necessary equipment, PPEs, and
    others.
        Are you now using the Defense Production Act to coordinate
    and to acquire and then distribute necessary equipment, PPEs,
    for example?
        Mr. Ingraham. We use Defense Production Act to acquire
    material. I will say Department of Health and Human Services
    using the Strategic National Stockpile and FEMA are the ones
    that are actually distributing, that are actually distributing
    that PPE to the States and using their rating systems to be
    able to prioritize for the States.
        Mr. Garamendi. So there remains across the Nation a
    shortage of equipment. And you are relying--it is the
    Department of Health and Human Services and FEMA that are
    setting the pace, and then you administer from there?
        Mr. Ingraham. We supply them the products. Right? So we
    were doing from an assisted acquisition providing the
    contractual and acquisition support to procure the items and
    stand up the industrial base to be able to produce to their
    requirements.
        Mr. Garamendi. My time having expired, I want to go into
    this in more depth, and we will have some written questions for
    you about how the Defense Production Act works.
        I will now yield and call on Mrs. Hartzler. You are up
    next.
        Mrs. Hartzler. Thank you, Mr. Garamendi. And I appreciate
    everyone here and all that you are doing for our country. I
    wanted to just follow up on what my colleague just asked about.
        Even before the pandemic, Representative Garamendi and I
    had introduced a bill to bring back pharmaceutical production
    to America because of the vulnerabilities that we had
    discovered with China being a major source of our
    pharmaceutical ingredients.
        And I have been pleased that in January of this year, the
    Department of Defense, in coordination with HHS, awarded a
    $69.3 million contract to continue pharmaceuticals to develop a
    domestic production capability for critical active
    pharmaceutical ingredients and final dosage from medicine using
    a proprietary integrated continuous manufacturing technology.
    And last September, DOD and HHS also signed a $20 million
    contract with OnDemand Pharmaceuticals to develop a domestic
    production capability for critical active pharmaceutical
    ingredients.
        And so, my question is what capability has been provided
    here in the United States for standing up our pharmaceuticals,
    and what additional work is the Department of Defense doing to
    secure the medical supply chain for our troops through the use
    of the Defense Production Act?
        And are there any additional authorities for the Department
    of Defense that you need for Congress to help with in this
    effort? So can you kind of expand a little bit on the
    pharmaceutical production that has been stood up through the
    Defense Production Act and give us an update on that?
        Mr. Ingraham. Thank you, Congresswoman. I would like to
    take that action for the record. We provided those--both of
    those capabilities were on behalf of HHS to provide that
    capability. And so as those products are starting to be
    developed, I would like to get back to you with the results on
    how those are being--working out.
        Mrs. Hartzler. Do you know of those capabilities that are
    being developed, what percentage of those new pharmaceuticals
    we provided and set aside for our men and women in uniform
    versus just the general public?
        Mr. Ingraham. Both of those capabilities would be for HHS
    for the general public. Those have not been specific for DOD.
        Mrs. Hartzler. And are the capabilities just in general or
    are the--has this money been dedicated just to COVID-related
    medicines?
        Mr. Ingraham. Based on the continuous award, that was
    focused on COVID-19-related medicines.
        Mrs. Hartzler. Okay. So we are not using the Defense
    Production Act just to expand our general pharmaceutical
    development here in the United States. That could be helpful
    for our soldiers, so we are not depending on China. Is that
    correct?
        Mr. Ingraham. We currently have no Defense Production Act
    awards in that area.
        Mrs. Hartzler. Okay. Are you aware of any additional
    capabilities that we need here as a committee to enable you to
    help with this? Because we need to certainly address this
    pandemic. But Representative Garamendi and myself, and I
    believe our colleagues who are on this call, have a lot of
    concerns for our underlying dependence on China with our
    medicine.
        So do we need to do any more through the NDAA or
    legislation to get this production developed here so our troops
    aren't so relying on China for some of our basic medicines and
    vaccines?
        Mr. Ingraham. I would recommend that Brigadier General Paul
    Friedrichs from the Joint Staff Surgeon General talk about what
    specific additional medicines we may need to support our
    troops.
        Mrs. Hartzler. Okay.
        General Friedrichs. Congresswoman, this is Brigadier
    General Paul Friedrichs, the Joint Staff Surgeon. And first, I
    want to thank you and the members of this committee for the
    work that you have done in this area. Because this is an
    absolute concern of ours, and we are grateful for the precedent
    that you have set in relooking at this.
        We have gone back through based on the original language
    that you all had drafted and looked at those operational
    medications that we rely on in our deployed assemblages and
    identified which ones rely on ingredients from other countries.
    We are working with the FDA to obtain ingredients for those
    where we have not been able to identify the source of origin.
        And to your question about what other steps need to be
    taken, that is really the next step is to understand fully
    through the global supply chain where all of the ingredients
    come from, and ensure that pharmaceutical companies are able to
    share that information with us so that we can then identify
    what risk there is to those medications in our deployable
    assemblages. We continue to work closely with the Food and Drug
    Administration and the Department of Health and Human Services
    on this as we identify those risks and then identify
    opportunities to mitigate them.
        Ma'am, I hope that answers your question.
        Mrs. Hartzler. Thank you. It is very helpful, and I look
    forward to working with you and try to get this information as
    quickly as possible.
        But thank you for your time there, Mr. Chairman. I yield
    back.
        Mr. Garamendi. Well, thank you very much, Mrs. Hartzler.
    Thank you, General, for your response on that. In the larger
    context, we have discovered that much of what we depend upon
    for the military and for our domestic use in this pandemic and
    beyond is not produced in America. This is one example of that
    problem, and there are numerous other examples.
        The President has established a Buy America policy, and
    that is for the military as well as all other government
    purchases. And so we will be following that along closely.
        We would appreciate some more detailed information on this
    pharmaceutical issue.
        Our next witness is--excuse me, our next questioner, Mr.
    Carbajal, you are up.
        Mr. Carbajal. Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
        General Nordhaus, in the weeks since the National Guard
    mobilized to respond to the January 6th violent extremist
    insurrection mob and for the Presidential inauguration, there
    were reports that hundreds of Guard members on duty in DC
    tested positive for COVID-19.
        What procedures did the Guard have in place to test members
    before arriving in DC, while in DC, or before returning home?
    Did the Guard conduct contact tracing for members who tested
    positive?
        And the reason I asked is because I think it goes to the
    heart of our readiness. Do we already have the infrastructure
    and procedures and protocols in place to protect our service
    members as well as those that they are around?
        General Nordhaus. Congressman, thank you very much for the
    question. We follow all CDC guidance. And as those folks
    deployed, you know, they do testing and screening from a
    standpoint of temperature and checks to make sure that they are
    healthy, they pass questionnaires, and then they deployed into
    DC.
        I will say that the positives, once we tested somebody,
    they would go through the normal health requirements there to
    get tested. If they tested positive, the DC National Guard and
    their organization worked through the contact tracing to make
    sure that they identified members that needed to go into
    restriction of movement. And they continued that over the last,
    you know, month now.
        And I will say that from the numbers I have seen, they've
    done a really good job and they've continued to reduce that to
    be able to find where those positives are and then do the
    contact tracing, do appropriate restriction of movement to
    ensure that they can minimize any impacts to the mission.
        Mr. Carbajal. Thank you. General Taliaferro, if I heard
    correctly, one-third of our service members are refusing the
    vaccination. What is the Department doing to reach out to our
    service members to encourage them to be vaccinated? And, you
    know, when I served in the Marine Corps, I don't think I was
    ever given an option about my vaccinations. We just got in
    line, and they zapped us, and everybody got it, that was just
    the way it was. Are you saying that now we have a new approach
    to vaccinations for our service members?
        General Taliaferro. Congressman, I wouldn't say we have a
    new approach. There is still a variety of vaccinations that are
    mandatory. The fact that this is authorized under emergency use
    authorization is what puts it in the category of being a
    voluntary vaccination.
        And, you know, I think it is most effective to think about
    the numbers that have accepted. Certainly service members can
    accept or--you know, we don't precisely know why an individual
    has not received a vaccine. We think it is important that the
    Department continue to communicate to our service members the
    value of the vaccine, the safety of the vaccine, with continued
    leadership involvement to help our service members understand
    that.
        Mr. Carbajal. Thank you.
        Mr. Salesses, I appreciate the support the Department has
    provided to States throughout--providing personnel for testing
    sites, food distribution, and designating alternate care
    facilities.
        I understand the Department has announced that it will send
    Active Duty service members to support five FEMA vaccination
    sites and are currently evaluating additional requests. What
    criteria does the Department use when evaluating these
    requests?
        Mr. Salesses. Congressman, we obviously look at a number of
    factors. First of all, obviously, because of the demand for
    vaccine support, that is the priority for the Nation, and
    obviously we want to support that. We also look at the types of
    people that we are providing--medics, corpsmen, nurses--and,
    obviously, evaluate the impact on the Department.
        The Department is ready, prepared to support all of these
    vaccine centers that we have identified and are working with
    FEMA--the ones in California, as you mentioned; we have ones
    planned for New York and Texas. And we will work very closely
    with FEMA going forward, depending on the availability of
    medical people--nurses, medics, corpsmen, and those types of
    things. We weigh all of those things.
        But we understand this is a priority for the Nation, and
    the Department is ready and postured to support these vaccine
    centers.
        Mr. Carbajal. Thank you.
        Mr. Chairman, I yield back.
        Mr. Garamendi. Thank you.
        Mr. Wittman, you are up next.
        Mr. Wittman. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. And I appreciate our
    witnesses' joining us today.
        I wanted to go to Mr. Salesses and ask him specifically
    what Department of Defense is doing for our critical civilian
    support structure for the military.
        And I will give you an example. Newport News Shipbuilding
    is one of our contractors that requires individuals to work in
    close quarters, and, therefore, vaccinations are critically
    important for them. Last week, they didn't receive their
    allocation of vaccines from the Virginia Department of Health.
    When that happens, that interrupts their ability, obviously, to
    build ships.
        And that is, I know, common with a number of other folks
    that provide critical support services for the United States
    military, building systems, that are required to work in close
    quarters, and vaccinations are key.
        What is the Department of Defense doing to assure that
    there is not interruption of those efforts there and making
    sure that the federally acquired vaccines are distributed to
    Federal contractors, who, again, by the very nature of their
    work are required to work in close quarters, and making sure
    that they are doing their job to support our brave men and
    women in the military?
        Mr. Salesses. So, Congressman, again, the Department has
    worked very closely to look at our beneficiaries, our military,
    our civilian, and specific contract support that is directly
    provided to the Department. For example, the Newport shipyard,
    as you indicated, that is being supported by the State
    allocation.
        And so, as we look to the future, obviously, any of these
    critical areas, we are willing to and are obviously going to
    talk to these organizations to see how and what we can do to
    assist.
        But as we see the increase in vaccination capability from
    Pfizer and Moderna, we will be able to provide more support
    collectively to these critical essential workers that have been
    identified. In each one of the States, following the CDC
    guidance, again, essential workers are identified. So I am
    optimistic that the Newport shipbuilding community will be
    receiving their vaccine in short order.
        Mr. Wittman. I just hope to follow up with not just with
    Newport News but other companies that perform critical
    functions for our military to make sure that there is no
    interruption in vaccines there. Because what it does, it is a
    workforce interruption, and that is not what we need to be
    doing.
        One other question, too, is about health protection
    condition levels. What latitude do local commanders have in
    changing health protection condition levels? In other words,
    are you giving them the flexibility to determine conditions on
    literally a day-by-day basis? Because they know best about what
    is needed to protect the health of their people under their
    command.
        Mr. Salesses. Congressman, there is that flexibility to do
    that. I will turn it over to the Joint Staff. But it is
    obviously dependent upon the positivity rate within the
    community, the hospitalization rate. And, obviously, those are
    the indicators. But the local commanders at the installation
    set the health condition levels.
        General Taliaferro. Congressman, this is General
    Taliaferro.
        We think you are exactly right, that nobody knows better
    than the local commander what is happening in that local area,
    especially connections to local leaders, whether that is
    leadership or medical facilities. And while DOD instructions
    give general guidance of things to consider, it is fully within
    the hands of local commanders to make that decision.
        Mr. Wittman. Very good. Well, listen, I appreciate that.
    That is key. I know as I have spoken to some local commanders--
    --
        Mr. Garamendi. Mr. Wittman, we seem to have lost you.
        Mr. Wittman?
        We will move on. And if Mr. Wittman comes back, he is late.
        Our next witness is--excuse me--our next questioner is Mr.
    Brown.
        Mr. Brown. Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
        And thank you, gentlemen, for being here today.
        So we have heard during the testimony that the Department
    can mandate a vaccine if it is formally licensed by the FDA.
        Is that authority to mandate a vaccine, let's say, for
    example, influenza or when a service member deploys to an area
    where a vaccination is required, is that express authority
    granted in statute by Congress, or is that the power of the
    President as Commander in Chief?
        General Taliaferro. Congressman, I am going to defer to
    General Friedrichs, the Joint Staff surgeon.
        Mr. Brown. Okay.
        General Friedrichs. Congressman, this is Brigadier General
    Paul Friedrichs. Thank you very much.
        That is authority vested in statute. And the statute is
