Day Two. An effort that surely won't be forgotten for
a long time.
The Guam Roundtable
certainly delivered early One-Two punches to start the discussions. An informative presentation by Brian Wood and
Craig Whelden of the U.S. Marine Corps.
Of the dozens of briefings I had sat in and dozens of public meetings in
which I observed in a policy capacity, the presentation by these two
professionals clearly mapped out the way forward for the U.S. Marines-not just
for Guam but the other parts of the region who are part of this
"Rebalancing" of forces in this part of the world. The two provided such great insight in a way
not seen before. Though these gentleman
were not "Marines", the Senior Executive Service duo more than shared
their professional opinions and expertise on ensuring the Guam portion of this
Rebalancing happens and does so as outlined in the agreements between the
United States and Japan which began back in 1996. Their presentation showcased a new normal in
the posturing of forces in the Western Pacific and was very "real" in
the security approach west of the International Date Line.
Basing Options were also
discussed by the Rand Duo of Doctors Alan Vick and Stacie Pettyjohn. What was interesting to note was their candor
on the strategy for the U.S. in Asia-the revelation that there wasn't one. As a listener, it was such a far cry from the
specific history and developmental lead up into the final discussions from Day
One of this GUASA conference. It had
reinforced what Guam Delegate Madeline Bordallo told Roundtable-goers of the
lack of a strategy and the hesitance of the U.S. Congress to get the Guam
Program moving forward
Yes-an
Environmental Impact Statement was completed.
Yes-it was done twice.
Yes-there
is a Record of Decision.
Yes-we will
have an answer in 2015.
Following a stirring keynote from
Joint Region Marianas Commander Rear Admiral Tilghman Payne, the talk quickly
went to what is in this effort for Guam?
A number of Roundtable-goers went to local issues and left the panelists
to answer the best they could on issues that clearly were outside of their expertise. The comments were straight forward. GUASA members took the opportunity to share
their input on the information provided them and the two day conference
attendees-much centric to strategy related to China.
What did this blogger walk away
with?
Try these bullets points from the
panel members:
- What is possible versus what is coming.
- We need deep cooperation with our Allies.
- What is the message to move forward?
- What will Guam articulate out of this process.
- Treating people as equal Americans.
- Guam is the "springboard to the region".
- National Security and Economy are key to protecting U.S. security policy in Asia
- There is confidence in the Rebalance.
- Pivoting to Asia.
- Imagine a world without Guam.
It is clear from these bullet
points that the GUASA group and The Guam Roundtable panel that there is more
that needs to be done. A white paper
will be developed from this two day event.
A follow on meeting to this event will be held in Washington DC. Clear public policy direction must be given
from the current White House. The Senate
needs to own this issue and not punt while the Government of Japan is doing
everything it can to execute the change across their country-for the best of
the region.
GET, LLC says "good
job" to the GUASA organization for their effort in the this
conference. Let's see where this takes
us next.