Panetta Salutes Gay, Lesbian Service Members’ Dedicated Duty

By Cheryl Pellerin

American Forces Press Service

WASHINGTON, June 15, 2012 – The pursuit of equality is fundamental to the American story, Defense Secretary Leon E. Panetta said in a video message released today to thank gay and lesbian service members and lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender civilians for their dedicated service to the nation.

Recognizing June as Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender Pride Month, the secretary also thanked the families of gay and lesbian service members and LGBT civilians.

Diversity is one of the department’s greatest strengths, the secretary noted.

“During Pride Month, and every month, let us celebrate our rich diversity and renew our enduring commitment to equality for all,” he said.

In his video message, Panetta emphasized the military’s diversity. “The successful repeal of ‘Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell’ proved to the nation that, just like the country we defend, we share different backgrounds, different values and different beliefs,” he said. “But together we form the greatest military force in the world.”

Integrity and respect are the cornerstones of military culture, the secretary added. “The Army, Navy, Marine Corps and Air Force implemented the repeal with a focus on respect and individual dignity,” Panetta said.

Addressing the service members who now can serve openly regardless of their sexual orientation, the secretary lauded their service before the repeal. “Before the repeal of Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell,” he said, “you faithfully served your country with professionalism and courage. And just like your fellow service members, you put your country before yourself.” Today, he added, they can be proud not only of serving their country, but also of who they are when in uniform.

The president also recognized June as LGBT Pride Month, noting that throughout the nation’s history, ordinary Americans have advocated for change and have “led a proud and inexorable march toward freedom, fairness and full equality under the law – not just for some, but for all.”

When the president signed the repeal act into law in December 2010, he said, “We are not a nation that says, ‘don’t ask, don’t tell.’ We are a nation that says, ‘Out of many, we are one.’ We are a nation that welcomes the service of every patriot. We are a nation that believes that all men and women are created equal. Those are the ideals that generations have fought for. Those are the ideals that we uphold today.”

When the repeal took effect in September 2011, Panetta said anyone who is capable of serving in uniform should be able to do so, and he re-emphasized that belief in his video message.

“Going forward,” Panetta said, “I remain committed to removing as many barriers as possible to make America’s military a model of equal opportunity, to ensure all who are qualified can serve in America’s military, and to give every man and woman in uniform the opportunity to rise to their highest potential.”

South Korea, U.S. Hold Defense, Foreign Affairs Talks

By Jim Garamone

American Forces Press Service

WASHINGTON  – The U.S.-South Korea alliance is a force for peace and stability in Northeast Asia and the world, Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton said today at the start of the “Two-Plus-Two” talks with South Korea.

Clinton and Defense Secretary Leon E. Panetta hosted talks with their counterparts in the South Korean government -- Kim Sung-hwan, minister of foreign affairs and trade, and Kim Kwan-jin, minister of national defense – at the State Department.

The meeting covered a full range of issues from combating piracy in the Indian Ocean to investing in development in Africa to promoting democracy and the rule of law around the world. “It would be difficult to list all the ways we are working together,” Clinton said.

The two nations agreed to increase cooperation on cybersecurity and will add realistic cyber portions to bilateral exercises, Panetta said.

“The talks strengthen our cooperation,” Clinton said. “We enjoy unprecedented coordination on a number of bilateral, regional and global issues.”

The talks are an example of the close, regular conversations on mutual issues and on developments in North Korea, Clinton said. “We stand shoulder-to-shoulder with our Republic of Korea allies in the face of threats and provocations,” she said.

Foreign Affairs Minister Kim said through an interpreter that the meetings are necessary to keep pace with the changes in the security environment. “It is significant that we are here today to review the changes that we need to continue making,” he said.

Underlying the alliance is the solid trust between the United States and South Korea, he said.

Kim said North Korea continues to be a threat. In 2010, the North sank the South Korean ship Cheonan and shelled a South Korean island. Earlier this year, Pyongyang tried to launch a missile over the objections of the international community.

The U.S.-ROK alliance has “shown an almost perfect cooperation,” he said. “We have also handled some complex alliance issues such as the operational control transition or the base relocation.”

But the allies must not become complacent, Kim said. “Hopefully, today’s meeting will not only strengthen our alliance and send a clear message to North Korea, but also try to seek what we can contribute to the region and the world,” he said.

Panetta said the alliance has been built on shared sacrifices that began during the Korean War and continue today. “As we face the many security challenges and opportunities on the horizon, on the peninsula regionally and globally, we must forge a common, strategic approach and address these issues collectively – rooted in friendship and in mutual interest,” he said.

Korea is a lynchpin of the new defense strategy that rebalances U.S. forces to the Pacific. “One of the cornerstones to our ability to effectively implement that strategy is the close partnership and relationship that we have with the Republic of Korea,” Panetta said. “That’s why it is so important for us to come together to meet, to discuss our common views on the shared security challenges we face and to forge a common strategic approach to those challenges.”

Defense Minister Kim said the alliance between South Korea and the United States is “developing into a multidimensional strategic alliance addressing not only security issues of the Korean peninsula but moves out into the Asia-Pacific and the world.” He added that more than 80 percent of Koreans agree with that.

