The change, which took effect yesterday, was included in the 2012 National Defense Authorization Act, which President Barack Obama signed into law Dec. 31.

"Members will see the prorated amount in their Feb. 15 pay records," Pentagon spokesman Navy Capt. John Kirby said.

The act called for DOD to pay service members imminent danger pay only for the time they spend in areas that qualify for the pay. In the past, service members received $225 per month if they spent any time that month in an area where the pay was authorized.

"This is a more targeted way of handling that pay," Kirby said.

Now, service members will receive $7.50 a day for days spent in these areas. Personnel who travel to the designated areas for periods less than 30 days should keep track of the number of days they are in the area to verify that they are paid for the correct number of days, officials said.

The military services are working to waive or remit debts for members who may have been overpaid for January, officials said. The services can waive this "when there is no indication of fraud, fault, misrepresentation, or when members were unaware they were overpaid," Pentagon spokeswoman Eileen Lainez said.

Proration is based on a 30-day month, which translates into a rate of $7.50 per day. It does not matter if the month is 28 or 31 days long, officials explained; if service members serve in affected areas for the complete month, they will receive the full rate of $225 per month.

The Defense Department defines imminent danger pay areas as places where members are subject to the threat of physical harm or imminent danger because of civil insurrection, civil war, terrorism or wartime conditions.

Service members who come under fire, regardless of location, will receive the full monthly hostile-fire pay amount of $225.

Service members will receive notification of the change via emails, on the MyPay system, on social media sites and via the chain of command.

The funds will support efforts to develop and rapidly transition energy technologies for the combat force to improve military capabilities, reduce energy-related casualties and lower taxpayer costs, officials said.

Congress provided resources for the programs in the 2012 Omnibus Appropriation Act.

"It's essential that we continue to develop innovative energy solutions to advance our military missions and use our precious resources wisely," Defense Secretary Leon E. Panetta said. "The department is taking the lead on this because saving energy on the battlefield means saving lives and money."

On the battlefield, fuel can be a tactical and operational vulnerability. In Afghanistan, adversaries often target U.S. fuel supply convoys, putting troop lives and missions at risk and diverting combat forces and dollars to force protection.

“A military force that uses energy more strategically is stronger, today and in the future,” said Sharon E. Burke, assistant secretary of defense for operational energy plans and programs. “As the department reshapes the force to build a more agile, flexible military capable of responding to the full range of future challenges, the work of the six teams funded under this effort will give our troops better energy options on the battlefield.”

The funds will go to DOD-led teams representing the military services and the Energy Department.

DOD and the Small Business Administration will host an information session in March to link small businesses and entrepreneurs to the teams.

“An important objective of this fund is reaching sources of energy innovation new to the department, which are primarily small businesses,” said Andre Gudger, director of the department's office of small business programs.

“By leveraging small businesses and entrepreneurs to accelerate energy innovation for our warfighters,” he added, “we strengthen our security, modernize our industrial base and promote economic development at the same time.”

Winning teams were chosen from submissions received after call for program proposals in June.

The assistant secretary of defense for operational energy plans and programs, a position established in 2009 to strengthen military operations’ energy security, will administer the funds.

James R. Clapper Jr., a retired Air Force lieutenant general, said capabilities, technologies, know-how, communications and environmental forces “aren’t confined by borders and can trigger transnational disruptions with astonishing speed.”

“Never before has the intelligence community been called upon to master such complexity on so many issues in such a resource- constrained environment,” he added.

CIA Director David H. Petraeus, FBI Director Robert S. Mueller III, Defense Intelligence Agency Director Army Lt. Gen. Ronald L. Burgess Jr. and others accompanied Clapper during his testimony on Capitol Hill. Clapper spoke for all agencies in his opening statement.

All U.S. agencies are combating the complex environment and making sense of the threats by continuing to integrate the community and “by taking advantage of new technologies, implementing new efficiencies and, as always, simply working hard,” Clapper said.

Still, he said, all agencies are confronting the difficult fiscal environment.

“Maintaining the world’s premier intelligence enterprise in the face of shrinking budgets will be difficult,” the director said. “We’ll be accepting and managing risk more so than we’ve had to do in the last decade.”

Terrorism and proliferation remain the first threats the intelligence agencies must face, he said, and the next three years will be crucial. “With Osama bin Laden’s death, the global jihadist movement lost its most iconic and inspirational leader,” Clapper said. “The new al-Qaida commander is less charismatic, and the death or capture of prominent al-Qaida figures has shrunk the group’s top leadership layer.”

