Text: Secretary of the Navy Interview on CNN's Larry King Live
(Outlines Navy's main objectives in support of the war) (1920)
In an interview on CNN's Larry King Live late November 5, Secretary of
the Navy Gordon England outlined the main objectives of the U.S. Navy
in the war against terrorism that is currently being waged in
Afghanistan:
-- Providing support platforms for U.S. Air Force bomber missions in
the form of aircraft carriers and amphibious assault ships;
-- Housing rapid response teams such as those of the U.S. Marines;
-- Acting as a highly mobile and self-sufficient fighting force to be
used wherever and whenever the need arises.
Secretary England likened the war against international terrorism to
"removing a cancer."
The Secretary noted that morale was "extremely high" among the Navy
personnel deployed in the U.S. Fifth Fleet and expressed his pride in
the job they are doing.
Following is the text released by the U.S. Navy:
(begin text)
Interview with Gordon England, Secretary of the Navy
By Larry King, CNN 9pm (EST), Nov. 5, 2001
LARRY KING: We begin with the return visit with the United States
Secretary of the Navy Gordon England. He guested on this program on
October 16th, it's good to have him back. He's just returned from an
overseas trip where he visited aircraft carriers, the Kitty Hawk, the
Theodore Roosevelt, the Carl Vinson, his first overseas as Secretary.
What was that like?
SECRETARY OF THE NAVY GORDON ENGLAND: It was terrific Larry, we had an
absolutely terrific four days onboard ship, great young men and women.
It was exhilarating. I will tell you, proud of those great young men
and women, and it's terrific to have the nation behind, because it was
a great four days. They're out there on the front lines, clearly
defending freedom and liberty for all of us. It was an exhilarating
four days.
KING: What was the morale like?
ENGLAND: The morale, morale is terrific, Larry. They know that the
nation is behind them. They know that they have a mission. They've
been training for this mission. They're doing terrific out there. I'll
tell you, all the mothers, fathers, and brothers and sisters, and
kids, you should be proud of everybody back there on those carriers
and ships, because you're just doing a great job, and they're just
wonderful people. I mean, they all volunteer for this, Larry. Remember
the last time, I said they're all volunteers, they go out there and
they volunteer for all of us, and it was great to be out there. It's
good for my morale. I mean, I'm the one who got my morale raised, not
them.
KING: I was going to ask, what was it like for you?
ENGLAND: Well, it was exhilarating. You get out there with all the
young men and women, they've been trained for these missions. So, I
got to meet lots and lots of our people in all sorts of jobs, aids in
the messes, was down in the reactor rooms, up on the air boss or the
mini boss, to the flight crews, repair shops. I met a lot of people
onboard ship, and also in Bahrain, where we had the headquarters of
our Fifth Fleet, and it's just a great experience to know that these
men and women are out there defending the nation.
KING: What's your assessment? You lasted with us until the 16th of
military accomplishments since then?
ENGLAND: Well, we're doing exactly what we set out to do, Larry. The
president said that this is not removing a mole. You know, removing a
mole, that's an outpatient sort of an operation. This was removing a
cancer, removing a cancer takes more time. But this is a war against
terrorists. It's a war ourselves and our allies, and it's going to
take a long time, but the nation will persevere because we have to
persevere. I mean, this is something we absolutely must succeed at,
and I said that when I was overseas with our men and women in uniform.
We will prevail, we have to prevail. United we stand. I mean, this is
a threat that we have to eradicate.
KING: And apparently the bombing campaign is going to obviously, based
on the statements by the president, the policy statement broadcast
today in 53 languages, the campaign will continue during Ramadan. Do
you have any doubts about that?
ENGLAND: No, I never had any doubts about this, Larry. I mean, in that
part of the world, there's been a lot of the wars during Ramadan. And,
look, we have to prosecute the war against the terrorists. The world
is committed to do that. Our friends and allies, we have to prosecute
this war, we have to root out terrorism. Look, if we do not succeed,
as the president said, our children will live in terror, and our
grandchildren. So, I mean, Ramadan is not a reason to stop this war.
This is a war against terrorists, not a war against a religion, but a
war against terrorists. As long as they're there, we will prosecute
this war.
KING: What right now specifically is the Navy's role?
