Nov. 13, 2020
Acting Secretary of Defense Christopher C. Miller;
Lithuanian Minister of National Defense Raimundas Karoblis
ACTING SECRETARY OF DEFENSE CHRISTOPHER C. MILLER: Be seated. Thank you so much.
I'm going to have a -- a little water. If you don't mind, I'll have my mask off while I speak.
LITHUANIAN DEFENSE MINISTER RAIMUNDAS KAROBLIS: Yeah, we -- we too wear masks because of optic.
SEC. MILLER: Thank you so much for visiting. Minister Karoblis, it is
a pleasure to welcome you and your team to the Pentagon as we continue
to strengthen the defense relationship between our two countries. This
is my first in-person meeting with a foreign leader as acting Secretary
of Defense, and like I said downstairs, I couldn't have planned for a
more appropriate and important visitor.
Over the past few days, I've spoken with my foreign counterparts in
Germany, France, and the United States -- oh, sorry, the United Kingdom.
I'm going to speak with a lot in the United States. I'm going to cover
them in a moment. This afternoon I'll talk with NATO Secretary General
Stoltenberg, who's just doing a remarkable job all around. I've also
talked with our partners in Congress, including Leader McConnell,
Speaker Pelosi, and the chairs and ranking members of the Senate and
House Armed Services Committee.
I want to assure the American public and our allies and partners that
the Department of Defense remains strong and continues its vital work
of protecting our homeland, our people and our interests around the
world. We do that in concert with steadfast allies like Lithuania.
For decades, our two nations have stood arm-in-arm in defense of our
shared values. I understand there is a plaque -- I -- I want to come see
this soon, as soon as we're able to travel safely again. I understand
there's a plaque in the center of your capitol to commemorate President
George W. Bush's remarks upon your invitation into NATO in 2002. One of
our officers who has served there wanted to make sure that it was in
there, and that was just such a powerful, powerful symbol when I heard
about it. That plaque reads, "Anyone who would choose Lithuania as an
enemy has also made an enemy of the United States of America."
I also think it is important to note that the first American to
cement this relationship was the acting Secretary of State, Sumner
Welles, who refused to accept Soviet domination of Lithuania in the
summer of 1940.
President Bush's words ring true today. We remain firmly committed to
the NATO alliance, and we share Lithuania's concern regarding Russia's
malign behavior.
In light of this and other challenges, we are working closely with
Lithuania and other allies to strengthen our security cooperation,
enhance deterrence of Russia and bolster Baltic defense. Likewise,
Lithuania continues to play an active and important role in NATO
operations while protecting the alliance's eastern flank.
The United States is truly grateful for Lithuania's extraordinary
host nation support, as demonstrated by the deployment of 500 U.S.
military personnel from the U.S. Army's famed First of the Ninth (1-9)
Calvary during the nine-month Atlantic Resolve rotation. This is one of
the largest examples of sustained U.S. presence in your country, and
hopefully, that will continue well into the future.
Further, we look forward to the upcoming rotation in December of 2-8
Calvary Battalion to one of the best training areas in the world in
Pabrade. We also appreciate your contributions to the alliance and your
commitment to defense modernization and NATO interoperability. We've
come so far in the last 20, 30 years.
We commend you for your recent purchase of Joint Light Tactical
Vehicles and your upcoming acquisition of UH-60 Black Hawks, the best
utility helicopter the world has ever seen; couldn't ask for a better
helicopter. Well done, sir. We appreciate it, and we look forward to
interoperability exercises in the future.
This is the -- expected value is $243 million. This is the largest
nationally-funded investment through foreign military sales in your
country's history. Your continued investments in defense set a strong
example for other allied and partner nations, and we applaud you for
maintaining defense spending consistently at or above two percent of
GDP. I encourage all allied nations to follow your lead in meeting the
two percent spending target to make needed investments to enhance their
capabilities and capacity while strengthening our collective defense.
As you know, two percent should be a floor, not a ceiling. I know
we've -- great line. It's really true. That's -- that's -- that's just
common sense, and that's how partnerships work.
