U.S., U.K. Face Common Security Issues

By Linda D. Kozaryn
American Forces Press Service

Jan. 25, 2010 - Three international issues that showcase common values held by the United States and the United Kingdom also highlight the benefits of a common approach to dealing with them, U.S. Deputy Defense Secretary William J. Lynn III told members of Parliament here today. In remarks before the House of Commons All-Party Parliamentary Group on Transatlantic and International Security, Lynn said both nations are addressing nuclear proliferation, the environment's effect on security and NATO reform.

Lynn recalled that President Barack Obama shared his vision of a world free from nuclear threat during a speech in Europe, and that he also gave a speech in Prague that motivated Defense Department officials to conduct a nuclear posture review.

Due to be released early next month along with the Quadrennial Defense Review, the nuclear posture review aims "to balance the president's call for eventual disarmament with his commitment to protect our country, and our allies, as long as a nuclear threat remains," Lynn said.

U.S. defense officials are in the final stages of concluding negotiations on a new strategic arms reduction treaty with Russia, Lynn said.

"We have reached the endgame, and anticipate a new START treaty that will reduce both our arsenals," he said. "We are also working to ratify and bring into force the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty.

"We are taking unprecedented steps toward a world free from the nuclear threat, while at the same time, working with the United Kingdom and NATO to responsibly ensure our own security and that of our allies," he added.

The Defense Department also is focusing high-level attention on how natural resources contribute to conflict, Lynn said. This includes resource scarcity -- especially access to hydrocarbon fuels -- as well as population growth and climate change.

"We know that climate change will exacerbate food and water shortages, increase the spread of disease, and may contribute to migration both within and across borders," he noted. "Increased poverty, environmental degradation, even social unrest and the possible weakening of governments are potential consequences."

U.S. defense officials are making installations more energy-efficient, he said. Over the past three years, the department has tripled its investment in energy technology, yielding reduced energy consumption at fixed installations by 11 percent. Nearly 5 percent of the electricity used at bases now comes from renewable sources.

Lynn went on to say U.S. officials want NATO, the 28-member North Atlantic Treaty Organization, to continue developing new missions and capabilities. The alliance is in the process of drafting a new strategic concept this year.

U.S and British defense officials are "voicing support for an ambitious reform agenda," he said, that includes how to shape NATO's mission, capabilities and partnerships for the coming decade.

NATO's procedures and processes are outdated, Lynn said, and the alliance faces severe resource constraints. He called on heads of state slated to gather at the Lisbon summit in November to review NATO command structures, force structures and how the alliance reaches decisions and manages its budget.

"NATO also needs the ability to address nontraditional threats, both on its own and in cooperation with institutions like the European Union," he said. "Achieving public support for new missions will require describing how today's threats differ from those in the past, and how NATO should transform its methods of operating to meet them."

Mullen Urges Closer Ties With Central, South Asia

By Donna Miles
American Forces Press Service

Jan. 25, 2010 - The U.S. commitment to Central and South Asia is long-term and enduring, Joint Chiefs of Staff Chairman Navy Adm. Mike Mullen told chiefs of defense from the region today. Mullen underscored at the Central and South Asia Chiefs of Defense Conference the message that Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates delivered last week during his visit to India and Pakistan.

"We are in this for the long haul," the chairman said, emphasizing that the United States has "no designs on the region" or interest in occupying another country.

The chairman, like Gates, recognized terrorism as the common threat to the United States and the Central-South Asia region, and emphasized the importance of working together to confront it.

Terrorist groups have become much more collaborative in their operations, he said, recognizing what Gates and Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton increasingly refer to as a "terror syndicate" threatening the region.

"That requires us to be much more harmonious," Mullen told the defense ministers, acknowledging that the United States hasn't always focused on the region as much as it now recognizes it must.

He noted major strides in that direction since last year's conference, the second U.S. Central Command has sponsored in as many years. There's a renewed level of energy and commitment toward Afghanistan, Pakistan and the broader region by the United States, by NATO, by regional neighbors and within Afghanistan itself, he said.

