Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov has voiced concern over new statements by US Air Force secretary, who called Russian Federation “the biggest threat to USA security” and added that this claim had nothing to do with Moscow’s actual actions, RT reported.
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James also said that she was disappointed about the fact that the defense spending of several North Atlantic Treaty Organisation members is smaller than the U.S. wants it to be.
James commented that the USA was reacting to Russia’s recent “worrisome” actions by increasing its rapid reaction military forces throughout Europe, and planned to maintain the current rotational assignments of F-16 fighter squadrons to Europe.
Six other North Atlantic Treaty Organisation countries are reducing their defense budgets, and in June North Atlantic Treaty Organisation Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg noted, “We need to redouble our efforts to reverse this trend”.
While the top air force civilian leader acknowledges that Europe is now faced with hard immigration and economic problems, she stated that the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation alliance and commitments associated with the pact should be a clear priority.
Britain on Wednesday said it would commit to the 2 percent spending pledge for the next five years, which will raise the number of North Atlantic Treaty Organisation allies meeting the spending goal to five in 2015.
According to James, the OPM hack prompted the air force to reexamine its cyber security and ramp up its efforts across the board in terms of IT security.
She said there were huge demands on US Air Force assets now, given the tensions with Russian Federation and the fight against Islamic State, but the Air Force was also working hard to defend its weapons systems and networks against growing cyber attacks.
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The air force chief said her records were among those compromised by a recent breach of personnel records held by the Office of Personnel Management which some officials have blamed on China.
