Thursday, August 29, 2013

Department of Defense News

911 Memorial Seal

Today's Headlines

Hagel Discusses Syria With German Defense Minister

Published: 8/28/2013
Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel spoke by phone with German Defense Minister Thomas de Maiziere to discuss the ongoing violence in Syria, Pentagon Press Secretary George Little said.
Hagel is in Brunei, where he is attending a meeting of Association of Southeast Asian Nations defense ministers.
In a statement summarizing the call, Little said Hagel pledged to continue consultations with de Maiziere on the use of chemical weapons in Syria.
“They discussed the need for the international community to consider responses to this tragic development in Syria,” the press secretary said, “and noted that the use of chemical weapons violates core tenets of international law.”
In an interview yesterday with “BBC World News,” Hagel said most U.S. allies, most U.S. partners and most of the international community have little doubt that the most basic international humanitarian standard was violated by the Syrian regime in using chemical weapons against its own people.
“The deeper we get into this, it seems to me it's clearer and clearer that the government of Syria was responsible,” he added.
The secretary also said the Defense Department has complied with President Barack Obama’s request for options.
“We have moved assets in place to be able to fulfill and comply with whatever option the president wishes to take,” he said. “We are ready to go.”
(Cheryl Pellerin of American Forces Press Service contributed to this report.)

Defense Ministers End Brunei Meeting with Joint Declaration

Published: 8/29/2013
Eighteen defense ministers from nations throughout the Asia-Pacific region sat together after their meeting here today, each in turn signing a joint declaration that reaffirms their commitment to the Association of Southeast Asian Nations and to working together peacefully and cooperatively for a better future.
Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel was among them, having traveled here as part of an Asian trip -- his second in three months -- that also includes stops in Malaysia, Indonesia and the Philippines.
Yesterday, Hagel attended a meeting here of defense ministers from the 10 ASEAN member states of Burma, Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam. He also held bilateral meetings with counterparts from several other nations.
This morning, he attended the ASEAN Defense Ministers Meeting-Plus, made up of the 10 ASEAN defense ministers and eight dialogue partners: defense ministers from the United States, China, Japan, South Korea, Australia, India, New Zealand and Russia.
This year, Russia’s deputy defense minister, Anatoly Antonov, participated in the ADMM-Plus meeting.
“I see this second ministerial of the ADMM-Plus as a landmark event,” Hagel said in remarks prepared for delivery during the meeting.
“In 2010, when then-Secretary [Robert M.] Gates joined you, our countries committed to making the ADMM-Plus action-oriented,” Hagel said. “Under ASEAN leadership, we are well on our way, with three multinational field exercises this year -– a major accomplishment. I am proud that the United States has been a partner and participant all along the way.”
After the signing of the Bandar Seri Begawan Joint Declaration, Mohammad Yasmin Bin Umar, chairman of this second meeting of the ADMM-Plus, discussed key outcomes. He said the group was pleased with its substantial achievement this year, especially the five ADMM-Plus expert working groups that have forged political cooperation among defense forces.
“This is evident with the first-of-its-kind ADMM-Plus humanitarian assistance/disaster relief and military medicine exercise held in Brunei Darussalam last June,” he said. An upcoming exercise will be held on maritime security, counterterrorism and peacekeeping operations, he added, and the group decided last year that ADMM-Plus would begin meeting every two years rather than every three years.
Yasmin said the group reaffirmed the principle of ASEAN centrality, where ASEAN is the primary driving force in the ADMM-Plus processes.
“We also reaffirmed our relation to be guided by the fundamental principle enshrined in the Treaty of Amity and Cooperation,” he said, “especially reunification of the threat of the use of force and exercise of self-restraint.”
The group recommitted to strengthen defense cooperation in promoting peace and stability in the Asia-Pacific region, he added, based on the enduring principle of equality, mutual respect, mutual benefit, and respect for international law.
“In doing so,” Yasmin said, “we agreed to promote capacity building through greater engagement and interaction, enhance interoperability through training and joint exercises, and establish mechanisms for effective response.”
He said the defense ministers also agreed to establish practical measures for reducing vulnerability to miscalculation and avoid misunderstanding and undesirable incidents at sea.
“We also agreed on the establishment of the ADMM-Plus Expert Working Group on Humanitarian Mine Action and on the transition process of the ADMM-Plus Expert Working Group on Co-chairmanship,” Yasmin said. “Our senior official will develop a work plan and key milestones for the next cycle that begins in April 2014.”
A new ADMM-Plus initiative will promote capacity building through a humanitarian aid/disaster relief tabletop exercise and mine action workshop, he said. And the group will reaffirm the direction of the ASEAN leader during the association’s summit in May to promote synergy among regional mechanisms, including those of ADMM-Plus and the ASEAN Regional Forum.
The group also extensively discussed international and regional security and defense issues, and plans to meet again in Malaysia in 2015, he said.
In his remarks, Hagel said the ADMM-Plus is setting the right example with coordinated approaches to transnational and nontraditional threats.
“Pirates and terrorists, proliferators, diseases, natural disasters, and cyber criminals are not contained by national borders, and they will jeopardize all of our futures if we fail to act together,” the secretary said.
“Working together develops regional capacity and the habits of cooperation we need to solve today’s complex problems,” he said. “Exercising together builds trust and understanding, and reduces the risk of conflict when disputes arise.”

