PRESIDENT'S STATEMENT ON NOMINATION OF ASHTON CARTER TO BE DEFENSE SECRETARY

FROM:  THE WHITE HOUSE 
December 05, 2014
Remarks by the President in Nominating Ashton Carter as Secretary of Defense
Roosevelt Room

10:24 A.M. EST

THE PRESIDENT:  Good morning, everybody.  Please have a seat.  It is wonderful to be able to announce not the creation, but at least the filling of one new job.  (Laughter.)  But before we do, I wanted to make a somewhat broader statement about the economy.  And Ash is willing to indulge me.

Last month, America's businesses created more than 300,000 jobs.  This keeps a pace so far this year that we have not seen since the 1990s.  So far this year, over the first 11 months of 2014, our economy has created 2.65 million jobs.  That’s more than in any entire year since the 1990s.  Our businesses have now created 10.9 million jobs over the past 57 months in a row.  And that’s the longest streak of private sector job growth on record.

We also know that the pickup in the pace of job growth this year has been in industries with higher wages.  And overall, wages are rising -- a very welcome sign for millions of Americans.  So we've got an opportunity to keep up this progress if Congress is willing to keep our government open, avoid self-inflicted wounds, and work together to invest in the things that support faster job growth in high-paying jobs.  That means exports, infrastructure, streamlining our tax code, immigration reform, giving minimum wage workers a raise.

It’s been a long road to recovery from the worst economic crisis in generations, and we still have a lot more work to do to make sure that hardworking Americans' wages are growing faster.  But the United States continues to outpace most of the world.  Over the last four years, we’ve put more people back to work than Europe, Japan, and all other industrialized advanced countries combined.  And we’re going to keep at it until every single American who is willing and able to work can find not just any job, but a job that pays a decent wage and allows them to support their families.

But it's worth us every once in a while reflecting on the fact that the American economy is making real progress.  And if we can continue in this trajectory, if we can continue to grow robustly, and if we make sure that those companies who are seeing profits -- they’re probably higher than any time in the last 60 years -- that they’re also making sure that their workers are sharing in that growth, then we can get a virtuous cycle that's really going to make a difference and be a critical component of strengthening our national security, because national security starts with a strong economy here at home.
 
Now, I know that some people think that I announce Cabinet positions on fake Twitter accounts.  (Laughter.)  This is not the case.

A year ago, when Ash Carter completed his tenure as Deputy Secretary of Defense, Secretary Hagel took to the podium in Ash’s farewell ceremony and looked out at the audience of our civilian and military leaders, and he said, “I’ve known Ash Carter for many years.  All of us here today have benefited from Ash’s hard work, his friendship, from his inspiration, and from his leadership.”  And Chuck then went on to express his gratitude to his partner for “what Ash has done for this country and will continue to do in many ways.”  Couldn’t have said it better myself.

Today, I’m pleased to announce my nominee to be our next Secretary of Defense, Mr. Ash Carter.      

Now, with a record of service that has spanned more than 30 years -- as a public servant, as an advisor, as a scholar -- Ash is rightly regarded as one of our nation’s foremost national security leaders.  As a top member of our Pentagon team for the first five years of my presidency, including his two years as deputy secretary, he was at the table in the Situation Room; he was by my side navigating complex security challenges that we were confronting.  I relied on his expertise, and I relied on his judgment.  I think it’s fair to say that, Ash, in your one-year attempt at retirement from public service, you’ve failed miserably.  (Laughter.)  But I am deeply grateful that you’re willing to go back at it.    

Ash, as some of you know, brings a unique blend of strategic perspective and technical know-how.  As a student of history, he understands the United States -- and I’m quoting him now -- is “the single most [important] provider of security in the world,” and he played a key role in devising our defense strategy to advance that security.  He’s also a physicist, which means that he’s one of the few people who actually understands how many of our defense systems work.  (Laughter.)  And that has also allowed him to serve with extraordinary breadth and also depth in a whole range of work that we’ve had to do.  

In one way or another, Ash has served under 11 Secretaries of Defense.  He’s an innovator who helped create the program that has dismantled weapons of mass destruction around the world and reduced the threat of nuclear terrorism.  He’s a reformer who’s never been afraid to cancel old or inefficient weapons programs. He knows the Department of Defense inside and out -- all of which means that on day one, he’s going to hit the ground running.

