Senator HUTCHISON. Mr. Chairman, if I might just add my congratulations as well.

As Senator Levin well pointed out, each of you enter these new roles at a time of great and unique challenges. With the Corps of Engineers, some of the nontraditional roles that are going to be so important in the future, the Southern Command and Special Ops. These are areas that have great import to the future of our nation. So to congratulate you and thank you for the service that each of you have rendered to our country.

General FLOWERS. Thank you, sir.

Chairman WARNER. Senator Reed, do you have a word?
Senator REED. No.

Chairman WARNER. Thank you. Now we have our esteemed senior colleague, Mr. Byrd. The floor is yours for a very important introduction.

Senator BYRD. Thank you.

Walt Whitman said that "A man is a great thing upon the earth-but every jot of the greatness of man is unfolded out of

"

woman."

Now I have sat here and rejoiced in the attention, properly so, that's been given to the wives of these three men.

Speaking of wives, I should say a word about my own. Loretta Lynn sings the song that she's a coal miner's daughter. My wife's a coal miner's daughter; she doesn't have to sing a song about it, I'll sing the song for her. We've been married 63 years, almost our 64th. Looking forward to our 70th, the Good Lord willing.

Mr. Chairman, Frederick the Great of Prussia said "Experience has shown that the quality of the soldiers is directly attributable to the quality of the officers. A good colonel, a good battalion," he said.

So to these good men we can justly say that we look forward to your continued service, believing that you will set the idea and create the idea for the men and women who follow after you.

I am very pleased and honored to recommend to the Committee the nomination of this distinguished West Virginian, Lt. Gen. Charles R. Holland, for confirmation to the appointment of Four Star General with assignment as Commanders in Chief, United States Special Operations Command.

This is a very important post in the changing requirements for the defense of the United States, and it's very fitting that a man from The Mountain State, which claims the birthplace of Stonewall Jackson.

Napoleon said that Hanibal was the greatest general of antiquity, and I believe it. Hanibal would be my choice; I'm not a military man, but I've read enough about Hanibal and some of the other generals to know that Napoleon was right.

That was before Stonewall Jackson was born. Stonewall Jackson was not a general in antiquity, but he was one of the greatest generals of all time. He was led by one of the greatest generals of all time, Robert E. Lee.

But you have a superlative background, and your career is one that has been a good one, and I hope, General, that you will model yourself after Stonewall Jackson and some of the other great generals.

As the Members of this Committee are well aware, it was this Committee that created the Integrated Special Operations Command that has been so successful in Desert Storm and in far-flung operations across the globe on a nearly continuous basis for over a decade.

It was also this Committee, in the landmark Goldwater-Nichols Act, which vested our CINCs, the uniformed Commanders in Chief, with the line decision-making combat authority that has been a singular success in the current organization of our armed forces. I might add that both those creative acts were opposed by the Pentagon and the Services at the time.

But the actions of this Committee, Mr. Chairman, have proved right and have proved to be effective for our nation.

General Holland is eminently qualified to assume this extremely important responsibility. Now I can't personally vouch for that, as our committee members know here; I think first and foremost we ought to be honest and truthful. So I can't personally vouch for him because I'm not a good judge of military people whose work I haven't personally seen. But from all that I hear and from the record, I think that can be appropriately said.

He serves currently as Vice Commander, U.S. Air Forces in Europe. He's a highly decorated officer with combat experience, he's had continuous distinguished service across the globe in Western Europe and Southeast Asia, in Southeast Asia, at the headquarters of our Pacific forces in Hawaii, in the Air Force and in the Department of Defense.

So if we want to base our judgments on experience, this man has had a great deal of experience, and he has aquitted himself well in all of his posts. He's a skilled aviator, qualified in nine types of aircraft, both fixed wing and helicopter. He has two master's degrees, one in astronautical engineering and another in business management. He has graduated from the full range of major command schools offered by our military establishment.

