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That's me ... you don't realize what an amazing opportunity you have. The biggest supporters
of what you do are guys like this. In the last 10 years, our military, particularly
our combatant commanders have understood that, as they say, "You can't kill your way to power.
You can't kill your way to success." We've got an opportunity now to hear from the three
guys who are combatant commanders. What that means is the military stands up, and we will
have a map in a minute to show you what combatant commands are. The military has a number of
commands. The combatant commanders are the tip of the spear.
These are the people, men who are responsible, and someday women, who are responsible for
the United States Military forces in large parts of the world. I want to ask you, because
you don't really have a lot of experience, I saw how many veterans stood up, most of
you don't really know what these guys do. We are going to ask them. I wanted to start
with ... I think we'll start with you, General Craddock. Let me ask you what a typical day
is like in the commands that you've had in the European Command as well as in the Southern
Command. What's your day like?
Thanks, first of all, KT, for the opportunity to be here and for that question, and to the
Global Leadership Coalition, I certainly appreciate the time that we'll spend here today with
you. In the interest of full disclosure, I must say that it's been several years since
I left U.S. Southern Command, a few less since I left European Command. My wife is prone
to tell me over and over again, as the older I get, the clearer and clearer is the recollection
of things that never were. I will do the best I can here with you today.
U.S. Southern Command, 19-20 countries, Caribbean Basin, Central America, South America. Every
day was a challenge and it was a different challenge from my colleagues sitting here
on the stage with me, in that I believe what you will hear from them is more of an issue
of nations in their region with national security problems as well as public security problems.
Military and police, different threats.
Southern Command by and large, absent a couple of countries who had some border issues, was
basically issues with transnational organized crime threats, and it was a public security
issue unless the public security resources were unable to counter these transnational
threats as organized crime threat, read traffickers. Then it got to be national security level
and different resources were applied from different angles to counter that.
My day to day was, first of all, security cooperation. Large title, what is it? It's
a lot of things. It's promoting security from the perspective of national security and where
possible, with authorities granted, promoting public security, moving into the policing
realm if there was a threat to the national security in a specific country, and we had
a couple of those in South Com.
There was also promoting and enhancing stability. How did we do that? In many ways, through
interface with U.S. mission, with all of the different representatives of U.S. departments
and agencies at the mission, seeing how we could leverage our capability in the Department
of Defense, in certain areas where others do not have capability to make enablers, as
I heard the term earlier, enablers for them to be able to do the job better, easier, with
more lasting greater impact, then promoting prosperity to the extent we could do that.
At one point, I was on the Hill as the Commander of the U.S. Southern Command, advocating for
the Central America Free Trade Agreement. Because if trade enhanced, prosperity enhanced,
that would mean we would further security, the reason that people turn to alternate forms
of government would be reduced and it was a win-win proposition. That was, by and large,
a day.
If you look at it cyclically throughout the year, we had training exercises, that is in
the security assistance where we try to enhance our friends and allies and neighbors' military
capability. We would plan those, we would prepare, we would conduct, so we were always
in a cycle of training exercises.
We also had both planned and reactive humanitarian disaster response. We would plan exercises
and disaster response, unfortunately, because of the nation, we would have to respond to
disasters and provide our capability, and then also the humanitarian assistance which,
in my judgment, was ... the greatest return on the investment that we made in U.S. Southern
Command, was the conduct of humanitarian exercises and providing medical capability exercises,
MedCap, we called them, or dental or veterinarian to the rural parts of the nations of the region.
That kept us busy all the time.
Great. That was an easy day. Now we are going to ask a guy, General Ward, whose responsibility
was to set up and to stand up, it's called in military terms, the Africa Command. The
United States didn't have a military command devoted just to Africa until General Ward
took over, so what was an average day for you like?