Mullen expressed confidence in President Barack Obama's new U.S. strategy for Afghanistan, and in the leadership being demonstrated by Army Gen. Stanley A. McChrystal, the top commander on the ground, in carrying it out.

Particularly important to its success, Mullen said, is that it's "population-centric" and emphasizes preventing civilian casualties as well as showing respect for Afghans' property during military operations. "This is a hugely positive change, from my perspective," he said. "We believe the population is the center of gravity."

The new strategy also recognizes that long-term success in Afghanistan goes beyond security, to include development, economic opportunity and good governance. "We have all said this isn't just about the military," Mullen told the defense chiefs.

Additional U.S. forces are moving into Afghanistan to support the strategy, with the rest of the 30,000 troops to follow as quickly as possible, he said. They'll serve as security forces, but also as trainers needed to boost capability within Afghanistan's national security forces, he told the chiefs.

Mullen warned that violence is likely to increase before these forces, working alongside Afghan security forces, are able to help clear and hold ground now claimed by extremists. "We think this year is going to be a difficult year as we add these forces," he said.

Mullen welcomed the conference as an opportunity for regional countries' military members to build relationships, exchange views and foster regional-military-to-military cooperation so they can better face up to current and long-term challenges together. He expressed hope that these military-to-military relationships can expand throughout the ranks, particularly for tomorrow's military leaders at the mid-grade officer and noncommissioned officer levels.

"Having that foundation will be very powerful for the future," he said.

MILITARY CONTRACTS January 25, 2010

AIR FORCE

Aerospace Testing Alliance, Tullahoma, Tenn., was awarded an $86,697,018 contract which will provide for the operation, maintenance, information management and support of the Arnold Engineering Development Center for fiscal year 2010. At this time, no money has been obligated. AEDC/PK, Arnold Air Force Base, Tenn., is the contracting activity (F40600-03-C-0001,P00192).

NAVY

Patriot Contract Services, LLC, Walnut Creek, Calif., is being awarded a $13,665,935 firm-fixed-price contract for the operation and maintenance of four government-owned large, medium-speed roll-on/roll-off ships, also called LMSRs. Two of the ships are Gordon-class, $6,823,958 for one year, and two of the ships are Shughart-class, $6,841,977 for one year. This contract includes options which, if exercised, would bring the cumulative value of this contract to $111,130,732; $55,519,108 for the Gordon-class and $55,611,624 for the Shughart-class. The contract includes four one-year option periods and five six-month award term periods. Work will be performed at East Coast, Gulf Coast and West Coast ports where the ships will be primarily maintained in reduced operating status. The contract is expected to be completed in February 2011. If all option periods are exercised, the contract is expected to be completed by September 2017. Contract funds will expire at the end of the current fiscal year. This contract was a small business set-aside, with more than 50 companies solicited and six offers received. The solicitation was posted to the Military Sealift Command, Navy Electronic Commerce Online and Federal Business Opportunities Web sites. The Military Sealift Command, Washington, D.C., is the contracting activity (N00033-10-C-5301).

Raytheon Co., Integrated Defense Systems, Tewksbury, Mass., is being awarded an $11,200,000 not-to-exceed modification to previously awarded contract (N00024-05-C-5346) for changes to software development efforts due to revised missile interface control documents and related power density implementation for the DDG 1000 Zumwalt-class destroyer program. The purpose of this modification is to incorporate the combat system and dual band radar related software changes associated with the MICDs Rev B+ and related power density implementation changes to the current requirements of total ship computing environment software development. Work will be performed in Tewksbury, Mass., and is expected to be completed by March 2012. Contract funds will not expire at the end of the current fiscal year. The Naval Sea Systems Command, Washington, D.C., is the contracting activity.

Violence Against Police Officers

Editor's Note:  The information applicable to military police officers and the guest is a former US Army military police officer.


