WASHINGTON – U.S. Senate India Caucus Co-Chairs Sen. John Cornyn (R-TX) and Sen. Mark Warner (D-VA) sent a joint letter to Secretary of Defense Ashton Carter expressing support for the United States-India defense relationship and urging him to place a special emphasis on India as a critical ally.

“The U.S. strategic partnership with India is among our nation’s most important.  The United States has a broad array of strategic interests in the region, from the long-term security and stability of Afghanistan to our strategic pivot to the Asia-Pacific.  Our partnership with India is critical as we focus on strengthening America’s long-term role in the region.  As you consider a wide range of important strategic and defense issues during your tenure as Secretary, we ask that you place a special emphasis on India as a critical ally.  We believe that focusing on cultivating India as a strategic ally now will pay great dividends for both nations over the long run,” wrote Sens. Cornyn and Warner.

The Senators’ full letter is below. 

March 27, 2015

The Honorable Ashton Carter
Secretary of Defense
1000 Defense Pentagon
Washington, DC 20301-1000

Dear Secretary Carter:  

As the bipartisan co-chairs of the Senate India Caucus, we are writing to you to express our strong support for the U.S.-India defense relationship, as well as the commitments made thus far by the Obama Administration to enhance the strategic partnership with the Government of India during the President’s January visit to India. 

The U.S. strategic partnership with India is among our nation’s most important.  The United States has a broad array of strategic interests in the region, from the long-term security and stability of Afghanistan to our strategic pivot to the Asia-Pacific.  Our partnership with India is critical as we focus on strengthening America’s long-term role in the region.  As you consider a wide range of important strategic and defense issues during your tenure as Secretary, we ask that you place a special emphasis on India as a critical ally.  We believe that focusing on cultivating India as a strategic ally now will pay great dividends for both nations over the long run.

The renewal of the ten-year framework for the U.S.-India defense relationship is an important component to help solidify these strategic interests.  As your predecessor correctly recognized, this renewal “signal[s] a new depth and sophistication in our defense and security cooperation, ensuring that it continues to be one of the strongest pillars of our nations’ broad strategic partnership - a partnership that will help forge security and stability in Asia and across the globe.”

The results of our defense partnership have already proved fruitful.  The United States and India have cooperated in countering terrorism, combating the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction, and bolstering the security of the region.  Over $10 billion dollars in defense trade deals between the United States and India have been signed since 2008, and our two counties now conduct more military exercises with each other than with any other country.

Through the new ten-year agreement, programs such as these will continue to deepen our partnership.  We also welcome India’s initial steps toward liberalizing its foreign direct investment rules in the defense sector, which will allow for greater investments by U.S. companies, as well as both countries’ renewed emphasis on the Defense Technology and Trade Initiative, which you helped conceptualize in your previous capacity as Deputy Secretary of Defense, to advance technological cooperation, co-production and co-development efforts.  We also remain hopeful that India will make needed reforms in defense offsets, since the current system is difficult to navigate and is often a roadblock to foreign investment.  It would be beneficial to pursue a two-tiered system where offset funds that cannot be spent on traditional Indian defense industries could flow to a second tier of other Indian priorities such as education, skills development, or manufacturing.

You wrote in November 2013 that “there are few accomplishments of which I am more proud than what the Department of Defense has achieved with India.”  As you settle into your new role as Secretary, we look forward to working with you to build on these achievements and deepen our strategic bilateral and defense partnership with our key ally in South Asia.  As we deepen our engagement in the Asia-Pacific region, so must we deepen our partnership with India. 

Sincerely,

John Cornyn                                                    
United States Senator 

Mark Warner
United States Senator                                                

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