Ash is also known by our allies and our friends around the world.  Having served both Republican and Democratic Secretaries, he’s respected and trusted on both sides of the aisle.  He’s been a close partner with our military leaders.  And he’s admired by civilian leaders across the department because he’s a mentor to so many of them.  

There’s one other quality of Ash’s service that I think often gets overlooked, and that is his true regard, his love for the men and women in uniform and their families, his relentless dedication to their safety and well-being.  When he cut outdated, unneeded systems, he did it because he was trying to free up money for our troops to make sure they had the weapons and the gear that they needed and the quality of life for themselves and their families that they deserve.

When our troops in Iraq and Afghanistan were struggling to defend against roadside bombs, he moved heaven and earth to rush them new body armor and vehicles.  It’s no exaggeration to say that there are countless Americans who are alive today in part because of Ash’s efforts.  When our forces sat down for Thanksgiving dinner far from home, or as our wounded warriors recovered in the hospital, or when our fallen heroes returned to Dover, Ash was there, often on his own time, without any publicity or fanfare.  And I know that Ash will be there for them now as Secretary of Defense.

We face no shortage of challenges to our national security. Our combat mission in Afghanistan ends this month, and we have to transition to a new mission of advising and assisting Afghan forces and going after remnants of al Qaeda’s core.  We have to keep degrading, and ultimately destroying, ISIL in Iraq and Syria.  We have to build counterterrorism partnerships and new platforms.  We have to continue the fight against Ebola in West Africa.  We have to continue to strengthen our alliances, including NATO, and continue rebalancing our defense posture in the Asia Pacific.

Going forward, our armed forces are, necessarily, going to need to be leaner, but as Commander-in-Chief, I’m going to make sure that we have a military that is second to none, that continues to be the greatest fighting force in the history of the world.

That means, though, we're going to have to bolster some new capabilities, our cyber-defenses, how we deal with our satellites and how we're adapting our military, and investing in new capabilities to meet long-term threats.  We're going to have to work with Congress on a more responsible approach to defense spending, including the reforms we need to make the department more efficient.  That's how we're going to preserve readiness.  That's how we're going to keep faith with our forces and our families.  That's how we're going to deliver world-class care to our wounded warriors.

And Ash is going to be critical to all these efforts.  When we talked about this job, we talked about how we're going to have to make smart choices precisely because there are so many challenges out there.  And we're going to have to squeeze everything we have out of the resources that we have in order to be as effective as possible.  And I can't think of somebody who’s more qualified to do that.

In his career, Ash has been confirmed by the Senate three times.  If it were entirely up to my dear friend, Carl Levin, who’s sitting here, I suspect it would happen really quickly because that's the kind of guy Carl is, and Carl, I know, has had a chance to work with Ash in the past.  My hope is, is that in the new Congress, we get similar speed and dispatch.

By the way, we will miss Carl Levin.  I just wanted to mention that.  (Applause.)

One last piece of critical information that may have tipped the scales in me wanting to promote Ash.  Ash is a big Motown fan.  (Laughter.)  And one of his favorites is a classic by the Four Tops, “Reach out, I’ll be there.”  So, Ash, I’m reaching out to you.  (Laughter.)  You have been there for us, our troops, our families, our nation.

I also know that he’s been there for his lovely wife, Stephanie, sometimes by Skype because he’s been traveling.  But the sacrifices that Stephanie has been willing to make -- this is a team effort, as it is true for our military families.  And so we're very grateful to Stephanie.  She joined Ash on a lot of those Thanksgiving trips to see our troops and at the bedside of wounded warriors.  She knows the sacrifices they're going through.

Stephanie, we thank you for your service.  We thank Will and Ava, who couldn’t be here, but we know that they couldn’t be prouder of their dad.

And with that, I want to let, hopefully, our soon-to-be-new Secretary of Defense say a few words.  (Applause.)