    written to state that those drugs which are not under an
    emergency use authorization can be mandated. Those which are
    under an emergency use authorization may not be mandated except
    in certain extraordinary circumstances laid out in the statute.
        Does that answer your----
        Mr. Brown. So which--no, no, I really appreciate that. I
    want to kind of flesh that out so that Congress, that we make
    sure that you have the tools you need.
        Is there, in the planning, in the forecasting for when it
    comes to the take-up rates of the vaccine, is there a scenario
    in which the Department might exercise the authority to mandate
    the COVID-19 vaccination under this emergency use
    authorization?
        General Friedrichs. Congressman, from a medical standpoint,
    I believe the legislation which you and your colleagues have
    written is sufficient to address the circumstances that we are
    facing today.
        And it is very clear legislation. We have worked closely
    with our Office of General Counsel to understand the intent and
    the specifics of the legislation. So we believe that you have
    given very----
        Mr. Brown. So, essentially, the Department could mandate
    that a service member receive the COVID-19 vaccination under
    the statutory authorization provided by Congress?
        General Friedrichs. No, sir. The Department could not
    mandate that. The Department could not----
        Mr. Brown. Okay. But you said under certain circumstances.
    Give us an example of what would be that circumstance where,
    even with the emergency use authorization from the FDA, which
    is not the formal license, you could mandate the COVID-19
    vaccination. What would be a circumstance?
        General Friedrichs. Sir, there are no circumstances where
    the Department of Defense has the legislative authority to do
    that. And we can provide in a written response back to you the
    specific language on that. The certain circumstances would
    require action outside the Department of Defense.
        Mr. Brown. Okay. No, I understand that. And thanks for
    clarifying that.
        Mr. Salesses. Congressman, can I add to that discussion,
    though? This is Bob Salesses.
        I do think that we are in the beginning phases of this
    vaccine. And as General Taliaferro pointed out, I do think the
    opportunity to educate, inform, and make sure that our service
    members, our civilians and contractors really understand the
    benefit of this going forward, I think, will reduce----
        Mr. Brown. Thank you.
        Mr. Salesses [continuing]. Significantly.
        Mr. Brown. Thank you.
        Are you keeping data, are you surveying the force on, by
    demographics, who is accepting the vaccine and who is not,
    either by gender, race, ethnicity, or any other relevant
    factor?
        And I ask that because there is a lower take-up rate in
    many communities around the country in communities of color.
    Are you gathering or collecting that data? Are you making those
    observations?
        General Friedrichs. Congressman, this is Brigadier General
    Friedrichs from the Joint Staff again.
        So we are collecting that data on acceptance rate. And as
    General Taliaferro and General Nordhaus mentioned, our
    experience mirrors the preliminary data that we are seeing in
    other communities.
        We are actually digging into that and continuing to collect
    more data as we administer more vaccines. As we mentioned, the
    first priorities are healthcare workers. And that is the group
    for which----
        Mr. Brown. I mean by race and ethnicity. Are you collecting
    data by race and ethnicity?
        General Friedrichs. Yes, sir, we are. And----
        Mr. Brown. Okay.
        Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I yield back.
        Mr. Garamendi. Thank you, Mr. Brown. Thank you for those
    questions. I think we have gone through this issue of
    vaccination and required or not required.
        Mr. Scott, you are next.
        Mr. Scott. Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
        And, gentlemen, thank you for being here.
        My question revolves somewhat around data as well. Mine is
    specifically geared towards the infection rates. And are the
    infection rates that we are seeing in the DOD different from
    the infection rates that we are seeing in the general public?
    If so, what are the trends that we are seeing?
        We obviously have a more controlled environment than the
    general public does. So infection rates and the trends with
    regard to those rates versus the general public, what are we
    seeing?
        General Friedrichs. Congressman, this is Brigadier General
    Friedrichs, the Joint Staff surgeon. Thank you very much.
        So we have aggressively implemented those public health
    measures that the CDC has recommended, and, as a result, we
    have seen a lower percent positive test rate in our population
    than in the general public over the last year. And that has
    been very consistent for the Active Duty force as we have gone
    forward.
        Our overall number of cases has risen and fallen as the
    number of cases across the United States has risen and fallen,
    so we have mirrored what is happening in the communities where
    our bases are located. But the percent of our force which has
    tested positive has been lower than what we have seen in other
    communities.
        In addition, we have seen a lower percent of the force who
    require hospitalization. And although we have had a few members
    of the force who have died as a result of COVID infection, that
    is a smaller number than in the general public, in part because
    we have a younger population and, in general, they are fairly
    active and healthy and able to serve.
        [Audio interruption.]
        Mr. Scott. All right. So Jim Banks is chiming in on my
    time.
        How much difference are you seeing in the ranks versus the
    general public?
        General Friedrichs. Congressman, I am sorry. Could you
    repeat the question, sir?
        Mr. Scott. Are we 10 percent better? Are we 20 percent
    better? What is the difference in the infection rate between
    DOD personnel and the general public?
        General Friedrichs. Congressman, the data that I am most
    familiar with is the percent positive rate. And we have
    typically had about a 1 percent lower rate of tests which were
    positive compared to the general population. But that has
    varied from week to week as we look at it.
        I would be happy, if I may, to respond for the record with
    specific data on that. But it has been consistently at least a
    percentage point below the general population.
        [The information referred to can be found in the Appendix
    on page 79.]
        Mr. Scott. Okay. I am interested in that data, and I do
    think that it is extremely important that we keep it. We don't
    know how long these vaccines are going to work, and so we don't
    know when the second round of vaccinations is going to have to
    happen. And I think that the data, especially in the more
    controlled environment--although it is not perfectly
    controlled, it is more controlled than the general public--is
    going to be a benefit to all of us as we push forward.
        I am concerned--and I mentioned this yesterday in the
    hearing--I am concerned about our teams, for example, our ODA
    [Operational Detachment-A] teams that are out in Africa that
    work in these train-and-equip missions where they are in very
    close proximity, in order to do their job, with people from
    other countries. I would be interested in how you intend to
    handle that with regard to what I would refer to as partner
    forces.
        Are we testing those partner forces? Are we checking fevers
    before we do a training mission with them? How are we handling
    ODA missions, for example, with partner forces?
        General Taliaferro. Congressman, this is General
    Taliaferro.
        I would say, in general, the forces in those areas are
    practicing good force health protection measures of distancing,
    mask wearing, in some cases distributed operations, distributed
    training by an ODA team in an area like that, hygiene
    awareness.
        And we believe that the forces we are partnering with are
    generally following the same procedures we are, but I don't
    have the details at present on those specific ODA teams.
        Mr. Scott. Okay.
        I am almost out of time.
        General Nordhaus, Tom Carden and Tom Grabowski would want
    me to tell you hello. They have done a great job, especially
    months and months ago they were out there in our nursing homes
    with the Georgia Guard helping them kill this virus. And
    certainly appreciate all that the Guard is doing in Georgia and
    in Washington as well right now.
        Gentlemen, thank you. And my time has expired.
        The Chairman [presiding]. Thank you.
        Mr. Kim.
        Mr. Kim. Thank you, Chairman.
        Thank you, everyone, for joining here and talking with us
    about this incredibly important issue.
        I wanted to shift a little bit here in terms of the
    questioning. Many of us represent military bases and
    installations in our districts. I represent Joint Base McGuire-
    Dix-Lakehurst, and that joint base is really an anchor to an
    entire community--a community not just of the service members
    but outside around it. I want to just ask two or three
    questions about this.
        I had a townhall last night, and on the townhall there was
    a veteran, a veteran who lives just outside the joint base, who
    said he is dependent upon access to the commissary for his
    food. You know, he is someone who does not have a lot of money.
    He was telling me just the struggles he has had financially
    because of this. But he has had a tremendous amount of
    difficulty getting onto the base because of COVID restrictions.
        So I guess I just wanted to ask you what work has DOD done
    to try to think about just the broader community here, how we
    are looking out for veterans in particular, many of them who
    settle down and live right around the bases where they retire
    from. Is there anything else we can be doing to help them get
    access to the commissary and other services on the base, and
    other ways we can integrate them into some of our thinking of
    COVID response from DOD?
        Maybe we can hand that over to Major General Taliaferro.
        General Taliaferro. Thanks, Congressman.
        I would say that, in the setting of the health protection
    condition measures, I think not just at the local level but
    certainly at the Department, we are aware of the dependencies
    in the community. There are a lot of linkages to the local
    community that commanders need to be aware of when they are
    going to the more extensive measures like, say, Health
    Protection Condition Delta, where some of those people would
    not be allowed access to the base.
        There are lots of linkages at those levels, whether it is
    contractors, different support that comes from off the base
    onto the base, certainly the support the base provides to
    dependents, veterans, or other beneficiaries in the area.
        So I know that our commanders are aware of that. When they
    reach circumstances that require those kinds of drastic
    measures, they take them, but I know they are conscious of
    them.
        Mr. Kim. Well, look, I appreciate that.
        And one thing I will just say here is, open communication
    and just, kind of, transparency on that front goes a long way.
    I think a lot of the problems here--I mean, I will tell you, I
    get more calls about this than almost any other issue from the
    veterans community right now. And I think just some open
    communication about, you know, the timing or the reason for the
    restrictions at my base as well as around the country I am sure
    would be helpful.
        A last question here, just kind of on a different side of
    this coin. I have talked with a number of service members in my
    district that are young parents. They have little kids, like I
    do. I have a 3-year-old and a 5-year-old. I know the struggles
    about childcare right now, and I know that a number of our
    service members have struggled with this.
        It has put an enormous burden upon them and their ability
    to do their work, as well as their spouses. And we already put
    way too much burden upon military spouses as well. As we know,
    unemployment for them is through the roof.
        I wanted to just kind of hear from you, just, what is your
    thinking about what it is that we can do to support service
    members, their families, their spouses when it comes to
    childcare and other elements for their children? Is there more
    that we can do, as I know many childcare centers have been
    closed or have big restrictions on that front?
        Over to you.
        Mr. Salesses. Congressman, this is Bob Salesses.
        So, in the Defense Department, we have over 200 child
    development centers and currently have about 180 open.
    Obviously, they are not open at full capacity, but we are
    always looking at the kind of mitigation measures that could be
    put in place to ensure that we can maximize those child
    development centers. I think the broader issue within the
    community is the same thing.
        There is a lot of good work that has been done within the
    Defense Department to come up with the procedures so that we
    can have safe and effective child development centers open.
    Certainly willing to share that kind of information with the
    community and others.
        I think that is the key to success, is working together
    both inside the community and with the installations, those
    local installations, to gain a better knowledge and
    understanding of the best practices that we could share amongst
    each other to make sure that we can maximize the childcare
    capabilities both on the DOD installations and outside the DOD
    installations.
        The Chairman. Thank you.
        The gentleman's time----
        Mr. Kim. Thank you.
        The Chairman [continuing]. Has expired.
        Mr. DesJarlais.
        Dr. DesJarlais. Good afternoon. And thanks to the panel for
    the great testimony today.
        For any of those who are at the Capitol--and I think most
    of you are--you probably experienced a much different city than
    you are used to, as you tried to enter through one-way lanes,
    through razor wires and gates.
        And so, Mr. Salesses, I wanted to reference your internal
    email dated January 20 of 2021 where you were discussing the
    National Guard's presence in DC at least through the fall of
    2021.
        First, how many guardsmen nationally are responding for the
    COVID effort right now?
        Mr. Salesses. So, Congressman, it is 23,000 or 24,000--what
    is the number right----
        General Nordhaus. For COVID?
        Mr. Salesses. For COVID.
        General Nordhaus. For COVID, it is 28,430.
        Dr. DesJarlais. Okay. Thank you.
        And so the extended role at the Capitol, would that, in
    your opinion, divert valuable personnel and resources away from
    providing further COVID-related assistance?
        Mr. Salesses. Congressman, that would depend on what level
    of National Guard was needed to support the Capitol security.
        Dr. DesJarlais. Right. And what is there, roughly, about
    6,200 still deployed?
        Mr. Salesses. Within the NCR [National Capital Region],
    that is about the right number, Congressman. We have about
    4,900 on the Capitol Grounds. We also have National Guard
    members supporting Secret Service and currently supporting MPD,
    the Metropolitan Police Department.
        Dr. DesJarlais. And we certainly appreciate their service.
    I have had the opportunity to talk to many of them, and they
    are doing an admirable job.
        Major General Nordhaus mentioned in his opening remarks
    that we have not seen National Guard called upon to serve in
    such numbers since World War II and that military officials
    have already estimated that the cost of the Capitol deployment
    will near a half a billion dollars just through mid-March.
        So now more than ever is it important to continue to devote
    these resources? Or can you share with the committee some
    credible threats that would require us continuing to have such
    a presence in the Nation's capital?
        Mr. Salesses. Go ahead.
        General Nordhaus. Sir, if that question was to Major
    General Nordhaus, sir, right now we are scheduled to end the
    National Guard on roughly 12 March. And pending any other
    information, we will work with our interagency partners like we
    always do, the Office of Secretary of Defense, to continue to
    support if things change.
        Dr. DesJarlais. Okay. So, as of now, you can't share with
    the committee any credible threats that have been identified,