But while degraded, the organization remains a threat, Clapper warned. “As long as we sustain the pressure on it, we judge that core al-Qaida will be of largely symbolic importance to the global jihadist movement,” he said. “But regional affiliates … and, to a lesser extent, small cells and individuals will drive the global jihad agenda.”

Efforts to develop, acquire or spread weapons of mass destruction, also pose a major global strategic threat, Clapper told the senators. “Among nation-states, Iran's technical advances, particularly in uranium enrichment, strengthen our assessment that Iran is well-capable of producing enough highly-enriched uranium for a weapon if its political leaders, specifically the supreme leader himself, choose to do so,” the director said.

North Korea continues to export ballistic missiles and associated materials to several countries, including Iran and Syria, Clapper said, and intelligence leaders do not see a change under Kim Jong Un, the North’s new leader.

Cyber threats have risen in danger, Clapper said. “We foresee a cyber environment in which emerging technologies are developed and implemented before security responses can be put in place,” he said. “Among state actors, we're particularly concerned about entities within China and Russia conducting intrusions into U.S. computer networks and stealing U.S. data.”

Nonstate actors also are cyber threats capable of employing disruptive, and even lethal, technology, Clapper told the panel. The two biggest challenges in the cyber world, he said, are centered on knowing who launched an attack and how to manage the enormous vulnerabilities within U.S. networks.

While some troops are coming home, Afghanistan remains a hot spot, Clapper said.

“During the past year, the Taliban lost some ground, but that was mainly in places where the International Security Assistance Forces … were concentrated,” the director said. “And the Taliban’s senior leaders continued to enjoy safe haven in Pakistan.”

ISAF’s efforts to partner with Afghan national security forces are encouraging, he said, “but corruption and governance challenges continue to threaten the Afghan forces’ operational effectiveness.”

To be successful, Afghanistan must have support from ISAF and its neighbors -- particularly Pakistan, Clapper said. “And although there’s broad international political support for the Afghan government,” he added, “there are doubts in many capitals, particularly in Europe, about how to fund Afghanistan initiatives after 2014.”

U.S. troops are out of Iraq, but U.S. interests in the country remain, the director said. Since the pull-out, violence and sporadic high-profile attacks continue. Iraqi government actions have heightened political tensions with Sunni leaders, “but for now, the Sunnis continue to view the political proves as the best venue to pursue change,” Clapper said.

Revolts and unrest have spread across the Middle East and North Africa, Clapper noted. People confronting ruling elites; sectarian, ethnic and tribal divisions; lack of experience with democracy; stalled economic development; military and security force resistance; and regional power initiatives all have potential for exploitation by extremists.

“These are fluid political environments that offer openings for extremists to participate much more assertively in political life,” Clapper said. “States where authoritarian leaders have been toppled -- like Tunisia, Egypt and Libya -- have to reconstruct their political systems through complex negotiations among competing factions.”

In Syria, the Assad regime continues to dig in and has ordered security forces to fire on their own people. Continued violence “could potentially turn domestic upheavals into regional crises,” the director said.

In Yemen, although a political transition is under way, the security situation continues to be marred by violence, and fragmentation of the country is a real possibility, he said.

“The intelligence community is also paying close attention to the developments across the African continent, throughout the Western Hemisphere, Europe and across Asia,” Clapper said. “Here, too few issues are self-contained. Virtually every region has a bearing on our key concerns of terrorism, proliferation, cybersecurity and instability.

“And throughout the globe,” he added, “wherever there are environmental stresses on water, food and natural resources, as well as health threats, economic crises and organized crime, we see ripple effects around the world and impacts on U.S. interests.”

Gen. Raymond T. Odierno told reporters during a Pentagon news briefing that he is comfortable with the cut in end strength because it reflects changing national security needs, and will be spread over six years.

“An Army of 490,000 in 2017 will be fundamentally different and more capable than the Army of 482,000 that we had in 2001,” he said, noting that today’s troops are combat-seasoned from 10 years of war.

The drop from the current 570,000 soldiers is planned as part of the Defense Department’s long-term budget process, and in coordination with President Barack Obama’s 10-year military strategy released earlier this month. After five years of growing the Army to meet combat needs in Iraq and Afghanistan, Odierno said “the time is strategically right” to reduce end strength, especially since the strategy does not call for planning for large-scale ground wars.

“This will be done in a responsible and controlled manner,” he told reporters. “[Army] Secretary [John] McHugh and I are committed to walking down this hill at the ready, rather than running our nation’s Army off a cliff.”

Odierno called the process leading up to the strategy and budget proposal “unprecedented” in its collaboration with the services. The Army’s No. 1 priority of fighting and winning wars is “non-negotiable,” he said, “but that’s not the only role of the Army,” which provides a range of capabilities to joint forces.