MR. CARTER:  Thank you, Mr. President.  And, Mr. President, Mr. Vice President, it’s an honor and a privilege for me to be nominated for the position of Secretary of Defense.  General Scowcroft, my longtime mentor, thank you for being here.  And thanks to another longtime mentor, Bill Perry, who can't be here today.  And thanks to you, Chairman, and many other friends and colleagues, past and future, for coming out today.

I accepted the President’s offer to be nominated for Secretary of Defense because of my regard for his leadership.  I accepted it because of the seriousness of the strategic challenges we face, but also the bright opportunities that exist for America if we can come together to grab hold of them.  And I accepted the offer because of the deep respect and abiding love that Stephanie and I have for our men and women in uniform.

As we talked together in the past weeks, Mr. President, we discussed the challenges and the opportunities, and the need both to keep America safe and to make a better future for our children.  If confirmed in this job, I pledge to you my most candid strategic advice.  And I pledge also that you will receive equally candid military advice.

And finally, to the greatest fighting force the world has ever known, to you, I pledge to keep faith with you and to serve our nation with the same unflinching dedication that you demonstrate every day.  (Applause.)

END          
10:50 A.M. EST

U.S. OFFICIAL AFFIRMS U.S.-UGANDA RELATIONSHIP

FROM:  U.S. DEPARTMENT OF DEFENSE 
By Cheryl Pellerin
American Forces Press Service
Carter Affirms Growing Partnership Between U.S., Uganda

KAMPALA, Uganda, July 24, 2013 - Deputy Defense Secretary Ash Carter visited Uganda yesterday, meeting with senior government and military leaders to affirm the growing security partnership between the United States and the East African nation, Pentagon Press Secretary George Little said in a statement.
The visit was part of a trip Carter is making this week to Israel, Uganda and Ethiopia to discuss issues of mutual importance with defense and government leaders in the three countries.
Carter is the highest-ranking DOD official ever to visit Uganda.

The visit gave him a chance to discuss a range of regional security challenges with Ugandan partners -- including the conflicts in Somalia, Sudan and South Sudan, and the Democratic Republic of Congo -- and ending the longstanding threat to civilians and to regional stability posed by Joseph Kony and the Lord's Resistance Army, known as the LRA.

In Somalia, for example, as of July 22, 6,220 Uganda People's Defense Force soldiers supported the African Union mission in Somalia, called AMISOM.

The United States also is committed to helping Somalia; since 2009, it has provided more than $1.5 billion in assistance to Somalia, including $545 million in fiscal year 2012, according to a State Department fact sheet. U.S. funding helps to provide training, equipment and logistical support for Uganda and other troop-contributing countries.

Senior defense officials traveling with Carter said the United States commends UPDF soldiers involved in AMISOM for their commitment and selfless support to the Somali people and to the fight against al-Shabaab, an al-Qaida-linked militant group and U.S.-designated foreign terrorist organization fighting to create a fundamentalist Islamic state in Somalia.

"Uganda is a key partner in terms of security and stability in the region," a senior defense official said. "Not only do they tend to security within their borders, but ... they're operating in the region trying to track down LRA, which is something that affects four different countries in the region. It's not just Uganda, it's the Democratic Republic of Congo, it's South Sudan, and it's the Central African Republic."

Uganda, as a member of the African Union Peace and Security Council, has a role in negotiations between South Sudan and Sudan and was a strong supporter of the Comprehensive Peace Agreement that led to South Sudan's independence on July 9, 2011.

Uganda and most of its neighbors have been victims and now are taking the fight to Joseph Kony and his followers. For more than two decades, according to a U.S. Africa Command fact sheet, the LRA murdered, raped and kidnapped tens of thousands of men, women and children. In 2011, the LRA committed more than 250 attacks. In 2012, the United Nations estimated that more than 465,000 people were displaced or living as refugees across the Central African Republic, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, and South Sudan as a result of LRA activity in 2011.

In May 2010, President Barack Obama signed into law the Lord's Resistance Disarmament and Northern Uganda Recovery Act, which reaffirmed U.S. commitment to support regional partners' efforts to end LRA atrocities in central Africa. In October 2011, Obama authorized the deployment to central Africa of 100 U.S. forces whose mission is to help regional forces end the threat posed by Kony.

