Thursday, September 27, 2018

Chairman’s European Trip Will Concentrate on NATO


By Jim Garamone, DoD News, Defense Media Activity

LONDON -- Marine Corps Gen. Joe Dunford arrived here today beginning a trip that will concentrate on the North Atlantic alliance.

The chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff is meeting with his British counterpart Gen. Sir Nicholas Carter of the British army, the chief of defense staff.

The two men will journey to Warsaw, Poland, for the NATO Military Committee Meeting.

The committee, made up of all the alliance defense chiefs, will discuss the way forward following the successful NATO summit in July. To counter Russia, alliance heads of state agreed to raise the readiness of forces and make them more mobile. The leaders agreed to form two new commands to safeguard the link between North America and Europe, and a logistics command in Europe. The United States will host the Atlantic command, and Germany the logistics command.

Cyber Operations Center

The leaders also approved a new cyber operations center and counter-hybrid support teams.

The alliance also looked to combat terrorism, approving a new training mission in Iraq; more support for Jordan and Tunisia; a fully operational hub for the South in Naples in Italy, and more.

NATO defense chiefs will examine the road ahead and how each of these tasks will be accomplished.

Dunford and Carter have worked together in the past, most recently when Dunford commanded the International Security Assistance Force in Afghanistan and Carter was the deputy commander. Carter took his position in June 2018 and this is his first Military Committee Meeting.

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