Senator Cotton: As I mentioned, the nominee has previously appeared before the Senate Armed Services Committee, and our Lieutenant General Rudd has previously testified for his nomination at the Armed Services Committee.  Our committee has sequential referral.  Our goal for this hearing is to consider the nominee’s qualifications and give members ample opportunity for thoughtful deliberation.  General Rudd has already provided substantive, written responses to dozens of questions from this committee.  Today, members will be able to ask additional follow-up questions and hear from the nominee directly.  Our members are familiar with General Rudd, from their visits to PACOM and also from his previous testimony to our committee in closed session, where he was also warmly received.

I want to take this opportunity to once again thank General Rudd for his lifetime of service and answering the call once again.  And also I’d like to recognize his wife, Ansley, his daughter, Hayden, and his son-in-law, JT, who are joining us today, welcome, as well as his mom, who is watching from South Carolina, and his younger daughter, Hollis, who is watching virtually.  She was at the Armed Service Committee, I guess she thought better of a repeat performance.  On behalf of this Committee, thank you all for your support through this process and for your husband’s and your dad’s decades of military service.

General Rudd is a special forces officer who currently serves as the deputy commander of the U.S. Indo-Pacific Command.  In addition to various special operations and interagency task force assignments, General Rudd has commanded at the platoon, troop, company, squadron, group, and combatant command functional component levels.  Among his previous assignments, General Rudd has served as: chief of staff for U.S. Indo-Pacific Command, commander of Special Operations Command Pacific, and deputy commanding general for operations for the 25th Infantry Division.

If confirmed as director of the National Security Agency, General Rudd will be asked to serve as the head of the NSA and as commander of U.S. Cyber Command.  With this in mind, I look forward to hearing from you about how your wide-ranging experience equips and prepares you to fulfill this dual-hatted role and assume the enormous responsibility of protecting Americans and our homeland from harm. 

Again, I want to thank General Rudd for your many years of service to our nation and for your willingness to continue serving our country in this new role.