SUEZ CANAL: The guided-missile cruiser USS San Jacinto (CG 56) follows the aircraft carrier Harry S. Truman (CVN 75) during a Suez Canal transit with the Harry S. Truman Carrier Strike Group. The carrier strike group is deployed in support of maritime security operations and theater security cooperation efforts in the U.S. 5th Fleet area of responsibility. (U.S. Navy photo by Mass Communication Specialist 2nd Class Rob Aylward/Released)
“Because we’ve long recognized the fact that narrow waterways like this are maritime chokepoints, we always make sure that we have alternate capabilities to meet mission requirements,” Pentagon Press Secretary John F. Kirby said during a briefing Monday afternoon. “We have recognized the fact that chokepoints like the Suez Canal could suffer blockages like this, and it’s factored into just normal operational planning.”
Beyond that, Kirby said, the temporary shutdown of the Suez Canal has not caused the U.S. military to rethink its posture in the Middle East or its mission requirements there, because there are already other plans in place for such situations.
“In any circumstance around the world, the U.S. military has … at its disposal any number of alternate ways of achieving mission success and meeting our mission requirement,” he said.
Kirby also commended the Egyptian government for its work so far in getting the ship freed from the canal and its efforts to re-open the canal to maritime traffic.
“I would also say that we want to commend Egyptian authorities for — the only way to put it is — a Herculean effort to get this ship free,” Kirby said. “Clearly they have done just amazing work getting that freighter off the … canal bank, and back in the middle of it again … I think they deserve a lot of credit for that.”
BY C. TODD LOPEZ, DOD NEWS