Hagel Meets with ASEAN Defense Ministers in Brunei

Published: 8/28/2013
On the first day of Southeast Asia’s most important annual defense ministerial conference, Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel met here with his counterparts from the 10 nations that make up the Association of Southeast Asian Nations.
On the sidelines, the secretary also took time for bilateral talks on the region and broader topics with his counterparts from Japan, South Korea, Vietnam, Brunei, Burma and China.
The ASEAN member states are Burma, Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam. During lunch today and a meeting afterward, Hagel and the members discussed the need to advance practical cooperation to build trust and lower tensions throughout the region.
When Hagel was in Singapore in June attending the Shangri-La Dialogue meeting, he invited the ASEAN defense ministers to Hawaii in 2014 for an informal meeting -- their first in the United States. During the luncheon, all 10 ministers accepted his invitation.
“I’m obviously very pleased about that,” Hagel said today. “It will give us another opportunity to strengthen and deepen the relationship with our partners here in the Asia-Pacific.”
Hagel noted the need to continue progress toward peacefully resolving territorial disputes, and committed to continued U.S. support for ASEAN, including its Defense Ministers’ Meeting, or ADMM, as a strong organization for achieving shared goals and upholding the common good, Pentagon Press Secretary George Little said.
During the meeting, a senior defense official said, each country expressed strong support for the steady U.S. presence in the Asia-Pacific and viewed U.S. engagement in the region as a key contributor to peace and stability.
The representatives also expressed their support for continued active engagement by the United States in this part of the world, he said. “They see it’s essential for a peaceful stable environment and a prosperous environment around them,” the official added.
Brunei has served as chair of ASEAN this year, and yesterday Hagel met with Brunei’s energy minister, Pehin Dato Seri Setia Awang Haji Mohammad Yasmin. Little said the secretary recognized Brunei’s strong leadership as ASEAN chair and organizer of the June joint exercise involving humanitarian assistance, disaster relief and military medicine. Burma will take over next year as ASEAN chair.
Tomorrow morning, Hagel will attend the ADMM-Plus ministerial conference, hosted by Yasmin and made up of the 10 ASEAN defense ministers and eight dialogue partners: the United States, China, Japan, South Korea, Australia, India, New Zealand and Russia.
Senior defense officials said today that Hagel’s bilateral meetings were positive and productive.
During a meeting this morning with Japanese Defense Minister Itsunori Onodera, Hagel was pleased to accept an invitation to visit Japan next year, and the two militaries agreed to establish a cyber defense effort together, a senior defense official said today.
“There’s a recognition that with both state and nonstate actors, cyber threats and thefts of intellectual property as well as penetrations of government and industrial networks are an increasing concern and there’s a need to cooperate and share information to deal with that,” the official said.
In other discussions, Little said, Hagel and Onodera exchanged views on the regional security environment, including North Korea's continued nuclear and ballistic missile developments.
Hagel said he looks forward during a visit to Tokyo in October to continued bilateral discussion on strengthening the alliance, and both men reaffirmed the importance of the U.S.-Japan alliance in defending Japan and contributing to regional peace and security, Little added.
Both also expressed interest in continuing to modernize the alliance by enhancing their already strong security cooperation initiatives, the press secretary said.
“The U.S. very much appreciates Japan’s important role as a contributor to peace and stability in this region and the rest of the world,” Hagel told Onodera through a translator as the meeting began, “and I’m very much looking forward to my upcoming visit to Japan.”
Hagel also met today with South Korean Defense Minister Kim Kwan-jin, thanking him for his friendship and reaffirming the United States’ enduring defense and extended deterrence commitments to South Korea. Little said Hagel told Kim it is a mutual duty to remain vigilant during this time of heightened tension on the Korean Peninsula.
The leaders discussed the importance of recent U.N. Security Council resolutions designed to limit North Korea’s progress on nuclear and missile programs, the press secretary said. The Defense Department is focused on fulfilling security commitments but Hagel said diplomatic efforts are fundamental to encouraging North Korea to pursue the path of peace, Little added.
Hagel will travel to the South Korean capital of Seoul in October to attend the annual Security Consultive Meeting, a senior defense official said, and as part of that trip will be able to help commemorate the 60th anniversary of the Korean War with the country’s leaders.
Later today, during bilateral discussions with Vietnamese Defense Minister Gen. Phung Quang Thanh, Hagel accepted with appreciation an invitation to visit Vietnam in 2014 and through a translator wished the general a happy National Day, which the Vietnamese celebrate on Sept. 2.
Hagel expressed his commitment to growing the bilateral defense relationship with Vietnam and working on issues like maritime security, humanitarian assistance and disaster relief, and recovering the remains of U.S. personnel missing in action, Little said.
The secretary also conveyed his commitment to continuing to implement the 2011 Memorandum of Understanding for Advancing Bilateral Defense Cooperation, the press secretary added.
On regional security, Little said, the leaders noted the importance of peacefully resolving disputes in the South China Sea and welcomed steps to develop an ASEAN Code of Conduct to guide that process.
This afternoon, Hagel met briefly with Burma’s defense minister, Lt. Gen. Wai Lwin, expressing his support for Burma’s upcoming ASEAN chairmanship and telling the general that the department looks forward to supporting their efforts on ASEAN defense events next year.
A senior defense official noted that such a bilateral meeting at the defense minister level had not happened in more than 20 years with Burma, and that the meeting today is a “a sign of changes and the Obama administration’s very positive engagement with the Burmese, [as well as] recognition of the reforms that have been underway in that country and progress that’s being made on human rights.”
Hagel discussed with the Burmese defense minister the importance of continued progress on reform and said it’s also important that Burma sever military ties to North Korea, Little said.
Hagel applauded the Burmese military’s support for the government's democratic reform efforts and encouraged that the reforms continue.
Hagel also held a bilateral meeting with representatives from China.

VA Announces Big Expansion of ‘VetSuccess on Campus’

Published: 8/29/2013
As a new school year begins, a Department of Veterans Affairs official announced today that VA will nearly triple the number of colleges and universities it partners with to offer on-campus vocational and rehabilitative VA counseling through its “VetSuccess on Campus” program.
Curt Coy, VA’s deputy undersecretary for economic opportunity, told reporters during a conference call that the program, which began in 2009, will expand from its existing 32 campuses to 94. Its primary goal is to provide on-campus counseling and referral services to student veterans as they transition to civilian life, Coy said.
“We put an experienced vocational rehabilitation counselor, full-time, on a college campus to help not just wounded warriors or disabled veterans, bur for all veterans on the campus,” he explained.
Coy said the department looks for schools with veteran and beneficiary enrollment of at least 800 to 1,200 and strives to partner bigger colleges or universities with “feeder schools” such as community colleges, so they can share counseling resources. Officials also seek to ensure the campus is close to a VA regional center or medical facility.
Those regional VA facilities are where on-campus counselors come from, Coy noted, because the department assigns its most experienced people for on-campus work and then backfills their previous positions.
“The school has to ask or volunteer to host a … counselor,” he said. “They provide office space, access to their computers and a telephone.” The VA pays the counselor’s salary, he added.
Some 90 percent of a counselor’s workload may involve answering questions about educational benefits, Coy said, but he noted the program, which offers students veterans the chance for face-to-face conversation with a VA expert, can help to smooth life for former service members in other ways as well.
Every veteran is different in some small way, he said, but VA counselors “can, in many cases, break through any concerns or questions they may have, and help them connect with their benefits.”
He offered as example a student veteran using the Post-9/11 GI Bill who has not yet begun receiving a housing allowance or other benefits.
“[The counselor] can intercede directly on behalf of that veteran, and it works out very, very well,” Coy said. He added that the chance to consult an experienced VA vocational and rehabilitation counselor also offers student veterans a chance to learn about overall benefits they may be entitled to.
“The most important thing is to provide those student veterans with the tools they need to be successful in their academic environment … [and] meaningful employment as they move on,” Coy said.

