DEFENSE SECRETARY HAGEL RECEIVES UPDATES FROM ISRAELI DEFENSE MINISTER YAALON

FROM:  U.S. DEFENSE DEPARTMENT 

Israeli Defense Minister Updates Hagel on Recent Developments

American Forces Press Service

WASHINGTON, June 24, 2014 – Israeli Defense Minister Moshe “Boogie” Yaalon yesterday updated Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel on recent developments, including the kidnapping of Israeli teenagers in the West Bank and a June 22 cross-border incident that killed an Israeli teenager and wounded two other Israelis, Pentagon Press Secretary Navy Rear Adm. John Kirby said.
In a statement summarizing the phone call between the two defense leaders, Kirby said Hagel offered his sympathies for those affected by the violence in the Golan Heights, pledged continued U.S. support, and expressed his shared concern over the violence in Syria and Iraq.

The secretary also updated Yaalon on U.S. views on the events unfolding in the Middle East, the press secretary added.

“The two leaders agreed to continue working closely with one another on the broad range of security issues facing the United States and Israel,” Kirby said.

BRITISH, U.S. DEFENSE LEADERS MEET OVER CRIMEA-UKRAINE SITUATION

FROM:  U.S. DEFENSE DEPARTMENT 
U.S., British Defense Leaders Discuss Ukraine, NATO
By Jim Garamone
American Forces Press Service

WASHINGTON, March 26, 2014 – U.S. and United Kingdom defense leaders today reiterated that there must be consequences for Russia following President Vladimir Putin’s forced annexation of Crimea from Ukraine.

Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel hosted British Defense Secretary Philip Hammond at the Pentagon. The two discussed a range of subjects, but the main focus was Ukraine, Hagel said at a news conference with Hammond after their meeting.
“I thanked Secretary Hammond for the U.K.'s steadfast support of Ukraine's sovereignty and territorial integrity and for the U.K.’s important contributions to NATO,” Hagel said. “We reaffirmed the strong commitment of both our countries to NATO's collective defenses, as President Obama has emphasized throughout his trip to Europe.”

Economic and diplomatic sanctions that have been imposed against Russia by the European Union and the United States will further isolate Russia, Hagel noted. “As the leaders of both our countries and the other G-7 nations affirmed this week in the Netherlands, we will continue to coordinate closely on future actions and sanctions we may take against Russia,” he added.

Hammond said Russia’s action was completely unacceptable, and he called the Russian occupation of Crimea “illegal annexation of a sovereign territory.”
The United Kingdom stands with the United States and the rest of NATO in opposing the Russian action and supports “wide-ranging economic and diplomatic sanctions to force President Putin to stop his bullying behavior,” Hammond said.
“The Russian government should be in no doubt that should there be further acts of aggression, there will be further consequences for Russia,” he added.
Hammond confirmed that in addition to the offer of Royal Air Force Typhoon combat jets to bolster the Baltic air policing mission, the United Kingdom is working with its allies and partners to scope options for additional measures of reassurance to Eastern European and Baltic allies.

Hammond stated that evidence suggests that the Russian agenda is being run by Putin personally. “Other Russian players, including [Defense] Minister [Sergei] Shoigu, may express views, but it's a moot point, and we cannot know, we do not know, to what extent all of those people are really inside the inner circle in which President Putin is planning this exercise,” the British leader said.

The situation in Ukraine demonstrates the continued need for NATO, Hagel said. “The essential character and commitment of this alliance, of its 28 members to one another, remains unchanged, but we will look for new ways to collaborate and improve the alliance’s capabilities and readiness,” the secretary said. “That means we will make continued necessary investments in defense.”

The two men and their staffs also discussed the progress of the campaign in Afghanistan.

Both countries are grappling with budget constraints, and both leaders look on this as an opportunity to explore new areas of cooperation. Hammond said the United States and United Kingdom could work together in nuclear deterrence, special operations forces, intelligence, unmanned aerial vehicles, surveillance aircraft and carrier strike regeneration.

SECRETARY OF DEFENSE HAGEL FINISHES VISITS WITH TROOPS, NATIONS

FROM:  U.S. DEFENSE DEPARTMENT 
Hagel Concludes Six-day Troop, Partner Nation Visits
By Karen Parrish
American Forces Press Service

DOHA, Qatar, Dec. 10, 2013 – Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel wrapped up a dual-purpose six-day trip to the Middle East and Southwest Asia here today.
As the secretary told troops at his last stop here, “The first priority and the real reason I was out here and spent time was to thank our troops, thank our men and women who do so much for all of us.”

Hagel also spent time engaging with allies and partners to assure them of the United States’ commitment to the region. He delivered a speech on the U.S. regional force posture in Manama, Bahrain. Hagel also spent two days in Afghanistan talking with Afghan military leaders and U.S. troops and ground commanders. And, he attended high-level meetings in Pakistan, Saudi Arabia and here.

The secretary’s day in Qatar started at a palace and concluded at a semi-secret military facility. In the interim, Hagel and Qatari Defense Minister Maj. Gen. Hamad bin Ali Al Attiyah formally renewed the U.S.-Qatar Defense Cooperation Agreement. The agreement governs training, exercises and other cooperative interactions between U.S. and Qatari forces.

“This agreement promotes cooperation and is a testament to the longstanding security partnership enjoyed by the United States and Qatar,” Assistant Pentagon Press Secretary Carl Woog said in a written statement.

