WEBVTT

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- It's my honor today to welcome His Excellency

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the Secretary General of the North Atlantic Treaty

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Organization, NATO, Jens Stoltenberg

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to Offutt Air Force Base here in Nebraska.

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It's a great honor for us to host

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the Secretary General of NATO.

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It's a great honor for us to be here today.

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It's an important visit for us.

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It's the first time a NATO Secretary General

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has been here in 54 years.

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So it's an historic day, and I just want to say

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thank you very much for taking the time to visit us today

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and it's great to have you here.

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It's important to be part of the alliance.

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(camera shutters clicking)

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- Thank you so much General Hyten.

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It's great for me to be here,

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and thank you for hosting me and my delegation.

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The work and the responsibility at this command

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is important for the whole alliance as the supreme

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guarantee for credible deterrence,

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and it keeps all allies safe and secure.

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I visited this place, the same command back in 1980.

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Then it was called the Strategic Air Command.

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And I remember that after the end of the Cold War,

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we all believed that nuclear deterrence was going to be

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less important, but we have seen that nuclear issues

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have actually become more important because we see

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proliferation of nuclear weapons.

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We see that all the nuclear powers, for instance, Russia,

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are modernizing their nuclear capabilities,

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and therefore we have to make sure that NATO continue

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to have credible and strong deterrence, and of course,

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nuclear forces is absolutely necessary part

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of credible deterrence from the alliance.

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So we thank you so much for the briefing today,

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but we thank you also for the work you do every day

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to keep all allies safe.

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- [General Hyten] So, any questions?

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- [Reporter] Yes sir.

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Was there anything that stood out today during your visit

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that maybe you didn't learn, that was reiterated,

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that was of particular importance to you, sir?

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- I think what I learned today, which is very different

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from last time I was here in 1980, is that this command

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is not only about strategic air forces, but now it's

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all the different capabilities, the different nuclear

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capabilities, but also global strike,

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cyber, space, and some other of the key capabilities

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which are necessary to provide credible

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deterrence all the time.

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- [Reporter] Mr. Secretary, thank you very much for coming.

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Could you just tell us, you're here in the States,

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and you are visiting very few locations.

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How was it important to come to USSTRATCOM?

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- Because STRATCOM is important for NATO.

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It's of course important for the United States,

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but United States being the by far biggest and strongest

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NATO ally, the capabilities that this command provides

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are essential for all NATO allies.

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This is about credible deterrence, and the purpose

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of credible and strong deterrence is of course

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not to provoke a conflict, but to prevent the conflict.

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And the work which is done here every day

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prevent conflicts, and that's the reason why

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we are so grateful for the work which this command

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is doing every day, and that's also the reason why

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it's important for NATO, and me, and my staff

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to fully understand what is taking place here.

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At the same time, it's also important to understand

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that in NATO we are now increasing our focus

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on nuclear issues because we see proliferation,

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and we see also the mobilization of Russian forces,

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nuclear forces.

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We see that they are integrating more and more

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conventional forces with nuclear forces.

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And by doing so, Russia is also reducing the threshold

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for use of Russian nuclear weapons.

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All of this we have to follow closely.

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And therefore also we meet in the Nuclear Planning Group

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in NATO to discuss and address these issues

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which are important for the whole alliance.

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- [Man] Last question.

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- [Reporter] Sir, you talked about the increasing importance

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of nuclear deterrence, strategic deterrence,

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can you talk specifically about some of the ways

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that we combat those special (shutter clicks)

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through global security, regional security,

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and 21st century deterrence?

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What are the things we do to combat--

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- Well, that's about, nuclear deterrence is, of course,

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important, but that's only a part of the deterrence

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that we deliver every day.

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And it's about what the US delivers, but also what

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all NATO allies deliver together.

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NATO has, especially after the illegal annexation of Crimea

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in 2014, and the pattern of reckless behavior Russia

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we have seen since then, but also the rise of Daesh, ISIS,

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we have responded by implementing the biggest enforcement

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of our collective defense since the end of the Cold War.

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We have deployed troops to the eastern part of the alliance.

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We have increased the readiness of our forces,

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tripled the size of the NATO response force,

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and for the first time in many, many years,

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we are also investing more.

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Defense spending is now increasing

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across Europe and Canada.

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And on top of that, we are also, of course, strengthening

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our cyber defenses, and step by step also building

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our missile defense.

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So NATO is responding to a more unpredictable

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and challenging security environment,

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and again, what's taking place here is important

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for that adaptation and how NATO's responding.

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- [Man] Ladies and gentlemen, thank you very much.

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(overlapping thank yous)