Japan Shoots Down U.S. Test Missile: Pressure Mounts On Tokyo To Grant Okinawa-Guam Transfer

Japan Shoots Down U.S. Test Missile: Pressure Mounts On Tokyo To Grant Okinawa-Guam Transfer

Training Exercise Displays Japan's Potential To Readily Particpate In U.S. Ballistic Missile Defense System

Written by Jeff Marchesseault, Guam News Factor Staff Writer
Friday, 30 October 2009 11:09

GUAM - As the federal government prepares for the relocation of 8,000 U.S. Marines from Okinawa to Guam, a potential security gap is created, with the reduction of the U.S. military presense in Japan. The U.S. Department of Defense is addressing this gap by providing the Japanese Navy with training on an advanced ballistic missile defense system.

As the United States Pacific Command oversees the realignment of U.S. troops across Asia, and as American armed forces integrate systems and strategies with the militaries of cooperative nations throughout the region by deploying training missions and joint exercises, pressure mounts on Japan's new government to comply with an Okinawa-Guam troop realignment designed to protect the security interests of the Pacific.

And that couldn't be more abundantly clear now that the two nations' defense forces have just completed a dramatically successful training mission.

In a joint exercise with the U.S. from off the coast of Hawaii on October 28th, the Japanese Destroyer "Myoko" intercepted and destroyed a medium range ballistic missile over the Pacific Ocean, above the earth's atmosphere in space.

This successful exercise is symbolically significant for two reasons. First, it is representative of the longstanding strength of the American-Japanese alliance. And, second, it's a timely bilateral victory as a row of questions looms on the horizon to the Guam military buildup. Will new Japan Prime Minister Yukio Hatoyama finally agree to allow the relocation of a Marine Corps air base within Okinawa in time to reassign thousands of Marines to Guam and let a meticulously planned buildup proceed here? If so, will Japan honor a bilateral accord to move the base from Futenma to Camp Schwab inside Okinawa? Will the long-planned project have adequate notice from Tokyo to proceed according to deadline? If not, then where does Japan propose to place the base? And when?

All of these questions press harder and harder on Hatoyama now that the successful exercise is being reported in the international media. The incerception also comes after two of Hatoyama's cabinet officials recently contradicted him in public by agreeing that the air base must stay within Okinawa.

Michael Rudolph contributed to this analysis.

Here is an October 28, 2009 news release describing the successful launch, as posted at PRNewswire:

Lockheed Martin's Aegis Ballistic Missile Defense System Defeats Ballistic Missile Target in Japanese Test

KAUAI, Hawaii, Oct. 28 /PRNewswire/ -- JS Myoko, Japan's third destroyer equipped with Lockheed Martin's (NYSE: LMT) Aegis Ballistic Missile Defense (BMD) system, successfully intercepted and destroyed a ballistic missile target above the atmosphere during a test event today. The test marked the 20th successful ballistic missile intercept by the system.

JS Myoko guided a Standard Missile (SM)-3 Block IA missile to intercept the separating medium range ballistic missile target outside the Earth's atmosphere.

Two U.S. Navy Aegis BMD ships, USS Lake Erie and USS Paul Hamilton, also participated in today's test. USS Paul Hamilton tracked the target and performed a simulated engagement. USS Lake Erie, equipped with the next generation Aegis BMD Weapon System -- designated BMD 4.0.1, which provides additional target discrimination capability -- tracked the missile target and post-intercept debris using its advanced signal processor. Full operational certification of BMD 4.0.1 is expected in 2011.

"This is the first Aegis BMD flight test conducted with two versions of the U.S. Navy Aegis BMD baselines and a Japanese destroyer," said Orlando Carvalho, vice president and general manager of Lockheed Martin's Surface-Sea Based Missile Defense line of business. "These events demonstrate the Aegis development success of build a little, test a little, learn a lot as well as the flexibility of the systems to evolve and keep pace with the threat to control the battlespace."

The Missile Defense Agency and the U.S. Navy are jointly developing Aegis BMD as part of the United States' Ballistic Missile Defense System (BMDS). The Navy's independent operational test agent has assessed the Aegis BMD and SM-3 Block IA system to be operationally effective and operationally suitable. Currently, a total of 22 Aegis BMD-equipped warships -- 19 in the U.S. Navyand three in the Japanese Maritime Self-Defense Force -- have the certified capability to engage ballistic missiles and perform long-range surveillance and tracking missions. Two additional U.S. East Coast-based Aegis-equipped ships are being modified to perform ballistic missile defense in the next six months.

The Aegis Weapon System is the world's premier naval defense system and the sea-based element of the U.S. Ballistic Missile Defense System. Its precision SPY-1 radar and integrated command and control system seamlessly guides the interceptor and uplinks target track information to the missile for terminal homing. Its ability to detect, track and engage targets ranging from sea-skimming cruise missiles to ballistic missiles in space is proven and unmatched. The Aegis BMD Weapon System also integrates with the BMDS, receiving track data from and providing track information to other BMDS elements.

The 92 Aegis-equipped ships currently in service around the globe have more than 950 years of at-sea operational experience and have launched more than 3,500 missiles in tests and real-world operations. In addition to the U.S. and Japan, Aegis is the maritime weapon system of choice for Australia, Norway, South Korea and Spain.

Lockheed Martin is a world leader in systems integration and the development of air and missile defense systems and technologies, including the first operational hit-to-kill missile defense system, Patriot Advanced Capability-3 (PAC-3). It also has considerable experience in interceptor systems; kill vehicles; battle management command, control and communications; precision pointing; and tracking optics, as well as radar and other sensors that enable signal processing and data fusion. The company makes significant contributions to nearly all major U.S. Missile Defense Systems and participates in several global missile defense partnerships.

Headquartered in Bethesda, MD, Lockheed Martin is a global security company that employs about 140,000 people worldwide and is principally engaged in the research, design, development, manufacture, integration and sustainment of advanced technology systems, products and services. The corporation reported 2008 sales of $42.7 billion.

For additional information on Lockheed Martin Corporation, visit: http://www.lockheedmartin.com

SOURCE Lockheed Martin

PACOM's 'Allied Nations' Strategy Will Drive Guam's Base Tactics

PACOM's 'Allied Nations' Strategy Will Drive Guam's Base Tactics

Adm. Willard: Multilateralism Is The Name Of The Game

Written by Jeff Marchesseault, Guam News Factor Staff Writer
Friday, 30 October 2009 15:37

GUAM - As Guam prepares for the military buildup, we can expect new and refurbished forces based here in the Territory to integrate evermore seamlessly into a pan-Pacific alliance of nations that are mutually committed to protecting human and economic freedom.

According to a recent interview of Adm. Robert F. Willard, the new Commander of the U.S. Pacific Command, multilateralism and multinational alliance is the name of the game in a world where multiple threats call for multiple partners.

"We are looking for as many partners ... as we can find in the region," Willard said in an interview with the American Forces Press Service.

Here is the original AFPS story from October 28, 2009:

U.S. Dept Of Defense - Willard Looks To Partnerships In Pacific

Navy Adm. Robert F. Willard made his Hollywood debut as the Soviet MiG pilot who challenged Tom Cruise's character - known by the call sign "Maverick" - to an exhilarating dogfight before meeting his demise in the 1986 "Top Gun" blockbuster.

While serving as operations and executive officer at the Navy's "Top Gun" Fighter Weapons School at the time, Willard was aerial coordinator for the movie. That got him a short, but pivotal, on-screen appearance as the pilot of an F-14 fighter jet painted black and embellished for the movie with a MiG-style fin flash on its tail.

"I kept looking back over my shoulder, and another missile was on its way," Willard recalled of the dogfight scene in which he ultimately was shot down. "It was very exciting."

More than two decades later, in his new role as the top U.S. officer in the Pacific, Willard doesn't have the luxury of being able to fixate on a single, Warsaw Pact-type threat. His vast region of responsibility, which stretches across half the world's surface and includes half its population in 36 countries, enjoys a relative peace. But its tensions, like its volatile geology, are bubbling just at or slightly below the surface.

North Korea's missile and nuclear weapons programs and China's military buildup and lack of transparency loom large. Terrorist activity threatens Indonesia, the Philippines and most recently, India. Other challenges range from piracy to the proliferation of technology for weapons of mass destruction.

Willard sat down with reporters last week in Seoul, South Korea, just two days after assuming command, to discuss these and other challenges and his vision for U.S. Pacific Command.

"I love this region of the world," he said. "The Asia-Pacific region, to me, is extremely complex [and] has a great history associated with it."

As he spoke, Willard had yet to set foot into his new headquarters office at Camp H.M. Smith, Hawaii, perched on a mountain with a majestic view of Pearl Harbor. After consultative sessions in South Korea last week and an off-site defense chiefs conference in Hawaii this week, Willard said, he was looking forward to getting settled into his new office and getting down to business with his new staff.

North Korea is high on his priority list.

"A nuclear-armed North Korea, and a North Korea that chooses to provoke and ... may be on the brink of succession - all those things make North Korea worthy of our attention now," he said. "North Korea needs to be watched very closely."

Meanwhile, China is expanding its military might at "an unprecedented rate," Willard said, exceeding U.S. intelligence estimates every year for the past decade. Equally troubling, China also has obtained "asymmetric capabilities that are concerning to the region," including anti-access capabilities, ballistic missiles and sophisticated weaponry.

And even the historically rock-solid alliance with Japan is demanding more attention these days, as Prime Minister Yukio Hatoyama's new government reassesses security agreements made by previous administrations.

Willard told reporters he's intent on strengthening the five U.S. alliances in the region and bringing new partners, including China, into the fold.

China abruptly halted all military-to-military engagement when the United States announced arms sales to Taiwan in October 2008. But now that China has demonstrated a willingness to re-engage, Willard wants to increase the interface and take the relationship to a new level.

"China is not our enemy," he said. "We look forward to a constructive relationship with China and their constructive contribution to the security of the Asia-Pacific region."

Willard said he'll work to promote more multilateralism in a region that historically has been characterized by bilateral relationships with the United States. "Ten years ago, the Asia-Pacific was, by and large, a place where ... countries were very comfortable talking one-on-one with the United States or with other partners, but rarely together," he said.

Although that's been improving, Willard said, current challenges facing the region demand even closer cooperation. He pointed to the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, and the power of like-minded nations engaging together, as valuable lessons for the Pacific.

"We are looking for as many partners ... as we can find in the region," he said.

As he takes on these challenges, Willard brings to the job extensive experience in the Pacific, both operationally, as a Navy pilot, and in command positions.

Most recently, he spent two and a half years commanding U.S. Pacific Fleet, the world's largest fleet command, with its 180 ships, 1,500 aircraft and 125,000 sailors and Marines. He previously commanded the Fighter Squadron 51 "Screaming Eagles"; the amphibious flagship USS Tripoli; the aircraft carrier USS Abraham Lincoln out of Everett, Wash.; Carrier Group 5 aboard USS Kitty Hawk; and 7th Fleet in Yokosuka, Japan.

While he's already putting his experience to work, Willard conceded that the top Pacom job demands an entirely different focus.

"This is a more strategic level of command than the components are, and as a consequence, it will be a little different level of engagement," he said. "It's a new experience for me, and I very much look forward to it."

To help in preparing himself, Willard spent the past couple months consulting with think-tank and Asia experts and working with a small transition team to ensure a smooth transition to his new post.

He noted during his Oct. 19 assumption of command ceremony the vast changes that have taken place in Asia and the Pacific in recent decades. The one constant, he said, has been Asia's growing importance, not just to the region, but to the world.

Willard said he'll work tirelessly to ensure Pacom lives up to the challenges, and sends an unmistakable message of U.S. commitment to Asia and the Pacific.

"Our nation's interests are here," he said.

 Visiting Navy Installations Expert Faces A Guam Struggling To Find One Voice

Visiting Navy Installations Expert Faces A Guam Struggling To Find One Voice

Is 90 Days Enough To Vet The Buildup Impact Statement?

Written by Jeff Marchesseault, Guam News Factor Staff Writer
Thursday, 29 October 2009 16:00

GUAM - News from Washington, D.C. on Thursday morning that Guam would receive an additional 45 days to review the federal government's Draft Environmental Impact Statement (DEIS) for the military buildup brought forth gratitude from local officials.

Navy Secretary Ray Mabus told Guam Congresswoman Madeleine Bordallo in her Washington office on Wednesday that he would double the review time to 90 days.

What Senators Want: Time Enough To Act And Understand

But the extension raises important concerns about how local officials, particularly local senators, can maximize this time and whether they can garner the necessary expertise to read the documents and add their input before the 90-day deadline, once the DEIS is released and the clock starts ticking.

Time and again members of the Legislature have raised the issue of not having the funding or the know-how to sift through the estimated 8,000 pages of DEIS documents and generate analysis and recommendations. The Governor's Office says that its consulting firm the Matrix group will provide those services to the executive branch. But it isn't yet clear whether the legislative branch will ultimately have enough hours, days and months to review findings, provide checks and balances, and open another forum for public comment.

In Search Of Common Ground

Despite lingering questions about resources for the review period, the sentiment among leading island officials today is that we're at least making headway with the Department of Defense on the need to vet the study locally for effective scrutiny and input.

"I did receive a call this morning from the Assistant Secretary of the Navy. That's Roger Natsuhara," said Governor Camacho during a media briefing late this morning. "He did inform me that the request was granted for an extension."

"We're very greatful for that...but it also means that there's a lot of work ahead for the Territory to review such a technical document, thousands of pages long.

"We currently have a group that's working with us in trying to summarize the key points that can then direct us...where we need to focus. And that's the Matrix group that's here right now, also working with us on our compatability study in our workshops in our villages."

The Governor said Natsuhara told him he's no stranger to the island. "He had served here for two years on Guam. He brings a familiarity with the Territory." According to a release from Guam Senators Judi Guthertz, Chair of the Guam Buildup Committee, and Legislative Rules Chair Rory Respicio, Natsuhara is Acting Assistant Secretary of the Navy for Installations and Environment.

Camacho also said Natsuhara replaces a well-known buildup figure on Guam, retiring Assistant Secretary of the Navy B.J. Penn. The Governor said he planned to discuss a wide range of issues with Natsuhara this afternoon to help bring both of them up to speed.

Heading Camacho's list of touchpoints would be the Draft EIS and Guam's civilian-side buildup needs.

"Identifying the the huge gap, the huge delta, between what's going to be required of Guam and the impact the buildup brings and our capacity to underwrite the cost," said Camacho when asked what his discussion priorities would be with the new Assistant Secretary.

"There's only so much we can do, Camacho said. "There's got to be a collaborative effort... with the federal government in trying to find ways to underwrite the cost. And Guam has to make a compelling case when it comes to monies because, as the budget process goes, anything that we receive in the way of paying for the buildup is going to take from some other community."

Camacho added that other communities have senators, representatives and lobbyists fighting for all of their special interests. "Guam doesn't have much of a voice. We have a nonvoting (delegate) in the House and that's it."

Senator Guthertz, an outspoken advocate for federal assistance for the local community, told Guam News Factor that it appears the federal government is coming to understand and appreciate the fact that Guam wants a one-island approach that benefits civilian residents and the military alike.

"This extension shows some good faith on the part of JGPO [Joint Guam Program Office] and the Department of Defense," said Guthertz.

"My hope is that this reasonableness and good faith will be reflected in the Draft EIS document and in the manner in which our input on the document will be respected by the Secretary of the Navy who has ultimate authority in approving the final version, which will hopefully incorporate our recommendations."

Guthertz and Respicio issued a news release on Thursday evening, putting forth their outlying concerns now that the Department of the Navy has expanded the DEIS review period.

Here is that release:

FEDS RESPOND FAVORABLY TO "TEAM GUAM" APPROACH IN EIS EXTENSION

Still, Sens. Guthertz And Respicio Caution Public To Be Wary And Do EIS Homework

HÅGATÑA - Senators Judi P. Guthertz and Rory J. Respicio are pleased by environmental impact review extension, but they warn Guam citizens not to expect much help in spotting negative findings from federally funded consultants.

After weeks of loud complaints on Guam that the forthcoming draft environmental impact statement could not possibly receive adequate public review and comment within a tight 45 day deadline, the Department of Defense has had a change of heart, doubling the comment period to 90 days. That word from Secretary of the Navy Ray Mabus to Guam Delegate Madeleine Bordallo, who was told this, "will assure the interests of the citizens of Guam are fully represented in the study."

Acting Assistant Secretary of the Navy for Installations and Environment Roger Natsuhara, visiting Guam this week, communicated this decision to Governor Camacho and members of the Guam Legislature.

"We're certainly pleased to have been heard on this," said Senator Guthertz, "but the question that remains is whether we can do a meaningful review of this 7,000 to 9,000 page technical document within the time frame and with the limited resources available to us."

She attributed the federal government's quick and positive response to the seemingly concerted effort of local leaders advocating for the same goal. "Imagine the attention and favorable results we would get if the governor empanelled the Guam First Commission. The feds would certainly take notice of our requests."

Senator Respicio added, "Telling us to depend on the Matrix analysis is like asking those who do not support our perspective or approach to prepare our position papers." He explained that all he's heard so far from Matrix is a promise to summarize points in the document to help the public review it. "Don't expect Cliff's Notes or any helpful pointers about how to identify problems that are hidden in the scientific jargon," stated Respicio.

Earlier, Senator Guthertz' request for funds to hire outside expertise to analyze the DEIS was turned down by Department of the Interior on the grounds that the governor's office already had the Matrix consulting firm working on an analysis. Legislators have objected, questioning in particular whether the interest of Matrix was in a critical analysis of the DEIS and identifying errors or flaws or simply greasing the wheels for the military buildup that it serves as a primary consultant.

Here is a news release from Congresswoman Bordallo's Washington, D.C. office recounting the Representative's meeting with the Secretary of the Navy:

Congresswoman Bordallo Meets With U.S. Navy Secretary Ray Mabus

October 28, 2009 - Washington, D.C. - Congresswoman Madeleine Z. Bordallo today met with the Honorable Ray E. Mabus, Jr., Secretary of the U.S. Navy. The meeting was held at Congresswoman Bordallo's office in the Cannon House Office Building on Capitol Hill. Secretary Mabus is the 75th Secretary of the Navy and was formerly the U.S. Ambassador to Saudi Arabia.

"During our meeting, Secretary Mabus informed me that the public comment period on the Draft Environmental Impact Statement relating to the military buildup on Guam will be extended to 90 days," Congresswoman Madeleine Z. Bordallo said today. "I appreciate the Navy's response to our concerns regarding the public comment period. I also discussed the importance of the Department of Defense being more proactive in supporting H.R. 44, and I requested that this message be relayed to the Secretary of Defense. I appreciate the efforts taken by this new Administration to address Guam's needs for the build-up, and I look forward to working with Secretary Mabus and the Obama Administration on these issues."

Q&A

Q&A


Wednesday, October 28, 2009

On May 8, 2008, President Bush signed into law Public Law 110-229, the Consolidated Natural Resources Act of 2008. Title VII of this law amended Pub. L. 94-241, the Act approving the Covenant to Establish a Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands in Political Union with the United States. Title VII fully extends certain provisions of the immigration laws of the United States to the CNMI for the first time in history. A transition period formally begins Nov. 28, 2009.

Q. Who qualifies for the CNMI-only Transitional Worker status in CNMI?

A. USCIS has established a transitional worker program for foreign nationals to live and work in CNMI. Foreign nationals who are eligible for an INA-based nonimmigrant status would not be eligible. Short term visitors for business or pleasure are not eligible to obtain CW classification because such individuals are not part of the foreign work force that is the subject of this interim rule.

Q. What is the legal basis for the CNMI-only Transition Worker program?

A. Section 6(d) of Pub. L. 94-241, as amended by CNRA, directed the Secretary of Homeland Security to establish a transition program to assist CNMI employers to obtain necessary workers who are not otherwise eligible under U.S. immigration laws during the transition period.

Q. What is the purpose of the CNMI-Only Transitional Worker Program?

A. The CNMI-only Transitional Worker Program will allow foreign nationals who are not eligible for another INA-based employment authorized nonimmigrant status to perform work in CNMI during the transition period. Thus, the purpose of the CNMI-Only Transitional Worker visa is to offer a lawful U.S. immigration status to those foreign nationals who are not currently eligible for any other kind of immigrant or nonimmigrant visa. During the transition period, it is expected that these transitional workers will find a suitable, long-term alternative to their CNMI-Only Transitional Worker status by obtaining status under an INA-based visa category, or departing CNMI.

Q. What happens to foreign workers in CNMI on Nov. 28, 2009?

A. When federal immigration law takes effect in CNMI on Nov. 28, 2009, foreign workers who have a valid CNMI employment authorization may remain, live and work in CNMI for up to two years, or for the duration of their CNMI-based status, whichever occurs first. Before the expiration of that limited time period, they must obtain either CNMI-Only Transitional Worker status, or some other lawful U.S. immigration status to lawfully work and reside in CNMI and to travel between CNMI and another U.S. or foreign destination. If they leave CNMI for any reason, they must have a valid U.S. immigration visa to re-enter. Foreign workers who do NOT have a CNMI work contract could risk becoming “unlawful” if another U.S. immigration status is not obtained.

Q. What is the admission code for this visa classification be?

A. This new nonimmigrant visa classification will use the admission code CW-1 for the principal transitional worker and CW-2 for dependents.

Q. What does this mean for foreign residents who have been living and working in CNMI?

A. For those foreign workers who are not eligible for another kind of U.S. immigration status, the transitional worker visa is a critically important alternative. It could potentially give thousands of foreign workers a temporary status while they determine an appropriate long-term immigration status for themselves and their families.