Under the proposed budget, the Army would increase funding for special operations, cyber and aviation, while maintaining its reliance on a fully operational reserve, Odierno said. It will maintain readiness across its entire force to avoid “tiered readiness,” he said.

The Army will prioritize its presence in the Asia-Pacific region, which is home to seven of the world’s 10 largest armies, the general said, and continue to focus on the Middle East, while maintaining only a “small footprint” in Latin America and Africa.

At the same time, the Army will pull two heavy brigade combat teams out of Europe -- one in 2013, and the other in 2014 -- as part of a drawdown of at least eight brigade combat teams, Odierno said. The two European-based teams will be replaced with rotating training units, which likely will be battalions and companies, he said.

The change “will benefit all of us,” allowing for a better diversification of forces for NATO training, he said. “I really see this as a model for how we’ll do things in the future.”

A focus of the new military strategy is to maintain and build international partnerships for military collaboration, but, Odierno noted, “I still think we’re going to have plenty of capacity to lead with boots on the ground.”

The Army will save money by eliminating redundancies and trimming its headquarters budget, the general said. Also, Pentagon leaders will discuss with Congress the possibility of two more rounds of the Base Realignment and Closure process, he said, although the Army likely would be less affected because it has undergone heavy BRAC closures already.

The Army must curtail the rate of growth in personnel costs, Odierno said, but is not planning for pay cuts. And, most troop reductions will be done through attrition, he said.

Odierno, who previously headed U.S. Joint Forces Command, rejected suggestions that the Army is being looked at disproportionately for budget savings. “This is not about winners and losers,” he said, “it’s about coming up with the right joint force.”

The Pentagon's budget topline request is set at $525 billion for fiscal 2013 with an additional $88.4 billion for overseas contingency operations -- mostly in Afghanistan. This is down from $531 billion and $115 billion, respectively, in this fiscal year.

Defense Department officials used the new defense strategy guidance that President Barack Obama announced earlier this month to shape the budget request, the secretary said.

The budget seeks to minimize the impact of cuts on personnel accounts. Service members will receive their full pay raises in fiscal 2013 and 2014, Panetta said. "We will achieve some cost savings by providing more limited pay raises beginning in 2015," he added.

Health care is another important benefit, and one that has far outpaced inflation. Changes to health care will not affect active duty personnel or their families, Panetta said.

"We decided that to help control growth of health care costs, we are recommending increases in health care fees, co-pays and deductibles for retirees," he said. "But let me be clear that even after these increases, the cost borne by military retirees will remain below the levels in comparable private-sector plans."

Overall, the request puts DOD on the path to save $259 billion over the next five years and $487 billion over the next 10. Panetta called the budget "a balanced, complete package" that keeps the American military the pre-eminent force in the world.

It is a balanced package, the secretary said, because while some programs are eliminated or delayed, others are increased. The budget looks to re-shape the military to be more agile, quick and flexible that incorporates the lessons learned in 10 years of war, he added.

Increasing the number of special operations forces is key to the plan, Panetta said, and special operators will begin to shift back to their traditional pre-9/11 mission of instructing local forces.

The request puts the Army on a path to drop to 490,000 soldiers and the Marine Corps to 182,000 Marines over five years. Currently, the two services have 562,000 and 202,000 active-duty members, respectively. The secretary noted this is still higher than the numbers on 9/11.

The budget treats the reserve components very carefully, Panetta said. After a decade of being an integral part of America's wars, the reserve components will not go back to being a strategic Cold War-era reserve. The reserves will be the nation's hedge against the unexpected, the secretary said.

"We are making only marginal reductions in the Army Reserve and Army National Guard, and no reductions in the Marine Corps Reserve," the secretary said. "The Air Force will make balanced reductions in the Air Guard that are consistent with reductions in the active component and Air
Force Reserve."

The request also calls for more base realignments and closures, and a "BRAC-like" authority to recommend changes to military retirement. "But the president and department have made clear that the retirement benefits of those who currently serve will be protected by grandfathering their benefits," Panetta said.

The budget maintains the current U.S. focus in the Central Command region and increases American commitment to the Pacific Command area of operations. The request looks to maintain the Navy's current 11 aircraft carriers and 10 carrier air wings, Panetta said. It will also maintain the current Marine and Army posture in the Asia-Pacific region, and will base littoral combat
ships in Singapore and Bahrain.

The budget will eliminate two forward-based Army heavy brigades in Europe. Instead, brigades will rotate in and out of the area. The United States and European allies also will look to share costs for new capabilities such as the alliance ground surveillance program.

