will be about the continued support to ukraine. also, there ll be lots of talk about continued support and bolstering of nato s vulnerable eastern frank. the nato secondary general has talked about how the quick reaction force will be increased from 40,000 to more than 300,000 troops, ready to spring into action in countries like estonia, latvia, and lithuania that feel very much in the firing line of russia s aggression. that will partly involve increasing troop numbers in those border countries. and with latvia, it is canada that runs and is in charge of combat brigades in latvia, and we are delighted to be joined by anita and i am to, the minister of defence for canada. thank you very much for being with us and and. how many troops are you willing to increase? i’d how many troops are you willing to increase? ., how many troops are you willing to increase? ~ ., , , . ~ increase? i d like to step back and reiterate that increase? i d like to step back and reiterate that can
combat brigades, essentially a ground force intelligence surveillance reconnaissance, medical, logistics. that sort of thing. helicopters, being able to move people around. possibly even doing more exercises and training with local forces on the ground. what we are waiting for is an announcement from the pentagon on what specific units might be getting these preparation orders, they are trying to notify families, troops and units and once those notifications are complete, the pentagon said it will tell the american public. kate? barbara, thank you so much for that. really appreciate it. the biden administration is planning a series of congressional briefings on this issue later today, the ukraine crisis. one key question to all of this. are diplomatic options for resolving the standoff with russia dwindling? cnn s sam kiley live in ukraine s capital of kyiv and joins us now. sam, more world leaders are speaking out in this critical moment. what s the very latest from
Fort Hood report shows readiness trumped SHARP program John Robinson December 16, 2020 A T-shirt worn by a soldier at Joint Base Lewis-McChord, Wash., on April 17, 2020, represents efforts to prevent sexual harassment and assault in today’s Army. (Sgt. Uriah Walker/Army) One name loomed large over the Fort Hood Independent Review Committee report released on Dec. 8 by the secretary of the Army, a name found nowhere in its sprawling 152 pages, but that hung like a shadow over its damning conclusions: Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Gen. Mark A. Milley. The godfather of military readiness took a direct hit in the report, which concluded, “Across the installation, and especially in the Combat Brigades and their supporting elements, readiness was the primary focus of all activities, while the [Sexual Harassment/Assault Response and Prevention] program and the general well-being of Soldiers was a distant second. Mission readiness completely overshadowed the SHARP
2006. it was a hugely pivotal moment for your uncle because just the month prior, democrats had affectively swept into power in congress. we ended up learning that he was leaning towards a troop increase and not just any little troop increase, this was what precipitated the surge in iraq. so five combat brigades, 20,000 troops that were going to go in in the hopes and certainly at that point in time to turn around this terrible situation as it was in iraq. so just this amazing moment in history, but the thing that struck me was just the rapport, honestly, that your uncle had with reporters. it was something you could only really appreciate in person. and even though gets a grilling from reporters, he still has this affinity for them, i noticed. it was something that i hadn t seen quite transmit on television but in person that was actually the thing i walked
quite as deep as this budget suggests. for a moderate, i m very hawkish, so, you know, protecting us and our military fills a primal lead and making sure we survive. having said that when you present a 10% increase in something, i d like to understand and say, oh, here is why. our nuclear, you know, weaponry is falling behind. we need to do x, y, z. doesn t there need to be some actual left brain as opposed to an emotional explanation? we need more military to justify that being such a huge part of the budget? there actually is. if you ll look at both the defense authorization bill that was passed late last year and the defense appropriations bill which has moved through the house and now over to the senate. look. we literally only have three or four combat brigades ready to deploy out of 50 some odd. our training is down. our pilots aren t getting enough air time. our equipment is old. we have been at war for 15 years. you need some of these modernizations like f-35 and new