FISCAL YEAR 2007 NATIONAL DEFENSE AUTHORIZATION ACT-BUDGET REQUEST FROM THE EUROPEAN COMMAND

HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES, COMMITTEE ON ARMED SERVICES, Washington, DC, Wednesday, March 8, 2006.

The committee met, pursuant to call, at 10:09 a.m., in room 2118, Rayburn House Office Building, Hon. Duncan Hunter (chairman of the committee) presiding.

OPENING STATEMENT OF HON. DUNCAN HUNTER, A REPRESENTATIVE FROM CALIFORNIA, CHAIRMAN, COMMITTEE ON ARMED SERVICES

The CHAIRMAN. The hearing will come to order.

First, I would like to welcome our witness, General James L. Jones, United States Marine Corps, Commander, European Command.

And, General Jones, it is difficult to believe it has been three years since you assumed this present command. Those three years have been a time of change and consequence in very great measure because of the tremendous work of the men and women who serve us in North American Treaty Organization (NATO) and in the U.S. European Command.

And so, we welcome you back. We thank you, their leader, for your service and for your leadership during this very critical time. Today this committee will consider the challenges facing EUCOM and NATO, challenges seemingly as broad as the vast reach of General Jones's responsibilities. But optimists see this as a time of great opportunity, and well they should considering how NATO has grown to include new democracies, a Central and Eastern Europe, countries which in turn enriched NATO. We have seen a new relationship develop with Russia, something that once seemed unthinkable, as evidenced by the Russian Navy's participation in a recent NATO maritime counterterrorism mission.

General, I believe that you yourself have said that 2006 is a pivotal year for NATO. Based on how much has been accomplished in a few short years, 2006 does indeed promise to set a bold direction for the alliance. As a result of the 2002 Prague Summit, European Command has led the way in transforming NATO by working with our allies to develop military capabilities useful outside Europe. We are reaping the benefits of that investment, especially in the import work of the NATO-led International Security Assistance Force in Afghanistan.

This year your new NATO will embark on an ambitious campaign to expand operations into Afghanistan's southern and east

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ern sectors. Some 35 countries, including 10 nations that are not members of NATO, are working together to help build a peaceful and stable Afghanistan. Even as NATO transforms, it is helping transform this nation in ways that will benefit us all for decades to come.

So we look forward to seeing another facet of the new NATO grow to maturity. The NATO response force is projected to achieve a pivotal milestone in October with its full operational capability. The NATO Response Force (NRF) acquitted itself admirably in its first mission providing humanitarian relief to the victims of the earthquake in Pakistan.

I would note especially NATO's training mission Iraq, which is playing a key role in helping professionalize officers in the Iraqi Army. A few weeks back, I went to Iraq and met with Iraqi brigade commanders and the Marines overseeing their training. Their reports were encouraging.

They told us that Iraqi troops were developing and increasingly holding their ground in contrast to green Iraqi troops who abandoned the battlefield in Fallujah nearly two years ago. As we know, the extent to which Iraqis continue to take on the defense of their country and take part in their own political process is the key to the future, ours and theirs.

And I might note as an aside, General Jones, that the last confirmation I got on this increasing Iraqi capability in that western area of responsibility (AOR) that is held by the Marines was when I got the most credible of intelligence sources. And that is when we went to Landstuhl, Germany and I got a chance to speak alone with my good friend, Ken Calvert, with a Marine corporal who had been wounded in a firefight in Fallujah. Actually, he had fallen three stories while he was covering a buddy with a saw.

And I asked him how the Iraqis were performing. He said, "They are standing side by side. They are holding their ground, and they are fighting side by side with us," and he said, "doing a good job.' So for me, that was the good housekeeping seal of approval to follow those formal briefings, which sometimes give you the right message and sometimes do not.

But it is in this role of helping to shape the officers who will lead the Iraqi Army that it is gratifying to see NATO demonstrate its continuing commitment to the common values of freedom and democracy, even as it proves its flexibility and its continuing rel

evance.