NORAD, Russia Hope to Build on Vigilant Eagle 13 Successes

Published: 8/29/2013
Just concluding the most ambitious Vigilant Eagle exercise yet, senior military officials from the North American Aerospace Defense Command and the Russian Federation told reporters today they’re ready to take the lessons learned to make next year’s exercise even more challenging.
Canadian Maj. Gen. Andre Viens, NORAD’s operations director, and Russian Gen. Maj. Dmitry Gomenkov, commander of the Eastern Military District of Russia’s Air and Space Defense Brigade, declared the Vigilant Eagle 13 exercise a major success.
The exercise kicked off Aug. 26, with scenarios that required the United States, Canada and Russia to respond to simulated terrorist hijackings of commercial aircraft. Both NORAD, a binational command that includes the United States and Canada, and Russia had to scramble fighter jets and track and intercept the “hijacked aircraft.”
Throughout the exercise series, the participants have developed tactics, techniques and procedures to effectively notify, coordinate, and conduct positive handoff of a hijacked aircraft flying through Russian, Canadian and American airspace, Viens told reporters during a teleconference today.
Vigilant Eagle 13 offered the opportunity to take principles proven in a simulated environment during last year’s command post exercise, and to validate them during the third “live-fly” exercise since the exercise series began in 2008, Viens and Gomenkov reported.
This year’s Vigilant Eagle was the first time Canadian fighter jets participated, with Canadian CF-18 Hornets and Russian Federation Su-27 Sukhois aircraft following and intercepting the “hijacked” aircraft, Gomenkov noted.
But the exercise delivered another first, with a visual fighter-to-fighter handoff of escort responsibilities in a live-fly situation as the “track of interest” moved from one country’s airspace to another’s.
“During previous Vigilant Eagle events, Russian or NORAD fighters would escort the simulated aircraft to a point in the sky where airborne or ground sensors would take over the monitoring of the hijacked aircraft,” Viens explained. “Later on the route, the fighters of the other nation would intercept the hijacked aircraft and assume escort responsibilities for that track of interest.
“So at no time in the past did we exercise having the Russian, Canadian or American fighters all joining up together to have a positive handoff of escort responsibility on a track of interest,” he said. “This is what we did for the first time this year.”
That crucial step forward in the Vigilant Eagle series required extensive planning and coordination to ensure a safe, successful transfer, he said.
“We have never done this together in the past, and it went off without a hitch,” Viens said. “What this has enabled us to do is have 100 percent control over an aircraft in trouble that is flying between Russian, American and Canadian airspace. Working together as partners in the air and on the ground, we were able to ensure the safety of the civilians in the aircraft, our collective citizens and the safe landing of the aircraft at its destination.”
Gomenkov praised the professionalism of all three countries’ militaries throughout the exercise planning and said he looks forward to seeing the Vigilant Eagle series continue to build in complexity.
Viens said he, too, sees opportunities to refine the tactics, techniques and procedures being advanced through the exercise, hinting that some new “curve balls” could be introduced in the future.
Planning for Vigilant Eagle 14 is scheduled to begin in November, Gomenkov said, noting that both Russia and NORAD will offer suggestions on how to build on this year’s exercise.
Exercising together builds confidence and understanding that enables the United States, Canada and Russia to operate together more effectively, Viens said. “So clearly from a NORAD perspective, there is a great deal of interest to continue this tradition of Vigilant Eagle exercises to further promote cooperation – especially when it comes to air-space activities that require the attention of both Russia and NORAD,” he said.

