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NOMINATIONS OF LT. GEN. PETER PACE,

USAF,

USMC, FOR APPOINTMENT TO GRADE OF
GENERAL AND TO BE USCINCSOC; LT. GEN.
CHARLES R. HOLLAND,
R. HOLLAND,
FOR AP-
POINTMENT TO GRADE OF GENERAL AND
TO BE USCINCSOC; AND MAJ. GEN. ROBERT
B. FLOWERS, USA, FOR APPOINTMENT TO
THE GRADE OF LT. GEN. AND TO BE THE
CHIEF OF ENGINEERS, UNITED
UNITED STATES
ARMY

WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 6, 2000

U.S. SENATE,

COMMITTEE ON ARMED SERVICES,

Washington, DC.

The committee met, pursuant to notice, at 9:37 a.m., in room SR222, Russell Senate Office Building, Senator John Warner (chairman) presiding.

Committee members present: Senators Warner, Levin, Byrd, Reed, Inofe, Allard, Hutchinson,

Committee staff members present: Romie L. Brownlee, staff director and Judith A. Ansley, deputy staff director.

Professional staff members present: Charles S. Abell, Charles W. Alsup, Edward H. Edens IV, George W. Lauffer, Patricia L. Lewis, Thomas L. MacKenzie, Cord A. Sterling, Eric H. Thoemmes, and Eric M. Thorson.

Minority staff members present: David S. Lyles, staff director for the minority; Richard D. DeBobes, minority counsel; Peter K. Levine, minority counsel; and Michael J. McCord, professional staff member.

Staff assistants present: Beth Ann Barozie and Michele A. Traficante.

Committee members' assistants present: Gregory C. McCarthy, assistant to Senator Inhofe; George M. Bernier, III, assistant to Senator Santorum; Thomas A. Vecchiola, assistant to Senator Snowe; Robert Alan McCurry, assistant to Senator Roberts; Douglas Flanders and Charles Cogar, assistants to Senator Allard; Michael P. Ralsky, assistant to Senator Hutchinson; Arch Galloway II, assistant to Senator Sessions; Christine Evans and Terrence E. Sauvain, assistants to Senator Byrd; William K. Sutey, assistant to Senator Robb; Frederick M. Downey, assistant to Senator Lieberman.

OPENING STATEMENT OF SENATOR JOHN WARNER,
CHAIRMAN

Chairman WARNER. The committee meets today to receive testimony concerning three very critical military nominations. Lt. Gen. Peter Pace, U.S. Marine Corps, has been nominated to be promoted to General and for assignment as Commander in Chief, U.S. Southern Command. Lt. Gen. Charles Holland, U.S. Air Force, has been nominated to be promoted to General and for the assignment as the Commander in Chief, U.S. Special Operations Command. Maj. Gen. Robert Flowers, U.S. Army, has been nominated to be promoted to Lieutenant General and for assignment as the Chief of Corps of Engineers.

Each of these distinguished military leaders have impressive records of difficult assignments and of great responsibility. Each has accumulated extraordinary experience in their careers. Each senator has a copy of the biographies and most of us have had the opportunity to meet these nominees in office calls so I'll not take time to recite their accomplishments.

General Pace, if confirmed by the United Sates Senate, you will be assuming responsibility for relations with our South and Central American neighbors and you will be on the front line in the counterdrug effort in that part of the world. You will be dealing with some of the most troubling issues our country faces today.

General Holland, if confirmed, you will be the first Air Force officer to serve as the Commander in Chief, Special Operations Command. In fact, I believe you will be the first non-Army officer to serve in that position. Your nomination continues a recent, positive trend. In July, the committee considered the nomination of General Kernan, and Army officer to command the Joint Forces Command, which had previously been a sea service command. Late last year we considered the nomination of Air Force General Ralston to be the Commander in Chief, U.S. European Command. Your nomination, along with the others, reflects, I think, a diversity that is a wise course of action for the Department of Defense and indeed the Nation.

General Flowers, your nomination is unique in that this committee has the responsibility to consider your promotion while our colleagues on the Environment and Public Works Committee, on which I and other members of this committee serve and is chaired by our senior member of this committee, Mr. Smith, has responsibility to consider your assignment as the Chief of Engineers. I understand that Senator Smith has scheduled a hearing of the Environment and Public Works Committee on September 14 to review this nomination. The Army Corps of Engineers has recently been the subject of some controversy. I'm sure you are aware that three committees of the Senate, Appropriations, Armed Services, Environment and Public Works expressed their concerns when Secretary Caldera proposed some management changes with regard to the Corps of Engineers. The leadership of those three committees are still working with the Army to determine how or if those proposed chenges should be implemented. We will probably consult you after you have had a chance to be in office for a period.