ENGLAND: Well, we have three carriers in the area, and we have various
ships in the area. We have the Peleliu. Now, each of those carriers is
four-and-a-half acres of sovereign land in the United States, and we
have the Peleliu, it's what we call an LA chain, an amphibious assault
ship, think of it as a small carrier, it's three acres of sovereign
U.S. territory. And we do a lot of the missions now over Afghanistan,
we have both Navy and Marine pilots flying every day off the deck,
including off the Peleliu where we have vertical takeoff airplanes by
our Marines. So we are carrying a lot of that load today, and we rely,
by the way, on the United States Air Force refueling, but as we speak
right now, we have carriers taking off and landing on those ships.
Well, this is critical mission, this is probably the war of the future
where our sovereign territory, we will move around the world as needed
to project U.S. power.
KING: In the world of special ops, is the Navy giving any
consideration to increase the role and size of the Seals?
ENGLAND: Well, not that I know of at this time. Our Seals, of course,
is a very superb special operations force, but, as I said the last
time, also augmenting our Seals or working with them, and also
independently is the United States Marines. When the Peleliu today,
that ship while it is a platform for our airplanes, for bombing
missions, it's also chock full of battle ready Marines. And we have
the sustainability on those ships, Larry, to sustain the fight for 30
days, that is we have all the food, all the water, all the ammunition,
everything it takes to sustain this fight. So we are mobile and we are
sustainable, and we're ready for whatever the president's orders are.
KING: Now, land based, if we could get more countries to let us, land
based strike operations would be easier, wouldn't they?
ENGLAND: Well, they would be easier. On the other hand, you still need
a base, and you still need the infrastructure that you have with a
carrier, but certainly the resupply would be a lot easier. So land
based certainly has a lot of benefits. The advantage of the Navy, of
course, is when you don't have those land bases, and you don't always
have those bases, so it's important to have the Navy. And in addition,
of course, we just bring a lot of firepower, and we bring in United
States Marines. This has been a team, Larry, that's been together for
226 years, our sailors and Marines. And in fact, this week it is the
birthday of the United States Marine Corps, 226 years, and our Navy
celebrated it on October 13.
KING: And, Mr. Secretary, Newsweek magazine is reporting that the
Marines could be sent into Pakistan to safeguard the nukes, in case of
an uprising or an overthrow of General Musharraf, is that true?
ENGLAND: Well, they're certainly available whatever the mission may
be. Again, they're ready, we have them forward deployed. They're also
forward deployed in other parts of the world. But, the Marines are
certainly ready, they're always ready. It's a courageous force, has
been throughout our history. I mean, the by word is excellence, so
they can do whatever mission the president calls them to do. Again,
the sailors and Marines, it's a great tradition, Larry, it's 226 years
of excellence together.
KING: I mentioned the other day that a Marine general told me that one
of the things about this war, among many unusual things, is that the
boys and girls, and ladies and men overseas are worried more about
their people back home.
ENGLAND: Well, they are worried.
KING: This is kind of a reverse.
ENGLAND: It is a reverse, the fact is, a number of the sailors and
Marines asked me about this. They said, how about our folks at home,
and particularly the anthrax. And I said, look, I get my mail the same
way, and just be prudent, and I feel confident in the federal
government. This is a new threat, but the agencies of the federal
government are coming together and they will respond, the same way as
the military is responding, the other federal agencies will respond
and they will safeguard our citizens.
KING: Can you tell us, is there any truth to the report that they're
canceling some of these mass holiday mailing programs, like operation
any service member where cards are sent out across the sea to people
serving, that that's being canceled this year for the anthrax fear. Is
that true?
ENGLAND: Larry, I don't know if that's true or not. It certainly
sounds reasonable, you know, getting blind mailings, at least on the
surface, doesn't sound too reasonable to me. So I wouldn't be
surprised, but I don't know if that's the case or not.
KING: What's the situation on the ground at the Pentagon?
ENGLAND: Well, of course, the Pentagon is back in operation, they are
rebuilding the Pentagon. You can hear that when you go outside the
Pentagon now. But, morale is very high in the Pentagon. We are working
to prosecute this war. The Secretary of Defense, as you know, is very,
very active very positive. I mean, we are ready for a long fight here,
Larry. It's going to be a long war, so we're getting ourselves ready
for a long war, and the Secretary, he's got us ready for that
campaign. So this is a campaign, it's a campaign against terrorists,
it's with our friends and allies around the world. This is important,
not only to the United States, but to every single person on the face
of this earth. I mean, we must prevail at this. So we are ready to
prosecute this war, and we will prosecute it to a successful
conclusion.
KING: Always good seeing you. Thank you so much, Mr. Secretary.
ENGLAND: My pleasure, nice being with you again.
KING: The Secretary of the Navy Gordon England coming to us from
Washington.
(end US Navy transcript)