Q. What are the timeframes of the transition period?

A. Although U.S. immigration laws apply fully to CNMI, there will be a transition period during which temporary measures will be carried out to allow for an orderly transition from CNMI's permit system to Federal immigration law and give foreign non-resident workers time to identify an appropriate long-term INA-based visa classification. The transition period begins on Nov. 28, 2009 and will end on December 31, 2014. The Secretary of Labor, in consultation with appropriate federal agencies and the Governor of CNMI, may extend the CNMI-Only Transitional Worker program for additional periods of up to five years. No decision on any extension has been made at this time.

Q. What are the requirements for the new CNMI Transitional Worker visa or status?

A. Under the CNMI-Only Transitional Worker program, there are requirements for both employers and workers.

Requirements for Employers-Employers must be engaged in legitimate business and may not engage directly or indirectly in prostitution, trafficking in minors, or any other activity that is illegal under Federal or CNMI law. The employer also bears the responsibility of filing the necessary petition and paying the requisite fees to employ transitional workers.

Requirements for Workers - Under the interim final rule, foreign workers may be classified as CW-1 nonimmigrants if, during the transition period, they:

* will enter or stay in CNMI to work in an occupational category that needs alien workers to supplement the resident workforce;

* are petitioned for by an employer;

* live in CNMI;

* are lawfully present in CNMI; and

* are not otherwise inadmissible to the United States.

Q. What does a worker need to do to get this visa or status?

A. The foreign national worker must meet the criteria noted in the answer above and find an employer willing to sponsor him/her. The responsibility for applying rests with the employer. Employers may file a petition for a transitional worker with USCIS using Form I-129CW, Petition for a Nonimmigrant Worker in the CNMI. (This new form was modeled after the existing Form I-129.)

Q. What does the worker's spouse and/or child need to get CW-2 status?

A. To accompany or follow to join, the derivative CW-2 nonimmigrant may file an application for extension of nonimmigrant stay on Form I-539 in accordance with the form instructions. The CW-2 status extension may not be approved until approval of the CW-1 extension petition. The filing fee is $300.

Q. How does someone obtain CW status?

A. Once the I-129CW petition is approved, the beneficiary and eligible family members may apply for CW-1, or CW-2 status. Since foreign nationals present in CNMI will not have given biometric information to the federal government before, and thus not have had required security checks conducted, biometrics will be required. The fee to collect biometrics is $80. A fee waiver is available if applicants can show inability to pay for both the Form I-129CW and biometric fees.

Aliens who are abroad will need to apply for a CW-1 or CW-2 visa at a U.S. consulate. When applicants apply overseas, USCIS will not require biometrics, however biometrics may be required by the Department of State.

Q. Which groups can apply for the Transitional Worker Program?

A. The transitional worker program will be available to two groups of foreign workers: (1) those who are lawfully present in the CNMI and (2) those who are abroad.

Q. Can people with CW status travel outside the CNMI?

A. Once status is obtained, the CW-1 or CW-2 nonimmigrant may leave CNMI but they must have the appropriate visa to re-enter. If the CW-1 or CW-2 status is obtained in CNMI (not the Consular post abroad) the nonimmigrant will have the legal status, but this is not a visa valid for travel to and admission into CNMI. If the CW-1 or CW-2 nonimmigrant departs CNMI, he or she must obtain a visa from a U.S. embassy or consulate to return to CNMI, unless alternative arrangements have been specifically approved by the U.S. Department of Homeland Security.

Q. How does one obtain the visa for re-entry?

A. Someone who has obtained CW-1 or CW-2 status in CNMI (not at a Consular post abroad) who needs to leave CNMI for whatever reason will need to get a visa from the State Department to re-enter CNMI. Usually this is done at the U.S. Embassy or a U.S. Consulate via a locally managed appointment system. If, for example, someone with CW-1 status plans to visit family in the Philippines, he/she would need to make an appointment with the U.S. Embassy in Manila to get the CW visa while they are in the Philippines. They would need to travel with documents to show the State Department officer during their interview and be prepared to wait at least a few days for the visa to be issued. Each U.S. Embassy and Consulate abroad has a different appointment system. To learn more about the U.S. Embassy or Consulate you may need to visit, travelers should go to: http://www.usembassy.gov/. Visa wait times for each Consular post abroad are posted at: http://travel.state.gov/visa/temp/wait/tempvisitors_wait.php.

Q. Can people with CW status travel elsewhere within the United States?

A. No. The CW visa classification is valid only in CNMI and does not permit travel to any other part of the United States, including Guam. However, if someone with CW status qualifies for another kind of nonimmigrant or immigrant visa, or a visa waiver program, he or she may travel elsewhere in the United States and the CW status would not prevent that.

Q. How much does it cost to apply for this visa?

A. The fee for Form I-129CW will be $320, the same amount charged for the I-129. In addition, Public Law 110-229 mandates a “CNMI education funding fee” of $150 per beneficiary per year which is mandatory and cannot be waived. Lastly, there would be a fee of $80 to collect biometrics (fingerprints and photos) and run necessary background checks. This expense could be borne by the applicant or the employer.

Q. Are fee waivers available?

A. Normally there is no fee waiver in employment-based cases. However, due to unique circumstances in CNMI, the I-129CW fee may be waived in extraordinary situations where an employer can demonstrate an inability to pay the fee. However, given the inherent inconsistency between sponsoring an alien for work and being unable to pay the fee required for that sponsorship, the situations warranting a fee waiver are expected to be extremely limited. There is a fee waiver for the $80 biometrics fee if applicants can show an inability to pay.

Q. Can an employer petition for more than one worker on the same form?

A. Yes, with some restrictions, employers may file for multiple beneficiaries on the same I-129CW. If the employees are all working in the same occupational category, for the same time period and in the same location, the employer may name as many employees on the petition as he/she wants. Unnamed beneficiaries are not allowed under this program.

Q. When can employers begin filing for workers?

A. The interim final rule stipulates that employers may not file for a worker more than six months before the date the employer needs that employee's services (i.e. if an employer needs a worker's services on January 1, the employer may submit a petition for the worker no earlier than July 1). The rule states that petitions may be filed before Nov. 28, 2009, but USCIS will not grant CW-1 status before that date.

To be continued

FSM workers eyed for buildup

FSM workers eyed for buildup

Wednesday, 28 October 2009 00:42
by Therese Hart | Variety News Staff

AN HISTORIC strategic alliance agreement was signed yesterday afternoon between the Federated States of Micronesia President Emanuel Mori and Center for Micronesian Empowerment chairman Ansito Walter, a University of Guam professor and former governor of Chuuk state.

The alliance will facilitate the assimilation and integration of workers from Micronesia into Guam’s workforce with thousands of jobs that will become available over the military buildup period.

“We must make sure that employers look to the people of our region first and that our people are ready for that call. This alliance is extremely important because it will enable our young men and women to get the required training to give them the necessary skills to make them employable here in Guam and especially because of the military buildup,” said Mori.

CME is a non-governmental organization representing business, community leaders and government officials. Its purpose is to assess, assimilate, train and find employment for the residents of the region.

Mike Ghiglione, executive director of CME said the organization has established a working relationship with the Guam Contractors Association Trades Academy to make sure as many local and regional workers as possible are prepared for the jobs the military buildup will bring.

Mori said he anticipates recruiting approximately 5,000 young men and women interested in gaining valuable job skills not just for Guam, but also for work in Hawaii and the on the U.S. mainland.

The president said his people have migrated to these areas for lack of employment within FSM states.

Not all of the 5,000 potential recruits will come to Guam since many of them will be receiving training at the College of Micronesia in Pohnpei, currently gearing up for vocational training, said Mori.

After they’ve completed their training there, many are expected to travel to Guam and elsewhere to receive a higher level of training. On Guam, many will find this training at GCC and the Guam Contractors Association Trades Academy, said Mori.

The trades academy and GCC will be expanding its facilities to meet the growing demands of students who desire to obtain a trade in their schools.

In November, the launch of a landmark program will assist residents in the state of Kosrae to obtain training necessary to become productive members of Guam’s workforce.

The alliance agreement seeks to expand the program across all of Micronesia and hopes to attract a workforce from the region, as opposed to employing thousands of foreign workers.

This would allow Micronesia’s island nation states the opportunity to play a greater role in the military realignment and economic boom associated with the buildup.

“The services that CME provides are precisely what’s needed to allow the people of Micronesia to more fully participate in the military buildup. We intend to do all that we can to ensure that the employment needed for the buildup on Guam comes from the region we call Micronesia, within which Guam stands as our proud brother,” said the FSM president.

Tuition funding will come from various sources such as Department of Interior Funds as well as compact impact funds and federal financial aid programs provided at the trade schools.

Military open to public dialog

Military open to public dialog

Wednesday, 28 October 2009 00:46
by Therese Hart | Variety News Staff

Third in a series

THE military is open to dialog with communities that are affected by military presence, according to Celeste Werner, vice president of Matrix Design Group, which is the prime contractor of the governor’s Advisory Consulting Team.

“What people don’t understand is that the military really do their best to evaluate every single possible option to make sure there is less impact to the community because the community is really important to them,” Werner said.

“Over the years, it has become more important. With the pressure with [bases realignment and closure] happening and there’s going to be another one, all communities are doing their best to prevent whatever mission they may have in their community would not be at risk because, almost every community where there is a military installation is one of their primary economic development industries,” said Werner.

Werner said the military emphasizes working with the local community since it realizes the significance of investing a huge amount of money in that community for that particular mission.

Werner said the compatibility sustainability study will factor three components: understanding, collaboration and actions.

Understanding increases communications between stakeholders: the military, GovGuam, the public non government organizations and others in the community.

“To have a shared understanding basically of what the strong economic and fiscal relationships and benefits are with all the stakeholders, the military and GovGuam moving forward together is key,” said Werner.

Werner said there are strategies that will address the compatibility issues identified earlier.

“These are either compatibility issues that exist today with the mission or current economic liability of Guam and/or the future missions as well,” she said. “Strategies are like tools. They can be policies they can be programs; they could be proposed legislation; proposed changes to military operations.”

The message, Werner added, is that “we want to make sure that GovGuam understands that these strategies are for everyone and not just for the military.”

“These are strategies that are compatible for everybody, and not just the military, and we try to bring all stakeholders together to identify fairly what everyone can do,” said Werner.

“For example, can they change their operations of a mission, meaning, the time they operate. Can we compromise. Can they maybe do it not on the weekends, possibly? What’s the compromise there?”

“Or flyovers where the area is heavily populated. Can they change that flight track?” Werner said this was one of the most complex and most difficult ones to change. “Because there’s a bigger entity: the [Federal Aviation Authority]. And there’s one above the FAA that we have no control over and that’s Mother Nature.”

Werner said education is two-way process. “We will try to educate the military on how GovGuam operates and what their plans are, how does legislation work, what the government’s vision is. And vice versa- what is the military trying to achieve and why are they trying to achieve it,” said Werner.

The first workshop on military buildup was held last night at the Tamuning Community Center. The second workshop is scheduled for tonight at the Dededo Community Center from 6 p.m. to 8:30 p.m., followed by the last workshop scheduled for tomorrow at the Agat Community Center from 6 p.m. to 8:30 p.m.

Japan stands up to US

Japan stands up to US

Wednesday, 28 October 2009 00:55
Varitey[sic] News Staff

JAPANESE leaders are standing up against pressures by the U.S. government to quickly proceed with the deal to move the U.S. Marine Corps Futenma Air Base to a coastal area of Okinawa and transfer about 8,000 troops to Guam.

“I don't think we will act simply by accepting what the U.S. tells us, just because the U.S. is saying this, in such a short period of time,” international wire agencies quoted Japan’s Foreign Minister Katsuya Okada as saying.

Okada made those remarks after U.S. Defense Secretary Robert Gates pressed Japanese leaders by insisting that Japan and the U.S. had negotiated this issue for as many as 13 years.

“But I told him that we, as an opposition party, had opposed the plan for those years,” Okada told Tokyo Broadcasting System Television. Okada said, “The will of the people of Okinawa and the will of the people of Japan was expressed in the elections.”

The transfer of the 8,000 Marines to Guam is causing many frustrations among the people and the government of Guam. It is mostly attributed to the lack of information.

Team to hear buildup concerns

Team to hear buildup concerns

By Amritha Alladi • Pacific Daily News • October 28, 2009

Culture clash and the availability of resources were two primary concerns expressed by members of local government agencies, nonprofits and the general public on the Guam Compatibility Sustainability Study yesterday.

At a workshop sponsored by the governor's office, members of the governor's Advisory Consulting Team told the public that the study hinges on their voicing of concerns dealing with the compatibility issues caused by the impending military buildup.

"This is your opportunity to provide direction in the development of our roadmap for our children and future generations," Gov. Felix Camacho said. "Your participation at the public workshop is vital."

The compatibility study addresses the public's concern with regard to how to protect existing communities, and provide opportunities for economic development.

The Advisory Consulting Team primarily consists of members from the Matrix Design Group Inc., an interdisciplinary planning and engineering firm specializing in professional engineering consulting for the public and private sectors. The team will hear about issues the public has identified as areas of concern, and will provide a set of recommendations to the military and GovGuam on possible actions to take to ease the transition, the team's project manager and Matrix Design Group Vice President Celeste Werner said.

Dawn Cruz, a residential supervisor at Sanctuary Inc., said members of her nonprofit organization were interested in problems that may arise socially, such as new forms of bullying among youths. Additionally, she wanted to find out how the shift of 8,000 Marines and their families to the island would affect the number of youths that Sanctuary Inc. sees at its shelter.

"Are we going to have a long waiting list?" she asked. "We need to prepare ourselves for the demand."

She added that programs such as those for substance abuse prevention or family counseling may have to be altered to meet the needs of a new group.

Aside from social issues that may arise as a result of cultural differences, Guam residents said that establishing the infrastructure to support the influx of people on the island would be the biggest challenge.

"A lot of the infrastructure is a big problem. Having enough water to provide the number of people living on the island as well as power," Dededo resident Joann Fontenot said. "If we can have all that structured, then, of course, everyone will be living comfortably."

Meanwhile, Tamuning Vice Mayor Louise Rivera added that land use is of concern to her because she has seen several projects approved by the Land Use Commission, but very few that have been enforced in a timely manner.

The team also explained the process of drafting an environmental impact statement, in preparation for the release of a draft environmental impact statement (EIS) projected for Nov. 20.

The EIS is a detailed study of the potential consequences a federal action -- in this case, the buildup -- might have on people or the environment, and potential alternatives that would avoid or reduce those impacts, the One Guam Web site states. Once the draft is released, the public has 45 days to review it before the final EIS is published in the Federal Register.

But on Friday, Sens. Judy Guthertz and Rory Respicio, in a letter to Maj Gen. David Bice of the U.S. Marine Corps, requested an extension of the time needed for the public to review the draft after its release.

Following U.S. Ambassador John Roos' indication that Washington may give the new Japanese leadership more time to review the U.S.-Japan agreement on the realignment of forces, the two senators said that the people of Guam should similarly be granted an extension to review the EIS.

"Japan has announced that their decision may not be forthcoming until next summer," the letter reads. "From our perspective, the extremely restrictive 45-day review period is simply a matter of bureaucratic convenience, unrelated to the broader public purpose that it should serve, and certainly no longer sensible, based on the extension given to Japan."

Bordallo, Navy to discuss EIS extension

Bordallo, Navy to discuss EIS extension

by Heather Hauswirth

Congresswoman Madeleine Bordallo will meet with U.S. Navy Secretary Ray Mabus on Thursday (Guam time) to discuss an extension request for the comment period on the Comprehensive Draft Environmental Impact Statement for the military buildup. Bordallo is hoping to convince the Navy to reevaluate its decision to only allow 45 days for public review and comment of the DEIS.

Bordallo noted that less comprehensive studies like the Mariana Islands Range Complex were allowed longer comment periods.

Hopes, concerns over US military build up in Guam

Hopes, concerns over US military build up in Guam

Sean Dorney, Guam

Last Updated: 21 hours 2 seconds ago

The business community on Guam is nervous about the possibility that the new government in Japan may try to change the agreement relating to America's proposed massive military build up on the island.

Under the 2006, deal brokered with the previous government, Japan would contribute billions of dollars to the relocation of 8,000 marines and their dependents from Okinawa to Guam.

"It is a huge operation...it's a ten billion dollar program with six billion dollars coming from the government of Japan and the remainder coming from the US government," said Captain Neil Ruggiero, a public affairs officer at the joint Guam program office.

Guam's government is excited by the prospect, but is wondering how it is going to cope.

Guam's business community, however, is less concerned and has been hosting a series of visits by foreign businessmen.

"There has been a couple of delegations from Australia that have come to the island looking at the opportunities, so the opportunities, the opportunities are huge," said Frank Campillo, chairman of Guam's Chamber of Commerce.

Apart from the concern over the new Japanese Government's commitment, there's an environmental issue to be resolved.

The proposed marine base is last remaining native habitat for a threatened bird species.

"There are two Marianas Crows left...they're two males, unfortunately, and we call the Heckel and Jeckelm," said Captain Neil Ruggiero.

"But by law we have to preserve the habitat where, if these species were going to be reintroduced in the future, you know, this is where they'd be reintroduced."

Under current planning, this massive military build-up will begin next year.

The United States already has a signifcant military presence in Guam, with large air and naval bases.

Environment workshops on buildup start today

Environment workshops on buildup start today

Tuesday, 27 October 2009 04:34
Varitey[sic] News Staff

(Adelup) -- Workshops on the Guam Compatibility and Sustainability Study and an orientation on the National Environmental Policy Act process regarding the military buildup will take place starting today until Thursday at the Tamuning, Dededo and Agat community centers.

The NEPA process is part of a national policy that was developed to help protect the environment and mitigate related concerns. The process, which relies on the analysis and review of information, including public input, will help guide and evaluate the impacts of the military buildup on the island community.

“It is imperative that our people understand the NEPA process and are well-versed on how to formally present their input,” said Gov. Felix P. Camacho.

As part of the NEPA process, according to Joint Guam Program Office officials, the official public review period for the military buildup draft environmental impact statement is set to take place sometime next month.

A major part of the workshop will be dedicated to the Guam CSS that is being prepared by the Guam Advisory Consulting Team. The primary goal of the Guam CSS will be to reduce the potential conflicts that may occur between the community of Guam and the military installations/ training areas while sustaining economic development, protecting public health and safety, and protecting current and future military missions.

“I encourage all residents to participate during these workshops, which will contribute to identifying both conflicts and solutions that concern many of our residents,” said Camacho.

To provide easy access for interested attendees, the workshop will be held at the following locations:

For more information, call Charlene Calip 475-9303 or 788-0589, or e-mail Charlene.calip@guam.gov, or visit the One Guam website at www.one.guam.gov.

‘Guam can’t expect DoD aid for buildup’

‘Guam can’t expect DoD aid for buildup’

Tuesday, 27 October 2009 04:35
by Therese Hart | Variety News Staff

Second of a series

IT IS a policy of the Department of Defense not to provide funding for any buildup areas in a community, according to Celeste Werner, AICP president of Matrix Design Group, which is part of the governor’s Advisory and Consulting Team.

“There are a number of communities that are struggling with the exact same issues that Guam is experiencing as far as not having the funds to provide or get ready for the buildup,” Werner told Variety.

These communities, she added, are doing exactly what the government of Guam is trying to do, which is identify requirements.

“Identify them even though they don’t know what the real mission is because it’s changing. The draft environmental impact study is not out yet. They’re pulling their information together and in most cases, they’re in the same position,” said Werner.

While the consulting group can only provide input to the military, Werner foresees issues that need to be negotiated. “The military can say these are our projections and it may not be the same as ours, so there may be issues that need to be negotiated out,” she said.

Japan’s money

Werner noted that the funding that the government of Japan is providing is earmarked just for military construction projects.

“GovGuam has no control over that so we’re just focusing on what GovGuam can provide for revenues. We represent GovGuam. We worry about what GovGuam’s position is and make sure that it is fair and balanced across the board,” she said.

“Our documents will provide a third party objective, technical, professional review and opinion and recommendation that is not just coming from GovGuam. You can use those in plans and then go forward and identify more funds from different federal agencies,” said Werner.

Creative funding

Werner said the rush for federal funds is very competitive.

“Guam isn’t the only one vying for federal dollars for its own buildup. Some communities are being creative about how they are going to fund it,” Weerner said.

Some communities are doing public private partnership. Others are partnering with different nongovernment organizations involved with environmental issues that may have the same mission or goal as Guam in some specific areas that would require some additional funding.

“This is pulling both public and private in a partnering opportunity,” said Werner.

Werner said her group will be able to provide solid factual data with a third party objective and show the justifiable need for whatever Guam needs to meet and sustain the challenges of the buildup.

A series of workshops will be held to address the socio-economic impact of the buildup as well as an orientation of the national environmental policy act process related to the buildup.

Submission of comments on Guam military buildup extended

Submission of comments on Guam military buildup extended

Tuesday, 27 October 2009 00:00
By Richelle Ann P. Agpoon - Variety News Intern

THE submission of comments for the draft of the CNMI’s strategic approach regarding the Guam military buildup is extended until Nov. 2, Department of Commerce Deputy Secretary Sixto K. Igisomar said.

As of Oct. 16, only four people sent comments to Commerce, Igisomar said.
Most were from private individuals and discussed issues on culture, environment and local rights.

“I can safely say that the individuals have a strong desire for more community involvement and better communication,” Igisomar said.

