Good morning , everyone . Um
If you would before you take your seats ,
would you please rise for the
presentation of the colors by the
Ventura County Naval Base Color Guard ?
And please remain standing for the
performance of our national anthem by
Yeoman Aaron Dixon from the best ship
in the United States Navy , the US S
Ronald Reagan . Gentlemen , ladies
parade the colors .
Hm . Right face
f
oh , say , can you
see but
answer the light .
What so proudly we
held at the twilight .
Last gleaming whose
broad stripes and bright
stars through
ever fight
or the ram parts we watch
were so gallantly
streaming . Uh
the bombs bursting
Gay pro through the
A that are flat are
still there .
Oh , say , does that
star spangled be ?
Hurry it away .
A or the last
and the
and the whole
right . A
4 march .
Please be seated .
If I could have your attention for just
a few moments , please
hard to quiet down to the cafeteria .
If I could have your attention for just
a moment , that'd be great .
When accepting the 1980 nomination for
president , the Republican National
Convention , Ronald Reagan described
America's unique responsibility as a
defender of freedom . He affirmed that
the United States has an obligation to
its citizens and to the people of the
world . Never to let those who would
destroy freedom , dictate the future
course of human life on this planet
today , those values of freedom and
democracy are under attack all around
the world . Ukrainians are defending
their freedom against , unjustified and
unprovoked . Russian aggression .
Israelis are fighting for their
survival against brutal forces that are
bent on their destruction . In the Indo
Pacific Taiwan and our other friends
and allies are increasingly at risk .
As China seeks to forcibly reshape the
region in its authoritarian vision , we
recognize the fate of our own freedom
reflected in these countries' struggles
and as we seek to defend freedom abroad ,
we must grapple with serious challenges
at home sequestration and reliance on
continuing resolutions , hinder
effective defense planning and
production as well as our ability to
serve as the arsenal of democracy .
Being Secretary of Defense has never
been an easy job and in this complex
and dynamic environment , it's
especially challenging . Fortunately ,
America's 28th Secretary of Defense is
an extraordinary man who has dedicated
his life to the service of our country
before becoming the civilian leader
leading the Department of Defense Lloyd
Austin had a distinguished 41 year
career in the army that included
command at the core division ,
battalion and brigade levels . His
awards include the silver star and he
served as Vice Chief of Staff of the
Army and later as commander of the
United States Central Command
responsible for all military operations
in the Middle East . And Afghanistan
Secretary , Austin has inspired
military officers and civilians alike
with his unshakeable sense of duty and
sacrifice . And we're fortunate to have
his steady leadership guiding our
Department of Defense during these
tumultuous times last year at the
Reagan National Defense Forum Secretary ,
Austin reaffirmed in his keynote
address and I quote a basic American
truth and the struggle between those
fighting to defend democracy and those
bent on imperial aggression , the
United States stands with the forces of
freedom . Those struggles have only
grown since he delivered those remarks
a year ago . And so we look forward to
hearing more of Secretary Austin's
vision for how our nation must rise to
challenge and defend freedom . Ladies
and gentlemen , would you please join
me in welcoming a great American and
the 28th United States Secretary of
Defense Lloyd Austin ?
Well , good morning , everyone . And uh
and thanks for that kind introduction .
I know you said at the outset that uh
being Secretary of Defense has never
been easy , Leon Panetta and Mark Esper
said it was easier on airwatch . They
don't see what the problem is .
You know , this is my third time
speaking to the Reagan National Defense
Forum as Secretary of Defense . So this
is starting to be a habit . We've
got a great delegation here from the
Department of Defense including
Secretary Kendall , several combatant
Commanders , General CQ Brown and other
members of the Joint Chiefs of Staff .
Let's give them all a round , a round
of applause .
It's also great to be joined by
representatives and from our allies and
partners and by distinguished members
of the United States Congress . You
know , I'm always grateful for support
from Congress for our mission and for
our troops . So , while I've got you
here , let me
urge you to pass a full year
appropriation .
