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USS RICHARD B. RUSSELL (SSN-687)
Giambastiani Takes Helm of Joint Forces Command
Story Number: NNS021003-02
Release Date: 10/3/2002 8:54:00 AM


By Army Staff Sgt. Norinda Rodney, U.S. Joint Forces Command Public
Affairs

NORFOLK, Va. (NNS) -- Adm. Edmund P. Giambastiani Jr. became the top

He succeeds Army Gen. William F. Kernan as the commander of USJFCOM, where he will continue to lead the
military’s transformation efforts today and into the future.

“Joint Forces Command has been breaking the mold from what we’ve (the military) always done in the past,” said
Air Force Gen. Richard B. Myers, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. “(The recently completed joint experiment)
Millennium Challenge 2002 was a very successful example of what Gen. Kernan has done with his transformation
efforts here.”

USJFCOM is responsible for U.S. military transformation activities through joint service concept development,
experimentation, and joint service integration and interoperability. The command is also responsible for joint
military training and provides 1.1 million continental U.S.-based conventional combat ready forces for worldwide
deployment.

“The U.S. military will be taking a bold step in its thinking,” said Secretary of Defense Donald H. Rumsfeld. “We can
not and will not bet on what will happen in the next war. The next act of war can happen at any location. This
outstanding leader has accelerated our progress in transformation.”

Myers’ and Rumsfeld’s comments gave emphasis to the missions that lay ahead for Giambastiani.

“As we maintain predominance in warfare as we know it, we must experiment and take risks to master new ways of
waging war,” Giambastiani said. “We must do this both to be able to conduct such campaigns ourselves but, more
importantly, to prevent others from even considering waging such campaigns against us.

“…Let me speak for every joint warfighter in thanking Gen. 'Buck' Kernan for his visionary leadership of Joint
Forces Command,” Giambastiani said. “Gen. Kernan tackled the tremendously difficult task of transforming the
joint force with skill, insight and imagination. The fruits of his labor are clearly evident today in a command which
now has the intellectual capital, the transformational concepts, the experimentation infrastructure, and the training
talent to act as the spearhead for transforming the joint force.”

Kernan thanked Giambasitani and noted that USJFCOM is truly at the vanguard of transformation.

“I’m truly proud of you all,” said Kernan. “It has been rewarding for me ensuring the Soldiers, Sailors, Airmen and
Marines in the future will continue to dominate any adversary. Admiral Giambastiani, I wish you well.”

Giambastiani graduated from the U.S. Naval Academy with leadership distinction in 1970. His operational
assignments include tours as a division officer and department head on attack and fleet ballistic-missile
submarines.

The admiral also commanded NR-1, the Navy’s only nuclear powered deep diving ocean engineering and research
submarine followed by USS Richard B. Russell (SSN 687). He also commanded Submarine Development Squadron
Twelve.

In addition to the seven submarines assigned, the squadron served as the tactical development agent and CNO-
designated Warfare Center of Excellence for submarine doctrine and tactics. Established in 1949, Development
Squadron Twelve is the oldest experimental unit of its kind in the U.S. military.

The Canastota, N.Y., native also served as the first director of strategy and concepts at the Naval Doctrine
Command as well as the commander of the Atlantic Fleet Submarine Force; commander of Submarines Allied
Command Atlantic and commander of Anti-Submarine and Reconnaissance Forces Atlantic. He most recently
served as senior military assistant to Secretary Rumsfeld.
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