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Gen. Richard Myers (left) speaks to the media |
By RUSTY DENNEN
The U.S. military must be more agile and flexible to deal with future threats, and that transformation is under way, says retired Air Force Gen. Richard B. Myers.
Myers, a four-star general and former chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, was at Borders in Central Park last night to speak and sign copies of his new memoir, "Eyes on the Horizon."
Myers said transforming the nation's military to fight future wars became necessary after the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks.
"We're well on our way to doing that," he said, citing as an example the Army's decision to make brigades more autonomous in the field, and instilling "cultural awareness" in all services' junior officers.
"One thing we asked after 9/11 was, 'OK, what languages are we teaching in our service academies?' It was mostly Romance languages, or Russian."
Now the focus is on Arabic and Chinese.
"And every service is putting more emphasis for young officers in formal education and developing some cultural awareness and facility with different parts of the world, so they can understand them more."
One man in the audience asked why private contractors came to play such a prominent role in the military mission in Iraq. Firms such as Blackwater of North Carolina, now known as "Xe," took over major security functions, with sometimes tragic results for the civilian population. The company no longer has a license to operate in Iraq.
Contracting out, Myers said, became a buzzword in the 1990s.
"We were encouraged by lots of business people to outsource," he said, but it soon became apparent that what works in peacetime doesn't work in war.
"I think [the Department of Defense] was very slow in developing policies on what standards we expected from them."
On President Obama's decision to close the Guantanamo detention facility, Myers said there were multiple factors to be weighed.
On one hand, "Guantanamo has such a negative connotation on the world stage, we probably have to close it. On the other hand, it's very practical. We put a lot of money into the facility there to protect the detainees and those guarding them. So it's complicated."
Asked if any of the detainees should be transferred to Quantico Marine Corps Base, Myers smiled and said, "Where they should go, I don't know. That is such a political hot potato."
Myers has connections to the Fredericksburg area: Though he lives in Northern Virginia, he has a residence in Spotsylvania County. And he is honorary chairman of the Fredericksburg branch of the Families of the Wounded Fund Inc.
Over a career of more than 40 years in the Air Force, Myers rose to the rank of four-star general and served as vice chairman, then chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. The joint chiefs are the top military advisers to the president.
Myers' book delves into his career in the military, the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks and the global war on terror, including mistakes made by the White House, Pentagon leadership and the intelligence community.
Rusty Dennen: 540/374-5431
Email: rdennen@freelancestar.com
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Retired Air Force Gen. Richard B. Myers was chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff from 2001 to 2005.
Among other assignments, Myers was commander of the North American Aerospace Defense Command and U.S Space Command, Air Force Space Command, manager of the Department of Defense transportation system contingency support at Peterson Air Force Base, Colo., and commander of the Pacific Air Forces at Hickam Air Force Base, Hawaii. Myers received a degree in mechanical engineering from Kansas State University, and
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