General Jones and his team also deserve credit for increasing our attention in Africa. And I know that has been a focus of yours that you thought did not receive the right focus previously.

And I think you are absolutely right, General. I think recent history is proving that out. As we have seen, so-called ungoverned spaces can become safe havens for terrorists. And EUCOM's work in Darfur helping assist African Union military components is certainly a positive step toward meeting the pressing challenges that face parts of Africa.

Clearly, General, this is a pivotal time for the men and women under your command. I know your work will continue to strengthen the vitality and relevance of an alliance that will play an important role in dealing with the new threats that have emerged after

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the end of the Cold War. We especially look forward to what the Riga summit will bring in the fall.

So thank you very much for your service. And we look forward to your perspective on this very important piece of our world.

And now, we have got an introduction to make in the audience. But I thought before we do that, let me turn to my good friend, my partner on this committee, the gentleman from Missouri, Mr. Skelton, for any remarks that he would like to make. And then I will turn to the two gentleladies from California for an introduction they would like to make.

The gentleman is recognized.

STATEMENT OF HON. IKE SKELTON, A REPRESENTATIVE FROM MISSOURI, RANKING MEMBER, COMMITTEE ON ARMED SERVICES

Mr. SKELTON. Mr. Chairman, thank you very much.

And let me welcome you, General Jones. It is great to see you testifying again. We in our country are blessed with your service and your leadership. And we want to express our sincere gratitude to you for your past, present and future service. So thank you for being with us.

We also want to say we are thankful for the sacrifices of the troops that you lead. I wish to acknowledge our European friends and allies for their ongoing contribution to our security goals. I would like to commend their efforts to diffuse the Iranian nuclear situation and thank them for their important work in Afghanistan and also in Iraq. And I hope to see increased allied involvement in that part of the world. The ability of the Europeans to play a greater role in their own security affairs is important as well as ours. Today the European Command faces a number of critical security challenges in encouraging increased participation from NATO allies. And Afghanistan is at the top of the list.

And I hope, General, you will address that issue. I am deeply concerned about the situation in Afghanistan. The country has made great strides and has an elected government. A successful reconstruction effort is underway. And these improvements are tempered by persistent insecurity, which is fueled by a rampant drug trade and Taliban-led insurgency.

More than 1,600 Afghans and 99 U.S. soldiers were killed in combat last year, the bloodiest period since the fall of the Taliban. The Afghan officials say Taliban commanders are using money from drug lords to finance a guerrilla force that could sustain an insurgency for years. Just recently, Lieutenant General Michael Maples, who heads the Defense Intelligence Agency, told Congress that insurgents now represent a greater threat to the expansion of the Afghan government authority than at any point since 2001.

And the violence seems to be surging at a time when the U.S. military is hoping to draw down its 19,000 member force in Afghanistan and turn over more responsibility to NATO forces. America also hopes that the newly trained Afghan Army will assume a greater role.

General Jones, one year ago you told me there was light at the end of the tunnel in Afghanistan. Today it seems like it is a long way to go. Is NATO prepared for the task at hand? What is it doing

to prepare the Afghan Army? What are the critical challenges that are being faced in Afghanistan?

In addition, Russia is at a strategic crossroad. Its choices must be effectively managed to a strong U.S.-Russian relationship. Ukraine is also at a critical point.

It is also easy to forget that the European Command is responsible for vast amounts of land area in Africa. But that is precisely where serious future security challenges may originate if we are not very careful. Ungoverned spaces could provide safe haven for terrorists. Any number of regional conflicts could ignite into very serious war.

Hunger, disease cause human suffering in an enormous scale. And if left untreated, the humanitarian disasters are catalysts for even more complex issues.

NATO alliance and our presence in Europe continue to undergo extraordinary change. And I believe that a changing American footprint in the region may allow for a new opportunities. Yet we must take care not to alienate traditional allies-and this is important— at a time when we need them the very most. And that is now.

