Milley, expected to become the next chief of staff of the US Army, listed several challenges the US faces, naming Russia the top and biggest existential threat for Washington. He also pointed to Moscow's overwhelming nuclear capabilities.
"As a soldier, as a military officer, I'd have to say it is Russia," the general told the Senate Armed Services Committee. "Russia is the only country on earth that retains a nuclear capability to destroy the United States. It's an existential threat."
Not surprisingly then, the general sees the best way to deter what the US hardliners love to call "Russian aggression" (a much discussed yet non-existent phenomenon) by following a dangerous path chosen over a year ago.
Yavoriv, Ukraine--#RapidTrident underway as US Army trains with Ukrainian & Romanian forces. pic.twitter.com/5X5BjuyvOa
— US Mission to NATO (@USNATO) 23 июля 2015
700 US, Georgian, Bulgarian, Latvian, Lithuanian & Romanian troops training in Exercise Agile Spirit. pic.twitter.com/XBqu4ve7Eq
— US Mission to NATO (@USNATO) 22 июля 2015
To that end, the US should continue to fund the European Reassurance Initiative "at current or increased levels," Milley said in his testimony.
The $1 billion Initiative also provides funding for the rotational presence of US forces in Europe. According to the general, the US should step up these efforts. "I do think we should increase ground forces on a rotational basis," he told the committee.
The European Reassurance Initiative was launched during the deadly Ukrainian crisis, which the West blames on Russia.
Anti-submarine warfare training, Exercise Sea Shield--part of Standing #NATO Maritime Group 1. pic.twitter.com/9Wj5jNkO2S
— US Mission to NATO (@USNATO) 22 июля 2015
#AtlanticResolve-->A KC-135 Stratotanker refuels A-10 Thunderbolt "Warthogs" above Ramstein Air Base, Germany. pic.twitter.com/VLY1elOU8t
— US Mission to NATO (@USNATO) 23 июля 2015
Moscow has repeatedly said that it is not a party to the Ukrainian conflict, sparked by a US-sponsored coup in Ukraine in February 2014. Moscow has been an active participant of the so-called Minsk process, also endorsed by Germany and France but not including the United States.
Other challenges the US wants to tackle, according to the general, include China, North Korea, Iran, Islamic State and radical violent extremist organizations.
"These security challenges exist within a wider context of rapid technological change, significant demographic change, global economic uncertainty, and geostrategic power shifts of historic proportions. Right now the level of uncertainty, the velocity of instability, and potential for significant inter-state conflict is higher than it is has been since the end of the Cold War," he noted.
Milley's remarks echo those of General Joseph Dunford, the incoming chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, uttered in the same room two weeks earlier.
Brian Cloughley called Dunford's remarks "insultingly antagonistic to Russia" and "a bizarre distortion of fact."
"Russia has no intention whatever of presenting a military threat to America and has not done so. There is not one instance in which Russia has moved military forces to threaten the US. There are, however, countless instances of substantial US land, sea and air forces moving towards Russia’s borders," the journalist observed.