I think I'll concur with John. First of all, it's great to be here this evening and I guess
you've had a great day. We've already told how wonderful the previous speakers have been,
so we know we've been set up and nothing is between you and the rest who are in, whatever
that is except us. We will try to enlighten you as best we can, understanding that nothing
will work at this hour today, but we'll do our best.
First of, all it was an absolute pleasure and joy to establish a command for the first
time that caused our nation to recognize a part of the world that had an importance to
it that we still don't quite understand, but clearly a step taken to recognize the important
part of our global commons that would mean so much to us today, but importantly 20 and
50 years from now.
As we endeavor to create a command to stand up AFRICOM, such that it, as it endeavored
to ensure our national security interest, but at the same time related to our partners
and friends on the continent in the ways that they understood, we were certainly faced with
a daily set of opportunities that we were all, who were part of that endeavor, very,
very happy to be associated with.
We had to build a team, we had to establish relationships, both here in the United States
as well as with our friends on the continent of Africa. We had to stop relations with our
friends around the world who had likewise interest on the continent of Africa. We had
to ensure that those things were being done, as General Craddock mentioned, the military
activities of building partner capacity, various humanitarian exercises, things that we were
doing complemented the work that was already being done on the continent by those who were
here ... to talk about.
Our partners who were responsible for development and as well as those diplomatic efforts that
helped guarantee security. It was no day that was a typical day. This was a dynamic environment
as we looked at what we were doing from the counter terror role because clearly on the
continent, that was a part of our mission set. How we dealt with counter terror activities
such that they were, in fact, complementing the things we were trying to do in so far
as the other activities were concerned.
Putting all of that together with a very diverse and new team, teammates from across our government,
teammates from across our services, teammates that were from across our private sector who
already had interest on the continent, causing them to understand, as best we could, that
we were there to be a force to support, assist and reinforce their efforts as opposed to
a force that was there to take over their efforts.
As we worked to do this, as we worked to build a team of sailors, soldiers, airmen, Marines,
Coast Guardsmen, civilians, causing them to know that we were in fact working in ways
that complemented every other member of the team, this business of partnership of teamwork,
all working together to help create a term that I called stability, if we have stability,
then our national interests are, in fact, being served in the best way possible.
Those days were days that were long, they were days that were complex, there were days
that were different from one another and there were days that were filled with the hope of
a tomorrow because of our work on a continent that, up to that point in time, had been fragmented
to the work of three separate commands now being focused, put the attention of a single
command.
I think it's important to note that what General Ward did when he set up and stood up to Africa
Command, it was one of those ... it's the first time that United States military has,
from the very beginning, incorporated in the civilian element into your command.
I believe I saw my initial civilian deputy here. Where is Ambassador Mary Carlin Yates?
Oh, right over here.
There she is. Hey, Mary! That's exactly right. We had a first time ever, from the outset,
a civilian deputy with the command, and valuable.
I guess you must have done a really good job. Congratulations. Now, I want to turn to probably
the hardest working guy on the planet, Admiral Harward. You're the Deputy Commander of Central
Command. That sounds like it might be easy. It's countries like Afghanistan, Pakistan,
Iraq, most of the Middle East Arab countries. I can't imagine there is ever a typical day
for you, but try to walk us through some of the challenges you faced.
I'm just encouraged, KT. You and your predecessor, neither one of you mentioned Syria, to start
off with.
Oh right, Syria. We're going to get to that in a minute. That's your second question.
I would tell you. I am honored and happy to be here today, and I'm encouraged because
we're the preponderance of ... the last 12 years I've been in Afghanistan and Iraq, where
I was commonly referred to not only by my counterparts in the Afghan Army as a General,
but also my American bosses such as Dave Petraeus and Stan McChrystal just called me General
and told me to get over it, so to speak. To be here with my two Army brothers, but more
importantly to be here with the mother of a Naval officer and to be with the Navy family
where we are on a equal setting here is encouraging.
I have a feeling that as a Navy SEAL, he can hold his own in any company.
