The planned move of 4,700 Marines from Okinawa to Guam likely would be abandoned if $500 billion in automatic cuts to defense spending are imposed starting next January, according to defense analysts. “There is no doubt the Marine movement to Guam would be scrapped under sequestration,” said Mackenzie Eaglen, defense analyst at the American Enterprise Institute …
The island of Guam will not have adequate infrastructure to accommodate the realignment of an estimated 4,700 Marines from Okinawa for at least several years, reports Stars and Stripes. One holdup is the need to select a site to build training ranges for the Marines. An environmental study recently started by the Navy to evaluate potential sites is scheduled to be completed in early 2014 …
DOD plans to move only 4,700 Marines from Okinawa to Guam after the U.S. and Japanese governments this week reworked an earlier agreement governing the realignment, Guam officials have been told by the Navy. “We expect that Guam will receive 4,700 Marines, but the exact laydown and mixture of those forces has yet to be formalized …
The relocation of thousands of Marines from Okinawa to Guam no longer will be linked to Japan’s effort to replace Marine Corps Air Station Futenma, surmounting one of the key obstacles to the realignment. “We decided to choose to reduce Okinawa’s burden as much as possible rather than being stuck in a stalemate by sticking to an earlier package …
DOD said Tuesday that U.S. and Japanese officials met to discuss changes to the current plan to move 8,600-plus Marines from Okinawa to Guam, but insisted than no decisions have been made yet to scale back the number of troops that would be stationed in Guam. Last week, Bloomberg News reported that President Obama planned to cut the number of Marines moving to Guam to about 4,500 …
President Obama plans to scale down the realignment of 8,600-plus Marines from Okinawa to Guam to about 4,500 troops with the remaining contingent rotating to other points in the Asia-Pacific region, Bloomberg News reported Friday. The remaining 4,000 Marines would be rotated through Australia, Subic Bay and, perhaps, a smaller base in the Philippines, and Hawaii, according to multiple sources …
A decision by the U.S. to expand its presence in the Philippines could diminish the need for Guam to host the entire complement of Marines now envisioned to relocate there from Japan, according to an Asian military affairs expert. “If the U.S. and Philippine governments decided to go ahead with a U.S. base or bases in the Philippines, it’s possible this could take some of the burden off of Guam …
The Pentagon welcomed as “significant progress” last week the Japanese government’s completion of an environmental assessment of the plan to relocate MCAS Futenma elsewhere on Okinawa. Secretary Leon Panetta “looks forward to working with Japan in taking the next step: securing the landfill permit” for construction of offshore runways adjacent to the Marine Corps’ Camp Schwab in northern Okinawa …
President Obama signed the fiscal 2012 defense authorization bill last week, ending what had been a back-and-forth struggle between the White House and Congress over the last several months. Despite signing the legislation, Obama acknowledged “serious reservations” about some provisions …
Despite suspending funding for the military buildup in Guam in this year’s defense authorization legislation, Congress allocated $33 million for several civilian projects on the island in the defense spending bill, an outcome that Sen. John McCain says cannot be justified. “I believe it is imperative that the omnibus appropriations bill reflect the deliberate decision of the Senate Armed Services and House Armed Services conferees regarding the responsible use of defense funds …