    so you are planning on sending the 5,000 guardsmen home?
        Mr. Salesses. Look, Congressman, we obviously work with our
    law enforcement partners to determine that threat, and that is
    obviously continuing to evolve. At this time, I am not aware of
    a threat that is out there, but that evolves all the time,
    Congressman. So we have to work closely with our Federal law
    enforcement partners to understand that.
        Dr. DesJarlais. Here at the Capitol, which some have dubbed
    ``Fort Pelosi,'' it is really discouraging to see the razor
    wire, the fencing, the image that it sends to the world. So, if
    that threat no longer exists, I would hope that we can return
    to normal and that these guardsmen, who have served so
    admirably, could possibly be utilized in other ways and help
    with the COVID effort.
        If anyone has any further response, that is great. If not,
    I yield back.
        The Chairman. Thank you.
        I do want to emphasize that point. I mean, I have some
    sympathy--other than the unnecessary shot at our Speaker, I
    have some sympathy for the concern that is being explained
    there that I hope you gentlemen will take seriously. And I have
    raised this issue with the Pentagon as well.
        As I understand the threat environment right now, it is
    very hard to justify the current security presence around the
    Capitol based on the threat environment that we now see. And my
    great fear is that this becomes permanent. Because there is
    always a threat. I mean, you know, I have been here for 24
    years and certainly bad things have happened. Certainly the
    insurrection took that to a whole other concerning level.
        And I know you guys don't make the decision on this. I just
    want to amplify Mr. DesJarlais's point. This is the United
    States Capitol. People are supposed to be able to come here and
    petition their government, all right? And I can barely get in
    at this point.
        So I just hope we balance the risk with the job it is that
    we are all supposed to be performing here, understanding that
    COVID is part of this as well. And I have had conversations
    with the Speaker about this and conversations with General
    Honore about this. I hope we think about the balance.
        If you look at it from the standpoint of, ``Well, let's
    just eliminate all risk,'' okay, if we were going to eliminate
    all risk to our individual Members, we would do everything
    remotely. We would never leave the house, okay? We cannot be
    afraid of our constituents and do our job. So I hope we will
    figure out a better balance on how to make that work.
        With that, Ms. Houlahan is recognized.
        Ms. Houlahan. Thank you, Chairman.
        And I guess my question might be a good follow-up to that,
    which is that, in an alternative world where we deploy our
    National Guard in a different way other than at our Capitol,
    some States have been successful in getting their National
    Guard to be able to support vaccine deployment efforts.
        And I was wondering if I might be able to ask Major General
    Nordhaus--I think that probably is the most appropriate person
    to ask--are there any obstacles that you are aware of to
    scaling up the use of the Guard in this way? What would that
    look like if we did that in a larger scaled effort? And has the
    DOD considered how they plan to scale up the vaccination
    efforts when and if other vaccine candidates are approved for
    use?
        General Nordhaus. Congresswoman, thank you very much for
    the question.
        I know of no impediments right now. We have seen the number
    of guardsmen on 502(f) increase over the last 3 to 4 weeks. We
    are now up to 28,430, as I discussed earlier. I believe what we
    are seeing is that increase. So we started out with just a few
    vaccination sites of our guardsmen vaccinating civilians in
    early January. And as I brief today, it is 350, and I know
    those numbers continue to climb as we are supporting those
    vaccines.
        Some States are using--like Washington I know is doing a
    great job. They have 150 service members out there. They have
    30-person teams. They have four static teams that are at
    specific locations and another mobile team that is going around
    to long-term care facilities and vaccinating those members.
    Other States are using smaller teams that are going out to very
    rural areas that are some underserved populations to make sure
    that vaccines are available out there.
        But I think we will continue to see the States will utilize
    the guardsmen to be able to get after these vaccine efforts.
        Ms. Houlahan. Would anybody else like to add to that before
    I ask my next question?
        Mr. Salesses. Congresswoman, this is Bob Salesses.
        I think it is a combination of things. What we are seeing
    is, obviously, across the country, there are roughly 30,000
    points of administration. A lot of those are community based,
    State based. As you pointed out, DOD is working very closely
    with FEMA on these mega and large centers that would provide
    tremendous throughput on vaccines.
        The other thing that is going on is obviously the work with
    the private sector, in particular with organizations like CVS
    and Walgreens and many others. That is an opportunity, again,
    to expand the vaccine administration community. And we believe
    that, moving ahead, that, along with the community based, the
    State based, the federally supported, and the private sector,
    will expand that capability to deliver the vaccine.
        This is a very positive development, with the increased
    level of vaccination that is going to be available and the
    increased number of locations that will be available. And the
    Department of Defense's role in this is, again, to support
    these mega centers and obviously to support the National Guard
    in supporting the States in what they are doing.
        Ms. Houlahan. So how are you--and I don't know which one of
    you might be the most appropriate to answer this. But you spoke
    about the different ways that we are deploying our Guard and
    the different kinds of rural areas or our mobile areas. How are
    you choosing the locations in which you offer to support the
    non-DOD efforts?
        Mr. Salesses. So, for the DOD support, we work through
    FEMA. FEMA works with the State to make the determination of
    where those vaccination centers will go.
        I will turn it over to General Nordhaus to talk about how
    the State works with the Guard to support that.
        General Nordhaus. Yes, ma'am. Major General Nordhaus here.
        With the State health departments, they really work with
    FEMA and with the National Guard and the other agencies within
    the State, and they determine the best places to make sure that
    they can get the vaccine across their State with the
    allocations that they receive.
        Ms. Houlahan. Thank you. I appreciate that.
        I have less than a minute, and I am hoping that maybe I
    could ask Mr. Salesses--I hope I am pronouncing that
    correctly--a question regarding pregnant Active Duty members.
        I understand that we have been talking a lot about our
    military and our vaccination process for the general
    population, but people who are pregnant would be in the 1a
    vaccination group. How is the DOD factoring in pregnancy status
    into vaccine prioritization across the Active and Reserve
    forces?
        Some of our colleagues have mentioned that they have
    concerns about getting vaccinated, but what guidance are we
    giving to healthcare personnel about providing information to
    women who are pregnant to make this decision about getting
    vaccinated or not?
        General Friedrichs. Congresswoman, this is Brigadier
    General Friedrichs.
        And we are very closely following the CDC recommendations
    on that and providing the same evidence-based advice that the
    Centers for Disease Control has provided on the safety of the
    vaccines across the general population and in particular for
    those who are pregnant or have other medical conditions.
        The Chairman. Thank you.
        The gentlewoman's----
        Ms. Houlahan. Thank you.
        And I yield back. I have run out of time.
        The Chairman. Thank you.
        Mr. Kelly is recognized for 5 minutes.
        Mr. Kelly. Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
        My first question has do with 502(f) orders for folks who
    are on COVID--or service members who are on COVID support. And
    while it is very important that we be able to respond to this,
    it is also very important that we maintain our operational
    readiness in the National Guard and Reserves, in COMPO
    [Component] 2 and COMPO 3.
        Currently, under DOD policy, when a service member is on
    COVID orders and they have an AT period, annual training
    period--we have the 155th Brigade that is getting ready to go
    to the National Training Center for a rotation--they have to
    come off 502(f) orders, which means they go back into National
    Guard status. They lose their TRICARE benefits for them and
    their families, and then 3 weeks later they go back on COVID
    orders.
        With the stroke of a pen, we can change that so that it is
    either waived and they can stay on TRICARE while they go on
    those other orders or we can just allow them to do AT status
    during that.
        Do any of you have any response, if anyone is looking at
    this? Because this is going to impact up to 3,500 members of
    the Mississippi National Guard this year, and it is affecting
    soldiers all across the Nation.
        General Nordhaus. Congressman, Major General Nordhaus here.
        I believe that has been resolved through the FEMA MAs
    [mission assignments] and that all the State needs to do is let
    them know which days that they are on military and not
    performing in support of the mission assignments from FEMA. And
    then they stay on the orders, and they just complete the
    reimbursable difference between those days.
        Mr. Kelly. That is great. Just make sure that we are
    following through and that all States understand this. Because
    I know I dealt with this, I think, last week, and that was in
    the initial stages, and I knew we sent out an RFI [request for
    information] on that.
        Second, what amount of our special operations forces have
    been vaccinated, those who are currently--we had Austin Scott
    talk about those guys downrange. What percentage of our special
    operations forces have been vaccinated at this point, or do we
    have that number?
        General Taliaferro. So, Congressman, we don't have that
    specific number with us. But each area is working through
    allocations both at the service level, the combatant command
    level, and the installation level to work down the population
    schema of priorities. So, as they reach critical national
    capabilities, those national response forces would be
    vaccinated at that time.
        Mr. Kelly. And, finally, Mr. Chairman and also the members,
    I want to ask them: The emergency use of the vaccine on service
    members and not being allowed them to be mandatory, that just
    doesn't make sense. If we are saying the process is safe, we
    need to portray that in our use on our DOD employees to set the
    standard and to set an example.
        So do you guys on the panel, do you think it would be
    helpful if we changed that in Congress so that emergency use
    vaccines, that they can be--not shall be; can be--mandatory to
    service members? Would that be helpful to you?
        General Taliaferro. Let me pass that to General Friedrichs.
        General Friedrichs. Congressman, Brigadier General
    Friedrichs. Thank you very much.
        I think that would be a discussion that we would need to
    have with the Centers for Disease Control, the Department of
    Health and Human Services, as well as the Department of
    Defense. It is going to depend on the specifics of the vaccine
    in question.
        And I very much appreciate the continued concern about this
    issue. No one is more interested, I think, than, as we know,
    you and the members of this committee are----
        Mr. Kelly. Well, let me interrupt real quickly. My point
    is, if we say it can be, it allows DOD to look at different
    diseases. Currently we can't make it mandatory. And I am not
    just talking about this pandemic but the next one and the next
    one. Would it be helpful if we said, DOD can, not shall, make
    mandatory, can make mandatory, so that we could use the science
    and the CDC as each specific disease, rather than now having
    our hands tied?
        General Friedrichs. Congressman, speaking as a physician,
    it is always helpful to partner with you and with our
    colleagues in the CDC and HHS in crafting language that allows
    us to respond to each pandemic or biological threat as it
    occurs. As you said, they will each be different. It will be
    difficult to write language that will cover everything, but we
    look forward to working with you on that, sir.
        The Chairman. Thank you.
        The gentleman's time has expired.
        Mr. Kelly. I yield back.
        The Chairman. Mr. Morelle is recognized for 5 minutes.
        Mr. Morelle, are you with us?
        Okay. I think we just lost him.
        So I think, Ms. Jacobs, are you online?
        Ms. Jacobs. I am here. And thank----
        The Chairman. All right. You are recognized for 5 minutes.
        Ms. Jacobs [continuing]. You, Mr. Chairman. Thank you.
        And thank you, everyone, for being here today on this
    critical topic.
        To follow up on Mr. Brown's questioning, I want to thank
    you for offering to provide us with the specific legal
    authority that you, in conjunction with the Office of Legal
    Counsel, are relying on to assess whether or not you can
    mandate service members to be vaccinated. And I just want to
    say that I, too, am very eager to see that specific legal
    analysis and will look forward to you sending it.
        Next, I represent a district in San Diego, which, as you
    know, is the home port of the Mercy. And while the Mercy was
    deployed to Los Angeles earlier during the pandemic, it is my
    understanding that the ship was not heavily utilized. The
    ship's mission was to treat patients other than those with
    COVID, freeing up hospitals to deal with the virus, but it
    seems as though few medical providers actually made use of the
    facilities aboard the ship.
        I was just wondering if you have any insight as to why this
    was the case. Is the Department looking at ways to make it
    easier for both the Mercy and the Comfort to better assist the
    homeland should that need rise again in the future?
        General Taliaferro. Congresswoman, it is General
    Taliaferro. I can address that.
        Most of our fielded medical capabilities are designed to
    deploy to a wartime environment and do trauma care. That does
    not make them perfectly equipped for disease control, as is
    needed during the pandemic.
        But, moreover, we found that, due to the low utilization of
    some of these traditional fielded medical capabilities, we
    found it much more effective to deploy our personnel to
    existing infrastructure, whether that be existing hospitals or
    medical centers. Because, largely, we found that those hospital
    and centers were not short on physical capacity; they were
    short on staff, the ability to staff more beds, the ability to
    utilize the equipment and capacity they had.
        And with the addition of DOD personnel, medical personnel,
    to expand their internal capacity, it actually allowed our
    personnel to be much more effective in their response, allowed
    those hospitals to treat people where the people wanted to be
    treated. And that was an evolution that made our forces much
    more capable.
        Ms. Jacobs. Thank you for that.
        And then, just lastly, I want to reiterate what some of my
    colleagues have said. I have been hearing from service members
    on the ground just how difficult the childcare options have
    been for them during this crisis and, even potentially more
    concerning, that even the childcare facilities that remain open
    they don't feel are necessarily upholding COVID protocols and
    keeping the staff and their children safe.
        So I look forward to continuing to work with you all to
    make sure that we address that issue.
        With that, I yield back.
        The Chairman. Thank you.
        Mr. Green is recognized for 5 minutes.
        Dr. Green. Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
        And I would like to thank you and Ranking Member Rogers for
    the opportunity to serve together and to continue the great
    work that you guys have done caring for our brave men and women
    in uniform.
        I would also like to say to Ranking Member Rogers, I have
    gotten to know him personally while working under his
