The women who passed through the Army’s elite leadership
proving ground are trailblazers,
Defense Secretary Ash Carter said today.
During a Pentagon news conference, Carter said that earlier in
the day he had congratulated the soldiers who will be graduating from the Army Ranger School
tomorrow and earning the Ranger tab.
“Like every Ranger serving today, they'll help lead the
finest fighting force the world has ever known,” Carter said, and called Ranger
school graduation a credit for any man or woman who endures its intense
training and curriculum.
The secretary noted that
the military services are due to provide their reports Oct. 1 requesting any
exceptions to the policy that opens combat jobs to women. Carter said he will
make the final determination on that issue by the end of the year.
Defense Budget
Turning to the defense budget, Carter reminded reporters that 41
days remain until a National Defense Authorization Act must be passed.
"To build the force
of the future -- the one our warfighters, our taxpayers and our nation deserves
-- we need budget certainty," he said.
The Defense Department
needs to be back on a multiyear budgeting plan, Carter said, warning against
continuing to operate on continuing resolutions. If a continuing resolution
results by the end of September, he added, it will be the seventh consecutive
year for such a budget and "would have essentially the effect both in
dollars and authorities of sequester."
“This is no way to run a
department strategy,” the secretary said. “Strategy isn't a one-year-at-a-time
thing. Aircraft carriers are not something you build in a year. Our troops, our
force -- they deserve to know where things are going.”
He added that “people
around the world might get a misleadingly diminished view of the United States
by seeing this budget drama play out year in and year out.”
The secretary said he
continues to hope for a consensus behind a multiyear budget and that a
presidential veto, a continuing resolution or a second round of sequestration
spending cuts won't be necessary.
“These things are no good
for the country,” he said.
Approach to Closing Guantanamo
The wartime prison at Naval Base Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, must close in a responsible manner, the
secretary said, telling reporters that as long as the prison remains open, “it
will remain a rallying cry for jihadi propaganda.”
“Taxpayers are paying too
high a financial price to keep it open,” Carter said, “and closing the facility
should not be left to the next president.”
DoD will work with the
White House’s national security team and with Congress on how to handle the
prison’s two groups of detainees, Carter said. One group of about 50 prisoners
has been deemed to be eligible or could be eligible for transfer to other
nations, the secretary added. “but only in a way that mitigates the threat that
these detainees might pose to the security of the United States.”
Transferring those
prisoners involves complicated negotiations with international partners and extensive
consultations with the leaders of the national security and legal organizations
and final approval by me, Carter said, noting that he has final approval
authority.
“We do this carefully -- we
do it deliberately,” he said. “I've approved the transfer of several detainees
and … will continue to do so when appropriate.”
Teams
Assess Placement of Other Detainees
The second group of
detainees is not eligible for transfer, the secretary said, and should remain
in law-of-war detention. “I, therefore, want to complete a responsible, realistic
and security-focused plan for an alternative defense detention facility in the
United States for that second population.” he added.
Carter said he recently
directed DoD assessment teams to evaluate alternative detention sites and costs
to make other facilities suitable for holding the second group.
While the teams have
looked at Fort Leavenworth, Kansas, and will visit Charleston, South Carolina, other
sites will be considered so that DoD, the White House and Congress can “chart a
responsible way forward and a plan so that we can close the detention facility
at Guantanamo and this chapter in our history once and for all,” the secretary said.
(Follow Terri Moon Cronk on Twitter: @MoonCronkDoD)