Thank you, Senator Inhofe.  I would like to join you in welcoming our nominees and thank them for their willingness to serve in important positions within the Department of Defense and other agencies.  I would also like to recognize and thank your families, many of whom are here today, for their support.

General Nakasone, your service as the Commander of Cyber Command’s National Mission Force, Commander of the Army Cyber Command, and Commander of Joint Task Force ARES, which targets ISIS internet propaganda and recruiting, in addition to your extensive experience in intelligence, makes you highly qualified to serve as Director of the NSA and Commander of CYBERCOM.

If confirmed, the challenges that you will face include disrupting and exposing cyber-enabled information operations conducted by Russia and other countries; working with other stakeholders to develop whole-of-DoD and whole-of-government approaches to cyber and information warfare; and establishing deterrence policy and capabilities that will, in time, help to prevent significant nation-state cyber and information warfare attacks against the U.S.  These are no small tasks, but it is more important now than ever before that these threats to our national security are confronted head-on.

Dr. Park, you are nominated to be the Administrator for Defense Nuclear Nonproliferation, the primary role in the National Nuclear Security Agency for controlling the spread of nuclear material around the world and promoting its peaceful use.  In that regard, this committee will look to you as the point person for ensuring countries that want to develop peaceful uses of nuclear energy are technically capable of doing so, while assisting the International Atomic Energy Agency with the ability to conduct monitoring.  Nuclear nonproliferation remains vital to maintaining our national security and global stability.  If confirmed, we will be asking you to give us your forthright assessment on nuclear proliferation concerns in the Middle East, North Korea, and around the world.

Ms. White, you are nominated to serve as the Assistant Secretary of Energy for Environmental Management.  If confirmed, it will be your responsibility to oversee the large and complex cleanup operations involving former defense production sites at the Department of Energy.  Since the cleanup program began more than twenty-five years ago, the majority of the less complex sites have been completed.  Current cleanup operations require much more care due to their complexity.  These include sites like Hanford, Washington, which has some fifty-five million gallons in 177 underground tanks, and Los Alamos, New Mexico, which is resuming plutonium disposal operations at the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant after an accident four years ago.  You will be challenged to complete these projects quickly and efficiently, under the tight budget constraints required by your obligation to serve as a steward of taxpayer dollars.  If confirmed, we will look to you to give us regular updates on your progress on these issues, while ensuring you have clear lines of communications to the states where these operations take place.

I would again like to thank the nominees for your willingness to be here today and to serve in the Department of Defense.  Thank you.