In many ways, the military-to-military connection has been the strongest pillar of the U.S.-Thai
relationship. In November 2012, U.S. Defense Secretary Leon E. Panetta and Thai Defense
Minister Sukampol Suwannathat signed the 2012 Joint Vision Statement for the Thai-U.S.
Defense Alliance. The document celebrated 180 years of cooperation and updated the goals of the
alliance, putting a particular emphasis on building regional security partnerships.9