Mattis believes that it's his job to assure allies around the world of America's commitment.
The United States should begin by promoting a lasting sense of partnership by assuring allies that it won't abandon them once short-term operational needs are met.
His visit was set against the backdrop of a government shutdown caused by a fiscal fight in Congress that Mr. Hagel said deterred his efforts to assure allies of the United States' ability to fulfill its defense missions abroad.
And it maintains that "all options are on the table" — even while assuring allies that military intervention, of the kind that the United States has had a long and ugly history of carrying out in Latin America, is not really being considered.
Secretary of Defense Donald H. Rumsfeld is planning to scrap the Clinton administration's guiding strategy for the military and replace it with four principles that range from assuring allies to defeating enemies, a senior defense official said today.
In this murkier age of global markets, globe-trotting terrorists, disintegrating superpowers and distended peacekeeping missions, George W. Bush made realists happy by assuring them he would protect America's "national interests," while assuring allies that America would stop lecturing and conduct a "more humble foreign policy".
Bush administration officials yesterday lobbied Congress and tried to assure allies that a new deal to supply India with civilian nuclear technology and conventional military equipment was not meant to betray decades of nuclear-control policies or upset the regional balance of power.
Obama is seeking to assure allies of a U.S. "pivot" as China flexes its economic and military muscles in Asia and beyond.
During his stops in Japan, South Korea, Vietnam, China and the Philippines, he is likely to assure allies that the U.S. has their security in mind and to call for a unified international strategy to rein in North Korea's nuclear ambitions.
During his stops in Japan, South Korea, Vietnam, China and the Philippines, he is likely to assure allies that the U.S. has their security in mind and to call for a unified international strategy to rein in North Korea's nuclear ambitions. .
In retrospect that looks optimistic, but the president had assured an ally in November 1862 that he relished the prospect of further congressional discussion so that colonization could get off on the right foot.