    leadership at Homeland Security. Sir, it has been great to work
    with you there, and I look forward to and am proud to serve
    with you now.
        My time as an Airborne Ranger and an Army physician
    assigned with some of our Tier 1 special forces units gave me a
    love for those who stand in defense of our freedoms. They would
    die for us, and I believe every member of this committee has a
    similar devotion and dedication to them. So it is a real honor
    for me to be here.
        And also the chance to take care of, in my district, Fort
    Campbell and the men and women who are serving from that base,
    kicking doors and taking names across the globe to defend our
    freedom, is a real, real honor.
        As an Army physician who did research both at Walter Reed
    and USAMRIID [U.S. Army Medical Research Institute of
    Infectious Diseases] during medical school and research with
    soldiers and non-soldiers in residency, I would like to put to
    bed this issue that I keep hearing about, using research
    medications on Active Duty soldiers.
        There is statute passed by Congress previously in National
    Defense Authorization Acts that prevent--because of Tuskegee
    Airmen and what happened there, legislation was passed to
    prevent the use of any experimental medication on an Active
    Duty soldier. We did research, myself, on pain management in
    residency and were not able to use anything but an FDA-approved
    drug for that. It is written into law.
        I think it is a bad idea to change it in a blanket
    statement, because--or a blanket law, because we need the full-
    blown research done before we saddle our warriors with an
    experimental medication. And I can help the committee find that
    NDAA, and the witnesses find that NDAA, if it is necessary.
        I do have some questions for our witnesses, and I
    appreciate you being here.
        Can either of you kind of share, you know, the impact of
    covering the COVID requirements on training and readiness? And,
    specifically, were there any JRTC [Joint Readiness Training
    Center] rotations that were canceled? Were there NTC [National
    Training Center] cycles that were canceled? What are some of
    the specific examples of the impact? And when we make this
    training up, what is the impact going to be on OPTEMPO
    [operations tempo]?
        General Taliaferro. Congressman, this is General
    Taliaferro. I can address that.
        In the early days of the pandemic, the services did cancel
    or delay some of the large force exercises like you mentioned,
    whether that is a National Training Center rotation or a Red
    Flag or the like.
        Overseas, our joint exercises executed by the combatant
    commands, over the last year, 99 exercises have been canceled.
    That would have included about 40,000 U.S. and partner forces
    partnering with 46 different countries. And 37 exercises were
    postponed, with almost 50,000 U.S. and partners. That would
    have included 27 countries.
        And I think the overseas training and the large force
    exercise training in the United States are similar, but there
    are some key differences. The large force exercises in the
    United States provide that infrequent opportunity to have a
    very complicated, realistic training scenario that only occurs
    a few times in a service member's career, and that is the
    qualitative----
        Dr. Green. I really hate to interrupt you. Especially
    having served in the military, I don't like interrupting a two-
    star general.
        But what is the time it is going to take to return to the
    level of training when we make all this up? I mean, how long is
    it going to take us to make all this up? And what is the impact
    on the OPTEMPO?
        I only have about a minute left, so that is why I jumped in
    and interrupted.
        General Taliaferro. Yes, sir. So, Congressman, in most
    cases, it won't be made up. It will be an opportunity lost for
    that large force training. And the services have done an
    outstanding job adapting and substituting small force elements
    during that space.
        Dr. Green. Okay.
        I only have 20 seconds left, so, Chairman, I will yield.
        The Chairman. Thank you.
        Mr. Kahele is recognized for 5 minutes.
        Mr. Kahele. Thank you, Chair.
        This question is for General Nordhaus. Good morning,
    General. And thank you to all the participants who are on
    today's call.
        My question specifically has to do with National Guardsmen
    who are on title 32, 502(f). I suspect this is an issue that is
    existing in the other 49 States. But, as you are well aware,
    section 733 of the most recently passed NDAA provided for
    transitional health benefits for certain members of the
    National Guard that are serving under orders in response to
    COVID-19.
        What has happened is National Guardsmen currently that are
    coming off and are eligible because they have been on title 32,
    502(f) for the last at least 30 days are unable to get TAMP, or
    the Transitional Assistance Management Program, which allows
    them to continue their TRICARE for up to 180 days, as described
    in the most recently passed NDAA.
        Now, after researching it, it seems that there is a
    disconnect between the inability for TRICARE to manually
    activate those eligible service members into TAMP. OSD [Office
    of the Secretary of Defense] has been working with DMDC
    [Defense Manpower Data Center] to actively fix it, but their
    expected implementation date is not until March 20, 2021.
        I find that unacceptable for our eligible National Guard
    soldiers and airmen and their families, who since the passage
    of the NDAA--I don't know if it was retroactive to National
    Guardsmen who have been on title 32, 502(f) since last March.
    But for the National Guardsmen that have been on 502(f) orders
    since the passage of the NDAA, who have been on orders for the
    last 30 days and have come off those orders, they should be
    transitioned right into TAMP and not have to wait until March
    20 of 2021. There should be no break in their TRICARE Prime
    healthcare benefits.
        And my questions are: What are we going to do to address
    this? Why is DMDC unable to implement this today for eligible
    service members? What is OSD currently doing to address this
    situation immediately? And why is there not a process to
    manually activate TAMP for eligible soldiers and airmen who
    have been on title 32, 502(f) orders since the passage of the
    National Defense Authorization Act until today?
        That is my question, sir.
        General Nordhaus. Congressman, first of all, I want to
    start off by thanking you for your service in COVID-19 in
    Hawaii. I know you served on State Active Duty.
        And this issue that you have just brought up to me, I will
    have to look more into it. And we will have to make sure that
    we do everything we can to follow the law that was passed to
    make sure that we can take care of our service members through
    TAMP.
        I will yield to anyone else on the panel that has further
    information than I do.
        Mr. Kahele. And we can follow up, sir, if we don't have
    those answers.
        I am just concerned, because I know at least 21 National
    Guardsmen here in Hawaii, soldiers and airmen, who have
    performed at least 30 days of title 32(f) since the NDAA has
    passed that are being told that they cannot--as you all know,
    the day you come off Active Duty orders is the day you drop out
    of DEERS [Defense Enrollment Eligibility Reporting System] and
    you are no longer eligible for TRICARE Prime for you and your
    families. And they should roll right over into TAMP, and it is
    not happening. And they are being told they need to wait for at
    least 5 weeks before that is going to happen. And that is 1
    month without these service members and their families, you
    know, being covered by TRICARE.
        So it is an immediate concern for me, because that is a
    real situation happening here in Hawaii today, and I suspect it
    is happening in every other State in the country. Like
    Congressman Kelly in Mississippi mentioned earlier, you know,
    these benefits are not transitioning to the service member who
    has earned them.
        General Nordhaus. Congressman, I will look into that today
    with our surgeon general and our J-1 [Manpower and Personnel
    Directorate] to make sure that we figure out what the issue is,
    and we will provide a response back.
        Mr. Kahele. Great. Thank you.
        And thanks for acknowledging my service. I was also on
    title 32, 502(f) orders for almost 120 days, from April to
    August. And, you know, it was a great service to the State of
    Hawaii to do that. So thank you.
        The Chairman. Thank you.
        Mr. Waltz is recognized for 5 minutes. Mr. Waltz, are you
    with us?
        Mr. Waltz. Yep. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I am with you. Can
    you hear me okay?
        The Chairman. Yes. We got you. Go ahead.
        Mr. Waltz. Yeah. I just--and this is open to anyone on the
    panel. I wanted to follow up on Congressman DesJarlais's
    question, in terms of the analysis that has gone on in NGB
    [National Guard Bureau], how we got to the current number of
    guardsmen in the Capitol, the threat that then----
        The Chairman. We don't have you anymore. We are not hearing
    you, Mr. Waltz. I don't know if you accidently hit ``mute'' or
    if we just have a connection----
        Mr. Waltz. Nope. Nope. Can you hear me okay?
        The Chairman. We got you now.
        Mr. Waltz. Okay.
        The Chairman. We lost you for about 20 seconds. You might
    want to start over.
        Well, now you are completely lost.
        Oh, there we go. We have a picture.
        Mr. Waltz. Okay. How about now, Mr. Chairman? Apologies.
        The Chairman. Yeah, we hear you now. We could do this all
    day long, but one more shot. Go ahead.
        Mr. Waltz. One more shot. I hope I got it all out: the
    analysis that is driving the number on the Capitol and the
    opportunity cost of other domestic support missions. Hopefully
    I got that out.
        The Chairman. I think his question is: What aren't we doing
    because of what is happening with the Guard being used at the
    Capitol?
        General Nordhaus. Congressman, copy your question.
        From our guardsmen that have responded to the request for
    assistance by lead Federal agencies, our guardsmen, you know,
    have left their jobs and what they were doing back in their
    States to support this mission set. There is additional
    training that they could be doing, obviously. And then there
    are preparations for any COVID response that is within their
    State that they might be missing out.
        To the exact specifics for each State and each individual,
    I can't speak to exactly what they are missing out on.
        Mr. Waltz. Well, thank you.
        And thank you, Mr. Chairman.
        I am looking at what is driving the number that is there,
    the 5,000 to 7,000 number, and then what is the plan going
    forward.
        I can tell you, also serving as a guardsman, the force is
    exhausted, between COVID, ongoing overseas requirements, the
    training that is required for those requirements, natural
    disasters, particularly in States like Florida, Texas,
    California. I worry a lagging indicator is going to be
    retention.
        So, again, the opportunity cost, what is driving that
    number of 7,000, and then what is the plan for the foreseeable
    future so that we can get those men and women back to the
    States?
        Mr. Salesses. Congressman Waltz, this is Bob Salesses.
        What drives the requirement is really the agency,
    department, Federal law enforcement entity that provides the
    request to the Department. For example, Secret Service we are
    providing support right now. We are also providing support to
    the Metropolitan Police, providing to Park Police.
        Specifically to the Capitol, the Capitol Police set the
    requirement for the number. The number was based on different
    missions that the National Guard members would be supporting--a
    response force, perimeter security, those kinds of mission
    sets.
        Again, we are working with them. As you know, the current
    request ends on March 12. What we are trying to determine with
    them is what is the right level of security that they need from
    the National Guard, considering that the circumstances have
    changed.
        Again, the Defense Department, as you know too, is highly
    dependent upon Federal law enforcement to provide us the
    insight into what the threat may be, because obviously the
    Department doesn't do that domestically. So we work very
    closely with the FBI [Federal Bureau of Investigation] and the
    Secret Service and others and the Capitol Police to try to
    determine what they believe that threat is.
        And then looking at what they believe is the need for the
    National Guard or the types of mission sets that they need
    support from, we worked very closely with them to try to
    understand what that is. Obviously, 4,900 is a very large
    number here on the Capitol.
        Mr. Waltz. Thank you.
        And, Chairman, if I--just one quick follow-up.
        Look, the Air Force is probably one of the best at this.
    When it comes to requirements, it is saying, don't tell us what
    platform to use or what weapon to use; tell us what effect you
    want us to have. I know, you know, you can't permanently be in
    a position of just giving every number that you are asked for.
    There is some analysis on the Guard and on the Pentagon's end
    of what it takes to actually have that effect.
        And I would be interested, if I could ask for a response on
    the record, in what is the plan going forward past March 12.
        Thank you so much, Mr. Chairman. I yield.
        The Chairman. Thank you.
        By ``on the record,'' he means submit it in writing.
        Mr. Salesses. Correct, sir.
        [The information referred to can be found in the Appendix
    on page 79.]
        Mr. Salesses. I would just like to add one thing to
    Congressman Waltz's----
        The Chairman. Sure.
        Mr. Salesses [continuing]. Question there. Simply, we
    realize that personnel is part of this, but we also understand
    that infrastructure and technology is a large part of this that
    can potentially provide the additional security. So it is the
    combination of those things.
        And, as the Congressman rightly points out, it is that kind
    of analysis that will help us understand what the real
    personnel requirements are.
        The Chairman. Understood.
        Having piped up earlier on this subject, I do want to
    follow up on just a couple of crucial points.
        One--you said this, but I want to make it clear--you are
    responding to what the Capitol Police and the city of
    Washington, DC, and the Speaker's office and the majority
    leader's office in the Senate is asking you to do. This is not
    your independent assessment; you are responding to that
    request. So the decisions being made on this are not being 100
    percent made by you, taking Mr. Waltz's point that you do have
    to sort of figure out how to achieve that effect. It is being
    driven locally.
        And the second thing I would say is, in terms of the threat
    environment, I have looked at it, and I agree that the threat
    environment is less. But if you want to know what is driving
    the threat environment, it would be helpful if every single
    elected official and person in a position of power in this
    country publicly acknowledged that Joe Biden was the duly
    elected President in a free and fair election.
        The degree to which people are still driving that
    narrative, that narrative then gets taken and put into really
    wacky sets of arguments that motivate people to say things. And
    I am sure everyone is aware of this.
        Right now, March 4--and I love this, by the way. Sorry. I
    have a sense of humor about absolutely everything, regardless
    of the circumstances. So apparently some of these people have
    figured out that 75 years ago the President used to be
    inaugurated on March 4. Okay? Now, why that is relevant, God
    knows. But, at any rate, so now they are thinking, maybe we
    should gather again and storm the Capitol on March 4. Okay?
    That is circulating online, all right?
        You know, stuff like that circulates all the time. Does it
    mean it is going to happen? Probably not. But if you want to
    help, tell them not to do that. Tell them that the election is
    over, Joe Biden won, it was a free and fair election, and let's
    get to work. That, too, would help reduce the--well, I don't
    know--fear-slash-paranoia that people feel that requires
    everything that we are seeing around here.
        So both sides could be helpful in getting our Capitol back