As you know KT, we are coming out of 12 years of war in Iraq and Afghanistan. We are finishing
the transition to the government of Afghanistan here and that will occur, as you know, we
just handed over Security Milestone 13 this week and we are moving forward to the final
transition through the end of 14. I'm encouraged when I see young officers like Pete Dixon,
you had the video. Those individuals who have worked from the bottom-up with all the elements
of power, non-profit organization, NGO's who understand the granularity and all the capabilities
they bring to the field.
I've seen that the past six years, mature in a way like could not happen in a top-down
approach. This had to happen on the ground where those people doing the work had their
fingers on the ground working together to understand it. Because as we come out of these
two conflicts, my crystal ball, its batteries have run down. I can't tell you what it's
going to look like next year, the year after, but I know we are going to need that same
understanding at the tactical and operational level to do the things we need to do to prevent
conflict.
Unfortunately, the experiences we've learned over the last six, 12 years or so have been
post ***. We need to codify, implement those procedures and that capability that the Department
of Defense brings to bear in this partnership to avoid the bangs. I'm really focused on
the work you're doing and how we codify that, develop those techniques, procedures and training
to ensure we move forward, leveraging what we've learned last 12 years. CENTCOM's very
focused as we look at some of these areas, such as Syria right now.
Today, I don't want to talk about current operations, but I will talk about what we've
learned and where we are going and how we are going to have to bring that capacity to
bear to meet our national security objectives.
Great, I am going to ask you that question in a minute. General Ward talked about, especially
having an ambassador as his number two, talked about U.S. government employees, whether they
were military or civilian. I want to ask you, General Craddock, especially in your position,
Southern Command, where you were dealing with Latin America and South America, you had to
deal with humanitarian disasters, humanitarian relief and you often had to work with a flurry
of NGOs, non-government organizations, people who maybe didn't even think very well of the
United States Military. How were you able to pull all that together?
Sometimes quite difficult like, let me use for an example, storms that moved into Guatemala
while I was down at SOUTHCOM. What we were able to do was not fix the problems created,
mud slides, villages completely covered, bridges washed out, people without food, power, but
we were able to bring capability in for others who do that. We quickly could bring in, at
a moment's notice ... and all the ambassadors knew this ... that we had the authority for
72-hour response without further authority from the Department of Defense.
If they call and they have a problem with life and limb, indigenous people of the nations,
then we could respond. We could move in, command and control. We do that pretty well. We can
move in communications so that we can provide communications to NGOs, government agencies,
indigenous nation, host nation folks, so we could at least coordinate the effort and then
transportation capacity.
Helicopters, fixed-wing, and we could move a lot of stuff, whether it's medicines, food
stuffs, whatever the case may be, to large airport locations, capital cities, and then
forward into the countryside, wherever the emergency exists.
The first thing was to get people on the ground, open up with the chief-of-mission ambassador,
find out what he needed, where he needed it and then use the ambassador's capability,
the embassy, the mission, as the nexus of all the support provided. If we go out on
our own, we're going to get it wrong. We have to coordinate the effort through the host
nation NGOs, international NGOs oftentimes come in a little bit later, but with incredible,
enormous capability and we are there then, to be able to move that forward as required.
I want to go and talk about Africa. When you set up the Africa Command, as you pointed
out, you have a civilian component as well as a military component. Look at the flashpoints
of the world today. Your job, as you said, was to prevent conflict. How are we doing
in places like Mali, for example, or in other parts of Africa or other parts of the world?
This is a partnership, KT. The command, as is reflected with those of many of the combatant
commands, works in conjunction with partners, as John mentioned. We work closely with our
ambassadors on the continent. We work closely with the departments of the state. In my case
there were two, Near East as well as the African Bureau to look at how our policy has been
stated for a region and the region is important. It's not just a country.
