Asia-Pacific Area Hosts Full Range of Political, Military Issues

Lost in the noise of warfighting in Iraq and Afghanistan is another active theater of operation in the Global War on Terrorism. The Asia-Pacific region, the largest regional command in the U.S. military, comprises the globe’s biggest ocean and more than half of the world’s population. Maintaining peace and security among its dozens of nations would be challenging under everyday circumstances, but the presence of terrorist organizations among the region’s diverse peoples poses an additional threat with long-reaching consequences.

Many innocent people already have paid the ultimate price during terrorist attacks in India, Indonesia, Thailand and the Philippines. Some of these terrorist acts have been launched by organizations linked to al-Qaida, while others are the purview of home-grown local groups that exploit the same methodologies as the notorious global network.

While many of the recent headlines about piracy have focused on activities off the Horn of Africa, the many archipelagos in the Pacific region have served as bases for long-standing pirate networks. Intelligence services have been concerned for years about possible links forming between Pacific pirates and terrorist organizations.

And fighting terrorism is only one of many challenges facing U.S. forces in the Pacific Rim. The impact of natural disasters on people seems to be as great as the size of that region. U.S. military assets often are the best, if not the only, means of providing support to rescue and relief operations, especially for islands or remote inland areas.

The threat of conventional warfare is never far away as North Korea continues to rattle its nuclear and ballistic missile sabers. The unpredictability of the rogue nation’s leadership—in terms of both actions and future makeup—requires that allied forces prepare for virtually any contingency on that peninsula.

Throughout the vast Asia-Pacific region are many countries that have long histories of conflict with their neighbors. Most strive for peace and security amid prosperity-generating economic growth, but many have not shaken centuries of mistrust that cause them to eye their neighbors warily. Maintaining security among these diverse nations is as much an exercise in dampening potential cross-border disputes as it is deterring or defending against external forces.

Effectively, U.S. forces attached to the U.S. Pacific Command must be able to reach across thousands of miles to aid suffering people, fight pirates, deter a conventional or nuclear attack by a million-man army, interoperate with diverse militaries, combat terrorism and its supporters, and conduct other security missions that are defined as they emerge. Other than that, their roles are relatively routine.

Many of these activities are ongoing. U.S. special operations forces are working with Philippine forces to defeat terrorists both militarily and sociologically. Their work includes humanitarian assistance that aims to lift remote Philippine villages away from the conditions that breed terrorist recruits.

U.S. military hospital ships visit ports in less-developed nations to spread goodwill and improve quality of life for people in areas that are sorely lacking in many basic health care services. Other Pacific Command forces provide follow-up support to countries that have been devastated by earthquakes and cyclonic storms.

No single overarching alliance such as NATO defines relations among the democracies of the Asia-Pacific region. So, U.S. forces operate bilaterally with other nations. In coalition operations, the U.S. military literally is the gateway for interoperability, both technologically and politically, among different nations that do not normally cooperate militarily.

And, forces attached to the U.S. Pacific Command have actively supported U.S. Central Command operations in Afghanistan and Iraq. In addition to fighting the Global War on Terrorism in its own vast backyard, the Pacific Command’s reach extends toward the front lines.

The enormous size of this area of operation tends to dilute the many challenges and issues it poses. But they are no less vexing than those faced in other areas. And, given the size and complexity of the Asia-Pacific region, they may constitute the greatest challenges facing a military command anywhere in the world.

—The Editor

More information on Asia-Pacific is available in the October 2009 issue of SIGNAL Magazine, in the mail to AFCEA members and subscribers October 1, 2009. For information about purchasing this issue, joining AFCEA or subscribing to SIGNAL, contact AFCEA Member Services.