    to normal, I guess is what I would say.
        All right. I think Mr. Morelle is now with us.
        Mr. Waltz. Mr. Chairman, you certainly have a commitment
    from me.
        The Chairman. All right. Thank you, I appreciate that.
        Mr. Morelle, I think we are going to give you another shot
    here. Are you with us.
        Mr. Morelle. I am, Mr. Chair.
        The Chairman. You are recognized for 5 minutes.
        Mr. Morelle. Yes, thank you, sir. I will be very brief. I
    just wanted to thank the individuals who are testifying. Thank
    you, Mr. Chairman, for a very important and enlightening
    hearing. And as I am brand new to this committee, I am going to
    stop talking, yield back, and observe my colleagues in this.
        But I do want to thank people. And I also--to the National
    Guard General Taliaferro, we lost three guardsmen in Rochester,
    New York, my hometown, when a helicopter crashed just a couple
    of weeks ago. And I wanted to express my condolences to you and
    to the members of the Guard who do extraordinary service as do
    all of our active personnel.
        With that, I yield back, Mr. Chair.
        The Chairman. Thank you. I am sorry, Mike, did you have
    something?
        Mr. Rogers. I said he has got a bright future.
        The Chairman. I am sorry, Mr. Rogers made the comment that
    Mr. Morelle has a bright future on this committee, and I
    heartily agree.
        Mr. Bice--oh, sorry, Mrs. Bice, you are recognized.
        Mrs. Bice. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. My question is really
    directed specifically as it relates to my congressional
    district. I am near Tinker Air Force Base, and there are
    approximately 3,000 military personnel that work on base, but
    there are 25,000 civilians that work on base.
        What is the process that DOD is using to make sure that
    those civilian base employees are accessing the vaccine? Is
    that being left up to the local community, or is that something
    that DOD is working actively to assist in making sure that
    those folks have access to the vaccine so that they are not
    potentially exposing the military personnel that are working on
    base?
        Mr. Salesses. Congresswoman, I will turn it over to General
    Friedrichs, but the DOD civilians are in our vaccine schema,
    and depending on what jobs they are performing and what their
    health conditions are will guide exactly when they get the
    vaccine.
        Let me turn it over to General Friedrichs, Dr. Friedrichs.
        General Friedrichs. Thank you, Congresswoman, and thank
    you. As he was saying, that is exactly right. So as we have
    been through our organization following those CDC criteria,
    with identifying those on our bases who are at increased risk,
    whether by age or reason of other medical conditions, so that
    includes those critical infrastructure personnel that you just
    mentioned who work on our bases there. So they are part of our
    schema. And as the vaccine allocations continue over the weeks
    and months ahead, we will continue to vaccinate those
    personnel.
        Mrs. Bice. To follow up, how--how much headway are you able
    to get on how much of the vaccine is being sent to a specific
    area or a specific community to be able to vaccinate those. And
    what I am trying to figure out is how long is it going to take
    you to actually offer that vaccine to the almost 30,000
    employees that work on base? Are we looking at several months
    down the road? How is the delivery process working?
        General Friedrichs. Congresswoman, this is Brigadier
    General Friedrichs again. So we work closely with the Centers
    for Disease Control. Our Defense Health Agency is the lead for
    this effort, and so they work with Operation Warp Speed and the
    Centers for Disease Control on our allocation based on the
    populations that we have identified for which we are
    responsible.
        As was mentioned earlier in this brief, based on the
    purchases that the Department--or excuse me, that the country
    has made, we anticipate having 600 million doses by the end of
    July. And so that should allow us to vaccinate all of the
    adults who wish to be vaccinated over the next several months.
        Mrs. Bice. Thank you for that. A follow-up question. There
    certainly have--in many parts of the world, we are relying on
    our allies as partners on the ground for operational support,
    intelligence sharing, other critical functions. How has the
    pandemic impacted those relationships, and what does it mean to
    mitigate the impact?
        General Taliaferro. Congresswoman, this is General
    Taliaferro, I would say our combatant commands are heavily
    focused on maintaining those critical international
    relationships, whether that is through exercises, key leader
    engagements, and they deliberately do so to maintain awareness
    of what is going on in the region, maintain access basing and
    overflight during a crisis, and so on.
        Mrs. Bice. I just want to say thank you for your service,
    thank you for taking care of our men and women in the military.
    In Oklahoma our National Guard is currently activated, not only
    for COVID relief but also for weather issues that we are
    experiencing here. So I am grateful for the men and women not
    only serving in our Air Force and Navy that are here in
    Oklahoma, but also our National Guard that play an important
    role.
        I yield back, Mr. Chairman. Thank you.
        The Chairman. Thank you.
        Mr. Panetta is recognized for 5 minutes.
        Mr. Panetta. Thank you, Mr. Chairman, Ranking Member
    Rogers, and all the gentlemen there, I appreciate your service
    and I appreciate your time in preparation today to be here to
    answer these questions.
        Obviously, you know, we are dealing--I agree with the
    President of the United States that we are dealing with a
    wartime effort. So I appreciate all of the involvement that the
    Department of Defense is currently undergoing with this right
    now. Especially when it comes to the National Guard.
        I agree with you, General Nordhaus, especially on my
    district, I am the central coast of California. The National
    Guard has played a huge role within the last year, dealing with
    wildfires, dealing with storms, yes, dealing with COVID. But
    then, obviously, national, dealing with the attacks on our
    democracy. But also bolstering our democracy with getting
    involved in securing many of the election sites around our
    country back in November. So thank you for that.
        Another area that was very beneficial are the food banks
    that I have in my district. I am sure throughout many of the
    members' districts on this panel. Every week I try to get out
    to a food bank, and I can tell you, the ones that have the
    National Guard members helping out are the ones that run the
    most efficiently, considering how long these lines are getting
    at our food banks. So thank you very much.
        Now, I read recently that the National Guard has 100
    National Guard teams in 29 States with the ability of 200
    additional teams for vaccine distribution--at least that was
    said by General Hokanson the other day.
        And so what I kind of want to break down here is, okay, so
    you got these FEMA national sites, those are going to have
    Active Duty members. And then you have the State and local
    government sites, those are going to be run by National Guard
    members. Am I correct in coming to that simple conclusion?
        Mr. Salesses. Congressman, this is Bob Salesses, yes--yes,
    you are.
        Mr. Panetta. Okay. Great. And so right now you have FEMA
    that has 1,100 troops--or they are asking--they have 1,100
    troops at 5 vaccination centers. The President has called for a
    hundred more vaccination centers. That could lead up to 10,000
    more service members is what I am reading. Do you expect all of
    those to be Active Duty members?
        Mr. Salesses. Congressman, that is the current plan is to
    use Active Duty members to source the hundred mega and large
    centers. But that will depend, based on, obviously, as we start
    to provide additional forces, the Joint Staff and the services
    will look at how best to do that. And the original or at least
    the initial look is to use Active Component forces. It could
    then lead to title 10 Reserve forces potentially to support
    those centers.
        Mr. Panetta. Understood. General Nordhaus, focusing on the
    National Guard at the State and local level, obviously, we
    understand the priority of getting more vaccinations out there,
    especially to rural sites. If you are going to have FEMA at the
    major population centers, then maybe you help the State and
    local governments use National Guard to get the vaccination out
    there to those areas that aren't in the major population areas.
        Do you see that taking away from the food banks? Are you
    able to up, as General Hokanson said, use those 200 additional
    teams for that type of vaccination--those types of vaccinations
    in those types of areas?
        General Nordhaus. Congressman, thanks for the question. I
    don't see it taking away right now within the States and
    territories due to the mission assignment from FEMA.
        Right now, we are at about 28,000, but there is room to
    grow within each of the States is a little bit different; up to
    56,000 is the authority. So each State will look at what they
    need, what their critical requirements are.
        I know everyone is prioritizing vaccine distribution and
    vaccine shots to the population. And so that will be within
    each State to make sure they have the resources, and the
    guardsmen there able to perform each of those duties and make
    sure they cover them.
        Mr. Panetta. Okay. Thank you. Completely switching gears
    right now. Obviously, unfortunately, the Roosevelt has been
    back in the news lately. Three members of the Roosevelt came
    down with the coronavirus. And I know the Roosevelt is on a
    double bump right now, basically doing a second tour.
        My question to you is, where the hell and how the hell are
    these three members contracting the coronavirus? Is that being
    investigated?
        General Taliaferro. So, Congressman, this is General
    Taliaferro. I am sure the command team is looking into the
    individual cases. I think the broader message is how much
    improvement the Navy has made over the last year and their
    procedures on their ships, the way they have identified
    preplanned responses, the way they have changed flows of
    personnel, one-way corridors, different things, sleeping
    arrangements, segregating personnel into cohorts.
        The fact that there can be 3 infected personnel on the
    Roosevelt and it stay at 3 until they are evacuated is a credit
    to the work they have done that would keep it from getting to
    1,200. Over.
        Mr. Panetta. Thank you. My time is up. I yield back. Thank
    you, Mr. Chairman.
        Mr. Garamendi [presiding]. Thank you, Mr. Panetta.
        Mr. Franklin, you are up.
        Mr. Franklin. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. And thank you,
    panel. I appreciate your time that you spent here with us this
    afternoon. It has been enlightening.
        As a junior member of the committee, by the time we get to
    this point, a lot of the questions that I have had have been
    already answered, but I do appreciate that we have touched--
    several folks have asked questions about the opportunity costs
    of missed training opportunities, the impact on readiness.
        As a former career naval officer, I have been on the
    receiving end of a lot of these missions that come above and
    beyond your regular OPTEMPO. My question really to follow
    along, to continue on some of the others, is just dealing with
    retention. And I am specifically curious to know if--have we
    seen any drop in retention over the buildup in the OPTEMPO over
    the last year or so? And are we taking any proactive measures
    to be on guard against that?
        Just in talking recently with senior leadership of our
    Florida Guard, I know we have concern about a lack of manning
    to begin with, and then on top of that just the tempo and the
    impact that it is going to have on our troops.
        But I guess that question will be for General Nordhaus.
        General Nordhaus. Sir, Major General Nordhaus. Right now,
    we haven't seen any dip in the retention at this point. I did
    hear numbers about our retention, our recruiting throughout the
    end of the year. And right, now we are on par to be able to
    meet our end strength numbers through our recruiting efforts
    from both the Army National Guard and the Air National Guard.
    And I yield to any--to Major General Taliaferro.
        General Taliaferro. Congressman, this is General
    Taliaferro. I would say for the Active Component, retention and
    recruiting has still been at very high levels, and as you know,
    it generally follows the economy. And so I think this will bear
    watching as the economy picks up. But right now, retention and
    recruiting are at very high levels.
        Mr. Franklin. All right. Thank you, gentlemen.
        I yield back.
        Mr. Garamendi. Thank you, Mr. Franklin.
        Mr. Veasey, you are up.
        Mr. Veasey. Thank you very much.
        I wanted to ask General Nordhaus a question. In my district
    here in the Dallas-Fort Worth area, there was an announcement
    that there were going to be two openings of COVID vaccine
    sites. One was going to be at AT&T Stadium, Dallas Cowboys
    stadium which is in my district, and then another one in Fair
    Park which is near my district with the capacity to perhaps
    serve up to about 10,000 people a day. And I know that the
    Guard was supposed to be assisting in that effort.
        As you know, right now, in this part of the world, we are
    having record low temperatures. Our grid has been, just, you
    know, not completely incapacitated, but has been downgraded
    severely. We have people just literally blocks away from me
    that have had power sometimes, and other times, they haven't.
        Is this going to affect the Guard's effort to be able to
    mobilize and help in these efforts, because I would imagine
    that there are guardsmen that are also affected by these
    storms?
        Will you still be able to help in this mission as soon as
    we are able to get past this, or do you see there being some
    problems?
        General Nordhaus. Congressman, thanks for question. I will
    pass it over to Major General Taliaferro. I will say that
    across the States that are receiving the weather right now, our
    Guard is helping with, you know, incidents within weather, but
    then they are right back as fast as possible to supporting the
    vaccination efforts.
        And the Dallas area, I believe that is one of the title 10
    efforts, and I will turn that over to Major General Taliaferro.
        General Taliaferro. Thanks, General.
        Mr. Veasey. Thank you.
        General Taliaferro. Congressman, those two sites in the
    Dallas area, one at AT&T stadium and then one at the Cotton
    Bowl, we both expect to be operational a week from today.
    Although, I just discussed this with Northern Command this
    morning, it is not yet clear whether the weather will create
    any delays, but they are working through that with FEMA and the
    State.
        Mr. Veasey. Okay. Okay. Good. What sort of delays might--
    what would happen--what would make it harder for you to
    mobilize and be able to have your guys and women ready at those
    particular sites? Like what would be some of the issues that
    might come up?
        General Taliaferro. So, Congressman, I don't believe it
    would be the issues with our force. It would be issues
    surrounding the facility, access to the facility, and all the
    other supporting agencies. Our forces will move and be there in
    time. Over.
        Mr. Veasey. Okay. Well, no, thank you very much. That is
    very important to know, because obviously as soon as we get
    past the storms, I know that people are going to really be
    anxious to get back and start receiving their vaccines again.
        So I appreciate your time and answering those questions. I
    will yield back the balance of my time. Thank you.
        Mr. Garamendi. Thank you, Mr. Veasey.
        Mrs. McClain.
        Mrs. McClain. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. As we all know,
    China has become an ever-increasing threat, not only to the
    Pacific region, but globally. They've built up their armed
    forces to threaten our allies in the Pacific, used their Belt
    and Road Initiatives to bring poorer nations under their thumb,
    and now released viral epidemic upon the world.
        My question is for Major General Taliaferro, is has our
    ability to deter aggressive actions by China related to the
    construction of the islands in the Pacific region, has it been
