One of the peculiarities of the personnel policy of the new US president, whose inauguration is taking place today, is that retired generals of the Marine Corps James Mattis and John Kelly have been elected as heads of two key power ministries of the country. Probably, Donald Trump, who is often compared to Ronald Reagan, took into account his words: “Many people spend their whole lives looking for an answer to the question: have they been able to change something in the world? The Marines don't have this problem. " About General Mattis, who was recently allowed by the US Congress to "run" for the post of head of the Pentagon (his approval in it will take place after Trump's inauguration), "NVO" told, and today we will consider another Marine General - John Kelly, who is presented for the post of Secretary of the Interior US security. On January 10, 2017, he responded to members of the Senate Homeland Security and Government Affairs Committee with a number of important statements.
THE MAIN "MONSTER" OF AMERICA
The US Department of Homeland Security, which some human rights activists refer to as the main "monster" of America, was formed in 2003, in the wake of the consequences of the high-profile terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001 by merging more than two dozen different agencies and today is actually America's main anti-terrorism agency ensuring its safety "in all dimensions".
"The Secretary of Homeland Security is the toughest job in government," said Senator Ron Johnson, chairman of the Senate Homeland Security and Government Affairs Committee, in his opening speech at the committee hearing on the appointment of General Kelly as head of the US Department of Homeland Security. - The ministry employs 240,000 men and women who are responsible for ensuring the security of our borders, aviation network and waterways; organization and implementation of our migration regime; protecting cyberspace and preparing our country to counter disasters. The ministry also plays an important role in the fight of our state against terrorism."
At the same time, Senator Johnson noted that, based on numerous hearings held by the committee, he made a very alarming conclusion: “Our borders are not protected, the migration regime is not fully implemented, cyber threats are real and growing, and our infrastructure is not protected. adequately . One of the most honored and experienced veterans of the Marine Corps has been chosen to eliminate all these shortcomings.
ALWAYS SPEAK THE TRUTH
General John Francis Kelly, like General Mattis, is known for his decisive character and directness of judgment, which was repeatedly confirmed in practice during his military service, especially during the years of Barack Obama's presidency, when Kelly actively expressed opinions contradicting the White House lines on various important issues, for which he eventually fell out of favor with the presidential administration.
“When I first met General Kelly, he was just a good warrior, but over time … he changed,” the words of the Republican, member of the Committee on the Armed Forces of the US House of Representatives Duncan Hunter, are quoted by the journalists of the American military publication Military Times.- It was interesting to see how the position “everything is fine, we will not say something, we need to fulfill our duties” changed to “this is wrong, and I have to say about it”.
“I have always believed that it is necessary to tell the authorities the truth, - said General Kelly himself. “Whether you're a second lieutenant serving under a captain or lieutenant colonel, or a four-star general working with the secretary of defense and the White House. Decision-makers need to have the right basis for making them. Otherwise, their decisions may be wrong, and this can be dangerous … Many will say: "It is easy for him to say - he is a four-star general." But I'll tell you: one of the most difficult times in my life as a Marine Corps officer was just recently, when I plunged into this relationship between civil and military, where the truth is not always welcome. You can literally get heartburn when someone calls you from Washington and says, "It's probably not a good idea to keep going in this direction." But in such cases I say: “Hey, but it's true. I’m called for a congressional hearing, and they ask me questions. Should I lie to them?"
“I was subordinate to many high-ranking representatives of the American government, including our president, and I never hesitated to express disagreement with any of them or, if necessary, to make alternative proposals,” the general emphasized at a recent hearing in the Senate.
However, such directness did not prevent him from making a good military career. The last post that Kelly held on active service was the post of Commander of the US Southern Command, in which he was responsible for virtually all issues related to ensuring the national security of the United States in the south (Caribbean, Central and South America), including the fight against drug smuggling. and weapons. In this position, due to the nature of the tasks being solved, he had to closely interact with various departments and organizations subordinate to the US Department of Homeland Security, so that in his new position, the general would not become such a "Varangian" for the latter's employees.