Africa, a continent of now, today, 54 nations including its island nations, they are all
different, complex. The regions are different, so as we work with the various embassies,
the African Bureaus as well as the Near East Bureau, our main endeavor was to cause what
we did, those things that we brought, our capabilities, as you've heard a bit of those
to complement, to support.
My motto was "We will add value and do no harm" and the first key was understanding,
building relationships, understanding, as I said, someone else's point of view, getting
out of our foxhole, going down range, looking down what we're doing and how does it fit
with the overall set, and that understanding, as we worked, was an understanding that we
were able to use, hopefully to help bring stability.
It's not perfect, but clearly it is a reality that things are improving and then getting
better because of how we are coordinating and complementing the capabilities that we
bring to a particular area and according to that national interest and that coordination
and complementarity comes through our defense work, our development work, our diplomatic
work, working in ways that are harmoniously creating an impact that clearly is in our
best interest as Americans, but equally important being seen as an interest of our partners
and friends on the continent of Africa so that they see our work as also being beneficial
to them and their further development increases stability in their homes.
Let me ask, turn to the man who is now actually right on the frontlines. Admiral, I was struck
by when you said a few minutes ago, that there are lessons learned. After Vietnam, we unlearned
a lot of lessons. We have, as you said, we've spent 12 years at war and we have learned,
and often the hard way, some important aspects that we need to carry forward.
I always think about that last scene in Charlie Wilson's War, where the United States, in
conjunction with our allies in Afghanistan, that helped defeat the Soviet Union and the
effort is tried to make on Capitol Hill and Gus was saying, but we need aid for schools,
we need humanitarian assistance and Congress just doesn't, and you're left with that question
of what if, if only, maybe things would have been different. Can you talk about the challenges
and how you plan to make sure that United States Military doesn't forget those lessons
that we've learned?
Yeah, that's a great question, and it's not just our effort. I think we bred a whole culture
within the other elements of power in the U.S. Government and understand them. I think
of ambassadors like Anne Patterson, who served in Pakistan. We worked closely together on
border issues, who is now the Ambassador to Egypt, who was the forefront in working with
Congress on how to move forward with foreign military sales, foreign military funds. She
became the main spokesman and when she went to the Hill, she called me, "Bob, come up
here and help me explain this."
It wasn't DOD pushing that agenda. Traditionally, a DOD, but the ambassadors, so these ambassadors
and the country teams understand this as well. As you know, we do not conduct any operations
in a country without the approval and understanding of that chief-of-mission in that country team.
That's built a culture that I think is going to permeate for years to come. Those individuals
who served at those PRTs in Afghanistan, those ...
You have to explain it English, what is a PRT?
I'm sorry. They are provincial reconstruction teams, where they integrated all the elements
of power together to tactical level, to bring in military engineers who could plan and work,
contract with foreign governments to pay for the funding, NGOs who would coordinate with
the local villages to bring these services online, so those tactical-level officers who
will make careers and grow, I think they will take with it. We therefore, then need to inculcate
that into our doctrine, our training, our techniques and you're starting to see that
happening. If you look at some of the manuals General Petraeus and General Mattis did on
COIN, you're now starting to see ...
COIN?
I'm sorry. Counter Insurgency Operation, I'm sorry, KT. Excuse me.
I'm here to keep you honest.
You're seeing now that permeate out into our training standards at the tactical levels
and those understanding, so that when that young captain is going through his qualification
course in how to deal with a village, he knows and understands, "This is how I reach out
to USAID, this is how I coordinate with the Embassy". He is aware of with that.
I can tell you up until my operational level of war, I had no understanding of that at
all. We bred a whole new generation who understands the value and capacity all of these organizations
bring together, and I hope that's happening in those other organizations as well. I'm
optimistic and we'll have to see how it plays out here.
We are going to turn this over to questions from you, but before we do that, I want you
to understand, these guys have three and four stars on their shoulders. A young *** or
a corporal is going to look at these guys, he is going to be, his knees are shaking so
much, he can't even talk. We are going to make them sound warm and fuzzy and ask them
a couple of personal questions in a rapid fire. General Ward, since you are scratching
your nose over there, I want to ask you, what books are on your night stand?