The Navy will retire seven older cruisers and two amphibious ships early, and the Air Force will eliminate six tactical air squadrons.

The budget sinks more money into technologies to prevail in an anti-access, aerial-denial scenario and will fund the next-generation bomber and modernization of the submarine fleet.

The F-35 joint strike fighter is key to maintaining domain superiority, and the military remains committed to the program, Panetta said. "But in this budget, we have slowed procurement to complete more testing and allow for developmental changes before buying in significant quantities," he added.

The budget will maintain all legs of the nuclear triad -- bombers, ICBMs and submarines -- and will invest in significantly more capability in the cyber world, Panetta said.

Panetta stressed the budget is based on strategy and will shape the force for the future. While the pain of cuts will be felt across the country, he said, it will also ensure a strong, agile military for the future.

The budget must pass Congress, and the secretary said he hopes members of Congress understand the strategy and nuances of the budget.

"My hope is that when members understand the sacrifice involved in reducing the defense budget by half a trillion dollars, it will convince Congress to avoid sequestration, a further round of cuts that would inflict severe damage to our national defense for generations," Panetta said.

“This year offers an opportunity to turn a corner,” Brig. Gen. Carsten Jacobson of the German army, spokesman for the NATO-led ISAF coalition, told reporters during a Jan. 24 news conference in the Afghan capital of Kabul.

“I hope that when we will look back at 2012,” he said, “we will continue to see the incredible progress for the people of this nation on their path to a well-deserved peace.”

Panetta, during his pre-holiday visit to Afghanistan last month, told deployed troops he believes the effort has reached a turning point and emphasized the importance of what happens there this year.

“We’re moving in the right direction,” Panetta said during a visit to Forward Operating Base Sharana in remote but strategically important Paktika province. “And we’re winning this very tough conflict in Afghanistan.”

Navy Adm. James G. Stavridis, NATO’s supreme allied commander for Europe and commander of U.S. European Command, said in his blog earlier this month he believes that progress will continue by focusing on the “keys to security.”

One of these keys, he said, is a unity of effort, with a goal of achieving a sense of “in together, out together” among ISAF’s 50 troop-contributing nations.

“In the military sphere, that means we have to pull together smoothly on the oars as we all downsize the number of coalition troops over the coming year,” Stavridis said.

He said he was encouraged by the long-term commitment exhibited by 100 nations and international organizations represented at the Bonn Conference on Afghanistan in December.

Stavridis also noted continued progress during 2011 in two other key areas: the transition to an Afghan security lead, and continued pressure on the insurgents.

Jacobson reported during this week’s news conference that this trajectory is continuing.

Already, “2012 is off to a very rough start for the insurgency,” he said. He noted that it follows another “tough year” during 2011, with the insurgents losing key ground and resources and failing to accomplish their stated goals in Afghanistan.

Meanwhile, their leadership “continues to hide across the border in Pakistan,” losing much of their ability to command and control their troops, Jacobson said.

Insurgent forces in Afghanistan continue to use improvised explosive devices to launch indiscriminate attacks, he said, despite orders from Mohammed Omar, the Taliban’s spiritual leader, to quit harming civilians.

While acknowledging that they still have the ability to launch high-visibility attacks, Jacobson said “these acts of desperation should not fool anyone.”

“I believe the insurgency is starting to understand that they cannot continue their terrorist acts of the past against the Afghan people, and the only clear solution is reintegration into a peaceful Afghan society,” he said.

Jacobson lauded solid gains during 2011 that are laying the foundation for this momentum to continue.

He cited positive trends in terms of offensive operations against insurgents, as well as improvements in capacity development within the Afghan national security forces.

“Our goals were to increase Afghan lead of security responsibilities, target key insurgent leaders, retain and expand secure areas and help [Afghan forces] earn the support of the people through improved security capacity and capability,” he told reporters.

Jacobson cited areas of focus for the year ahead to build on and expand these gains.

In the east, for example, ISAF and Afghan national security forces “will continue to apply maximum pressure,” he said, to eliminate the Haqqani and other insurgent networks and disrupt their logistical capabilities through the winter and into spring.

This effort supports the vision Allen set for 2012.

During Panetta’s visit to Kabul in December, Allen told reporters he sees this year as a time to consolidate gains already made in Afghanistan’s north, south and west and to extend them eastward. This, he said, will include “significant counterinsurgency operations” to continue this year in the Regional Command East area, with the goal of pushing the security zone east of Kabul.

Jacobson said this week that progress also will continue in other areas ranging from education to infrastructure to counternarcotics.