In defense issues, the two nations have managed well during the transition in North Korea following the death last year of leader Kim Jong Il “through a policy of very close military cooperation, especially in intelligence sharing,” Kim said.

This was the second “Two-Plus-Two” meeting, so named because it combines foreign affairs and national security chiefs. South Korea hosted the first meeting in Seoul in 2010. All parties said the Two-Plus-Two talks will continue.

Winnefeld: Time for U.S. to Join Law of Sea Convention

By Cheryl Pellerin

American Forces Press Service

WASHINGTON  – Accession to the longstanding United Nations Law of the Sea Convention will have a positive impact on U.S. operations across the maritime domain, the vice chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff said here today.

In testimony before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, Navy Adm. James A. Winnefeld Jr. called himself a career sailor and former combatant commander who has come to his own judgment on the value for the United States of the treaty’s legal framework governing uses of the oceans.

Winnefeld appeared before the panel with five of the nation’s top military officers.

It is “a privilege to appear alongside another generation of military leaders,” he said, “as we join in sharing the view that now is the time for the United States to join the Law of the Sea Convention.”

The treaty opened for signature in December 1982 and became effective in November 1994, after 60 countries had signed. Today, 162 parties -- including most close U.S. allies -- have ratified the Law of the Sea Convention.

“The convention improves on previous agreements, including the 1958 Geneva Convention,” Winnefeld said.

The treaty will protect U.S. access to the maritime domain, fortify U.S. credibility as the world's leading naval power, the admiral added, and will allow the United States to bring to bear the full force of its influence on maritime disputes.

“In short,” he said, “it preserves what we have and it gives us yet another tool to engage any nation that would threaten our maritime interests.”

But not everyone agrees that the treaty will benefit the United States, Winnefeld acknowledged, adding that defense officials take these concerns seriously.

“Some say that joining the convention would result in a loss of sovereignty for the United States. I believe just the opposite to be true,” the admiral said. “Some would say … that joining the convention will open U.S. Navy operations to the jurisdiction of international courts. We know this is not true.”

In 2007, the Senate proposed what it called “declarations and understandings” to the treaty that specifically express the right to exempt military activities from the convention, Winnefeld said. “Many other nations that have acceded [or ratified the treaty] have already exempted their military activities from the treaty without dispute,” he noted.

Some believe the convention would require the United States to surrender its sovereignty over warships and other military vessels, the admiral said.

“I can assure you that we will not let this happen and the convention does not require it,” he told the Senate panel. “If anything, it further protects our sovereignty in this regard well before we would have to resort to any use of force.”

Winnefeld added that joining the convention will protect the United States from “ongoing and persistent efforts on the part of a number of nations, including those with growing economic and military power, to advance their national laws and set precedents that could restrict our maritime activities, particularly within the bounds of their exclusive economic zones.”

The term “lawfare” describes such efforts to erode the protections of customary international law, he said.

“It's a trend that's real and pressing and that could place your Navy at legal disadvantage unless we join the convention,” the admiral said. “And the nations that would challenge us in this and other ways are, frankly, delighted that we are not a party to the convention.”

Winnefeld told the senators that along with Defense Secretary Leon E. Panetta and Army Gen. Martin E. Dempsey, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, he finds it awkward to suggest that other nations should follow rules to which the United States has not yet agreed. Ratifying the treaty will give the United States the ability to influence key decisions that could affect the nation’s sovereign rights and those of its partners and friends in the Arctic and elsewhere, he said. “This grows more important each day,” he added.

The real question, Winnefeld said, is whether the United States will choose to lead in the maritime environment from the inside or follow from the outside.

U.S. military leaders over two decades have studied the problem closely and arrived at the same conclusion, Winnefeld said: “that ratification is in our best interests.”

“I join these officers, including every chairman of the Joint Chiefs since 1994, in giving my support to the Law of the Sea Convention and in asking for your advice and consent,” he said.

Southcom Promotes ‘Whole-of-Society Solutions’

By Donna Miles

American Forces Press Service

MIAMI  – With the Defense Department now embracing broader, “whole of government” approaches to national security challenges, officials here at U.S. Southern Command have taken the paradigm to the next level to encompass what they call “whole-of-society solutions.”

The command was a pioneer in integrating interagency representatives into its headquarters, Lisa Samson, the new director of Southcom’s process management analysis cell who spent a year as chief of the J9 Partnering Directorate, told American Forces Press Service. More than 30 representatives from 17 different government agencies are embedded throughout the command’s structure to support interagency coordination and collaboration.

In addition, Ambassador Carmen Martinez serves not only as senior foreign policy advisor to Air Force Gen. Douglas M. Fraser, the Southcom commander, but also as his civilian deputy.

Integrating this position into Southcom’s senior leadership underscores recognition that the agencies’ collective contributions in Central and South America and the Caribbean are far greater than the sum of their individual efforts, Martinez said. She noted the “circle of constant communication” as the agency representatives work together toward the same goals.

The State Department leads U.S. government engagement in the region, but DOD plays an important supporting role, contributing resources, personnel, expertise and technological capabilities, Martinez noted.

