SPEAKING on the newly released revised 2006 U.S.-Japan Roadmap for Realignment, a Department of Defense official says the new agreement will ensure an enhanced U.S. presence in the Western Pacific.
Robert Scher, deputy assistant secretary of defense for plans, told the Pentagon Channel and American Forces Press Service the 9,000 U.S. Marines to be relocated from Okinawa to the Asia-Pacific region will build a more flexible and deployable force structure.
"We need to look at it in the context of ... enhancing our posture and presence in the Western Pacific," Scher said.
The revised agreement, released last Friday by the Security Consultative Committee, announced that approximately 5,000 troops will be transferred to Guam. Although the agreement made no mention of “rotational” troops on Guam, Joint Guam Program Office Executive Director Joe Ludovici on Wednesday told local leaders that about two-thirds of the troops would be rotational. However, he qualified that the U.S. Congress must first ratify the agreement.
The agreement also announced that up to 2,500 troops will fill rotational, deployed slots in Australia while the rest of the 9,000 Marines will be moved elsewhere in the region.
Scher said the joint statement provides a more “politically sustainable” arrangement, according to an article posted on DOD’s website.
"Based on our conversations with the government of Japan, this is something they would like to see done to help make sure that our posture is sustainable ... far into the future," he added.
Scher previously served as deputy assistance secretary of defense for south and southeast Asia, within the office of the assistant secretary of defense for Asian and Pacific security affairs.
He was recently appointed to his new position as announced by Defense Secretary Leon Panetta.
