Dear Member and Friends,

Today, the change of command for the Director of the Missile Defense Agency (MDA) took place, as the command was transferred from Lt. General Patrick O’Reilly of the U.S. Army to Vice Admiral James Syring of the U.S. Navy.

The Missile Defense Agency is the joint material command that provides missile defense inventory of interceptor missiles, sensors, and systems to our nation’s war fighters and services that use, deploy, and fight with them. The United States Combatant Commanders are the primary drivers in the demand for missile defense material. MDA validates, develops, and tests these systems that are to be or planned to be delivered in the near future to the U.S. Army, U.S. Navy, U.S. Air Force, and the U.S. National Guard of our Combatant Commanders. These systems keep our nation, our forward deployed forces, and our allies safe in protection and deterrence from nations and entities that threaten with missiles.

In the world today and in the next few years, where Iran pursues greater long-range ballistic missiles and nuclear weapon capabilities, where North Korea continues to focus on long-range ballistic missile development that threatens the U.S. Homeland, and other proliferating entities such as what has taken place this past week with the long-range rockets from the Gaza Strip striking both Tel Aviv and near Jerusalem. The quality and quantity of missile defense material provided by MDA is greatly needed.

Today signals a new beginning, a new approach, a new leader, and a new day for MDA and our nation and world that depend on the prevention of conflicts and the security of peace by the deployment of missile defenses.

From all our nation’s missile defenders deployed throughout our nation from Alaska to Texas, from Hawaii to Virginia, and from all those forward deployed in Japan, Korea, Kuwait, UAE, Qatar, Bahrain, Turkey, Israel, and Germany that depend on their missile defense systems, sensors, and interceptors to do their critical missions, it is of great responsibility, tremendous trust and a commitment to excellence they rightfully expect from the leadership of the new director of the Missile Defense Agency.

On behalf of all the missile defense war fighters MDAA has visited, our friends, and our members, we welcome VADM James Syring as the new leader of our nation’s material command of missile defense in providing our missile defense war fighters more reliability, more confidence, and more quantity in their missile defense systems.

A New Day has begun.