The general earned even more respect for becoming the highest-ranking American military man who lost a child in the uncompromising war on terror: his youngest son, 29-year-old 1st Marine Lieutenant Robert Michael Kelly, died in Afghanistan, near the city of Sangin, in Helmand Province, November 9, 2010. By the way, the general's eldest son, John Francis Kelly, also linked his life with the Marine Corps - he serves in the Corps with the rank of major, went through two missions to Iraq and trained American soldiers before being sent to Afghanistan, and his daughter, Kathleen Margaret Kelly, after After graduation, she went to work at the National Military Medical Center. Walter Reed, dedicating his life to working with the wounded and disabled.
FROM PRIVATE TO GENERAL
General Kelly, who turns 67 this May, has served 46 years in the Marine Corps. He was born in Boston and does not belong to any party. He received his bachelor's degree from the University of Massachusetts and his master's degree from Georgetown University. He received his primary military education at the ILC Officers' School, and then graduated from the ILC Command and Staff College. He received his higher military education at the National Military College of the National Defense University. In the course of his career advancement, he also received a wide range of additional professional education in various courses, programs and seminars, including the mandatory CEPSTONE curriculum for all new generals and admirals and the training program for the command personnel of the ground component of the joint task force.
The future general enlisted as a private in the Corps in 1970, but after he received the rank of sergeant in 1972 (he served in the 2nd Marine Division), he left active service and, being enrolled in the reserve, studied at the University of Massachusetts in Boston. After graduating from the latter, he returned to active service, in his native 2nd Marine Division, receiving the rank of 2nd Lieutenant of the Marine Corps upon graduation from the ILC Officer's School in Quantico, Virginia.
In 1980-1981, Captain Kelly attended the US Army Infantry Officer Retraining Course at Fort Benning, and then served in the ILC headquarters in Washington until 1984. Then he returns to the 2nd Marine Division, where he holds the posts of commander of a rifle company and a company of heavy weapons (fire weapons), and in August 1986, after being awarded the military rank of "major", he was appointed an operational officer of the headquarters of the 3rd battalion 4 th regiment of the MP. Then he goes to the MP Officer School in Quantico, where from June 1987 to August 1990 he teaches tactics and holds the position of the head of the training courses for infantry officers, and then enters the KMP Command and Staff College in Quantico. After his graduation in 1991, he enters, in the same place in Quantico, for the Courses of Advanced Methods of Combat Operations, which he graduates in 1992 and, after being awarded the military rank of "lieutenant colonel" in June of the same year, was appointed commander of the 1st reconnaissance and patrol battalion 1 th division of the MP.
Lieutenant Colonel Kelly commanded the battalion until May 1994, and then went for a new portion of knowledge at the National Military College of the National Defense University, which he graduated in 1995, receiving in June the appointment of the head of the group of liaison officers for military law of the US Commandant of the USMC in the House of Representatives The United States Congress, where he served until June 1999 and was promoted to colonel. The next appointment was the position of Special Assistant to the Commander-in-Chief of the Allied Forces in Europe, which Colonel Kelly held from July 1991 to July 2001.
Returning to the military in the second half of 2001, John Francis Kelly first served as Assistant Chief of Staff of the 2nd Marine Division, and from July 2002 to July 2004 as Assistant Commander of the 1st Marine Division for Operations and planning (for us it is more usual - the chief of the operations department of the division headquarters). He spent most of his service in his last position in Iraq, where in March 2003 he was promoted to brigadier general at the forward base of the division located in the oil fields of South Rumaila, and the next month he led the operational air-ground group Tripoli, which passed north from Baghdad to Samarra and Tikrit, among other things, releasing seven American prisoners of war in Samarra.
It is noteworthy that in the work "Together with the 1st Marine Division in Iraq, 2003", prepared by a group of specialists under the leadership of Lt. Col. Michael Groen and released in 2006 by the Faculty of History of the University of the KMP in Quantico, it was indicated: the production of Colonel D. F. Kelly's Brigadier General in a Combat Zone was the first of its kind since 1951. It was then that the last time in the history of the US ILC was promoted to brigadier generals at the front - in January in Korea, this rank was received by the assistant commander of the 10th Marine Division, Colonel Lewis Barwell Puller (Honor), who is still the most famous American Marine - awarded the greatest the number of state awards.
By the way. Do you know who commanded the 1st Marine Division during the time when John Kelly was the assistant commander of the division that stormed Baghdad, Tikrit, Fallujah and other cities and strongholds of the Iraqi army, and a year later ensured order in Anbar province? That's right - Major General Mattis! And the next time John Kelly became James Mattis' deputy, when he was in command of the 1st Marine Expeditionary Force. General Kelly also maintains a very close friendship with another Marine, General Joseph Francis Dunford, Jr., who is now chairman of the United States Chiefs of Staff and, before that, was commandant of the Marine Corps. It was Dunford who at one time personally informed Kelly about the death of his son.