Woog added that the accord “underscores the close partnership between the United States and its [Gulf Cooperation Council] partners, which Secretary Hagel highlighted in his remarks at the Manama Dialogue this past weekend.”
The secretary’s first stop today was the Sea Palace, where he met with Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad, Qatar’s emir. He then moved on to the signing ceremony at Qatar’s government headquarters, and then paid a visit to U.S. and coalition forces at the Combined Air and Space Operations Center, located at Al Udeid Airbase, a Qatari base that hosts the U.S. command-and-control facility.

Addressing service members there -- his fourth troop talk this week -- Hagel thanked them and their families, offering his and President Barack Obama’s best wishes for the holiday season.

“I know occasionally you’re stuck in remote places and you wonder if anybody even knows where you are or who you are or what you’re doing,” the secretary said. “Let me assure you, we do.”

The center where they work coordinates military air operations in the U.S. Central Command area of responsibility by integrating nearly 30 nations’ capabilities into a complete, real-time overview of mission execution. Hagel told troops that multinational approach is “where the world’s going.”

A senior defense official traveling with the secretary told reporters on background that the center might be unique in the degree of talent it brings together.
“[There’s] probably no other facility where you can go and see so many partners operating together at once,” the official said. “So that’s a story that is important, to reassure our allies and our partners.”

The official added that the center, which military leaders have in the past been reluctant to publicize because of regional sensitivities, makes it “visible to the world that we’re working together on common defense.”

Hagel told the airmen, sailors, soldiers and Marines at Al Udeid that the experience and training Gulf nation representatives receive there, along with integrated allied participation from the United Kingdom and Canada, furthers U.S. aims to build partner capacity.

“Our partners are going to be as important, and probably more so, than they’ve ever been, for our own national security [and] for their national security,” the secretary said, emphasizing a message he has delivered throughout his time in office.

“The more we can understand each other [and] work with each other, the better the world is going to be,” Hagel told the troops. “I’m particularly impressed with that part of what you’re doing here.”

The secretary began his trip telling delegates to the Manama Dialogue in Bahrain that the United States will maintain its troop posture in the region and that it seeks to strengthen coalitions there. He repeated that message today.
“We’re not going to get disconnected from our allies in this region,” he told reporters traveling with him before boarding the plane for Washington. “Our common interests are very clear here.”

U.S. WORKS WITH JAPAN TO EASE SECURITY CONCERNS

U.S. Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel, left, listens as Japanese Defense Minister Itsunori Onodera makes a comment as they brief the press at the Pentagon, April 29, 2013. DOD photo by U.S. Marine Corps Sgt. Aaron Hostutler

FROM: U.S. DEPARTMENT OF DEFENSE
Hagel, Onodera Discuss U.S.-Japanese Security Concerns
By Jim Garamone
American Forces Press Service

WASHINGTON, April 29, 2013 - North Korea, the East China Sea and creating a new working group for joint intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance capabilities were on the table as Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel and Japanese Defense Minister Itsunori Onodera met here today.

The U.S.-Japan alliance remains the cornerstone of security and prosperity in Northeast Asia, Hagel reaffirmed following Pentagon meetings.

The most obvious threat to stability in Northeast Asia is North Korea. The two men agreed to close cooperation and coordination to monitor and respond if needed to North Korean provocations. This will most definitely include increased cooperation on missile defense.

"Today we made progress on plans to deploy a second TPY-2 radar to Japan, which will help protect both of our nations from the threat of North Korean ballistic missiles," Hagel said during a news conference following the meeting. "The United States remains steadfast in our defense commitments to Japan, including extended deterrence and a further nuclear umbrella."

Onodera and Hagel discussed continuing friction in the East China Sea. Hagel stressed the American position that the regional security challenge must be resolved peacefully and cooperatively between the parties involved.

"In our discussion today, I reiterated the principles that govern longstanding U.S. policy on the Senkaku Islands," the secretary said. "The United States does not take a position on the ultimate sovereignty of the islands, but we do recognize they are under the administration of Japan and fall under our security treaty obligations."

China and Japan both claim the islands, and confrontations have resulted from the conflicting claims.

"Any actions that could raise tensions or lead to miscalculations affect the stability of the entire region," Hagel said. "Therefore, the United States opposes any unilateral or coercive action that seeks to undermine Japan's administrative control."

Hagel and Onodera agreed that Article 5 of the U.S.-Japan security treaty applies to the Senkaku Islands and "that we are opposed to any unilateral action that aims to change the status quo by force," the Japanese defense minister said through a translator.

Hagel said Army Gen. Martin E. Dempsey, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, delivered that message to Chinese officials during his visit to Beijing last week.

U.S. and Japanese defense planners also looked beyond the short-range threats in the region. The United States is working to rebalance forces to the Asia-Pacific area, and within the theater is rebalancing forces in Japan.

"Our staffs have been working for some time on a review of roles, missions and capabilities to inform any revisions to the defense guidelines that underpin our alliance cooperation," Hagel said.

The staffs identified intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance capabilities as a critical priority.

"Today we announce the formation of a defense ISR working group to deepen cooperation in this area," the secretary said.

The two leaders discussed moving U.S. forces in Japan, and specifically on Okinawa. Onodera said he and Hagel confirmed U.S. plans to send 12 MV-22 Ospreys through Marine Corps Air Station Iwakuni this summer and then move them to Marine Corps Air Station Futenma.

Onodera also invited Hagel to Japan for "Two-Plus-Two" meetings that bring together U.S. and Japanese ministers of defense and foreign affairs.