General Pace, I understand that your family is here, so why don't we start with your introduction of your family.

[The prepared statement of Chairman Warner follows:]

PREPARED STATEMENT BY SENATOR JOHN WARNER

The committee will come to order.

The committee meets today to receive testimony concerning three very key military nominations.

Lt. Gen. Peter Pace, U.S. Marine Corps, has been nominated to be promoted to General and for assignment as the Commander-in-Chief, U.S. Southern Command. Lt. Gen. Charles Holland, U.S. Air Force, has been nominated to be promoted to General and for assignment as the Commander-in-Chief, U.S. Special Operations Command. Maj. Gen. Robert Flowers, U.S. Army, has been nominated to be promoted to Lieutenant General and for assignment as the Chief of the Corps of Engineers. Each of these distinguished military leaders have impressive records of tough assignments and great experience. Each Senator has a copy of their biographies and most of us have had the opportunity to meet these nominees in office calls so I will not take the time to recite their accomplishments.

General Pace, if confirmed, you will be assuming responsibility for relations with our South and Central American neighbors and you will be on the front line in the counter-drug effort. You will be dealing with some of the most troubling issues our country faces today. I know you will have a challenging tenure.

General Holland, if confirmed, you will be the first Air Force officer to serve as the Commander-in-Chief, Special Operations Command. In fact, I believe you will be the first non-Army officer to serve in that position. Your nomination continues a recent, positive trend. In July, the committee considered the nomination of General Kernan, an Army officer to command the Joint Forces Command which had previously been a sea service command. Late last year, we considered the nomination of Air Force General Ralston to be the Commander-in-Chief, U.S. European Command. Your nomination, along with that of General Ralston and General Kernan are strong, positive signs that Goldwater-Nichols is working as we intended when we created it. I am proud to have been a part of that effort.

General Flowers, your nomination is unique in that this committee has the responsibility to consider your promotion while our colleagues on the Environment and Public Works Committee, chaired by a senior member of this committee, Senator Bob Smith, has the responsibility to consider your assignment as the Chief of Engineers. I understand that Senator Smith has scheduled a hearing of the Environment and Public Works Committee on September 14th to consider your nomination.

The Army Corps of Engineers has recently been the subject of some controversy. I am sure you are aware that three committees of the Senate Appropriations, Armed Services and Environment and Public Works-expressed their concerns when Secretary Caldera proposed some management changes with regard to the Corps of Engineers. The leadership of those three committees are still working with the Army to determine how or if those proposed changes may be implemented. I look forward to receiving your professional judgement on the important environmental and water resource issues facing the Corps as well as the readiness of the tactical engineer force of the Army.

General Pace, I understand that your wife, Lynne, your son, Marine Lieutenant Peter Pace, your daughter, Tiffany, your brother-in-law, Bill Holden and his wife, Janice, are here with you today. Would you introduce them please?

General Holland, I understand that your wife, Nancy, your son, Air Force Lieutenant Chuck Holland, his wife, Air Force Lieutenant Sharon Hilman, your son, Justin, your mother Xenada, your brother, Air National Guard Colonel Richard Holland and his wife Marissa, and your sister, Lunada Stewart are here with you today.

Would you introduce them please?

General Flowers, I understand that your family could not be here today. I am sure they are with you in spirit. Before we hear from our nominees, I would like to yield to Senator Levin for any opening comments he may want to make.

The committee asked each of the nominees to answer a series of advance policy questions. They have responded to those questions. Without objection, I will make the questions and the responses part of the record.

General Pace, if you have any opening remarks, we will give you the opportunity to address the committee now.

General Holland, we will hear from you following General Pace's remarks and General Flowers, your opportunity will follow General Holland.

General PACE. Senator, thank you very much. It's my great pleasure and privilege to introduce my wife, the former Lynn Ann Holden of Ellicot City, Maryland. Lynn and I have been married over 29 years; I met her when I was a midshipman at the Naval Academy. She has been by my side my entire 33 years in the Marine Corps; she has served our nation with distinction, sir. I am honored to introduce her to the committee.