On February 19, 2010, Conversations with American Heroes at the Watering Hole will feature a conversation with Chief of Police Joel F. Shults on Violence Against Police Officers.

Program Date: February 19, 2010
Program Time: 2100 Hours Pacific
Topic: Violence Against Police Officers
Listen Live: www.americanheroesradio.com/violence_against_police_officers.html
About the V.A.L.O.R. Project
The Violence Against Law Officer Research (V.A.L.O.R.) Project hypothesizes that “Police officers who are victims of crime as defined by statute are routinely denied the rights afforded to other crime victims. As a result of this wholesale denial of their rights police officers suffer a handicap in being empathetic to civilian crime victims; have pathologies like other repeat crime victims; and are at risk of acting out in ways that constitute misconduct or in self destructive ways including substance abuse and suicide.”

About the Guest
Chief Joel F. Shults, Ph.D., currently serves as a college police administrator for the Adams State College Police Department (Colorado). Chief Joel Shults earned his doctorate in Educational Leadership and Policy Analysis from the University of Missouri-Columbia. Shults earned a Master's in Public Services Administration from the University of Central Missouri after completing an Associate and Bachelor's degrees in Criminal Justice Administration at UCM. Chief Joel F. Shults began his law enforcement as a US Army Military Police Officer. He served in the Missouri Army National Guard as a Military Police Investigator with MP and CID units.

Chief Joel Shults was sworn in to his first civilian police position with the Warrensburg Police Department. After a brief period of field training and his first six months as a patrol officer, Shuts attended the Basic Law Enforcement Academy at the Missouri State Highway Patrol Training Academy. While with WPD, Shults served as shift supervisor, investigator, community relations officer, field training officer, and coordinator of reserve officers and interns.

Chief Joel Shults ran for the elective office of sheriff and after a close race was appointed Chief of Police for the combined police services of two small Missouri towns. After serving there, Shults retired briefly from law enforcement to work in the insurance and real estate appraisal business for a short time before accepting a position in Kansas City as head of the Tarkio College law enforcement program where he served as supervisor of admissions, lead instructor, and supervisor over adjunct faculty. Chief Joel F. Shults’ most recent appointment was as Director of Public Safety at Adams State College.

About the Host
Lieutenant Raymond E. Foster was a sworn member of the Los Angeles Police Department for 24 years. He retired in 2003 at the rank of Lieutenant. He holds a bachelor’s from the Union Institute and University in Criminal Justice Management and a Master’s Degree in Public Financial Management from California State University, Fullerton; and, has completed his doctoral course work. Raymond E. Foster has been a part-time lecturer at California State University, Fullerton and Fresno; and is currently a Criminal Justice Department chair, faculty advisor and lecturer with the Union Institute and University. He has experience teaching upper division courses in Law Enforcement, public policy, Public Safety Technology and leadership. Raymond is an experienced author who has published numerous articles in a wide range of venues including magazines such as Government Technology, Mobile Government, Airborne Law Enforcement Magazine, and Police One. He has appeared on the History Channel and radio programs in the United States and Europe as subject matter expert in technological applications in Law Enforcement.

Listen, call, join us at the Watering Hole:
www.americanheroesradio.com/violence_against_police_officers.html
Program Contact Information
Lieutenant Raymond E. Foster, LAPD (ret.), MPA
editor@police-writers.com
909.599.7530

Chairman Cites Need for Rapid Health Care Solutions

By Elaine Wilson
American Forces Press Service

Jan. 25, 2010 - Defense Department officials must work quickly to surmount a stigma that's preventing servicemembers from seeking help for the signature wounds of today's wars, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff said today. "We are clearly just beginning to deal with the long-term effects of the signature injuries of these wars -- not just the visible, but the invisible," Navy Adm. Mike Mullen told an audience of more than 3,000 military and civilian medical professionals at the 2010 Military Health System Conference at the National Harbor here.