That's the single best thing that
Congress can do to strengthen our
national defense . You know , our
competitors don't have to operate under
continuing resolutions and so doing so
erodes both our security and our
ability to compete . And I also
urge you to pass our urgent
supplemental budget request to help
fund our national security needs to
stand by our partners in danger and to
invest in our defense industrial base .
You know , only one country on earth
can provide the kind of leadership that
this moment demands and only one
country can consistently provide the
powerful combination of innovation ,
ingenuity and idealism
in a free mind , free enterprise and
free people . And that's the United
States of America .
And so I'd like to talk to you today
about some key national security
challenges and about the very American
way that the Department of Defense is
meeting them . And let me be blunt
about our mission . The US military is
here to win our country's wars and to
win them . Decisively , we will always
try to deter conflict . But if we have
to defend our country , we will fight
and we will win .
You know , watching the news these days
reminds me of one of President Reagan's
jokes today . He would say
if someone offered us the world on a
silver platter , most of us would take
the platter
we're living through challenging times .
And that includes the major conflicts
facing our fellow democracies , Israel
and Ukraine and bullying and
coercion from an increasingly assertive
China in a worldwide battle between
democracy and autocracy .
So these are the times when both our
friends and our rivals look to America .
These are the times when the American
people count on their leaders to come
together . And these are the are the
times when global security relies on
American unity and American strength .
President Biden calls this an
inflection point in world history .
And with his leadership , we have
rallied our allies and partners to
defend the rules based international
order . Now , I know that that
phrase doesn't get everybody's pulse
racing , but the rules based
international order is central to our
long term security . It is the
structure of international institutions ,
alliances , laws and norms built with
American leadership after the
staggering losses of World War Two .
And those rules help ensure that
nothing like World War Two can ever
happen again . They uphold
sovereignty and honor borders . They
help ensure that civilians are
protected and not targeted
and they help to punish aggression and
keep bullies in check .
Since 1945 the rules based
international order has helped to give
our country and the entire world an
unprecedented period of peace and
prosperity . But
peace is not self executing
order does not preserve itself and
security does not flower on its own .
The world built by American leadership
can only be maintained by American
leadership . As President Biden has
said , American leadership is what
holds the world together . From Russia
to China , from Hamas to Iran . Our
rivals and foes want to divide and
weaken the United States and to split
us all from our allies and partners .
So at this hinge in history ,
America must not waver .
American leadership rallies , our
allies and partners to uphold our
shared security . And it inspires
ordinary people around the world to
work together toward a brighter future .
But the troubles of our time will only
only grow worse without strong and
steady American leadership to defend
the rules based international order
that keeps us all safe . And if we
forfeit our position of responsibility ,
our rivals and our foes will be
glad to fill that vacuum .
You know , in every generation , some
Americans prefer isolation to
engagement and they try to pull up the
drawbridge . They try to kick loose the
cornerstone of American leadership and
they try to undermine the security
architecture that has produced decades
of prosperity without great power war .
And you'll hear some people try to
brand an American retreat from
responsibility as bold new leadership .
So when you hear that make no mistake ,
it is not bold , it is not new
and it is not leadership .
As the old saying goes , if you think
that education is expensive , try
ignorance . And if you think American
leadership is expensive , consider the
price of American retreat
over the long sweep of American history .
The cost of courage has always been
dwarf by the cost of cowardice
and the cost of abdication has always
far outweighed . The cost of leadership ,
the world will only become more
dangerous if tyrants and terrorists
believe that they can get away with
wholesale aggression and mass slaughter
in America will only become less secure
if dictators believe that they can wipe
a democracy off the map and the United
States will only pay a higher price if
autocrats and zealots believe that they
can force free people to live in fear .