    reduced because of the necessity to protect our forces during
    this pandemic?
        General Taliaferro. So, Congresswoman, I would say
    absolutely has not been reduced. Our forces are very active in
    the Pacific, in that region, whether conducting freedom of
    navigation operations, we have deployed bomber task force into
    region, and continued to project power into that area.
        And last spring, the combatant commands and the services
    worked very deliberately to ensure that we were able to operate
    within a COVID environment to perform our defense role. And,
    certainly, we have been active in the Pacific ever since.
        Mrs. McClain. Thank you. I yield back my time.
        Mr. Garamendi. Thank you, Mrs. McClain.
        Mrs. Murphy. Mrs. Murphy, you are up next.
        Mrs. Murphy. Thank you. And thank you all for being here
    today and for your testimony. And also thank you to all the
    service members for what they do every day to keep our country
    safe.
        You know, I represent a district in central Florida, and I
    had a chance to visit with some of the Florida National Guard
    that were deployed to DC, and also to have had some
    conversations with the Florida National Guard leadership.
        And I think a few things stand out to me. One, it is clear
    that the multiple deployments and the high OPTEMPO has had an
    effect on morale and, you know, possibly on retention. And some
    of the previous questioners talked a bit about that. And I
    think it may be too early to have the data to say exactly what
    impact that will have, but I think that is something that we
    should watch for.
        But, you know, we have to understand these are citizen
    soldiers who have been repeatedly called away from their
    families and their jobs and put in fairly stressful situations.
        And I think in Florida this strain has been really
    amplified, because despite having one of the largest States, we
    have a relatively smaller Guard. We are number 53 of 54 in
    guardsmen to citizens ratio. And during a pandemic, it is not
    really feasible to borrow guardsmen from other States, as we
    would normally do in responding to a geographically focused
    natural disaster.
        And I think on top of this, for Florida, the pandemic has
    disproportionately impacted us because we have one of the
    highest percentages of more mature Americans as a part of our
    State population. And those are the Americans who are more
    vulnerable to the negative impact of COVID and most in need of
    vaccinations, along with our frontline and essential workers.
        And then in the nature of being a superlative, we are also
    one of the States with one of the greatest incidence of natural
    disasters.
        So I look at all of this, and I see a lot of risk here
    going into this coming year and into the summer when hurricane
    season starts for us. I am really worried about the ability to
    respond to the requirements, and then the impact on the men and
    women who serve in our Guard.
        So, General Nordhaus, two questions for you. In the near
    term as we look out on this year and Florida's natural disaster
    season, it is going to put additional operational pressures on
    our National Guard force.
        How is this going to be balanced with the increased
    vaccination pace this summer, and then in the long term, what
    efforts are under way to study the proportion of guardsmen to
    citizens to ensure that we have sufficient forces to support
    the whole range of needs from disaster response to emerging
    challenges like COVID support?
        General Nordhaus. Congresswoman, thank you for the
    question. On the first side, as we get to the summer, hopefully
    with the number of vaccinations that will be available by June
    and July, that we get really close to having all of our service
    members vaccinated, and that will help as we go into that
    season.
        Every year we do get together and we have workshops that
    bring all 54 together for domestic operations, and we look at
    the EMACs, Emergency Management Assistance Compacts, between
    States to help assist in things like hurricane that Florida
    might be undergoing from other States nearby. As you know,
    Florida has helped out in other States through hurricanes over
    the last couple of years.
        As far as the force structure per civilian ratio within the
    State, Major General Eifert, The Adjutant General, will work
    that through the Army National Guard and the force structure
    committees to, you know, push that forward and then have any
    decisions through the service.
        Mrs. Murphy. Well, as he does that, he has the support--my
    support for sure for us to take another look at making sure
    that our Guard is appropriately scaled for the size of our
    State.
        Just pivoting to another question, a little unrelated,
    what--I know that DOD has been looking at the impact of right-
    wing extremist ideologies on the ability of DOD to carry out
    its duties. Has there been a similar effort within the Guard
    and how have some of these early analyses come out?
        General Nordhaus. Congresswoman, we fall right underneath
    the Secretary of Defense's new thing that he had just pushed
    out. It is not tolerated across the National Guard or anywhere
    within our organization. It goes against our fundamental
    principle of the oath that we take. And so it can't be
    tolerated.
        And we are working through our services, both the Air
    National Guard and the Army National Guard through the service
    programs that come down from the Secretary of Defense and the
    standdown within the next 60 days, and we will implement those
    all going forward.
        Mrs. Murphy. Thank you, and I yield back.
        Mr. Garamendi. Thank you.
        Mr. Jackson, you are next.
        Dr. Jackson. Thank you, Chairman. Thank you, Ranking Member
    Rogers. And thank you to our witnesses who are here today. I
    want to start by telling the witnesses I appreciate your
    service to our country. Thank you for everything that you have
    done.
        And I just want to start by saying that, you know, ever
    since COVID-19 has started, this pandemic has affected our
    military in a variety of ways. And I do believe that the
    response from the Department of Defense has not only saved
    countless civilian lives but has also been really good in
    regards to ensuring that we have been safe all over the globe
    from threats elsewhere simultaneously. So thank you for
    everything you have done.
        I want to just state a few facts, and then I want to ask
    you a question that I have received on several occasions that I
    don't feel like I have a good answer for. And I will just start
    by saying that I think with regards to DOD, the response to
    coronavirus began almost immediately. DOD provided
    approximately 200 beds at March Air Force Base for State
    Department officials who were evacuating from Asia, and
    TRANSCOM worked to bring home nearly 4,000 U.S. citizens who
    were stranded overseas at the start of the pandemic.
        This incredible response continued as the hospital ship
    Comfort and the hospital ship Mercy provided humanitarian aid
    in New York and Los Angeles as cases began to surge.
        Later we faced critical shortfalls in PPE. DOD once again
    answered the call by providing over 2,000 ventilators, 5
    million N95 masks, and other critical PPE.
        And another well-known aspect that I would like to ask
    about with regards to DOD was Operation Warp Speed. DOD played
    an absolute critical role in developing the COVID-19 response
    as it relates to Operation Warp Speed. These efforts continue.
    They continue with these types of efforts.
        President Biden has now released a 200-page National
    Strategy for COVID-19 Response and Pandemic Preparedness.
    However, I think this plan to me looks familiar to what I have
    seen prior to the Biden administration. The Biden plan aims to
    fill supply shortfalls by invoking the Defense Production Act,
    which we have talked briefly here, and I believe that is
    something that President Trump had already done as well.
        The Biden plan says that DOD will bring logistical
    expertise and staff to support the COVID-19 response, which I
    think is also something that President Trump was quick to do.
        The Biden plan says the DOD will support States' efforts to
    provide DOD resources and personnel. And, once again, I believe
    that is something that I heard the President say early on that
    was enacted quickly by President Trump as well.
        President Biden has rolled out his groundbreaking plan. He
    rolled this out on his first full day in office. But with
    reference to DOD, once again, it sounded to me like President
    Biden's plan was building on a lot of the great work that
    happened during the Trump administration.
        I think that good work should be acknowledged. I think it
    has become clear that President Trump and his administration
    responded effectively and decisively in the face of this
    pandemic. And I am glad to see the Biden administration, in my
    mind, is building on the successes of the Trump administration
    with regard to DOD's approach to this.
        The question I have for you is I would like to ask each of
    you, and we can start with Mr. Salesses, if you would like, I
    would like to know, with regards to DOD, how are the
    operations, in the Department of Defense, how have they shifted
    under the Biden administration? And could you outline what
    actions are now being taken that were not being taken before,
    specifically, with regard to DOD under the Trump
    administration? Thank you.
        Mr. Salesses. Congressman, thanks for the question. The
    Department obviously has a long history of supporting civil
    authorities. We continue to do that. A number of the
    initiatives under President Biden to include the initiative to
    establish the mega and large vaccine centers, to make sure that
    we are out, the Department as we have already discussed today
    there is community-based support that is being provided by the
    Guard. But the new mega and large centers will produce a lot of
    vaccine shots at the community level.
        We have also got initiatives under way with the new
    administration to make sure that all the mitigation measures,
    the mask wearing, the workforce protections, and those types of
    activities are being implemented effectively.
        Dr. Jackson. Thank you, sir. I don't know if any of the
    other witnesses have anything to add to that. If not, I will
    close up here.
        Well, I close then. I will just say, I do want to thank you
    all for what you have done. I do think that the Department of
    Defense has done an outstanding job in supporting the COVID
    efforts across the country since the very beginning of this. I
    have full confidence that you will continue to do an
    outstanding job for our country and take care of us all. I
    appreciate everything you have done.
        And with that, Mr. Chairman, I yield back.
        Mr. Garamendi. Thank you, Mr. Jackson.
        Mr. Moore.
        Mr. Moore. Thank you, Chairman. Many of the--many of the
    questions I have are related to training, and it has largely
    been addressed. So I will just briefly say thank you to the
    Department of Defense.
        Yesterday, I had the opportunity to do an immersion tour in
    my district at Hill Air Force Base. COVID-19 response was their
    top item that they briefed me on, and I just had an incredible
    experience seeing the breadth of what goes on there.
        As we explored and discussed the COVID-19 response and
    where things are at now, I will just say that I am hopeful
    that, you know, we can have a really strong focus on getting
    back to training and making sure that we make up for lost time
    that was required during the pandemic to build on that.
        It is a crucial part. It helps with morale and so many
    different factors, especially interacting with our foreign
    partners as well. And so that is the piece that I would--I
    would just want to highlight, but also just comment on, you
    know, how well they responded.
        Our depot work, they were essential workers, they powered
    through, and they kept operations going. I know that wasn't the
    case everywhere in being able to do it. And I was just really
    proud of Hill Air Force Base for being able to do it and across
    the Department did an exceptional job in handling COVID.
        So thank you for all your good work and to the committee.
    And with that, I will yield back.
        Mr. Garamendi. Thank you very much, Mr. Moore. Thank you,
    Mr. Moore.
        Mr. Fallon, your turn.
        Mr. Fallon. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. When we get down to
    this level, all the good questions have been asked and
    answered. I want to thank the witnesses for their testimony.
        I do have to say and echo what Admiral Jackson said, Ronny
    Jackson said. I really do believe the legacy of the Trump
    administration, their finest hour will be Warp Speed. I think
    this will get us through this pandemic and be stronger as a
    Nation because of it. And sometimes you just have to give
    credit where credit is due regardless of whether or not you
    agree or disagree with certain administration's policy. I think
    President Trump's administration did a fantastic job.
        I do have one quick question, and it was touched upon, but
    I just want to get a more specific answer. How was their
    [inaudible] and/or the cancellations of some of the exercises
    we would have had with our foreign powers or allies, or our
    foreign partners and friends, rather, have affected our efforts
    to strengthen the alliances and build our readiness both
    between--and really our efficacy and synergy with our allies?
        And I just wanted to ask the witnesses how the pandemic has
    affected this?
        General Taliaferro. Thanks, Congressman. This is General
    Taliaferro. In the overseas exercises, the Joint Force Exercise
    Program, we talked about the exercises that had been cancelled
    or delayed. And in those opportunities, those training
    opportunities, we can further develop our partners, we can
    facilitate interoperability. And we can grow and strengthen
    relationships with our partners that, as we mentioned, have a
    wide variety of advantages.
        So we need to stay engaged with our partners going forward
    and strengthen those relationships through a variety of
    mechanisms.
        Mr. Moore. Thank you.
        Mr. Salesses. Congressman, this is Bob Salesses. I would
    just like to point out, although the physical engagement with
    our partners has been limited, a lot of activity continues with
    our international partners through our combatant commands,
    through the OSD staff with the allies and partners on a daily
    basis. So that contact is always there working together in that
    regard. So that is still very strong commitment from one
    another.
        General Nordhaus. Congressman, Major General Nordhaus. I
    would also like to comment. The State Partnership Program which
    has our 54 States partnered up with other nations throughout
    the last year, those nations have reached out to State--to
    country and talked COVID and learned from each other. So that
    has been very productive as well.
        Mr. Fallon. Would it be fair to say that once we have our
    troops vaccinated, it looks like from testimony that would be
    around July, that come the fall we are going to be back up to
    pre-COVID levels as far as training, and will this largely be
    in the rearview mirror in your professional opinion?
        General Taliaferro. Congressman, this is General
    Taliaferro. I would say certainly here in the United States,
    the services have already adapted and have returned to large
    training venues. Right now today, there is 3,000 Marines
    training together down at Twentynine Palms. Large force
    exercises and training is happening in the United States.
        Our overseas exercises frequently are dependent on the
    participation of our partners and whether they are able to
    attend, whether they are able to participate. But even in
    opportunities where they are not, our forces will continue to
    train and take advantage as best we can of those opportunities.
        Mr. Fallon. Thank you, Mr. Chairman, I yield back.
        The Chairman. Thank you. There are, as I understand it, no
    further requests for time. I know we--and also, we went past
    the 1:30 hard stop a little bit that some of you gentlemen had.
        So with that, I want to say thank you to the witnesses,
    thanks for the questions. I look forward to continuing this
    discussion. And I appreciate you being here, and we are
    adjourned.
        [Whereupon, at 1:37 p.m., the committee was adjourned.]

