Guam and the New Defense Strategy

The new Defense Department strategy for the 21st century released Thursday shifts the country's military focus from Europe and the Mideast to the Asia-Pacific region, with a build up there to counter the growing military power of China.

Since 2004, the transfer of 8,000 Marines and 9,000 dependents from Okinawa to Guam and the beefing up of Air Force units on the island have been key focuses of U.S. military strategy in the Pacific. An investment of $7.5 billion in new infrastructure will be required to support the move, according to a July 2011 Government Accountability Office report.

The Senate and House Armed Services committees said they view the Guam build-up as an essential part of the U.S. Asia-Pacific strategy, in the conference report to the 2012 National Defense Authorization Act signed by President Obama on Dec. 31, 2011.

The Armed Services panels said in that report they have no intention of funding any more projects on Guam until the Defense secretary, Marine Corps commandant and the commander of the U.S. Pacific Command come up with a detailed master plan for the Guam build-up and required investments.

Maybe the new focus on the Asia-Pacific region will speed up development of that master plan, which does not seem an unreasonable mandate considering the sums of money involved.