AUKUS Agreement: Only Certainty Is Uncertainty.

* The trilateral agreement between the United States and United Kingdom to build nuclear-powered submarines for Australia--known as AUKUS--is going to be tough to execute, said Chief of Naval Operations Adm. Michael Gilday.

"In America, we believe that we can do anything, but some days I sit back, and I think, 'Boy, if we had to start a nuclear submarine program from a cold start today, that is a big leap,'" he said at a recent Center for Strategic and International Studies talk.

Military leaders in closeddoor discussions have been frank with each other about the realities they face, he said.

"We have been committed to having ... candid, transparent, private, non-attributional discussions about risk--being completely honest with each other in terms of how we see this progressing, areas where perhaps we need to accelerate where we can but take a deliberate...