Transatlantic Relationships and the Future of US Defense Policy (Leon Panetta)

U.S. Secretary of State for Defense Leon Panetta made his farewell speech to Europe on Friday 18th January at King's College London, hosted by the Department of War Studies. Addressing an invited audience he started with an immediate response to the situation in Algeria in which he said: 'Terrorists should be on notice -- they will find no sanctuary, no refuge anywhere.' Secretary Panetta addressed an invited audience and spoke on the theme of transatlantic relationships and the future of U.S. defence. He said: 'Today we face a whole new set of challenges in the security of the world.' In particular he referred to the threat of cyber attacks and said he had long been concerned by the theft of intellectual property and the continued probing of infrastructures by malign forces, saying: 'We are the target of millions of these every day.' Touching on the economic crisis he said that it should not be about cost-cutting, 'it should be about investing', and said he did not believe we should have to choose between fiscal responsibility and national security. As he closed, he said he recognised that there was now a 'generational shift'. Speaking directly to audience members, including more than a 100 postgraduate students from King's War Studies Department, he said the future security of the world was the responsibility of the upcoming generation.