Defense Secretary to Speak Soon
BLITZER: All right, the defense secretary is just beginning his remarks. Let's listen in. Chuck Hagel, joined by other members of the Joint Chiefs of Staff.</s>CHUCK HAGEL, DEFENSE SECRETARY: Our chiefs, our secretaries, who are here, as well as our comptroller and our acting assistant, or deputy secretary of defense, Christine Fox, for the work that they have put in over the last few months, in particular to get us to this point, where we have a budget that we are going to present to Congress next week. I want to talk a little bit about that today. Chairman Dempsey will also add his remarks. But I am very grateful. I know President Obama is very grateful to these men and women who have spent an awful lot of time, and the people that they represent and their services in putting this together. I particularly want to note that the comptroller, Bob Hale, this will be his last budget, unless we call him back into duty after he goes to find an island somewhere and doesn't return calls. But I am particularly appreciative of his willingness to stay through this budget, which was not an easy task for Bob Hale. You all know the kind of service he's given this country in this department for many, many years. And to Bob Hale, thank you, and to all of your team down there, we are grateful. Today I'm announcing the key decisions that I have recommended to the president for the Defense Department's fiscal year 2015 budget and beyond. These recommendations will adapt and reshape our defense enterprise so that we can continue to protecting this nation's security in an era of unprecedented uncertainty and change. As we end our combat mission in Afghanistan, this will be the first budget to fully reflect the transition DOD is making for after 13 years of war, the longest conflict in our nation's history. We are repositioning to focus on the strategic challenges and opportunities that will define our future. New technologies, new centers of power and a world that is growing more volatile, more unpredictable, and in some instances more threatening to the United States. The choices ahead will define our defense institutions for the years to come. Chairman Dempsey and I worked in a pragmatic and collaborative way to build a balanced force our nation must have for the future. I worked closely with the chairman, the vice chairman, service secretaries and service chiefs in developing these recommendations in a process that began with last summer's strategic choices and management review. I also want to recognize today the senior enlisted leaders in each of the services for their contributions and their involvement and their leadership and what they continue to do every day for our country. But, in particular, their help and input in crafting this budget. Our recommendations were guided by an updated defense strategy that builds on the president's 2012 defense strategic guidance. As described in the upcoming quadrennial defense review report, this defense strategy is focused on defending the homeland against all strategic threats, building security globally by projecting U.S. influence and deterring aggression, and remaining prepared to win decisively against any adversary, should deterrent's fail. To fulfill this strategy, DOD will continue to shift its operational focus and focuses to the Asia Pacific, sustained commitments to key allies and partners in the Middle East and Europe, maintain engagement in other regions and continue to aggressively pursue global terrorist networks. Our reviews made two new realities very clear. First, the development and proliferation of more advanced military technologies by other nations. It means that we are entering an era where American dominance on the seas, in the skies and in space can no longer be taken for granted. Second, defense spending is not expected to reach the levels projected in the five-year budget plan submitted by the president last year. Given these realities, we must now adapt, innovate and make difficult decisions to ensure that our military remains ready and capable, maintaining its technological edge over all potential adversaries. However, as a consequence of large budget cuts, our future force will assume additional risks in certain areas. In crafting this package, we prioritized DOD's strategic interests and matched them to budget resources. This required a series of difficult choices. We chose further reductions in troop strength and force structure in every military service, active and reserve, in order to sustain our readiness and technological superiority, and to protect critical capabilities, like special operations forces and cyber resources. We chose to terminate or delay some modernization programs to protect higher priorities and procurement, research and development. And we chose to slow the growth of military compensation costs in ways that will preserve the quality of the all-volunteer force, but also free up critical funds needed for sustaining training readiness and modernization. Before describing our specific recommendations, let me address the fiscal realities and assumptions behind our decision-making. On March 1st, 2013 --</s>BLITZER: And so now the defense secretary is going to get into some of the financial aspects of this strategy that he just unveiled, the dramatic shift in some long-standing U.S. policies. Let's assess what we just heard from the defense secretary. General George Joulwan, retired former NATO supreme allied commander, is here. You know, what jumped out at me, general, is this - is this notion that all of a sudden now -- and we've been seeing this in the works now for the last several months, the U.S. will shift its operational focus towards Asia and Pacific, away, in effect, from Europe and the Middle East. You - we've been hearing hints of this, but now the defense secretary is saying, there's real, strategic interest in China, Korea, Japan, Australia, out there, less so in the Middle East and in Europe. How is this going to play with our allies?</s>JOULWAN: Particularly in Europe, I think there's going to be concern. Believe it or not, I went through this when I went over there in 1993. I was told then we're going to the Pacific Rim. But all the challenges we faced were in Europe, the Balkans, the Middle East. So I think we have to be flexible here. I think it's important, what we try to do in the Pacific, but we cannot lose sight of our allies and friends that we've been with for so long in Europe, the Middle East and elsewhere.</s>BLITZER: I know the president is going to Saudi Arabia next month. The Saudis are pretty nervous right now about what's going on in their part of the world. This interim agreement with Iran, for example, they're not very happy about it. The Emirates, some of the other countries in the region -- the Israelis certainly aren't thrilled by what's going on. They're pretty nervous. The prime minister of Israel will be in Washington next week to meet with the president, Benjamin Netanyahu. So how do you think they're going to react to this new strategic announcement?</s>JOULWAN: It's a -- I think we're not going to lose our focus on what our friends in Europe and the Middle East were. That's not going to happen.