From September 2004 to June 2007, Brigadier General Kelly served as Military Law Assistant to the USMC Commandant, then General Michael William Hagee. In January 2007, Kelly was nominated for the rank of major general and on September 11 of the same year - approved by the Senate. Before that, in July 2007, he was appointed commander of the 1st Marine Expeditionary Force, which was sent to Iraq, and on February 9, 2008, he led the Western grouping of the Multinational Force in Iraq. From April to October 2009 he was the deputy commander of this corps, and in October 2009 D. F. Kelly, already a lieutenant general, was appointed commander of the ILC reserve - the commander of the ILC group in the US Northern Command. On March 21, 2011, he became Senior Military Adviser to the Minister of Defense.
ON THE SOUTHERN FRONTIERS
On January 31, 2012, Lieutenant General Kelly was presented for appointment, and on November 19, 2012, he took over as head of the US Southern Command. Here he literally found himself on the spearhead in the fight against Latin American drug lords and transnational organized crime, which Senator Karl Levin - the head of the Senate Armed Forces Committee - during a hearing on July 19, 2012, where Lieutenant General Kelly was approved for the designated position. called the main threat to US security in the area of responsibility of the Southern Command. “Last summer, the president approved a national strategy for combating transnational organized crime (Strategy to Combat Transnational Organized Crime: Addressing Converging Threats to National Security. - V. Sch.),” Senator Levin emphasized at the time. "You, General Kelly, will be one of those who, within the Department of Defense, will put the President's strategy into practice."
“Despite the billions of dollars spent, we have not yet managed to strike a decisive blow against the flow of drugs and other smuggled materials that swept the region and paved the way to the United States,” said Senator John McCain. "You must go beyond traditional thinking and find new, innovative ways to address the challenge of ending, or at least substantially reducing the flow of drugs across our southern border that are killing Americans, young and old."
The experience gained as the head of the Southern Command, General Kelly, seems to be one of the key reasons that prompted Donald Trump to appoint him head of the US Department of Homeland Security. Indeed, in the new position, threats to America, emanating from within the country and from its southern borders, will become a priority. By the way, D. F. Kelly at the head of the Southern Command and the security of the southern borders of America became, according to American journalists, the main topic of the conversation with Donald Trump, which took place on November 20, 2016 in New Jersey.
“I spoke with the President-elect several times,” General Kelly emphasized at the Senate hearings on January 10, 2017. “He told me that the ministry and its administration needed the kind of leadership, managerial and organizational skills, as well as the kind of strong-willed qualities to make difficult decisions, which I have shown during my military career. In particular, he mentioned the periods when I commanded troops in Iraq, headed the Southern Command and served as a senior military adviser to two defense ministers."
It is such a person, apparently, and is needed in order to restore order on the borders of America, especially in the south. "Sources close to Kelly claim that he has more extensive contacts in Latin America than the entire State Department," writes the Military Times. In particular, he is considered one of the initiators of the $ 1 billion assistance program approved in early 2015 for Honduras, Guatemala and El Salvador, which can significantly reduce the crime rate in these countries (the Alliance for Prosperity program).
Indeed, the United States is not Greece or Italy, whose islands are just a stone's throw from the shores of Asia Minor and North Africa, and therefore, if Islamic radicals can get to the mainland of the United States, it is only by air or aboard ocean-going ships. However, after the terrorist attacks of 2001, the American special services practically eliminated the first possibility, and the second way, although theoretically possible, is, by and large, very difficult to implement for a number of reasons. So the main threat comes from their own, homegrown Islamic radicals - US citizens or persons who have legally obtained a residence permit, etc. Thus, as the head of the US Southern Command, General Kelly, at the parliamentary hearings on the security of America's southern borders, pointed out that those jihadist groups from South America and the Caribbean who were sent to the Middle East to fight on the side of Islamist radicals and terrorists will eventually return home and nothing will stop them from heading north to kill Americans (it is notable that the presidential administration Obama then outraged this statement). Yet today, a more real threat comes from transnational organized crime, attacking the United States from the southern borders and constantly improving their tactics in response to the actions of the forces of law and order.
