Previous IFPA-Fletcher Conferences

The 34th IFPA-Fletcher Conference on
National Security Strategy and Policy:
Security Planning and Military Transformation

December 2-3, 2003
U.S. Chamber of
Commerce Building
Lafayette Square, 1615 H Street, NW
Washington, D.C.

Address by Vice Admiral Kevin P. Green, USN, Deputy Chief of Naval Operations for Plans, Policy & Operations

Dr. Robert L. Pfaltzgraff, Jr.: This is the official opening of our 34th IFPA Fletcher National Security Conference, with the cosponsorship of the United States Navy and the Defense Threat Reduction Agency. I now ask you rise, to stand, for the presenting of the colors and the national anthem.

[Presenting of the colors and national anthem]

Dr. Pfaltzgraff: Please be seated. Again, welcome to this conference. Since the tragic events of September 11, 2001, the United States has fought two combat operations, two major combat operations, in Afghanistan and Iraq, as part of a larger and more protracted war against terrorism whose end is not yet in sight. This war will decisively shape our national security strategy for years to come. The combat operations that we have fought since 9/11, we have won decisively and quickly, with impressive military performance, to say the least. Of course, we now face major challenges as well as opportunities, as we plan for future security, and as we transform our military forces to meet the needs of the 21st century. Whatever the other lessons from the past two years, we now have a better understanding and appreciation of the close relationship that exists between the need to eliminate terrorism by destroying terrorist bases while we cope with the consequences of terrorism, as we witness on a daily basis in Afghanistan and Iraq, and I might add, in recent months, in Indonesia, and in recent days, in Turkey.

It was with such considerations in mind that we chose the topic and major issues that form the agenda for this conference. This is the 34th National Security Conference in a series that has been organized by the Institute for Foreign Policy Analysis and the International Security Studies Program of the Fletcher School, Tufts University. We have sought always to address the important security issues of the day, but also to anticipate key trends that will shape the emerging security setting. Each of our conferences has been convened with appropriate official military and civilian cosponsorship. We believe that such a partnership, civilian military and government private sector, is essential to an examination of the vitally important national security issues, such as those to be addressed in this conference in the next few days.

Therefore, we are honored and delighted to have the United States Navy and the Defense Threat Reduction Agency as official cosponsors of this conference. With each of our cosponsors, we have worked closely in all of the phases of preparing for this meeting. In planning this conference, we recognized that the issues of security planning and military transformation that we are addressing here transcend, and indeed antedate, the tragic events of 9/11, and Operation Iraqi Freedom as well. We realize that transformation within our military, and indeed wherever else it may occur in the broader sectors, is a continuing process, as well as a state of mind that has no clear beginning, and certainly no discernible end. Our goal in this conference is to address the most important national security issues of the day, but also to look as far as possible into the future, as we consider the major dimensions of and the requirements for security planning and military transformation in the dynamic world of the 21st century.

In the sessions that lie ahead over the next two days, we will have an unusual opportunity to hear from a broad range of speakers, as well as from participants as well, because there is vast assembled expertise, we realize, in this room, civilian and military, academic and industry, from the United States and from overseas. First, we will examine the changing context of security planning. This includes asymmetric threats, and terrorist challenges, as well as new operational concepts and technologies for defense and deterrence that will be needed, or are already being considered. Next we will turn to an examination of the complex problem of dissuading and deterring across the broad spectrum of 21st century threats, spanning states and actors other than states, and including fielding and organizing capabilities for counter-WMD missions, and integrating such concepts as global strike, as well as missile defense and information technology in support of the national security strategy.

We have also included in the conference an opportunity to benefit from combatant command views on organizing and implementing defense strategies, including such issues as command priorities and synchronizing capabilities within and among the various commands for the war against terrorism. In tomorrow's sessions, we will address in greater detail many of the important issues of military transformation. This will include service priorities for military transformation, and leveraging opportunities among the services for joint operations. How the leadership of each of the uniformed services views transformation is an important aspect of discussion in that session that features the senior leadership of each of the military services. Last but not least, mindful of the importance of coalition opportunities and operations by coalition members together, we have devoted a session to the issue of coalitions of the willing, together with lessons, opportunities, and constraints, as we prepare for future coalition operations, and engage in the necessary transformation of alliances to meet the new threats and issues of the 21st century.