California Guard Deploys Predator to Support Firefighters

Published: 8/29/2013
With wildfires continuing to rage around Yosemite National Park, the California National Guard has deployed a remotely piloted aircraft that improves the incident commander’s ability to monitor conditions on the ground.
Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel approved the use of an MQ-1 Predator to support firefighters battling the Rim Fire that has expanded to more than 160,000 acres, Air Force Lt. Col. Thomas Keegan, California National Guard public affairs officer, reported.
The California Air National Guard’s 163rd Reconnaissance Wing deployed the Predator yesterday, and it is being flown in direct support of the incident commander under the command and control of Army Maj. Gen. David S. Baldwin, California’s adjutant general, Keegan said.
The aircraft, flying from the Southern California Logistics Airport in Victorville for up to 22 hours without landing, will capture and deliver real-time 24/7 information on remote portions of the wildfire.
“The impact of this will be significant,” Keegan said. “It will identify where fire activity is located and how it is moving, as well as where it has been controlled.”
The aircraft also will identify safe routes of retreat for firefighters on the scene and verify new fire created by lightning strikes or floating embers. This, Keegan explained, will help the incident commander stay on top of the changing situation on the ground and make the best use of available resources.
Keegan emphasized that the images will be used only to support firefighting operations.
The aircraft’s pilots, located at March Air Reserve Base in Riverside, Calif., will remain in constant contact with Federal Aviation Administration air traffic controllers from takeoff to landing and fly over unpopulated areas whenever possible, he said. The flight path generally will be limited to 30 nautical miles of the Rim Fire area, and whenever it flies outside the restricted airspace for the fire, a manned plane will escort it.
Meanwhile, nearly a dozen aircraft and crews from the California Air and Army National Guard are battling wildfires across Northern California.
California Army Guard helicopter crews and California Air Guard air tanker crews are working in coordination with the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection and U.S. Forest Service firefighting crews to battle the American, Swedes and Rim fires, Keegan reported.
In addition to two UH-60 Black Hawk helicopters supporting operations at the Rim Fire, three Black Hawks are battling the American Fire and two Black Hawks and one CH-47 Chinook helicopter are flying in support of the Swedes Fire, Keegan said.
Another Black Hawk -- with a specialized crew and a hoist for extracting injured personnel from rugged terrain -- is staged in Redding, Calif., on call for medical evacuation support throughout Northern California.
At the Rim Fire alone, the helicopter crews have completed 905 drops, releasing more than 450,000 gallons of water and fire retardant since the crews were activated Aug. 17, Keegan said.
In addition, Air National Guard crews are using two C-130J Hercules air tankers to fight the Rim Fire. Both aircraft are equipped with the Modular Airborne Firefighting Systems II and are capable of discharging 3,000 gallons of water or retardant in less than five seconds. Since their activation Aug. 13, the air tankers have completed 122 drops, releasing more than 333,000 gallons of retardant, Keegan said.
“In times of crisis, it is imperative we pull together as a united front against the threat of wildfires in our state,” Baldwin said, noting that the California Guard regularly trains for the mission.
“Working together in a climate of cooperation with [state officials], our soldiers and airmen are committed to preserving the lives and property of our neighbors who are threatened by this emergency,” he said.
The Rim Fire is not the first in which California has used remotely piloted aircraft technology to support firefighting. In 2007, NASA piloted a similar unmanned aircraft in response to a request from the California Office of Emergency Services and the National Interagency Fire Center.
Those flights were conducted during daytime hours, complemented by nighttime imaging flights from NIFC’s Cessna Citation and an Air Force Global Hawk, both equipped with an earlier-generation infrared camera. Pilots in a ground control station at NASA Dryden controlled the flights via satellite links.
NASA conducted additional remotely piloted aircraft missions in 2008, to monitor wildfires in Southern California, and in 2009, to assess fire damage in Angeles National Forest.
The current mission, officials said, is the longest sustained mission by an unmanned aircraft in California in support of firefighters.

Hagel: U.S. Continues to Work With Other Nations on Syria

Published: 8/27/2013
While traveling in Southeast Asia today, Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel spoke by phone with British Defense Secretary Philip Hammond and French Defense Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian about chemical attacks that have killed innocent civilians in Syria.
In a summary of the conversations, Pentagon Press Secretary George Little said Hagel conveyed that the United States is committed to working with the international community to respond to the “outrageous” attacks.
The secretary condemned the violence carried out by the Syrian regime and said the United States military is prepared for any contingency involving Syria, Little said, adding that Hagel pledged to continue close coordination with the British and French defense forces.
“Syria used chemical weapons against its own people,” Hagel said during an interview here this afternoon with Jon Sopel of “BBC World News.”
“Now, we'll have more information and more intelligence here vey shortly to present,” the secretary said.
Most U.S. allies, most U.S. partners and most of the international community have little doubt that the most basic international humanitarian standard was violated by the Syrian regime in using chemical weapons against its own people, Hagel said.
“The deeper we get into this, it seems to me it's clearer and clearer that the government of Syria was responsible,” he added. “But we'll wait and determine what the intelligence and the facts bear out.”
The secretary said President Barack Obama has asked the Defense Department for options for all contingencies, and the department has complied.
“We have done that,” Hagel said. “He has seen them, we are prepared, [and] we have moved assets in place to be able to fulfill and comply with whatever option the president wishes to take. We are ready to go.”

Shared IT Architecture Leads to Cost Savings

Published: 8/28/2013
A new architecture-sharing and modernization agreement among the Air Force, the Army and the Defense Information Systems Agency will increase bandwidth and network security and avoid more than $1 billion in future costs.
“As [the Defense Department] continues to move aggressively towards [the Joint Information Environment], this partnership is an important step forward,” said Teresa M. Takai, DOD’s chief information officer.
Due to force structure changes, the Army was left with excess information technology capacity, said Richard Breakiron, network capacity domain manager for the Army’s chief information office. At the same time, the Air Force was seeking to modernize its IT architecture to meet the requirements of the future joint information environment.
By partnering and taking advantage of the Army’s upgrade to faster multiprotocol label switching routers and regional security stacks, the Air Force was able to identify about $1.2 billion in cost avoidance. The Army expects to reduce its IT budget by $785 million between fiscal years 2015 and 2019 by consolidating hundreds of network security stacks into 15 joint regional security stacks, which the Air Force will also use.
“It’s great to have strong partners as we move toward JIE,” said Gen. William L. Shelton, Air Force Space Command commander. “I especially appreciate the tremendous spirit of cooperation that has emerged between the Army, Air Force, and DISA teams.”
MPLS routers are an industry-standard technology for speeding and managing network traffic flow. The upgraded routers will increase the backbone bandwidth to 100 gigabytes per second, said Mike Krieger, the Army’s deputy chief information officer. At Army installations, network speeds will rise to 10 gigabytes per second, he said. To put that in perspective, Fort Hood, Texas, currently operates at 650 megabytes per second, Krieger said.
Regional security stacks are designed to improve command and control and situational awareness and are essential to enabling a single security architecture in the joint information environment, said Krieger. The move will tremendously increase the network security posture and reduce costs, he added.
“More and more, we’re saying that some of the service-delivery capability can be managed at the enterprise level, greatly improving efficiency, effectiveness and security,” Breakiron said. But, he noted, to perform these enterprise functions off of the local installation, the IT backbone must be much more robust, because users are relying on it for much more service capability.
The new, larger-capacity routers will help the Air Force and Army converge their enterprise network backbones and gain cost savings in other areas, he said.
"As we do our investment in MPLS, it now allows us to do not only [Voice over Internet Protocol], it allows us to do unified capabilities and it allows us to put much more of this capability up at the enterprise level,” Brig Gen Kevin Wooton, Air Force Space Command director of communication, said.