Afghanistan had 175,000 teachers in 2011, up from 20,000 in 2012, he reported. Eight million Afghan children were enrolled in school, compared to fewer than 1 million in 2002. Afghanistan now has more than 6,200 miles of paved roads, with more than 80 percent of the population using them.

Local security development is progressing, too, Jacobson reported. The Afghan National Army now is almost 180,000 strong, and the Afghan National Police now has nearly 144,000 men and women in uniform, serving local communities.

As they grow in number, Afghan national security forces are assuming greater security responsibility. More than 50 percent of Afghanistan is slated to be under Afghan security control by this spring, Jacobson said, “and we have every expectation that this will increase to 66 percent in the very near future.”

Japanese and U.S. military forces launched Keen Edge 12 yesterday at Yokota, Japan. The biennial exercise continues through Jan. 27.

Today, Exercise Yama Sakura kicked off, with operations to run through Feb. 5.
Both exercises are designed to increase interoperability of U.S. and Japanese forces and their readiness to defend against external threats, officials said.

By providing realistic, combined and joint training that enhances both countries’ combat readiness posture, they in turn provide for regional stability and security, said Navy Lt. Cmdr. Bill Clinton, a U.S. Pacific Command spokesman.

“These regular engagements showcase our commitment to peace and security in the region and to the protection of U.S. interests and those of our partners and allies,” he said.

Keen Edge historically has been part of an annual exercise series that alternates between field training exercises, called Keen Sword, and command-and-control exercises.

About 500 U.S. personnel and about 1,380 Japanese forces are participating in this year’s CPX, during which headquarters staffs will use computer simulations to practice steps they would take in the event of a crisis or contingency.

Participants will practice responding to events ranging from non-combatant evacuations and force-protection scenarios to integrated air and missile defense to enhance bilateral coordination and cooperation, officials said.

Forces involved will use the computer-based Joint Theater Level Simulation System to direct and respond to exercise events. This system, officials reported, helps provide a realistic environment for commanders and staffs as they react and respond in real time to events generated by computer simulation.

U.S. participants in Keen Edge 2012 hail from U.S. Forces Japan headquarters; 13th Air Force, with headquarters at Hickam Air Force Base, Hawaii, and in Japan through its Detachment 1; U.S. Naval Forces Japan; U.S. Army Japan; and Marine Forces Japan.

Meanwhile, nearly 800 U.S. military personnel and more than 3,500 Japanese forces are participating in Yama Sakura, the largest bilateral exercise between the U.S. Army Pacific and Japanese ground forces since the Great Tohoku Earthquake in March.

About 150 U.S. soldiers from the 8th Army headquarters element at Yongsan Garrison, South Korea, will serve as the higher command for participating U.S. forces, which include members of U.S. Army Japan.

The exercise, officials said, will focus on bilateral and joint planning, coordination and interoperability of ground-based elements of the U.S. and Japan security alliance.

Officials called these command post exercises a cost-effective way to provide participants realistic and unobtrusive training in a simulated crisis or contingency operation while improving their ability to work together.

During senior-level talks between U.S. and Japanese military leaders last month about future operations and engagement between the two countries, Air Force Lt. Gen. Ted Kresge, 13th Air Force commander, said interoperability strengthens the bilateral alliance.

Kresge noted the success of the humanitarian relief mission after a massive 8.9 magnitude earthquake and tsunami struck Japan last March. American aid to the Japanese ultimately included 20 ships, including the aircraft carrier USS Ronald Reagan, almost 20,000 personnel and huge amounts of supplies and heavy equipment.

“As was demonstrated during Operation Tomodachi, there is tremendous value added in working and exercising side-by-side,” Kresge said. “When real-world events occur, we are better able to operate in a joint environment and respond effectively and efficiently.”

Meanwhile, 8th Army officials said Exercise Yama Sakura helps to ensure its ability to operate with its other U.S. and Japanese counterparts to defend South Korea as well as maintain regional security.

“This exercise improves 8th Army’s ability to deter or defeat aggression on the Korean peninsula,” said Army Brig. Gen. David J. Conboy, 8th Army’s deputy commander. “It also helps strengthen the Republic of Korea-United States alliance by enabling critical staff coordination and collaboration at the multinational level.”

Clinton said engagements like these support the new defense strategy guidance that recognizes the challenges as well as opportunities in Asia and the Pacific.

That strategic guidance, announced earlier this month, provides a strategic vision intended to guide the military through 2020 with its heavy focus on the region.

“Through continuous evaluation of our force posture and engagement activities, we will work with our regional partners and allies to maintain the military strength to protect our interests, defend our allies and deter potential adversaries from acts of aggression and intimidation,” Clinton said.