The draft was posted online for public viewing and “for the purpose of gathering information on how we can market the CNMI,” he said.

The comments received will be considered in the revision of the draft, he added.
Project Management Operations, which wrote the draft, is under contract to finalize the document after the public comment period.

Early this month, Commerce presented to the public a written draft on how the CNMI will be able to use its natural resources in the upcoming military buildup and how the commonwealth will benefit from it.

The draft is entitled “A strategic approach: Utilizing CNMI’s Natural Resources to Provide Complementary Support to DoD.”

For more information, contact Sixto K. Igisomar at 664-3000. To view the draft, visit www.Commerce.gov.mp.

Comments should be e-mailed at commercedept@pticom.com This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it or delivered to its office on Capital Hill.

Comments received after the deadline will not be included in the revision of the draft.

Q+A-Japan-U.S. base feud hits nerve ahead of Obama visit

Q+A-Japan-U.S. base feud hits nerve ahead of Obama visit

By Linda Sieg
10.25.09, 11:15 PM EDT

TOKYO, Oct 26 (Reuters) - A feud over plans to relocate a military base on Japan's Okinawa island as part of a broad reorganisation of U.S. troops is straining Washington's ties with Tokyo's new government ahead of President Barack Obama's Nov. 12-13 visit.

The row coincides with deepening questions about how China's rising military and economic clout will reshape the decades-old U.S.-Japan alliance, under which Japan hosts 88 American bases.

Below are some questions and answers about the origins of the dispute and whether an alliance crisis can be avoided.

WHY CLOSE THE FUTENMA BASE AND REPLACE IT?

Residents of Okinawa, 1,600 km (1,000 miles) south of Tokyo and reluctant host to about half the 47,000 U.S. military forces in Japan, have long resented what they see as an unfair burden in maintaining the U.S.-Japan security alliance.

The concentration of U.S. military bases on Okinawa, a major U.S. military forward logistics base in the western Pacific, is a legacy of America's occupation of the island from 1945 to 1972.

Many locals associate the bases with crime, noise, pollution and accidents, and outrage flares periodically -- most strikingly after the 1995 rape of a schoolgirl by three U.S. servicemen.

As part of a 1996 pact to reduce the U.S. military presence, the United States and Japan agreed to close Futenma Air Station, home to about 4,000 Marines and located in crowded Ginowan City, within seven years if a replacement could be found in Okinawa.

An initial plan for an off-shore facility in northern Okinawa was opposed by locals and environmentalists.

The current plan is for relocation to a northern site to be partly built within another U.S. base and on reclaimed land.

IS THIS JUST ABOUT FUTENMA?

No, the issue is much broader. Washington and Tokyo agreed in 2006 on a "road map" to transform the decades-old alliance, the pillar of Japan's post-World War Two security policies.

Part of a U.S. effort to make its military more flexible globally, the realignment fit with efforts by Japan's then-ruling Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) to shed the constraints of its postwar pacifist constitution and assume a higher global security profile.

Central to the pact was a plan to reorganise U.S. troops in Japan, including a shift of about 8,000 Marines by 2014 to the U.S. territory of Guam from Okinawa. The Marines' move, however, depends on finding a replacement site for Futenma.

While Futenma and the Marines' move grab most headlines in Japan, a package of steps to improve U.S.-Japan military cooperation in areas such as missile defense is equally vital.

WHY IS THIS DISPUTE FLARING NOW?

Prime Minister Yukio Hatoyama's Democratic Party of Japan, which took power last month, promised in its campaign that it would review the realignment pact as well as the Status of Forces Agreement (SOFA) governing the U.S. military in Japan. Hatoyama had said moving Futenma's functions off Okinawa was best.

More broadly, the Democrats have promised to adopt a diplomatic stance less subservient to its close security ally Washington, a shift from the long-dominant LDP, which was defeated in an election in August.

U.S. Secretary of Defense Robert Gates turned up the heat last week when he stated bluntly that the deal must be carried out and said Washington wanted a resolution by Obama's visit.

Anxiety is being exacerbated by questions about the overall future of the five-decade-old U.S.-Japan alliance as both face the challenge of China's rising economic and military might.

Some in Japan fear Washington will cosy up to Beijing, while some in the United States worry Tokyo is tilting towards Asia by promoting the idea of an East Asia Community trading bloc.

HOW CAN A CRISIS BE AVOIDED?

The United States appears unlikely to agree to reopen talks given its firm public rejection of that option and Obama's need to focus on other pressing issues such as the war in Afghanistan.

Japan might agree to the current plan as is, or with slight modifications, but bowing to U.S. demands could cause a rift with two tiny coalition partners whose backing is needed to pass laws smoothly, as well as within the Democratic Party.

The two sides might be able to turn down the heat and delay a resolution until after Obama's visit, if Tokyo can convince Washington that it doesn't plan to delay too long.

Appearing to dither or to endanger the U.S.-Japan alliance could undermine Hatoyama's public support, but caving in completely to U.S. pressure could also alienate some voters.

WILL THIS AFFECT ECONOMIC TIES?

Few analysts expect bilateral strains to spill over into trade and investment ties between the world's two biggest economies, and financial markets have taken the row in their stride even as market players express concern.

But damage to U.S.-Japan ties could spell geopolitical uncertainty in a region home to a rising China and an unpredictable North Korea, eventually affecting investment flows.

Military base row threatens to overshadow US Obama visit to Japan

Military base row threatens to overshadow US Obama visit to Japan

Updated October 26, 2009 13:06:49

Japan's new Democrats government is facing its first major test as it finds itself squeezed between the Obama Administration in Washington and the people of the southern islands of Okinawa.

At the heart of the row is a U-S air base which the Japanese Prime Minister Yukio Hatoyama had suggested could be moved. But the US has rejected any talk of re-locating the base outside of Okinawa, and the row is casting a shadow over the US President's visit to Japan next month.

Presenter: Mark Willacy, North Asia correspondent
Speaker: Robert Gates, the US Defence Secretary; Yukio Hatoyama, Japanese Prime Minister

Listen: Windows Media
http://www.abc.net.au/ra/connectasia/stories/m1804993.asx

MARK WILLACY: (SFX sound of jet plane)The United States has had air bases on Okinawa since 1945, when it occupied the island chain after a savage 82-day battle. There are now 14 US bases on Okinawa.

One of the biggest is Futenma, host of the 4,000-strong 1st Marine Aircraft Wing which is located right in the heart of the city of 90,000 people.

(Sound of Japanese protestors)

Residents have long complained of noise and air pollution and threats to public safety from fighter jets, transport planes and attack helicopters - a protest which intensified after the crash of a marine corps helicopter into an Okinawa University five years ago.

During the election campaign two months ago the Prime Minister Yukio Hatoyama spoke of moving Futenma out of Okinawa - an idea embraced by residents of the main island.

"I'd prefer to move Futenma right out of Okinawa," says this woman. "There are too many US bases and personnel here as it is," she says.

"The Government must not ignore calls from the people of Okinawa to remove this base," says another resident. "It must go" she says.

But the United States Marines aren't going anywhere. While Washington has signed an agreement with Japan to move the Futenma base to another part of Okinawa, the US Defence Secretary Robert Gates has rejected any talk of shifting the base out of the island altogether. And Mr Gates is prepared to play hardball with the Japanese.

ROBERT GATES: Without the Futenma realignment, the Futenma facility, there will be no consolidation of forces and return of land in Okinawa.

MARK WILLACY: This all casts a bit of a shadow over the visit to Japan next month by US President Barack Obama. Washington would like to see this spat resolved before Mr Obama's arrives but Japanese Prime Minister Yukio Hatoyama is refusing to be rushed.

(Hatoyama speaking)

"We won't have an agreement before Mr Obama's visit," says the Prime Minister. "We must take heed of the feelings of the Okinawan people," he adds.

Yukio Hatoyama has vowed to pursue a more equal relationship with Japan's closest ally but it seems on the issue of Okinawa, Washington will not budge.

US, Japan at odds over air base

US, Japan at odds over air base

By North Asia correspondent
Mark Willacy for AM

AM | abc.net.au/am

Play MP3 of Okinawa base not moving says US ( minutes)
http://mpegmedia.abc.net.au/news/audio/am/200910/20091026-am-7-okinawa-bases.mp3

Japan's new centre-left government is finding itself squeezed between the Obama administration and the people of the southern islands of Okinawa.

At the heart of the row is a US air base which the Japanese Prime Minister, Yukio Hatoyama, had suggested could be moved.

But the Obama administration has rejected any talk of re-locating the base outside of Okinawa.

It has cast a shadow over the US President's visit to Japan next month.

The United States has had air bases on Okinawa since 1945, when it occupied the island chain after a savage 82-day battle. There are now 14 US bases on Okinawa.

One of the biggest is Futenma, host of the 4,000-strong 1st Marine aircraft wing, which is located right in the heart of the city of 90,000 people.

Residents have long complained of noise and air pollution and threats to public safety from fighter jets, transport planes and attack helicopters - a protest which intensified after the crash of a Marine Corps helicopter into an Okinawa University five years ago.

During the election campaign two months ago, Mr Hatoyama spoke of moving Futenma out of Okinawa - an idea embraced by residents of the main island.

"I'd prefer to move Futenma right out of Okinawa," one protester said.

"There are too many US bases and personnel here as it is.

"The Government must not ignore calls from the people of Okinawa to remove this base - it must go," another resident said.

But the US marines are not going anywhere. While Washington has signed an agreement with Japan to move the Futenma base to another part of Okinawa, the US Defence Secretary, Robert Gates, has rejected any talk of shifting the base out of the island altogether.

And Mr Gates is prepared to play hardball with the Japanese.

"Without the Futenma realignment, the Futenma facility, there will be no consolidation of forces and return of land in Okinawa," he said.

Washington would like to see this spat resolved before Mr Obama arrives, but Mr Hatoyama is refusing to be rushed.

"We won't have an agreement before Mr Obama's visit," Mr Hatoyama said.

"We must take heed of the feelings of the Okinawan people."

Mr Hatoyama has vowed to pursue a more equal relationship with Japan's closest ally, but it seems on this issue Washington will not budge.

Governor asks for 120 more days for DEIS

Governor asks for 120 more days for DEIS

Posted: Oct 27, 2009 3:22 PM
Updated: Oct 27, 2009 5:21 PM


by Nick Delgado

Governor Felix Camacho has officially requested for 120 days for the public and government leaders to review and provide comment on the draft environmental impact statement expected to be released next month. In a letter to Joint Guam Program Office Director David Bice, the governor said the additional 75 days would ensure adequate time to examine and respond to the largest draft EIS in Guam's history.

On that note, the Matrix Design Group is holding the first of several town hall meetings this evening, as they attempt to educate the public about a compatibility sustainability study and the National Environmental Policy Act process related to the military buildup. This evening's town hall meeting, which begins at 6, is being held at the Tamuning Community Center.

Another will be held at the Dededo Community Center and a third town hall meeting will be held at the Agat Senior Citizen's Center on Thursday evening from 6-8:30.

The company has been contracted by the government to review the voluminous draft environmental impact statement when it is released to the public on November 20.

Matrix Design Group and the EIS

Japan govt coalition partner rejects US base proposal

Japan govt coalition partner rejects US base proposal

(AFP) – 1 hour ago

TOKYO — A coalition partner of Japan's centre-left government on Saturday voiced opposition to a fresh proposal for keeping a controversial US base within the southern Japanese island of Okinawa.

Foreign Minister Katsuya Okada said Friday the Marine Corps Futenma Air Base should not be moved off Okinawa but could be merged with other US military facilities in the island.

But Mizuho Fukushima, head of the Social Democratic Party, one of the two minor coalition parties, rejected the proposal and insisted that the base must be moved off the island.

"I oppose the hasty and coercive proposal," Fukushima told reporters. "We should not be in a hurry even if it takes some time before reaching a final conclusion."

The government has previously said it will review a 2006 agreement to move the base from a crowded urban to a coastal area of Okinawa by 2014, and has even suggested the facility be moved off the island.

A row over the planned relocation cast a shadow on the Japan-US security alliance ahead of the first visit by US President Barack Obama to Japan on November 12-13.

US Defense Secretary Robert Gates bluntly pressed Japan to "move on" quickly with the previously agreed plans to move Futenma operations to the the coastal area near the US Camp Schwab site, central Okinawa.

The United States, which defeated Japan in World War II and then occupied the country, now has 47,000 troops stationed there, more than half of them on Okinawa, the site of one of the bloodiest battles of the war.

Copyright © 2009 AFP. All rights reserved

Top U.S. military officer warns Japan against reneging on Futemma plan

Top U.S. military officer warns Japan against reneging on Futemma plan

Oct 23 09:38 AM US/Eastern

(AP) - TOKYO, Oct. 23 (Kyodo) — Visiting U.S. Joint Chiefs of Staff Chairman Michael Mullen on Friday warned Japan against reneging on a 2006 Japan-U.S. accord concerning the relocation of a U.S. military airfield within Okinawa, saying not honoring the pact would "diminish the security support for Japan."

Navy Adm. Mullen told reporters at the U.S. Embassy in Tokyo that he sees the planned transfer of the U.S. Marine Corps' Futemma Air Station in downtown Ginowan to the northern Okinawa city of Nago as "an absolute requirement in terms of whole realignment pieces."

"I don't believe, from the military standpoint, it is possible to provide the kind of security and defense support to Japan and to the region without it," Mullen said, referring to the current bilateral accord on moving the Futemma facility by 2014.

"Moving it (the Futemma base) somewhere else diminishes the security support for Japan and the region," he said.

Mullen's remarks are in line with the tough stance shown earlier this week by U.S. Defense Secretary Robert Gates toward Japan's new government, which has been reviewing the bilateral negotiations leading to the 2006 accord in its attempt to seek more "equal" Japan- U.S. ties.

Prime Minister Yukio Hatoyama has said his government will seek to move the heliport functions of the Futemma facility outside Okinawa, or even outside Japan -- a proposal that would contravene the bilateral pact that took years to reach.

Mullen also expressed hope that the Hatoyama Cabinet will reach a conclusion on whether to alter the realignment accord by the time U.S. President Barack Obama visits Japan on Nov. 12 and 13.

The top U.S. uniformed military officer met Friday with Foreign Minister Katsuya Okada and Defense Minister Toshimi Kitazawa and confirmed the importance of the Japan-U.S. alliance, according to Japanese government officials.

In their meeting, Okada told Mullen that Tokyo will try to reach a conclusion on the Futemma issue as soon as possible, according to the Foreign Ministry.

Okada also told the chairman of the joint chiefs of staff that Japan has been considering new support measures for Afghanistan, such as vocational training, following the scheduled end in January of the Japan's refueling mission in the Indian Ocean in support of U.S.-led antiterrorism operations in and around the war-torn country.

At the embassy, Mullen cast doubt on the idea of a no-first-use nuclear doctrine advocated by Okada, saying it would "dramatically reduce our flexibility."

He called for careful discussions on the doctrine as the U.S. nuclear deterrence extended to Japan has been serving well and the matter concerns the security of Japanese peop

Japan: Base must stay on Okinawa

Japan: Base must stay on Okinawa

October 24, 2009

TOKYO (AP) -- A major U.S. Marine base set for relocation must stay on the southern Japan island of Okinawa, the country's foreign minister said Friday as he tried to ease a deepening rift with Washington.

Katsuya Okada said the Marine airfield in Futenma, a crowded city on Okinawa, should be relocated to another part of the island and not moved elsewhere in Japan or overseas as some of his party's leadership had suggested.

The relocation of the base, which had been agreed to under previous conservative administrations in Tokyo, had become a sticky issue between Washington and Japan's newly elected government because of local opposition to the move.

"Starting from scratch on other ideas would not serve the best interests of the people of Okinawa," Okada said. "We should not spend too much time on this. Our time is limited."

He said, however, that it will be difficult to resolve the issue in time for President Obama's Nov. 12-13 visit to Japan.

After more than a decade of negotiations, U.S. and Japanese officials agreed three years ago to shift 8,000 Marines on Okinawa to Guam by 2014. But the plan, which includes the relocation of the Futenma airfield, has met intense local resistance.

Prime Minister Yukio Hatoyama, who assumed office last month and vowed to put Japan's relations with Washington on a more equal footing, had said he wants to review the plan and had been unclear whether he would support moving the airfield elsewhere on Okinawa.

On Friday, he said that a resolution should be made "sooner than later," but didn't elaborate.

Okada's statement Friday was the new government's clearest to date that it will accept the move of the base to another location on Okinawa.

Stalled efforts

While the existing plan would lighten Okinawa's share of hosting more than half of the U.S. troops in Japan, it has met with resistance from opponents who expressed reservations over base-related crime, the cost and environmental issues.

Such opposition has stalled efforts to settle on a final plan for where the base should be relocated, although the Camp Schwab area, which is in a less crowded part of Okinawa, remains the most likely candidate.

US-Japan alliance gets a jolt

US-Japan alliance gets a jolt

Saturday, October 24, 2009

The US-Japan security alliance has been strained as Tokyo’s new centre-left leaders, in a row over a US military base, make good on their promise to be less subservient to Washington, analysts say.

The five-week-old government has repeatedly signalled it may scrap an agreement to build a new airbase on the southern island of Okinawa, where many residents have long objected to the existing American military presence.

The tone hardened this week when US Defence Secretary Robert Gates told Prime Minister Yukio Hatoyama’s government to quickly “move on” and resolve the issue before President Barack Obama visits Japan next month.

Foreign Minister Katsuya Okada shot back later, saying “I don’t think we will act simply by accepting what the US tells us.” Reviewing the base issue, he added, reflected the will of the people. On Friday, Okada relented somewhat, saying new facilities could be built on the island but suggesting they be merged with another US site, the Kadena Air Base, a plan also not favoured by the United States.

Political observers have taken notice of the new tone in Japan. “Hatoyama’s ‘no’ is the first time Japan is rebelling against the US in decades,” said political analyst Minoru Morita, warning that “Japan-US relations are in danger.”

Some commentators warned that Japan’s new government is allowing domestic politics to threaten the security alliance that protected Japan through the Cold War and ever since. The conservative newspaper Sankei Shimbun in an editorial said the government lacked responsibility and should take seriously Gates’ comments as a “warning that the Japan-US alliance could come to a rupture.”

Hatoyama signalled during his election campaign that although he values the US alliance, he would also seek a “more equal” relationship. His government, which ended half a century of conservative rule, has said it will end a naval refuelling mission that has supported the Nato-led Afghanistan campaign since 2001.

Washington initially played down such comments as campaign rhetoric by Hatoyama’s Democratic Party of Japan (DPJ), which had never been in government. But concern has grown, especially over the base issue. The Washington Post on Thursday quoted an unnamed US State Department official as saying: “The hardest thing right now is not China. It’s Japan.”

The flashpoint has been the new government’s pledge to “review” a 2006 agreement to reign the 47,000-strong troop presence in the country, where American soldiers have been based since World War II.

Under the plan, the Marine Corps’ Futenma Air Base, located in an urban area of Okinawa, would be closed and replaced with a new facility in a coastal area of the island by 2014, while 8,000 Marines would be moved to Guam.

Gates warned on Wednesday that reneging on the Futenma deal would unravel the wider pact, including the handover by Washington of the current base on Okinawa, an island dubbed America’s “unsinkable aircraft carrier”.

Okinawa is of key strategic importance for the US military, as it lies near mainland China and Taiwan, close to North Korea, and can act as a stepping stone to Afghanistan and the Middle East. Takehiko Yamamoto, professor of international politics at Waseda University, said: “The current uncertainty over the Futenma airbase is accelerating a sense of distrust toward the DPJ, especially among Pentagon officials.”

Mikitaka Masuyama, politics professor at the National Graduate Institute for Policy Studies, said moving the base off Okinawa would sour relations with Washington, but doubted such a scenario would occur.

“Even if it has promised in its election campaign to relocate the base outside Okinawa, it must by now have realised that in reality there is no such option,” he said. “If there was, the LDP government would have done it much earlier.”

Rising Seas, Rising Awareness

Published on Thursday, October 22, 2009 by The Baltimore Sun
Rising Seas, Rising Awareness
Climate change threatens to drown Maryland's coasts and islands, but it's not too late to act
by Mike Tidwell

Here's an idea: Why don't the residents of Smith Island - at the fragile center of the Chesapeake Bay - rent a few scuba-diving suits and hold a town hall meeting under water?

Scientists say a huge part of the Chesapeake region could be below water in a few decades due to rapid global warming. So why not practice up? Just grab a few wetsuits and goggles and rehearse for the aquatic life to come.

A similar rehearsal took place last week in another island area: the archipelago nation of the Maldives in the Indian Ocean. Sitting at underwater tables, atop underwater chairs with fish darting about, the country's president and Cabinet ministers held a "global warming summit" to ask the world to stop the rising seas that could eventually submerge their entire country.

But as TV networks broadcast this bizarre meeting back to the U.S., you could almost hear the "tsk, tsk." We comfortable Americans tend to view really big catastrophes - things like famines and tsunamis - as far-away matters involving people usually too poor or under-educated to plan better.

This mindset helped blind us to the pre-Hurricane Katrina dangers of New Orleans. And it's blinding us today to the shared threat of climate change in places like Smith Island, not to mention Manhattan Island and most of south Florida.

Smith Island - just 80 miles east of the White House in the main stem of the Chesapeake - is home to 300 fishermen, artists, boat-builders, shopkeepers and retirees. The island covers four square miles and is, on average, less than 2 feet above sea level.

