Opening remarks

by General Ray Henault at the
Military Committee in Chiefs of Staff Session

Gentlemen, I bring this meeting of the NATO Military Committee in Chiefs of Staff Session to order.

Welcome to Brussels.  I look forward to working with all of you over the next two days as we build on the successes and momentum of our last meeting in Canada, and formulate our strategic military advice to the North Atlantic Council.

As always, NATO operations figure prominently in our agenda, particularly strategic oversight of our key missions in Afghanistan and Kosovo.

We will also use this opportunity to refine the strategic Lines of Effort we identified at our last meeting to help prioritise our work, and that now needs to be brought forward to help inform the political discussions in the lead up to next year’s Summit in Bucharest. 

And of course, tomorrow we will elect the next Chairman of the Military Committee, from among our [Italian, Polish or Spanish] colleagues. There is certainly much important Military Committee work to be done between now and June 2008 when my successor is expected to replace me. I am pleased to see we have as much interest from nations as this in this position, and good luck to all.