Generals Selva and McDew sail through Senate confirmation hearing

Four-star generals Paul Selva and Darren McDew— the two highest-ranking officers at Scott Air Force Base — faced some tough questions Tuesday from members of the Senate Armed Services Committee.

Even so, Selva and McDew made no apparent missteps and encountered smooth sailing during their confirmation hearings for the jobs, respectively, of the vice chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff and commander of the U.S. Transportation Command.

Link: Video of the hearing

During his prepared remarks, Selva — the current Transcom commander — told the senators that the United States faces “a wide spectrum of challenges” that include increasing risks across space and cyber-space, as well as regional competitors “who are fielding increasingly sophisticated conventional and nuclear arsenals.”

Selva underscored his concerns regarding violent extremist groups, such as the Islamic State, otherwise known as ISIL, “who shock the very core of our beliefs and threaten to further de-stabilize a very strategic region that includes several of our key allies.”

In response to a question from Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz, who is the panel chairman, Selva listed the greatest threats to the United States, in descending order, as Russia, China, Iran and North Korea and the Islamic State and other violent terrorist groups.

Selva said he agreed with Marine Corps Commandant Gen. Joseph Dunford, the nominee for chairman for the Joint Chiefs of Staff, that Russia constituted America’s greatest military threat.

“Because?” McCain asked in a skeptical voice.

“Because Russia possesses the conventional and nuclear capability to be an existential threat to this nation if they choose to do so,” Selva answered.

When McCain posed to McDew the question of what constituted the greatest threat to the nation, McDew focused on cyber-threats, especially those that could the hurt the many civilian contractors who work with Transcom.

“One of the greatest threats that faces our nation is our ability to deal with the cyber-threat,” McDew said. McDew noted that 90 percent of Transcom’s work is done on commercial networks.

“And that is a threat I have got to face going forward if confirmed,” he said.

“That’s an interesting perspective,” McCain replied. “And so right now there is the possibility that adversarial nations could shut down your business?”

“Senator, that threat is there,” McDew said. “I believe that U.S. Transportation Command has put some things in palce to make that less likely. But as we go forward the threat only gets worse.”

No date has been set for when the Senate panel will vote on Selva’s and McDew’s nominations, according to a panel spokesman.

For McDew, the threat of cyber-attacks and data breaches is no hypothetical concern.

Last September, McCain’s panel released a report that showed that contractors for Transcom were the targets of at least 20 successful cyber hacks. The targets included airline, IT and shipping companies between June 2013 and May 2014.

Transcom knew of only two of the attacks, according to the Sept. 17 Senate Armed Services Committee report.The Chinese were implicated in all the attacks.

Selva, as Transcom commander, ordered the command to contractually require its vendors to report data breaches, according to the website Defense Systems.

Meanwhile, McDew will be getting some much-needed help on Dec. 1, when two newly minted cyber-security squadrons under the auspices of the Air Force Space Command are scheduled to be activated. The 835th Cyberspace Operations Squadron and the 837th Cyberspace Squadron are both set to launch on that day at Scott.

This story was originally published July 14, 2015 at 5:10 PM with the headline "Generals Selva and McDew sail through Senate confirmation hearing."