"The importance of staying mission ready"

U.S. General Martin E. Dempsey

General Martin E. Dempsey

The highest-ranking U.S. military officer, Army General Martin E. Dempsey, the 18th chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, visits Japan as part of his tour of the Pacific region.

In his speeches General Dempsey highlighted that the U.S. will: "stay true to our current alliances and try to build relationship with others." He said the world benefits from the security provided by the U.S. military and its allies, and that it is important to maintain and gain international relationships, despite the current budget constraints."

U.S. presence throughout the globe won't be affected, especially in the Pacific, he added that the U.S. will continue to deter adversaries and assure allies when and where needed.

He gave a speech at the invitation of Japan Ministry of Defence addressed to the highest military officers and researchers with a Q & A I attended, mostly an accurate review of today's global security, with special chapters about Asia,  North Korea, he did not name China... in opponent terms, and also about Middle East and Africa, interesting references about military technology such as communication and weapons systems, with the interactions of various nations forces, and touched also about the implications of budget cuts. Point is: "staying mission ready!"

Japan Ministry of Defence invitees

Quotes cf. DoD site: "U.S. alliances in the Pacific with Japan, South Korea, Australia, the Philippines and Thailand are strong partnerships, and the foundation of America’s Asia–Pacific strategy, he said. “They underpin a growing network of increasingly important trilateral and multilateral relationships and forums,” the chairman added. “When you ally with the United States, you ally with the region.” Dempsey said such alliances bring capacity, capability and credibility what he called the combining force, or aikido of U.S. relationships in the Asia-Pacific region. “It is what gives us the agility to respond to everything from a natural disaster to a dangerous dictator,” he added. The U.S.–Japanese alliance, with a strong mutual defense treaty and built-in interoperability, exemplifies aikido, he said. “We’re prioritizing trade and commerce, diplomacy and development,” not just in Northeast Asia, but in Southeast Asia and across the region.  [Answers during Q&A, 1 Q about North Korea] : “Since it is my professional military judgment that we are in a period of prolonged provocation by North Korea, not cyclic,” Dempsey said, “I think … we should see this as an opportunity to become interoperable, in particular in those domains where we see the threat evolving.”EoQ (Edited Apr 27).