Mullen stressed the importance of finding rapid health care solutions for servicemembers and their families and of ensuring they understand that seeking help is a sign of strength. He acknowledged that many people continue to suffer in silence.

"We are held back by a stigma that we cannot climb over," he said. "Not just now, but five years from now, we still need to be working our way through the impact of these fights and what that means. We can't expect it to just move away from us."

Calling it an "exponential problem that takes exponential resources," Mullen stressed the importance of finding quick solutions for servicemembers. "We need to make sure they have great lives," he said.

Toward that end, he said, the departments of Defense and Veterans Affairs are cooperating closely.

"It's incredibly important to look at how we're going to work with the VA, not just pass our patients over to the VA," he said. "That actually reaches from the military to the VA and through communities throughout the land. We cannot forget these individuals who sacrificed so much and their families.

"We owe them more than that," he continued. "We need to connect to them and make sure their care is representative of their sacrifice."

Part of that care, he said, is speeding up processes such as the physical evaluation board that determines a servicemember's fitness for continued military duty.

"We are huge, bureaucratic and slow," the admiral said. "The one thing [servicemembers] want back is their life; the one thing they want back is time. We've got to move them through quicker."

A pilot program aimed at resolving that problem has been under way for more than two years, he noted. "We need that fixed, and we need to get everyone in it and move them through that process," he said.

Mullen praised the military's cutting-edge treatment and support facilities – including the Intrepid centers in San Antonio and Washington, D.C., Fisher Houses, and Brooke Army Medical Center's burn center – that are offering servicemembers exceptional support. He also noted the importance of support from families.

"We need to be a military that is ready; a huge part of that ... is the health of our force and the health of our families," he said. "They are such an integral part of our readiness and our success, in ways I don't think we totally understand yet. It's because of their support, in so many ways, that we've been able to succeed."

Mullen said he often talks to military spouses, and while he begins by touching on broad topics, the discussion always returns to the same issue: health care.

"These are families that have been through an extraordinary amount," he said. "It is that much more important when they have been through so many deployments. It will continue to be that way."

The chairman said leaders need to look to the future to ensure health care remains a constant presence. "We need to think of the families as part of our readiness equation, and health care is a big part of that," he said.

Along with caring for servicemembers and their families, Mullen said, leaders also need to be mindful of caring for caregivers. He recalled events in 2004 when doctors and nurses were exhausted in the combat theater and "didn't know when to stop."

"People who have seen things they never thought they would see -- and certainly that has continued throughout these wars -- that needs to be something we keep in mind as well," he said.

That care remains vital, he noted, particularly in light of recent events in Haiti, which was struck recently by a devastating magnitude 7 earthquake.

In 2005, Mullen said, the hospital ship USNS Mercy provided support in the wake of a tsunami that caused extensive death, damage and suffering in Asia. That effort set health care officials up for success today, he said, citing the USNS Comfort's rapid response to the current crisis. The hospital ship set sail for Haiti with only a few days notice.

"To be able to ... get down to theater that rapidly, was truly exceptional," Mullen said.

Mullen said he is grateful for the hard-working medical professionals who care for servicemembers and their families.

"If you can go back six years, six-plus years now, and think about what's happened, it has truly been extraordinary," he said. "And you have led the way in that, and you've led it not just here in hospitals in America, but you've led it on the battlefield."

Military medicine has evolved rapidly, Mullen said, which underscores the importance of looking to the future to ensure the military as a whole is set on the right path. He said he's already looking ahead to determine what shape the military will take post-war.

"We're certainly looking to the increase of troops this year in Afghanistan, but Afghanistan will end," he said. "What happens when that adrenaline is back down -- and we need it to be? We need to get it to a rotation that gives us more time at home than we have right now. But what does it mean when we get there?"

Cost is a major factor in that future, the chairman said, noting that health care costs have risen "astronomically."

