Thank you, Mr. Chair.
I'd like to thank each of you for your highly distinguished record of service to our nation, and for being with us today and bringing your cumulative expertise to bear on the work of this committee.
Mr. Fadden, I'd like to start with you. You mentioned in your opening remarks the multiplicity of terrorist organizations with considerable reach—I think those were your words. I'd like to take you into Baghdad for my first question.
I had the privilege of serving in Baghdad as a civilian UN official from 2005 to 2012, and during that time NATO had a training mission in Baghdad, in the green zone. Ambassador McRae, you mentioned the value of training. This particular training mission was staffed to the complement of about 140 officers. Its function was to train the Iraqi officer core. It wasn't combat training. It was to train the nascent or renascent Iraqi army.
Could you circle back and tell us the value, as concretely as you can, of those kinds of missions, and whether you feel NATO should be doing more of this work?