Hearing of the Emerging Threats and Capabilities Subcommittee of the Senate Armed Services Committee - Opening Statement of Sen. Ernst, Hearing on Russian Influence and Unconventional Warfare Operations in the "Grey Zone': Lessons from Ukraine

Hearing

"Today, the Emerging Threats and Capabilities Subcommittee meets to receive testimony on Russian influence and unconventional warfare operations in the "Grey Zone" and the lessons learned from those operations in Ukraine. I would like to welcome our distinguished witnesses this morning: Dr. Olga Oliker, Senior Advisor and Director of the Russia and Eurasia Program at the Center for Strategic and International Studies; Dr. Michael Carpenter, Senior Director of the Biden Center for Diplomacy and Global Engagement at the University of Pennsylvania; and Retired Lieutenant General Charles Cleveland, former commander of U.S. Army Special Operations Command and currently a Senior Fellow at the Madison Policy Forum.

"Thank you very much for joining us today.

"The invasion and illegal annexation of Crimea in the spring of 2014 represents the breadth of Russia's influence campaign in Ukraine, and the violation of Ukrainian sovereignty represents the first attempt to change the boundary of a European nation since the end of the Cold War.

"Russian operations spanned the spectrum from covert information operations, intended to influence political opinion - to overt deployment of military forces for unconventional warfare, designed to dominate civilian populations.

"We cannot afford to understate its importance or ignore its lessons. It is my hope our witnesses can help us understand in more detail what happened, why it was successful, and how to stop it from happening again in the future.

"Last week, the commander of U.S. European Command, General Scaparrotti, characterized the Russian operations in Crimea as "activities short of war'. Or, as it is commonly referred to -- the grey zone.

"Russia's grey zone activities in Crimea are important for us to review today, and unique because it was an influence campaign of propaganda and disinformation, culminating in the employment of Russian Special Operations Forces on the sovereign territory of Ukraine.

"This hearing today also allows us to discuss our own Special Operations Forces. It is time we review their Unconventional Warfare capabilities.

"I look forward to hearing from General Cleveland about his thoughts on the need to strengthen the capabilities in our special operations forces -- which may have understandably atrophied after over a decade focused on direct action counter terrorism missions.

"The Russian influence campaign and unconventional warfare efforts in Ukraine contain all the hallmarks of grey zone operations: ambiguity of attribution, indirect approach, and below the threshold of open conflict.

"As we continue to see Russia conduct these operations across the globe, I hope our witnesses today can better help us understand, and better counter these efforts."

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