The United States is proud to stand with Lithuania as steadfast
allies, and we remain committed to deterring Russian aggression -- you
know that -- boosting readiness and strengthening our mutual security
together.
Let me close up congratulating you your -- upcoming Armed Forces Day
celebration on November 23rd. Best wishes to you and all of your
military members and families.
On a personal note, one of the most legendary figures in our Army
Special Forces' history is Major Generally -- Major General Sidney
Shachnow, who immigrated from Lithuania after World War II.
Unfortunately, -- we lost Major General Shachnow a couple years ago. He
was the epitome of a gentleman, an officer, and a warrior. He was a
mentor of mine at an extraordinary degree. I only wish he was here with
us today. I know he's here in spirit, though.
Thank you, Mr. Minister, for your visit today. Really look forward to our discussions.
This is a just fabulous day for the United States Department of
Defense, and I know for Lithuania, too. This is a critical partnership,
an important partnership, and I think we're -- frankly, I think we're
setting the tone and setting the procedures for future cooperation
throughout NATO.
So thank you, Mr. Prime Minister.
Over to you, sir -- Mr. Minister -- sorry.
KAROBLIS: (inaudible) --
MILLER: You may be prime minister -- may be prime minister soon, but we don't want to put that out just yet.
KAROBLIS: Yeah.
Mr. Secretary -- Mr. Secretary, thank -- thank you for -- for
receiving to me and my delegation, very busy days for you, indeed, and
I'm very much encouraged by your words, including the plate on the
municipality and reading the -- quoting the -- the words of President
Bush. And -- and yes, we have -- never have doubts about -- about the
U.S. position (inaudible) historic and (inaudible).
And first of all, I would like also to congratulate, with the
Veteran's Day, which was two days ago, and also with -- with -- to
express condolences for the U.S. servicemen died in -- in Egypt. Yes,
it's unfortunate that happened, so sincere condolences for -- for -- for
you and for the families.
Well, speaking about our relationship, indeed, the -- so Lithuania is
staunch for American alliance, the region in Europe and with the
absolute support from the society regarding the presence of U.S. in --
in Europe and the U.S. leadership. We have served and fought together in
Afghanistan and Iraq. We are working to contain Russia. We are
protecting together the eastern flank of NATO, supporting Ukraine and
other activities.
On the other hand, Lithuania being frontier country, we are investing
to other security ourselves, also, and during the years from -- the
year from 2014 to 2020, we increased defense spending three times,
reaching for two -- well above the defense financement, well above two
percent in 2020.
We have very great preparation in -- in different areas and in this
classical military preparation, but also there are also other areas
which have good cooperation. For example, with cyber, one example is the
creation of the Joint Regional Cyber Defense Center in -- in -- in
Vilnius, which will -- I believe, will start its functions very soon,
and also to be important for all region -- wide region, including allies
and partners. But we believe it's -- it's -- it's support of national
but we believe it's also for the United States.
And of course, so this -- another issue, and the main reason
regarding the timing why I'm here, so it's certainly a historic moment
because we are signing the agreement to procure Black Hawks, UH-60
helicopters. It's not only about the equipment, but for, which is very
important for our armed forces, but it's most symbolically with this
project we will be able to -- to quit with the last legacy of -- of --
of Soviet equipment. So in the (inaudible) -- in -- in our armed forces
in general in -- in -- in the forces.
So it's important, very, we continue cooperation with you on -- also
on this issue, but also on other issues. You -- you -- you mentioned
another weapons systems like (inaudible), munition and Javelins and
similar systems, and in general. So during next five years, we
(inaudible) plans to -- to buy -- so, the weaponry systems from the
United States so within the amount of half a billion dollars, when -- of
our total defense budget is -- is -- is one billion (inaudible) half
euro.
So we really thank you very much, and for -- for -- for the
possibility to be here with this -- this -- this visit, and also even
more for the cooperation, -- which great cooperation between the United
States and -- and Lithuania.
Thank you very much. Looking forward for the discussion.
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