Mr. Chairman, he is from the rugged State of West Virginia that has the highest mean average altitude east of the Mississippi. It's a state where the East says good morning to the West, and where Yankee Doodle and Dixie kiss each other with light.

The lowest altitude is at Harper's Ferry, 247 feet; and the highest is Spruce Knob, 4861. By the way, when I first came into politics, Spruce Knob was only 4860 feet. As a member of the Appropriations Committee in the Senate, I served on that committee longer than anybody else in the history of this country-let that be known, and part of the record-[Laughter]

I announced in 1966 that there was a likelihood that Spruce Knob was growing. I sat on the subcommittee that appropriated monies for the Geologic Survey, but I already had advanced notice that Spruce Knob had grown one foot. So today, Spruce Knob is 4861 feet. I don't claim credit for it, but-[Laughter]

But that is something I'm kind of proud of.

Well, he is from the rugged State of West Virginia, which has amply prepared him for the rigors of life as a special forces warrior. In the uncertain world of today, characterized more and more by difficult challenges; tourism, drug trafficking, the breakdown of na

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tional order in many parts of the globe, threats which demand very unique and sophisticated forms of action by our Special Forces.

The post of Commander in Chief of our Special Forces is clearly one of the most important responsibilities in our armed services. General Holland and the Senator have deep roots in West Virginia. He was born and reared in Elkins; that is the town from which our late former colleague Jennings Randolph hailed from. I am pleased that his wife Nancy is here today, his brothers, sons, his son Chuck is also a recent graduate of the Air Force Academy. I am pleased to note the presence of his sister, also from Elkins, and I am especially pleased that General Holland's mother is here. She has already been presented to the Committee and we're delighted to have his mother with us.

She has served for over 30 years as a volunteer in the Davis Memorial Hospital at Elkins, and she is an unusually active member of the community in many other ways.

I could not be more proud or pleased to introduce General Holland to the Committee, and hope that the Committee will consider his nomination favorably and expeditiously. I am certain that he will serve his country admirably in this challenging post.

Mr. Chairman, thank you for allowing me this chance to speak first.

Chairman WARNER. Senator Byrd, it is always a pleasure for this Senator, and indeed others and those gathered in this room to hear you speak with such enthusiasm and commitment to this fellow son of West Virginia.

Senator BYRD. Thank you.

Chairman WARNER. I learned facts today from you that I did not know. [Laughter]

I think we'll start off, General Holland, you obviously have a few words in your heart for your esteemed colleague here, so why don't we start with you to give a brief opening statement; then followed by General Pace and then General Flowers, and then we'll proceed to the questions.

Senator BYRD. Mr. Chairman, would you excuse me, and the nominees; I have to attend an appropriations subcommittee meeting where we will be discussing Firestone tires.

STATEMENT OF LT. GEN. CHARLES R. HOLLAND, U.S. AIR

FORCE

General HOLLAND. Mr. Chairman and distinguished Members of the Committee Senator Byrd, before you leave, thank you for the honor that you've paid to my family and thank you for being a great patriot of West Virginia. As you can see, we are very proud to be Mountaineers and be part of your State. So, sir, thank you very much for those words.

Sir, on behalf of the Committee, I want to say thanks to everything the committee has done to prepare Special Operations Command for where it is today. My pledge to you and to this committee as I work very closely with you is to ensure that we maintain the readiness, the training and the education of our Special Operations Forces (SOF) warriors to meet any challenge anywhere in the world. That will continue to be my commitment, as I take the

reigns, if confirmed to be the Commander in Chief of the U.S. Special Operations Command.

I look forward to the questions in our dialogue today; and again I'm honored and privileged to be here with you today. Thank you very much.

Chairman WARNER. Thank you, General Holland.

General Pace.

STATEMENT OF LT. GEN. PETER PACE, U.S. MARINE CORPS General PACE. Mr. Chairman, Members of the Committee, it truly is an honor to sit here before you as a nominee to be the Commander-in-Chief of the U.S. Southern Command.