The multiyear U.S. strategy seeks to help the governments of Uganda, the Central African Republic, the Democratic Republic of Congo, and South Sudan, and the African Union and the United Nations end the LRA threat to civilians and regional stability, defense officials said. Its four objectives are to increase civilian protection, apprehend or remove Kony and senior LRA commanders from the battlefield, promote defections of those who follow Kony and urge them back into the community and provide continued humanitarian relief to affected communities, they added.

At U.S. Embassy Kampala during the deputy defense secretary's visit, Information Officer Elise Crane said Carter's visit comes at a time when security cooperation between the United States and Uganda has been very strong.

"I'd say it's the cornerstone of our partnership with Uganda," Crane said. Another important part of the partnership has been the counter-LRA effort, a truly regional mission led by the Africans, she added.

"I think the deputy secretary's visit is a good reminder that the U.S. is still committed to this mission. His visit comes at a good time," the information officer added. "The reception he got from the Ugandan security forces was very warm. They're delighted to have him, and I think this visit will strengthen our partnership even more."

While here, Carter also spoke on the phone with President Yoweri Museveni, who was traveling outside Kampala, and met with Foreign Affairs Minister Henry Okello, Chief of Defense Forces Edward Katumba Wamala, Chieftaincy of Military Intelligence Brig. Gen. Charles Bakahumura, and Chief of Staff of Ugandan Land Forces Brig. Gen. Leopold Kyanda.

The deputy secretary also met with U.S. troops supporting the Ugandan military's effort to remove LRA leaders from the battlefield and a separate contingent of U.S. forces providing specialized counterterrorism training to Ugandan forces who will deploy as part of the African Union AMISOM mission in Somalia.

In the late afternoon, despite having wrapped up a full appointment schedule and with a plane waiting to take him on to the final leg of his trip in Ethiopia, Carter and his motorcade hurried down rutted red dirt roads, stirring clouds of dust into the air on the way to Kisenyi Peacekeeping Base.

The Ugandan troops gathered around when he got there, and he told them about the people he passed along the road -- adults and children going to work, going to school, riding bikes, tending animals.

"That's why we're here," he told them, "so those people can go on living their daily lives."

Economic and human development is what it's all about and what people really want, Carter said, "but that can't happen without you all. We recognize that you're planting the seeds for the future for all of us, and we're very grateful, so on behalf of me ... and the whole DOD team that's here, thank you."

U.S.-ISRAELI LEADERS REAFFIRM MILITARY RELATIONSHIP

FROM:  U.S. DEPARTMENT OF DEFENSE 
Carter, Israeli Leaders Reaffirm Defense Relationship
By Cheryl Pellerin
American Forces Press Service

TEL AVIV, Israel, July 22, 2013 - During Deputy Defense Secretary Ash Carter's first official trip to Israel, he and senior security officials here reaffirmed that the U.S.-Israeli defense relationship has never been stronger and agreed to continuing close consultations on shared security interests.

Carter's visit this week, made to discuss a range of issues of mutual importance -- including the unfolding situations in Syria and Iran -- comes a month after Israeli Defense Minister Moshe "Boogie" Ya'alon's June visit to Washington, where he met with Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel. Hagel visited Israel in April.
The deputy secretary also met with Ya'alon, Israeli National Security Adviser Yaakov Amidror and other senior officials. Director-General of the Ministry of Defense Udi Shani hosted an official dinner for Carter.

As part of the visit, Carter took a helicopter tour of some of Israel's security challenges, and received briefings and observed demonstrations of tactical capabilities in several areas near Tel Aviv, including the Mitkan Adam Army Base, an Israel Defense Force special training installation.

Among the elite training schools at the installation are the IDF Counterterrorism Warfare School, the IDF Snipers School, and the IDF Canine Unit, or Oketz Unit, whose logo is a winged dog head. The dogs of the unit are the special operations equivalents of canine assistants -- they climb, they crawl, they tiptoe across logs, they even fast-rope down from heights with their handlers, making no sound at all.

Israeli ground forces discussed their use of canine partners in a range of operations -- finding roadside bombs, hidden adversaries, and contraband smuggled in all kinds of vehicles -- and in performing many other kinds of jobs.