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                                A P P E N D I X

                               February 17, 2021

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                  PREPARED STATEMENTS SUBMITTED FOR THE RECORD

                               February 17, 2021

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                       DOCUMENTS SUBMITTED FOR THE RECORD

                               February 17, 2021

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                  WITNESS RESPONSES TO QUESTIONS ASKED DURING

                                  THE HEARING

                               February 17, 2021

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                 RESPONSE TO QUESTION SUBMITTED BY MR. LANGEVIN

        General Nordhaus. Some States involved with vaccine distribution
    are employing NG members to provide turn-key operations support for
    Civilian Vaccination Centers (CVC). The operations include providing
    site security and traffic control at the CVC, in-processing civilians,
    completing CDC and state-specific paper work, administering vaccines,
    completing CDC shot records, and post-vaccine monitoring. In other
    states, the NG is also being utilized to deliver vaccines in very rural
    and isolated locations. This ``last mile'' support helps the State to
    reach citizens in remote areas.   [See page 14.]
                                     ______

                  RESPONSE TO QUESTION SUBMITTED BY MR. SCOTT
        General Friedrichs. Over the past 12 weeks, the positivity rate for
    Active Duty personnel has been an average of 19.5% lower than the
    national positivity rate. Electronic Health Record data for the week of
    04 April-10 April, 2021 shows a 3.6% positivity rate for new Active
    Duty cases (including pooled testing numbers), 39% lower than the
    national positivity rate of 5.9%.   [See page 24.]
        [See charts on page 75.]
                                     ______

                  RESPONSE TO QUESTION SUBMITTED BY MR. WALTZ
        Mr. Salesses. The Joint Staff works with key DOD stakeholders, such
    as the Army, the Air Force, and the National Guard Bureau, to identify
    DOD capabilities and resources that may be sourced to execute an
    approved request for assistance without adversely affecting military
    operations or preparedness.
        DOD provides support to its law enforcement partners based on their
    requests for assistance, consistent with the law and mindful of DOD's
    own mission requirements. On March 4, 2021, the U.S. Capitol Police
    Board requested the support of 2,280 National Guard personnel, through
    May 23, 2021, due to a heightened threat environment. On March 9, 2021,
    the Secretary of Defense approved the U.S. Capitol Police Board
    request. DOD is meeting weekly with the U.S. Capitol Police to develop,
    by April 9, 2021, a plan to reduce incrementally the number of National
    Guard personnel providing support to the U.S. Capitol Police.   [See
    page 37.]