U.S. relationships with Asian allies and key partners will remain critical to the region’s future stability and growth, Navy Adm. Robert F. Willard, U.S. Pacific Command’s commander, told the Annual Hawaii Military Partnership Conference on Jan. 6, the day after the guidance was announced.

In addition to strengthening existing alliances that have provided a vital foundation for regional security, Willard said, the United States also will strive to forge closer ties with emerging regional partners.

All of official Washington – including Defense Secretary Leon Panetta and all the members of the Joint Chiefs of Staff -- was in the House of Representatives to hear the president’s address.

In a speech dominated by domestic concerns, Obama began by extolling the example set by members of the armed services.

“Last month, I went to Andrews Air Force Base and welcomed home some of our last troops to serve in Iraq,” he said. “Together, we offered a final, proud salute to the colors under which more than a million of our fellow citizens fought – and several thousand gave their lives.”

The generation serving in the military today has made the United States safer and more respected around the world, the president said. All American troops are out of Iraq, Osama bin Laden is dead and al-Qaeda is on the run. In Afghanistan, U.S., NATO and Afghan forces have reversed the Taliban’s momentum and some U.S. troops are coming home, he noted.

“These achievements are a testament to the courage, selflessness and teamwork of America’s armed forces,” he said. “At a time when too many of our institutions have let us down, they exceed all expectations. They’re not consumed with personal ambition. They don’t obsess over their differences. They focus on the mission at hand. They work together.”

Obama asked the Congress – well known for its partisan divide – to imagine “what we could accomplish if we followed their example.”

Working together, Americans could build a country that is a leader in education, in industry, in clean energy and in high-tech manufacturing, Obama said. Working together, Americans could put in place “an economy built to last, where hard work pays off, and responsibility is rewarded,” he added.

With the Iraq war over, the United States has struck decisive blows against al-Qaida. “From Pakistan to Yemen, the al-Qaida operatives who remain are scrambling, knowing that they can’t escape the reach of the United States of America,” he said.

The strategy in Afghanistan is paying off and 33,000 U.S. troops will leave that country by the end of the summer. More and more, Afghan national security forces are assuming responsibility for protecting their own land, their own people, the president said.

“This transition to Afghan lead will continue, and we will build an enduring partnership with Afghanistan, so that it is never again a source of attacks against America,” he said.

The Arab world is in a wave of change, Obama said, and the clearest example is in Libya. “A year ago, [Moammar] Gadhafi was one of the world’s longest-serving dictators – a murderer with American blood on his hands,” he said. “Today, he is gone. And in Syria, I have no doubt that the [Bashar] Assad regime will soon discover that the forces of change can’t be reversed, and that human dignity can’t be denied.”

How this whole tide of change from Tunisia to Syria and beyond will end is uncertain, the president said. The people of the region must make the decisions, but the United States will work with all to advocate “those values that have served our own country so well,” he said.

“We will stand against violence and intimidation. We will stand for the rights and dignity of all human beings – men and women; Christians, Muslims, and Jews,” he continued. “We will support policies that lead to strong and stable democracies and open markets, because tyranny is no match for liberty.”

The United States will work to isolate those who seek to disturb the peace, Obama said, noting increased economic sanctions against Iran for its nuclear program. “The regime is more isolated than ever before; its leaders are faced with crippling sanctions, and as long as they shirk their responsibilities, this pressure will not relent,” he said.

All cards are on the table for stopping Iran from having nuclear weapons, the president added. “Let there be no doubt: America is determined to prevent Iran from getting a nuclear weapon, and I will take no options off the table to achieve that goal,” he said. “But a peaceful resolution of this issue is still possible, and far better, and if Iran changes course and meets its obligations, it can rejoin the community of nations.”

The president said America’s worldwide leadership has been renewed and countries look to its steady hand and influence. “Our oldest alliances in Europe and Asia are stronger than ever,” he said. “Our ties to the Americas are deeper. Our iron-clad commitment to Israel’s security has meant the closest military cooperation between our two countries in history. We’ve made it clear that America is a Pacific power, and a new beginning in Burma has lit a new hope.”

Those who say that America is in decline “don’t know what they’re talking about,” Obama said. “Yes, the world is changing. No, we can’t control every event. But America remains the one indispensable nation in world affairs – and as long as I’m president, I intend to keep it that way.”

Obama once more promised to maintain the finest military in the world. American freedom has endured because men and women in uniform fought for it, he said.