A couple of miles away, next to a rocky, shrub-covered hill, the sun beat down on a two-story building. Nearby is a narrow wooden structure built only for fast-roping. This remote part of Camp Adam has been scene of many canine and special operations training operations, and yesterday afternoon Carter watched as they showed him how they like to work.

Afterward, Carter spoke briefly to the troops before shaking their hands and presenting them with commemorative coins from his office.

"Protecting America means protecting Israel, and that's why we're here in the first place," he said. "But this is the fun part," he added, indicating the tactical demonstration area and the fit, skilled men and women in uniform, some with their dogs and some still dressed in garb that disguised them as boulders and bushes.

DEPUTY DEFENSE SECRETARY CARTER MEETS WITH KARZAI

Deputy Defense Secretary Ash Carter meets with Afghan President Hamid Karzai in Kabul, Afghanistan, May 13, 2013. DOD by Glenn Fawcett
 

FROM: U.S. DEPARTMENT OF DEFENSE

Carter Meets With Karzai, Military Leaders
By Claudette Roulo
American Forces Press Service

KABUL, Afghanistan, May 13, 2013 - Deputy Defense Secretary Ash Carter met today with Afghan President Hamid Karzai at Afghanistan's presidential palace here.

In a statement summarizing the meeting, Defense Department officials said Carter congratulated Karzai on the progress of the Afghan national security forces and expressed his admiration for their performance and professionalism. The progress they've made, he noted, is enabling them to take the lead in security in more 90 percent of the country.

The deputy secretary also reiterated the strong U.S. partnership with Afghanistan and emphasized the continued U.S. commitment to support the Afghan forces into the future.

Carter also continued his assessment of Afghanistan's progress toward nationwide Afghan-led security as he met with senior U.S. officials and visited locations in the International Security Assistance Force's Regional Command East.

Carter met in the morning with State Department, NATO and U.S. military officials, including Army Lt. Gen. Mark A. Milley, commander of the International Security Assistance Force Joint Command and Army Maj. Gen. Tony Thomas, commander of Special Operations Joint Task Force Afghanistan.

Milley joined the deputy secretary as he traveled east of Kabul to Jalalabad Airfield in Nangarhar province and to Forward Operating Base Gamberi in Laghman province. Army Brig. Gen. Ronald F. Lewis, Regional Command East deputy commanding general for support, and other senior leaders from the 101st Airborne Division's 1st Brigade Combat Team provided on-the-ground operational and strategic-level reviews of the security transition and retrograde.

Carter thanked service members at both outposts for their efforts, saying that he believes that the transition thus far has been "incredibly successful." He noted that although al-Qaida is not the sole remaining challenge in Afghanistan, in some circles there is a "great desire to narrow our focus, as if by narrowing our focus, we narrow the problem."

While at Gamberi, Carter also received an update on the progress of the Afghan National Army from Maj. Gen. Mohammad Zaman Waziri, commander of the ANA's 201st Corps. The 201st is responsible for the eastern portion of the country, including Kabul.

The deputy secretary is on the third and final leg of a weeklong overseas trip, and his meetings in Afghanistan are intended to underline U.S. support for the ongoing development of the

DOD MEMO INDICATES A PLAN FOR BUDGET UNCERTAINTIES

Ashton B. Carter

FROM: U.S. DEPARTMENT OF DEFENSE

Memo Tells DOD Components to Plan for Budget Uncertainties
By Jim Garamone
American Forces Press Service

WASHINGTON, Jan. 10, 2013 - Deputy Defense Secretary Ashton B. Carter has released a memo directing the services and defense agencies to begin planning for possible upcoming budget challenges.

The memo allows defense components to freeze civilian hiring, terminate temporary hires and reduce base operating funds. It also allows components to curtail travel, training and conferences and to curtail administrative expenses.

The memo -- dated today -- points to the threat of sequestration and the continued use of a continuing resolution as a way to fund the department. Sequestration was to have become effective Jan. 2, but Congress delayed its activation until March 1 to give lawmakers more time to come up with an alternative. It would impose major across-the-board spending cuts.