Together, MPLS routers and the regional security stack construct improve performance and security, said Air Force Lt. Gen. Ronnie D. Hawkins Jr., DISA director.
"It creates a network that is fundamentally more defensible and more efficient," Hawkins said. He added that the move is a major step in building the Joint Information Environment architecture.
The Army and DISA plan to implement the joint MPLS transport cloud and JRSS consolidation in fiscal years 2013 and 2014 to support operations in Southwest Asia and the continental United States.
The Air Force and the Army will have access to data from JRSSs that are owned and operated by DISA as a joint capability. Army and Air Force cyber components will continue to execute cyber defense on their networks.
“As we modernize the DOD network, the Army is committed to a joint solution that helps achieve the joint information environment,” said Lt. Gen. Susan S. Lawrence, the Army’s chief information officer.

Hagel Talks to Indonesian Soldiers About Education, Training

Published: 8/27/2013
In the short time he had between meetings with national leaders and a news conference in Indonesia’s capital city of Jakarta, Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel sat down yesterday with members of the Indonesian armed forces and talked about being a soldier.
After meeting earlier this week with officials in Malaysia and Indonesia, Hagel will continue his current trip with stop-offs in Brunei and the Philippines. This is Hagel’s second official visit to the Asia-Pacific region since taking office.
In Jakarta, Hagel sat at a table at the Defense Ministry alongside Defense Minister Purnomo Yusgiantoro, who had invited him to share some of his Army experiences. The secretary told the elite Indonesian soldiers sitting attentively in the audience that he fought as a relatively new soldier alongside his brother in a nearby Southeast Asian country 45 years ago.
“Well, I'm not in the same class or category with these soldiers,” Hagel said. “I did spend two years of my life in the United States Army. I fought in Vietnam in 1968, so I have some appreciation for war and for battle and what your challenges are, and [for] your training.”
A professional soldier -- one who is well trained, well led and well equipped -- is the pride of any country, the former Army sergeant said, praising the Indonesian soldiers’ professionalism.
“I know some of you have graduated and attended some of our military institutions in the United States. And we're very proud of you. We're proud of our graduates,” he said.
Hagel noted that the United States and Indonesia have many such exchanges through military exercises, training and education. People-to-people exchanges, “regardless of your profession, but in particular the military-to-military exchange, is a very solid bridge-building mechanism for countries,” he added.
Yusgiantoro invited questions from the audience, and a captain rose from his chair, describing himself as chief of operations at the 17th Airborne Infantry Brigade of the Indonesian Army Strategic Reserve Command, called Kostrad. His name, he said, is Agus Yudhoyono.
Everyone in the room recognized his last name. Just that morning, Hagel had met with the captain’s father, Indonesian President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono.
The captain, who said it was an honor to have Hagel in Jakarta, had earned a master of public administration degree in 2010 from the John F. Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University in Cambridge, Mass. Then, in 2011, he completed a six-month advanced officers' course, called the Maneuver Captain's Career Course, at Fort Benning, Ga., as part of the State Department’s International Military Education and Training program. IMET awards grants for training and education to students from allied and friendly nations.
“During the six months of rigorous training, I had the opportunity to enrich my military knowledge and experience through engagement with my fellow American officers who had been deployed in Iraq and Afghanistan,” Yudhoyono said.
The captain said he engaged with Americans, learned about local traditions and cultures, and found the experience personally and professionally rewarding.
For Hagel, the captain had recommendations for enhancing cooperation between the two militaries by enhancing the education and training portions of the IMET program.
“As for education, it will be very important for us if we can have a greater opportunity to send officers for post-graduate-level education,” Yudhoyono said. “It is critical to produce our very own soldier-scholars, because we want to develop our institution into a more professional, world-class military, including to produce brilliant strategic thinkers and defense practitioners.”
Military courses also are valuable, he added, “to help officers learn to develop doctrines, tactics and procedures so we can be a more developed and a more joint fighting force.”
In terms of training, the captain said, joint exercises conducted in Indonesia and also in the United States at advanced training facilities could help the Indonesians gain experience they might not otherwise have access to.
The secretary thanked Yudhoyono for his articulate summation and added his own words about the IMET program.
“I have always believed -- and I … know President [Barack] Obama and all of the leadership of the Pentagon and the American armed forces believe strongly -- that the IMET program is one of the smartest, best investments the United States can make in relationships around the world, and in particular, for the future. And I think you and many of your colleagues are very clear examples of that,” he said.
The consequences of training and education can hardly be quantified, Hagel added, but they are important.
“[All] of you are role models. … And that comes through a lot of things,” the secretary said. “It comes through education, through training, through the professionalization of your services. IMET does that as well as any one program I think the United States has, so you can be assured that program is going to continue, and we'll continue to enhance it.”
Later, during a joint news conference with Yusgiantoro, Hagel said he fully supports a proposal by the minister to establish a military alumni association for Indonesians who have trained in the United States and participated in joint exercises, and for Americans who have trained in Indonesian schools.
“There are thousands of officers who qualify,” Hagel said, “and this is a great opportunity to continue those people-to-people ties that deeply bind our two nations and militaries.”

