News From USJFCOM: Nominee to be the next USJFCOM commander testifies before Senate Armed Services Committee

Nominee to be the next USJFCOM commander testifies before Senate Armed Services Committee

Marine Corps Lt. Gen. James N. Mattis, nominee to be the next commander of U.S. Joint Forces Command, spoke before the Senate Armed Services Committee on a variety of issues including training and preparation of the joint warfighter.

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By Robert Pursell
USJFCOM Public Affairs

(WASHINGTON – Sept. 27, 2007) –- President George Bush’s nominee to be the next commander of U.S. Joint Forces Command (USJFCOM) and NATO's Supreme Allied Commander-Transformation spoke before the Senate Armed Services Committee (SASC) today stressing the importance of training and preparation of the joint warfighter.

Marine Corps Lt. Gen. James N. Mattis, who will earn his fourth star if confirmed by the Senate, said to be successful in Iraq and Afghanistan, U.S. forces are going to have to improve the way they work with other countries through training and forming relationships. While it’s important to develop new weapons and technologies to keep up with the enemy, he said it’s critical to learn new languages and cultures in order to better train and prepare the warfighter.

"This is the kind of war where ammunition at times, the money for that is better spent trying to make common cause with the people. This is not a war that can be won purely by military means," said Mattis. "Those funds [spent on common cause with the people] allow us to make immediate impacts and to bring people around who may have been brought up on a diet of hatred and bias, and bridge over to them and create a sense of common purpose. You’ve seen this work in Al Anbar province, where when the enemy made mistakes we could then exploit those mistakes."

Mattis, however, did not downplay the importance of modernizing weaponry for the warfighter.

"We don’t need other countries with artillery that can outrange ours. Future combat systems digresses those deficiencies," he said.

USJFCOM plays an important role as DoD’s joint force provider. Mattis was asked how he would handle a situation where there were no forces available to be deployed at a given time and how he would respond to leadership.

"We need to have a balancing act here where we can candidly and openly share with you what we need to do our job and recognize sometimes we simply don’t have the forces to do something," he said. "And we will provide that. I will get in consultation with the component commanders there at U.S. Joint Forces Command and make certain that’s stated."

Mattis was also asked, as Supreme Allied Commander-Transformation, what he thought the current role of the NATO should be when it comes to drugs funding the insurgency in Afghanistan and finding a solution.

"I believe that the efforts of NATO and the U.S. forces to create a stronger central government that creates control over the country are on target," he said. "We need a dramatic leap in our interagency and international partners’ efforts to reduce drug demand and to come up with substitute crops and the kind of supporting infrastructure that allows those crops to become viable, not simply a program that makes us feel good, but actually as an alternative for those farmers in light of how much money they’re being paid right now.

"I think that the preparation of the NATO forces, which USJFCOM and Allied Command – Transformation work together on, can help address this but it’s a larger problem than just the military preparation of the troops," he said.

In addition to Mattis, the hearings also examined the nominations of Army Gen. William Ward for commander, U.S. Africa Command, Air Force Gen. Kevin Chilton for commander, U.S. Strategic Command, and Navy Adm. Gary Roughead to be the next Chief of Naval Operations.