Since Congress did not approve an appropriations act for fiscal 2013, the Defense Department has been operating under a continuing resolution and will continue to do so at least through March 27. Because most operating funding was planned to increase from fiscal 2012 to fiscal 2013, but instead is being held at fiscal 2012 levels under the continuing resolution, funds will run short at current rates of expenditure if the continuing resolution continues through the end of the fiscal year in its current form, Carter wrote in the memo.

Given this budgetary uncertainty, the department must take steps now, the deputy secretary said.

"I therefore authorize all Defense components to begin implementing measures that will help mitigate execution risks," the memo reads. "For now, and to the extent possible, any actions taken must be reversible at a later date in the event that Congress acts to remove the risks. ... The actions should be structured to minimize harmful effects on our people and on operations and unit readiness."

The memo allows components to review contracts and studies for possible cost savings, to cancel third- and fourth-quarter ship maintenance, and to examine ground and aviation depot-level maintenance. This last must be finished by Feb. 15.

It also calls on all research and development and production and contract modifications that obligate more than $500 million to be cleared with the undersecretary of defense for acquisition, technology and logistics before being awarded.

For science and technology accounts, the components must provide the undersecretary and the assistant secretary of defense for research and engineering with an assessment of the budgetary impacts that the budgetary uncertainty will cause to research priorities.

DEPUTY DEFENSE SECRETARY CARTER SAYS ARMY APPLYING LESSONS LEARNED

Air Drop In Afghanistan.  Photo Credit:  U.S. Army.

FROM: U.S. DEPARTMENT OF DEFENSE

Carter: Army to Apply Lessons Learned to New Challenges

By Karen Parrish
American Forces Press Service

WASHINGTON, Oct. 24, 2012 - U.S. soldiers have succeeded brilliantly in facing new demands during the post-9/11 era, and have now reached another major transition point, Deputy Defense Secretary Ashton B. Carter told an Army audience here today.

During a speech at the Association of the U.S. Army's annual conference, the deputy secretary said a "massive strategic transition is underway" in defense forces, and a look back over the last 11 years offers insight to where the Army is headed next.

Since Sept. 11, 2001, few organizations had to adapt as much as the Army, he noted, when "our country was called to fight enemies we did not fully understand."

The Army responded as a strong wartime force that learned to build, govern, advise and assist, and to think strategically as well as tactically, he said.

The deputy secretary noted that even with the end of the troop surge to Afghanistan, that "almost 60,000 soldiers remain engaged in combat ... out of 68,000 total [U.S.] service members there."

Carter added that beyond Afghanistan, more than 15,000 soldiers are deployed around the world, from Kuwait to the Sinai to the Horn of Africa. Over 90,000 soldiers and civilians are forward stationed in nearly 160 countries, he said, and Army special operations forces make up 75 percent of U.S. Special Operations Command operators.

"That is our Army today. And our Army has learned and learned again in the past decade to conduct new missions to defeat adaptive enemies," Carter said. "In the wars of this millennium our soldiers learned to conduct counterinsurgency, counterterrorism and security assistance force operations to protect civilian populations, become discriminately lethal, and build up our partners' capacity."

The Army of 2012 is powerful and adaptive across its ranks, the deputy secretary said.

"The junior officers and [noncommissioned officers] ... became administrators and community liaison officers in addition to, of course, unequalled warriors," he said. Meanwhile, he added, Army senior officers "couldn't ask the world to stop so that they could think; they had to design and execute a new strategy on the fly, with the fighting going on around them."

Those leaders ensured their troops learned to adapt and meet a wide range of new, highly demanding missions, he said.

"That transformation is one of the exceptional stories of our age," Carter said, noting that what used to be known as "operations other than war" became the core Army mission set over that time.

Part of the Army's success stems from its counterterrorism and counterinsurgency operations, he said, which forged a stronger connection between intelligence and operations. Carter said that fusion is apparent in any Army company-level command post today, where an observer will see capabilities that, 15 years ago, were found only at division level or higher.

"Operators and analysts synthesize all-source intelligence to identify targets, understand conditions and meet U.S. interests," he noted. "The bin Laden raid, while an excellent example, is just one example of that collaboration."

The Army has performed exceptionally well, he said. "Those lessons learned, that new capability built, those leaders forged [and] that habit of adaptation comprise an enormous asset for this country."