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                  QUESTIONS SUBMITTED BY MEMBERS POST HEARING

                               February 17, 2021

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                       QUESTIONS SUBMITTED BY MR. MORELLE

        Mr. Morelle. If title 32 mobilizations ended would there be a
    reduction in National Guard personnel supporting state COVID-19
    operations? Second, Are there any capability or capacity gaps within
    the National Guard that limit or prevent the National Guard from fully
    resourcing requests for assistance from the states or territories?
        General Nordhaus. The difference in T32 and State Active Duty (SAD)
    is funding and benefits provided to or by states. Additionally, if
    states relied on internal funding to combat the virus, they may not be
    able to sustain the level of response needed or have as robust of a
    resourcing pool as they do when federal dollars are allocated. T32 is a
    critical resource for states and any reduction could greatly impact a
    state's plan to secure its citizenry. The limitations within the
    National Guard and the Department writ large is the licensure to
    vaccinate or perform medical treatments. We are able to train non-
    traditional medical personnel on specimen collection but have relied
    heavily on general labor to build and staff care facilities, conduct
    sanitation and fill other critical needs identified by states to keep
    their economies going. At this time, there are no capability or
    capacity gaps in the National Guard's ability to fully resource
    requests for assistance from the states or territories.
                                     ______

                       QUESTIONS SUBMITTED BY MR. KAHELE
        Mr. Kahele. Section 733 of the NDAA provided for Transitional
    Health Benefits for Certain Members of the National Guard Serving Under
    Orders In Response to the Coronavirus (COVID-19) The Hawaii National
    Guard has service members that are eligible for TAMP per the passage of
    the recent NDAA as described in section 733 but because of an issue
    implementing this provision in the NDAA, National Guard service members
    are not able to initiate their TAMP benefits until the end of March
    because there is no way for TRICARE to manually activate TAMP for these
    SMs. OSD was notified by DMDC that they are actively working with
    TRICARE and DHA with a system implementation date of 3/20/21. This is
    unacceptable. We currently have eligible National Guard soldiers and
    airmen and their families that are being denied at least one month of
    TRICARE through the congressionally mandated NDAA, who have served on
    COVID T-32 502F orders but are losing one month of healthcare benefits
    which they have earned.
        1. What are we urgently doing to address this?
        2. Why is the DMDC unable to implement this today for our eligible
    service members?
        3. What is OSD currently doing to address this situation
    immediately?
        4. Why is there not a process to manually activate TAMP for an
    eligible national guard service member?
        1. What are we urgently doing to address this?
        General Nordhaus. NGB has been communicating to the 54 States and
    territories about the timeframe to properly implement the automated
    solution for access to Transition Assistance Management Program (TAMP)
    healthcare benefits. The Defense Health Agency (DHA) approved NGB's
    guidance publication on ``how to avoid out-of-pocket costs'' during the
    system programming period and ``how to file for reimbursement of costs
    incurred for covered services.'' Additional guidance was issued to
    reduce initial out-of-pocket expenses for Service members and family
    members. Use of military hospitals and those within the TRICARE network
    are two options to reduce out-of-pocket expenses.
        In anticipation of the completion of the software updates, guidance
    was also proactively provided to ensure accurate reporting would be
    addressed in the anticipation of the enrollment process. Once software
    system programming is complete individuals who paid out-of-pocket costs
    for healthcare services and prescriptions, during the TAMP
    implementation delay period, may file a claim for expenses incurred
    that would have been covered under TAMP, less any applicable
    deductibles, cost-shares, and co-payments.
        2. Why is the DMDC unable to implement this today for our eligible
    service members?
        General Nordhaus. DMDC fully implemented the new benefits on
    February 27, 2021. Prior to implementation, DMDC manually updated
    records to provide retroactive TAMP benefits for National Guard
    personnel who completed their active service on/before February 27,
    2021. At this time, this benefit is fully in place for National Guard
    Service Members who were ordered to Full Time National Guard Duty
    (FTNFD) as provided in Section 733 of the Fiscal Year 2021 National
    Defense Authorization Act in support of the whole-of-government
    response to the Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic.
        Implementation of the new benefit required coding changes in DMDC
    software to both add TAMP benefits for service under Section 502(f) and
    to enforce the duty release date restrictions specified in the NDAA.
    DMDC initially estimated this capability would be implemented by 20
    March 2021, but through a heightened urgency and prioritization
    implemented the changes on 27 February 2021. Manual updates were also
    run to retroactively provide TAMP benefits for eligible National Guard
    personnel who completed their active service periods before February
    27. The first updates were made on February 24, 2021 and applied TAMP
    benefits to the records of 1,561 personnel and the second set of
    updates were made on March 1, 2021 and applied TAMP to another 120
    personnel. Normal processing began March 1, 2021.
        3. What is OSD currently doing to address this situation
    immediately?
        General Nordhaus. The Office of the Assistant Secretary of Defense
    issued guidance on February 8, 2021 identifying TAMP eligibility and
    the parameters. OSD authored and issued new policy and conducted
    several meetings with NGB, OSD, DMDC and DHA to assist while awaiting
    the system coding change completion and benefit implementation.
        4. Why is there not a process to manually activate TAMP for an
    eligible National Guard service member?
        General Nordhaus. The DOD benefits determination processes, is very
    complex. Even minor changes require analysis to make sure changes will
    both produce the desired result and not introduce unintended
    consequences to Service Members and their dependent's benefits and
    entitlements. This change required analysis to determine how the new
    benefit and its accompanying restrictions should be introduced in order
    to provide consistent and continuing benefits to affected Service
    Members.
        Manually activating benefits for Service Members requires making
    changes to specific sections of the individual Service Member's
    personnel records one record at a time. Such manual manipulations can
    introduce complications that affect later processing of the record, as
    well as increasing the possibility of unintentional errors, especially
    when there are restrictions on the benefit as there were in this case.
    Hence, DMDC uses manual correction as little as possible when a group
    of records is involved. Instead, DMDC develops, tests, and implements
    small program changes termed ``sweeps.'' Sweeps apply the same changes
    across the entire group of records, thus ensuring that the same rules
    are applied to generate the intended benefits. The situation was
    discussed with the Defense Health Agency to minimize the impact to
    Members and families. The sweeps also applied the benefit
    retroactively, so that TAMP benefits began as of the end of each
    Service Member's active duty period. The first sweep was conducted as
    soon as the sweep logic was tested and approved, roughly two weeks
    after receipt of the signed OSD guidance mentioned above. The automated
    implementation of the benefit changes was implemented in DMDC
    production environments three days thereafter.
                                     ______

                        QUESTIONS SUBMITTED BY MR. BROWN
        Mr. Brown. The successful rapid development of multiple vaccines to
    combat the pandemic is due in large part to the foresight of DARPA and
    other components of the Department in developing mitigation measures to
    respond to a major pandemic. How is the Department incorporating
    lessons learned from COVID-19 in its research investments and pandemic
    preparedness plans to be able to better respond to the next pandemic?
        Mr. Salesses. Throughout our nation's response to the coronavirus
    disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic, DOD continues to document a range of
    critical lessons learned that, when fully evaluated and prioritized,
    will guide DOD's efforts to prepare for and respond to future pandemics
    and other national emergencies.
        DOD support of the development of vaccines and therapeutics was a
    critical enabler to our nation's response. For decades, DOD
    laboratories have studied infectious diseases of military importance,
    including HIV/AIDS, Ebola, and coronaviruses such as Middle East
    Respiratory Syndrome (MERS). In January 2020, DOD began research and
    development (R&D) on diagnostics, therapeutics, and vaccines for SARS-
    COV-2, the strain of coronavirus that causes COVID-19. The U.S. Army
    Medical Directorate-Armed Forces Research Institute of Medical Sciences
    led important initiatives to sequence COVID-19 in order to find its
    genetic ``fingerprint.'' Scientists used this identification
    information to develop tests and proposed treatments as early as
    January 2020, and later to help track the transmission chain as the
    virus evolved over time.
        DOD's Advanced Development and Manufacturing capability also
    provided critical additional capacity to support the manufacture of
    COVID-19 vaccines and monoclonal antibodies as part of Operation Warp
    Speed. When companies lacked space to conduct vaccine trials, DOD
    helped to set up pop-up sites in parking lots. When testing and trials
    required a particular piece of equipment, DOD helped to acquire it.
    Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) programs funded
    projects that laid the groundwork for the development of RNA COVID-19
    vaccines produced by Moderna and AstraZeneca, and COVID-19 therapeutics
    manufactured by Eli-Lilly.
        DOD overseas laboratories and Cooperative Threat Reduction-
    Biological Threat Reduction programs continue to facilitate the
    detection and reporting of diseases that could affect the armed forces
    of the United States and its allies and partners. DOD is
    institutionalizing improvements to programs under its purview.
    Improvements to a future whole-of-nation response depend on reforms
    made by other Federal departments and agencies.
        Mr. Brown. As this pandemic approaches its second year, it is clear
    that COVID-19 will continue to be a factor as it evolves and mutates.
    What is the Department's long-term strategy for force protection, to
    include long-term vaccination planning, requirements, and supplies, to
    ensure that the Department is prepared to combat a persistent presence
    of the virus at home and is ready for global deployments where we might
    see mutated strains?
        General Taliaferro. The department remains committed to supporting
    the whole of government response, both domestically and
    internationally, as tasked by the interagency leads (FEMA and DOS). We
    are fully engaged in planning for potential additional support.
        From the beginning of the pandemic, the DOD embraced and
    implemented CDC and other Federal guidance, and will continue to do so.
    Our layered approach to force protection continues to evolve as CDC
    guidance changes, including:
        1) Non-pharmaceutic public health measures (e.g., mask-wearing and
    social distancing)
        2) Testing--both when appropriate clinically to determine if
    someone is infected, as well as to identify people with asymptomatic
    infections
        3) Vaccinations to reduce the risk of becoming infected, including
    reassessing whether to keep vaccines voluntary at such a time that the
    FDA grants unrestricted approval
        Because we know this is not the last biological threat our nation
    will face, we are taking the lessons learned from the past 15 months
    and are in the process of working with USNORTHCOM to update the Global
    Campaign Plan for Pandemic Influenza and Infectious Diseases.
    Additionally, the Joint Staff is also coordinating the first-ever
    Globally Integrated Framework for Pandemic Response. Moreover, we
    continue to partner with our interagency colleagues to expand global
    surveillance for new variants and new biological threats so that we can
    identify them as quickly as possible and, if necessary, develop
    additional medical and non-medical counter-measures.
        Mr. Brown. First, let me thank you for the service of the National
    Guard in securing the Capitol during the inauguration. I understand
    that there were significant outbreaks of COVID-19 within the
    deployment. What root causes have the National Guard Bureau identified
    that led to these outbreaks and what corrective actions has the NGB
    taken to reduce the potential for them in the future?
        General Nordhaus. We determined the carriers introduced the virus
    to the environment once they arrived. It did not spread and we quickly
    worked to contain and isolate infected individuals and those in close
    contact. We reinforced CDC and DOD guidelines and worked through the
    DCNG Surgeon's office to expand sanitation. Additionally, we increased
    education to the force as they arrived to keep healthy practices fresh
    in their minds as they were employed.

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