If, thanks to global warming pollution, the Greenland ice sheet continues its satellite-verified meltdown, then Smith Island will almost certainly disappear even faster than the Maldives and faster than several much-publicized South Pacific island nations. The whole eastern third of Maryland, in fact, is in big trouble, from Ocean City to Solomons Island to Annapolis. James Hansen, the top climate scientist at NASA, says we'll be measuring sea-level rise in meters by 2100 if current trends continue.

That's a lot to take in, for sure, and skepticism might be the natural response to such climate predictions. So don't take it from Greenpeace or Al Gore or even James Hansen. Listen instead to Allstate Insurance Co.

In 2006, Allstate announced it was no longer issuing new homeowners' policies in states up and down the East Coast. In Maryland, the company shut its doors to new customers across 11 eastern counties, including parts of Anne Arundel and Prince George's counties. Why? First, the company said, sea levels are definitely rising worldwide based on irrefutable science. Second, Atlantic hurricanes are getting bigger and more intense as the planet warms. Hence, Smith Island and much of the rest of eastern Maryland just aren't good insurance risks anymore, Allstate acknowledged. The potential for catastrophe is too great.

Allstate is not a Republican corporation. It's not a Democratic corporation. This is rational private capital talking. The idea of an underwater town hall meeting near Smith Island seems less alarmist when a major insurance company is abandoning customers just a stone's throw from our nation's capital.

Thankfully, the Maryland General Assembly has done its part on global warming. It passed a statute last spring mandating a 25 percent reduction in greenhouse gas emissions statewide by 2020. But like the tiny nation of the Maldives, Maryland can't solve global warming by itself. The U.S. Senate must pass an even stronger federal carbon cap by mid-December, ahead of international climate talks in Copenhagen, Denmark. With a congressional bill in hand, President Barack Obama must then go to Copenhagen and push China and the rest of the world for a strong global treaty to replace the expiring Kyoto Protocol.

The good news is that this Saturday, for the first time ever, activists from Maryland and the Maldives - as well as Greenland, Australia and myriad places in between - will be speaking with one voice on global warming. The much-heralded "International Day of Climate Action" involves more than 4,000 events in more than 170 countries, including a "human circle of hope" outside the White House. (Learn more at www.350.org/dc).

And while there's no word yet about an aquatic town hall meeting at Smith Island, there are rumors of wetsuits and goggles available for loan from the president of the Maldives. It's time to follow in his wake.

Copyright © 2009, The Baltimore Sun
Mike Tidwell is executive director of the Chesapeake Climate Action Network based in Takoma Park. His e-mail is mtidwell@chesapeakeclimate.org.

Japan's New Okinawa Plan Could Delay Guam Buildup

Japan's New Okinawa Plan Could Delay Guam Buildup

11th Hour Counterproposal May Keep III Marines At Bay

Written by Jeff Marchesseault, Guam News Factor Staff Writer
Friday, 23 October 2009 11:31

GUAM - After telling the U.S. Secretary of Defense this week to back off his insistence that Japan must stick to a bilateral agreement to move a U.S. air base from point A to point B in Okinawa, Japan's new government has finally shown some encouraging signs they will do so -- but on new, undefined terms not outlined by standing accords.

The problem is this. Japan's terms could mean delaying a concomitant military buildup on Guam. Due to get underway as early as next summer, the U.S. Territory's $15 billion installation expansion is already on a tight timetable. Any substantively new plan in Okinawa is likely to directly impact Guam deadlines, because the Guam buildup is directly dependent on the air base relocation. The Department of Defense is adamant that all alternatives to the agreed relocation site within Okinawa have been exhausted and been found wanting.

Japan's new plan could be considerably different because of domestic concerns about damaging an environmental preserve in the originally designated re-basing site and because the new government can ill afford to lose face after fighting the intra-Okinawa air base transfer before and during its recent election campaign.

According to a Reuters report citing Japan's Sankei newspaper, Japan will inform U.S. President Barack Obama during his visit to Tokyo next month that it will come up with a new plan by the end of the year to relocate a U.S. air base within the southern island of Okinawa.

Right now, a 2006 bilateral accord designates coastal Camp Schwab in remote, northern Okinawa as the replacement site for operations now based at Marine Corps Air Station Futenma in the bustling Okinawan city of Ginowan.

So far, new Japan Prime Minister Yukio Hatoyama remains vague on his nation's new plan for Futenma relocation. And that is apt to keep the Pentagon on its toes strategically as it considers 'alternatives' that are as nebulous as Japan's new plan.

Read the Reuters story, "Japan to craft new U. . base plan by year-end: media", Thursday, October 22, 2009.

US Customs poised to control NMI borders

US Customs poised to control NMI borders

Full access to airport facilities sought for up to 53 officers

By Haidee V. Eugenio
Reporter

Friday, October 23, 2009

Key officials of the U.S. Customs and Border Protection led by Assistant Commissioner for Field Operations Thomas S. Winkowski personally told Gov. Benigno R. Fitial, lawmakers, and other local officials yesterday that CBP is “fully ready” to secure CNMI borders by Nov. 28 as required by the federalization law.

“From an operational standpoint, we're ready,” Winkowski told House Speaker Arnold I. Palacios (R-Saipan), Senate President Pete P. Reyes (R-Saipan) and other members of the 16th Legislature on Capital Hill yesterday morning.

In their “operational readiness visit,” the federal team sought “full access” to the immigration facilities at the Saipan and Rota airports ahead of the Nov. 28 federalization to be able to install equipment and prepare for the takeover of border control.

Fitial gave CBP access to the facility, which the officials visited yesterday afternoon, said Winkowski.

Press secretary Charles Reyes confirmed that Fitial assured the federal officials that they would get the necessary access to the airports over the next several weeks to do their job.

“The federal officials agreed that they would make every effort not to interfere with the Commonwealth's enforcement of its immigration laws through Nov. 27,” Reyes said in a statement.

Winkowski said the team has had “productive meetings” with local officials.

“This is an operational readiness visit. I want to be sure that come Nov. 28, we're going to be up and running and you can't do that by sitting in Washington, D.C. You have to come out here and look at the facility, have meetings that we have today with the Legislature, with the governor, and work through any type of issues,” he told reporters.

Up to 53 CBP personnel

Winkowski said between 45 and 53 CBP personnel will be temporarily assigned to the CNMI, primarily at the Saipan International Airport, to screen some 400,000 passengers a year. Others will also be detailed at the Rota airport.

He said qualified CBP personnel from Guam and other U.S. states will be temporarily stationed until permanent hires are in place.

“I'm estimating it will take a year to eliminate temporary personnel,” Winkowski told lawmakers.

Jerry Aevermann, the current assistant port director for CBP Guam, has been named CBP interim port director for the CNMI.

Winkowski said a working group, to be led by Aevermann, is being formed to ensure a smooth transition to federal immigration control.

Besides Winkowski and Aevermann, seven other CBP officials from Washington, D.C. and Guam are visiting the CNMI.

They include CBP Assistant Commissioner for Information Technology Charles Armstrong; David Morrell, executive director of the Office of Field Operations' Mission Support; Cheryl Peters, program manager of the Office of Field Operations; Richard Vigna, director of Field Operations in San Francisco; Bruce Murley, area port director in Honolulu, Hawaii; Rocky Miner, port director in Guam; and Fraim Leon Guerrero of CBP Guam.

The team visited Guam before coming to Saipan Wednesday night. The officials leave Saipan today.

Rep. Rosemond Santos (R-Saipan) and other lawmakers wanted assurance from the federal officials that the current CNMI immigration personnel will be absorbed by CBP.

Winkowski said consideration is being given, but said qualification requirements will still need to be followed. He added that CBP will issue other job announcements for needed positions.

Immigration inspection

In answering questions from Rep. Ray N. Yumul (R-Saipan), the visiting federal officials said by Nov. 28, those who have already undergone immigration screening on Guam will not be screened again when they enter Saipan and vice versa.

However, those boarding on Saipan or Guam to other destinations will still undergo screening when they fly to Hawaii and other U.S. states and territories.

The CBP officials also said that travels between Saipan, Tinian and Rota will not need immigration screening.

Rep. Justo Quitugua (D-Saipan) and Rep. Diego Benavente (R-Saipan) asked whether nonresident workers can freely exit and enter the CNMI throughout the transition period starting on Nov. 28 without having to secure a U.S. visa.

CBP officials said this is still being worked on by the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services.

CBP and the USCIS are among the component units of the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, which is the lead agency implementing Public Law 110-229 (the Consolidated Natural Resources Act) in the CNMI. DHS is required to staff and equip six ports of entry in the CNMI by Nov. 28.

Winkowski said it's only a happenstance that they're in the CNMI when Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano announced she will be exercising her parole authority to allow Chinese and Russian tourists to enter the CNMI without a U.S. visa even when federalization begins Nov. 28. (See main story)

Rep. Tina Sablan (Ind-Saipan) asked CBP to conduct public outreach on the agency's activities and policies, to which Winkowski said this is also being worked on.

Winkwoski, when asked about human trafficking and drug smuggling concerns, said there will be investigators that work for DHS to address these issues.

The CBP officials met not only with Fitial yesterday, but also with officials of the Commonwealth Ports Authority, the Office of the Attorney General, the CNMI Division of Customs, the CNMI Division of Immigration, and the Department of Labor.

Delegate Gregorio Kilili C. Sablan (D-MP), in a statement, said he has “been assured that all the necessary equipment to do the pre-screening and monitor visitor exits will be in place by Nov. 28.”

“I have been very concerned about the department's operational readiness, but I'm beginning to see some forward motion. I also think that we have to be sure that this capacity is also present for the Rota and Tinian tourist markets. This isn't just about Saipan,” said Sablan.

Japan to craft new U.S. base plan by year-end: report

Japan to craft new U.S. base plan by year-end: report

Thu Oct 22, 2009 9:31pm EDT

OKYO (Reuters) - Japan will inform U.S. President Barack Obama during his visit to Tokyo next month that it will come up with a new plan by the end of the year to relocate a U.S. air base within the southern island of Okinawa, the Sankei newspaper reported on Friday.

The report comes days after the U.S. defense secretary bluntly called for a planned realignment of U.S. troops in Japan to be implemented, sparking concern about worsening ties between Washington and Japan's new government.

A broad deal to reorganize U.S. forces in Japan was agreed in 2006 between Washington and Japan's long-dominant conservative party, which was ousted by Prime Minister Yukio Hatoyama's Democratic Party in an August election.

Central to the deal is a plan to move the functions of the Futenma air base to northern Okinawa, while shifting 8,000 Marines from Okinawa to the U.S. territory of Guam, partly at Japan's expense. Japan is host to about 47,000 U.S. military personnel as part of the decades-old security alliance.

Hatoyama had said he wants the base moved off the island, where many complain about crime, noise, pollution and accidents associated with U.S. bases, but U.S. officials have ruled that out, saying it would undermine broader security agreements.

The Sankei reported that the government plans to come up with a new relocation site within Okinawa, citing unidentified government sources.

Hatoyama said on Thursday that Japan needed more time before making a decision on the Futenma base issue and that he did not regard Obama's November 12-13 visit as the deadline for Japan to reach a conclusion.

"It's about how both sides avoid risks. There is no need to rush," Hatoyama was quoted as saying on Friday by Kyodo News Agency.

(Reporting by Yoko Kubota; Editing by Hugh Lawson)

Navy eyes sonar operations in Marianas

Navy eyes sonar operations in Marianas

Thursday, October 22, 2009

NOAA's Fisheries Service is seeking comments now through Nov. 19 on its proposed rule to authorize impacts to marine mammals during Navy training exercises around the Mariana Islands. The NOAA proposal includes protective measures designed to minimize effects on marine mammals.

The Navy has requested an authorization under the Marine Mammal Protection Act, because the mid-frequency sound generated by tactical sonar, and the sound and pressure generated by detonating explosives, may affect the behavior of some marine mammals, or cause a temporary loss of their hearing sensitivity.

NOAA's Fisheries Service does not expect the exercises to result in serious injury or death to marine mammals, and is proposing the Navy use mitigation measures to avoid injury or death. However, exposure to sonar in certain circumstances has been associated with the stranding of some marine mammals, and some injury or death may still occur. Therefore, the proposed authorization allows for a small number of incidental injuries to marine mammals.

NOAA's Fisheries Service said it has made a preliminary determination that these effects “would have a negligible effect” on the species or stocks involved.

Under the authorization, the Navy would have to follow mitigation measures to minimize effects on marine mammals, including:

-establishing marine mammal safety zones around each vessel using sonar;

-using Navy observers to shut down sonar operations if marine mammals are seen within designated safety zones;

-using exclusion zones to ensure that explosives are not detonated when animals are detected within a certain distance;

-implementing a stranding response plan that includes a training shutdown provision in certain circumstances, and allows for the Navy to contribute in-kind services to NOAA's Fisheries Service if the agency has to conduct a stranding response and investigation.

“These measures should minimize the potential for injury or death, and significantly reduce the number of marine mammals exposed to levels of sound likely to cause temporary loss of hearing,” NOAA said in a statement.

Additionally, the proposed rule would require the Navy and NOAA's Fisheries Service to meet yearly to discuss new science, Navy research and development, and Navy monitoring results to see if changes to mitigation or monitoring measures are needed.

NOAA's Fisheries Service and the Navy use independent, experienced vessel-based marine mammal observers (as well as Navy watchstanders), and passive acoustic monitoring to help better understand how marine mammals respond to various levels of sound and to assess the effectiveness of mitigation measures.

The Navy has been conducting training exercises, including the use of mid-frequency sonar, in the Mariana Islands for more than 60 years. Exercises range from large, 10-day long joint multi-strike group exercises using multiple surface vessels, submarines and aircraft, to multi-hour exercises designed to target specific skills or weapons systems, such as missile tracking. Some exercises involve explosives.

NOAA's Fisheries Service will accept comments on the application and proposed authorization through November 19. Comments should be addressed to:

Michael Payne, Chief of the Permits, Conservation, and Education Division
Office of Protected Resources, NMFS
1315 East West Highway
Silver Spring, MD 20910

Electronic public comments may be submitted via the Federal eRulemaking Portal http://www.regulations.gov using the identifier 0648-AW91. (NOAA)

Japan FM: US Marine base should stay on Okinawa

Japan FM: US Marine base should stay on Okinawa

(AP) – 28 minutes ago

TOKYO — Japan's foreign minister says a major U.S. Marine base set for relocation must stay on the southern Japan island of Okinawa.

Foreign Minister Katsuya Okada said Friday that the Marine airfield in Futenma, a crowded city on Okinawa, should be relocated to another part of the island and not moved elsewhere in Japan or overseas, as some of his party's leadership had suggested.

The relocation of the base, already been agreed to under previous administrations in Tokyo, had become a sticky issue between Washington and Japan's newly elected government because of local opposition to the move.

Okada's statement Friday was the new government's clearest to date that it will accept the move of the base to another location on Okinawa.

Copyright © 2009 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.

Tokyo still resistant to Washington base deal

Tokyo still resistant to Washington base deal

Fri, 23 Oct 2009 09:11:03 GMT

The Japanese prime minister has once again expressed his country's reluctance to keep a military deal with Washington over the presence of US forces.

"It's about how both sides avoid risks. That's what diplomacy is about," Premier Yukio Hatoyama told reporters on Friday. "There is no need to rush.”

In 2006, Washington and Japan's conservative party agreed a deal to reorganize US forces in the Asian country, but Hatoyama's Democratic Party of Japan (DPJ) ousted the conservatives, who had been in power for nearly half-century, in an August election.

Under the proposed deal, the functions of the Futenma air base would be transferred to a remoter part of the southern island of Okinawa, while shifting 8,000 Marines from the island to the US territory of Guam, partly at Japan's expense.

Despite US disagreement, Hatoyama had said he wanted the base moved off the island, which lies 1,600 km (1,000 miles) from the Japanese mainland in the Pacific Ocean.

Okinawa hosts more than half of the 47,000 American troops stationed in Japan. Their presence has often caused friction with the local community, especially when American servicemen have committed crimes.

In February 2008, US Marine Tyrone Hadnott was arrested for the alleged rape of a 14-year-old girl on the island. The incident, which was reminiscent of a similar case in 1995, intensified tensions between the two nations.

The new center-left government in Tokyo has taken a more independent stance towards Washington.

Hatoyama's decision over the dispute could affect voter support for his government, now riding high at about 70% in most polls.

Earlier on Thursday, Japan's foreign minister reacted to remarks by US Defense Secretary Robert Gates pressing the Japanese government to proceed with the deal quickly.

"I don't think we will act simply by accepting what the US tells us, just because the US is saying this, in such a short space of time," Katsuya Okada said.

AGB/MTM/DT

Japan Probes 1960s Nuclear Agreements With U.S.

Japan Probes 1960s Nuclear Agreements With U.S.

* ASIA NEWS
* OCTOBER 23, 2009


Tokyo Leadership, Seeking Break With Past, Holds Fact-Finding Mission Into Once-Secret Pacts; Gates Warns of Damage to Ties

By YUKA HAYASHI

TOKYO -- U.S. Defense Secretary Robert Gates cautioned Japan this week against letting a fact-finding mission into decades-old secret nuclear-weapons agreements affect relations between the two countries, according to an official familiar with the matter.

In a meeting with Japanese Defense Minister Toshimi Kitazawa on Wednesday, Mr. Gates said Japan also should avoid letting the probe hurt the U.S.'s antinuclear-proliferation efforts, the official said. Mr. Kitazawa said the government would handle confidential information sensitively, said the official.

Japan, the only nation that has endured nuclear attacks, forbids making, possessing and storing nuclear weapons on its soil. But under an understanding reached in the early 1960s, Japan agreed to look the other way when nuclear-armed U.S. ships used Japanese ports. A 1969 agreement allowed nuclear weapons to be stationed in emergency cases on U.S. bases on the island of Okinawa, after it was returned to Japanese control in 1972.

Many elements of the agreements have been disclosed previously. Both governments say the agreements no longer have teeth because nuclear-armed U.S. vessels no longer stop in Japan.

But Japan's new government, now controlled by the Democratic Party of Japan after August elections, has launched a fact-finding investigation to make the agreements public and show how they were kept secret.

"In the past, prime ministers and foreign ministers of this country repeatedly denied the existence of the secret agreements and that eroded the public's trust in the government's foreign policy," said Foreign Minister Katsuya Okada.

Political analysts say the investigation is a largely symbolic move to show a change from governments run by the Liberal Democratic Party, which dominated Japanese politics for more than half a century, until last month.

"The DPJ wants to send a message to people that they have a new government with a different political style," said Norihiko Narita, president of Surugadai University and an informal political adviser to the DPJ.

The LDP said some secrecy was necessary. "Full disclosure of information on diplomatic negotiations doesn't necessarily guarantee the protection of national interest," the party's Policy Research Council said in a statement. "In conducting foreign policy, we always made our national interest and the well-being of our citizens the top priority, and disclosed what we could."

The investigation comes as the DPJ reviews Japan's overall foreign policy with a goal of giving Tokyo an equal role in its close bilateral ties with the U.S. Some experts say the probe seeks to discredit Japanese officials who had worked closely with Washington.

U.S. officials play down the potential impact of the investigation, saying the agreements are now out in the open and it is a domestic matter. "It is up to the Japanese government how they want to explore this," said Kurt Campbell, U.S. assistant secretary of state for East Asia and Pacific affairs.

The investigation has created a buzz in Japan, where the secret agreements were long discussed but always officially denied. "I am very much looking forward to the DPJ showing us what we couldn't see before," said Masaaki Ota, a 42-year-old Tokyo flower-shop owner who supports the DPJ.

While the agreements have been something of an open secret in Japan, U.S. government documents concerning them have been gradually declassified for years. After the DPJ began the fact-finding mission, George Washington University Professor Robert Wampler posted online a package of relevant documents from university archives.

One 1969 memorandum by Jeanne Davis of the National Security Council to members of the Nixon administration discusses nuclear-weapons policy in Okinawa after the handover back to Japan. One option: "Japn [sic] now acquiesces in transit by naval vessels armed with nuclear weapons. This right would extend automatically to Okinawa. (This is sensitive and closely held information)."

Another 1969 memo, by U.S. Ambassador to Japan Alexis Johnson, describes an exchange with Japanese Foreign Minister Kiichi Aichi regarding the deployment and storage of nuclear weapons in Okinawa. "He said that [then Prime Minister Eisaku] Sato and we were, in event of renewal of hostilities in Korea, absolutely determined to implement this secret understanding and give full support to our actions in Korea," Ambassador Johnson quoted the foreign minister as saying.

Fitial says feds should clear ambiguities regarding transition phase

Fitial says feds should clear ambiguities regarding transition phase

Thursday, 22 October 2009 00:00 By Gemma Q. Casas - Reporter

GOVERNOR Benigno R. Fitial says he looks forward to his meeting with visiting U.S. Department of Homeland Security as there are “a lot of ambiguities” regarding U.S. immigration rules that will be implemented here starting on Nov. 28.

The DHS officials are scheduled to meet with local lawmakers this morning and will separately hold talks with Fitial.

“I plan to talk with them about the adverse effects of the federalization law. The regulations that have been issued are not in our interest. They are taking away our investors, our tourists, the Chinese and Russian tourists, as well as our foreign students,” the governor told the Variety.

“There must be a balance in trying to protect our borders without getting rid of our resources,” he added.

Fitial said he sees the visit as an opportunity to raise his administration’s concerns.

He also expressed hope that the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia, where he filed a lawsuit against the federalization law, would rule in the CNMI’s favor.