"Leaders have to make tough calls on what we're going to do and what we're not going to do," he acknowledged. Leaders must balance investing in people, operations and in systems needed for the future, Mullen said.

"Those are hard, hard decisions, and I understand that," he said. "But they must be made. They must be made sooner rather than later."

Official Notes Health System's 'Amazing' Impact

By Elaine Wilson
American Forces Press Service

Jan. 25, 2010 - The Defense Department's Military Health System has never played a clearer or more important role in the security of the nation, the assistant secretary of defense for health affairs said today. "I'm very, very proud of the great strides we all have made to date," Ellen P. Embrey told an audience of more than 3,000 military and civilian medical professionals at the 2010 Military Health System Conference at the National Harbor here.

Embrey cited the medical achievements that have resulted in the highest wartime survival rate in history. Wounded servicemembers receive state-of-the-art treatment and equipment within the first hour of injury, she told the group, with many transported back to the United States within 48 hours.

"That is what has made all the difference," she said, noting the importance of the physicians and other team members at their side.

Of the servicemembers wounded in action, 54 percent return to duty within 72 hours, which Embrey termed "pretty amazing." The military also is experiencing the lowest disease and nonbattle injury rates ever reported, she said, citing rates of 5 percent for Afghanistan and 4 percent for Iraq.

"And we have a battlefield survival rate that now stands at 97 percent, the highest of all wars in U.S. history," she said, "quite an accomplishment considering the lethality of our enemies."

Embrey noted a few of the medical advances that have made a difference both on the battlefield and off. Since 2001, she said, remarkable progress has been made in prosthetics, implants, hand and limb transplantation, skin therapies and other areas of regenerative medicine.

Further advancements have been made in bandages to stop bleeding, drugs to treat or prevent chronic pain, robotic support for telesurgeries, cranial reconstructions, and the detection and treatment of traumatic stress and traumatic brain injuries, she added.

"In research and development, military medicine is yielding transformational advances that will not only improve the lives and health of our servicemembers, but ultimately, all Americans," she said.

This research includes many diseases unrelated to warfare, including lung, breast, prostate and ovarian cancers, and autism spectrum disorder.

Embrey credited medical professionals serving around the world for the groundbreaking achievements in military medicine and patient care.

"These are the kinds of results that you and your colleagues at home are delivering today and every day," she told the conference attendees. "Keeping our forces fit and ready for the fight, caring for them on the field and off, helping to develop health care capabilities for other nations and helping provide humanitarian disaster relief and stabilization operations across the globe, and of late, here in our part of the world, down in Haiti."

Army Guard Prepares for Role in Haiti

By Army Sgt. 1st Class Jon Soucy
Special to American Forces Press Service

Jan. 25, 2010 - As humanitarian relief operations continue in Haiti, the Army National Guard stands ready to provide personnel and equipment to support the mission, senior Army Guard officials said today. "We stand by ready, willing and able to assist as soon as they sort out what the requirements are and what they want the Army Guard to fill," said Army Col. David Aycock, deputy chief of staff of operations for the Army Guard.

Currently, a Puerto Rico Army National Guard unit is the only Army Guard unit participating in relief operations in Haiti.

"The Puerto Rico Army National Guard, with three UH-60 Black Hawk helicopters and 13 personnel, has been committed to the Haiti relief effort," Aycock said. But additional Army Guard assets may be sent to Haiti in the coming days, he added.

"We were asked yesterday to look at our ability to provide a command and communications company out of a general support aviation battalion," he said. "So within the next 24 hours or so, we may have a validated requirement for an aviation company to go down there."

Sending in the aviation company would provide additional Black Hawk helicopters as well as LUH-72A Lakota helicopters, Aycock said.

The Puerto Rico unit's missions in Haiti involve airlifting water and rescue equipment, movement of personnel and casualty evacuation.

The Haitian government announced over the weekend that the search-and-rescue phase of the operation had closed. Aycock said that the next few weeks may see a transition of the U.S. military effort there to reserve-component units.