So you can see that core insight at
work in our approach to three quite
different challenges in the Middle East
crisis in Russia's invasion of
Ukraine and a strategic challenge from
the People's Republic of China
on October 7th Hamas terrorists
murdered more than 1200 Israelis
and at least 35 Americans and took more
than 200 hostages . It was the
deadliest terror attack in Israel's
history and the bloodiest day in Jewish
history since the end of the Holocaust
Hamas massacred innocent innocent
civilians inside Israel's border .
It murdered a 74 year old
Canadian Israeli peace activist and
grandmother who used to drive sick
Palestinians from Gaza into Israel for
medical treatment .
It kidnapped toddlers and
Holocaust survivors .
And so just six days after the Hamas
attack , I flew to Israel to underscore
our solidarity and our resolve and
to make it crystal clear that America's
commitment to Israel's security is
ironclad .
And so we have rushed us security
assistance to Israel to help it , help
it defend its people and its territory
and to help ensure that Hamas can never
again commit the atrocities that we saw
on October 7th .
Us leadership has helped in the release
of dozens of hostages and we will
continue to do everything that we can
to help secure the release of every man ,
every woman and every child seized by
Hamas including American citizens .
We also rapidly reinforced our force
posture in the Middle East and that
strengthens our regional deterrence
better protects our forces and helps
defend Israel . And our presence
now includes two carrier strike groups ,
an amphibious ready group , a marine
expeditionary unit , a guided missile
submarine , integrated air defense and
missile defense forces and more fighter
aircraft and bombers . But
as we are working to stabilize the
region , Iran is raising
tensions and after attacks against
us personnel in Iraq and Syria , our
forces repeatedly struck facilities in
Iraq and eastern Syria used by Iran's
IRGC and by militias affiliated with
Iran . We will not
tolerate attacks on American personnel .
And so these attacks must stop and
until they do , we will do what we
need to do to protect our troops and to
impose costs on those who attack them .
Now , Israel is in a hard fight against
a cruel enemy in one of the most
densely populated areas on earth . But
democracies like ours are stronger and
more secure when we uphold the law of
war . So we will continue to press
Israel to protect civilians and to
ensure robust the robust flow of
humanitarian aid .
First and foremost , that's the right
thing to do . But it's also a good
strategy . You know , I learned a thing
or two about urban warfare for my time
fighting in Iraq and leading the
campaign to defeat Isis like Hamas ,
Isis was deeply embedded in urban areas .
And the international coalition against
Isis worked hard to protect civilians
and create humanitarian quarters even
during the toughest battles .
And so the lesson is not that you can
win in urban urban warfare by
protecting civilians . The lesson is
that you can only win in urban warfare
by protecting civilians . You see in
this kind of a fight , the center of
gravity is the civilian population .
And if you drive them into the arms of
the enemy , you replace a tactical
victory with a strategic defeat . So I
have repeatedly made clear to Israel's
leaders that protecting Palestinian
civilians in Gaza is both a moral
responsibility and a strategic
imperative . And so I personally pushed
Israeli leaders to avoid civilian
casualties and to shun irresponsible
rhetoric and to prevent violence by
settlers in the West Bank . And to
dramatically expand access to
humanitarian aid .
This week , a US air Force C 17
airlifted more than £54,000 of un
un me medical supplies and warm
clothing and food to the people of Gaza .
And we expect more such flights in the
days ahead . And so
two things are true .
Any state has a duty to respond to a
terrorist attack like October 7th
and every state has a duty to protect
civilians during armed conflict .
And so that's crucial as Israel works
to dismantle the Hamas terrorist
infrastructure in Gaza . And it will
also be crucial for our work with
allies and partners after the conflict
ends . Now , it would compound this
tragedy if all that awaited Israelis
and Palestinians at the end of this
awful war was more insecurity ,
more rage and more despair .
Israelis and Palestinians have both
paid too bidder a price to just go back
to October 6th . So like every US
administration since the six day war in
1967 we believe that Israelis and
Palestinians must find a way to share
the land that they both call home .