“I strongly believe that this is not right [the federalization law]. You don’t see this happening in California. We are being mistreated. We don’t need them to come here and tell us what is best for us,” he added.

Federal Officials say CNMI Imigration Federalization on Track

Federal Officials say CNMI Imigration Federalization on Track

Guam - Acting Lt. Governor and Speaker Judi Wonpat met with several federal officials today including the assistant commissioner of the department of homeland security, Honolulu's port director, and the US Customs and Border Patrol's Director of field operations in San Francisco. According to the Speaker they are all en route to the CNMI in preparation for it's immigration's federalization.

The speaker says that the federalization of CNMI's immigration will require them to use some of Guam's US customs agents however it will be on a part time basis and shouldn't affect any of Guam's operations.

The speaker adds that they did not have an answer as to the viability of extending the visa-waiver program to China and Russia. They did however reassure the Speaker that they would be on track to implament the CNMI's federalization on Nov. 28th.

Written by :
Clynt Ridgell

US elevates Pacific-born administrator to senior roles

US elevates Pacific-born administrator to senior roles

Updated 5 hours 45 minutes ago

Pacific Islander and Chamorro, Tony Babauta, has been elevated over the past month as the White House's senior administrator for Asian Americans and American Pacific islanders, as well as Assistant Secretary at the Department of the Interior in Washington. This make Mr Babauta most senior Pacific islander ever to work this closely with a US President.

In his capacity, Mr Babauta coordinates US federal policy for Guam, the Northern Marianas, the Virgin Islands and American Samoa, and administers federal assistance provided to the Federated States of Micronesia, Marshall Islands and Palau.

Geraldine Coutts begins by asking this senior Washington figure about last week's re-establishment of the White House Advisory Commission on Asian Americans and American Pacific Islanders.

Presenter: Geraldine Coutts
Speaker: Tony Babauta, Guam-born Assistant Secretary at the Department of the Interior in Washington

Gates to Japan: No Futema Relocation, No Relocation of Marines to Guam

Gates to Japan: No Futema Relocation, No Relocation of Marines to Guam

Guam - Japan's Kyodo news service is reporting that U.S. Secretary of Defense Robert Gates has laid out a stark choice for the new Japanese Government. Either agree to the Futenma Airfield relocation or there will be no move of Marines to Guam and no return of land to Okinawa.


Read the Kydoo Article

The visiting U.S. Defense Secretary arrived late yesterday in Japan where he said he wants Tokyo to "expeditiously" implement a 2006 bilateral accord to relocate the Futemma air base within Okinawa, warning that if the relocation fails to materialize, the land currently occupied by the base would not be returned to Japan.

Kyodo quotes Gates as saying that "Our view is clear," Gates said. "The Futemma relocation is a linchpin of the realignment roadmap" for U.S. forces stationed in Japan as stipulated in the accord.

Without the relocation of the airfield, "there will be no relocation (of Marines in Okinawa) to Guam. Without relocation to Guam, there will be no consolidation of forces and return of land in Okinawa," he said.

Gates made the remarks during a joint press conference with Defense Minister Toshimi Kitazawa after holding talks earlier in the day with Japanese Prime Minister Yukio Hatoyama and the Japanese defense chief.

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Administrator

Guam move depends on Futenma: Gates

Guam move depends on Futenma: Gates

Thursday, Oct. 22, 2009

By JUN HONGO
Staff writer

The planned relocation of 8,000 U.S. Marines from Okinawa to Guam will suffer a setback if Tokyo does not abide by other agreements on the realignment of U.S. forces in Japan, U.S. Secretary of Defense Robert Gates said Wednesday.

Gates, in Tokyo to lay the groundwork for President Barack Obama's visit to Japan next month, advised the Democratic Party of Japan-led administration to stick to the 2006 agreement and relocate U.S. Marine Corps Air Station Futenma to another location within Okinawa.

"We are very sympathetic to the desire of the government in Japan to review the realignment road map," Gates said of the relocation of Futenma following a meeting with Defense Minister Toshimi Kitazawa. But he insisted that relocation of the air station as planned is the "linchpin" of the program.

Without the Futenma agreement there will be no relocation of marines to Guam, Gates said, while acknowledging that such an outcome would affect the planned return of land in Okinawa.

The agreed road map "may not be the perfect alternative for anyone, but it is the best alternative for everyone. And it is time to move on," Gates said.

While Japan and the U.S. agreed in 2006 to move the Futenma aircraft operations to the coast of Camp Schwab in Henoko near Nago, farther north on Okinawa Island, the DPJ, which ousted the long-ruling Liberal Democratic Party in August, has proposed relocating the air station outside of the prefecture.

Gates said the precise location of a new airstrip to replace Futenma's should be discussed between Okinawa and the Japanese government, as long as it does not become an impediment to the overall execution of the road map.

Okinawa Gov. Hirokazu Nakaima has said construction of a new airfield is acceptable if it can be 50 meters farther from the coastline than the original plan.

On Japan's plan to end the Maritime Self-Defense Force refueling mission in the Indian Ocean as part of antiterror operations, Gates said he hopes Japan can show leadership in other ways to help with Afghanistan's reconstruction, pointing out that economic and agricultural support is essential to rebuild the war-torn country. Financial support for the Afghan national army and police is also vital, he said.

Kitazawa responded in the news conference that Japan's alternative support plan is still in the works, but expressed his view that the Self-Defense Forces could take part in some manner.

"There is a question whether civilian aid is enough to meet expectations from the global community," he said, adding that the Defense Ministry is listing possible alternatives to the refueling mission.

Gates was the first Cabinet secretary to meet in Tokyo with the new DPJ administration. Earlier in the day he paid a courtesy call on Prime Minister Yukio Hatoyama.

"The administration has new opinions (on the Futenma issue)," Hatoyama told reporters prior to meeting Gates. "We will spend some time and seek to find good results."

During bilateral talks, Hatoyama assured Gates that Japan realizes the importance of the relocation road map and that the government was reviewing the process sincerely to reach a conclusion, according to a government release.

Hatoyama also congratulated Obama's winning of the Nobel Peace Prize, praising his quest for global denuclearization and nonproliferation.
Gates leery on probe
Kyodo News

Visiting U.S. Defense Secretary Robert Gates warned Wednesday that the Democratic Party of Japan-led government should not let its probe into an alleged secret Japan-U.S. nuclear pact damage bilateral relations or undermine the U.S. nuclear deterrent, a Defense Ministry official said.

Gates made the remarks during his talks with his counterpart, Defense Minister Toshimi Kitazawa, in Tokyo.

Gates was referring to the investigation launched in September by the new administration into the alleged secret pact that Tokyo has long denied and that allegedly allowed Washington to transport nuclear weapons through Japan without prior consultations in violation of the 1960 bilateral security treaty.

The Pentagon chief was quoted as saying to Kitazawa that he is aware of the debate on the secret deal but he warned that Japan has to proceed without affecting bilateral relations or undermining U.S. nuclear deterrence.

Kitazawa said his government will look cautiously into the evidence so the bilateral alliance will not be harmed.

The two countries allegedly agreed to the deal when they were revising the security treaty in 1960. Under the pact, Japan would allow stopovers of U.S. military vessels or aircraft carrying nuclear weapons, despite treaty previsions requiring Washington to consult with Tokyo before such moves.

Japan minister: No U.S. base decision before Obama visit

Japan minister: No U.S. base decision before Obama visit

Wed Oct 21, 2009 10:46pm EDT

TOKYO (Reuters) - Japan cannot sign off on a planned reorganization of U.S. troops in the country before President Barack Obama visits Tokyo next month, its foreign minister said on Thursday, after the U.S. defense secretary bluntly called for the deal to be implemented.

Friction over the military realignment deal could be the first big test for ties between the United States and Japan's new Democratic Party-led government, which has pledged to steer a diplomatic course less dependent on its closest security ally.

The month-old government's stance has prompted concerns that security relations between the world's two biggest economies could suffer at a time when China's economic clout and military power are growing and North Korea remains unpredictable.

The daily Yomiuri newspaper said U.S. Secretary of Defense Robert Gates told Foreign Minister Katsuya Okada on Tuesday that Japan should decide before Obama's November 12-13 visit to go ahead with a plan to move a U.S. Marine air base to a less crowded part of Japan's southern Okinawa island.

Okada told private broadcaster TBS that more time was needed.

"It won't be the case that in such a short period of time, we will accept what the United States is saying and do it just because it is an agreement between Japan and the United States," Okada said.

A broad deal to reorganize U.S. forces in Japan was agreed in 2006 between Washington and Japan's long-dominant conservative party, which was ousted by Prime Minister Yukio Hatoyama's Democratic Party in an August election.

Central to the deal is a plan to move the functions of the Futenma air base to northern Okinawa, while shifting 8,000 Marines from Okinawa to the U.S. territory of Guam, partly at Japan's expense.

Hatoyama had said he wants the base moved off the island, where many complain about crime, noise, pollution and accidents associated with U.S. bases, but U.S. officials have ruled that out, saying it would undermine broader security arrangements.

In a two-day visit that ended on Wednesday, Gates pressed hard for the realignment deal to go ahead without major changes.

"Our view is clear. The Futenma relocation facility is the lynchpin of the realignment road map," he told a news conference on Wednesday.

"Without the Futenma realignment, the Futenma facility, there will be no relocation to Guam. And without relocation to Guam, there will be no consolidation of forces and the return of land in Okinawa."

(Reporting by Yoko Kubota; Editing by Linda Sieg and Dean Yates)

 From Guam, Joint Region Marianas Leads Energy Conservation Across The Pacific

From Guam, Joint Region Marianas Leads Energy Conservation Across The Pacific

On Island, This Month: NAVFAC Marianas Celebrates (1) Energy Security/Efficiency, (2) Environmental Stewardship & (3) Defensive Power

By Jeff Marchesseault

GUAM - Guam's military buildup is off to a sustainable start. One week after U.S. Navy Secretary Ray Mabus told a crowd gathered at the Naval Energy Forum in Virginia that the Navy and Marine Corps would lead the armed forces and the world in energy conservation, an official announcement from Joint Region Marianas indicates that the Navy's conservation efforts on Guam are leading the Pacific.

Read the Guam News Factor story, "Guam Military Buildup To Usher In Era Of Energy Efficiency", October 18, 2009.

Here is the news release from Joint Region Marianas:

Joint Region Marianas Steps Up Energy Conservation

By Oyaol Ngirairikl, Joint Region Edge Staff

10/21/2009 / SANTA RITA, Guam (NNS) -- U.S. Naval Facilities Engineering Command (NAVFAC) Marianas will host events in October to educate and encourage the military community on Guam to reduce energy consumption.

The Department of the Navy's emerging energy strategy is centered on energy security, energy efficiency and environmental stewardship while remaining the pre-eminent maritime power. The Navy is the second largest fuel user in the Department of Defense, consuming about 100,000 barrels per day. Seventy-five percent of the Navy's energy consumption is tactical while 25 percent of consumption is ashore.

In 2008, the Navy on Guam reduced its energy consumption by 1.86 percent.

"That's a huge reduction when you take into account all the areas, from Naval Computer and Telecommunications Station Guam in the north to Naval Base Guam in the south," said Kevin Evans, NAVFAC Marianas energy manager. "The goal being three percent, which is a very aggressive...I don't know of any region that has met that goal, in fact, we are one of the best in the Pacific."

The consumption decrease is especially notable because of the new facilities that are being built to accommodate the expected increase in forces on Guam in the next few years, Evans said.

"We've been doing some really great things, including the solar-powered lights at playgrounds and solar-powered water heaters at the bachelor quarters on Naval Base Guam," he said. "Coupled with recycling, the work we're doing with our base contractors, the wind study and other things we're doing we're definitely making a lot of headway to reducing our energy consumption and doing our part to maintain our environment and meeting the goals set by federal policies."

In the last few years, NAVFAC Marianas has adopted eco-conscious standards for new buildings and renovations of old buildings. NAVFAC Marianas mandates energy-efficient lighting fixtures and household appliances are used and that construction design and materials minimize impact to air and water environment.

Other measures are being taken to reduce energy consumption in Navy buildings. For example, LED bulbs that use about half of the wattage of traditional incandescent bulbs were installed at NAVFAC Marianas' offices. As well, NAVFAC Marianas has started a curb-side recycling program on Naval Base Guam to help base residents do their part to conserve the environment and minimize its carbon footprint on the island.

Navy Guam's conservation measures fit right into this year's Energy Awareness Month theme, "A Sustainable Energy Future; Putting All the Pieces Together," which encourages individuals throughout the nation to see how they fit into the big picture.

NAVFAC Marianas is working closely with the Navy's contractors to determine other conservation methods.

"I'm really excited about this because as energy partners we'll be able to do so much," he said. "Our contractors work on everything from our air conditioning systems to infrastructure. With them thinking in terms of energy efficiency, we'll be able to make leaps and bounds in energy savings."

Educating the community is another key element that NAVFAC Marianas has implemented. Educational outreach efforts include an energy awareness event at the Orote Point Lanes on Naval Base Guam as well as product displays at the Navy Exchange and Orote Commissary Oct. 26-30.

During the Naval Energy Forum held Oct. 14-15 in Virginia, Navy leaders discussed new energy use strategies. Among other things, these new policies requires the Navy to create a "Green Strike Group" composed of nuclear vessels and ships powered by biofuels and deploying that fleet by 2016, and producing at least half the shore-based energy requirements from renewable sources, such as solar, wind and ocean generated by the base.

"These new goals help us stay on top of efforts to reduce our reliance on foreign oils," Evans said. "The President also released new requirements and I believe there will be more to come as we move towards being a more fuel efficient Navy and nation. We'll see more solar and wind projects and other programs that promote the use of renewable resources."

On Oct. 2, President Barack Obama signed a proclamation naming October Energy Awareness Month, promoting the importance of a clean energy economy. Obama noted that while the federal government is the largest consumer of energy in the U.S., he also noted his administration's commitment to increasing energy efficiency.

"We face a turning point in our Nation's energy policy," the proclamation stated. "We can either remain the world's leading importer of oil, or we can become the world's leading exporter of clean energy technology. We can allow climate change to wreak unnatural havoc, or we can create jobs deploying low-carbon technologies to prevent its worst effects."

On Guam, NAVFAC Marianas recently completed a year-long wind study that measured wind-powered energy at three different sites.

"Two of the sites are ... really, really good wind resources and the third is not as good as the first two but it's still a good area," Evans said. "There's still a lot of work to be done, from environmental assessments to getting community input. The process of getting all these different studies done will take several years."

According to the study, wind farms at the three areas could produce four megawatts of power, potentially saving the Navy $7 million annually.

"Four megawatts doesn't sound like much, but it helps," Evans said. Currently, the Navy on Guam consumes up to 56 megawatts during peak hours.

"Between the solar panels, new greener construction requirements and the investments we're making in future resources like the wind projects, I think we're doing all the right things," he said. "We're definitely moving in the right direction towards becoming a more energy efficient community and nation."

For more news from U.S. Naval Forces, Marianas, visit www.navy.mil/local/guam/.

Japan urges US to respect 'will of the people' over base

Japan urges US to respect 'will of the people' over base

Updated at: 1010 PST, Thursday, October 22, 2009

TOKYO: Japan told the United States Thursday to respect its democratic process in a row over a US base, adding that the issue would not be resolved before President Barack Obama's visit next month.

Foreign Minister Katsuya Okada was speaking a day after US Defense Secretary Robert Gates bluntly pressed Tokyo to "move on" quickly with previously agreed plans to build a new US airbase on southern Okinawa island.

"The will of the people of Okinawa and the will of the people of Japan was expressed in the elections," Okada said on television, predicting that the issue won't be resolved before Obama's scheduled November 12-13 visit. "I don't think we will act simply by accepting what the US tells us, just because the US is saying this, in such a short period of time."

The United States, which defeated Japan in World War II and then occupied the country, now has 47,000 troops stationed there, more than half of them on Okinawa, the site of one of the bloodiest battles of the war.

Oahu Burial Council Won't Approve Rail Pact

Burial council won't sign rail pact
Honolulu Advertiser
By Sean Hao
10/20/09

A government panel charged with protecting Native Hawaiian burials is opposing plans to run Honolulu's $5.5 billion rail line through Kakaako via Halekauwila Street.

The Oahu Island Burial Council has decided not to join other parties — including the National Parks Service and the Advisory Council on Historic Preservation — in signing an agreement on mitigating the rail project's impacts on historical, cultural and archaeological resources. The organizations are scheduled to sign the agreement tomorrow.

The burial council decision is largely symbolic and isn't expected to stop or delay the 20-mile elevated commuter train project, scheduled to break ground in December. But it does indicate the concern Native Hawaiians and others have that the rail project's current route will encounter problems with old burial sites.

"When it comes to the issue that we're concerned with, you picked one of the worst possible alignments," burial council member Kehau Abad told transit officials during a meeting last week.

Honolulu Mayor Mufi Hannemann wrote to the burial council on Oct. 13 urging the group to concur with the agreement. The city worked with the council for months to address concerns about the project's potential impact on traditional Hawaiian burials, which are generally unmarked graves.

However, the administration was unwilling to alter the route from going through an area that sits on a band of sandy deposits that's expected to contain high concentrations of burials, according to the council. That route was chosen by the Honolulu City Council in early 2007 based on a study of various transit alternatives conducted a year earlier.

Some federal officials also have opposed a Halekauwila Street route, which passes the Prince Kuhio Federal Building, because of security concerns.

Burial council members said they should have been consulted and an archaeological inventory survey should have been conducted before selection of a route through Kakaako. The current route will almost certainly encounter buried human remains, which could delay the project and drive up costs, Abad said during last Wednesday's meeting.

"What we're concerned about is the public is going to turn around and point to us as the cause of those increases in costs (and) as the cause of delays," she said. "Beyond just us, they're going to turn to the whole Hawaiian community and say it's those Hawaiians who are increasing the costs of this project for everyone. It is the Hawaiians who are holding up progress .

"We're going to get blamed for something that we knew well in advance would have been coming, but nobody asked us," Abad said.

mauka route urged
The burial council is appointed by the governor and works to protect Hawaiian burial sites. The council maintains that a more mauka route for the rail line, along King or Beretania streets, would avoid subsurface sandy deposits likely to contain burials.

City officials said they considered but discounted alternatives because other routes wouldn't generate enough ridership or would have greater impacts on adjoining properties.

The issue of how to deal with the discovery of iwi, or burial remains, arose at the Kakaako Walmart and Ward Villages projects and likely could recur if the city proceeds with plans to build a 20-mile rapid transit system linking East Kapolei to Ala Moana.

According to the city's 2006 study, there is a high potential of encountering Native Hawaiian burials and other archaeological artifacts once construction enters urban Honolulu. Other portions of the route along Farrington and Kamehameha highways and the airport have a medium potential of encountering such sites.

In an effort to alleviate council concerns, the city agreed to conduct an archaeological inventory survey in the Kakaako area about two years earlier than planned, said Lawrence Spurgeon, supervising environmental engineer for New York-based project manager Parsons Brinckerhoff.

Such a survey is currently being conducted at the ewa side of the route, which will be built first, and includes tests at about 80 sites. So far no burials have been found.

survey set next year
The current plan is to conduct an archaeological survey for the Middle Street to Ala Moana Center segment next year, Spurgeon told the burial council last week. That will be before a final design is completed for that portion of the route, he said.

"If we have any substantial finds that will really require a redesign or anything of that type, we'll have a fair amount of time to look at what those options are," he said.

The city would consider moving train guideway footings and altering utility relocation plans to avoid iwi. However, it's unlikely that the discovery of human remains in Kakaako will cause the city to alter the route, Spurgeon said.

"From our point of view it's going to be a fairly high threshold to the point where the proposed alternative is essentially abandoned in favor of coming up with another alternative," he said. "The city would go through every design option first to be able to avoid those resources.

"Changing the entire project alignment in some area is a last resort."

The city also maintains that an elevated train will have less impact on human burials than an at-grade train.

"To the extent there are specific locations where you are likely to run into iwi, hopefully you can in fact engineer around it to avoid the situation" with an elevated train, said City Council Chairman Todd Apo.

inadvertent discoveries
According to a study commissioned by Kamehameha Schools and released earlier this year, at-grade and elevated train alternatives affect burials in different ways.

"Although at-grade construction results in a continuous disturbance to the ground beneath, throughout the length of the guideway, fortunately disruption can be limited to the first few feet of ground," according to the report by IBI Group in Irvine, Calif. "The aerial guideway design option will avoid constant disturbance along the transit alignment, limiting the disruption to the column foundation areas only."

The city said it is committed to working with the burial council even though the group won't sign the agreement.

"We need to ensure that any of those disturbances are eliminated or at a minium minimized," Apo said.

Despite those reassurances , several burial council members said it would be better for the city to avoid an area that's likely to encounter burials. Recent inadvertent discoveries of human remains in Kakaako include:

• About 42 sets of remains were found at the Keeaumoku Walmart site after construction began in late 2002.

• Separately, about 60 sets of remains were discovered at the site of General Growth's Ward Villages development, mauka of Ward Centre.

• Workers dug up 69 human remains at Kawaiahao Church during construction of a multipurpose center.

In each case building plans were delayed and human burials were removed.

"The council is absolutely right that you should expect to find burials on Halekauwila Street," said Thomas Dye, president for T.S. Dye & Colleagues Archaeologists. "There are burials all over Kakaako. If you go further mauka, you get off the sand, which is a good thing if you're trying to miss burials."

'something's got to give'
If the transit project encounters additional burials, there will be considerable pressure to move human remains rather than alter the train's route, burial council member Abad said.

