Remarks by Secretary Carter at a Troop Event at Moron Air Base, Spain, October 6, 2015

SECRETARY OF DEFENSE ASH CARTER: Colonel Donahue, Colonel Worth, thank you very much for the welcome here, and for the fantastic -- for those of you who were part of the assault demo, congratulations. That was fantastic.

I won't keep you long, but I got a couple things to say to you, and then I'll answer whatever questions you have.

First of all, and most important -- and to the spouses here as well, because you're part of the team, too -- thank you. We don't take you for granted. You are what I wake up for every morning; you're what we think about all day.

We're so proud of you, and we're so grateful for what you do for our country to protect our people. And really, for the whole world, because there's still a world in which -- which looks to us for so much in the way of peace and security, and to give their children a better life. And you do that.

You are, right here, right now, at Moron -- you've got to love the sound of freedom.

I never understand these people who live around bases, and you Air Force guys will notice, who complain about the noise of aircraft -- (inaudible). They don't understand what it's all about.

But anyway, you are right here, right now in Moron at the center of the strategic transition that we are making. After our 14 hard years in Iraq and Afghanistan, years in which we were all in there -- you were all in. And in which the performance of our force was spectacular in every way. But it was all consuming.

Now, you are turning both the Marine Corps and the Air Force and the other services to a wider spectrum of possible conflicts, and you're right at the cutting edge of that strategic transition to full spectrum.

So, we don't know what the future will hold, but we do know what's out there -- and that ranges all the way from high-end opponents, down to terrorists, people who are threatening our fellow Americans who are doing their work of our country out here in the region -- which is one of your principle missions. And right through the middle, counter-ISIL and so forth.

So, we are asking you now to make that strategic transition. That's what the Marine Corps is doing, both under your new, wonderful Commandant Bob Neller, and now Joe Dunford, joins me up in the cockpit as chairman of the joint chiefs of staff. We're proud of him.

And for you all -- Mark Welsh, wonderful leader, long time friend of mine. Under their leadership and -- with the full support of our entire country, which, the one thing that we -- you know, we spent a lot of hard years in Iraq and Afghanistan, did spectacularly well. Our forces did. But I think it also taught the American people something about what it's all about, what you guys do. How much you sacrifice, how much your family sacrificed, and how much it means.

And so, they understand that right now, right here, you're at the pivot.

The other thing that you represent here, and it was a joint Spanish-U.S. assault team here, is the value of our long-standing friendships and alliances. And you know, I always say, people say, you know, what about the Russians? What about the Chinese? I have my problems with the Russians or the Chinese.

But you know what? They don't have any friends. And we do. We have wonderful friends like the Spanish, of -- for decades and decades. Why is that?

Well, you know, part of it is we're strong, and -- but the main thing is that we share a way of looking at the world. We share values, we share principles.

And if you look around the globe and you say, who is it that you feel, as Americans, a kind of kindred soul with, in terms of what we value and what we want to give to our children, and what we stand up for? The Spanish are a great example of that.

So, they're great friends; they're great allies. And you keep a strong and principled partnership going with that -- with them. And that's what America has, and no other country has, all around the world.

So, that's another thing you do, and I think they greatly appreciate your presence here. I know they're wonderful hosts to you, but you're wonderful guests to them and wonderful partners to them.

I was with the defense minister, who's a great guy, who is -- somewhere here -- Pedro Morenes, yesterday. Terrific partner.

So, please, if your family isn't with you -- and this will be true for the Marines here -- and you get a chance to talk to them in the next few days, tell them that I was here, and that I thank you for what you're doing. Not only you, but them also. And those also -- you have friends back state-side.

And the spouses who are here, make sure the whole family knows how incredibly proud we are of you, and how grateful we are about you every single day.

And with that, I will do two things. First of all, you got any questions or comments, or anything that's on your mind? There a couple of mics here, just come up and let me know what you're thinking.

And then, I want to get a chance to look each and everyone of you in the eye, and shake your hand, and thank you personally. And I'll give you a coin -- the Ash Carter coins, which are still relatively new, so they have some market value. So, if you hawk it soon, it'll be worth something.

So, let's do that. Anybody, come on up -- (inaudible).

Q: Good morning, Mr. Secretary. HM3, (inaudible) from the 6th Marine Regiment. I'm from Long Island, New York.

With Russia's new stance and flexibility, do you see them posing a threat to the United States in the next five years?

SEC. CARTER: So the question was does Russia pose a threat to the United States, and I think you were asking also about the Syria move?

Q: Yes, Mr. Secretary.

SEC. CARTER: Yes. So first of all, does Russia pose a threat to the -- to the United States? Well, I mean let's just remember. Russia has a very large nuclear arsenal, long-standing -- now that's not new, but you can never forget that, and that's why we continue to modernize our own nuclear forces so we always have a deterrent to that.

Secondly, Russia has been acting in a threatening manner with respect to Europe. Witness what they did in Ukraine. That's the reason why we and NATO, including the Spanish contribution to NATO, are strengthening our presence here in Europe and -- and on the eastern front.

