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Speech
Speaking Notes for General Raymond Henault Chief of the Defence Staff For an Appearance Before the Standing Committee on National Defence And Veterans Affairs
October 16, 2001
[Check Against Delivery]Committee members,
Ladies and Gentleman.
Thank you for the invitation to be here today. As this is my first appearance before SCONDVA as the Chief of Defence Staff I appreciate the opportunity to voice some of my thoughts about events as they are currently unfolding and about the current and future challenges facing the Canadian Forces.
In these challenging times, the Canadian Forces is demonstrating its ability to intervene in a global strategic context where ethnic conflicts, ideologies, and politics complicate efforts to maintain world peace and stability.
It has already recognized that, since the end of the Cold War and the beginning of the New World order, peace support operations in which Canada has participated have become more complex, dangerous, and unpredictable.
We have also recognized our vulnerability to new threats, including those related to cyber-terrorism and acts of violence by groups of extremists who may have access to arms of mass destruction.
The terrorist attacks of September 11th on the United States have made it very clear that there are some very deadly aspects of the emerging asymmetric threats to North American security.
In the wake of those attacks, the CF responded rapidly across a wide range of activities. These included an immediate recall of personnel, increased levels of readiness at home and abroad, and an increase in the number of the assets dedicated to NORAD.
Today, the Canadian Forces remain at a heightened state of readiness and increased vigilance, to respond to possibly more terrorist activity.
And while we already have more than 2100 service personnel deployed on operations around the world, and this prior to the terrorist attacks, we are now generating forces to participate directly in the global campaign against terrorism, and to assist with the humanitarian assistance in the region.
At the same time, we continue to face a number of challenges that were already the focus of our attention prior to 11 September. Rapid changes in technology mean that we must not only remain apace of these changes, leveraging technology to our advantage, but it is also essential that we maintain and enhance our interoperability with our allies, particularly the U.S.
Recruiting and retention of our personnel remains a challenge today that may seriously undermine our ability to fulfil our operational missions into the future, if not satisfactorily addressed.
From my perspective, we already have a strong foundation to build upon in response to these challenges.
As CDS, it is my responsibility to capitalize on what has already been done and what was already underway, and to maintain my sights clearly on the need to maintain a multi-purpose combat capable force which is operationally relevant, and I emphasize the word relevant, in a changing world. To do so, I intend to focus on three main priorities, which some of you have heard before and still remain intact:
Investing in People;
Modernizing the Forces; and
Enhancing internal and external Communications.
Let me first begin with communications. I have made it my goal to better connect Canadians with their military and to build closer ties between the Canadian Forces and our parliamentarians.
That is why being given the opportunity to address this committee today is so important to me.
This committee's most recent work has been fundamental to the introduction of many important measures to enhance the Quality of Life and the well-being of our service personnel and their families. And I wish to publicly thank you for your past efforts.
With respect to investing in people, as with any big organization, the Canadian Forces is only as good as its people. It may sound like a broken record, but it can't be emphasized enough how important our people are to the success of such a diverse organization with such an important national and international role. And I can tell you from my own experience, that we have some of the best. [Bosnia, Aviano, Geilenkirchen, Persian Gulf, Ethiopia/ Eritrea, Middle East]
This means we need to make every effort to continue improving the quality of life for our members and service families, and enhancing the health care we provide for our members.
We must also develop programs to further enhance the professional development, education and leadership skills of our Officer and NCM corps.
But we can't stop there. We also need to focus on our recruiting and retention efforts. In that respect, we recently launched a bold new advertising campaign to attract talented Canadians to the Defence team, and we are continually introducing initiatives which make it more attractive to stay in uniform.
It's equally important that we provide our personnel with the equipment and technology they need to accomplish their missions in an increasingly complex world. And that will be one of the key areas in which I will be concentrating my efforts during my tenure.
In terms of modernization, I remind you that we have recently acquired new equipment at the leading edge of technology that includes modern frigates, the Coyote reconnaissance vehicles, the new Light Armoured Vehicles for troop transport, the LAV III, Search and Rescue Helicopters, of which the first two of fifteen arrived in Canada this month, and submarines.
We have also commenced significant modernization programs for our CF-18 fighter aircraft and Aurora maritime patrol aircraft fleets.
