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Tag: ash carter
Sean O'Keefe

Nearly 500 National Security Officials Say They ‘Fear’ For America Under Trump

Almost 500 national security experts — including 22 four-star military officers — slammed Donald Trump in a public letter released Thursday, calling him unfit for his role as commander in chief and endorsing Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden.

The letter, simply addressed "To Our Fellow Citizens," is a bipartisan effort signed by prominent Republicans and Democrats alike who say they "fear" for their country under Trump. Signatories include former Navy Secretary and NASA administrator Sean O'Keefe, who served in both Bush administrations, and former Defense Secretaries Chuck Hagel, Leon Panetta, and Ash Carter.

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U.S. Military Opens All Combat Roles To Women

U.S. Military Opens All Combat Roles To Women

By David Alexander and Phil Stewart

WASHINGTON (Reuters) — Women can compete for all U.S. military jobs, including front-line combat posts, Defense Secretary Ash Carter said on Thursday, overriding Marine Corps objections in a historic move to strike down gender barriers in the armed services.

“As long as they qualify and meet the standards, women will now be able to contribute to our mission in ways they could not before,” Carter told a Pentagon news conference.

“They’ll be allowed to drive tanks, fire mortars, and lead infantry soldiers into combat. They’ll be able to serve as Army Rangers and Green Berets, Navy SEALS, Marine Corps infantry, Air Force parajumpers and everything else that was previously open only to men,” he said.

Carter said the opening to women would take place following a 30-day waiting period required by law, after which women will be integrated into new roles in a “deliberate and methodical manner.”

During the waiting period, the military services will finalize plans for integrating women into the new positions, he said.

The move comes nearly three years after the Pentagon first eliminated its ban on women serving in front-line combat roles and began a process that would let women compete for 220,000 additional military jobs.

Then-Defense Secretary Leon Panetta lifted a ban in force in 2013 on women in front-line combat roles, a restriction seen as increasingly out of place during a decade of war in Iraq and Afghanistan in which women were increasingly in harm’s way.

Women represented about 2 percent of U.S. casualties in Iraq and Afghanistan, with some 300,000 deploying to the conflict zones.

Carter said most of the services favored opening all jobs to women, but the Marine Corps had sought a partial exception for roles such as infantry, machine gunner, fire support reconnaissance and others.

Carter said he considered the Marine Corps’ request and believed its concerns could be addressed with careful implementation of the decision.

“We are a joint force, and I have decided to make a decision which applies to the entire force,” he said.

Women already serve in combat roles for the armed forces of a few developed nations, including Canada and Israel, but officials say demand from women for such jobs in NATO nations is very low.

(Reporting by Phil Stewart and David Alexander; Editing by Jeffrey Benkoe and Tom Brown)

Photo: Then U.S. Army First Lieutenant Kirsten Griest (C) and fellow soldiers participate in combatives training during the Ranger Course on Fort Benning, Georgia, in this handout photograph taken on April 20, 2015 and obtained on August 20, 2015. REUTERS/Spc. Nikayla Shodeen/U.S. Army/Handout via Reuters

U.S. Aims To Shift Israel Focus To Security Ties After Iran Deal

U.S. Aims To Shift Israel Focus To Security Ties After Iran Deal

By Phil Stewart

TEL AVIV (Reuters) – U.S. Defense Secretary Ash Carter said it plainly just before landing in Israel, where officials are fuming over the Iran nuclear deal: “I’m not going to change anybody’s mind in Israel. That’s not the purpose of my trip.”

Carter, making the first visit by a U.S. cabinet official to Israel since last week’s landmark agreement to curb Iran’s nuclear program, aims instead to move away from political tensions over the accord to more cool-headed, nuts-and-bolts discussions on deepening security ties.

Increased U.S. military-related support is expected to be on the table. But Israeli and U.S. officials have played down the prospects of any looming announcements.

“Friends can disagree but we have decades of rock-solid cooperation with Israel,” Carter told reporters traveling with him. Carter’s mission will not be an easy one. The United States and Israel fundamentally differ on whether the Iran nuclear deal makes both countries safer. President Barack Obama says it does; Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu says it does not. 

Israel fears that Tehran’s economic gains from a lifting of Western sanctions could boost Iranian-backed guerrillas in Lebanon and the Palestinian territories. It could also lead to an arms race with Arab states unfriendly to Israel.

Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, the highest authority in Iran, did little to alleviate those concerns in a fiery speech marking the end of the holy month of Ramadan on Saturday.

Khamenei said the nuclear deal would not change Iran’s policy in supporting allies in Syria, Iraq, Bahrain, Yemen, Lebanon and among the Palestinians.

Obama has stressed that taking the threat of an Iranian nuclear weapon off the table increases the security of Israel, the United States and its allies. U.S. officials have also signaled they are not changing a longstanding U.S. defense strategy that is underpinned by the threat of a hostile Iran.

“Neither the deal nor everything else we’re doing to advance our military strategy in the region assumes anything about Iranian behavior,” Carter said.

“There’s nothing in those 100 pages that places any limitations on the United States or what it does to defend … its friends and allies including Israel.”

Carter also cited the U.S. commitment to allies to guard against potential Iranian aggression.

‘DON’T ANTICIPATE A SHIFT’

A senior U.S. defense official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said Iran was likely to keep trying to take advantage of fragile states in the Middle East, saying: “I don’t anticipate a shift in their activities.”

Israel has a strong army, is believed to have the region’s only nuclear arsenal, and receives about $3 billion a year in military-related support from the United States. That amount is expected to increase following the Iran deal, and Carter cited a range of security issues to discuss.

“We don’t have any big package or announcement or thing to bring to the Israelis that we’re bargaining over,” the senior U.S. defense official said.

After Israel, Carter will head this week to Jordan and Saudi Arabia. Iran is the predominant Shi’ite Muslim power, hostile not only to Israel but to Washington’s Sunni Muslim-ruled Arab friends, particularly Saudi Arabia.

Allies of Riyadh and Tehran have fought decades of sectarian proxy wars in Syria, Lebanon, Iraq and Yemen.

Saudi Arabia’s Prince Bandar bin Sultan, a former head of the kingdom’s intelligence services, wrote last week that the nuclear deal would allow Iran to “wreak havoc in the region.”

But Saudi Foreign Minister Adel al-Jubeir signaled a willingness during a visit last week in Washington to discuss ways to strengthen security ties.

Carter said he aimed to work on advancing commitments made to Gulf leaders in May when Obama hosted them at Camp David.

(Reporting by Phil Stewart; Editing by Peter Cooney and Howard Goller)

U.S. Defense Secretary Ash Carter pauses on the tarmac as he boards his plane en route to Tel Aviv, Israel, in Andrews Air Force Base, Maryland, early July 19, 2015. (REUTERS/Carolyn Kaster/Pool)

Cartoon: Defense Secretary Ashton Carter Yells At The Iraqis

Cartoon: Defense Secretary Ashton Carter Yells At The Iraqis