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The President met with members of his Security Council and others, at his ranch in Crawford, Texas. After the meeting, he held a press opportunity, and then provided lunch for the press and cameramen attending.

Any report on specific changes to U.S. troop levels based in various parts of the world is speculation, because the department still is working with friends and allies around the world on those levels, senior Defense Department officials said at a Pentagon news conference today. Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld and Air Force Gen. Richard B. Myers, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, addressed news reports that final decisions had been made in how to adjust the U.S. military's global "footprint" to better address challenges of the 21st century. DoD began looking at the U.S. global posture almost as...

One year after combat operations began against Saddam Hussein's Iraq, now more than ever is the time for the international community to pull together against terrorism, said the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. Air Force Gen. Richard B. Myers said on CNN's "American Morning," ABC's "Good Morning America" and "Fox News Morning" that America should pay tribute to the members of the armed forces on duty around the globe. "They are the reason that we're being successful," he said on CNN. Myers advised a wait-and-see approach to the military actions under way in Pakistan. The Pakistani armed forces...

History has shown that appeasement doesn't work, Air Force Gen. Richard B. Myers said here today. The chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff spoke at the Foreign Press Center and gave his assessment of the coalition in Iraq a year after the beginning of Operation Iraqi Freedom. "The mission was to liberate the Iraqi people from one of the world's most brutal and dangerous dictators, and to begin laying the foundation for a free and prosperous Iraq," Myers said. "We have done that." The chairman said that if history has shown anything, it is that appeasement just hasn't worked....

Nothing can take the place of meeting foreign military leaders in their countries as the United States seeks to build military-to-military ties, said Air Force Gen. Richard B. Myers. The chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff finished a five-day visit to South America and Haiti March 13. In South America, the chairman spoke with military and civilian leaders on bilateral and multilateral relations. The chairman visited Brazil, Paraguay, Argentina and Chile before stopping in Haiti. The United States has long-standing close relationships with each country. The trip had been planned for months, long before the situation in Haiti became...

The arrival of the Marines here on the same day that Jean-Bertrand Aristide resigned as Haiti's president prevented many Haitian deaths here, the U.S. ambassador to Haiti said here March 13. James B. Foley met with Air Force Gen. Richard B. Myers at the Toussaint L'Overture Airport here. The chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff finished a five-day trip to Brazil, Paraguay, Argentina and Chile with a stop in Haiti. Myers met with Marines, sailors and airmen. He also met with U.S., French, Chilean and Canadian commanders. During a press conference, Myers thanked the partners. He said the Multinational...

Chile's role in the Multinational Interim Force in Haiti was among the topics the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff covered during a press conference here March 12. Air Force Gen. Richard B. Myers is visiting South America to tend to U.S. military-to-military relationships on the continent. About 2,600 troops are in Haiti from the United States, Chile, Canada and France. Chile has more than 300 soldiers serving in the troubled nation. They have been a part of the operation almost since the beginning. "Their mission right now is to provide basic security and stability in the country against...

It is still too soon to say definitively who launched the terrorist attacks in Spain March 11 that killed almost 200 people and wounded more than 1,400, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff said during a press conference here March 12. Air Force Gen. Richard B. Myers, on a visit to the region to improve military- to-military ties, said the "heinous terrorist attacks" reinforce the need to combat the scourge of terrorism around the world. He said the United States stands "shoulder-to-shoulder" with Spain in the war on terrorism. Myers said Spanish officials must perform more investigations before...

– Today's terrorist attack in Madrid, Spain, is a terrible tragedy and another unfortunate reminder that all nations must work together to defeat such extremism, Joint Chiefs Chairman Air Force Gen. Richard B. Myers said here today. Four explosions at the Madrid train station killed 192 innocent men, women and children and wounded more than 1,400. Myers is meeting with Argentine officials on the military-to-military relationship between the United States and Argentina. In a press conference following a meeting with Argentine Vice President Daniel Osvaldo Scioli, Myers said it is too early to say exactly who launched the attacks. Soon...

Building better military-to-military ties topped the agenda as Joint Chiefs Chairman Air Force Gen. Richard B. Myers met with Paraguayan leaders here today. Myers met with Paraguayan President Duarte Frutos, Defense Minister Roberto Gonzales and Gen. Jose Key Kanazawa during a three-hour visit. Myers is on a tour through South America to build military relationships in the region. The chairman arrived in the middle of a torrential downpour that flooded streets in this capital city. He met with Duarte at the Ministry of Defense, where the president was celebrating Army Day. Myers said his visit is meant to further bilateral...

