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RAMSTEIN AIR BASE, Germany, 

Nov 15, 2010 — General William E. "Kip" Ward, commander, U.S. Africa Command (AFRICOM), opened the command's annual Theater Security Cooperation Conference November 15, 2010.

The weeklong conference brings together about 600 security cooperation stakeholders from U.S. embassies in Africa, other U.S. government agencies and departments, Africa Command headquarters, AFRICOM component commands, and international partners to develop U.S. military security assistance engagement activity plans with African partner nations for the next three years. This is the fourth conference the command has conducted since 2008.

General Ward emphasized the importance of bringing together various agencies and organizations to help AFRICOM better plan and synchronize its efforts with others U.S. government and international programs. " ...only by this communicating, this coordinating and synchronizing about collective security efforts will we be able to maximize the resources that were made available to us, and do it as efficiently and effectively as we can, hoping to achieve a state that brings more stability to the continent of Africa and its island nations as we work with our partners. And again, we're in this all together," Ward said.

Below is transcript of his opening remarks:


GENERAL WILLIAM E. WARD: (in progress) -- for those of you who don't know, I just came back from the States. Flew in last -- well, flew in this morning about an hour ago, but coming from the West Coast. And I'd been in Nevada. And we just opened a brand-new United Service Organization lounge there.

Where's my J-5?

MAJOR GENERAL H.D. POLUMBO (director of AFRICOM Strategy, Plans and Programs): Right here.

GEN. WARD: There he is. Major General Polumbo has a son who is an Air Force captain. And he tracks airplanes moving all around the world. And so his son let folks in Nevada know that I was going to be in Nevada. So I got pulled into this major ceremony to open this facility, which is our newest that services our troops in transit and other things.

So I'm in McCarran airport -- and some of you are aware of McCarran airport -- and the national director of the United Service Organization, Mr. Sloan Gibson. And this pretty big to-do, opening this USO center there for the troops. Also for the Marines, this is birthday time, so happy birthday, Marines. So that's a part of the deal as well.

Being there and going through all of these -- I guess, these ceremonial aspects of opening this center was a pretty neat thing. And then someone, one of the volunteers, came up to me and said "Now, General, they tell me that you command Africa." (Laughter.)

I said, "No, ma'am, I do not command Africa." (Laughter.)

She said, "Well, what do you do?" (Laughter.)

I said, "Well, what I do is head one of our nation's geographic commands that have responsibility for Department of Defense activities on the continent of Africa and the island nations."

She said, "Well, why are you here?"

I said, "I'm a soldier, and one of our nation's senior officers. And this is a pretty big deal where we are able to acknowledge what's being done for our serving men and women, our troops and their families as they are transiting and doing other things. And the fact that the United Service Organization does this is something that we acknowledge and offer our thanks to them for taking care of our soldiers. Oh, by the way, just like I invited you for what you do in volunteering here to take care of our troops as they transit."

So she said, "Well, then, so what you kind of do is things that have an impact on other people?"

I said, "Yeah, kind of like that." And that's kind of why that we are here today and this week so that as we do what we do as a team -- and I'm going to ask you about the team part a little bit later on -- we need to do what we do to have a positive impact on others.

And in the case of United States Africa Command, while we clearly deal with things that might be at work in a crisis mode -- as was told to me by the secretary of defense when we stood the command up -- how do we hopefully keep from getting into that crisis mode? And that's what this conference is about, this Theater Security Cooperation Conference.

How we come together -- (cross-talk) -- how we cause our work together to hopefully keep us from getting into a crisis, and clearly help our partners on the continent to be in a position to help make that the case as well. So that's kind of a backdrop. That's the backdrop. Now I'm going to do my best to stay -- (inaudible) -- here for a few minutes as I mention a couple things to you and then turn the program over to others who will be able to carry on with where we are.

But this is a pretty big gathering; someone talked about 640 folks are here, and that's a pretty substantial gathering of teammates, and for my Navy and Marine Corps buddies, shipmates. You know, this is our third year conducting this Theater Security Cooperation Conference. And it's -- we look at security cooperation clearly more than just a group of activities. That's not it. It is more than just the programs, more than just the expenditures. It's about people, it's about relationships, those things that we do to cause an effort to really produce effects and make a difference over the long term towards stability.

