CHAIRMAN JOINT CHIEFS MAKES REMARKS ON U.S-JAPAN ALLIANCE

FROM:  U.S. DEFENSE DEPARTMENT
In Tokyo, Dempsey Reinforces U.S.-Japan Alliance
By Lisa Ferdinando
DoD News, Defense Media Activity

TOKYO, March 25, 2015 – The chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff today underscored the importance of the U.S.-Japanese alliance as he met here with Japan's senior military and political leaders.

Army Gen. Martin E. Dempsey thanked Japan for its strong partnership with the United States, as well as its contributions to global security and commitment in the fight against terrorism.

Dempsey met at the Ministry of Defense with his counterpart, Adm. Katsutoshi Kawano, and Defense Minister Gen Nakatani. He paid a visit later in the day to Prime Minister Shinzo Abe.

Dempsey complimented the prime minister for all he has done to improve the posture of Japan in a complex security environment.

"The kizuna between us has never been stronger," the chairman said, using the Japanese word for bonds or connections between people.

He said he looks forward to working with Japan under the new defense guidelines that Japan and the United States are developing to define their bilateral defense relationship.

The prime minister, who is to meet with President Barack Obama in Washington next month, said the alliance between the United States and Japan has contributed to the peace and security in the Asia-Pacific region.
More Complicated World

Extremism is a common challenge faced by the United States and Japan, Dempsey said at the Ministry of Defense. Terrorists in Syria killed two Japanese hostages earlier this year, he said, and three Japanese tourists were killed when gunmen opened fire in a Tunisia museum last week.

The global security environment has "clearly become more complicated" in the last few years, the chairman said. In that time, the relationship between the United States and Japan has strengthened, he added.

"We're fortunate to have Japan as an ally and honored to have you as a friend," Dempsey told his counterpart.

Dempsey, the highest-ranking U.S. military officer, thanked Japan for its efforts for missile defense interoperability, noting that a strong deterrent is needed in the face of North Korean provocations.

Dempsey Honors Fallen Troops

In a ceremony before the talks at the Ministry of Defense, Dempsey took part in a wreath-laying ceremony to honor fallen Japanese and U.S. troops. He said he was honored to have been invited to pay tribute to the men and women of both nations' armed forces.

Then, before entering the Ministry of Defense, Dempsey attended an honor cordon, where he reviewed the Japanese troops who were assembled in perfect order outside the building.

Additionally, in an evening event, Nakatani presented Dempsey with a medal on behalf of Japan's emperor to honor the chairman's service, the United States military and the strong U.S.-Japanese alliance.

Dempsey accepted the award, as he told the prime minister earlier in the day, on behalf of the men and women of the United States armed forces who have "benefited so much and enjoyed the relationship" with Japan.

Pacific Rebalance

The chairman said the purpose of his visit to Japan and his next stop in South Korea is to further strengthen ties and reinforce the U.S. commitment to the region as the U.S. military continues its Pacific rebalance.

Other topics in South Korea are expected to include transferring control of allied forces on the Korean Peninsula to South Korea during wartime, as well as integrated air and missile defense, training exercises and options for responding to North Korean provocations.

TOP DEFENSE LEADERS TELL SENATE BUDGET COMMITTEE UNCERTAINTY NEEDS TO END

FROM: U.S. DEPARTMENT OF DEFENSE
Hagel, Dempsey to Senate: Budget Uncertainty Can't Last
By Karen Parrish
American Forces Press Service

WASHINGTON, June 12, 2013 - The Pentagon is maintaining a fiscal balancing act that must eventually teeter into a potentially dangerous loss of combat power if Congress doesn't act to stabilize defense budgets, department leaders told the Senate Budget Committee today.


Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel and Army Gen. Martin E. Dempsey, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, each named fiscal uncertainty as the greatest enemy to effective military planning. In the face of steep short-term cuts, they explained, long-term military readiness priorities take the biggest hits.

"When you're talking about ... abrupt cuts without slowing the growth, then what you're really, bottom line, saying is that you're going to cut your combat power," Hagel said. "And in the end, combat power and the readiness and everything that fits into that is ... the one core asset that you must preserve and continually enhance for the future, whether it's cyber or anything else."

Hagel noted that lacking certainty "from month to month, year to year, as to what our possibilities are for contracts for acquisitions, for technology, for research, the technological advantage that we have in the air and the superiority we have at sea, the training, the readiness, all of these are affected."

Dempsey told senators the pace of defense spending decreases largely drives how drastic they will be.

"We've had deeper cuts. But [sequestration] is by far the steepest," the chairman said. "And when the cut is steep, we limit the places we can go to get the money, frankly, because a lot of this money is unavailable in the short term."

