Tuesday, April 14, 2020

DOD Continues Global Military Operations Even as It Battles COVID-19


April 14, 2020 | BY David Vergun , DOD News

Even as the Defense Department supports the whole-of-government response to the COVID-19 pandemic, it continues its vital national security missions, Defense Secretary Dr. Mark T. Esper said.

Esper and Army Gen. Mark A. Milley, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, held a Pentagon news conference today on DOD's support for the nation's COVID-19 response. Esper also gave examples of some of the security missions DOD has undertaken, including:


  • Conducting counterterrorism missions in Africa, the Middle East and Afghanistan;
  • Conducting freedom of navigation operations around the world;
  • Monitoring North Korean weapons tests;
  • Improving the U.S. defensive posture in Iraq;
  • Escorting Russian bombers out of U.S. airspace;
  • Deterring Iran's aggressive behavior;
  • Working with Afghan security forces and Operation Resolute Support partners in Afghanistan;
  •  Continuing enhanced counternarcotics operations in the U.S. Southern Command area of responsibility;
  • Working with NATO allies in Europe; and
  • Continuing to defend U.S. interests in space.

And last month, the Space Force launched its first satellite into orbit, Esper noted.


Regarding North Korean weapons tests, Milley said the intelligence analysis of their recent missile launches would take a few days, but the tests were short-range and not particularly provocative or threatening.

Regarding COVID-19, Milley said there are going to be a lot of lessons learned, and a comprehensive after-action review will follow. It won't be business as usual after the pandemic, the chairman said.
"There are countries out there in states that are very fragile that are in various states of civil war and have violence internal to their societies," he said. "There's significant stress as a result of the COVID-19 virus on the internal politics of other countries. There's a significant stress on their economies, on resources. There's risk of instability, So, no, it's not going to be business as usual. We've got to take a hard look at how we, the Department of Defense, conduct operations in the future."

Military Doctors, Nurse Discuss COVID-19 Crisis in New York


April 14, 2020 | BY Terri Moon Cronk , DOD News

Military doctors and nurses are fanning out across New York hospitals to offer relief to their overworked civilian counterparts as the COVID-19 pandemic hits the city hard.

Three members of Joint Task Force New York-New Jersey — Air Force Col. (Dr.) Jennifer R. Ratcliff, commander of the 927th Aerospace Medical Squadron at MacDill Air Force Base, Florida; Army Lt. Col Leslie Curtis, chief nurse officer for the 9th Field Hospital, Fort Hood, Texas; and Navy Capt. (Dr.) Joseph J. Kochan, executive officer for Operational Health Support Unit in Portsmouth, Virginia — briefed the news media on their COVID-19 efforts via telephone today.

"We really are here to support the citizens of the state of New York and support [the Federal Emergency Management Agency system], as long as we're needed," Kochan said.

"The benefit of the military is we are scalable. We have different teams out in [New York City] and in different environments, such as in the [Jacob K. Javits Convention Center]. We can be utilized in whatever ways the city, state or this region requires," Ratcliff said.

We've got the energy and the enthusiasm to really help the people that are tired and have been working very, very long days and weeks."

Military doctors and nurses are working 12 hours or more a day in a world that runs 24/7, officials said.

"We've been bringing in 20 to 30 nurses a day, onboarding them to the agencies," Curtis noted. "Then they 'shadow' for a day or two and are then put on a schedule."

"Combining the staffs of military and civilian doctors and nurses during a pandemic has never been done before," Curtis said. "This is an extraordinary time in history where we've come together in all the services, providing [care] in a tough situation that requires us to really take heed of the environment."

Military medical professionals who integrated into civilian hospitals went out to the hospitals and asked what their needs were, Kochan said. "What we're doing is whatever the hospital needs. We're filling that need as best we can," he added.

"What I find interesting is that once we were credentialed within these hospitals, how quickly we've been able to actually integrate and how welcoming the city has been," Ratcliff told reporters. "We're fresh faces. We've got the energy and the enthusiasm to really help the people that are tired and have been working very, very long days and weeks."

The Navy sent about 200 doctors and nurses to New York City, Kochan said, adding that they have various skill sets, specialties and backgrounds from all over the country. "We push them out into teams based on what the hospitals have asked for to fill in the critical needs they have," he said.

Esper, NATO Defense Ministers to Discuss Global Effort to Defeat COVID-19


April 14, 2020 | BY Jim Garamone , DOD News

The coronavirus sets its own timetable and does not respect international boundaries,  and it will take an international effort to defeat the pandemic, NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg said.

The NATO leader will host a virtual meeting of the alliance's defense ministers tomorrow. Defense Secretary Dr. Mark T. Esper will join the meeting from his Pentagon office.

The only item on the agenda is the alliance's efforts against COVID-19, Stoltenberg said today in a virtual news conference from Brussels.

"The COVID-19 pandemic continues to affect us all," he said. "Even though we have seen that the rate of increase is slowing down in some countries, the illness continues to take a terrible toll."

The secretary general expressed his condolences to those who have lost family and friends and praised health workers who are on the front lines of the fight against the pandemic.

The ministers will review the actions NATO allies are taking to combat the spread of the virus and decide on the next steps. "We will also address how to maintain NATO's deterrence and defense and sustain our missions and operations throughout the pandemic," the secretary general said.

The alliance responded quickly to the pandemic by implementing preventive measures, assuring the continuation of operations and assisting allies in combating the virus, he said.

Air Force Gen. Tod D. Wolters, NATO's supreme allied commander for Europe and commander of U.S. European Command, has set up a task force to share resources and speed up military support to allies in response to the pandemic.

"NATO allies are cooperating to airlift critical supplies from across the globe," the secretary general said. "Hundreds of tons of medical equipment have been donated and delivered. Allies are sharing medical expertise and spare hospital capacity."

The support that the Czech Republic, Hungary, the Netherlands, Norway, Slovenia, Turkey and the United States have provided to the alliance's newest member: North Macedonia, is evidence that the alliance is more than a singularly focused military entity, Stoltenberg said.

The NATO disaster response center has facilitated Denmark's delivery of ventilators and a field hospital to Italy and Germany's delivery of ventilators to Spain, he said, adding that Turkey has delivered medical supplies to allies and partners across the Balkans and to hard-hit Italy and Spain.

"Allied armed forces are also providing essential support to civilian responses in our nations, including with logistics and planning, field hospitals and hospital ships, transport for patients, repatriation of citizens abroad, and the disinfection of public areas and at border crossings," Stoltenberg said.

The coronavirus crisis has far-reaching consequences for how the nations of the alliance and NATO as an entity think about security and national resilience, he said.

"We have seen state and nonstate actors try to take advantage of the pandemic to spread false and harmful narratives and to try to divide us," the secretary general said. "So allies need to work closely together to identify, monitor and expose these efforts. An open and transparent press is the best bulwark against disinformation and propaganda."

All this builds on NATO's core task of preserving security to almost 1 billion citizens in the North Atlantic region, he said. "We must continue to work hard to ensure that this health crisis does not become a security crisis and that we are better prepared when the next crisis comes," he added.