The world, the nation's friends and enemies, and technology have not stood still while America and its coalition partners fought two wars, the deputy secretary noted. Now, he added, Army and defense leaders must look up, around and out "to what the world needs next."

With $487 billion dollars trimmed from defense budgets over the next decade under the Budget Control Act, he said, military leaders must spend taxpayers' dollars more wisely and "ensure every dollar is spent strategically."

The department announced last winter a defense strategy that requires agile, lean forces that are "ready on a moment's notice, and technologically advanced," Carter said.

The Army will have a role in each of the new strategy's tenets, he said.

"One tenet is to capture the lesson learned -- so hard-learned -- in the past decade, including leadership, counterinsurgency, integrating intelligence and operations, and above all, adaptability, and turn them to future challenges," the deputy secretary said.

The Army will once again train to conduct a full range of operations and execute a full range of contingency plans, he said.

"They will do so through a flexible mix of armored, medium, light and airborne units which can be tailored and scaled for a full range of mission," Carter said.

The Army will also play a key part on the strategy's second tenet, he said, which involves a "broad political and military rebalance to the Asia-Pacific region, and continuing presence in the Middle East."

The U.S. strategic goal for the Asia-Pacific is to ensure a stable, peaceful region such as the nation's military presence has helped maintain since World War II, he said. In the decades since that conflict, Japan, South Korea and Southeast Asia have prospered, as China and India are doing now, Carter noted.

The Army will bolster its stabilizing role in the Asia-Pacific region by increasing regional troop rotations and exercise engagements over the coming years, he said. Noting that the Asia-Pacific boasts seven of the world's 10 largest armies, Carter said the U.S. Army will continue to partner closely with land forces throughout the region.

"As one example, the United States worked closely with Australia in Iraq and Afghanistan," Carter said. "Today, American and Australian senior and mid-level Army officers know each other well. And our cooperation is increasing across the globe -- for instance, Australian Maj. Gen. Rick Burns will join the staff of U.S. Army Pacific on Nov. 4th, as deputy commanding general for operations."

The third tenet of the strategy involves "[spreading] the burden and responsibilities of security" by building partner nation military capacity around the world, Carter noted. The Army's role will involve sustaining and increasing bilateral and multilateral training and theater security cooperation, he said.

"One of the lessons the Army learned from Iraq and Afghanistan is that soldiers need core regional skills," the deputy secretary said. "So the Army is aligning its forces to different regions to build partner capacity more effectively."

The realignment begins this year, he said, with the 1st Infantry Division's 2nd Brigade aligning to U.S. Africa Command. The Army will also rotate units into Europe and other regions to bolster alliances, including through the NATO response force, he said, while Army corps headquarters will align with combatant commanders to better facilitate planning and training.

"These are all good steps," Carter said. "I urge the Army to continue to think creatively about how best to match its regional and cultural skills to requirements over the long term."

The fourth tenet of the defense strategy is to safeguard the future, he said.

In hard times, he explained, it's "very easy ... to pull out the things that are most shallowly rooted. ... And they're the newest things, and they're the last things that you should be taking out ... because they're your most recent, freshest, and best ideas."

Networking, mobility, cyber, unmanned vehicles, space and special operations are examples of vital functions the Army needs to "keep being good at," and the Pentagon will invest in those capabilities, the deputy secretary said.

Carter said the Army, along with the nation's other military services, has arrived at a moment of significant change, with operations ended in Iraq and Afghanistan involvement winding down.

"The Army story from the last 11 years is a story of dynamic and historic leadership at senior and junior levels," he said. "Soldiers faced immense strategic and tactical ambiguity; through incredible focus and determination, the Army learned new skills and succeeded."

Historians will write of the bravery and brilliance soldiers have displayed since 2001, Carter said, and also of the service's response to the demands of a new era.

"That's where we are again, right now," the deputy secretary said. "We face strategic choices about the kind of force we want to build."

Army and defense leaders are planning for the future at a moment of opportunity, Carter said.

"The question is, what kind of Army do we want? The answer is, powerful and adaptive," he said. "Not defensive, creative. The Army has a rich history from which to draw to make that adaptation, and I look forward to working on this next chapter."