And that means a path towards two
states living side by side in mutual
security . Now , we
understand all the difficulties but a
two state solution remains the only
viable way out of this tragic conflict
that has ever been proposed and
without a horizon of hope , the Israeli
Palestinian conflict will remain an
engine of instability and insecurity
and human suffering .
Ladies and gentlemen , the United
States will remain Israel's closest
friend in the world . Our support for
Israel's security is nonnegotiable and
it never will be
no . In both Israel and
Ukraine democracies are
fighting ruthless foes who are out to
annihilate them and we will not let
Hamas or Putin win and we will not
let our enemies divide or weaken us .
So as we surge support into Israel , we
remain focused on Ukraine and we remain
fully able to project power to uphold
our commitments and direct resources to
multiple theaters . The United States
is the most powerful country on earth
and we can walk and chew gum at the
same time .
Now , I was just back in K last week
and I had great discussions with
President Zelenski and the Minister of
Defense Umarov and General Zusi .
And I got to meet some of the brave
Ukrainian troops who have taken back
more than half of the territory grabbed
by Russia since its un unprovoked and
unjustified invasion in February of
2022 . Since then , the United
States and our allies and partners have
worked to get many key weapon systems
including Haars and patriots and Abrams
tanks , and more into the hands of
trained Ukrainian operators . And so 21
months into Putin's failed campaign of
conquest . The Russian military has
been badly weakened above all . That's
because of Ukraine's incredibly brave
troops . But Ukraine's achievements
also flow from bipartisan us
leadership and from the coalition of
some 50 countries that we forged
as President Biden has said , faced
with a threat to the peace and
stability of the world and to
democratic values that we hold dear
to freedom itself . We do things that
we do , we did what we always do . The
United States stepped up and I'm proud
that our allies and partners have
stepped up along with us . But we still
need urgently need bipartisan support
in Congress to pass a supplemental to
rush security assistance to our
partners in Ukraine in Israel and
elsewhere .
Meanwhile , as we rally the world to
defend Ukraine , Putin has been forced
to scrounge for support from the likes
of Iran in North Korea .
And you know , it was chilling
to see a delegation from Hamas openly
visit Moscow to meet with senior
Russian officials just weeks after the
October 7th massacre . And so
it's no surprise that Iran is fueling
conflict in both Gaza and Ukraine by
giving arms to Hamas and drones to
Putin . Now , despite his
isolation , Putin believes that he
can outlast the Ukrainians but he is
wrong . The Kremlin is waiving an
unjust war of imperial aggression , but
Ukraine is fighting a , a defensive war
for national survival and you can
feel that urgency on the ground and
that gives Ukraine a huge strategic
advantage of a just cause .
Now , Putin also thinks that he can
outlast us . He believes that our
coalition will splinter that our
willpower will fade and our democracy
will just get distracted . But once
again , Putin is wrong
and we must continue to be clear to the
American people about the
stakes in Ukraine .
Ukraine matters profoundly to America
and to the entire world and it matters
for four key reasons . First ,
Putin's war poses a stark and direct
threat to security in Europe and beyond .
Second , Putin's aggression is a clear
challenge to our NATO allies .
Third , the Kremlin's deliberate
cruelty is an attack on our shared
values of democracy and decency .
And finally , Putin's war
is a frontal assault on the
international rules based order .
So the outcome of the struggle will
define global security for decades to
come and we don't have the option of
sitting it out . So President Biden has
laid down a clear objective . The
United States seeks a free and
sovereign Ukraine that can defend
itself today and deter more Russian
aggression in the future . And so we
are working together with our allies
and partners to help Ukraine build a
future force that can ward off more
Russian malice in the years to come
because we don't stand up to the
Kremlin's naked aggression today . If
we don't deter other , would be aggress
aggressors , we will only embolden them
and we will invite more bloodshed and
more chaos .
