Mr. Chairman, I thank our witnesses for being here today and my special thanks for your great service to our country. We know that this is an extremely busy time for you but your testimony is invaluable to us as we consider the authorization legislation for the services.

I had the opportunity to meet with Admiral Fargo two days ago to review a number of issues. I appreciate the time he took to visit with me. The Pacific Command is not only responsible for the Asia-Pacific region but also has unique responsibilities for homeland security in Hawaii and American territories in the Pacific. Admiral Fargo maintains a valuable close working relationship with our state and local officials.

I would like to raise concerns in three areas: North Korea, the Philippines, and Indonesia.

I am deeply worried about the situation in North Korea. I cannot envision a war on the Korean peninsula – certainly not a war involving nuclear weapons, but suddenly, judging from press reports, the unthinkable seems to be under consideration in Washington. This is very disturbing. I think it is time to back away from the edge of war.

We should not be afraid to talk, even negotiate, directly with North Korea. Too much is at stake. The last fifty years were spent investing in the creation of a stable, prosperous and democratic South Korean ally. We continue to maintain a sizeable troop presence, some with dependents, stationed on the peninsula. To jeopardize all of this because we insist on only a multilateral format for discussions with the North is the height of folly.

I share everyone's concerns over the North Korean secret uranium enrichment program. But the only way to resolve that issue is to talk to the North Koreans. When the last Administration thought it had discovered a secret nuclear facility being constructed inside a mountain, it was able to negotiate full and complete access to that area. There is precedent for a resolution of similar issues with the North. President Clinton's negotiators believe that they were nearing an agreement to end North Korean missile proliferation.

It could be that the North Koreans are committed to keeping a nuclear weapons program regardless of the cost. We cannot know that unless we talk to them. The Washington Post reported last week that the Administration was willing to accept a nuclear armed North Korea. I hope not. I hope that we do all we can to convince the North Koreans that having nuclear weapons and producing more nuclear weapons is not in their interest just as it is not in our's.

Secondly, I want to discuss reports that the United States is going to deploy more troops to the southern Philippines for combat operations against the Abu Sayaaf. I certainly support providing military assistance to the Philippines with whom we have a mutual defense treaty. If necessary, we should deploy troops should they be requested by the Philippines.

However, we need to remind ourselves of the history of our prior military involvement in the Philippines and be sensitive to the concerns of Filipinos as well as sensitive to the limitations of our influence. At the beginning of the last century we deployed Constabulary forces to Mindanao against Muslim insurgents. They were only marginally successful then despite having been issued new .45 caliber revolvers.

A few months ago we fielded a force to assist and train the Philippine military to deal with the Abu Sayaaf. That operation reportedly came to a successful conclusion. I understand that the we are considering fielding an even larger force with a commitment to do the same mission. While I continue to support our fight against terrorism, we must ensure that our military assistance strategy effectively achieves our goal of assisting the Philippines to develop a long-term capability to fight terrorism.

This raises many questions concerning the effectiveness of our military assistance strategy.

Finally, in Indonesia we have a long standing interest in helping reform the Indonesian security forces, including the police, so that they can play a positive role in Indonesia democratic and economic development. On a positive note, an Indonesian general was sentenced yesterday to five years in jail for failing to prevent attacks against civilians in East Timor in 1990. On a less positive note, the FBI continues to investigate reports that the Indonesian military assassinated two American teachers last August in Papua province. These were very serious crimes and I hope the Indonesian military's senior command is giving the FBI every possible assistance in their investigation. We will not be able to have a military educational training program with the Indonesian military if it is murdering American citizens.

Thank you Mr. Chairman. I welcome once again our witnesses and I look forward to hearing their testimony.