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| Hagel touts 'light footprint' strategy for US military amid Ukraine unrest | Hagel touts 'light footprint' strategy for US military amid Ukraine unrest |
| (about 2 hours later) | |
| The US defense secretary said Tuesday that America can have a persistent global presence without engaging in major military deployments. | The US defense secretary said Tuesday that America can have a persistent global presence without engaging in major military deployments. |
| With the specter of war in Ukraine hanging over his words, Chuck Hagel, the former Republican senator turned defense secretary for Barack Obama, argued before an audience convened by the Chicago Council on Global Affairs and the University of Chicago Institute of Politics that the administration’s “light footprint” concept of leadership was a critical component of global stability. | |
| Much of the speech hit familiar themes issued by successive Pentagon chiefs in recent years – the importance of global alliances, the indispensability of American leadership, the “complicated” security landscape – but largely absent from Hagel’s portrait of emerging global security challenges was Russian irredentism in Ukraine, an event that has upended expectations in Washington and its partner capitals about European stability. | Much of the speech hit familiar themes issued by successive Pentagon chiefs in recent years – the importance of global alliances, the indispensability of American leadership, the “complicated” security landscape – but largely absent from Hagel’s portrait of emerging global security challenges was Russian irredentism in Ukraine, an event that has upended expectations in Washington and its partner capitals about European stability. |
| Hagel argued that active American leadership was necessary to “help shape the forces that will shape our future”, despite a US military shrinking in size due to budget cuts. Like his predecessors of both parties, Hagel pointed to expanding US partnerships as a cornerstone of Washington’s grand strategy. | Hagel argued that active American leadership was necessary to “help shape the forces that will shape our future”, despite a US military shrinking in size due to budget cuts. Like his predecessors of both parties, Hagel pointed to expanding US partnerships as a cornerstone of Washington’s grand strategy. |
| But, he said, “building stronger partnerships does not require large-scale deployments”. | But, he said, “building stronger partnerships does not require large-scale deployments”. |
| Key as it has been to the Obama administration’s approach to foreign affairs, the contention has come under stress at home and abroad following Russia’s annexation of Crimea and alleged sponsorship of pro-Russian separatists in Ukraine, which has wrested much of the eastern part of the country from the pro-western capital of Kiev. Germany’s foreign minister warned on Tuesday that Ukraine is slipping into a state of outright war that “a short time ago we would not have considered possible”. | Key as it has been to the Obama administration’s approach to foreign affairs, the contention has come under stress at home and abroad following Russia’s annexation of Crimea and alleged sponsorship of pro-Russian separatists in Ukraine, which has wrested much of the eastern part of the country from the pro-western capital of Kiev. Germany’s foreign minister warned on Tuesday that Ukraine is slipping into a state of outright war that “a short time ago we would not have considered possible”. |
| Hagel termed it “blatant aggression” in Chicago, but his speech did not offer any new pronouncements of US response. Last week, in threatening new and broader economic sanctions against Russian officials and businesses, a senior administration official argued that the US economic pressure against Russia was more effective than a military response could offer. | Hagel termed it “blatant aggression” in Chicago, but his speech did not offer any new pronouncements of US response. Last week, in threatening new and broader economic sanctions against Russian officials and businesses, a senior administration official argued that the US economic pressure against Russia was more effective than a military response could offer. |
| The Obama administration, like the Bush administration before it, has shrunk the large, decades-long stationing of soldiers, airmen, warplanes and other materiel in Europe, especially in Germany. | The Obama administration, like the Bush administration before it, has shrunk the large, decades-long stationing of soldiers, airmen, warplanes and other materiel in Europe, especially in Germany. |
| Two army brigade combat teams, half the US ground combat strength in Europe, withdrew permanently from Germany in 2013, taking with them the US tanks that had been a fixture on the continent since D-Day – although a smaller contingent of tanks returned to Grafenwohr in February for allied training missions. | Two army brigade combat teams, half the US ground combat strength in Europe, withdrew permanently from Germany in 2013, taking with them the US tanks that had been a fixture on the continent since D-Day – although a smaller contingent of tanks returned to Grafenwohr in February for allied training missions. |
| While Hagel’s speech was framed as a broad overview of global security challenges, he touched only briefly on the Ukraine crisis that has dominated much of the foreign policy landscape. Those mentions cast the US response to Ukraine as a piece with pre-existing Obama administration strategy, rather than an adjustment to it or prompting a reevaluation of it in light of an unexpected event. | While Hagel’s speech was framed as a broad overview of global security challenges, he touched only briefly on the Ukraine crisis that has dominated much of the foreign policy landscape. Those mentions cast the US response to Ukraine as a piece with pre-existing Obama administration strategy, rather than an adjustment to it or prompting a reevaluation of it in light of an unexpected event. |
| The added presence of a few hundred soldiers and the doubling of fighter jets to train alongside Poland and Baltic allies “continues to reassure them all of our commitment to Nato’s collective security against Russia’s aggression,”, Hagel said. | The added presence of a few hundred soldiers and the doubling of fighter jets to train alongside Poland and Baltic allies “continues to reassure them all of our commitment to Nato’s collective security against Russia’s aggression,”, Hagel said. |
| In the course of stumping for his most recent defense budget, in jeopardy on Capitol Hill, Hagel said his desired investment in next-generation fighter and bomber aircraft, surveillance tools, cyber weapons, special-operations forces and over-the-horizon technological capabilities was borne out by Russian action in Ukraine. | In the course of stumping for his most recent defense budget, in jeopardy on Capitol Hill, Hagel said his desired investment in next-generation fighter and bomber aircraft, surveillance tools, cyber weapons, special-operations forces and over-the-horizon technological capabilities was borne out by Russian action in Ukraine. |
| “As we’ve seen in Ukraine and elsewhere, we must prepare for shadowy conflicts in which nations deploy irregular forces, conduct cyber-terrorism, and seek ways to counter our technological edge,” Hagel said. | “As we’ve seen in Ukraine and elsewhere, we must prepare for shadowy conflicts in which nations deploy irregular forces, conduct cyber-terrorism, and seek ways to counter our technological edge,” Hagel said. |
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