By Jim Garamone, DoD News, Defense Media Activity
WASHINGTON -- Defense Secretary James N. Mattis said the
United States is seeking to deepen relations with hemispheric partners.
The secretary told students at the Brazilian War College in
Rio de Janeiro that the United States “will earn your trust daily. We want to
be your partner; especially if trouble looms.”
This is Mattis’s first visit to the region as secretary. He
told the students that he has deployed many times in his career and he has
never been on a battlefield in a solely U.S. formation. The United States seeks
allies and looks to increase cooperation among partners.
“Our native languages may be different, but four decades of
military service have persuaded me that the profession of arms has a language
of its own and a way of turning strangers into family,” Mattis said.
Mattis described his job to the Brazilian officers, saying
that he is an advisor to the elected commander in chief. He provides military
options to the president, and he provides civilian oversight of the U.S.
military.
Working Solutions
“Know what my real job is?” he asked the officers. “My real
job is to try to keep the peace for one more year, one more month, one more
week, one more day while the diplomats try to work out a solution to very
difficult problems.”
He also described the lines of effort in the Defense
Department. The first is to increase lethality of the U.S. military.
“I want any adversary to know that they are better off to
deal with our secretary of state and our diplomats,” he said. “They do not want
to deal with me and my soldiers, sailors, airmen and Marines.”
Another line of effort is to strengthen and broaden U.S.
relationships with allies. “It’s simple: Nations with allies thrive; nations
without allies do not survive,” Mattis said.
The reason for his trip to the region is to encourage
partnership. The secretary will go to the Indo-Pacific next month and Europe
after that, he said. “This is not something you turn on one day, walk in, make
a speech, walk out and then forget about it,” he said. “It must be sustained.”
Trust is the currency for these relationships. “When
speaking with senior U.S. officers, I tell them they must learn to build
harmony,” Mattis said. “If they cannot build trust across national lines,
across military lines, joint service lines, civilian-military lines, if they
cannot build trust and harmony of operations, then their leadership … is obsolete
and they must go home, for I have no use for them.”
Listening to Allies
Mattis said senior leaders must listen to allied leaders and
be prepared to take their advice. “The nation with the most aircraft carriers
is not always right,” he said.
Senior U.S. military leaders seek a collaborative and secure
hemisphere, “one where we individually and collectively maintain situational
awareness in all domains,” he said.
Partners must share information with neighbors because
hemispheric priorities must be addressed together, the secretary said.
The United States and Brazil are long-time partners. Brazil
fought alongside U.S. service members in World War II and continues to serve
alongside them today. Mattis is personally committed to making the U.S.-Brazil
military-to-military relationship stronger.
“Together we seek to strengthen our cooperative strategic
partnership that is transparent, that is trustworthy and that is steady,” he
said. “I see a bright future ahead for Brazil and our hemisphere.”
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