What books are on my nightstand?
We don't want to hear Thucydides, Encylopaedia Britannica ...
No, not at all. It's not they ... the Bible's on my nightstand. I read the Bible, my manuscript
is there in preparation. It's a work-in-progress. I guess you're talking about other sorts of
books as well.
That's enough. We'll all buy the book when it comes out.
There is one though, one that does. Former secretary... Deputy Secretary of Defense,
Gordon England, he and I are both from Baltimore, and we're old Baltimore Colts fans. I don't
know anything about the Indianapolis Colts, the Baltimore Colts. I am currently reading
Johnny Unitas, which is a great quarterback for you youngsters. There you go, Johnny Unitas.
I want to ask you, General, if you got to be deployed overseas again, the President
calls you and says, "We need you, General," what are you going to do for that last meal
that you have before you go anywhere?
Have it at home with my family.
This is a man who obviously has been married happily for a long time
Indeed, indeed.
Admiral, what about you? What books are on your nightstand?
I'll tell you one that's really got my interest. There's certain books over the last couple
of years that have really, you need to read to understand where we are. The one that's
gotten my attention lately is by Michael Oren, the current Israeli Ambassador to the U.S.,
Power, Faith and Fantasy, and it really understands how we got into the Middle East, what our
foreign policy and I think in-line, a very good understanding of why we are doing the
things we are talking about here today, It's a riveting read.
A part of the world that really goes back 4,000 years and a conflict that you may be
new to, but nobody else is. I want to throw this open to the audience. We have microphones
standing in three points, we obviously have people already lined up, and let me start
over here and if you say who you are, what organization you are with, and if there is
anyone on the panel you want to throw your question to. Remember, I'm in television,
so I know how to cut people off.
My name is Julius Coles. I'm with Morehouse College and I want to direct this question
to General Ward. General Ward, there is no doubt in my mind that you were a very much
civilian oriented in your mission when you were head of AFRICOM. I wonder if you feel
that the mission has changed since Libya and then all the developments in Bali and then
with the recent announcement of the savagement of drone base in Niger. If the mission has
changed, is Africa, if the Africa Command is equipped to helm the new mission? Thank
you.
The command has always had, as a part of its mission set, those things are traditional
combatant commands also do. When the command was stood up, the focus was also on these
other things, so therefore, the notion that we're already doing these, also that are being
headlined today, wasn't a part ... they wasn't a part of what was publicized. The command
has, at its core, capabilities as any other combatant command, but it also looks to do
those things in a way that also highlights the importance of, as we are addressing here,
those other parts of our national council power that are truly the long-term guarantors
of stability.
While the focus seems to be on today, has gone on in places like Mali and Libya and
elsewhere, to be sure, their focus still remains on those other military to military activities,
those developmental activities that the military can support and enhance, as well as those
sort of things that go into helping to build a more stable environment because of the complementarity
of our functionalities.
Is the command totally equipped to do that? I think the command, we continue to go through
a process of amassing those other capabilities, but there is no doubt in my mind that if they
are required, our national command structure, such that through the apportionment of forces
and the decisions to dedicate forces or capabilities to the command, that would, in fact, be present
and would be there.
I got to interrupt to this point and say that the only people who aren't ranked three and
four stars are Admirals or Generals are Cabinet officers, and we have a Cabinet officer who
is standing by, ready to talk to you. I am sorry that all the questions that all of you
have lined up to ask, I am going to just speak on behalf of my colleagues on this podium
as I am sure that they'd be delighted to maybe answer your questions in private after the
program.
Right now, we have got to exit so that you can listen to the Secretary of Treasury. Thanks
so much for all your patience and cooperation. Thank you. Gentlemen, thank you.