CINCPAC may see changes
By William Cole
Advertiser Military Writer
The head of all forces in the Pacific, Navy Adm. Dennis Blair is as much diplomat as warrior — spending more than half his time meeting with civilian and military leaders from countries such as Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, the Philippines, Indonesia, China and Japan.
The command is a plum job, one with autonomy and responsibility over tremendous U.S. military might in a region encompassing half the world's surface and 43 countries.
But with the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11 — and Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld's efforts to reorganize the military from the top down — that could change.
Rumsfeld reportedly is considering a sweeping overhaul of the regional commands. Rather than slicing up the world into geographic areas of military responsibility, the idea is that a new structure would better allow for dealing with terrorism as a global campaign.
In an address to the nation, President Bush said the military has to adjust to the "new war" on terrorism.
"They (the military) recognize — and Secretary Rumsfeld clearly understands this — that we need to rethink how we configure our military ... so that we more effectively respond to asymmetrical responses from terrorist organizations."
But even greater changes may be in store as part of a move away from the four geographic commands that have served as prestigious power bases for decades.
A defense official was quoted by the Washington Post as saying, "We need to cut through the seams that exist between the CINCS (commanders in chief) to provide more opportunity for a less regional focus."
Ralph Cossa, president of the Pacific Forum Center for Strategic and International Studies in Honolulu, said he believes diminishing the authority Blair or a successor commands could be a bad idea.
In the process of combatting terrorism from a centralized location, "we lose regional sensitivity," said Cossa, a retired Air Force officer who was on the command staff of two Pacific commanders in the 1980s and 1990s.
"You have to fight terrorism differently if you are dealing with the Philippines or Pakistan or a terrorist cell in Europe," he said. "To me, it makes more sense to have expertise developed across the board, but then apply it through the regional CINCS, who know the lay of the land."
Not doing so has brought problems in the past. Cossa said in 1993 and 1994 there was great concern when North Korea threatened to withdraw from the nuclear weapon non-proliferation treaty.
The Pentagon turned the matter over to the State Department's political military affairs unit rather than the East Asia office.
"We came close to alienating (South Korea) as we were dealing with problems in the North," Cossa said. "It took some intervention from the people here at CINCPAC to try and refocus the effort and make people understand there are unique regional concerns in Asia we have to be worried about."
Blair, 54, who commands 308,000 Army, Navy, Marine Corps and Air Force personnel in the Pacific, received high marks in Washington for the successful return of a U.S. spy plane and its crew from China in the spring.
He was in China the year before, mending fences with military leaders upset over the accidental bombing of the Chinese embassy in Yugoslavia.
More recently within Blair's sphere of influence, Pacific Fleet commander Adm. Thomas Fargo reportedly secured the use of two former U.S. military bases in the Philippines for transit and staging operations related to the attacks in Afghanistan.
The Philippines gave approval for the U.S. to use Clark Air Force Base and Subic Bay naval base as a staging area for troops on their way to the Middle East or Central Asia. The U.S. was to provide intelligence, training and equipment to the Philippines to help fight Islamic militants with ties to Osama bin Laden.
There are four regional military commands — the Pacific, European, Southern and Central — along with less prominent functional commands including special operations and space.
Reportedly being discussed in Washington is an "Americas Command" responsible for defending the Western Hemisphere, and a broadening of the powers of the Special Operations Command.
Cossa said reports of command reorganization may be a trial balloon to "send a message to the CINCs to cooperate — don't play turf battles."
Media reports have pointed to Army Gen. Tommy Franks, who oversees the war in Afghanistan as head of the Central Command, as being the target of Pentagon sniping because he has a background as an artillery officer.
Sheila Smith, an expert on regional security at the East-West Center, also questions the wisdom of diminishing regional commands. The U.S. military in the Pacific helps maintain relationships with allies, she said.
"We have a broad reach with U.S. forces around the globe," Smith said. "Trying to put all that in Washington seems to me not to be a good idea."
Reach William Cole at wcole@honoluluadvertiser.com or 525-5459.