“Latin America and the Caribbean is a region characterized by both unconventional security challenges and opportunities for cooperation,” Lieutenant General Kelly said in his July 2012 hearing at his appointment as Chief of Southern Command. - Without a doubt, there are many threats to our security, not the least of which is the smuggling of drugs and their precursors, as well as the growing activity of transnational organized crime syndicates, constantly increasing the sophistication of their actions. In addition, the challenges are cyber and security threats in the energy sector, as well as natural disasters, humanitarian crises and other harmful influences emanating from within the region or from outside it. However, each of these challenges is a real opportunity for organizing cooperation with other countries in the region."
General Kelly named Mexico, Bolivia, Venezuela, Colombia and Peru as the main directions in the south, from where the main threat to US security emanates.
The first is because it has a long border with the United States, which is used to deliver the latest drugs, illegal weapons and illegal migrants to the territory. Moreover, according to the general, drugs not only pose a threat from the point of view of the observance of law and order, but also pose a global challenge to the US national security. At the same time, he repeatedly emphasized that underground tunnels dug by Mexican drug cartels under the border between the United States and Mexico and the "mule trains" often used by them allow not only to deliver, as is done now, smuggling drugs, weapons and various goods (it is noteworthy that civilian weapons are through tunnels in the opposite direction - from the States to Mexico and further to their numerous customers), but can also be used to transfer terrorists and their weapons, including weapons of mass destruction, to the territory of the United States.“Our society tends to take security in the Western Hemisphere for granted until we face an overt and unpleasant crisis,” Kelly said in a note prepared for the Senate Armed Forces Committee hearings in the spring of 2015. "I think this is a mistake." The paths laid by smugglers from drug cartels and criminal syndicates operating in Latin America look very attractive for international terrorists, especially for the "Islamic State" (banned in Russia), the general emphasized then, referring to numerous intercepted messages from representatives of the latter, in which contained directions for finding the "entrance to the United States through the southern border." Probably, this point of view was taken into account by Donald Trump when he proposed building a protective wall along the US-Mexican border, as well as toughening the policy towards illegal immigrants who are rushing or have already entered the United States.
However, to eliminate the aforementioned threat, the wall will not be enough - tunnels will be dug under it, as smugglers and terrorists do in the case of Israel and its neighbors. “The ministry has erected approximately 650 miles of various types of barriers on the southern border,” General Kelly emphasized at a January 10 Senate hearing. - In addition, there are other infrastructure facilities - mobile and stationary. And nevertheless, the security of our border is not ensured enough”. At the same time, drug lords and criminal syndicates quickly change the routes of smuggling, adapt to the actions of law enforcement officers and use their huge resources, allowing them to use various high technologies for their own purposes.
In his new position, General Kelly will have to more actively engage in countering a high-tech enemy, including using the same high technologies or unconventional solutions to fight him. So, for example, being at the head of the Southern Command, he proposed using balloons equipped with radar and optoelectronic systems, connected to a single intelligence network, available to interested consumers, including law enforcement agencies of partner countries in the region, for constant monitoring of vast areas of his territory. …
“No physical protection system will fully solve the problem,” General Kelly told the Senators. - The wall should be part of a well-formed and well-maintained layered defense system that includes detection equipment and, most importantly, well-trained professionals … And at the heart of this system is the need to quickly return those huge numbers of intruders who entered - no matter how - through this protection system back to their countries. " At the same time, the future minister noted, the United States "cannot simply defend itself." “The security of our border begins 1,500 miles south of the Rio Grande - in the jungles of Latin America,” the general emphasizes.
THE WORTHY INFLUENCE OF IRAN AND RUSSIA
The rest of the Latin American countries are considered by American specialists as the main drug producers and suppliers in the United States, but in other ways - by sea and air. In particular, General Kelly at one time pointed to the growing role of Venezuela in this process: "Venezuela has become the largest transit country for cocaine by air, land and sea … which is sent to the Caribbean, Central America, the United States, West Africa and Europe." So, according to the data collected by the Americans, in Venezuela, and also to a lesser extent in Colombia, on the rivers, a large-scale construction of small drug carrier submarines has been deployed, participating in the delivery of drugs to Guatemala and Honduras, where they are loaded onto small ships and then to America, or else go to the States through Mexico - across the border with Texas and Arizona. The cost of building such a submarine is about $ 2 million, and the profit that it can bring from one voyage, delivering up to 8 tons of cocaine, reaches $ 250 million. Builders use mainly widely available technologies, and the time it takes to build a submarine is about a year. “They turn around and do it over and over and over. The profit is astronomical, General Kelly emphasized at the Senate hearings. "All of this costs America nearly $ 200 billion a year."