Medal of Honor Recipient Joins Pentagon Hall of Heroes

Published: 8/27/2013
Defense Department leaders turned out here today to honor Army Staff Sgt. Ty M. Carter, who received the nation’s highest award for valor, the Medal of Honor, from President Barack Obama in a White House ceremony yesterday.
Deputy Defense Secretary Ash Carter led today’s induction ceremony, which formally added the staff sergeant’s name to the list of Medal of Honor recipients featured at the Pentagon’s Hall of Heroes. Army Undersecretary Joseph W. Westphal and Army Vice Chief of Staff Gen. John F. Campbell also spoke at the ceremony.
On Oct. 3, 2009, the 53 defenders of Combat Outpost Keating, located in the remote areas of eastern Afghanistan’s Nuristan province, woke to some 300 enemy attackers raining down incoming rifle, rocket-propelled grenade, machine-gun and mortar fire from the high ground surrounding the outpost.
Sergeant Carter, assigned that day to support the camp’s guard posts, repeatedly braved withering fire, sprinting again and again over open ground to keep defenders supplied with ammunition, and to aid and evacuate a badly wounded friend and fellow soldier.
“His bold actions that day are emblematic not just of the decisions of fellow soldiers in his unit, but of a generation … of soldiers, Marines, sailors and airmen that have distinguished themselves during 12 hard years of persistent conflict,” the deputy defense secretary said.
Deputy Secretary Carter said regardless of whether or how they have served, Americans see their own highest aspirations reflected in actions like the staff sergeant’s -- and by firefighters rushing into burning skyscrapers, teachers protecting children from gunfire, or rescue swimmers braving dark waters to aid others in danger.
“His actions are the deeds and spirit, in that sense, of thousands of common men and women capable of uncommon valor in the most extraordinary and unexpected circumstances,” he said. “In so many ways, the Medal of Honor Sergeant Carter received represents not just the best of him, but the best of all of us -- all that we hope to be.”
The nation will preserve the hard-earned lessons it has learned over a decade of war, he said, and adapt them for a future in which global threats grow less predictable and more dangerous.
“Amidst these challenges, Sergeant Carter’s induction as a Medal of Honor recipient is a reminder of the strength and endurance, not just of our fighting men and women, but of our national spirit,” Deputy Secretary Carter said. “Ours will always be a country that runs toward the sound of danger, in order to preserve the ideals that we cherish.”
The deputy secretary noted that the staff sergeant, who has spoken publicly about his own struggles with post-traumatic stress, now has another chance to serve the nation -- out of combat.
“You’re joining a prestigious fellowship of warriors, who have exhibited the utmost courage and bravery in battle,” the deputy secretary said to Carter. “With this opportunity comes an opportunity: to continue to inspire not just your brothers and sisters in the military, but the country as a whole.”
The nation counted on Sergeant Carter at COP Keating, the deputy secretary said, “and now we count on you to remind Americans of the best that we all can be. … I have no doubt that your courageous acts in Afghanistan are only the beginning of your service to this country.”

Marines Lead Multinational Nonlethal Weapons Training

Published: 8/27/2013
Senior military leaders from 22 nations, most in the Asia-Pacific region, are gathered in Mongolia this week to learn about nonlethal weapons and how their forces can more effectively use them, when circumstances require, such as to maintain order during low-intensity conflict or civil unrest.
The two-day leadership seminar, sponsored by U.S. Marine Forces Pacific, began yesterday with demonstrations of nonlethal tactics, techniques and procedures at a training area about 30 miles west of Ulaanbaatar, the Mongolian capital, Marine Corps Col. Brad Bartelt, the senior U.S. seminar representative, told American Forces Press Service.
The session continues through tomorrow in the capital city, with participants discussing how they might apply the principles demonstrated.
The leadership seminar is the second phase of a two-part program conducted to promote awareness of nonlethal weapons and increase interoperability among those that use them, Bartelt said.
The training kicked off Aug. 17 with a bilateral field training exercise between U.S. and Mongolian forces at Mongolia’s Five Hills Training Area. Fifteen 15 nonlethal weapons instructors from the 3rd Marine Expeditionary Force’s 3rd Law Enforcement Battalion conducted hands-on training for more than 150 members of the Mongolian armed forces and general police, Bartelt reported.
Together, they rehearsed nonlethal tactics and procedures such as control holds and pressure-point techniques. They also got hands-on training with various nonlethal weapons systems, including oleoresin capsicum, or “pepper spray,” the X26 Taser, 40-millimeter sponge and “stingball” grenades and nonlethal shotgun rounds.
“The extensive, tactical-level training that took place during the FTX greatly increased the nonlethal proficiency of both the U.S. Marines who led the training, as well as the Mongolian personnel who might have been exposed to these nonlethal procedures for the first time,” Bartelt said.
Marine Corps Sgt. Ben Eberle, a combat correspondent who witnessed the training, said he was impressed how quickly the Mongolians absorbed on the information covered. “Show them once, and they had it,” he said. “And it’s all even more impressive since everyone communicated with each other through interpreters.”
Each experienced firsthand how it feels to be hit with a nonlethal weapon, designed to intimidate or inflict pain or discomfort rather than to kill. “No matter what language we speak, everyone runs through the [observer-controller] course in pain, and everyone takes a stun from a Taser the same way,” Eberle said. “Just because it’s nonlethal doesn’t mean it’s pain-free. I think whoever said friends are made through hardship hit the nail right on the head.”
The training could prove valuable for the Mongolian armed forces, a major contributor to peacekeeping operations around the world, Bartelt said. The Mongolians have deployed in support of U.N. peacekeeping missions in South Sudan, Sierra Leon and the Balkans, and continue to augment the coalition in Afghanistan, he noted.
In many instances during these missions, nonlethal weapons can be valuable additions to ground commanders, he said.
“There are times when lethal force is not the best option,” Bartelt said. “For example, the effective use of nonlethal weapons can prove extremely valuable during rescue missions, situations in which civilians are used to mask a military attack, as well as riots and cases of civil disturbance during humanitarian assistance-disaster relief operations.”
Nonlethal weapons are designed to incapacitate equipment and people, minimizing fatalities and permanent injury and collateral property damage, Bartelt said. “Being able to use them effectively greatly increases the options a commander has while operating in the full spectrum of conflict,” he said.
As the Defense Department’s executive agent for nonlethal weapons and devices, the Marine Corps frequently leads related training, not only within the U.S. military, but also with partner nations.
Since 2002, Marine Corps Forces Pacific has sponsored the executive seminar series 12 times with partners throughout the region. This year’s exercise is the third to be hosted by Mongolia, and New Zealand, Australia, Thailand, Indonesia, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka and Malaysia have hosted previous sessions.
The training, Bartelt said, promotes closer partnership across the region, a pillar of the U.S. military rebalance toward the Asia-Pacific as nations work together to confront common challenges.
Recognizing that nonlethal capabilities and procedures vary significantly across nations, Bartelt called the exercise an opportunity to increase interoperability with partners “in the event we ever find ourselves side by side in a situation where we need to put this training to use.”