“As they come home, we must serve them as well as they served us,” he said. “That includes giving them the care and benefits they have earned – which is why we’ve increased annual VA spending every year I’ve been president. And it means enlisting our veterans in the work of rebuilding our nation.”

Obama ended his address where it started – using the example of U.S. service members for Congress. “Those of us who’ve been sent here to serve can learn from the service of our troops,” he said. “When you put on that uniform, it doesn’t matter if you’re black or white, Asian or Latino, conservative or liberal, rich or poor, gay or straight.

“When you’re marching into battle, you look out for the person next to you, or the mission fails,” he continued. “When you’re in the thick of the fight, you rise or fall as one unit, serving one nation, leaving no one behind.”

Obama said one of his proudest possessions is the U.S. flag that the SEAL Team took with them on the mission to get bin Laden. “On it are each of their names,” he said. “Some may be Democrats. Some may be Republicans. But that doesn’t matter. Just like it didn’t matter that day in the Situation Room, when I sat next to Bob Gates – a man who was George Bush’s defense secretary; and Hillary Clinton, a woman who ran against me for president.

“All that mattered that day was the mission. No one thought about politics. No one thought about themselves. One of the young men involved in the raid later told me that he didn’t deserve credit for the mission. It only succeeded, he said, because every single member of that unit did their job.”

The same is so with America, Obama said. It took more than two centuries and millions of people working toward a common goal. “This nation is great because we built it together,” he said. “This nation is great because we worked as a team. This nation is great because we get each others’ backs.”

If Americans remember that truth, there is no challenge too great, no mission too hard, the president said. “As long as we’re joined in common purpose, as long as we maintain our common resolve, our journey moves forward, our future is hopeful, and the state of our union will always be strong,” he said.

Lt. Gen. Christopher D. Miller, deputy chief of staff for strategic plans and programs, and Maj. Gen. Noel T. “Tom” Jones, the service’s director for operation capability requirements, said the technology – exemplified in the F-22 and F-35 – assumes greater importance in combating growing anti-access, area-denial capabilities.

The generals spoke during a media roundtable in the Pentagon.

Fifth-generation aircraft are particularly valuable as part of the new defense strategy guidance that President Barack Obama unveiled here earlier this month, they said. That strategy explicitly affirms that the United States military must be able to defeat ant-access, area-denial threats.

“This is not a new thing,” Miller said. “Militaries have operated in ant-access environments probably since the beginning of time. But what is different, and why fifth-generation aircraft is relevant to that, is that operating in anti-access environments continues to become more complex and challenging.”

There is a continuing competition between nations developing anti-access capabilities and others devising ways to defeat that, the general said. “Fifth-generation aircraft are a key ability that the Air Force is bringing to the nation’s ability to operate in those environments,” he added.

The Air Force has flown against anti-access environments since it was founded. American fighters countered this capability in the skies over Korea and Vietnam. Airmen faced off against surface-to-air missiles ringing Hanoi. In the Persian Gulf War, airmen defeated the ground-to-air threat over Iraq, and most recently, they knocked out the anti-access capabilities around Tripoli.

But missile technology has become more complex and more difficult to counter. Command-and-control capabilities have grown. This will require a new set of capabilities flying against them, Jones told reporters. “The fifth-generation capabilities that the F-22 and F-35 possess will allow us to deal with that environment,” he said.

F-22s and F-35s bring maneuverability, survivability, advanced avionics and stealth technology to the fight. Both planes are multi-role capable, able to fight air-to-air and air-to-ground.

“These capabilities give our leaders the ability to hold any target at risk, anywhere in the globe, at any time,” Jones said. “I think it is important for any adversary to understand we possess those capabilities and intend to continue the development.”

Another aspect of the strategy includes the ability to operate against adversaries across the spectrum of conflict. F-22s and F-35s are particularly relevant at the top of the spectrum, “where we can’t always set the conditions for our operations as easily as we have in the last couple of decades of military conflict,” Miller said.

This is an extremely valuable capability that must be nurtured, the generals said.

Americans have become used to having domain dominance, Miller said, expecting U.S. service members to be able to operate on land, at sea, in the air with a fair degree of autonomy as they pursue national objectives.

“This is not a birthright,” Miller said. “That is something we have had to work very hard in the past to gain, … and we can’t take for granted that we are going to be able to support the joint team in future environments unless we maintain a high-end capability to target an adversary’s air forces, their surface-to-air forces and basically be able to seize control of parts of the air space and other domains the joint commander needs.

“It’s an Air Force capability,” he added, “but it’s a key Air Force contribution to the joint warfighting capability of the nation.”

“The Joint Operational Access Concept is an important first step,” a senior Pentagon officer told reporters here Jan. 20.