"There's a critical difference between avoidance and mitigation," Abad said. "It's hard for me to wrap my mind around the solution that's going to allow for us to have our kupuna handled in a way that maintains the integrity of their sacred burial spots and for this project to go forward — all in that same corridor.

"Something's got to give. What we all know is ... that which gives is our concerns, our values (and) what we hold dear. That's what everybody asks us to give," Abad said.

Reach Sean Hao at shao@honoluluadvertiser.com.

‘Troop transfer to Guam pushes ahead’

‘Troop transfer to Guam pushes ahead’

Wednesday, 21 October 2009 03:16 by Lara Jakes | Associated Press

(ABOARD A U.S. MILITARY JET)— The top American defense official said Tuesday he expects a U.S. airfield to remain on Okinawa despite political pressure among Tokyo’s new leaders to shut it down.

U.S. Defense Secretary Robert Gates suggested that the entire deal to relocate troops to Guam might fall through if the U.S. base were forced to move.

“It’s hard for me to believe that the Congress would support going forward in Guam without real progress with respect to the Futenma replacement facility," he said.

Gates was to meet Tuesday with Japanese Foreign Minister Katsuya Okada on a visit to Tokyo where the Futenma air station was expected to be a top topic.

"There really, as far as we're concerned, are no alternatives to the arrangement that was negotiated," Gates told reporters late Monday as he headed to Japan.

At issue is the fate of the air field, a major Marine hub, in the wake of Japanese Prime Minister Yukio Hatoyama's election last month.

U.S. and Japanese officials in 2006 agreed to shift 8,000 Marines to the U.S. territory of Guam and to move the Futenma base to a new location on Okinawa to curb local residents' concerns of noise and crime. Some U.S. troops would remain at Futenma under that agreement.

But some members of Hatoyama's government want the base closed and its remaining U.S. troops moved out of Japan altogether. U.S. officials have hoped to resolve the issue by the time President Barack Obama arrives in Japan early next month.

Gates said he did not expect Hatoyama to renege on the agreement. The two men are scheduled to meet on Wednesday.

"This is an agreement between our countries, between our governments," Gates said. "And frankly I have every confidence that both sides will fulfill the commitments that they have made in this agreement."

He said he had no problem with Hatoyama's decision to review the agreement and cited "some flexibility" with where, precisely, the new base might be built on Okinawa. But ultimately, Gates said, the location is a matter for the local Okinawa government to decide with Tokyo.

The United States is Japan's key military ally, and an estimated 50,000 American troops are deployed there.

The issue of Japan withdrawing two of its naval ships from the Indian Ocean — tankers that have been used as refueling pit stops for Afghanistan-bound allies — will also be discussed over the next two days, Gates said.

However, it was unclear whether Gates thought he could reverse that decision.

"A number of countries benefit more from the refueling than the United States does," Gates said. "So I don't see the refueling as being a favor to the United States, but rather a contribution that the Japanese have made that is commensurate with its standing in the world as the second-wealthiest country and one of the great powers."

He added: "I'm sure we'll talk about it.”

Defense Secretary's Firm Stance On Okinawa Good For Guam Buildup

Defense Secretary's Firm Stance On Okinawa Good For Guam Buildup

Wednesday, 21 October 2009 10:40

Gates Lays It Straight: Defense Secretary Defends Security Alliance In Talks With Japan Foreign Minister

By Jeff Marchesseault

GUAM - When it comes to Guam's forthcoming $15 billion military buildup, the Department of Defense must balance its plans on island with the security of Asia, the Pacific, the Eastern Hemisphere and the world. Although Guam's civilian and economic needs are paramount for residents, there's a lot more at play when it comes to protecting the interests of our nation and the freedom of the world.

Staying On Message

Nevertheless, the 71 percent* of islanders who support Guam's buildup in the name of patriotism and opportunity can be grateful that U.S. Secretary of Defense Robert Gates is standing by his word in Japan this week. He told reporters on the plane to Tokyo that he would tell Japan's top officials that America aims to uphold its end of the bargain on U.S. troop reconfiguration between Okinawa and Guam and on other bilateral defense issues and that he expects Japan to do the same. And that's just what he did yesterday while meeting with Japan Foreign Minister Katsuya Okada. He reportedly plans to tow the Pentagon line again today in his meeting with new Prime Minister Yukio Hatoyama.

Buildup In The Balance

Gates realizes that much is at stake if the U.S. doesn't draw the line with Hatoyama's new left-of-center government. The Democratic Party of Japan and its liberal coalition have stuck to pre-election plans to begin reconsidering the value of certain aspects of the U.S.-Japan security alliance and to start crafting and implementing a uniquely Japanese foreign policy, without weakening Japan's strong economic and defense ties to the U.S.

Among the coalition's concerns are details of a 2006 accord in which Japan's previous, more-conservative government agreed with the United States that the Marine Corps' Futenma Air Staion would be shut down and relocated from the crowded Okinawa city of Ginowan and moved to remote Camp Schwab in a coastal, peninsular area of Okinawa.

Some leading Japanese officials still want the air base removed from Okinawa entirely. But Gates and other U.S. officials insist that no viable alternative exists and that once any such key, interdependent component of the accord is changed, the whole plan becomes null and void. And Gates surmises that Congress won't let the Guam buildup happen until they know Japan's new government supports keeping Futenma's replacement facility within some reasonable spot in Okinawa.

*Note: A recent Guam Chamber of Commerce survey showed that as much as 71 percent of Guam's population supports the military buildup.

Here is the State Department's official news report covering Secretary Gate's visit with Japan Foreign Minister Okada:

Gates: 'No Alternatives' To US-Japan Security Accord

By Al Pessin, Tokyo

Voice Of America / 20 October 2009 - U.S. Defense Secretary Robert Gates told Japan's new leaders Tuesday the Obama administration is committed to implementing a wide-ranging defense agreement reached by the previous American and Japanese governments, which some in Japan's new ruling party would like to change. Secretary Gates says there are "no alternatives" to the complex agreement.

Like the Obama Administration, Japan's new government ran hard against its predecessor's policies and put many of them under review when it took office. Secretary Gates says he understands that, but he told Japanese Foreign Minister Katsuya Okada the United States is committed to moving forward with the existing security realignment.

"We in President Obama's administration understand what it is like to go through a transition period. And, as your government exercises its new responsibilities, I want you to know the United States stands with you and we are committed to advancing and implementing our agreed alliance transformation agenda," he said.

Earlier, on board his aircraft flying to Tokyo, Secretary Gates was more direct.

"We need to progress with the agreement that was negotiated. This has been a negotiation in the works for 15 years,"he stated. "All of the elements of it are interlocking. And, so it is important to continue with it. There really, as far as we're concerned, are no alternatives to the arrangement that was negotiated."

Secretary Gates says all possible alternatives were explored during the long negotiations and all are either "politically untenable or operationally unworkable." And although U.S. officials say small adjustments may be possible in the specific plan for an air base in northern Okinawa, Secretary Gates said he doubts the U.S. Congress would agree to significant changes in the agreement, particularly if they would cost the United States more money.

Among many changes to the configuration of U.S. forces in Japan, the agreement involves moving nearly half the 18,000 Marines now stationed on Okinawa to Guam; closing an air field in a populated area and building a new one on an existing U.S. base in the northern part of the island. American officials say the agreement benefits both sides, and any significant change could unravel the whole deal.

The newly ruling Democratic Party of Japan ran in part on a platform that advocated a more assertive policy toward the United States. One of its first acts was to announce it would end Japan's naval operation that refuels coalition supply ships heading to and from Afghanistan - a move seen by some in Japan as an expression of independence from U.S. policies.

But Secretary Gates - on the first visit to Tokyo by a senior U.S. official since the new Japanese government took office - says he will remind the new Japanese leaders that Afghanistan is a NATO and coalition effort and that Japan's refueling mission did more to help other countries than it did to help the United States directly.

"A number of countries benefit more from the refueling than the United States does. And, so I don't see the refueling as being a favor to the United States but rather a contribution that the Japanese have made that is commensurate with its standing as in the world as the second wealthiest country and one of the great powers," he said.

Still, Secretary Gates says he went to Japan with a "menu" of options for how the country can be helpful by, among other things, providing trainers for the Afghan security forces and donating money for development projects.

Here is the Defense Department's official news report covering Secretary Gate's visit with Japan Foreign Minister Okada:

Gates To Urge Japan To Stand By Existing Security Pacts

By Donna Miles, American Forces Press Service

TOKYO, Oct. 20, 2009 - Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates said he looks forward to building on the strong U.S.-Japan security relationship during his meetings here with the new Japanese government, but that he plans to urge its leaders to leave intact security arrangements that have been years in the making.

Gates, the first U.S. Cabinet member to visit since the new Japanese Democratic Party government took office last month, told reporters he understands Prime Minister Yukio Hatoyama's interest in reviewing certain policies. "President [Barack] Obama's administration has done the same thing," he said.

But during his meeting today with Foreign Minister Katsuya Okada, and tomorrow's sessions with Prime Minister Yukio Hatoyama and Defense Minister Toshimi Kitazawa, Gates said he would urge the new leaders to leave existing security agreements in place.

"We are committed to advancing and implementing our agreed alliance transformation agenda," Gates told Okada today at the Foreign Ministry.

At issue is Hatoyama's interest in re-examining the 2006 U.S.-Japan Roadmap for Realignment and Implementation, which outlines a major strategic repositioning of alliance forces.

The agreement includes plans to move thousands of U.S. forces from southern Okinawa, consolidate numerous bases, build a new runway to the north at Camp Schwab to replace Marine Corps Air Station Futenma, and relocate 8,000 Marines and their families to Guam.

Ultimately, the plan would relocate U.S. servicemembers from the heavily populated southern part of Okinawa and reduce the Marine troops on Okinawa from 18,000 to 10,000, Pentagon Press Secretary Geoff Morrell explained. The deadline for the plan to be implemented is 2014 -- "a very ambitious goal" that's achievable, he said, but only if it continues moving forward on schedule.

Gates told reporters during the flight here the security agreements can't be picked apart piece by piece.

"This has been a negotiation in the works for 15 years," he said. "All of the elements of it are interlocking, and so it is important to continue with it."

The agreement is highly complex, the result of extensive negotiations that resolved numerous strategic, military and political issues, a senior defense official traveling with Gates told reporters. "If one starts into minor adjustments, it's not a minor adjustment," he said. "It becomes a cascading series of other decisions that have to be made."

Gates said options being voiced to change agreed-upon plans - from changing the location of the proposed runway at Camp Schwab to cancelling its construction altogether and moving Futenma's operations to Kadena Air Base -- simply won't work.

"We've looked over the years at all these alternatives, and they are either politically untenable or operationally unworkable, so we need to proceed with the agreement as negotiated," Gates said. "There really ... are no alternatives to the arrangement that was negotiated."

Not going forward as previously agreed to would have a ripple effect, Gates said.

"It is hard for me to believe that the [U.S.] Congress would support going forward in Guam without real progress with respect to the Futenma replacement facility," he said.

Ultimately, Gates said he has "every confidence" that both the United States and Japan "will fulfill the commitments they have made in this agreement" as they work toward strengthening their bilateral relationship.

"I think there are some real opportunities going forward," he said, with "further cooperation and partnership with one of our strongest allies."

During his meeting today with Okada, Gates called the upcoming 50th anniversary of the treaty of mutual cooperation and security between the United States and Japan an appropriate time to recognize "all we have achieved together, and more importantly, all that we will accomplish together in the future."

Be part of ‘roadmap’ planning

Be part of ‘roadmap’ planning

Tuesday, 20 October 2009 04:13
Varitey [sec] News Staff

(Adelup)--Governor Felix P. Camacho invites the public to attend a workshop, the first of a series of four, to kick-off the development of the Guam Compatibility Sustainability Study.

“As we move forward in ‘Shaping the Future Together,’ this is your opportunity to provide direction in the development of our road map for our children and future generations,” said Camacho. “Your participation at the public workshop is critical to ensuring the development of this study is responsive to the needs of those involved.”

The public workshop has two main objectives. The first is to educate and inform the public about the Guam CSS with a discussion of the goals of the program and how the public can be involved in its development. The second objective is to obtain public input on the issues and opportunities related to community and military compatibility factors in Guam.

The primary goal of the Guam CSS is to reduce potential conflicts between the community of Guam and military installations and training areas while at the same time sustaining economic development, protecting public health and safety, and protecting current and future military missions.

Funded by the Department of Defense, Office of Economic Adjustment, the Guam CSS is a collaborative planning effort involving the public, the government of Guam, military services, and other affected agencies.

All interested parties are encouraged to attend the public workshops to learn more and provide input on the Guam CSS planning effort.

To provide easy access for interested attendees, the workshop will be held at the following locations:

• 6 p.m. - 8:30 p.m. on Oct. 27, at the Tamuning Community Center (120 Tun Jesus Crisostomo Street)
• 6 p.m. - 8:30 p.m. on Oct. 28, at the Dededo Community Center (335 Iglesia Circle)
• 6 p.m. - 8:30 p.m. on Oct. 29, at the Agat Community Center (Route 2)

For more information, visit the One Guam Web site at one.guam.gov.

Legislature denied funds to analyze EIS

Legislature denied funds to analyze EIS

Tuesday, 20 October 2009 04:24
by Theresa Hart | Variety News Staff

THE Department of Interior has turned down an emergency request from the Guam Legislature to pay for expert analysis of the voluminous and highly-secretive Environmental Impact Statement draft presented two weeks ago to the body by the Joint Guam Project Office.

In seeking technical assistance for the more than 8,000 page draft document which the legislature was not permitted to review or provide feedback on, Sen. Judi Guthertz asked Interior Secretary Tony Babauta to assist Guam in a review of the EIS via a grant.

Babauta’s response was that federal regulations prohibit Office of Insular Affairs from using grant funds for salaries and other expenses of state legislatures, tribal councils or similar local governmental bodies…whether incurred for purposes of legislation or executive direction. Consequently, we cannot provide the requested funding,” said Babauta in his letter to Guthertz.

Meanwhile, according to Guthertz, the governor’s office has hired a consulting firm to review the draft statement.

“Given the magnitude and complexity of the military build-up program, the Office of the Governor has retained a team of firms that specialize in developing the plans, policies and implementation actions needed to support Guam's efforts associated with the military buildup,” according to a statement appearing on the recently launched oneguam.com website.

The governor’s office listed among advisors, the group responsible for overseeing the development of the EIS for the military, Matrix Design Group as well as Navigant Consulting and M2D2, the firm hired to do the Port Authority of Guam community outreach program and web portal.

Guthertz further contends some Washington D.C. officials involved in the military buildup are taking advantage of divisions within the government of Guam to deny the public information that is vital, if Guam residents are to fully understand the impact of the $15 billion buildup.

“In fact, I believe that some of our Washington visitors have already witnessed the local divisions over the buildup and are now taking advantage of us,” said the lawmaker.

The divisions and the secrecy of some parties, are not helping the interests of the people of Guam, imputed Guthertz.

Guthertz held an oversight hearing last week to address the issues surrounding the pending military realignment of troops from Okinawa to Guam. But, administration officials either dodged the hearing or refused to disclose what they knew about the draft report under threat of federal penalties because of non-disclosure forms they signed in order to review the military planning documents.

Gates to visit Japan amid shift in US ties

Gates to visit Japan amid shift in US ties

Tuesday, 20 October 2009 04:25
by Romeo Carlos | Variety News Staff

U.S. Defense Secretary Robert Gates left the nation’s capital Sunday for a week-long trip that will take him to Japan, Korea and Slovakia where he is expected to find ways to shore up allied support for the Afghanistan war, now entering its ninth year of conflict.

Gates is expected to travel to Japan to hold talks with a new government that has signaled a more independent stance toward Washington. Before heading on to Tokyo and Seoul, Gates will make a stopover in Hawaii to oversee a change in leadership at U.S. Pacific Command on Monday (Hawaii time).

Amid the recent announcement by the new Japanese government that it is withdrawing two naval ships from the Indian Ocean used as refueling stops for allies en route to Afghanistan, Great Britain saying this week it will deploy a symbolic force of 500 additional troops conditioned on NATO and the Afghanistan government doing more to fight the resurgent Taliban and indecision in Washington, D.C. about U.S troop increases, Gates will address the realignment of troops not only from Okinawa to Guam, but also South Korea.

Last week the Pentagon said Gates will meet with the new Japanese Prime Minister Yukio Hatoyama, who stated he will seek a "more equal" relationship with the U.S. The defense secretary is expected to take up the sensitive issue of U.S. Marines in Okinawa and the relocation of 8,000 service members and their dependents to Guam by 2014.

It is the first visit to that nation by a U.S. cabinet member since Sept. elections swept the Japanese Democratic Party into power and setting the stage for a transformative alliance structure between the world’s two largest economies and long-time allies.

During the visit Gates will emphasize the importance of an agreement struck with previous Japanese governments on the future of a controversial U.S. Marine base in Okinawa. Hatoyama's center-left government insists on a review of the agreement but U.S. officials have long indicated the administration was not ready to reopen negotiations which could forestall the Guam realignment and subsequent economic boom.

A flurry of Defense Department and Interior officials have visited the island in the past several weeks, along with a recent stopover by a congressional delegation. Local and federal officials have decried the level of frustration endured as the slow progress is made on the pending buildup strategy.

The Japanese prime minister has said he wants a review of the 2006 accord with Washington under which the current base would be closed, thousands of Marines moved to Guam, and others moved to a new U.S. base to be built by 2014 in an Okinawa coastal area. That delay would translate to further exasperations on Guam as the delay could stymie infusion of billions of dollars into the local economy.

The U.S. defense chief's trip to Japan comes in advance of a scheduled Nov. visit by President Barack Obama and just as a renewed debate in Japan about where to move the controversial Futenma Air Base - now located in a densely populated urban area of Okinawa.

Japanese press reported last week, Okinawa Governor Hirokazu Nakaima had submitted a position paper to Hatoyama's government agreeing to letting U.S. troops stay on the island as long as the air base was moved away from its current urban setting.

After his visit to Japan, Gates heads to Seoul, South Korea where U.S. troops are transitioning from a base in the densely populated capital to an area just outside the urban limits. The shifting role in the defense posture with another Asian ally further increases the strategic importance of Guam to the future of defense department strategies.

From South Korea, Gates goes to Bratislava, Slovakia, to meet NATO defense ministers for frank talks focusing mostly on Afghanistan.

Obama is not expected to decide on a U.S. strategy for Afghanistan or Pakistan until after Gates returns from his trip. Administration officials have said a decision from the president on what to do about troop increases in the Afghan conflict will come before he departs for his own Asia trip next month.

Its seems just like federal and military officials have come to Guam with the message “be patient,” the defense secretary will take that same mantra to other allies directly and indirectly involved in the Afghanistan conflict and the new U.S. military realignment and global defense posture for the coming century.

US Customs executives on operational visit to Saipan

US Customs executives on operational visit to Saipan

Tuesday, October 20, 2009

By Haidee V. Eugenio
Reporter

Seven top officials of the U.S. Department of Homeland Security's Customs and Border Protection will be arriving on Saipan Wednesday night for an “operational visit,” barely five weeks before the Nov. 28 federal takeover of CNMI immigration.

DHS, along with its component agencies, is required to staff and equip six ports of entry in the CNMI by Nov. 28 as required by Public Law 110-229 or the federalization law.

The visiting federal officials are led by CBP Assistant Commissioner for the Office of Field Operations Thomas S. Winkowski, and CBP Assistant Commissioner for the Office of Information Technology Charles Armstrong.

Also visiting are David Morrell, executive director of the Office of Field Operations' Mission Support; Cheryl Peters, program manager of the Office of Field Operations; Richard Vigna, director of Field Operations in San Francisco; Bruce Murley, area port director in Honolulu, Hawaii; and Rocky Miner, port director in Guam.

Issues raised

While on Saipan, the federal team will be meeting with Gov. Benigno R. Fitial, members of the 16th Legislature, and representatives of CNMI agencies, including the Commonwealth Ports Authority, the Division of Immigration, and the CNMI Division of Customs Services.

“I welcome the visit of DHS officials and look forward to learning more about their plans to smoothly transition into federalization,” Gov. Benigno R. Fitial said in a statement.

In a telephone interview yesterday, Senate President Pete P. Reyes (R-Saipan) said among the concerns he will raise with the federal team are the CNMI's continued access to Russian and Chinese tourists without requiring them to secure a U.S. visa, as well as any plan by DHS not to separate families, including non-U.S. citizens who are married to U.S. citizens or Federated States of Micronesia citizens.

House Foreign and Federal Relations Committee chair Rep. Diego T. Benavente (R-Saipan) said he will raise the yet-to-be-issued CNMI-only transitional worker program regulations, and the visa waiver program that excludes Chinese and Russian tourists.

“There are lots of uncertainties and concerns about federalization and we hope these visiting officials will clarify those for us,” Benavente said.

More meetings

DHS is the lead agency to implement the federalization law in the CNMI. In an earlier response to a U.S. legislative inquiry, DHS said it will “fully” staff and fully equip the six ports of entry in the CNMI through Fiscal Year 2011, and not by Nov. 28, 2009.

Press secretary Charles Reyes said the visiting federal officials also plan to meet briefly with CPA and Customs officials, as well as tour the Saipan International Airport, the Port of Saipan, and immigration facilities.

“The DHS officials also plan to meet with federal agency representatives in the CNMI and assess island infrastructure facilities, including potential employee accommodations. Representatives of many of the concerned CNMI agencies will be present at the initial meeting between the visiting officials and Governor Fitial,” he added.

