Obama to Thank Special Ops Forces With Visit to Florida Base

President Obama is set to review his national security record and extend his personal thanks to special operations forces with a visit to Florida's MacDill Air Force Base today.

The president will deliver the final national security address of his presidency and is expected to review his approach to the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, as well as the broader counter-ISIS campaign.

Previewing the speech for reporters Monday, Deputy National Security adviser Ben Rhodes said the president will specifically zero in on how he has sought to shift military strategy away from large-scale deployments to more "sustainable" and targeted attacks on specific terrorist threats as commander in chief.

"He will very sharply want to summarize the progress that's been made," Rhodes said.

"The manner in which we've been able to go from having 180,000 troops serving in harm's way in Iraq and Afghanistan when he came into office to roughly 15,000 today, and the progress that we've made in the core mission when he came into office of dismantling al Qaeda, taking out its leadership."

By visiting MacDill Air Force Base, which is the home of the U.S. Central Command and U.S. Special Operations Command, Rhodes said the president will have the opportunity to thank leadership and active special operations forces who have been "fundamental" to the president's approach as commander in chief.

"He feels a deep personal connection with the special operations community as president," Rhodes said.

"A lot of the individual military operations that he's ordered involve this personnel, and that's not just the bin Laden raid. That goes all the way back to the Maersk Alabama, to Jessica Buchanan, to the hostage rescue operation in Syria, to the bin Laden operation, to countless other specific operations that President Obama has either been briefed on or had to personally approve."

Let's block ads! (Why?)

from ABC News: Politics http://ift.tt/2gg8EKb

Tweet