Along with her, our two children, again with my wife's great hand on both of their shoulders. Our son, 1stLt. Peter Pace, who is the Executive Officer of Weapons Company, 2d Battalion, First Marines, Camp Pendleton, California. Our daughter, Tiffany Marie, who just graduated cum laude from the University of New Hampshire.

We also have my brother-in-law and sister-in-law, Mr. and Mrs. William Holden. Bill has served 28 years in the Department of Transportation, and Janice served 7 years before going into the pri

vate sector.

Thank you, sir.

Chairman WARNER. Thank you. Very well done.

General Holland, if you will introduce your family.

General HOLLAND. Yes, sir, it's indeed an honor for me to introduce my wife, Nancy Holland. She's been with me for 27 years. She is from Keokuk, Iowa, and I met her on my way to fly AC-130 gunships in Southeast Asia, where our relationship continued.

Senator INHOFE. General, why don't you have them stand up, so we'll know who your talking about.

General HOLLAND. Well, there's a certain degree of modesty, but anyway, I think you're probably right.

I have my two sons here, my younger son Justin Holland, who will be an eleventh grader at Ramstein Air Base, Germany. If confirmed, we will have a new school for him to attend.

My older son is 2d Lieutenant Chuck Holland, a graduate of the Air Force Academy, who received a congressional appointment from Congressman Wise of West Virginia. Next to him is his lovely wife, 1st Lt. Sharon Holland, who he met at the Air Force Academy, Class of 1998.

My mother, Xenada Holland, a longtime resident of Elkins, West Virginia. I'm very proud to have her here, the stalwart of our family; and my sister, Lunada Holland, who also resides in Elkins, West Virginia.

Behind them is my brother, Col. Richard Holland. I had the opportunity to pin on his eagles at Camp Dawson just 3 weeks ago. As part of the Army National Guard, he deployed to DESERT STORM, and has been involved with many different crises throughout the State of West Virginia. Lastly, his lovely wife, Marissa, who is currently in her third year of medical school, and also very active in the State of West Virginia.

Thank you for the opportunity to be able to bring this cast here today for this hearing.

Chairman WARNER. Well, it's a very important day, not only in your life and theirs, but also the country, because these partnerships of marriage have made a great deal of difference to our military throughout its history.

General Flowers.

General FLOWERS. Sir, I'm very honored to be here. My wife is serving at Ft. Leonard Wood today. We've been married 31 years. We have four sons that are spread around the country, one of whom is a 2d Lieutenant in the United States Army at Ft. Lewis, Washington, an infantry platoon leader.

Great to be here, sir.

Chairman WARNER. Thank you.

Senator Levin.

Senator LEVIN. Mr. Chairman, first let me join in congratulating the nominees and our witnesses here today. These are, as you have indicated, extremely important positions to which they've been nominated, and I also want to join you and all the members of the committee in welcoming your families who are able to be with them here this morning.

The contribution of families should never be overlooked, as our chairman said, and we want to recognize them as well as the witnesses before us.

I also want to thank our witnesses for their efforts within their own families to help meet their service's recruiting goals. [Laughter]

We wouldn't have a recruiting and retention problem if we had more folks like you, I can tell you that.

These are particularly important positions, and these are significant moments in our history in which these positions are going to be filled. General Pace will become Commander in Chief of our Southern Command at a time when Plan Colombia, for instance, will just be getting off the ground, and that is a major challenge to us, and your talents are going to be needed in that effort, General.

General Holland will become the Commander in Chief of our Special Operations Command at a time when the unique capabilities of our special operations forces are being called upon more and more to address the new threats including the asymmetric threats that confront our nation.

General Flowers, you are going to become Chief of Engineers, as our chairman has indicated, at a time when there's been a great deal of discussion of the organization and management of the Corps.

So these are very significant nominations at very significant moments, and we congratulate you, hope that we can get you confirmed before this session is over.

Thank you, sir.

Chairman WARNER. Senator Byrd, we are going to do a very important function; that is, introduce General Holland. But I wonder if other colleagues wanted to say just a word before Senator Byrd recognizes the introduction.

Senator INHOFE. Well, first of all, I am very pleased that we have these three leaders before us today, and look forward to their confirmation. During the break, I ran into Skip Quandt, he claims to be your best friend, General Pace; maybe you have a different story, but he sang your praises, and I just think we're very privileged to have the three of you seeking the positions that you are, and I look forward to working with you.

General PACE. Thank you, sir.

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