www.africom.mil



TRANSCRIPT:
Remarks
by
Secretary
of
Defense

Robert
Gates
Concerning
U.S.
Africa
Command



By
Robert
Gates,
U.S.
Secretary
of
Defense

American
Academy
of
Diplomacy



WASHINGTON,
 D.C.,
 May
 14,
 2008
 —
 Secretary
 of
 Defense
 Robert
 Gates
 discussed

U.S
 Africa
 Command
 during
 remarks
 May
 14,
 2008,
 at
 the
 American
 Academy
 of

Diplomacy
in
Washington,
D.C.



"In
some
respects,
we
probably
didn't
do
as
good
a
job
as
we
should
have
when
we

rolled
 out
 AFRICOM,"
 Gates
 said
 in
 response
 to
 a
 question
 about
 the
 role
 Africa

Command
will
play.



"My
view
at
this
point
is
that
deeds
are
going
to
count
for
more
than
words,"
Gates

said.
"And
I
think
we
need
to
take
it
a
step
at
a
time.
I
don't
think
we
should
push

African
 governments
 to
 a
 place
 that
 they
 don't
 really
 want
 to
 go
 in
 terms
 of
 these

relationships.
 I
 think
 we
 start
 with
 those
 that
 are
 interested
 in
 developing

relationships."



Africa
 Command
 will
 be
 focused
 on
 peacekeeping
 training
 and
 helping
 to

professionalize
African
militaries,
Gates
said.



Following
 is
 the
 transcript
 of
 the
 question
 and
 answer.
 The
 full
 transcript
 of
 the

session
is
posted
on
the
Department
of
Defense
link
at
the
bottom
of
this
article.



‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐



Presenter:
Secretary
of
Defense
Robert
M.
Gates

May
14,
2008

Remarks
 by
 Secretary
 of
 Defense
 Robert
 Gates
 at
 the
 American
 Academy
 of

Diplomacy



.
.
.



Q
 Several
 questions
 have
 looked
 at
 something
 that
 you
 mentioned
 in
 your
 Kansas

speech
and
have
also
mentioned
today,
which
is
how
the
military
was
called
upon
in

Iraq
 and
 Afghanistan
 to
 take
 on
 roles
 that
 perhaps
 they
 weren't
 trained
 for
 and

were
not
best
suited
for.
You
said,
again,
today
‐‐
(inaudible)
‐‐
that
one
way
to
solve

that
 is
 to
 increase
 training
 and
 increase
 personnel
 and
 budget
 for
 the
 State

Department.
Yet
with
AFRICOM,
some
of
the
plans
for
SOUTHCOM,
at
least
in
their

original
conception,
have
called
for
increasing
those
capabilities
inside
the
military

to
 allow
 the
 military
 to
 become
 more
 involved
 in
 development,
 to
 allow
 it
 to
 be

doing
 things,
 particularly
 in
 Africa,
 that
 it
 hasn't
 done
 in
 the
 past
 and
 in
 fact
 is

already
doing
in
some
respect
in
Africa.
There's
been
a
lot
of
pushback
on
that
from

diplomats,
from
the
NGO
community
and
some
of
the
Africans
themselves.
So
does

that
 lead
 you
 to
 any
 rethinking
 of
 how
 those
 initiatives
 should
 operate
 and
 what

their
mission
should
be?



SEC.
 GATES:
 I
 think,
 in
 some
 respects,
 we
 probably
 didn't
 do
 as
 good
 a
 job
 as
 we

should
 have
 when
 we
 rolled
 out
 AFRICOM.
 I
 wasn't
 here
 when
 the
 decision
 was

made
to
build
an
Africa
Command,
but
I
think
my
view
at
this
point
is
that
deeds
are

going
to
count
for
more
than
words.
And
I
think
we
need
to
take
it
a
step
at
a
time.
I

don't
 think
 we
 should
 push
 African
 governments
 to
 a
 place
 that
 they
 don't
 really

want
 to
 go
 in
 terms
 of
 these
 relationships.
 I
 think
 we
 start
 with
 those
 that
 are

interested
in
developing
relationships.



And
 I
 see
 it
 focused
 more
 on
 things
 like
 peacekeeping,
 on
 professionalizing
 the

military,
on
improving
their
own
indigenous
capabilities,
the
relationships
between

the
military
and
civilians
in
a
democracy.
There
may
be
some
areas
of
humanitarian

assistance,
whether
it's
the
equivalent
of
what
we
did
after
the
tsunami
or
after
the

Pakistani
earthquake
or
what
we're
trying
to
do
with
Burma,
there
are
going
to
be

situations
 where
 the
 military
 is
 going
 to
 be
 the
 first
 in
 and
 have
 to
 deal
 with

problems
 initially
 and
 where
 they
 then
 should
 be
 replaced
 by
 civilians
 with
 the

expertise
 in
 dealing
 with
 the
 humanitarian
 disasters
 and
 so
 on
 where
 we
 are
 the

ones
that
really
only
have
the
capability.



So
 I
 think
 we
 have
 to
 be
 cautious
 about
 the
 way
 we
 move
 in
 this
 direction.
 But
 I

think
 that
 when
 I
 see
 ‐‐
 I
 was
 just
 in
 Mexico
 City.
 I
 discovered
 I
 was
 the
 first

secretary
of
Defense
to
be
in
Mexico
City
in
12
years
and
only
the
second
secretary

of
Defense
ever,
and
Bill
Perry
was
the
first.
But
when
I
see
the
carefully
developing

relationship
 there,
 and
 it's
 a
 government
 that's
 been
 cautious
 about
 developing

military‐to‐military
 relationships
 with
 the
 United
 States,
 but
 as
 we
 move
 step
 by

step
 and
 do
 useful
 things
 together,
 I
 think
 we
 can
 develop
 those
 relationships.
 So

that
would
be
my
approach
to
both
AFRICOM
and
SOUTHCOM.



Source:
DefenseLink