The press secretary also said that representatives from the Office of the Governor discussed this trip with DHS' Customs and Border Protection in Washington, D.C. a few weeks ago.

“Over the past week, the Fitial administration has been discussing the agenda for this 'operational visit' of these top CBP officials,” said Reyes.

Delay

Fitial, Delegate Gregorio Kilili C. Sablan and other CNMI officials support a delay in the implementation of the federalization law in the CNMI, primarily citing DHS' lack of preparations to control CNMI borders on Nov. 28.

DHS Secretary Janet Napolitano delayed the original implementation date of June 1, 2009 by 180 days, the maximum allowed by law.

In September, DHS provided answers to the U.S. House Committee on Natural Resources chaired by Rep. Nick J. Rahall II (D-WV) on questions posed in May, including data on the department's expected spending of at least $112.4 million to implement the federalization law in the CNMI using a three-phased approach until FY 2011.

DHS had said that since the facilities and infrastructure currently used by the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services are inadequate to support CBP operations, DHS will be taking a phased approach to implement the standard infrastructure, information technology, and permanent staffing requirements in the CNMI.

“These requirements include ensuring an adequate power supply at CBP facilities, IT circuitry, cabling and equipment, construction of new and improvement of the existing facilities, physical security (both interior and exterior) and access control, standard maintenance and cleaning, firing range access for uniformed CBP officers, standard CBP signage, and adequate supplies of potable water,” DHS said.

Oil firm fined for underreporting Guam pollution

Oil firm fined for underreporting Guam pollution

Updated 2 hours 15 minutes ago

The Shell oil company in Guam has been fined for violating a US federal environmental law. In July we reported that the US Environmental Protection Agency had ordered the multinational oil company clean up its facility in Guam's west. A survey of the area uncovered contaminated groundwater, which has the potential to leak into nearby rivers and the ocean.

With the facility due to be sold, the agency raised its concerns that the vital clean-up of hazardous waste may be neglected.

Presenter: Geraldine Coutts
Speaker: Dean Higuchi, US Environmental Protection Agency's Pacific office in Hawaii

Japan Threatens to Kick Out US Troops

Japan Threatens to Kick Out US Troops

Japan is threatening to ask US troops based on the island of Okinawa to leave the country amid growing resentment over crime.


By Julian Ryall in Tokyo
Published: 6:11PM BST 07 Oct 2009


The new government is reviewing an agreement with Washington on US military facilities following through on a campaign pledge to islanders who have borne the brunt of the American presence for more than 60 years.


Around 50,000 American troops are based in Japan, around two-thirds of the total are in Okinawa. Resentment against their presence has grown in recent years due to a series of crimes committed by service personnel.


Many of the crimes are relatively trivial, but other cases have brought tens of thousands of protesters onto the streets. In February 2008, a case against a marine accused of raping a girl aged 14 was dropped after she withdrew the accusation, apparently to avoid the ordeal of a trial.


The case revived bitter memories of the abduction and rape of a 12-year-old schoolgirl in 1995 by three US servicemen.


Katsuya Okada, the foreign minister, said he wants the American military to remain in Japan but that the concentration on Japan's most southerly islands needed to be reduced.


"The only way this presence can be sustained in the long term is to make sure that the burden on the Okinawans is decreased in some way," he said. "Only by accomplishing these goals will we be able to ensure that the US-Japan alliance will be sustainable."


Another long-standing complaint against the US forces is pollution and the noise their aircraft make during practice flights, particularly at bases that are in the most densely populated parts of the island.


The most seriously affected municipality is Ginowan, which surrounds the Marine Corps' Futenma Air Station.


The previous Japanese government had reached an agreement with Washington to transfer 8,000 Marines and their dependants to the Pacific island of Guam by 2012, close the Futenma facility and transfer its functions to an enlarged US base on the north-east coast of the prefecture.


The plan has been attacked by people living close to Camp Schwab and environmentalists, who claim that the proposal for new runways built on reclaimed land will devastate the local flora and fauna.


The US has stated that it wants to stick with the existing plan. John Roos, the US ambassador to Tokyo, said on Friday that Japan will be given time "to analyse, to review, to ask questions and, hopefully, come to the conclusion that it is in both parties' best interests."


It is not at all certain that Yukio Hatoyama, the prime minister, agrees with that assessment as he has been a vocal critic of U.S. foreign and financial policies, as well as expressing a desire to follow a more independent security line than previous Japanese governments.


Mr Hatoyama himself has indicated that he would support reducing the burden on the people of Okinawa by moving the activities of Futenma out of the prefecture entirely.


Work to review the agreement began in the Japanese cabinet on Friday, with no deadline set for a decision, according to Mr Okada.


The urgency of the situation is underlined by the arrival in Japan in November of President Barack Obama, who will arrive with hopes of settling the contentious issue once and for all.

Madeleine's Dilemma

Madeleine’s dilemma .
Friday, 16 October 2009 03:45 by Gerardo Partido
Marianas Variety News Staff

Poor Madeleine, she was really caught unaware this time in a perfect political storm that was beyond her control.

The veteran politico, usually always one step ahead in reading political scenarios, is now finding herself in the unfamiliar position of having to defend her action in Congress.

For several years now, Bordallo has been diligent in pushing for Guam’s war claims, making sure that legislation is introduced each time a new congressional term begins.

This year, the Guam war claims legislation stood its best chance of being acted upon as Bordallo found a way to tie it in with the U.S. defense spending bill.

But with the Guam war claims legislation put so prominently before U.S. lawmakers’ attention, realpolitik set in and Congress decided against approving the Bordallo legislation.

When push came to shove, U.S. lawmakers decided that the Guam war claims bill, as currently written, could set a precedent, paving the way for additional millions of dollars in payout to other, non-Guam related claims.

With the U.S. economy the way it is, it was really doubtful whether Congress would agree to the Guam war claims legislation.

Unfortunately for Bordallo, the issue didn’t stop there.

At the last minute, a compromise was offered, proposing to approve Guam war claims but only limiting compensation to first generation descendants of those killed during the war and living survivors of the Japanese occupation.

Had Congress just disapproved the war claims bill entirely, Bordallo would not be in the hot seat she’s in right now. She could even be credited with bringing Guam war claims legislation closer to passage than it had ever been.

But the compromise offer put Bordallo in a tough situation. It was a damned if you do, and damned if you don’t situation.

Had she accepted the compromise, those excluded from the legislation would have damned her while if she declined the compromise, those who would have been included would have damned her just the same.

To make matters worse for Bordallo, the compromise was offered when the U.S. defense spending bill was all set to be voted upon and there was virtually no time to consult with constituents back home.

Of course, it’s also important to note that Bordallo’s congressional seat is up for grabs and accepting the compromise offer would have alienated several thousand voters who would have been excluded from the settlement.

But in rejecting the compromise, Bordallo may now have alienated both camps and she may suffer from this in the next election, which would be unfortunate since Bordallo has been tireless in working for Guam’s interests in Congress.

As expected, the congresswoman has already received sharp criticism for not accepting the compromise, most notably from Sen. BJ Cruz, who was himself a member of the war claims review commission.

Incidentally, tongues are wagging about Cruz’s vehement protest because BJ is not just a partymate of Bordallo but a Democrat of the Sunshine stripe. Wasn’t Bordallo once upon a time the lieutenant governor of Carl T.C. Gutierrez?

Some Democrats say it’s okay for BJ to express his views and his opposition, but he shouldn’t be doing it so loudly. It seems the previously solid Gutierrez-Bordallo alliance has now truly gone to pot.

But I say Cruz is entitled to express his strong feelings because the Guam war claims issue is one of those that transcend politics.

Meantime, some of the anger has been directed towards the federal government, the military in particular.

Sen. Judi Guthertz threatened to impose a toll on most vehicles entering or leaving Guam’s military bases, obviously in retaliation for the non-passage of Guam’s war claims.

Of course, the proposal was so out there that the military didn’t even deign to respond in public although I’m sure the military’s views on the matter were sent through back channels.

DPW’s Larry Perez also made a lot of noises, warning that the feds could call Guthertz’s bluff and withhold federal highway funding from Guam. Perez also pointedly remarked that his department wasn’t even consulted.

The toll plan has since been withdrawn but at least it has done its job of raising more awareness about the unfair U.S. decision on Guam’s war claims.

So where are we now?

The bitterness over the decision still hasn’t abated but as Sen. Ben Pangelinan pointed out it would be a shame if this bitterness (and the resulting division in the community) now stops the Guam war claims initiative just when the legislation has already gone so far.

Bordallo has said that she will introduce the bill again during the next session of Congress, this time with a public hearing on the measure.

Between now and that time, lobbying efforts for Guam’s war claims must be redoubled. We must push for a public hearing in Washington D.C. itself so that the Guam war claims issue would become more familiar to the nation’s lawmakers.

If we can, we should invite to the island Sen. Carl Levin and other members of Congress who don’t support Guam war claims so that they may feel first hand the injustice that has been done and realize that the issue is not something abstract that can just be measured by dollars and cents.

On Guam, more townhall meetings should also be held explaining the issues related to Guam war claims, especially the legal ramifications and precedents involved in previous claims.

This is necessary to inform the public about the possibility that we may not get 100 percent of what we want.

After these consultative meetings, Team Guam would hopefully have a united response in case a compromise is offered again next year.

For feedback, email gerry@mvguam.com

Guam: An Ace up PACOM's Sleeve

Guam: An Ace Up PACOM's Sleeve
Guam News Factor
News Analysis
Written by Michael Rudolph, Guam News Factor Writer
Monday, 19 October 2009 15:59

Retiring Admiral: ‘I came in optimistic, I leave optimistic'

By Michael Rudolph

GUAM - In an interview with retiring PACOM commander Adm. Timothy Keating, the Honolulu Advertiser noted Guam's growing strategic significance in the region. And as this U.S. Territory's military buildup looms closer, its pivotal power in the Pacific can can only be underscored in the light of PACOM's Vision Statement:
"U.S. Pacific Command will be an engaged and trusted partner committed to preserving the security, stability, and freedom upon which enduring prosperity in the Asia-Pacific region depends. (According to USPACOM Strategy )

Guam's strategic importance has gained momentum as a result of the newly empowered Democratic Party of Japan's continued opposition to the relocation of a Marine Corps air base within Okinawa and other aspects of US-Japan bilateral defense agreements. The overall role Japan will play in PACOM's strategy is uncertain; Keating explains to the Advertiser that "we will be very interested in whatever security arrangement they choose."

The Advertiser goes on to comment on a shift in U.S. military activity in South Korea: "the U.S. is assembling a large majority of its troops in a base complex south of Seoul where they will form an expeditionary force that can deploy elsewhere in Asia. South Koreans will take complete responsibility for their own defense against North Korea." Keating's response was, "this affords us the flexibility to use those forces...in ways that we had not been able to use them in times past."

With Guam's military buildup gaining traction, the concentration of U.S. military in South Korea and the nuclear powered super carrier USS George Washington's recent replacement of the 48 year old USS Kitty Hawk, Keating said "we are as ready now as we were the day I walked in."

The retiring admiral was sure to clear up notions that have been flying around that American power in the Pacific region is on a decline. The fact that 30,000 of PACOM's 300,000 military personnel are assigned in Iraq, Afghanistan and the Indian Ocean has not affected its readiness, according to Keating. Keating concluded the interview with this closing statement about PACOM's capabilities and intentions: "I came in optimistic, I leave optimistic."

Hot Button Henoko

Monday, Oct. 19, 2009
HOT BUTTON HENOKO
Opposition to Futenma move won't go away
By ERIC JOHNSTON
Japan Times Staff writer

First of Two Parts

To understand why the stalled relocation of the U.S. Marines' Futenma air base is now arguably the most entrenched political problem facing the Japan-U.S. relationship, it's a good idea to sit for a long time on the warm beach of Henoko in northern Okinawa.

On this beach next to Camp Schwab, where plans call for a new facility to be built on reclaimed land, a group of local residents opposed to moving Futenma's functions here have set up a tent and are maintaining a protest vigil that has surpassed 2,000 days.

"It's our responsibility to ensure that the Henoko bay area, which is home to coral reefs and endangered dugong, remains pristine for our grandchildren. For peace and environmental reasons, the last thing Okinawa needs is another U.S. military base, especially here," said Hiroshi Ashitomi, cochair of a citizens' group opposing construction of the new facility and one of the leaders of the sit-in.

The 20 to 30 protesters a day who are usually at the camp on the turquoise bay are often joined by visitors from mainland Japan and abroad. Ashitomi and the others often provide briefings to university students on the social and environmental issues related to the relocation plan, explanations of why they are opposed, and reports on what local Okinawan media are saying about the building of the new base with two runways in a V-shape, a plan the governments of Japan and the United States agreed to in 2006.

While largely a friendly, uneventful camp-out, protesters have occasionally been roused to action. One of the more dramatic incidents was a confrontation last year on the bay and underwater when Japan Coast Guard divers tried to set up cameras on the seabed.

On June 18, 2008, when coast guard boats appeared and divers began setting up cameras and other equipment on the seabed, protesters donned wet suits and air tanks, jumped into small boats and kayaks, and went out to stop them.

Video taken by the protesters shows seven divers surrounding a lone protester underwater and the physical confrontation that followed, as well as a standoff on the surface between other coast guard boats and protesters.

The confrontation fortunately ended without serious injury. But the incident galvanized local political opposition to the Henoko plan. Exactly one month later, on July 18, the prefectural assembly, which had just been captured by the Democratic Party of Japan and other parties opposed to the Futenma plan, passed a resolution calling for the replacement facility to be built outside Okinawa.

Last year, Yukio Hatoyama visited Okinawa and said that if he became prime minister he would work to have Futenma relocated outside Japan. In autumn 2008, Seiji Maehara, now minister of land, infrastructure, transport and tourism and state minister for Okinawa and Northern Territories affairs, told supporters that advisers to Barack Obama had indicated to him earlier that year they were willing to reconsider the entire 2006 agreement if Obama became president.

Such comments by Hatoyama and Maehara raised expectations among Henoko opponents that an Obama presidency and a DPJ-led government would lead to the cancellation of the relocation plan.

By June 2009, an opinion poll conducted by the local Okinawa Times and the Asahi Shimbun showed 68 percent of Okinawa residents opposed relocating Futenma within the prefecture, against only 18 percent in favor.

Survey respondents who were opposed said relocating to Henoko would not reduce the overall burden of the U.S. bases in Okinawa, which hosts 75 percent of all U.S. bases in Japan, and would destroy the marine environment.

Those who approved said relocating to Henoko would get Futenma out of crowded Ginowan, in central Okinawa, and into an area where noise and other problems would be much less of an issue. Others said that in exchange for allowing the Henoko facility to be built, Tokyo would hopefully reward Okinawa with subsidies for local economic development.

In addition to the DPJ-led coalition taking power on the national level, local political opposition to the Henoko plan was further strengthened in the Aug. 30 election when all five winning candidates from Okinawa announced they would oppose funding for the Henoko facility and negotiate with the U.S. to have Futenma relocated outside of not just Okinawa but Japan.

The changed political landscape means the only prominent politician in Okinawa still talking about relocating Futenma within the prefecture is Gov. Hirokazu Nakaima. But Nakaima finds himself surrounded by those who disagree with him and faces a tough re-election campaign in November 2010, where his opponents will likely to be more organized and better financed than they were in 2006 when Nakaima faced a split opposition and won partially by telling voters that he didn't support the current plan.

Today, however, Nakaima is caught in a tug or war.

The combatants are those in the prefectural assembly and Tokyo who oppose a Henoko facility, the mayor and residents of Ginowan who are demanding Futenma close as early as possible, and members of his Liberal Democratic Party and base supporters.

The latter worry that if the opposition gets its way, the money the U.S. military on Okinawa contributes to the local economy in the form of employment of local residents, base land lease payments, personnel-related spending, and base-related contracts with local businesses, will dry up, leaving what is already one of Japan's poorest prefectures even worse off.

According to the prefecture, the economic impact of the U.S. military amounts to at least $2 billion annually.

Nakaima has dealt with the pressure, and accusations that he has caved in to Tokyo and Washington, by attempting to convince Okinawans that the Henoko base agreement is a done deal.

"Relocating outside of Okinawa Prefecture would be best. But we can't resist accepting relocation within the prefecture. However, the central government needs to come up with a plan for resolving the issue as quickly as possible," Nakaima told reporters in Naha last Tuesday, the day he released his opinions of an environmental impact assessment report on the Henoko plan.

A decision by Tokyo, however, will not come soon despite pressure from both the Okinawans and Washington, which is viewing with increasing concern the growing political opposition in Japan not only to the Futenma relocation plan but also extension of the Maritime Self-Defense Forces refueling mission in the Indian Ocean.

On Friday, Hatoyama said a final decision on the Futenma issue is unlikely before next summer.

"I think we will need a conclusion around the midpoint of the period between the Nago mayoral election and the Okinawa gubernatorial election," he said.

On the one hand, Hatoyama has said he wants Futenma to leave the prefecture.

On the other hand, the DPJ's manifesto for the recent Lower House election did not specifically commit the party to carrying out his promise, merely to "review the realignment of the bases and the way they should be," which those who oppose the Henoko plan fear gives him wiggle room to get out of his verbal promise, but those who hope for a compromise with the U.S. can be reached see as a possible way out of the current stalemate.

Publicly, the United States continues to insist that it wants to stick to the 2006 agreement and the current plans for the Henoko facility. But privately, American officials who deal with Japan and Okinawa say relocating to Henoko is so fraught with logistic problems there is no way the agreement can be carried out by 2014 even if the political opposition in Japan is somehow overcome.

Alternatives to Henoko have yet to be floated by high-ranking policymakers on either side. Years ago, there was talk among some outside policy experts about consolidating the marines now at Futenma with the adjacent Kadena air force base and relocating them farther south to Shimoji Island, where an airport with a 3,000-meter runway is located. The runway and airport are currently used primarily for commercial aviation training. But for political and operational reasons, such proposals were rejected.

Though next year marks the 50th anniversary of Japan's security treaty with the United States, with political pressure in Okinawa and the rest of Japan on the rise to relocate the Futenma replacement facility outside Japan, highly visible celebrations and public discussion may lead to more political headaches all around for both Tokyo and Washington.

"Some in the U.S. have recently been promoting, a little too loudly, 2010 as the 50th anniversary of the security treaty. Given the current political atmosphere in Tokyo and Okinawa, this is a mistake and may further strengthen opposition in Okinawa and to the Henoko facility," said one Japan-based U.S. government official, speaking anonymously.

In the meantime, the sit-in protest at Henoko continues. Protesters say they will take to their boats again if construction proceeds. But despite the recent political changes that appear to favor their cause, none of those camping out there are ready to declare victory.

"We've been here for more than 2,000 days and have heard lots of promises from politicians in Okinawa and Tokyo, none of which have panned out. While we are hopeful the Hatoyama government will eventually close Futenma and relocate it outside the prefecture, nobody expects that to happen soon," said Ashitomi.

http://search.japantimes.co.jp/cgi-bin/nn20091019a4.html

Senators meet with defense official

Senators meet with defense official

Posted: Oct 17, 2009 2:30 PM Updated: Oct 17, 2009 2:45 PM

by Michele Catahay

Deputy Under Secretary of Defense for Installations and Environment Dr. Dorothy Robyn met with lawmakers late yesterday afternoon. Speaker Judi Won Pat says Robyn has said she will work closely with the Government of Guam and the military to see what could be done to address issues that may come up.

Won Pat says she was glad Robyn had the opportunity to tour outside the bases. "This is the one official that has actually had time to not just have time to go around and look at the base to only look at the military site for expansion but more importantly, she went to go into the local community to see what the impact would be."

Dr. Robyn toured the Guam Memorial Hospital, the University of Guam, and the Guam Community College. She was briefed on the roles these institutions will play when it comes to workforce training capabilities and the capacity of the hospital to provide services to the people of Guam.

GAO Report Calls on Greater Information Sharing on Labor Force Requirements for the Military Build-Up

GAO Report Calls on Greater Information Sharing on Labor Force Requirements for the Military Build-Up

Pacific News Center

Guam - In response to an on-going request from Congresswoman Bordallo, the Government Accountability Office (GAO) released a report this week on the labor force requirements of the military build-up.

The GAO found that the relocation of Marines to Guam will generate thousands of temporary and permanent jobs on the Island. However, the report also states that the Department of Defense (DoD) should improve its communications with the Government of Guam about the jobs that are required to make the build-up successful. In particular, such information is necessary in order for the Government of Guam to better address the training needs of its citizens.

As such, the Government of Guam “may be challenged to effectively plan for potential jobs…including the ability to train and prepare individuals so they qualify for these jobs.” The GAO recommends that DoD develop a process to regularly share its most recent projections on the build-up’s labor force requirements with the Government of Guam.

“This report highlights the need for improved communication between the Department of Defense and the Government of Guam,” Congresswoman Madeleine Z. Bordallo said today. “The GAO has clearly laid out both the opportunities the build-up will bring to Guam and what we must do to fully realize these opportunities. I will continue to work with my colleagues in Congress and the DoD to follow through on the report’s recommendations. I appreciate the Obama Administration's focus and attention to the important details of the military build-up.

And, in particular, we will ensure that the University of Guam and Guam Community College are given adequate support and resources to train our citizens for jobs associated with the build-up. We are committed to getting the build-up right so that it benefits both the military and Guam.