And the intent of bringing together various teammates from, obviously, the Department of Defense, Department of State, United States Agency for International Development, others of our teammates from the continent, there at the mission -- all to discuss that things that we do are, indeed, as complementary as we can make them. Doing it at echelon, at all levels, assisting our African partners as they attempt to provide for their own security as opposed to having someone having to do that for them.

Now, where we are now, we know that in today's environment -- and there are fiscal issues and, unfortunately, I won't be here to spend the whole week with you because I'm going to go back to Washington and have a meeting with the Secretary of Defense and he's continuing to talk about fiscal realities. So we know that this is an environment where the fiscal realities absolutely require us to do the very best we can in shepherding and stewarding our resources.

Now, our desired goal is to cause the strategy that we put in place, that the secretary of defense has said, "this is what I want you to do," and has approved, to be a strategy that in fact combines the work being done by other parts of our government, and the work that we do, in ways that cause that totality of effort to be as complementary as we can make it.

And we only do that through these sessions where we come together, we collaborate, we discuss, we bring coherency to what we want to do. And so, going back to something that was said as I -- the command was stood up, and I made my first sets of comments to that group of 16 folk who were the first members of the AFRICOM team: we want to add value and do no harm. We want to do it in a way that makes a difference to all of us.

So those of you who are here from the various organizations, you're here to help us do that.

General Ward acknowledges the following senior officials representing U.S. military and other U.S. government agencies in attendance:

• Ambassador Vicki Huddleston, deputy assistant secretary for Africa in the Office of the Secretary of Defense
• Ambassador Richard Roth, senior advisor to the Assistant Secretary for African affairs and to the Bureau of African Affairs, State Department
• Raja Jandhyala, deputy assistant administrator, Africa Bureau, U.S. Agency for International Development
• William Roebuck, director for the Office of Maghreb Affairs, Bureau of Near East Affairs, State Department
• Brigadier General Thomas Masiello, deputy assistant secretary for plans, programs and operations, Bureau of Political-Military Affairs, State Department
• Ambassador J. Anthony Holmes, AFRICOM's deputy to the commander for civil-military activities
• Vice Admiral Joe Leidig, AFRICOM's deputy to the commander for military operations
• Major General Margaret Woodward, commander of U.S. Air Forces Africa
• Major General David Hogg, U.S. Army Africa Commander
• Rear Admiral Gerard Hueber, U.S. Naval Forces Europe-Africa director for policy, resources and strategy
• Rear Admiral Brian Losey, commander of Combined Joint Task Force Horn of Africa
• Brigadier General Paul Brier, commander of Marine Forces Europe and Africa
• Brigadier General Christopher Haas, commander of Special Operations Command Africa

And then the folks who really make it happen -- those on the continent, the attaches, the security assistance officers, the members of the country team, the deputy chiefs of mission, charggggÃs, many who are here. I think there's even some members of Congress, at least a couple of staffers, one or two who are present with us. Also, certainly, other government agencies who are all here from across our interagency. And that's just absolutely fantastic.

Quick word about our interagency partners and I know that Ambassador Holmes is going to talk a bit more about this later on in his presentation. But for me, advancing this partnership and the coordination with the interagency, it continues to be a hallmark that we want to pay attention to.

It's not perfect, and we are a Department of Defense organization. But we want to do our work in such a way that it recognizes the fact that we do it as a part of an interagency team, and clearly, the way that we pay attention and listen to and take those considerations or those perspectives aboard, clearly, I think, make us different than many of our other combatant command sister outfits.

Also, the team -- international team -- Partners from France, United Kingdom, the Netherlands, Germany, Canada, Italy, Belgium. Also to include representatives from NATO and the European Union -- also present. And I think your attendance will hopefully arm you with a deeper understanding of how U.S. AFRICOM conducts our security cooperation planning for Africa, and exposure to the full range of our activities. That's what we want to do because we know that you, too, have your interests there on the continent. And again, our goal is, as I've said, to add value and do no harm. We want to do that in ways that makes sense to all of us.