DOD is and has been reforming in many ways to cut costs and add efficiency, Dempsey said, but short-term crises soak up time and energy. "We can make long-term institutional reform, but you can't sweep it up in the near term," he said. "That's the problem we're having."

Dempsey and Hagel both urged senators to set clear and flexible spending limits for the department.

"Time and flexibility are absolutely key here," Hagel said. "If we've got the flexibility and the time to bring [spending] down, we can do that. That's manageable. And there are a lot of things that we should be doing, we can be doing, to be more efficient and still protect the interests of this country and still be the most effective fighting force."

Hagel noted he is now studying the strategic choices in management review that Dempsey led across the department. He will be discussing the review with Congress, he said, because it will guide the fiscal year 2015 budget request going into 2014.

Dempsey said the review made some factors more clear.

"This review ... allows us to see the impact of not only the president's fiscal year '14 submission, but also the Senate's plan and then full sequestration, and it does pose a series of choices which become pretty difficult," the chairman said.

Adding the $487 billion reduction in defense spending by the Budget Control Act and the $500 billion in sequester cuts, on top of previous DOD efficiency initiatives, Dempsey noted, "comes out to about $1.2 trillion," which he said "leaves a mark on the United States armed forces."

"We haven't decided that it would make our current strategy unfeasible," he added, "but it would put it at great risk and could make it unfeasible."

Hagel said the service chiefs tell him they can match force structure with the strategic guidance, and preserve and enhance U.S. security interests around the world, given clarity on what resources they will have.

"I cannot give them that," the secretary said. "And when I can't give them that, then we have to continually go back and adjust and adapt. ... Furloughs for people are a good example of that."

The 11-day unpaid leave most defense civilians will take between July 8 and Sept. 30 is triage, Hagel said. "It's the worst way to have to respond to anything," he added. "But it was a necessity, and we all came to the same conclusion."

Furloughs are only part of the cloud of uncertainty that envelops service members and the defense enterprise, Hagel told senators.

"It's very unfair to these people," he said of furloughed civilian employees. "It's unfair to this country to ... be put in that kind of a situation and then still ask these people to make the contributions they are and the sacrifices they are for this country."

U.S. JOINT CHIEFS CHAIRMAN WARNS OF SEQUESTRATION CONSEQUENCES

FROM: U.S. DEPARTMENT OF DEFENSE

Dempsey Warns of Sequestration's Potential Impact
By Army Sgt. 1st Class Tyrone C. Marshall Jr.
American Forces Press Service

MANAMA, Bahrain, Dec. 14, 2012 - The potential impact of sequestration, if it happens, could significantly degrade the Defense Department's overall readiness for years to come, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs said here yesterday.

Army Gen. Martin E. Dempsey was responding to a sailor's question on the possible effects of the massive budget cuts that could take effect in January, while speaking to an audience from U.S. Naval Forces Central Command, U.S. Fifth Fleet.

Sequestration is a mechanism built into the Budget Control Act which would trigger across-the-board cuts in federal spending -- including an additional $500 billion cut in defense -- if Congress and the president cannot agree on a plan to reduce the federal deficit before Jan. 2, 2013.

"It'll be a significant degradation," Dempsey said. "How does it translate to you? Stretched out maintenance periods, less flying hours before deployment, less training, potentially some interruptions of PCS movements or schools."

The Defense Department has spread the word that allowing sequestration to occur would be "a really bad idea," Dempsey said.

"It will have an effect, and I think it'll be an effect felt for two or three years," the general said. "There are some who think we can just let it happen, and then sweep it up over the next six months."

The chairman explained how he and Defense Secretary Leon E. Panetta requested military manpower be exempt from the additional proposed budget reductions.

"We went to [President Obama] and asked him to use his authority to exempt manpower," Dempsey said. "If we hadn't done that, in an almost inconceivable way, we would have had to cut the endstrength by 8 percent as part of the package."

The president approved the exemption, he said, but the "bad news is it puts a bigger burden on the other accounts," which include operations, maintenance, training and infrastructure.

"So those will now be impacted at about a 10 percent blow across the board," Dempsey said. "What does this mean to your particular community? I can't say for sure because the CNO -- chief of naval operations -- is the one who has to figure that out."

However, operations won't be impacted by sequestration if it occurs, the chairman said.

"So now I just told you we've exempted two places. Now when I say operations, I mean deployed operations," he said.

The Joint Strike Fighter is among defense projects that would be disrupted by sequestration, Dempsey said, adding that
civilian DOD employees would likely also feel the impact.

"There could be some civilian employees placed on unpaid furloughs," the chairman said. "So it's really serious."