Ambassador Network Launches to Help Military Spouses Find Jobs

Published: 8/28/2013
The Defense Department has broadened its reach to military spouses looking for jobs through its new Spouse Ambassador Network, an arm of the department’s Spouse Education and Career Opportunities program, the program’s manager said here yesterday.
In its quest to educate, empower and mentor military spouses to encourage their pursuit of careers, the network is a collaboration of SECO’s Military Spouse Employment Partnership and various military support organizations, Meg O’Grady told American Forces Press Service and the Pentagon Channel.
O’Grady called the ambassador effort “a network of networks,” noting that the partnership comprises 200 businesses that pledged to hire military spouses, and that participating organizations include the Military Officers Association of America, the National Military Family Association, Blue Star Families and the U.S. Chamber of Commerce.
“All of the organizations have chapters and members in communities where military spouses live,” she said. “We’ve brought together the organizations to expand their commitment to military spouses through the partnership.”
O’Grady said network members will meet every three months to discuss ways to further reach out to help guide military spouses in their job searches.
The network was created for military spouses by military spouses, O’Grady said. When it was being developed, she explained, a group of military spouses who were “well-networked” within their communities were brought together and asked what career information and resources would be helpful to them.
“Through a series of working groups, the military spouses developed a mission statement and developed what the Spouse Ambassador Network is today -- a group of organizations that advocates for military spouse career resources and tools, and provides a voice for [them] within their communities,” she said. At the first Spouse Ambassador Network roundtable in July, a toolkit of education and career resources was developed and will be made available to military spouses through the network and the SECO program, she added.
The network helps to prepare military spouses for employment by partnership members, and mentoring military spouses for careers is also an important network feature, O’Grady said.
“The organizations that are part of the network have developed tools, resources [and] mentoring programs for military spouses that complement the tools and resources of DOD’s SECO program,” she said. “The organizations offer a series of online networking for military spouses to talk to other military spouses to find out about opportunities, education and entrepreneurial opportunities.”
One such example that complements DOD’s hiring efforts is the U.S. Chamber of Commerce-sponsored “Hiring Heroes” job fairs for veterans and spouses conducted around the nation, O’Grady said. The job fairs offer opportunities for military spouses to find jobs and to access skill resources such as interviewing techniques and resume preparation and review.
“In partnering with these organizations that already have resources in the communities, we’ve leveraged the ability to reach a larger military spouse population,” she added.
The SECO program provides a career center that’s accessible 24 hours a day, seven days a week on the Military OneSource website, O’Grady said.
“Military spouses can receive career counseling and advice from master’s-level certified career counselors [for] advice,” she added.
Adding to those resources, the SECO site offers article links, a variety of skill assessments, and access to the Myers-Briggs personality assessment to determine how a person’s traits might apply to certain careers, O’Grady noted. The SECO site also gives military spouses the ability to create profiles of their education and training, and what their career desires are, much like the business-oriented social networking site LinkedIn, which O’Grady said spouses are encouraged to use.
An upcoming feature will allow military spouses to transfer their LinkedIn profiles into the SECO site, she added.
“We’re very excited about that, because it really does meld an industry-leading tool with the tools we’ve provided through DOD,” she said.
“The Spouse Ambassador Network and the Military Spouse Employment Partnership would not work without the employers and the organizations that have come to the table and really stepped up to hire military spouses,” O’Grady said.
SECO recently met its goal of hiring 50,000 military spouses, she said, noting that’s more than a year ahead of the goal set by the Joining Forces initiative championed by First Lady Michelle Obama and Dr. Jill Biden, wife of Vice President Joe Biden.
In the fall, SECO will induct more than 40 new companies and organizations into its Military Spouse Employment Partnership, O’Grady said.
“[The partner companies] recognize the value of military spouses, and that they have the kinds of skills and talent that most employers are looking for in the 21st century,” she added. “They’re resilient, flexible, natural team players, and tend to be very loyal. Our employers have told us that bringing a military spouse into their organization creates a real value for that business.”

Aircraft Deploy to California to Aid Firefighting Effort

Published: 8/28/2013
The U.S. Forest Service, through the National Interagency Fire Center here, has ordered the three MAFFS aircraft operating at the Boise Air Tanker Base moved to McClellan Air Tanker base near Sacramento, Calif., to assist the wildland firefighting effort in the western United States.
In a request made Aug. 26, the Forest Service also extended the military Modular Airborne Fire Fighting System mission through Sept. 30.
Five MAFFS aircraft are activated. Two are from the California Air National Guard’s 146th Airlift Wing, and are operating from their home base at the Channel Islands Air National Guard Station in Port Hueneme, Calif. Three others -- two from Air Force Reserve Command’s 302nd Airlift Wing at Peterson Air Force Base, Colo., and one from the North Carolina Air National Guard’s 145th Airlift Wing, based in Charlotte, N.C., have been part of the MAFFS squadron operating from Boise.
Aircraft operations at Boise ended yesterday, but the command element for MAFFS will remain at Gowen Field here to coordinate with the National Interagency Fire Center. The Boise aircraft were expected at McClellan by late afternoon yesterday.
Since their initial activation June 11 to fight forest fires in southern Colorado, MAFFS aircraft have made 479 drops using 1,211,631 gallons of fire retardant. This summer, they have fought fires in Idaho, Oregon, Wyoming, Colorado, Utah, Arizona, California and Nevada.
MAFFS is a self-contained aerial firefighting system owned by the Forest Service. C-130 aircraft with MAFFS modules loaded into their cargo bays follow Forest Service lead planes, and military aircrews can discharge 3,000 gallons of water or fire retardant along the leading edge of a forest fire in less than five seconds, covering an area a quarter of a mile long by 100 feet wide. Once the load is discharged, ground crews at a MAFFS tanker base can refill the modules in less than 12 minutes.

An interagency Defense Department and Forest Service program, MAFFS provides aerial firefighting resources when commercial and private air tankers are no longer able to meet the Forest Service’s needs. A military air expeditionary group exercises control over MAFFS resources at the Forest Service’s direction.

