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Strategic, Space Commands Merge
Tuesday, October 1, 2002
By Petty Officer 1st Class Sonja Chambers
Special to the American Forces Press Service

Gen. Richard B. Myers, chairman, Joint Chiefs of Staff, passes the new USSTRATCOM flag to Adm. James O. Ellis, Jr., USSTRATCOM commander during the activation ceremony Tuesday.
Image Credit: PHCS Diane S. Lundholm.

"Here today you begin to affect a real transformation," said Deputy Defense Secretary Paul Wolfowitz. "A transformation that will improve our command and control, our intelligence and our planning. In short, a fundamental step forward to better meet the security environment that will define the 21st century."

OFFUTT AIR FORCE BASE, Neb. -- AFIS
Two U.S. unified commands merged Tuesday to form a new global command with global responsibilities in a new strategic environment.

During an afternoon ceremony in the Bennie L. Davis Maintenance Facility, a new U.S. Strategic Command was established through the merger with U.S. Space Command and tasked with space operations, information operations, computer network operations, and strategic defense and attack missions.

During the ceremony, Adm. James O. Ellis Jr., U.S. Strategic Command chief, cased the colors and stood down the old command. Air Force Gen. Richard B. Myers, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, then activated the new command, incorporating portions of U.S. Space Command. That command, based at Peterson AFB, Colo., ceased to exist.

The new StratCom represents the transformation that provides a single commander, with a global perspective, to support the President and the Secretary of Defense, said Myers. With a B-2 Spirit stealth bomber, one of the most potent reminders of the nation's deterrence strength, parked behind several troop formations to the rear of the facility, and a 60-foot U.S. flag behind him, Ellis took command of the new StratCom.
(More: DoD News Source)
2002 © The United States Department of Defense.

Dan