Russia's invasion of Ukraine offers a
grim preview of a world of tyranny
and turmoil that should make us all
shudder and that's important
far beyond Europe .
Our national defense strategy describes
the People's Republic of China as
America's most consequential strategic
competitor . And the pacing challenge
for the Department of Defense , the
PRC is our only rival with the intent
and increasingly the capacity to
reshape the international order .
The PRC hopes that the United States
will stumble and become isolated
abroad and divided at home .
But together we can prevent that fate .
And we've made extraordinary progress
along with our allies and partners in
meeting the Chi China challenge and
forging a more secure Indo Pacific
in this decisive decade , 2023
will be remembered as a decisive year
for implementing us defense strategy in
Asia . And so we're making our force
posture in the Indo Pacific far more
distributed mobile and resilient .
We're helping our friends build up
their own capabilities to defend
themselves and we're working with
allies and partners like never before .
You know , I've made four trips to the
Indo Pacific this year .
And with each trip , we've made even
more progress in Manila . This February ,
we announced the expansion of our
enhanced defense co-operation agreement
with the Philippines to allow us access
to four more Philippine facilities in
New Delhi . This summer , we unveiled a
new roadmap for defense industrial
co-operation with India . Now that
strategy is already driving our work
together on key defense platforms . We
also rolled out a major deal to build
aircraft engines in India and when I
was back in India last month , we
announced our intent to coro armored
vehicles with India , our first time
with any foreign partner in
May . I visited Tokyo to further
modernize our alliance with Japan as
Japan doubles its defense budget
in July . I became the first secretary
of Defense to visit Papua New Guinea
and we made even more history by
agreeing to a defense co-operation
agreement between our two countries .
When I visited Seoul a couple of weeks
ago , we charted a bold future for our
alliance with the Republic of Korea by
signing a new tailored deterrent
strategy . And along with our partners
in Tokyo and Seoul , we made strides in
trilateral co-operation with , with our
two great allies in , in Northeast Asia .
I also flew to Brisbane in July for
the US Australia ministerial
ministerial consultations which showed
that our unbreakable alliance , it's
even stronger than ever . And finally ,
we're deepening our historic a
partnership with two of our
closest allies Australia and the United
Kingdom . And so yesterday , I
hosted secretary shops of the UK and
Deputy Prime Minister Morrows of
Australia here in California for
our 2nd August defense Ministers
meeting . And through August , our
three democracies are helping Australia
acquire a conventionally armed nuclear
powered submarine . And we're forging
deeper partnerships among our indus
defense industrial bases and our
innovation ecosystems . Now ,
all of this builds on a blunt military
reality and that reality is
that allies and partners help us
project power and share the burden of
our common security . But don't
just take it from me , take it from
President Reagan who said that our
security ultimately rests on the
confidence and cohesion of our alliance
system . Yet our
strength abroad is rooted in our
strength at home and in our ability to
stay ahead of coming challenges .
And that's why we pushed so hard to
invest in innovation and in our defense
industrial base and above all in our
people . You know , I had a great visit
yesterday . Uh at our defense
innovation unit in Silicon Valley ,
Du focuses on fielding and scaling
commercial technology across the
military . It is directly plugged into
Silicon Valley , working with venture
venture capital firms and tech
innovators who are often doing business
with dod for the first time and it will
help us deliver thousands of game
changing capabilities at speed and at
scale when
we sharpen our tech edge , we expand
our military edge and that's why
we're making such major investments in
innovation . And we're giving the
American taxpayer extraordinary value .
Even while our spending on national
defense as a percentage of GDP remains
about half of what it was during the
last decade of the Cold War .
The department's budget request
includes 100 and $45 billion for R and
D and 100 and $70 billion for
procurement . Now , those are the
largest such investments in us history .