Navy Officers Receive White House Fellowships

Published: 8/28/2013
Two Navy officers have been appointed to the 2013-2014 class of White House Fellows.
Cmdr. Cara LaPointe and Lt. Cmdr. Robert McFarlin will participate in the program, which was created in 1964 by President Lyndon B. Johnson to give promising American leaders firsthand, high-level experience with the workings of the federal government, and to increase their sense of participation in national affairs.
The fellowship program is designed to encourage active citizenship and a lifelong commitment to service, White House officials said. The fellows take part in an education program designed to broaden their knowledge of leadership, policy formulation, and current affairs. They also participate in service projects in the national capital area.
LaPointe is the deputy technical director of the Navy’s Littoral Combat Ship Program, providing government technical oversight to $7 billion of shipbuilding contracts. Previously, she served at the Naval Sea Systems Command working on surface force architecture and unmanned vehicle technology integration.
A patented engineer, LaPointe has deployed to the Persian Gulf and the Pacific in support of Operation Iraqi Freedom and Operation Noble Eagle. She has served as an advocate for victims of sexual assault, volunteered in rural communities internationally from Honduras to Fiji, and, most recently, founded the Engineering Duty Officer Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics Outreach Initiative.
LaPointe earned her doctorate in mechanical and oceanographic engineering jointly from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution. She was valedictorian of her U.S. Naval Academy class, graduating with a bachelor of science degree in ocean engineering.
McFarlin is a surface warfare officer who has deployed to more than 30 nations on six continents, most recently as commanding officer of USS Typhoon in the Arabian Gulf supporting Operation Enduring Freedom. While he was in command, his crew earned the Golden Anchor award for outstanding retention and the Battle “E” award as the No. 1 ship in its squadron.
In 2008, he circumnavigated South America on a counternarcotics deployment. He served as an assistant professor at the University of Rochester and co-founded a company dedicated to transforming dilapidated inner-city property into safe, low-income housing.
He volunteers as a Big Brother mentor, with Habitat for Humanity and globally through the Navy’s community relations program. He is a national director of the Surface Navy Association and the recipient of the peer-nominated Navy/Marine Corps Association Leadership Award. He holds a bachelor of science degree in electrical engineering from the Naval Academy and a master of business administration degree from the University of Rochester’s Simon School of Business.

Hagel Announces U.S. Deal to Sell Helicopters to Indonesia

Published: 8/26/2013
In a first-of-its-kind deal worth about $500 million, the United States has agreed to sell eight new Apache AH-64E attack helicopters and Longbow radars to Indonesia, Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel said here today.
Hagel announced the deal during a joint news conference with Indonesian Defense Minister Purnomo Yusgiantoro after productive meetings this afternoon with Yusgiantoro and earlier today with President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono.
The secretary is visiting Indonesia as part of an eight-day, four-nation trip that has included a stop in Malaysia and will take him this week to Brunei and the Philippines.
“Providing Indonesia these world-class helicopters is an example of our commitment to help build Indonesia’s military capability,” Hagel said.
The U.S. military will train Indonesian pilots and help in developing tactics, techniques and procedures for operating in the Southeast Asian security environment, a senior defense official said, adding that details of the delivery and training timeline are being determined.
The agreement represents a significant advance in military capabilities by a key U.S. partner and is the sort of investment the United States believes is prudent to support security in the Asia-Pacific region, the official said.
The new capability “will help Indonesia respond to a range of contingencies, including counterpiracy operations and maritime awareness,” he added.
“The United States is committed to working with Southeast Asian nations to grow defense capabilities and deepen military-to-military cooperation with all of our partners,” the official said.
During the news conference with Yusgiantoro, Hagel said it has been impressive to watch a democratic Indonesia emerge as one of the most important contributors to peace and prosperity, not only in Asia, but also globally.
“Helping ensure the region’s security and prosperity is a goal the United States strongly shares,” the secretary said. “The strong and enduring security partnership that has been built between the United States and Indonesia is a relationship the United States greatly values.”
Hagel said President Barack Obama looks forward to his October visit to Indonesia and to deepening ties between the two countries.
Progress on security includes increasingly complex exercises between the two militaries, and growing defense, trade and high-level policy engagement, the secretary added.
The two militaries recently launched an initiative to share best practices in defense planning and management to increase Indonesian military capability, Hagel said, and next month the United States and Indonesia will cohost a counterterrorism exercise under the framework of the ASEAN Defense Ministers Meeting-Plus.
ASEAN is the Association of Southeast Asian Nations, whose 10 member states are Burma, Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam.
Defense ministers from these nations attend the annual ASEAN Defense Ministers Meeting, or ADMM. And the ADMM-Plus is made up of ASEAN members and eight dialogue partners: the United States, China, Japan, South Korea, Australia, India, New Zealand and Russia. This year’s ADMM-Plus meeting will be start tomorrow in Brunei.
Hagel said the United States welcomes Indonesia’s leadership in promoting regional security cooperation through ASEAN and regional forums such as the East Asia Summit.
“The United States is committed to further strengthening the U.S.-ASEAN relationship and I look forward to meeting with my counterparts this week at the ASEAN Defense Ministers Meeting- Plus in Brunei to address the many security challenges we face in this region,” he said.
Developing long-term and enduring solutions to challenges like maritime security, humanitarian assistance, disaster relief, counterterrorism, and the peaceful management of disputes in the South China Sea calls for greater cooperation and respect for rules and norms among all parties and the institutions that underpin them, the secretary noted.
“I am also pleased to be able to announce that the U.S. and Indonesia have pledged mutual support and cooperation on the search and recovery of U.S. personnel missing from World War II,” Hagel said.
Several Indonesian ministries have oversight of such requests, including defense, education and culture, and research and technology. All have agreed to process future requests from the Joint POW/MIA Accounting Command, a joint task force within the Defense Department whose mission is to account for Americans listed as prisoners of war, or missing in action, from all past wars and conflicts.
The United States believes that about 1,800 U.S. personnel are still missing in action from World War II in the waters and lands of Indonesia, a senior defense official said, adding that while not all are recoverable, current research indicates that hundreds ultimately may be found and brought home.
“The United States commitment to this effort is important to our personnel serving today,” Hagel said, “to make clear that we stand by our pledge to leave no one behind.”

Posted by at

No comments:

Post a Comment

Subscribe to: Post Comments (Atom)