Defense Secretary Leon Panetta said Wednesday that the United States was working with Jordan to prevent any further spillover of the ongoing Syrian civil war into other neighboring countries.
Panetta said the United States was helping Jordan "develop their own military and operational capabilities in the event of any contingency there."
"They're working to help them build headquarters there and to insure that we make the relationship between the United States a Jordan a strong one, so that we can deal with all of the possible consequences of what's happening in Syria," he added.
His remarks came in Brussels at a meeting of NATO defense ministers, as
The New York Times reported that a task force of roughly 150 military advisers are en route to the Mideast nation to assist Jordanian forces with the influx of Syrian refugees across its borders.
Aside from humanitarian assistance efforts, the task force is also intended as a stopgap should Syrian President Bashar Assad lose control of his vast chemical and biological weapon stockpiles, the Times reports.
The task force is already on the ground carrying out those near-term operations with assistance from Amman.
Read more on the U.S. military's task force in Jordan on The Hill's DEFCON blog.
