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U.S. Central Command (CENTCOM) Commander General Michael Kurilla is in Israel Monday on a pre-planned visit that would not have happened had President Donald Trump not made the decision to include Israel in CENTCOM. The U.S. divides military policy geographically, with different countries assigned to different areas based on their location. But Israel, while in the Middle East, had long been included in U.S. European Command (EUCOM), in deference to Arab hostility towards the Jewish state. Pro-Israel groups had argued that being in EUCOM put Israel at a disadvantage, because U.S. military officials in the Middle East had closer ties...

RAMSTEIN AIR BASE, Germany—Within days of the Russian invasion of Ukraine, U.S. European Command stood up a 24/7 operations center to coordinate the rapid delivery of defense assistance from dozens of nations to the front line inside Ukraine. For the first time, the Defense Department described how the EUCOM Control Center Ukraine (ECCU) works during a briefing for journalists covering the Ukraine Defense Consultative Workshop at Ramstein Air Base, Germany, on April 26, signaling a rapid evolution to changing battlefield needs. “Quite simply, it’s a near soup-to-nuts of all things security systems [to be] delivered,” a senior defense official said...

The Obama regime official story about the events that transpired on 9/11/12 continues to unravel, and despite Jay Carney's insistence that it was "a long time ago" facts keep crawling out from under the rubble of the consulate. Testimony of those involved directly with the Benghazi disaster conflicts sharply with the position of the Obama regime. A stand down orderThe Obama regime has repeatedly denied that a stand down order was issued but the No. 2 Libya embassy official disputes it. The deputy of slain U.S. Ambassador Christopher Stevens has told congressional investigators that a team of Special Forces prepared...

New evidence reveals the Obama administration’s version of the events that took place in Benghazi on September 11, 2012 was based on a tissue of lies. The Weekly Standard’s Steven Hayes has obtained a timeline and a series of emails revealing the self-serving efforts made by administration officials, who heavily edited CIA talking points about the attack that cost four Americans, including ambassador to Libya Chris Stevens, their lives. Also revealed is who made the changes and why they made them. The revelations are part of a report published by the five Republican Committee chairmen that has been largely dismissed...

Fox military analyst Col. David Hunt checked in with us again after the revelation that there were multiple listening posts which heard the cries for help from the US Embassy in Libya, and none of them did anything.

Ahead of the United States’s planned withdrawal from Iraq, American military teams have visited Israel to consider the possibility of storing some of the equipment and ammunition that is pulled out in special storage centers at various locations here, according to senior defense officials. According to the officials, the Americans plan to leave a significant amount of equipment in Iraq to assist local security forces. Additional equipment, though, would be transferred to Afghanistan as well as possibly to Jordan, Egypt and Saudi Arabia. A security agreement between the United States and Iraq calls for withdrawal of all US forces by...

WASHINGTON, Aug. 28, 2008 – The Defense Department and U.S. European Command stand ready to assist as required to save lives and alleviate human suffering during the humanitarian crisis in the former Soviet republic of Georgia, a senior EuCom official said yesterday. “Working side by side with the republic of Georgia and international organizations, U.S. European Command is providing immediate life-saving support and restoring essential life-support systems as part of a coordinated interagency effort,” Michael Ritchie, EuCom’s director of interagency engagement, said in a teleconference with bloggers and online journalists to discuss the relief effort dubbed Operation Assured Delivery. Operation...

Although a U.S. European Command team is focused for now on the humanitarian crisis in Georgia, it may eventually review the nation’s military needs in light of its conflict with Russia, according to the group’s commander. Brig. Gen. Jon Miller, who is heading EUCOM’s Joint Assessment Team, said Wednesday that part of his mandate is "to be prepared" to evaluate the condition of Georgia’s military. "It’s a possibility, but it is not my mission right now," said Miller, adding humanitarian aid is a more immediate concern. Miller’s comments came after meetings Wednesday with a congressional delegation that included Sen. Joe...

Two U.S. Navy ships, including a guided missile destroyer USS McFaul, and a U.S. Coast Guard cutter are getting underway to transport humanitarian assistance supplies to Georgia, U.S. European Command (EUCOM) said on August 21. It said USS McFaul (DDG 74) departed from Souda Bay, Crete, on Wednesday and the cutter Dallas (WHEC 716) will depart later this week. McFaul and Dallas are scheduled to transit into the Black Sea and arrive in Georgia within a week, according to the U.S. European Command. The announcement comes after it was reported that Turkey gave its go-ahead to sail through its straits...

STUTTGART, Germany, Aug. 19, 2008 – U.S. European Command is coordinating sustained airlift support as the United States continues to send humanitarian supplies and medical supplies to the former Soviet republic of Georgia. So far, the U.S. military has delivered more than 270,000 pounds of aid on 12 missions to the Georgian capital of Tbilisi, with more relief on the way in the coming days, officials said. Flying out of Ramstein Air Base, Germany, the missions are delivering bandages, surgical supplies and medicine, as well as emergency shelters and bedding. The joint effort, with the Army, Navy, Air Force and...