Now, this week's Theater Security Cooperation Conference will set the stage for a follow-on bilateral work that my staff will conduct with many of you, and also your respective countries and your organizations throughout next year. And only by this communicating, this coordinating and synchronizing about collective security efforts will we be able to maximize the resources that were made available to us, and do it as efficiently and effectively as we can, hoping to achieve a state that brings more stability to the continent of Africa and its island nations as we work with our partners. And again, we're in this all together.

Now, before I go on to the core of the program, I'd like to acknowledge some of the people on our security assistance workforce. Now, obviously, I mentioned General Polumbo, the strategy, plans and programs directorate responsible for putting this on -- Jake, again, you and your team, fantastic job in getting this started, so let me thank you for all the work that you've done there.

But also those who live and work on the continent -- you're critical to our efforts. Those of you on the DOD side, while you're here, take advantage of getting to know one another. This is about the team.

And I mentioned something to you that now will forever seal your fate: this is your card. You are now a card-carrying member of this team. Some of you have more than one of these cards. That's good. And put them in a couple of different places. For those of you who this is your first card, hold onto it, now. Because when I see you in your workspaces, I'm going to say, do you have your card? (Laughter.) As a card-carrying member of the team, the expectation is that you're carrying your card. And although Karl Maulden would say, you know, it's priceless, I think it has a lot of value. (Laughter.) So you are each a card-carrying member of the team and I'm certainly happy to have you a part of it.

We look for the feedback that we'll get from each of you as you go through the various seminars, the work groups and, obviously, all that you will bring to this discussion as we look at how our program, solidified for FY '12 and certainly begin talking about FY '13, '14, '15 and '16, which is what this is about.

We've also brought into this a -- and I need to let you know this because it's an important part of the team for Kip Ward -- and that is some members of the -- (inaudible) -- staff, you know, our family members who are also on the continent. It's important to me that they, too, are provided opportunities to participate in various ways, but also because of the importance that they have in your world, effectively, I certainly pay attention to them. So they're here as well. We call it AFOTAC, the Africa Command Families on the African Continent. This is certainly an opportunity for them to come and discuss things that affect them, their quality of life and feedback that we receive from the family members, we certainly pay that and look to do things to help increase their quality of life as well.

Now, as I said, the TSCC is our capstone Theater Security Cooperation planning conference of the year has a big deliverable, so you're just not here to, you know, stay over at the Kaiserslautern Military Community Complex, that great facility over there with all that shopping stuff that I've watched being built -- now finally operational -- for the last seven years, finally. (Laughter.) But this is the culmination of our Theater Security Cooperation planning cycle, and we started this program -- and many of you know my background, so I won't belabor that, but you know the fact that I've been a part of these processes here, now, for quite a while. And the way they were organized and were, in a way, that I didn't see as effective as it ought to be because we were always kind of behind the power curve. Budgets were being submitted and our program and planning occurring after that. Just didn't work right. We want to do things so we can be in a position to help drive resourcing for our programs in ways that causes our services, big Army, big Navy, big Air Force, big Marine Corps, the department to have our requirements in place prior to budget cycles.

And that's why we do these conferences at this time of year. So that means you get to this spring with -- (inaudible) -- budget, so as FY '12 was being submitted -- we've already gone through those things that are important for us on the front end as opposed to being behind that cycle, those processes. It didn't start that way. We had to do some catch-up. And we did. And we're there now. We're there now.

This, for us, is our meat-and-potatoes work. You know, naturally, we will do what the nation asks us to do as crises arise; they surely will. But when it comes to the day-to-day work that the secretary of defense has asked us to do, the meat-and-potatoes, -- (inaudible) -- helping to prevent crises as opposed to being in a position to react, this is what it's about. This is what it's about. That's why we spend this time in a very deliberative, consultative, synchronized, coordinated way to put together a program that is as complementary as it can be with what our interagency partners also see as important -- how our activities fit into that, complement those things that are being done.

So as I mentioned, we've made some very -- (inaudible) -- substantial gains in this process over the past three years. We're certainly by no means complete. It will continue on, and it will continue on. The one thing about military planning, it never stops because we are always reacting to the environment. So we will change as the environment changes. This process -- hopefully it's a process that keeps us in front of that and that we have some pretty good intelligence and understanding of what's out there and perspectives that's provided by you, and we stand our best chance of making the best difference in a positive way that does what? That helps prevent crises as opposed to having to react.