How about this for an air tasking order: Design an information and telecommunications set-up that protects 52 million square kilometers of territory. Put in it a data management system and a data bank that will allow people to track more than 2 million species of plants and animals. Finally, it is not to be solely a military tool, but one that many different civilian agencies will use as well. Brazilian air force Maj. Gen. Ramon Borges Cardoso did not receive exactly that air tasking order in 1997, but that was his mission as the man in charge of putting together...

You'd be hard-pressed to find similarities between the Amazonian jungles of Brazil and the mountains of Afghanistan, but there are some. Air Force Gen. Richard B. Myers, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, kicked off a trip to South America with a stop here in the capital of Amazonia. During a briefing from Brazilian Maj. Gen. Eduardo Dias da Costa Villa Boas, the commander of army forces in the region, Myers was struck by the similarity of tactics the coalition uses in Afghanistan and tactics the Brazilian government is using in this far-flung region of the country. The Brazilian...

You'd be hard-pressed to find similarities between the Amazonian jungles of Brazil and the mountains of Afghanistan, but there are some. Air Force Gen. Richard B. Myers, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, kicked off a trip to South America with a stop here in the capital of Amazonia. During a briefing from Brazilian Maj. Gen. Eduardo Dias da Costa Villa Boas, the commander of army forces in the region, Myers was struck by the similarity of tactics the coalition uses in Afghanistan and tactics the Brazilian government is using in this far-flung region of the country. The Brazilian...

The nation's top military officer discussed the global war on terror and operations in Haiti, and pitched public service to members of the U.S. Senate Youth Program today. Joint Chiefs Chairman Air Force Gen. Richard B. Myers spoke to high school seniors and juniors visiting the Pentagon from all the states, the District of Columbia and the DoD overseas schools and then took their questions. Myers told the students that if they don't think the war on terror is an important endeavor, they need to "do more research." The issue with terrorism is fear, he said. "If you are afraid,...

It wasn't a choice between combating Saddam Hussein's regime in Iraq or going after al Qaeda, the nation's top military officer told members of the Council of Foreign Affairs in Baltimore Feb. 23. The United States had to do both. Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Air Force Gen. Richard B. Myers assured the audience that "nobody has taken their eyes off the al Qaeda ball" as operations in Iraq continue. Myers disputed charges that the United States went after Saddam Hussein at the expense of chasing the real enemy – al Qaeda. He told the mix of academics,...

The United States is doing "pretty well" in the war on terror, but more needs to be done and more progress is necessary to transform American military capabilities, Air Force Gen. Richard B. Myers said Feb. 18. The chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff spoke at a "Space at the Crossroads" conference co-sponsored by the Space Foundation and Space News. The audience came mostly from industry, and Myers seemed to relish the chance to speak on military transformation and what it means for civilian partners. But first, he gave a report on progress in the war on terror. In...

Striving to do one's best is at the core of the military, Air Force Gen. Richard B. Myers told members of the World Military Games gold-medal modern pentathlon team here Feb. 17. "There's a correlation between what you do on your field, and how (the military) works in other fields," the Joint Chiefs of Staff chairman told the three members of the team. "We all want to be world-class. We think we are world-class in what we do." The team took the gold at the 3rd Military World Games in Catania, Italy, in December. The members of the team are...

(Participating were Secretary of Defense Donald H. Rumsfeld and Air Force Gen. Richard B. Myers, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff.) Rumsfeld: Good afternoon! I and some of the folks in this room returned Sunday from a meeting of defense ministers in Munich, and also the annual Wehrkunde security conference. I also went to Croatia. A central topic in Munich was how best to prepare the alliance for the 21st century threats. As the recently released European Union Security Strategy Paper said, "The proliferation of weapons of mass destruction is potentially the greatest threat to our security" -- I'm...

Intelligence is not a perfect art or science, the nation's top military leader said here today. Still, he said, he remains confident that members of the intelligence community are "trying to do the best work they can for this country of ours." Air Force Gen. Richard B. Myers, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said during a Pentagon briefing that the nation's policy makers learn a lot from both intelligence successes and failures. "(Intelligence agencies) have had great success, and they have sometimes missed the mark; that's the nature of their business," Myers said. "You will never make the...

In this time of crisis, the reserve components are doing exactly what they were designed to do, Air Force Gen. Richard B. Myers said here Jan. 28, and America is grateful for their service. The chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff spoke at the Reserve Officers Association Mid-Winter Conference. The association inducted Myers into the Minuteman Hall of Fame. The association also named South Carolina Sen. Lindsey Graham "Minuteman of the Year." Myers said reservists are integrated seamlessly into the total force, and they are serving in all aspects of the war on terror. "You can be in the...