DEFENSE BRIEFING ON THE MIDDLE EAST

FROM:  AMERICAN FORCES PRESS SERVICE

Defense Leaders Provide Middle East Update

By Cheryl Pellerin

WASHINGTON, June 29, 2012 - Steady progress is being made in dealing with challenges in the Middle East, Defense Secretary Leon E. Panetta and Army Gen. Martin E. Dempsey, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, told Pentagon reporters in a briefing here today.

Topics included the situation between U.S. ally Turkey and the internally embattled Syria, a rescheduled U.S.-Israeli military exercise, an upcoming DOD visit to Iraq, and continuing discussions with military leaders in Pakistan.

"We continue to be concerned about developments in Syria," Panetta said, referring to ongoing violence between the brutal authoritarian regime of Bashar Assad and determined opposition groups, and the movement of Turkish military assets to the Syrian border after the June 22 shootdown by Syrian forces of a Turkish Phantom F-4 fighter and its two-member aircrew.

The secretary said Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton is engaged in discussions with U.S. allies in the region, including Turkey.

"Turkey is one of our allies in that region," Panetta said. "We continue to be in close discussions with them with regard to how we best approach the situation in Syria."

Dempsey said he had a recent conversation with his Turkish counterpart, Chief of the General Staff Gen. Necdet Ozel, adding, "He's taking a very measured approach to the incident. ... He and I are staying in contact."

Also in the region, the chairman said the United States and Israel have rescheduled a joint military exercise called Austere Challenge.

Dempsey said a final decision on the exercise date will be determined during a current visit to Israel by Undersecretary of Defense for Policy James N. Miller.

In Iraq, where the level of violence increased this month, Panetta said discussions continue with the Iraqis on the threat from al-Qaida terrorists.

"We've seen increased violence [and] ... we share the concern of the Iraqis with regard to that increased violence," the secretary said, adding, "We're going to continue to work with them to ... improve their ability to be able to deal with those kinds of threats."

Before leaving Iraq, he added, U.S. forces worked in great cooperation on this problem.

"We've continued to work with their security forces but we think it's really important now that we try to bring that cooperation even closer together to make sure that these kinds of threats are dealt with directly," Panetta said.

Dempsey said Marine Corps Gen. James N. Mattis, commander of U.S. Central Command, had high-level consultative talks with the Iraqis earlier this year and Panetta hosted a May 23 meeting at the Pentagon with Iraqi Acting Minister of Defense Saadoun al-Dulaymi.

"What we're doing is charting a way ahead, actually, on the potential for exercises, the things we talked about at the closing ceremony" in December 2011, the chairman said, adding that he plans a visit to Iraq later this year.

Discussions also continue between American and Pakistani officials over the reopening of Pakistan supply routes -- called ground lines of communication, or GLOCs -- into Afghanistan, and the breakup of Pakistan safe havens for militant groups like the Haqqani network, Panetta said.

"We continue to have a line of communication with the Pakistanis to try to see if we can take steps to reopen the GLOCs," Panetta said, adding, "The good news is that there continue to be those discussions."

Tough issues still need to be settled, the secretary said.

"I think the important thing right now is that both sides, in good faith, keep working to see if we can resolve this," he said.

Marine Corps Gen. John R. Allen, commander of the International Security Assistance Force and U.S. Forces-Afghanistan, met recently with Pakistani Army Chief of Staff Gen. Ashfaq Parvez Kayani, the secretary said.

"I think [Allen] made clear that both the United States and Pakistan have to work together to deal with the threat from the Haqqanis," Panetta said, adding that Kayani seemed receptive to U.S. concerns.

"After all," the secretary said, "they, too, have been victims of terrorism. They lost 17 Pakistanis on a patrol to the [Tehrik-e Taliban Pakistan] ... so we have a common enemy. It would make sense if we could work together to confront that common enemy."

PANETTA, DEMPSEY WARN OF SEQUESTRATION THREAT

Photo:  U.S. Secretary of Defense Leon Panetta.  Credit:  U.S. Navy.
FROM:  AMERICAN FORCES PRESS SERVICE
DOD Leaders: Sequestration Threatens Military's Successes
By Karen Parrish
WASHINGTON, June 29, 2012 - The nation's military has logged historic achievements in the past 12 months, but faces a future clouded by financial threat, Defense Secretary Leon E. Panetta said today.

The secretary and Army Gen. Martin E. Dempsey, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, both spoke about the topic of sequestration during a briefing with Pentagon reporters.

Panetta summed up the department's main activities since he became Defense Secretary last summer, noting that the Iraq War has ended, a "responsible drawdown" of U.S. forces in Afghanistan has begun, and the NATO mission in Libya concluded alongside the fall of Moammar Gadhafi.

The department has also "maintained a relentless focus on al-Qaida," and put in place a new defense strategy and a budget request focused on the future force and rebalancing toward the Asia-Pacific region and the Middle East, the secretary said.
DOD has also maintained faith with troops by protecting pay and benefits, and has increased employment opportunities for veterans and spouses, he noted.
"We implemented the repeal of 'Don't Ask, Don't Tell,'" Panetta said. "We've also opened up 14,000 military positions to women, and we've put in place enhanced measures to prevent sexual assault."

The biggest threat to all of those accomplishments and initiatives is sequestration, he said.
Sequestration is a mechanism built into the Budget Control Act that will trigger an additional half-trillion-dollar cut to defense spending over the next 10 years if Congress doesn't otherwise identify spending reductions the act requires.

