USSTRATCOM Celebrates 15 Years

BELLEVUE, Neb.  –   U.S. Strategic Command (USSTRATCOM) marked 15 years of operations during a celebration in Bellevue, Nebraska, Sept. 22, 2017.

“Thank you very much for coming out tonight, celebrating 15 years of U.S. Strategic Command in the current incarnation. It’s a pretty special place, a pretty amazing command,” U.S. Air Force Gen. John Hyten said. “The greatest privilege of my life is to command the 184,000 men and women of this command, soldiers, sailors, airmen and Marines. It is an amazing group of people.”

The current USSTRATCOM was established Oct. 1, 2002, when USSTRATCOM merged with U.S. Space Command, and also gained responsibility for missile defense and cyberspace operations.

This year’s event featured remarks by Secretary of the Air Force Heather Wilson.

“Most Americans have no idea how much we depend on all of you here at STRATCOM — no idea what you do for us every single day,” Wilson said. “You’re 15 years old now, but your legacy is much longer than that. This is a joint command; it’s the submarine force; it’s intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance; it’s electronic warfare, and cyber, and space, and all of those things are integrated into one team. That’s one of the things that makes you absolutely vital in 21st century warfare.”

Nuclear deterrence has always been associated with USSTRATCOM and its predecessors. The first USSTRATCOM was formed in 1992 to provide national leadership with a single command responsible for all strategic nuclear forces.

“Above all else this command provides the strategic nuclear deterrent,” Wilson said. “In order for that deterrence to work you have to have the capability to hold at risk things that our adversary values, the certainty that we will respond if we need to, and the kind of clarity of purpose that the command offers the nation. Deterrence first, decisive response, always ready.”

One of nine Department of Defense unified combatant commands, USSTRATCOM has global missions assigned through the Unified Command Plan that include strategic deterrence, space operations, cyberspace operations, joint electronic warfare, global strike, missile defense and intelligence.

For more information, contact the USSTRATCOM Public Affairs Office at 402-294-4130 or usstratcompa@mail.mil or visit www.stratcom.mil.