Marine Corps Lt. Gen. George Flynn, the Joint Staff’s director of joint force development, said the concept -- which Joint Chiefs of Staff Chairman Army Gen. Martin E. Dempsey released last week -- provides a framework for developing forces for future wars.

“This concept describes, in broad and general terms, how the joint force will operate in response to what we see as a growing challenge to our ability to achieve and maintain operational access … in the various domains [of sea, land, air, space and cyberspace],” Flynn said.

The 64-page concept focuses on defeating enemy “anti-access and area-denial” capabilities -- getting U.S. forces into places and then moving them around within those places against enemy opposition.

That opposition can include “mines, missiles, cyber threats -- but complicated by the threat that a lot of those capabilities could be available to nontraditional [actors], just because of the proliferation of technology,” Flynn said.

The general offered as an example nonstate actors -- groups that aren’t aligned with national governments -- who can pose a disproportionate threat in the cyber domain.

“That’s why it’s important, as we do force development, that we don’t get myopic on a specific threat,” he added.

The concept’s authors say there are three reasons why gaining access against armed opposition is the “essential problem” for future joint forces: potential enemies are acquiring dramatically improved anti-access and area-denial capabilities; the number of U.S. troops permanently based overseas is declining, which will mean deploying troops for combat from the United States; and space and cyberspace are becoming increasingly important and contested domains.

The concept lists 30 critical capabilities, divided among command and control, intelligence, fires [which the document’s glossary defines as “the use of weapon systems to create a specific lethal or nonlethal effect on a target”], movement and maneuver, protection, sustainment, information and engagement.

It’s too soon to tie those capabilities to platforms or tactics, techniques and procedures, Flynn said, but the 30 objectives will serve as a guide to the military services in their spending plans.

“Those capabilities … can be provided by one service, or it could be the collective capability of the joint force,” he said. “The existing force development processes [will] bring those capabilities to reality.”

The concept emphasizes joint operations, synergy and cooperation starting at a much lower level than they do now, the general noted. DOD’s existing air-sea battle strategy and upcoming concepts detailing entry, littoral (seas, lakes and rivers close to shore), and sustained land-based operations will align under the joint access concept, Flynn said.

When Dempsey released the new concept document, initial response within the Pentagon to its emphasis on “cross-domain synergy” was that it’s nothing new, Flynn said.

“It is something we have to explore in greater detail,” he added. “Traditionally, we used to talk about combined arms … [in] the same domain. … What we’re saying in the Joint Operational Access Concept is we’re going to have multiple-domain operations going on that have to be sequenced in a way that they’ve never been sequenced before.”

The military understands the traditional domains of land, sea, air and space very well, Flynn said. “You have this new domain, cyber -- man-made, that changes all the time -- that now has to be thrown into the mix,” he added.

That’s one challenge, he said, and another challenge is the level at which future conflicts will need to “go joint.”

“We think that this is going to have to be operated … [and] coordinated at lower levels than we’ve ever had to do this before,” he explained. Lower-level operational synergy among services is core to the concept, and so is integrating cyber into the battle space, Flynn said. Both ideas need more exploration before they can be realized, he added.

The concept is in line with the guidance he got from Dempsey to “take jointness and push it deeper, sooner in our force development,” Flynn said.

Earlier emphasis on joint operations will allow the nation’s military to achieve its objectives more effectively, more efficiently and more affordably, he added.

Warfare will become more complex as threats in the cyber domain mature, Flynn said, and equipment, doctrine, tactics, training and organization will have to adapt to that reality.

The Capstone Concept for Joint Operations, last updated in 2009, details the main security challenges facing the joint force: winning the nation’s wars, deterring adversaries, developing cooperative security, defending the homeland and responding to civil crises.

“This month, we just completed the review of the Capstone Concept for Joint Operations,” Flynn noted. “[We’re now] undertaking a revision of that document, and we’re on a pretty aggressive timeline.”

In the hierarchy of documents, Flynn said, the revised capstone concept will bridge the Joint Operational Access Concept and further development of joint doctrine.

The current version of the capstone concept doesn’t address the speed at which future operations will have to happen, Flynn said, adding that the new concept serves as a guide to the services and the joint force in managing development changes already under way and still to come.

“It’s really easy to say, ‘I have a concept. I have to be able to operate fast. I have to be able to do this at levels lower than I ever have before,’” Flynn noted.

“Will we be able to field that tomorrow?” he asked. “No. What we’re doing is identifying the challenges, identifying in general terms the capabilities, so that we can get to where … [we can] operate at speed [and] integrate at lower levels, and … do that in a joint context.”