But if we are to remain a relevant, credible, combat-capable force, able to react rapidly and deploy globally, we must step up these efforts.
Our experience over the last decade has also demonstrated the importance of operating under a joint umbrella. I saw this first hand as DCDS, and know full-well how critical it will be to our success in the immediate and longer terms.
As such, we are dedicating more resources to improve our ability to conduct joint and combined operations.
In terms of jointness, the creation of the Canadian Forces Joint Operations Group (or JOG) has provided us with the modern, rapidly deployable, and robust command and control and signals capability we require in this changing world.
It has already proved its effectiveness in operations, with staff from the JOG providing the Theatre Activation Team that deployed in advance of our troops in Ethiopia and Eritrea. It also provided some of the communications capability for the force, and later conducted theatre de-activation on completion of the mission.
The troops that were recently deployed to the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia, to participate in NATO's Operation Essential Harvest, were also augmented with resources from the Joint Operations Group to provide for the necessary command and support elements, including the Commander of the Task Force.
And the Joint Operations Group will play a part in the national command and support of our forces in the Gulf region. And, of course, we will need to enhance our ability to deal with asymmetric threats, be they cyber-terrorism, terrorist activities such as those witnessed on 11 September, or others that will come to challenge us.
And, more and more, senior Canadian Forces officers are serving at the highest level of operational command in combined operations around the world.
Over the past two years, for example, senior command assignments have seen experienced commanders responsible for command of the Multi-National Division (SW) in Bosnia, command of the Allied Mobile Force (Land) in Germany, and command of the NATO Standing Naval Force Atlantic.
Our relationship with our allies not only demands that we continue to take on these responsibilities, but also that we continue to excel at them.
For example, take our most recent deployments to the Persian Gulf. HMCS Charlottetown and HMCS Winnipeg worked very closely alongside the Americans and other countries to help enforce the embargo against Iraq.
The Commanding Officer of HMCS Winnipeg also acted as the on-scene Commander for all coalition naval assets of the Multinational Interdiction Force in the Northern Arabian Gulf for a short period. This was a first for Canadians in this role.
The U.S. Admiral commanding that mission voiced the highest praise for both of the ships' companies, which provided a potent force throughout the area.
Operation Allied Force in Kosovo is another recent example of the importance of being highly competent to participate in joint and combined operations. Again, we performed extremely well, our CF-18 pilots leading over 50 per cent of the air to ground combat sorties in which they participated.
As you are aware, we are now in the process of deploying approximately 2000 more personnel to the Middle East as our contribution to the U.S. led coalition in the campaign against terrorism.
A large component of that force, the Canadian Naval Task Group, will be leaving Halifax tomorrow, enroute to the Persian Gulf where it will operate with the United States Navy and other allied forces.
As always, in the context of combined operations, interoperability remains a crucial factor. We would not be able to contribute significantly to the missions if we were not already able to integrate seamlessly into the allied formation.
We will continue to look at ways to improve that interoperability, especially with the United States, and to ensure compatibility not only in technology and equipment but also in training, doctrine and procedures.
We will also need to capitalize on the innovations that advances in technology and the Revolution in Military Affairs are affording us to modernize our forces.
Since our resources are finite, we will have to make wise choices in determining the kind of land, sea and aerospace capabilities we need.
And acquiring new technologies is not enough. We also need to develop and test new concepts for employing and integrating those technologies. (Use of UAVs might be an example).
The establishment of the Canadian Forces Experimentation Centre will help us to do just that: test, experiment and validate technological developments to identify those that will be of greater relevance to the Canadian Forces.
Let me conclude by saying that the Canadian Forces that I have the privilege and honour to lead today are very much different from the Forces I joined 33 years ago. And they are much different from the Forces we will see 33 years from now.
Overall, I am convinced that the Canadian Forces are a highly professional force with a broad variety of defence capabilities - truly multi-purpose and combat capable.
But the events of September 11th - and the reponse of the international community - have shown that we must continue investing in the future to adapt to a changing security environment.
My job is to optimize the capabilities of our current force and lay the foundation for the future, to ensure that we remain relevant and capable of defending Canada, Canadian interests and values, and contributing to international peace and security in the years ahead.
And I know I can count on your support as we work together in achieving these objectives.
I think I will stop here. Thank you for your attention and I am prepared to respond to your questions.
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