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Work Meets With Romanian Officials Ahead of Aegis Ashore Inauguration

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Deputy Defense Secretary Bob Work met here today with Romanian officials ahead of tomorrow’s inaugural ceremony for a land-based capability of the Aegis ballistic missile defense system.

U.S. and Romanian officials today hailed the Aegis Ashore site in Deveselu, some 100 miles west of Bucharest, as a critical element in the defense of NATO's 28 members.

Deputy Defense Secretary Bob Work attends a  meeting with Romanian Defense Minister Mihnea Motoc in Bucharest, Romania, May 11, 2016. DoD photo by U.S, Navy Petty Officer 1st Class Tim D. Godbee
Deputy Defense Secretary Bob Work attends a meeting with Romanian Defense Minister Mihnea Motoc in Bucharest, Romania, May 11, 2016. DoD photo by U.S, Navy Petty Officer 1st Class Tim D. Godbee
Deputy Defense Secretary Bob Work attends a  meeting with Romanian Defense Minister Mihnea Motoc in Bucharest, Romania, May 11, 2016. DoD photo by U.S, Navy Petty Officer 1st Class Tim D. Godbee
Work Meeting
Deputy Defense Secretary Bob Work attends a meeting with Romanian Defense Minister Mihnea Motoc in Bucharest, Romania, May 11, 2016. DoD photo by U.S, Navy Petty Officer 1st Class Tim D. Godbee
Photo By: Petty Officer 1st Class Tim D. Godbee
VIRIN: 160511-D-SK590-166

Work talked about the importance of the site, as well as issues of mutual concern, in meetings today with Romanian officials who included President Klaus Iohannis, Prime Minister Dacian Ciolos, Defense Minister Mihnea Motoc and Foreign Affairs Minister Lazar Comanescu.

Work thanked the Romanian officials for the strong role their country plays in meeting common security challenges, not just in NATO, but elsewhere, a Defense Department spokesman said, adding that the deputy secretary also expressed condolences for two Romanian soldiers killed May 7 in Afghanistan. The soldiers were killed when gunmen wearing Afghan uniforms opened fire at a military base in Kandahar. 

NATO Missile Defense Protects Alliance

From Romania, Work travels to Poland, where he will participate in the groundbreaking of an Aegis Ashore site in Redzikowo. The site in Poland is expected to become operational in the 2018 timeframe, said Frank A. Rose, deputy assistant secretary of state for defense policy and verification operations. In a news conference here today that included U.S. Ambassador to NATO Douglas E. Lute, Rose said the ceremony in Deveselu marks that site's operational certification.

"Combined with the missile-defense-capable ships in the Mediterranean, the site provides a significant enhancement to the coverage of NATO from short- and medium-range ballistic missile threats originating from outside the Euro-Atlantic area," he said.

Rose was the lead U.S. negotiator for the phased, adaptive missile defense basing agreements in Romania, Poland and Turkey.

Turkey hosts the ballistic missile defense tracking radar. The NATO command and control center is in Germany, and four U.S. Aegis ballistic missile defense ships are homeported in Rota, Spain.

Not Meant to Counter Russia

U.S. and Romanian officials pointed out the NATO ballistic missile defense system is not meant to counter any missile threat from Russia.

"Russia has repeatedly raised concerns that U.S. and NATO missile defenses are directed against Russia and represent a threat to its strategic nuclear deterrent," Rose said. "Nothing could be further from the truth."

The United States and NATO have been clear, Rose said, that the system NATO is building is not designed for or capable of undermining Russia's strategic deterrent capabilities.

"U.S. and NATO missile defense systems are directed against ballistic missile threats outside the Euro-Atlantic area. NATO and the United States have explained this to Russia many times over the years," Rose said.

Protect Against Threats in 'Arc of Instability'

Lute said the ballistic missile defense system means NATO is doing exactly what it said it would do: protect its members. The ambassador explained that missile defense is "just one element of a spectrum of capabilities" that NATO is developing to deal with emerging threats along "an arc of instability" that extends from NATO's eastern flank to its southeastern region to its southern flank.

Daniel Ionita, Romania's state secretary for strategic affairs at the Foreign Affairs Ministry, welcomed the site in his country.

"The facility in Deveselu is a flagship objective of our strategic partnership for the 21st century with the United States of America," he said at the news conference. "This project is good for NATO, and moreover, it strengthens Romania's position in NATO.

 (Follow Lisa Ferdinando on Twitter: @FerdinandoDoD)

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