"The Army has asked us to look at some alternative solutions to provide some options for either additional forces that may be required or to replace some of the forces that are already on the ground sometime in the near future," he said. "My personal perspective is this thing is going to transition more and more to the reserve component-side of the house in the weeks ahead."

However, he emphasized, specific units or types of units that would be activated have yet to be determined.

"We've been asked to staff some potential options," he said. "We don't have a hard requirement yet, but we're looking at some organizational constructs of what we think would be the right force structure to go down there within the parameters we've been given."

Those parameters may change based on the needs on the ground, he said, and any mission plan would have to be validated by U.S. Southern Command, which has the overall command responsibility for U.S. forces in Haiti.

"We still have to go through the process of getting a validation from both Forces Command and Southern Command that the force mix we're working meets the requirement on the ground," Aycock said. "And, we would need to put specific Army Guard solutions against that list, brief the leadership here and then engage with those states that own those units."

Several states have volunteered their National Guard forces for missions in Haiti.

"I think probably every state out there has come up on the net at some point and offered their assistance and engaged with us about their ability to provide forces and their willingness to provide forces should they get an opportunity to do that," Aycock said.

For now, Puerto Rico remains as the sole Army Guard asset in Haiti as well as being among the first U.S. military units to respond to the earthquake.

"Obviously, if it were up to us, we would put other units down there, but that's not the way the process works," said Aycock, who described the process as more of a "pulling" one than one that the Army Guard pushes units into.

"Although we do have to wait on a pull system, we have significant capability in the Army Guard to apply against this if asked to apply it," he said. "And you can bet your boots we'll provide it."

(Army Sgt. 1st Class Jon Soucy serves at the National Guard Bureau.)

VA to Begin Recovery of GI Bill Advance Payments

American Forces Press Service

Jan. 25, 2010 - The Veterans Affairs Department is beginning the process of recovering advance payments made available during the fall 2009 semester to veterans and servicemembers who applied for education benefits. "The advance payments were a huge success and helped thousands of student veterans during the first days of the historic Post-9/11 GI Bill focus on studies and not their finances," said Keith Wilson, VA's director of education

services. "Now, we can get to the business of closing the books on advance payments and focus on supporting veterans for the spring semester."

VA officials will begin sending out notification letters this week explaining the repayment process.

In October, VA instituted an advance-payment process for all eligible students who were enrolled in an institution of higher learning for the fall 2009 term to ensure that all veterans and eligible students were able to focus on their academic studies and not be burdened with financial concerns, officials said. As part of that process, a Web portal was established to allow electronic submission for advance payment, and advance payments also were made at VA offices around the country.

At that time, student veterans were told that advance payments would be deducted from future benefit payments.

In collaboration with the Defense Department, VA also will notify active-duty servicemembers who may have mistakenly applied for the advance payment of their options for returning uncashed checks or reimbursing deposited funds.

VA discontinued advance payments via the Web portal after the fall 2009 semester. Officials now are processing about 7,000 education benefits daily, up from an average of 2,000 at the beginning of the fall 2009 term, officials said.

As of Jan. 22, the department had processed more than 105,000 of the roughly 132,000 spring enrollments received. Since the inception of the new program last year, VA has paid out more than $1.3 billion in education benefits and opened the door to higher education to more than 183,000 veteran students.

(From a Department of Veterans Affairs news release.)

Navy Assists Ethiopian Airlines Search, Rescue Effort

By Donna Miles
American Forces Press Service

Jan. 25, 2010 - The U.S. military has dispatched a guided missile destroyer and a patrol aircraft to assist the search-and-rescue effort after an Ethiopian Airlines plane crashed into the Mediterranean Sea earlier today. USS Ramage, a 505-foot-long Arleigh Burke-class guided missile destroyer, has been dispatched to the area, Marine Corps Col. David Lapan, a Pentagon spokesman, told reporters.