And I hope, General, that you will update us on all these changes that are beginning to take place. And again, thank you for your service.

The CHAIRMAN. I thank the gentleman for a very thoughtful statement.

And now, I would like to go to my California colleagues, Ms. Tauscher and Ms. Davis, the gentlelady from San Diego and the gentlelady from Livermore. And they have an introduction to make.

And while they are making that introduction, General, please excuse me. I have to run up and testify to a panel right upstairs. And I will be right back down after we get finished. But the able Mr. Hayes will run this operation while we are doing it.

So the gentlelady from California, Ms. Tauscher, is recognized for an introduction and, following that, Ms. Davis.

Ms. TAUSCHER. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. It is wonderful to have General Jones here.

Thank you, General, for your service, spectacular service over so many years and for the command and the hard working men and women that you command in Europe and around the world, especially your NATO billet as the supreme allied commander. Thank you for being here.

I am very honored. One of my responsibilities in Congress is to co-chair the Iraqi Women's Caucus. And I am very honored to have shadowing me today one of our good friends who was just elected to the Council of Representatives in December. Her name is Mona Noor H. Zalzala. She was a member of the Iraqi Unified Coalition list.

Thank you, Mona. Best wishes.

She actually lived in exile in Denmark during Saddam's regime and returned after the fall to be part of the new democracy. And she is a fabulous member of the new government. And we look forward to her service and working together with her.

I yield to my colleague from California, Ms. Davis.
MS. DAVIS OF CALIFORNIA. Thank you.

And, General Jones, it is good to see you. We had your service in San Diego for a good while in California. And it was always wonderful working with you.

And I also wanted to introduce the woman who is shadowing me this morning from Iraq. Her name is Hanaa Edwar. Hanaa heads Iraqi El Amal. It is a humanitarian non-government organization (NGO) committed to improving the conditions of Iraqis through medical, social, cultural and educational conditions of Iraqis in a number of construction projects. And her organization is recognized as one of the most successful and effective Iraqi civil society programs.

She is also a board member of the Almahaba Women's Radio Station. And she is a prominent and outspoken advocate for women's rights and democracy. And we have been having some wonderful conversations. And, in fact, we also had an opportunity to hear from some of our colleagues who had been in New Orleans recently and actually some of her family members were also there and also hurt by Katrina. And so, she has a very close relationship to all of us.

Thank you very much. And I look forward to the entire day with you. Please stand, Hanaa.

[Applause.]

Mr. HAYES [presiding]. Thank you for that introduction. And let me add the committee's thanks and also our regard and our admiration for your courage and commitment to advancing the causes of the Iraqi people.

General Jones, without further ado, welcome. You are certainly no stranger here, much admired and respected. Thanks for your service, but even more importantly, the men and women that you represent.

You have the floor and may proceed. And any and all of your statement will be included in the record.

STATEMENT OF GEN. JAMES L. JONES, UNITED STATES MARINE CORPS, COMMANDER, U.S. EUROPEAN COMMAND General JONES. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. With your permission, I just have a brief opening statement that I would like to share with the committee.

But before I do that, if I may be allowed to make one introduction of my own, seated to my right rear is a gentleman that perhaps needs no introduction to any of the members here. He is the 14th sergeant major of the United States Marine Corps.

I was very fortunate to serve as the 32nd commandant. And he was my right hand for three-and-a-half years while I served as commandant. And when his tour was up in 2003, I asked the sergeant major if he would be willing to come over to NATO and serve as the first-ever sergeant major of the Supreme Headquarters of the Allied Powers in Europe and help in transforming the nations of the former Soviet block, the Warsaw Pact, and expose the brilliant idea and concept of non-commissioned officers and staff noncommissioned officers (NCO) to those armies who have not had that experience.

He accepted and came over just almost three years ago. And in three years time, the sergeant major and his colleagues have man