By Donna Miles
American Forces Press Service
WASHINGTON, May 3, 2012 – U.S. European
Command, along with NATO allies and other close partnerships in Europe, remains
critical to the United States, even as it implements new defense strategic
guidance focused on challenges in the Asia-Pacific region and the Middle East,
Navy Adm. James G. Stavridis, the Eucom and NATO’s supreme allied commander for
Europe, said.
“Let’s face it: our most enduring pool
of partners exists in the European theater,” Stavridis said during a recent
interview with the Pentagon Channel and American Forces Press Service.
He noted the strength of the 28-member
NATO alliance, a 3 million-strong force with 24,000 aircraft and 800 ships. In
addition, the allies have a $31 trillion collective gross national product,
about $300 billion of which is devoted to defense budgets.
“This is an alliance of enormous
resources, and it represents those that stand with us today in Afghanistan, in
the Balkans, in the Libya operation and in [counterpiracy],” Stavridis said.
“So these strategic, enduring partnerships in Europe are going to underpin the
strategic focus on the challenges in Asia and in the Middle East.”
That demands even more focus on Europe
and NATO, explained Navy Rear Adm. Mark C. Montgomery, Eucom’s deputy director
for plans, policy and strategy. To address that risk elsewhere on the globe, he
said, “we need to actually redouble our efforts to maintain our partners’
capability and capacity.”
Navy Vice Adm. Charles W. Martoglio,
Stavridis’ former chief of staff and now deputy commander, called the U.S.
military “the glue that enables NATO to operate at the high level of efficiency
that it does.”
The U.S. military presence in Europe
offers assurance to allies while helping them maintain the stability and
economic foundation that helps create security, he explained. “So it is a win
on the U.S. side, and it is a win on the European side,” he said.
But beyond the U.S. commitment to the
NATO alliance, Stavridis noted Europe’s strategic geographic position. Forces
easily can pivot from Europe into the Middle East, the Levant area at the
crossroads of western Asia, the eastern Mediterranean and northeastern Africa,
the Mediterranean as during the Libya operations, and down into Africa, he
said.
The alliance also is postured to address
security challenges, such as violent extremist organizations, directly on the
European continent. “While [terrorists] have been active in Europe and there
have been acts of terrorism in Europe over the last 10 years, Europe has been
used primarily as a recruiting and financial center for terror activities,”
Martoglio said. “But that can change quickly, should it ever get into the
interests of violent extremist organizations to carry out large-scale attacks
in Europe.”
Ultimately, Martoglio said, Eucom’s
forward presence makes the United States more secure. “We are a nation that has
an expeditionary capability. We fight our wars overseas so we don’t fight them
on our own shores,” he said. “And Europe and our European partners are huge
enablers of that expeditionary military capability.”
Stavridis said maintaining U.S. forces
in Europe enhances their ability to build that capability in partnership with
NATO allies and other coalition partners.
“Being in Europe gives us the
opportunity to train, exercise and work every day with this combat-ready force
that has fought with us in Afghanistan, the Balkans, in [counterpiracy] and
other missions,” he said. “So there are a lot of good reasons for us to be
engaged and ‘home-ported,’ as we would say in the Navy, in Europe.”
The new force posture in Europe, with a
15-percent troop reduction to be offset partially with increased ship, aircraft
and special operations capabilities, ensures the proper force number and
configuration to support the new strategy guidance, he said.
As it is implemented, Stavridis offered
assurance that forces assigned to Eucom will stay actively engaged in vital real-world
missions in Europe, Africa and the Middle East.
“We will continue to have an important
and enduring mission in the European theater for many years to come,” he said.
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