Answers To Questions

Army Gen. Raymond Odierno, President Obama's choice to become the service's next chief of staff, appeared before the Senate Armed Services Committee this morning and answered questions from panel members about his plans for the Army. In his answers to "advance policy questions" submitted prior to the hearing, Odierno was asked what he thought would be the major challenges the next Army chief of staff would confront. His response:

In a potentially resource constrained environment, we must:

1) Continue to provide trained and ready forces to meet current wartime requirements and other world-wide contingencies;

2) Continue to reset the Army to meet future challenges;

3) Continue to adapt and develop a more effective and efficient force to meet our nation's future challenges;

4) Right-size the Army and sustain the All Volunteer Army by ensuring programs are in place to care for and develop our Soldiers and their families.

When asked what he would do to address those challenges, Odierno writes:

If confirmed, I will continue to work closely with Congress to address these challenges. We will continue to refine and update our training programs to ensure all our Soldiers are fully prepared to deploy to combat. We will continue to review our reset, force modernization and acquisition programs in order to more efficiently meet the needs and requirements of today and the future. I will work closely with the Secretary of Defense, the Secretary of the Army, and Combatant Commanders to identify the capabilities needed to provide depth and versatility to the Joint Force in order to provide more effective and flexible forces for employment. I will continue to adjust our leader development programs in order to develop thinking, adaptable decision makers necessary to operate in an increasingly complex and unpredictable environment. I will review our Soldier and family programs to ensure we are meeting their needs.