A “forward-positioned, distributed and resilient” military is necessary to protect against Chinese threats, Sasha Baker told Senators Tuesday in her confirmation hearing to become deputy undersecretary of defense for policy.

“To meet this challenge, we will need to invest in capabilities relevant not to the last fight but to future ones,” Baker said in prepared testimony. “Policy is the beating heart of the Office of the Secretary of Defense, the place where deep expertise and longstanding regional relationships meet next-generation approaches that integrate new concepts, ideas and warfighting capabilities,” Baker said.

Doug Bush, nominated to lead Army acquisitions, told the committee that the service’s “aggressive” timelines could lead to delays in prototype development, according to Breaking Defense.

The committee also heard testimony from John Coffey, nominated to be Navy general counsel.

Army photo by David Kamm