WASHINGTON, May 17, 2007 – Supporting the global war on terror remains U.S. European Command’s top priority, but the command also is striving to strengthening partnerships within the region and in Africa, the command’s leader said today. EUCOM’s strategy of “active security” is aimed at defeating transnational terrorists and violent extremists who threaten the United States, its allies and U.S. interests, Army Gen. Bantz J. Craddock told Senate Armed Services Committee members during a hearing on the command’s fiscal 2008 budget request. The goal, Craddock said, is to deny enemies of the United States the freedom to operate and...

KAISERSLAUTERN, Germany — Department of Defense Dependents Schools-Europe told administrators this week that schools will have to drop the word “American” from their official names. Also, any schools named after a person will have to be called by a moniker more reflective of its location. That means Ramstein American High School will simply be known as Ramstein High School. And David Glasgow Farragut High School in Rota, Spain, will take on the shorter name of Rota High School. The school in southern Spain is named for the U.S. Navy’s first admiral. School administrators were notified of the changes in a...

WASHINGTON, May 26, 2006 – The 91 countries in U.S European Command's area of responsibility represent a vast breadth of culture and geography, yet the command's mission is the same throughout: supporting the Long War and creating conditions hospitable to democracy and stability. Though no combat zones are within European Command's boundaries, the command is doing its part in supporting the global war on terrorism, new EUCOM deputy commander Army Gen. William E. "Kip" Ward said in an interview yesterday. "Assigned forces of the United States European Command are involved globally in prosecuting this long war. Our forces are serving...

GARMISCH-PARTENKIRCHEN, Germany, July 20, 2005 – Speakers and participants alike focused on challenges at the opening of the NATO and European Union "Strategies Against Terrorism" conference here July 19. Michael McCarthy, deputy director of the George C. Marshall European Center for Security Studies, opened the four-day conference by telling the participants from 21 nations and 19 speakers that the first challenge was to define terrorism. "In my view it's a war on my family; it's a war on my nation; it's a war on my children," he said. "This is a very serious, serious problem and democratic societies are extremely...

DAKAR, Senegal (AP) -- The U.S. military has wrapped up exercises aimed at getting north and west African troops ready to fight al Qaeda-linked terrorists and making sure the militants don't get a toehold in a region of porous borders and weak states. U.S. commanders said Thursday they hope the exercise was only the beginning of a long-term relationship. Starting June 6, 700 U.S. troops ran about 2,100 soldiers from nine North and West African nations through counterterrorism exercises including mock patrols, target practice -- even airborne parachute drills that sent hundreds of African soldiers drifting from U.S. C-130 transport...

STUTTGART, Germany, June 29, 2005 – Sworn enemies during the Cold War, the Republic of Georgia - part of the former Soviet Union -- and the United States are brothers in arms now, forming friendships and training side by side. Gone are the Cold War days of mistrust and suspicion, replaced by feelings of cooperation and mutual respect, as U.S. forces work to prepare their Georgian counterparts for operations in Iraq and boost regional security in the Caucasus during the Georgia Sustainment and Stability Operations Program. Under U.S. European Command direction, two battalions of Georgian soldiers are training with U.S....

Change is the only constant in U.S. European Command -- that's the not-so-subtle message of the organization's commander in prepared testimony for the House Armed Services Committee March 24. Marine Gen. James L. Jones said that the command has been involved in the overall war on terrorism. It also is positioning itself to provide support in the future and help allies counter the growing terror threat. "EUCOM's greatest contribution to security and stability lies as much in preventing conflict as it does in prevailing on the battlefield," Jones said in written testimony. "This is accomplished through influence and engaged leadership,...

Al Qaeda operatives flushed out of Afghanistan and other locales have likely cast their eyes on the continent of Africa as a source for new recruits and funding, a senior U.S. military officer said March 8. "There has, without a doubt, been some al Qaeda presence in portions of North Africa," Air Force Gen. Charles F. Wald told reporters during a roundtable discussion at the State Department's Foreign Press Center here. Wald, the deputy commander for U.S. European Command, noted to reporters he'd recently returned from an 11-nation trip to Africa. EUCOM's area of responsibility extends from the North Cape...

By Sandra Jontz, Stars and Stripes European edition, Friday, March 5, 2004 WASHINGTON — U.S. military leaders in Europe have made progress seeking out forward locations in Eastern Europe and Africa, both for training and to be well-placed for contingency operations, Gen. James Jones, commander of U.S. European Command, told Congress on Wednesday. Jones told the Senate Armed Services Committee several model sites have emerged in the effort to reduce the U.S. footprint in Europe. Jones lauded the potential installations for their infrastructure and wide-open spaces, where “urbanization is not coming to our door step,” he told the committee. Countries...

Transformation plans to be addressed soon, says U.S. ambassador By David Josar, Stars and Stripes European edition, Thursday, January 22, 2004 STUTTGART, Germany — The U.S. ambassador to Germany on Tuesday said he expected an announcement about the U.S. European Command’s transformation plans in the next few months and definitely before U.S. elections in November. Ambassador Dan Coats met with EUCOM officials and later had a private lunch meeting with members of the local German media. His comments were printed in the Stuttgarter Zeitung and confirmed by a spokesman for the U.S. Consulate in Frankfurt. Coats’ words are one of...