The Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff emailed me! No, seriously! He did!

Well pretty seriously, anyway.  Okay, so I went to see Adm. Mike Mullen speak at Columbia U. after which there was a question/answer session.  Unfortunately, I wasn’t able to ask my question, but I was able to write my question down and give it to his aid, with the assurance that the Admiral always reads all these questions… *although his aids most definitely answer them.. he’s a pretty busy guy… so this email is probably in fact from the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff anonymous aid..  but oh well.  I still think its cool. 

Here’s the email if you want to read it…

Classification:  UNCLASSIFIED

Dear Ms. Burson,

It was a pleasure to talk with you and other students during my visit to Columbia University in New York on 18 April 2010.  I appreciate your question concerning the working relationship between the U.S. military and private contractors and the potential impact of contracted support on the future of global conflict.

Throughout our Nation’s history, contractors have provided support to the Department of Defense (DOD) in both peace and war.  The  Department of Defense procures contractor support to fill urgent and evolving needs while it develops programs to train U.S. forces in cutting-edge technologies.  In many areas, contractors provide the U.S. military with high-technology weapon systems and logistics support in contingency operations.  This enables the Department of Defense to meet surge requirements by rapidly expanding or reducing short-term capabilities.  As a Nation, we have a high standard for the quality of life and support we provide our warfighters.  Our goal is to equip our military with the best resources and capabilities to successfully meet operational requirements.  We leverage contractor support to further our strategic objectives and build local infrastructure and economic capacity.  This is particularly the case in Afghanistan, where 75 percent of DOD contractors are local nationals.  It is anticipated that the current level of contractor support will continue in the foreseeable future.

Your question coincides with my staff’s ongoing study of contractor support in contingency operations and our efforts to ensure we have the right force mix.  I am convinced we can greatly improve our operational planning for contractor support and have directed my staff to take steps to do so.  The goal is to better integrate contractor support and contractor management in operations and increase our capacity to provide appropriate oversight.  I am convinced that this continuous monitoring of our force mix will assist the Department of Defense in developing best practices for future global conflicts.

Again, thank you for your question.  Your dedicated service to our great Nation is deeply appreciated.

Sincerely,

Mike Mullen
Admiral, U.S. Navy

How do you like that?  Seems pretty canned, but whatever. 

Something I found interesting was the last sentence of the second paragraph talking about how the US relies on Afghani private contractors to “further our strategic objectives and build local infrastructure and economic capacity”

Obviously Adm. Mullen’s aid hadn’t read this New York Times article that was published 2 days before this email was sent.  http://www.nytimes.com/2010/06/07/world/asia/07convoys.html    …all about the corruption and deception associated with these very same Afghani mercenaries against the US and NATO forces that they are hired to help.  Remember out tax dollars pay for this, people.