As we discussed in your office last week, sir, I know that this committee has a keen interest in the implementation of Plan Colombia. If confirmed, the first country I will visit will be Colombia so I can make my own assessment.

Sir, again thank you for this opportunity. I look forward to the questions.

Chairman WARNER. Thank you, General Pace.

General Flowers.

STATEMENT OF MAJ. GEN. ROBERT B. FLOWERS, U.S. ARMY General FLOWERS. Mr. Chairman, members of the committee, I am likewise honored to be here to be considered for assignments as Chief of Engineers, and I look forward to the questions.

Chairman WARNER. Thank you very much.

These are standard questions this committee propounds to all nominees, and I'll recognize each of you in the same order for your responses.

Have you adhered to applicable laws and regulations governing conflict of interest?

General Holland.

General HOLLAND. Yes, sir, I have.

General PACE. I have, sir.

General FLOWERS. Yes, sir.

Chairman WARNER. Have you assumed any duties or undertaken any actions which would appear to presume the outcome of the confirmation process of the United States Senate?

General HOLLAND. No, sir, I have not.

General PACE. No, sir.

General FLOWERS. No, sir.

Chairman WARNER. Will you reaffirm your written response that you agree to appear before the congressional committees of the Congress of the United States when requested, and to provide your personal opinion when asked, even if your opinion differs from that of the administration under which you are serving.

General Holland.

General HOLLAND. Yes, sir, I will.

General PACE. I will, sir.

General FLOWERS. Yes, sir.

Chairman WARNER. Will you ensure that your staff complies with the deadlines established for requested communications by the Congress, including questions for the record in hearings?

General HOLLAND. Yes, sir, I will.

General PACE. I will, sir.

General FLOWERS. Yes, sir.

Chairman WARNER. Will you cooperate in providing witnesses and briefings in response to congressional requests?

General HOLLAND. Yes, sir, I will.

General PACE. Yes, sir.

General FLOWERS. Yes, sir.

Chairman WARNER. Will those witnesses be protected from reprisal for their testimony or briefings?

General HOLLAND. Yes, sir, they will.

General PACE. They will be, sir.

General FLOWERS. Yes, sir.

Chairman WARNER. That applies to both the Senate and the House, those questions. We have this special function under the Constitution, but indeed the other body is equally important that those questions apply.

I'll start off with General Pace.

In the course of our discussions in my office, I was very much taken aback by your written response as follows to a question: Do you believe that the illicit drug trade, filtering into the United States, was, "A subtle form of a weapon of mass destruction." Claiming thousands of American lives and consuming billions of dollars annually.

I share that view, and I think it's a very interesting approach that you have.

Now, I supported the recent action by the President with respect to Colombia, and I intend to continue that support. But in the course of the hearings by this committee on that subject, I probed the various witnesses about what I call collateral actions in the other countries, primarily Venezuela and Brazil.

This committee, in response to my question, received assurances that it was not likely that collateral actions would of a negative type develop in those countries. Namely, that the assumed reduction in Colombia, of drugs, would then spread to the other nations. But since that hearing and since the action by the Congress on this package, the heads of state and government in those countries have expressed grave concern, and perhaps we've even seen the first of the actions that this could fracture in Colombia if successful, and spread to those other regions.

I'd like to have your views on that, General Pace.
General PACE. Sir, thank you.

Chairman WARNER. What you've ascertained to date about those collateral actions.

General PACE. Yes, sir. Sir, I think it is likely that absent proactive action that the reduction of production in one area_will cause production to pop-up in another. A recent example, both Peru and Bolivia have been extremely successful in reducing production in their countries. As that production was reduced, the production in Colombia exploded.

Without a regional coordinated effort, not only with Plan Colombia as its central focus, but also with Venezuela, Brazil, Peru, Ecuador and Bolivia working together as a team, we will in fact have squeezed one part of the problem, only to have it pop-up elsewhere.