Dunford: Russia, China Pose Similar Challenges to U.S., Rules-Based Order

By Jim Garamone, DoD News, Defense Media Activity

MADRID -- The challenges the United States sees from Russia and China are similar because both have studied the America way of war, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff said yesterday.

Marine Corps Gen. Joe Dunford is here visiting Spanish officials after attending the NATO Military Committee meeting in Warsaw, Poland, over the weekend.

The bottom line for the United States and the country’s greatest source of strength strategically “is the network of allies we’ve built up over 70 years,” Dunford told reporters traveling with him. At the operational level, he added, the U.S. military’s advantage is the ability to deploy forces anywhere they are needed in a timely manner and then sustain them.

“Russia has studied us since 1990,” Dunford said. “They looked at us in 2003. They know how we project power.”

Russian leaders are trying to undermine the credibility of the U.S. ability to meet its alliance commitments and are seeking to erode the cohesion of the NATO alliance, he said.

Russia has devoted serious money to modernizing its military, the chairman noted, and that covers the gamut from its nuclear force to command and control to cyber capabilities. “At the operational level, their goal is to field capabilities that challenge our ability to project power into Europe and operate freely across all domains,” Dunford said. “We have to operate freely in sea, air and land, as we did in the past, but now we also must operate [freely] in cyberspace and space.”

The nature of war has not changed, but the character of war has. The range of weapon systems has increased. There has been a proliferation of anti-ship cruise missiles and land-to-land attack missiles. Cyber capabilities, command and control capabilities and electronic warfare capabilities have grown.

Great Power Competition

These are the earmarks of the new great power competition. Russia is the poster child, but China is using the same playbook, the chairman said.

“What Russia is trying to do is … exactly what China is trying to do vis-a-vis our allies and our ability to project power,” Dunford said. “In China, what we are talking about is an erosion of the rules-based order. The United States and its allies share the commitment to a free and open Pacific. That is going to require coherent, collective action.”

Against Russia, the United States and its NATO allies have a framework in place around which they can build: a formal alliance structure allows the 29 nations to act as one, Dunford said.

However, he added, a similar security architecture is not in place in the Pacific.

The United States has treaties with Australia, New Zealand, Japan, South Korea, the Philippines and Thailand. Politically and economically, the United States works with the 10-nation Association of Southeast Asian Nations.

“I see the need for all nations with an interest in the rules-based architecture to take collective action,” Dunford said. “The military dimension is a small part of this issue, and it should be largely addressed diplomatically and economically.”

He said the military dimension is exemplified by freedom of navigation operations, in which 22 nations participated with more than 1,500 operations in the past year. “These are normal activities designed to show we will fly, sail and operate wherever international law allows, and not allow illicit claims to become de facto,” the chairman said.

Navy Undersecretary Modly Shores Up Alliances in Oceana

By Jim Garamone, DoD News, Defense Media Activity

ABOARD A MILITARY AIRCRAFT -- Freedom of navigation and issues of sovereignty were front and center as Navy Undersecretary Thomas B. Modly journeyed through Oceana.

The undersecretary spoke to reporters via phone from Guam. The trip involved stops in Kiribati and its capital on the island of Tarawa. Modly and his party also visited Papua New Guinea, Vanuatu, Fiji,  and the Federated States of Micronesia, and it ended in Guam.

Defense Secretary James N. Mattis asked Modly to make the trip. “It was a fascinating trip for me, having not spent too much time in this region in either my professional or personal life,” he said.

The vastness of the Pacific theater impressed on him and reinforced the “tyranny of distance” that the area entails, Modly said. He added that he also was impressed by “the broad range of friendships and partnerships we have across the region in these small island nations who have big challenges.”

Mattis encouraged Modly to take the trip to cultivate and reinforce U.S. partnership with the nations. He noted that the second line of effort in the National Defense Strategy is to build and strengthen partnerships and alliances. “This is part of that effort to get out here to insure our friends that the United States is committed to freedom of navigation and peace and prosperity for the region,” he said.

Freedom of navigation is the key concern for the nations. More than 80 percent of their economic zones are water. “When you look at that and you look at it on a map, they are heavily dependent on access to those waters, and also [on] control and maintenance of those waters for fishing,” Modly said.

Fishing is the primary source of revenue for the nations, and protecting fisheries and sovereignty is of primary importance.

Freedom of Navigation

Modly, who served in the Navy from 1983 to 1990, said that freedom of navigation was important to the United States then and it is just as important today. “From my perspective, … I don't think that's really changed: these are international waters, and they’re governed by international rules,” he said.

The people of the region are concerned about their ability to maintain freedom of navigation. Modly assured them that the United States and its allies in the region are committed to maintain that right.

The islanders are finding it is becoming more difficult to manage these waters because “more and more countries, or at least commercial operators from various countries, are encroaching on those areas,” he said.

The islands do not have large navies; they have small coast guards. “They are investing in some technologies to give them better situational awareness of what's happening in the seas, and I was introduced to some very interesting things that they are doing to try and maintain that and we're trying to help them there as well,” Modly said.

The undersecretary was supposed to visit Chuuk, but the water landing of an aircraft in the lagoon there stopped that. He offered his aircraft to evacuate four people injured, but the U.S. Coast Guard already had that covered.

The Navy did help however, as a Navy underwater construction team working in the lagoon rescued the passengers and crew of the Air New Guinea flight. The sailors also will retrieve the planes’ black boxes.

“It is just a great example of how our presence even with just a few people on these islands can be critical to helping in these types of situations,” Modly said.

Face of Defense: Marine Recruiter Brings Opportunities to Hometown Youth

By Marine Corps Sgt. Alvin Pujols, 8th Marine Corps District

YUMA, Ariz. -- Marine Corps Sgt. Edwin Carranza takes pride in recruiting new Marines from his hometown of San Luis, Arizona.

Carranza, a canvassing recruiter with Recruiting Station Phoenix, has been in the Marine Corps just over 7 years, completing one enlistment doing his primary duties as a communications Marine and a second enlistment as a canvassing recruiter.

“It was during the beginning of my second enlistment that I was selected to become a recruiter,” he said. “My first thought was I wanted to recruit out of my hometown.”

Carranza said he knew recruiting duty is difficult, and he wanted to ensure his family is taken care of.

“Recruiting in general is considered one of the toughest jobs in the Marine Corps because of the constant pressure to meet mission requirements,” Carranza said. “If I went to my hometown, I feel like I would be at an advantage as well as being able to help out my family. Since I would be working a lot I knew being close to family would make the transition more tolerable for my wife and daughter.”

Bringing Opportunities

But Carranza’s thoughts weren’t only on his family but also about those individuals whose lives he would impact by bringing them the opportunities the Marine Corps has to offer.

“I take great pride recruiting out of my own hometown of San Luis because other than college, which is difficult to pay for, the only options for young individuals is the call center I used to work at or working the fields, which is physically draining due to the intense heat,” Carranza said.

Recruiting duty also allows Marines like Carranza to influence the parents and influencers in their communities.

Carranza said, “I get to talk to parents and tell them the story of how the Marine Corps helped me out, and there comes a time while speaking to the applicant that they want to join the military not just because of the benefits but to be Marines. That's what makes me feel good at the end of the day.”