U.S. DOD LEADERS SAY TERRORISTS WILL NOT HAVE BASES IN MIDDLE EAST

FROM:  U.S. DEPARTMENT OF DEFENSE
DOD Leaders Vow to Deny Terrorists Middle East, Africa Bases
By Amaani Lyle
American Forces Press Service

WASHINGTON, Feb. 3, 2013 - The need for U.S. vigilance in thwarting terrorism throughout the Middle East and North Africa led the conversation during dual interviews Pentagon senior leaders took part in today.

In television segments that aired today on CNN's "State of the Union" and NBC's "Meet the Press," Defense Secretary Leon E. Panetta and Army Gen. Martin E. Dempsey addressed lessons learned following the Benghazi, Libya, embassy attacks on Sept. 11, 2012, and the embassy attack in Ankara, Turkey, Feb. 1, 2013. They also discussed their continued focus on eradicating al-Qaida in the Islamic Maghreb, or AQIM.

Panetta said that before his retirement, expected later this month, he expects to testify on Capitol Hill about the Benghazi attacks on Sept. 11, 2013. He noted defense officials are working with the State Department to review embassy security around the – "especially around that part of the world." He added, "We are taking steps."

But better security is one of three essential considerations in protecting U.S. embassies, he noted. "You still need to build up the host-country capacity," Panetta said. "[And] you've got to harden these embassies as much as possible."

Panetta and Dempsey described the complexities of orchestrating personnel and aircraft distance, intelligence and other factors to respond to an attack such as Benghazi.

"This is not 911," Panetta said. "You cannot just simply call and expect within two minutes to have a team in place; that's the nature of it."

Dempsey said the nearest armed aircraft were in Djibouti, Africa, at the time of the Benghazi attacks.

"The distance from Djibouti to Benghazi is the difference from Washington, D.C., to Los Angeles," Dempsey said. "There are some significant physics involved."

The chairman also maintained that with the alert time and intelligence information available at the time, the U.S. was "appropriately responsive."


"We've learned a lot from the Benghazi incident," Dempsey said. "We work with the State Department in surveying those parts of the world where there's a new norm ... of instability."

Dempsey and Panetta agree that many stymied attacks by the U.S. often go virtually unnoticed. Panetta noted the Feb. 1 suicide attack on the U.S. Embassy in Ankara, Turkey, which left the bomber two gatehouse security guards dead, occurred at the perimeter "nowhere close to the embassy."

"I think that was good security and ... [was] an example of good intelligence ... [guiding] us so that we could prevent something more serious from happening," he said.

Both leaders acknowledged that while AQIM remains a menace to Middle Eastern and North African regions, the U.S. will work with partner nations to contain terrorist organizations and prevent their acquiring chemical or other weapons in the region.

"We're better when we operate with partners," particularly in the Middle East, Dempsey said. "We've got options for any number of military contingencies, and we're maintaining both a deterrent and preparedness posture."

Dempsey said current U.S. planing involves working with partners in Turkey, Jordan and Israel, all of whom "share common interests in making sure these spill-over effects don't affect them."

Panetta said as al-Qaida affiliate leaders become more brazen in their movements, as recently happened in Mali, he is pleased with the French initiative to push back extremist encroachment and prevent burgeoning safe havens.

The secretary added that the U.S. and its partners have successfully targeted senior al-Qaida leaders in the federally administered tribal areas in Pakistan along the Afghanistan border, as well as in Yemen and Somalia. Planners have long foreseen the eventual need to contain extremists in North Africa has long been foreseen, he added.

"We were always aware that there was AQIM [there]," Panetta said. "Now we're focused on AQIM as a result ... of the French action, but we were also anticipating that we would have to move into North Africa."

Panetta said he hopes the massive changes happening in the Middle East and North Africa in the wakrt of the "Arab spring" will move toward greater democracy and stability in those regions, but operations against terrorist cells must not ebb.

"Wherever they are, we have to make sure they have no place to hide," Panetta said. "Bottom line is, al-Qaida is our enemy and we have to make sure we go after them."

U.S. SECRETARY OF DEFENSE PANETTA ANSWERS QUESTIONS ON MALI

FROM: U.S. DEPARTMENT OF DEFENCE

Panetta Answers Mali Questions in Europe
By Karen Parrish
American Forces Press Service

MADRID, Jan. 15, 2013 - Defense Secretary Leon E. Panetta discussed U.S. assistance to the French in Mali during news conferences today in Lisbon, Portugal, and here in the Spanish capital.

On Jan. 10, France began airstrikes against forces in Mali affiliated with al-Qaida in the Islamic Maghreb.

During a news conference in Lisbon this morning with Portuguese Defense Minister Jose Pedro Aguiar-Branco, Panetta expressed support for France's action.

"We have commended the French for this effort to ... stop the AQIM -- these terrorists and members of al-Qaida -- from being able to develop a base of operations in Mali, and we have always been concerned about efforts by al-Qaida to establish that kind of base," the secretary said. "And our commitment ever since 9/11 has been to go after al-Qaida wherever they are and to make sure that they have no place to hide."

Panetta also noted that the international community and the United Nations support the effort. A reporter asked whether U.S. officials are considering sending ground forces to Mali. "There is no consideration of putting any American boots on the ground at this time," the secretary replied.

Later, during his joint appearance here with Spanish Defense Minister Pedro Morenes Eulate, Panetta repeated the basic points he first made yesterday about U.S. support for the French action in Mali.

The U.S. and French governments are discussing a range of possible assistance the United States can offer, he said. Panetta yesterday told reporters the French had requested intelligence, logistics and airlift support.

"We are in discussions with the French, and we are discussing in Washington some of the requests that have been made, to determine exactly what assistance we can provide," the secretary said. "Our goal is to ... do what we can to provide whatever assistance is necessary."

Panetta told reporters he can't yet offer a likely timeline for French military action in Mali.

"[We are following] events, trying to get a read as to what efforts they're committed to taking there and what their objectives are. I can't really give a full analysis ... as of this moment," he said. "Any time you confront an enemy that is dispersed ... makes it challenging."

In Mali, stopping a scattered enemy advance across a large area is a difficult but necessary task, the secretary noted.

"For that reason, we've commended France for taking that step," he said. "And I believe the international community will do all we can to try to assist them in that effort."

Morenes, speaking through a translator, noted that Panetta's meetings with Spanish leaders "laid the foundations for significant cooperation in the future."

"We specifically talked about Afghanistan and Mali," he added.

European defense ministers have been monitoring the situation for more than a year, Morenes said, and in December they had reached preliminary agreements to train Malian and Economic Community of West African States forces. The movement of extremist forces toward Mali's southern regions was "sudden, in a way," he said, which meant that a new response had to develop quickly.

Talks he held with the French minister Jan. 11 and last night indicated the French plan is to prevent terrorist groups from reaching Mali's capital of Bamako, which would create chaos, Morenes said. "The French minister told us that they wanted to stop that offensive and to ... [proceed with] the Mali training mission," he added.

Morenes said that at a meeting of NATO's foreign ministers Jan. 18 in Brussels, "we had planned to get ahead of the offensive."

"Now, [we are] adjusting to a new situation, post-offensive," he noted.

The Spanish minister added that Spain already has agreed to a French request that Spain allow overflights of its maritime airspace. Panetta and Morenes agreed it is vital to world security to prevent terrorists fro developing a safe haven in Mali.

"[The] objective is to make sure AQIM never establishes a base for operations – in Mali, or for that matter, anyplace else," Panetta said.