The Chief of Defence Staff paid a visit to the United States of America

The Chief of the Defense Staff, General Daniel Petrescu, participated, on September 29, in the military ceremony marking the transfer of responsibility of the Chairman of the US Joint Chiefs of Staff Committee from General Mark A. Milley to Air Force General Charles Q .Brown, Jr. The ceremony took place at Fort Myer, Virginia.

The upward trend of bilateral and allied military cooperation between the Romanian and the United States of America’s armed forces, established during General Mark A. Milley’s mandate will maintain the same course throughout General Charles Q. Brown Jr.’s mandate, the current Chairman of the Joint of the Chiefs of Staff Committee of the US Armed Forces. The Chief of Defense Staff stated that we are pursuing the achievement of the lines of effort from the "USA and Romania Joint Roadmap for Defense Cooperation 2020-2030": "I trust that, in the future, the contribution of American allies will remain significant for the European regional security and relevant for Romania’s defence consolidation, both through the presence of American forces deployed on the national territory, and through the capability building by means of major procurement programs, as well as major military infrastructure projects".

The ceremony held at Fort Myer was one of the elements of the official visit’s agenda that the Romanian Chief of Defence Staff paid to the United States of America, over September 27-30.

On September 28, General Daniel Petrescu met with Jason Israel, Special Assistant to the American President and Senior Director for Defense Policy of the National Security Council. The two officials discussed the security situation in the Black Sea region, the need to accelerate the procurement programs run through the American "Foreign Military Sales" platform, in the context of our country's efforts made to improve national and allied defence capabilities.

The same day, the Chief of Defence Staff met at the Pentagon with Admiral Lisa Franchetti, the future Chief of US Naval Operations, and with Lieutenant General Gregg P. Olson, Director of the US Marine Corps Staff. The meetings’ agenda focused on developments in the security environment in the Black Sea region, the effectiveness of allied deterrence and defence measures taken on the eastern flank and the importance of solid and dynamic collaboration relations between the Romanian and American soldiers within the Strategic Partnership between the two countries.

At the same time, the Chief of Defence Staff participated, in Washington DC., in the debate entitled "Troubled Waters: Security in a Post-War Black Sea", within the forum "Winning the War. Winning the Peace", organized, on September 27, by the think-tank Center for European Policy Analysis (CEPA) and hosted by the Romanian Embassy in the USA. The strategic importance of the Black Sea for the Euro-Atlantic and global space was emphasized during the conference. In this context, the allied and US presence in Romania and the implementation of a comprehensive US strategy for the Black Sea region are essential for managing the current regional and global security challenges.

On September 28, the Chief of Defence had several interventions in Washington DC, during the "Euro-Atlantic Resilience" forum, organized in duplex format by the Euro-Atlantic Center for Resilience (E-ARC) from Romania and the American think-tank Hudson Institute. During the panel on the topic "Navigating towards Resilience: Technological Gamechangers", General Daniel Petrescu emphasized the importance of the resilience of Ukrainian society when facing the unjustified of the occurrence of potential incidents at the NATO border, such as the possible drifting flights of missiles or drones, the Russian Federation’s jamming activities that affect navigation in the Romanian territorial waters of the Black Sea and the possible existence of drifting sea mines in the Black Sea are very serious arguments that make us not only to increase the actions meant to strengthen the deterrence and defence posture, but also those aimed at increasing national resilience", the Chief of Defence Staff stated.

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The Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff of the United States Armed Forces holds the highest military rank and is the msin military advisor to the President, Vice President, Secretary of Defense, and the national security system of the United States of America. President Joe Biden, Vice President Kamala Harris, Secretary of Defense Lloyd J. Austin III and other representatives of the national security system attended the military ceremony marking the transfer of authority for the position of Chairman of the US Joint Chiefs of Staff Committee, which was held at Fort Myer.

The Press Office