And then finally, what about this Russian move in Syria? I -- I think the Russians have made a serious mistake, and here's why. They are -- they say they want to fight ISIL, but what they're actually doing is supporting Assad. Now, what that means is they're going to pour gasoline on the civil war of Syria, and they're going to have everybody after them.

Now, that may cause them to re-think what they're doing, because I think they're way off track in their strategic thinking. What we -- just to be clear, what we're -- we're doing is we're going to defeat ISIL, but we also want a political transition in Syria where Assad goes away and a government of Syria that can restore some semblance of order, good governance and decent future for their people, is -- takes his place.

Now, if the Russians want to work on that, that would be one thing, but that's not the path they're on right now. So they're way off course relative to everybody else, but we're staying with our course. We know exactly what we're doing. We think it's the right thing to do and -- and it's going to be effective. But they're going to -- they're not going to be effective and how long it'll take them to realize that, I can't say.

So you know, those are the kind of three areas in which we're watching Russia and their behavior, you know, needs to be checked and we're doing that.

Q: Thank you, Mr. Secretary.

Q: Morning Mr. Secretary.

SEC. CARTER: Morning.

Q: My name is Corporal (inaudible). I'm with COB6. I'm from Mercer, Pennsylvania.

My question is, is what's your opinion on the leader of North Korea having meetings with Putin, especially concerning us, considering the friction that exists between the two countries and ourselves?

SEC. CARTER: Okay, good. You're from Hershey, you say?

Q: I'm from Mercer, Pennsylvania, sir.

SEC. CARTER: Oh, okay. Good. Well, I'm from Philly, so that was the only reason I asked. So the question was, I don't know if everybody can hear, but -- but the question was North Korea, Kim Jong-un, what do I think of him and what do I think of him talking to the Russians?

So a couple of things. You know, first of all, this is someone who -- whom we need to watch very closely, because his behavior like that of his father can be quite provocative and quite erratic. So we watch that on the Korean Peninsula and -- and that is a place that, since 1953, we have stood guard and deterred North Korea, but that is a day-to-day mission, you know? In Korea, some of you may have been in Korea, they talk about fight tonight, and that's a situation that could break out any minute, where we need to stand strong with South Korea and deter North Korea from striking South or doing anything else.

Now, you ask about their connection with the Russians and a little story that goes with that. The -- the longest supporters of North Korea were actually China, but it looks to me like the Chinese have gotten fed up with them, which is not hard to imagine, and so they're looking for others friends. They used to have a friend in the Soviet Union long ago and I think they'd like to recreate that.

So that probably explains why he's talking to Vladimir Putin, but I think the main thing that has happened in the last year is that China has recognized that North Korea is a ball and chain for China and that supporting North Korea is an embarrassment for them, and North Korea constantly does things that could -- could -- right on China's border that could be destabilizing and they've gotten tired of it.

That's very understandable why that is and I think that explains why he is trying to reach out to Putin. My own view is that, you know, the North Koreans will have a hard time finding supporters anywhere around the world simply because they -- they are such outcasts in the world that it's very hard for anybody to find them very appealing as a friend or an ally.

Q: Thank you, Mr. Secretary.

SEC. CARTER: You bet. Thank you. (inaudible) -- from the Air Force? Took the long way around. He's trying to figure out what he's going to say.

Q: Good morning, Mr. Secretary. My name is -- (inaudible) -- Spain. My question is -- (inaudible)?

SEC. CARTER: Another really good question. It was what are we going to do about Chinese cyber threats, and this is something -- this is important. And just for those of you who don't know the background of this, China has been conducting basically raids on intellectual property in the United States, companies and also government databases, for quite some time and we've got that very well documented.

And the -- therefore, just in the last week when the president of China visited the United States and in the weeks before that, the United States and -- and President Obama said, "Hey, you know, we're going to have to take action of a strong sort if this doesn't stop."

Now, the Chinese agreed in the course of that summit to some rules of the road for cyber activities. And I -- my own view is, we'll have to see whether that changes their conduct or not. And if it doesn't, then we'll have to take additional action, so we'll have to see.

But it's a serious matter. And by they way, they're not the only one and cyber is a very important issue. I was talking to some of what is basically the Spanish Cyber Protection Force is what we would call it in the United States yesterday in Madrid. And they have the same problem here and everybody does around the world. And of course, it's not just other nations trying to steal intellectual property.

It's companies, it's hackers, it's terrorists. They're lots of people out there, acting on the Internet. And so for us, in DOD, job one is the protection of our own networks. Because you know, all of you know how much the use of network tools enables you in your operations. You have to have it. So we have to protect it. And so that is for us in DOD job one is protection of the networks that make our force effective.

(Inaudible) and I always say it -- our technology is the second most important thing that makes America's military the finest fighting force the world has ever know. And do you know what the first one is? You guys. It's our people that make us the finest fighting force the world has ever known. It's you.

STAFF: Thank you -- (inaudible).

SEC. CARTER: OK. Well, good. I appreciate it all. Once again to you, to you, to your families everywhere, thank you. We appreciate what you do, we're very grateful for what you do and we're exceedingly proud of you. We depend on you, the world depends on you. There's no graver responsibility you can have. On the other hand, there's no noble thing you can do with your life then what you're doing right now. Thanks all.