During this conference, we will have the opportunity to benefit from many perspectives, from within the executive branch of government, and from Capitol Hill, from the United States and from abroad. And as in previous conferences in this series, we plan to publish a report, together with other outputs that will be designed to provide broader dissemination to our discussions, and therefore, hopefully, what we do in the next two days will have an impact on the ongoing national security debate and discussion. So, on behalf of the Institute for Foreign Policy Analysis, and the International Security Studies Program of the Fletcher School, I welcome you to what promises to be a timely and important conference. And now I would turn the podium over to Vice Admiral Kevin Green, who is Deputy Chief of Naval Operations for Plans, Policy, & Operations, for his conference welcome on behalf of our cosponsor, the United States Navy. Admiral Green.

Admiral Green: Thank you, Dr. Pfaltzgraff. And on behalf of the United States Navy and Admiral Vern Clark, the Chief of Naval Operations, I too would like to welcome all of you, and each of you, to the 34th strategy conference. IFPA has been able to assemble a particularly impressive and distinguished group to participate in this conference. And it is my personal honor to be amongst you, and amongst them as well. Some of the participants include the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, the Chief of Staff of the Army, the Chief of Naval Operations, the Commander, US Southern Command, as well as other prominent members of government, the media, academia, as well as distinguished speakers from some of our allies and coalition partners.

The last IFPA strategy conference was held in October of 2002, and it was cosponsored by the United States Marine Corps. The then-Commandant of the Marine Corps, General Jim Jones (?), opened that conference with remarks that set the stage for two days of informative discussions about the challenges to United States security in the wake of 9/11 and Operation Enduring Freedom in Afghanistan. However, when we take a brief look in the changes in the national security environment since the last conference, I'm sure we would all agree that these changes should provoke a great deal of discussion, and perhaps debate, today and tomorrow.

The most important event of the last year clearly has been Operation Iraqi Freedom. It's only fitting that the topic of this conference is "Security Planning and Military Transformation After Iraqi Freedom." But as we all know, that operation is far from over, and we must be particularly careful not to view OIF as the model for future conflicts, nor to take any of the lessons we may derive from it as necessarily definitive in the event of any future conflicts, campaigns, or engagements. As the recent terrorist bombings in Turkey and Saudi Arabia demonstrate, along with the ongoing conflict in Afghanistan, the larger global war on terrorism continues. Successfully fighting this war is the top priority of the Secretary of Defense. One of the more significant initiatives promoted by our government as part of the long-term struggle against terrorism and the threat of weapons of mass destruction is the Proliferation Security Initiative, unveiled by the President this past May. In the Navy, we're only starting to grasp the maritime implications of the PSI. I'm pleased to note that the Honorable John Bolton from the State Department, who helped develop the PSI, will be today's luncheon speaker.

There have been other major changes in the command structure of the US military since the last conference that merit discussion as to their implications for US security planning. In October 2002, US Northern Command stood up, with its commander responsible for homeland defense, while also serving as head of the North American Aerospace Defense Command. Also that month, the US Space Command was merged into the US Strategic Command. In January of this year, the President assigned to the enlarged US STRATCOM the missions of global strike, integrated missile defense, Department of Defense information operations, and command control communications, intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance. The full impact of these assignments to STRATCOM on American security planning is still unknown, and it's something we deal with every day.

As for the Navy, 2003 has also been a historic year, and not just for the contribution of naval forces to the war in Iraq. Just over a year ago, the Chief of Naval Operations, Admiral Clark, unveiled his vision for the Navy. It's called Sea Power 21, where future sea-based operations will exploit revolutionary information superiority, and disperse networked force capabilities to deliver unprecedented offensive and defensive power from the sea. In May, the Navy formally unveiled the Fleet Response Plan, a radical change to the way that we deploy, train, and maintain our forces, in order to make the fleet more responsive, and to provide the President with the options he needs. The demands of the global war on terrorism require an agile, flexible, and most of all, a responsive fleet, one that can surge forces for rapid employment in time of crisis, just as the Navy did for OIF, while continuing to prepare for forward deployments in support of global presence requirements.

As part of the Navy's new deployment architecture for its global concept of operations, the first expeditionary strike group deployed this summer. It's currently operating in southwest Asia. The ESG-1 consists of the amphibious assault ship, Pellalou (?), two other amphibious ships, three surface combatants, an attack submarine, and a marine expeditionary unit, special operations capable. A second ESG is getting ready to deploy, and a third, ESG-3, from the West Coast, will be commanded by a Marine officer, the first time a Marine will be in command of a Navy combat force, what we should really call a naval combat force.

So, I hope I've at least encouraged you to think that this will not just be another standard Washington defense conference, but one that will provoke critical thinking about the role of the American military, certainly not just the Navy, in the future. So, in closing, I thank you all for coming, and participating. I look for an intellectually stimulating couple of days, and I hope you do as well. Now, I'll turn it back to Dr. Pfaltzgraff, who will introduce our first panel. Thank you.