In addition, other members of the interagency team represented in the Southcom headquarters bring different capabilities, experiences, authorities, and often, different perspectives to the mission, she said.

Martinez described their contributions as the “three legs of the stool” -- the “3 Ds” that underpin the U.S. government strategy in the region: defense, development and diplomacy.

Southcom is now on the leading edge in fostering relationships with what Samson called the “fourth D” -- domestic partners -- that she said also play a vital theater role. These civil society and private-sector entities, academia and non-governmental and private volunteer organizations, among them, have vested interests and deep roots in the region, she noted.

In addition, they possess specialized expertise, close associations and valuable resources beyond those within the federal government, she said.

Recognizing these strengths, Fraser, the Southcom commander, has made a concerted effort to engage with these groups, some with few or no previous ties with the Defense Department.

He hosted leaders of prominent non-governmental organizations at the Southcom headquarters here in February for the third roundtable session in as many years to discuss shared interests in the region and identify common ground for addressing them. Martinez called the “frank and free-flowing discussion” promoted through these engagements an important step toward new and closer working relationships.

In March in California, Fraser again joined representatives of educational institutions, international students, federal law enforcement agencies, military organizations, international affairs groups and business leaders, for what he described as “a robust, collaborative exchange of ideas.”

“It was mutually beneficial and enlightening to share concepts and ideas regarding our collective efforts to improve security, stability and prosperity on both the domestic and international fronts,” Fraser reported in his blog following the trip. “While each organization has different charters, we all share the responsibility and desire for improving security and stability throughout the world.”

This outreach is vital, he said, particularly in light of new and evolving threats in Latin America and the Caribbean, and the efforts being conducted on a wide range of fronts to confront them.

“We need established relationships and understanding to ensure, as a command, we are prepared to integrate with other organizations that share our common goals,” he said. “Taking the time to understand and support other institutions, partners and agencies is as important, and in many situations more important, than leading the efforts ourselves.”

Samson called Southcom’s partnerships -- at the interagency level and across the public and private sector -- central to the command’s operations. “Working with our nontraditional military partners, we are able to leverage their resources, their expertise and their authorities,” she said. “We could not meet the challenges of this region without their partnership.”

If there’s been a single “proof of concept” that shows Southcom’s outreach is making a difference, Samson said it’s the Operation Unified Response earthquake relief effort in Haiti in 2010.

During that mission -- the largest-ever U.S. military response to a natural disaster overseas -- the command served in a support role to the U.S. Agency for International Development and its Office of Foreign Disaster Assistance. Tapping into interagency representatives in the headquarters staff “allowed us to reach back, interact, get their guidance, align and synchronize our efforts” to provide a better response, Samson said.

But as Army Lt. Gen. P.K. “Ken” Keen, Southcom’s military deputy commander at the time, recognized, NGOs and the private sector turned out to be the “real muscle” of the humanitarian response, with DOD support.

“We were there to enable them to get to the point that they needed, to deliver … the critical aid that was needed, whether it was saving lives from rescue efforts or delivering water and food,” Keen reported last year to the Council on Foreign Relations.

Collectively, these entities donated an estimated $36.2 million in goods and services during the first three months of the response mission in Haiti, Samson reported.

She mentioned just a few of the many examples. Several large transportation industry corporations, cruise lines and commercial airlines stepped up to transport and deliver donated goods. When the Port-au-Prince airport became overloaded with incoming aid, these companies were able to divert their deliveries through the commercial routes they had established in the Dominican Republic and at other ports. Another private company sent technical assistance when communications went down at the Port-au-Prince air traffic control tower. The University of Miami provided Creole-speaking translators and a large soft drink company donated 2.8 million bottles of water.

In addition, NGOs that had been on the ground in Haiti for years stepped up to work with the interagency to support disaster response.

“We had been working all along to bring in different partners to the headquarters,” Samson said. “But at the time of the disaster, when everybody had a shared focus and the same goal and interest, we all came together, and it was very easy to work alongside each other to see how we could help each other meet that mission set.”

That mission, she said, underscored the importance of relationship-building. “When there is a disaster, that is not a time to be changing business cards with your partners,” she said. “You need to be doing it way ahead of time.”

Samson and Martinez agreed that partnerships -- interagency and civil sector alike -- will be increasingly important as all face budget constraints.

“In this time of dwindling resources, we have to be sure we are not all doing the same thing, and also that we are not stepping on each other’s toes and … getting in the way of the same effort,” Martinez said.

“We really have to look at how we leverage each other’s resources, and look at how we can do things more effectively and efficiently,” Samson added. “The groundwork that was laid before, during and after Operation Unified Response has paid dividends in NGO and private sector support to steady-state activities such as humanitarian civic assistance exercises and civil military operations. The most successful example of this deliberate collaboration in steady state is the annual Continuing Promise missions conducted by U.S. Naval Forces-South.”

“So when people ask me what we get out of working with the interagency and private sector, I always respond to them: ‘It is the expertise they carry, the resources they have and the access that they have in those partner nations that are beyond what we have at a combatant command that really helps us work in addressing our regional threats and challenges,’” she said.