We're also making major investment
investments in combined all domain
command , combined , joint all domain
command and control and those
investments will make us even better at
joint operations and combat integration
to remain nimble . We've also created
the Office of Strategic Capital which
will help attract and scale private
capital in our in our critical
technologies . We're also
making unprecedented use of the
multiyear procurement authorities
provided by Congress to deliver
critical munitions at affordable cost .
This includes the naval strike missile ,
the maritime strike sm six missile in
the long range anti ship missile .
Now , Ukraine's high burn rate for
artillery has hammered home the need to
invest even more in munitions . So
compared to the defense budget from
just five years ago , we're putting
nearly 50% more money into munitions .
And during this administration ,
America's production of artillery
shells won't just increase , it won't
just double it will quadruple .
Meanwhile , we've launched what the
army calls the most ambitious
modernization effort in nearly 40 years
for our defense industrial base . And
so some $50 billion of our supplemental
budget request would flow through our
defense industrial base and that will
create or support tens of thousands of
good American jobs in more than 30
states that includes making missiles in
Arizona , in vehicles and in Wisconsin ,
in our in Indiana , in artillery
shells in Pennsylvania , Ohio and Texas .
And that all means greater prosperity
at home and greater security around the
globe .
And that brings me to one final
strategic advantage that no competitor
can match . And that is nearly
3.4 million American patriots who
protect our country every day , either
by serving in uniform or as civilians
of the department .
Our people rise to every challenge and
I am determined to do right by them and
their families . So this year , we
secured a 4.6% pay raise for our troops
and civilian workers , which was the
largest in two decades . We increased
our basic allowance for housing this
year by an average 12 12.1% . The
largest percentage increase in 15 years .
We're working to provide universal pre
K at our dod schools , offering
flexible savings accounts to make
childcare more affordable and giving 12
weeks of paid parental leave to service
members . We're making it easier for
our outstanding military spouses to
flourish in their own careers ,
including new be new benefits and new
ways to help agencies and companies
retain military spouses when their
families are ordered to move abroad .
We are one team and we don't
have one single teammate to spare .
And so we will not tolerate sexual
assault or sexual harassment in the US
military . And by the end of this month ,
independent military prosecutors will
tackle cases of sexual assault ,
domestic violence and other serious
crimes . And we're driving hard to
reduce the tragedy of suicide in our
ranks by improving the delivery of
mental health care and ending the old
stigmas of seeking help .
And we do all of this for one simple
reason , our people are the greatest
strategic asset that we have . The
US military is the most lethal fighting
force in human history . And we're
going to keep it that way .
Ladies and gentlemen , we are the
United States of America and it's not
enough just to pursue our natural
national interests . We must also live
our national values . As President
Reagan said , our foreign policy should
be to show by example , the greatness
of our system and the strength of
American ideals and we must ensure
as President Biden has said that
America remains a beacon to the world
and we will not let that beacon flicker
or fade . And so in
this uncertain hour at this time of
testing , the world looks to America
again and we must not give our friends
our rivals or our foes , any reason to
doubt America's resolve .
You know , in times like these
extraordinary people can show
extraordinary courage , ordinary people
can show extraordinary courage .
And that's exactly what I saw in Keith .
I saw a proud bustling city in the
heart of mainland Europe and it is in
the gun sights because of one man's
hubris and fury . But the
Ukrainian people have met Putin's
assault with defiance , resilience ,
wit and yes , even grace .
You can see it in the eyes of the
troops fighting to drive out the
Russian invaders . You can see it in
the determination of the citizens of
Kiev . Ukraine reminds
the world of the moral power of a free
people fighting to defend their
sovereign territory , their democracy
and their future and as Americans ,
we must do no less . So let
us come together to make our union more
perfect in our country , more secure in
our world more . Just let us come
together to rally the nations of
goodwill to the cause of human freedom
and let us come together to meet this
moment . Thank you . And may God
continue to bless the United States of
America .