Good morning, everybody.
The committee receives testimony on the U.S. strategy in Afghanistan and in Iraq. This morning's hearing is Secretary Panetta's first appearance before this committee as secretary of defense and we welcome you, Mr. Secretary.
It's also likely to be Admiral Mullen's last appearance before he retires at the end of this month. Since the Admiral's appointment by President Bush as the 17th chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff in 2007, and his reappointment by President Obama in 2009, Admiral Mullen has led our armed forces through one of the most complex periods of security challenges in recent history.
Among the challenges occurring on Admiral Mullen's watch have been the following. A drawdown of forces in Iraq; a shift to a counterinsurgency strategy in the surge of U.S. troops in Afghanistan; the reduction of U.S. troops in Afghanistan; support of the
NATO operations in Libya; management of a volatile relationship with Pakistan's military; and counterterrorism operations against Al Qaida and other transnational terrorist groups, including the extraordinary raid by our Special Operations Forces this past May that killed bin Laden in Pakistan.