And whose best interest is that in? Ours. The American people, the United States of America. And that's who we do this for. We do this to help protect American lives and to promote American interests in a vitally important part of the world. And that's what it's about, and that's why we are being paid to do what we do. And, I might add, you're doing it in some pretty good measure. Now, an example of how we want to move ahead here is in -- and I've got to finish. Some people waiting for me, the spouses -- you will hear about our programs. You will hear about things that we have been doing, be they training activities, be they major exercises, be they the mil-to-mil engagement, be they the humanitarian assistance program and projects, the civil affairs programs and projects, all designed to help better understand an area and help create a more stable environment such that it is less conducive to those things that bring disorder to a society.

And the work that we do is in keeping with that. And you can go to our various MEDCAPs, VETCAPs, you can go to the training that we do such as what's done by our Special Operations Command. You can go to the exercises that were put on, such as by our Marine Forces component, our Army Forces component. You can go to the various partnership planning -- correction, (Africa) Partnership Station work that we do, such as put on by our naval component, our Coast Guard support to that. All of these designed to help create a more stable environment by increasing the capacity of our partners to provide for security in ways that matters to them, that matters to us. We can't do it all over the continent, nor should we. And certainly as I mentioned early on, the resource environment won't permit it.

But the thing about the continent of Africa -- now, I don't have to tell you this -- a little bit goes a long way. Two or three noncommissioned officers that know what they are doing, providing assistance, being a model, making a difference because the relationships built last and last and last and last. And that's what this is about: our engagement, our sustained security engagement -- we can respond to crises. All we have to do is Ã? president says, XYZ; resources come that way and we will do it. We are good at crisis-planning. It's the deliberate engagement to prevent crises where we are focused as we meet this week to put these programs together.

So your homework, by the end of the week when you leave here, our FY '12 program -- being coordinated, being synchronized with the missions, our interagency partners such that what we are putting into place, what we are asking to do, what we are programming for, we have an 80, 85-percent assurance that what we are planning to do makes sense to those who are partners on the continent, our interagency partners, and help promote our objectives as set out in our campaign strategy. And the various work groups that are being conducted have that as the designed focus.

And all the teammates who are here with you from the deputy chiefs of mission, the charges, as I mentioned, and others, will help us understand and make that the case. Will it be perfect? No. Don't worry about making it perfect. Make it good enough, and we'll continue to build upon it and make it as good as we can get it as we get closer and closer to it. And then we'll look at the FY '13, '14, '15 and '16 programs, begin discussing it; where do we want to go? What sorts of things do we see as objectives? Where are our priorities and why? And then begin thinking about that so that we can continue next year doing the same things from a planning perspective, building up to this time next year as well.

Okay, I'm going to stop there and turn the program back over. We have challenges in the AOR ... they're there. They are there. And we have policies that our nation will determine that will then drive what we do about each of those places. But we also have engagement opportunities that we want to pay attention to, to keep us and keep the partner nations who've expressed desires not to get into the situations from having that circumstance faced as well.

I'm going to leave you with one of my favorite poems -- or, it's just a quote from John Adams. This is a letter that John Adams sent to his son and he wrote this in his letter: "Public business, my son, must always be done by someone. It will be done by somebody or someone. If wise men decline to do it, those others will not. If honest men refuse to do it, those others will not."

So, you've come here as wise men and women, as honest men and women, so that we can keep those others from getting involved. You can figure out who those are others are yourselves. (Laughter.) I won't say it.

Okay, welcome to this year's conference. You, collectively, are the wise ones and making a difference is what this is about: doing the public's business on behalf of our fellow citizens both in the United States but also the global community. This is important work that we do together to help our African partners achieve what they've told me in so many different ways across the continent, and that is to be in the position to provide for their own security, not us there doing it for them. But as Nelson Mandela said, for the time being we just need a little help. So we're there to provide that help in ways that makes a difference to them, satisfies our national policy objectives, our national security objectives as an instrumentality of our government that has pretty heavy responsibilities in that regard.

So welcome, great to have you here and I look forward to a very productive week of discussion, dialogue, program solidification, and ways that we can consider moving ahead in the out-years as we look to cause what we do to be resourced in a way that will, indeed, make a difference. So great to have you here, have a great conference, and we'll see you a bit later on in the day. Thank you very much.

(END)