Ramage and its crew of more than 200 sailors left Norfolk, Va., Jan. 5 for a regularly scheduled six-month deployment conducting maritime security operations in the Mediterranean. The ship made a port call last week in Naples, Italy, Navy Lt. Patrick Foughty of the U.S. 6th Fleet reported.

A P-3 Orion maritime patrol aircraft based in Italy also has joined the search-and-rescue effort, Foughty said. The aircraft is assigned to Task Force 67 in Sigonella, Sicily, and was conducting operations in the area when the crash occurred, he said.

Ethiopian Airlines Flight ET409 crashed shortly after takeoff from Beirut. The Boeing 737-800 was headed to Addis Ababa, and reportedly had 90 people aboard.

Lebanese officials reportedly are discounting terrorism as the cause, attributing the crash to a severe thunderstorm.

Deputy Secretary Visits U.K. to Promote Defense Cooperation

By Linda D. Kozaryn

American Forces Press Service

Jan. 24, 2010 - U.S. Deputy Defense Secretary William J. Lynn III is slated to address attendees at the European Security and Defense Conference and members of Great Britain's Parliament at the House of Commons here tomorrow. Lynn's two-day visit will serve as a "renewal of the special relationship we have with the British," he told American Forces Press Service during a Sunday morning flight to London .

"The goal is to bring attention to and reinforce the various aspects of defense cooperation between the U.S. (and) U.K," he said. "We want to continue to collaborate with the British on all aspects of military and defense industrial activity."

Defense officials traveling with Lynn said the deputy secretary will speak about the importance of strengthening defense cooperation and enhancing European defense institutions at the conference. About 250 European diplomats, military and government officials, and think-tank researchers will attend.

Lynn is then scheduled to address the United Kingdom's All-Party Parliamentary Group on Transatlantic and International Security. The group includes more than 70 members of Parliament, and invited guests from think tanks, the media and the academic community.

Defense officials said Lynn will cover a broad range of subjects, including threats from extremism, the need for new defense capabilities and a common approach on NATO reform, nuclear proliferation and energy.

The deputy secretary's visit comes on the eve of the London Conference aimed at improving coordination among some 68 partner nations involved in the civilian side of the Afghanistan mission. The international community is coming together here Jan. 28 to fully align military and civilian resources behind an Afghan-led political strategy.

Lynn said there are three key lines of defense cooperation U.S. and U.K. defense officials can reinforce. First is the Bilateral Defense Acquisition Committee. "It's a central forum where we elucidate the various cooperation issues we have," he said. "We ask the British to address issues such as the collaboration of the Joint Strike Fighter and other key acquisition programs."

Second, he said, is the U.S.-U.K. Defense Trade Cooperation Treaty that will permit the U.S. to trade most defense articles with Great Britain without an export license or other written authorization.

"We do indeed intend to press the Senate for ratification of the defense cooperation treaty," Lynn said. "We do that as basically a down payment on export control reform that the president and Secretary (Robert M.) Gates have been championing."

The third line of defense cooperation is cyber security. Speaking last week at the Fletcher Conference on National Security in Washington, D.C., Lynn said the threat of cyber warfare is a national security threat that has captured his attention.

"We're going to have some meetings with the British leaders of the British cyber security effort," Lynn said today. "We want to make sure that critical new threat area that we're building a foundation of cooperation with our oldest ally as we tackle the critical challenges that cyber security poses."

This is particularly important now, he noted, because the two nations are relatively early in the development of the tools and the structures they have to address the cyber security threat, he added.

Lynn is the 30th deputy secretary of defense. He has had extensive public service at various levels within the U.S. government including eight years service as the under secretary of defense (comptroller) and as the director of Program Analysis and Evaluation in the Office of the Secretary of Defense.

He also served eight years at the executive level in the private sector, including service as the vice president of Government Operations and Strategy at Raytheon Company. He spent six years on Capitol Hill as the late Sen. Ted Kennedy's liaison to the Armed Services Committee.