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Transcript: Rumsfeld Urges Greater
Regional Cooperation on Security Issues The need for nations of the Western Hemisphere to cooperate more closely on security issues has increased in the face of both traditional and emerging threats to regional stability, according to U.S. Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld. "Our hemisphere faces a number of old threats: drugs, organized crime, illegal arms trafficking, hostage-taking, piracy and money laundering," Rumsfeld said, "and new threats such as cyber-crime, and still-unknown terrorist threats which can emerge without warning." Rumsfeld made these comments November 19 at the meeting of Western Hemisphere defense ministers held in Santiago, Chile. He departed later that day for the Czech Republic to attend the NATO summit in Prague, where as many as seven European nations may be admitted as new members of that trans-Atlantic security organization. The secretary of defense said he was struck by the "similarities of our objectives" at both the Santiago and Prague conferences, such as consolidating democratic progress, identifying and better understanding the new threats of the 21st century, and transforming individual and collective military capabilities to meet those threats. To increase defense cooperation in the Americas, Rumsfeld said, ministers at the Santiago conference should consider a pair of proposed initiatives involving the region's naval forces and peacekeeping capabilities. The naval initiative would include not just strengthened planning, command, and information-sharing capabilities among partner nations, but also cooperation among the coast guards, customs, and police forces in the region. Hemispheric peacekeeping forces could be improved, Rumsfeld said, by integrating the specialized capabilities of individual nations into a larger regional capability. Rumsfeld also emphasized that elected governments "have the responsibility to exercise sovereign authority throughout their national territories," noting comments by his Colombian counterpart that narco-terrorists, hostage-takers and arms smugglers use the ungoverned areas of the Western Hemisphere "as bases from which to destabilize democratic governments." Following is a transcript of Rumsfeld's remarks: (begin transcript) STATEMENT BY U.S.
SECRETARY OF DEFENSE Chairman, Ministers: First, my thanks to our Chilean hosts, the president and the minister, for your gracious hospitality. Chile is a model of political and economic freedom, so it is fitting that we meet here to discuss how we can defend our democracies in a world of dangerous new threats. I also want to thank the president for his instructive remarks and his emphasis on the importance of the situation in Colombia to the entire region. The last time I served as secretary of defense, about a quarter of a century ago, only 14 countries in the Western Hemisphere could really be considered as democracies. Today, almost the entire hemisphere has embraced representative government. Our nations are united not only by geography, but by common values. So it was deeply appreciated that when freedom was attacked on September 11th, the nations of this hemisphere immediately invoked the Rio Treaty. The people of my country are deeply grateful for your friendship and for your steadfastness. More than 30 of the hemisphere's 35 nations lost citizens in the World Trade Center and the Pentagon attacks. Hundreds of thousands of jobs were lost throughout the hemisphere. The lesson is clear: 21st-century threats transcend geography and respect no borders. When terrorists are driven out of countries -- as they were in Afghanistan -- they often find haven in the world's many ungoverned regions. As the minister of Colombia has properly and forcefully pointed out today, in this hemisphere narco-terrorists, hostage-takers, and arms smugglers operate in ungoverned areas, using them as bases from which to destabilize democratic governments. Elected governments do have the responsibility to exercise sovereign authority throughout their national territories. We are all benefited by helping democratic countries in this hemisphere exercise effective sovereignty over their territories. Our hemisphere faces a number of old threats: drugs, organized crime, illegal arms trafficking, hostage-taking, piracy and money laundering; and new threats, such as cyber-crime; and still-unknown terrorist threats, which can emerge without warning. These new threats are often linked, and must be countered with new capabilities. They are seen not just in nations, but in regions -- and, indeed, across the globe. Today I will fly to Prague, in the Czech Republic, for the NATO Summit to discuss the transformation of that alliance to meet the 21st-century threats, and consolidate democratic gains by inviting additional former Warsaw Pact adversaries to become NATO allies. In preparing for both of these meetings, I was struck by the similarities of our objectives. We all are working to consolidate the democratic progress in our region; to set military priorities in our democratic societies; to identify and better understand the new threats of the 21st century; and to transform our military capabilities to meet those emerging threats, individually and collectively. There are some who thought that, with the end of the Cold War, NATO might fade into irrelevance. Instead, more countries are seeking to join. The same is true of the institutions of the inter-American system. The need for our nations to work together has not diminished; indeed, it has grown -- as has the need for the institutions that facilitate hemispheric cooperation. I hope that this week's conference will consider two such initiatives, relative to increased cooperation. The first is an initiative to foster regional naval cooperation, to strengthen the operational and planning capabilities of partner nations, upgrade national command-and-control systems, and improve regional information-sharing. This could include cooperation by interested nations among coast guards, customs, and police forces. We might consider a roundtable as a way to consider this initiative. The second is an initiative to improve the hemisphere's peacekeeping capabilities. Many of you are already leaders in this field -- you are sending skilled and experienced forces, with specialized capabilities, to global hot-spots across the globe. We should explore the possibility of integrating these various specialized capabilities into larger regional capabilities, so that we might better participate in peacekeeping and stability operations, given what is clearly a growing need in the world. At the Summit of the Americas last year, President George W. Bush described his vision of a hemisphere where "democracy, prosperity and security" flourish. Security is a cornerstone of that vision. It is the critical foundation without which democracy and prosperity are not possible. The freedom and prosperity of our peoples depend on our ability to defend our common values. Only if we work closely together can we do so. Thank you very much. (end transcript) (Distributed by the Office
of International Information Programs, U.S.
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