General Kelly also insisted that economic and political problems in Venezuela have become the reason that more and more ordinary citizens are involved in drug trafficking and other illegal activities in the country, but also representatives of government and law enforcement agencies. For example, the Americans accused one of Hugo Chavez's associates, General Henry Rangel Silva, who served as the country's defense minister in 2012, of patronizing the smuggling of drugs and weapons. It is unlikely that such a negative attitude of the American leadership towards Venezuela, as well as the Bolivia and Ecuador oriented towards it, will change under the new US president. Moreover, the very same Bolivia and Venezuela have become one of the regional allies of Iran, which is regarded as one of the most serious threats to America. The leadership of the latter is very concerned about the growing activity of Tehran in Latin America, expressed by the growing political and economic activity, and also, which is especially disliked by American specialists, in the form of the constantly increasing number of so-called "cultural centers" of a religious nature.
“I see that Iran is actively penetrating various parts of the world, as well as South America, the Caribbean and Latin America,” General Kelly emphasized some time ago. “And, unfortunately, our experience shows: where Iran comes, then the Qods forces (a special unit of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps to conduct operations outside Iran. - V. Sch.) come, and then terrorism.” By the way, in this General Kelly is unanimous with General Mattis, who was one of the most active opponents of the policy of detente in relations with Iran, pursued by President Obama. Among American military experts and political scientists, there is an opinion, however, not confirmed by real facts, that the military careers of both generals could have continued further, if not for their disapproving statements regarding a number of items on the political and military agenda of Barack Obama.
Washington is also worried about the growing volume of funds collected in this region in favor of the Hezbollah movement, including proceeds from drug smuggling, etc. In this case, the Americans took Argentina, Brazil, Panama and Paraguay on a pencil. "The terrorist attacks by Iran and Hezbollah in Argentina in 1992 and 1994 confirm their ability to carry out such attacks in Latin America," General Kelly emphasized at the Senate hearings. "Iran and Hezbollah may conduct various operations in the region against the United States and its allies, including assassinations, attacks and kidnappings … And we are concerned that Iran may use groups or individuals in the region to attack the United States."
On the whole, a similar, destructive policy in Latin America, according to General Kelly, is being pursued by Russia, without which modern political life in the United States, apparently, is simply unthinkable. Among the main threats, in his opinion, are the growing volumes of supplies of weapons and civilian equipment to the countries of this region. “The Russians are smart enough to understand the benefits of supplying a variety of assets - from jets to trucks - in terms of building long-term relationships with a particular state, - said General Kelly at a hearing of the Senate Committee on Homeland Security and Government Affairs. - The speed with which the Russians - and the Chinese, too - respond to the wishes of any of the countries to buy certain samples is simply impressive. At the same time, they do not care what type of power has been established in this country - democracy or dictatorship. Is there a free press, or is the government controlled it?Whether human rights are respected there or whether there are large numbers of political prisoners in the country. They simply sell what they asked for or establish other forms of cooperation that will firmly tie the country to them."
The future head of the US Department of Homeland Security is deeply concerned about "attempts by the Russians to influence the recent elections" and "hostile" manifestations in cyberspace, the protection of which is also defined by General Kelly as one of the highest priority tasks that he pledged to address in the event of his approval in the designated position.
In conclusion, we note that, not least of all, the success of General Kelly's solution of these and other tasks will depend on effective interaction not only with his former partners in the post of the head of the US Southern Command from various federal and non-governmental organizations, but also with his former colleagues by the Pentagon. The fact that the head of the latter will be General Mattis - his twice former immediate superior - will allow such interaction to be organized at the highest level. And the level of their trust can be at least indicated by the fact that, as American journalists point out, citing knowledgeable sources, in the process of Donald Trump's selection of a candidate for the post of future Secretary of Defense, General Mattis called General Kelly one of the best candidates, and he, in his turn, did the same for General Mattis.