Panetta said the uniformed men and women he's met in war zones, and the wounded warriors he's visited in military hospitals and rehabilitation centers, "deserve better than the threat of sequestration."

"Too often today, the nation's problems are held hostage to the unwillingness to find consensus and compromise," the secretary said.

Next week on the Fourth of July Americans will celebrate their nation's birth, he noted.
"It is a time for our leaders and for every American to recognize that the blessings of freedom are not free," Panetta said. "They come from a legacy of sacrifice, of courage and of leadership. That legacy is now our responsibility to fulfill, so that hopefully our children can enjoy a better life in the future."

Panetta said the defense industry leaders he has consulted with also face an uncertain future which could include widespread layoffs and lasting damage to the nation's military modernization programs.

"We are very much a team," he said. " ... [Defense] companies, as well as the Defense Department, are making very clear to Capitol Hill that this is a matter that ought not to be postponed."

The department and the nation's defense industries seek assurance from Congress that sequestration won't happen and that "we can proceed with the budget as we've outlined [it], as opposed to facing ... the possibility of another drastic defense cut," the secretary said.

Dempsey said his travels in recent weeks, as well as over the past year, have brought him into contact with a wide range of service members.
"At every stop ... I was struck by their tremendous sense of pride and commitment," the chairman said. He praised service members' courage, selflessness, intelligence, and dedication to the mission.

"They'll do anything to take care of this country," he said.
Dempsey said he was also struck by troops' concern over the budget.
"I find it encouraging, on the one hand, that our military family is informed and interested," he said. "But it's unfortunate that it weighs so heavily on their minds. Frankly, they have enough to worry about."

The chairman noted, "We have to remember, too, that the force of the future -- that is, America's sons and daughters who may be out there contemplating a military career -- are also watching."

Dempsey said as Panetta has made clear, "We simply have to come together to prevent this across-the-board, unbalanced cut that could jeopardize our ability to deal with the very real and serious threats that we face."

The chairman said he and the service chiefs have no issue with military budgets facing scrutiny in the current challenging budget climate, or with the need to make tough program decisions.

"That's why our strategy and the budget that supports it constitute a carefully balanced set of choices," Dempsey said. "These choices make sure we have the right talent and the right tools to keep our country immune from coercion."

Dempsey said he, the secretary and the joint chiefs seek a balanced approach.
"A sensible way forward is what we expect," the chairman said. "That's the only way we can honor our commitment to our military family and to the American people."

CHAIRMAN JOINT CHIEFS OF STAFF DISCUSSES MILITARY MOVES

FROM:  AMERICAN FORCES PRESS SERVICE
Dempsey Discusses Challenges, Benefits of Military Moves
By Lisa Daniel
GRAPEVINE, Texas, June 27, 2012 - The frequent relocations common to military life may be challenging to families, but they also are one way children become resilient and adaptable -- attributes critical to the military of the future, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff said here today.

Army Gen. Martin E. Dempsey made the comments as part of an informal "fireside chat" at the National Military Child Education Coalition's 14th national training seminar. He was joined by his wife, Deanie, and retired Army Col. Jack Jacobs, a Medal of Honor recipient and vice chairman of the Medal of Honor Foundation, who asked the couple broad questions about today's military.

The Dempseys moved 22 times in 36 years of service, they said, and all three of their children have served in the Army.

"In some ways, it is a burden," the general said, "but it also is how our kids become resilient and adaptable. Part of being adaptable is being introduced to unfamiliar circumstances."

It is those attributes that the military is "really going to need," Dempsey said, "because we never [predict] the future right.

"In some ways, the military profession and its values and the versatility you have to have as a military family is really quite strengthening," he added.

That resilience and adaptability starts with how parents handle the moves with their children, Mrs. Dempsey said. "It starts with the family and if you make each move an adventure -- and you've got to really sell some places," she said, drawing laughter from the audience.

Also, "it's the fraternity of the military family," she said. "You can say [to the kids], 'You will make new friends,' or 'You'll be with Johnny and Susie from two moves ago.'"
Many military children grow up to enter the military themselves, Mrs. Dempsey noted.
"If it were that bad, they wouldn't serve, too," she said.

Military families also have more support than ever, the Dempseys said. As demands on military families skyrocketed after the 9/11 attacks and through 10 years of war, Americans have responded, many through public-private partnerships, which the chairman described as the best form of support. He credited the nonprofit education coalition as being one example of such support.

The chairman also credited the "Joining Forces" campaign created last year by First Lady Michelle Obama and Dr. Jill Biden, wife of Vice President Joe Biden, for its efforts to raise public awareness of military families' challenges and sacrifices and to call on all sectors of society to support them.

Such organizations are "making a difference," Dempsey said.

"This is about public-private partnerships. This is not the government imposing the idea that we should take care of service members and their families," he said. "It's about the government advocating that [support of military members and their families], and about the people of the United States' communities and corporations stepping up.

"That's partly a reflection of what we've asked our service members and their families to step up and do in these past 10 years, which is remarkable," he added.
It also has helped, Mrs. Dempsey said, that there are many more programs today to help military families, and fewer divisions among rank.

"It used to be that officers and enlisted wives were separate," she said. "At the end of the day, we're all military spouses and we all just want them home."