Written by :
News Release

Despite high freight cost, NMI farmers may still benefit from Guam military buildup

Despite high freight cost, NMI farmers may still benefit from Guam military buildup


Friday, 16 October 2009 00:00 By Raquel Bagnol - Reporter
E-mail Print

THE commonwealth should take advantage of government contracts for disadvantaged businesses to benefit from the military buildup on Guam.

This is one of the recommendations made by Project Management Operations LLC, a U.S.-based consultant of the CNMI government and the governor’s Strategic Economic Development Council.

The consultant prepared a 77-page draft document titled, “A Strategic Approach: Utilizing CNMI’s Natural Resources to Provide Complimentary Support to [Department of Defense] Guam.”

The high cost of freight from the CNMI to Guam, among other things, was raised in the comments and questions section of the draft document which pointed out that CNMI farmers may find it hard to compete for Department of Defense contracts against bigger competitors on Guam.

“The DoD will most likely not subsidize shipments from the CNMI, but there are some options available that CNMI should consider,” Project Management Operations said.

It added that the CNMI should take advantage of SBA HUBzone, 8a and Veteran designations.

The Small Business Administration HUBzone provides federal contracting opportunities for qualified small businesses located in distressed areas.

SBA’s 8(a) business development program is created to help small disadvantaged businesses compete in the American economy and get access the federal procurement market.

“This allows the CNMI businesses to go after government contracts set aside for disadvantaged businesses,” Project Management Operations said.

It said the commonwealth should come up with a packaged solution to the military to utilize training operations and allow the use of CNMI ports for transportation of goods to and from Guam.

The public has until tomorrow to comment on the 77-page draft document which can be accessed on the CNMI Department of Commerce Web site, www.commerce.gov.mp.

Downwinders: Include Guam in law; Radiation survivors group meets

Downwinders: Include Guam in law; Radiation survivors group meets

By Bernice Santiago • Pacific Sunday News • October 18, 2009

A group of island residents and members of the Pacific Association for Radiation Survivors met yesterday to discuss legislation that proposes to include Guam in the federal Radiation Exposure Compensation Act.

The federal RECA law, passed in 1990, compensates people who have been diagnosed with specific cancers and chronic diseases that could have resulted from exposure to agents associated with nuclear weapons testing, according to a 2005 report published by the National Academy of Sciences' National Research Council.

The law covers exposure to nuclear tests carried out for more than 20 years during and after World War II. According to the report, both on-site participants of above-ground nuclear tests and "downwinders" in areas designated by RECA are eligible for compensation.

Areas of Nevada, Utah and Arizona are covered in the law as "Downwind Counties," the report states.

The PARS group hopes to include Guam in the law, citing concerns about exposure to radioactive debris during the 1940s and 1950s, when a series of atmospheric nuclear tests were conducted by the U.S. in the Marshall Islands.

The tests were conducted 1,200 miles east of Guam, in an area where trade winds are predominantly from east to west, the report states.

In the report, the National Research Council's committee on radiation exposure recommends that residents of Guam living be eligible for compensation as "downwinders."

"Help us identify what's really going on, what really happened," said Terry Flores at the meeting yesterday. Two of her sisters have been diagnosed with breast cancer, she said. The tests were conducted when she was a young girl, and Flores was concerned that there could be a possible link between their diagnosis and radiation exposure.

Tamuning resident Dolores Taitingfong, a cancer survivor, said that she hopes residents who were exposed and may have become ill from exposure will be compensated.

"I'm not looking for compensation, I'm well now," Taitingfong said. "But the other people who are sick need it."

The report states that Guam received measurable fallout from atmospheric testing of nuclear weapons in the Pacific, according to an independent assessment by the NRC committtee. Further efforts are necessary to establish associated cancer risk, according to the report.

Cancer is the second leading cause of death on Guam, according to data the Guam Comprehensive Cancer Control Coalition released Friday.

Nearly 20 percent of deaths on the island from 2003 to 2007 were cancer-related, but the coalition stated that the general cancer trends on Guam are similar to what's seen on the mainland U.S.

Certain Guam cancer cases have been linked to smoking, according to the data. Guam has the highest percentage of smokers in the nation -- 27.3 percent, according to Yvette Paulino of UOG and the Cancer Research Center of Hawaii Partnership.

Fees to raise cost of new homes

Fees to raise cost of new homes

By Laura Matthews • Pacific Sunday News • October 18, 2009

Real estate and construction industry professionals said the proposed additional fees for water and wastewater system hookups for new construction projects could move homeownership out of reach for some low-income island residents.

On Tuesday, the Consolidated Commission on Utilities approved the Guam Waterworks Authority's proposed system development charge. The proposal now moves to the Public Utilities Commission, which is the last step in the approval process.

The system development charge would give GWA money to add capacity to its water and wastewater facilities. The system development charge, which applies to new construction of homes and buildings, will also fund other improvement projects to meet the authority's growth needs.

If approved, the cost for a 5/8-inch waterline hookup will be $2,126. A 5/8-inch wastewater line connection would cost $3,474, according to statistics from GWA. A 5/8-inch line is the average size for a residential waterline.

That means the water and wastewater system development charge combined will increase the cost of building a new, average-size home by $5,600 -- if PUC approves the proposed charges. For major commercial projects, water and wastewater hookup can cost upward of $600,000.

"We look at it as another tax, and homeowners can only afford to pay so much money for a home," said W. Nicholas Captain, president of Captain Real Estate Group.

"We understand utilities need to be paid, but for homeowners at the lower end of the economic scale, it will certainly have a negative impact on them," he added.

Captain said that unless there is a way of discounting or waiving the cost for home buyers at the lower end of the market, the low-income homebuyers will "suffer a disproportionate share of the burden."

He added that it could cause home construction to lag.

"It makes it difficult for development to justify the risk and cost of building new property. It will tend to slow down the construction of new subdivisions on Guam ... and increase the value of existing products on the market," he said.

Ed Banayat, president of GEMCCO, a construction business, said he suspects with the additional water and wastewater charges, lower-income residents would rather rent than buy a home because they may need to have a certain income to afford the new costs.

"If they have the required salary, then the higher-income people will buy homes, but the lower-income people could suffer," Banayat said.

The new proposed system development charge is a reduced version of the fee structure GWA proposed around March last year.

Under the previous proposal, the average water and wastewater line hookup for a new home construction would have cost about $8,000.

CCU Chairman Simon Sanchez has said the proposed system development charge helps to cushion existing GWA customers from having to pay for water and wastewater facility upgrades directly related to making room for new customers. It's common practice among stateside utilities to implement the charge, Sanchez said in a previous interview.

"The basic logic is -- as new customers need water and wastewater -- (they) pay for the expansion of the system to service their new demand," Sanchez has said.

Report: 1,600 civilian jobs with buildup

Report: 1,600 civilian jobs with buildup

By Steve Limtiaco • Pacific Daily News • October 16, 2009

The military buildup is expected to create at least 1,600 full-time civilian jobs on Guam to support the Marines, Air Force and Navy, according to a labor report released yesterday by the U.S. Government Accountability Office.

The Army also will need full-time civilian workers, the report states, but no estimates are available.

The military plans to transfer about 8,000 Marines and 9,000 dependents from Okinawa to a new base on Guam by 2014 as part of a military buildup that also will see increases in Air Force, Navy and Army activity on the island.

The Marine Corps, which is expected to hire the bulk of those civilian workers -- at least 1,450 -- believes most of those jobs need to be filled by Guam residents "because the officials do not think that many current employees will move from Okinawa," the report states.

The number and types of jobs required could remain sketchy until next January, the report states, when the military finalizes the buildup's environmental impact statement. That statement is expected to include an analysis of the buildup's socioeconomic impact.

Information needed

The report notes that the University of Guam believes the military will need qualified engineers and is considering setting up a new engineering program -- a process that could take three years.

But the university needs better information about the types of jobs and when they will be needed, the report states.

The Defense Department needs to keep Guam's government and educational community better informed about the labor requirements and opportunities that will be created on the island, the report states.

"Without this information, the government of Guam may be challenged to effectively plan for potential jobs that support the buildup and future continuing military presence, including the ability to train and prepare individuals so they qualify for these jobs," it said.

The transfer of the Marines would be a huge economic boon for Guam, if it's prepared to handle the influx and all the jobs the move will create.

It's estimated the move will cost $15 billion or more and will generate as many as many as 20,000 construction jobs during peak phases, GAO determined.


Basic infrastructure construction is scheduled to begin next year, and lawmakers want as many as possible of the jobs to go to American workers. A provision in the recently passed Defense Authorization bill contains provisions that promote the hiring of American labor.

Specifically, the bill:

# Requires that contractors advertise for and recruit American workers before foreign workers can be hired;

# Gives the Labor Department broad oversight authority over contractors; and

# Mandates that Guam's prevailing wages be reassessed and, if necessary, readjusted so they're more aligned with mainland pay. This would discourage importing foreign workers.

The Pentagon replied to the GAO report, saying, "It is the department's intent to provide the maximum advance information to the government of Guam."

It added, "The DOD will identify federal civilian and contractor support positions as they become known to assist the government of Guam in the planning for the necessary adjustment in local facilities and public services, workforce training programs and local economic development activities."

Guam Buildup Boost? US Pressured To Find New Home For Okinawa Air Base

Guam Buildup Boost? US Pressured To Find New Home For Okinawa Air Base

Written by Michael Rudolph, Guam News Factor Writer
Thursday, 15 October 2009 03:31

GUAM - The United States and Japan have agreed to "accelerate talks on the planned relocation of the U.S. Marine Corps Futenma Air Station in Okinawa," according to Japan Times Online. What this means for Guam remains to be seen. By way of bilateral accord, Guam's pending $15 billion military buildup is tied to the relocation of the Futenma Air Base.

The Times Online reports that Japan is pushing to move the "heliport functions of the Futenma Air Station outside Okinawa, or even outside Japan," although this goes against the 2006 agreement between Japan and the United States to transfer Air Station Futenma to the more remote location of Camp Schwab by the year 2014. U.S. Assistant Secretary of State for East Asian and Pacific Affairs Kurt Campbell hopes to "to have real progress over the course of the next several weeks in preparation fo Presidents Obama's visit here to Japan in early November," the Times reported.

Guam's Line Agencies Gagged By Feds

Guam's Line Agencies Gagged By Feds

Can't Tell Senators What They Know About 'Secret' Buildup Plans

Federal Non-Disclosure Agreements Clash With Guam's Open Government Law

Written by Jac Perry, Guam News Factor Staff Writer
Thursday, 15 October 2009 15:39

GUAM - Guam lawmakers hit a brick wall today when line agency heads and their specialists refused to share substantive testimony on the comments they have contributed to an early draft of a federal Environmental Impact Statement (EIS).

The line agencies say they were compelled to sign federal nondisclosure statements preventing them from sharing their official input to the Defense Department's Draft EIS, a mandatory study that must be completed before Guam's $15 billion military buildup can begin.

Guam Buildup Committee Chair Senator Judi Guthertz was displeased that the Joint Guam Program Office (JGPO) required Government of Guam employees who contributed EIS comments to sign the nondisclosures.

"The nondisclosure agreements should not have been accepted and should have been challenged," Senator Guthertz said.

Guthertz had requested that all regulatory agency comments be submitted prior to today's oversight for review and reference of the Buildup Committee and legislative panel. But none were, because contributing GovGuam employees believed they were barred by the documents they had signed. The whole Draft EIS is due for release in November.

Guthertz is concerned that little to no information has been given to the legislature. She even made a comment that little is even shared between the Governor's Office and the Guam Buildup Office.

Although they may have signed 'binding agreements', the GovGuam contributing employees are still subject to the open government law and the Sunshine Act. The Guam Buildup Office has asked the Office of the Attorney General to provide an opinion on whether or not comments provided for the Draft EIS must be provided to the members of the legislature. The opinion is expected next week.

Guthertz described the non-disclosure agreements as "intimidating" and "threatening" to regulatory agency members.

$160K contract for CNMI strategy on Guam buildup

$160K contract for CNMI strategy on Guam buildup

Friday, October 16, 2009


By Haidee V. Eugenio
Reporter

The government awarded a $160,000 contract to a private consulting firm that came up with a 77-page draft document on what the CNMI could offer the U.S. Department of Defense as the region prepares for a $15-billion, multi-year military buildup in Guam.

Commerce Secretary Michael Ada, one of the signatories in the contract, said the $160,000 contract was for Project Management Operations LLC “to provide the CNMI/Strategic Economic Development Council with a plan to present to DoD for potential and in depth uses for the CNMI in relation to the military buildup.”

“The plan was to look at what the DoD needs are, both logistically and operationally, and to identify the resources of the CNMI so that we may position ourselves to better avail of the opportunity that the military buildup presents,” Ada told Saipan Tribune when asked for the contract price.

Project Management Operations LLC, a Colorado-based global provider of project management and information technology operation consulting services, prepared the draft document, “A Strategic Approach: Utilizing CNMI’s Natural Resources to Provide Complimentary [sic] Support to DoD Guam.”

Today is the last day for public comment on the draft document, which is available on the Department of Commerce website, www.commerce.gov.mp.

Lt. Gov. Eloy Inos, in an interview yesterday, said there's no telling whether the $160,000 paid to the contractor is money well spent until the final product comes out.

Inos said there's no concrete plan yet as to what the U.S. military intends to do in or with the CNMI in line with the buildup in Guam.

“But I tell you this much: Until we know what we can do to support the military, then all we're doing is talking in the vacuum because it's a complex thing. A military situation involves logistics and other support, including non-military type of things like a venue for relaxation not only for the active military members but for their families. Because of our proximity to Guam, they can be up here in 30 minutes and they're home,” Inos said.

Inos also met with U.S. Navy Undersecretary Robert O. Work on Wednesday afternoon and 22 other military officials and personnel on Capital Hill.

From Saipan, Work and the team went to Tinian to take a look at the Tinian Northfield, and went back to Guam.

“It's a courtesy visit. And it's good because they assured us of assistance, and we told them that the CNMI stands ready to assist in whatever way we can,” Inos added.

In the draft strategic plan, the CNMI plans to provide operational support and services to Guam instead of viewing the neighbor island as a “competition” to maximize benefits from the relocation of some 8,000 Marines from Okinawa to Guam, some 17,000 family members, and up to 20,000 federal construction workers to the island.

Among these operational and support services that the CNMI said it can offer are providing airport and seaport facilities for deployment, training and relocation; provide ground forces training areas; provide storage facilities; provide solid food like “meals ready to eat” for military personnel; catering services; and lastly, provide a rest and recreation destination for military personnel.

The draft document's goal is to emphasize military opportunities associated with the regional buildup as the CNMI tries to understand how the military buildup can be beneficial to its people.

The CNMI, being a U.S. territory and its capital island of Saipan only 120 miles from Guam, can provide alternate airport and seaport facilities that could be used to enhance training opportunities for deployment training, and operations and maintenance logistics function, the document said.

In addition to the training opportunities, the airfield operations facilities, supported by the U.S. Air Force Guam operations staff, provide alternate hangar capacity in the case of relocation of aircraft and crews due to mission requirements and/or weather.

Radiation Survivors Group To Meet Saturday

Radiation Survivors Group To Meet Saturday

Guam- On Saturday October 17 from 11:00am to 2:00pm, the non-profit organization of Pacific Association for Radiation Survivors (PARS) will be holding their general membership meeting at the Tamuning Community Senior Citizen Center.

The members of PARS continue to laboriously lobby Congress to include Guam in the Radiation Exposure Compensation Act (RECA) Program which would make those suffering from illness resulting from radiation exposure eligible for compensation and medical care.

Based upon scientific evidence presented before a federal panel of scientists with the National Research Council, the National Academy of Sciences concluded that, “As a result of its analysis, the committee concludes that Guam did receive measureable fallout from atmospheric testing of nuclear weapons in the Pacific. Residents of Guam during that period should be eligible for compensation under RECA in a way similar to that of persons considered to be downwinders.”

The PARS General Membership Meeting on Saturday, October 17, 2009 at the Tamuning Senior Center from 11 am to 2 pm. A donation of $20.00 is requested to help assist the association and the endeavor.

Written by :
News Release

Territorial Governors Urge White House Support for Health Care Equity

Territorial Governors Urge White House Support for Health Care Equity

Guam - Governor Felix P. Camacho, along with other territory governors, sent a joint letter this week urging the White House to ensure that the territories receive equitable treatment under the health care reform legislation currently before the U.S. Senate.

The letter was signed by Gov. Camacho, Gov. John P. de Jongh Jr. of the U.S. Virgin Islands, and Gov. Benigno R. Fitial of the Commonwealth of the Northern Marianas Islands.

In the letter to Rahm Emanuel, White House chief of staff, the three governors requested that the final version of the health care reform bill include provisions to ensure that individuals from territories be eligible to participate in the new health insurance exchange and for the enhanced Federal Medical Assistance Percentages (FMAP) that will be available to the 50 states.

“We are asking that the final version of the health care reform bill ensures residents of the territories have the same access to health care as those on the mainland,” said Gov. Camacho. “I sincerely hope that the White House understands our people’s need to receive quality health services and acts accordingly.”

The letter states that the White House is working to merge and finalize two separate health care bills from the Senate Finance Committee and the Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions Committee.


Written by :
News Release

Japan defence minister says US troop agreement "humiliating"

Japan defence minister says US troop agreement "humiliating"

Thu, Oct 15, 2009
AFP
by Kyoko Hasegawa

TOKYO, JAPAN - Japan's new defence minister said Thursday that rules governing the US troop presence on Okinawa island were "humiliating" while conceding that a major American base would likely have to stay there.

Toshimi Kitazawa, whose centre-left Democratic Party of Japan (DPJ) took power last month, was speaking ahead of a visit next week by US Defense Secretary Robert Gates and a month before a trip by President Barack Obama.

The minister stressed his party's message that, while Tokyo values the traditionally strong relationship with the United States, it is also seeking less subservient US ties than those under its conservative predecessors.

Japan wants "to build a new relationship that meets the requirements of the new era instead of getting mired in fears of offending them," the minister said, stressing however that the alliance remains "extremely important".

Next week, the 71-year-old minister said, he wants to have "candid talks" with Gates about the American military presence on southern Okinawa island, which is home to more than half of the 47,000 US troops in Japan.

A flashpoint has long been the US Marine Corps Futenma Air Base, located in a crowded urban area on the island, where residents have been angered by aircraft noise while community frictions with US service personnel have grown.

Anger rose especially after the 1995 gang-rape of a 12-year-old girl and the alleged rape of a 14-year-old girl by US military servicemen.

Under the 1960 Japan-US Status of Forces Agreement, the troops fall under American, not Japanese, criminal jurisdiction - although more recently indicted suspects in serious cases have been handed to Japanese authorities.

Despite this, the "people in Okinawa as a whole feel that the Japan-US Status of Forces Agreement is humiliating," Kitazawa said.

"We will propose to review the agreement when Mr Gates comes here.

"People living close to US bases say "please close the US bases, eliminate the noise,"" he said. "We want to end the suffering and the burden endured by the Okinawan people who have long hosted the US bases."

He added: "Okinawan people have high hopes that change will come to their lives after the change of government."

Under a 2006 agreement struck under a conservative Japanese government and the US administration of George W. Bush, the air base is to be closed and relocated to a coastal area of Okinawa by 2014.

But new Prime Minister Yukio Hatoyama has said he wants the base to be moved off Okinawa, even out of Japan altogether, although this week he appeared to soften his stance.

Kitazawa said Tokyo wants to renegotiate the agreement on realigning US forces, which also includes a plan to move 8,000 US troops to Guam - although Washington has already indicated it expects the deal to stand.

But Kitazawa also said that Japan had few other options than to relocate the Futenma base somewhere within Okinawa.

"Regarding a relocation outside Okinawa, where else do we have?" he said.

"It's extremely difficult to find an alternative place in the current situation.

"In reality we can only slightly change the current plan," because of the geographical features of the Okinawan coast, Kitazawa said.

Hours earlier in Washington Japan informed White House and Pentagon officials that it would end an Indian Ocean naval refuelling mission backing the war in Afghanistan when its mandate expires in January.

The minister said that "the most feasible support Japan can offer in terms of Afghanistan is civilian support," adding that one option would be for Japanese air force planes to transport aid to Afghan refugees in Pakistan.

Other issues to be discussed with Gates would include Japan's choice of next-generation fighter jets.

Although the US-made Lockheed Martin F-35 is one option, the minister said that "our choice is wide open to other options, of non-American-made jets." --AFP

Guam On DOD's Radar Now

Guam On DOD's Radar Now

Guam - It is one of the most important Defense Department teams to come to Guam in recent years.

Navy Undersecretary Robert Work, Defense Undersecretary Dorothy Robyn and others have been been touring the island and meeting with local officials since Tuesday.

Wood flew back to Washington early Thursday to avoid the storm, but Robyn stayed to speak with the island's media.

The message is that the Guam military buildup is finally on the radar in Washington.

Robyn said that she and Undersecretary Robert Wood have been meet with lawmakers, the Governor, military leaders and others to learn the lay of the land and listen to the concerns Guam has about the impending military buildup and its impact on the island.

Earlier this year a GAO report recommended high level contacts between the Department of Defense and GovGuam to help co-ordinate the buildup.

She admitted that the Obama Administration's first priority when it took office earlier this year was on resolving the issues surrounding the re-location of the marines from Fuetema in Okinawa. Guam's issues were second on the list. But she said Guam is in focus now.

In response to concerns that the new Japanese government wants to re-negotiate the deal, Robyn reaffirmed earlier administration statements that the base relocation agreement is an agreement sealed by a treaty between two countries, not the current occupants of the Government.

Written by :
Kevin Kerrigan

Casino buildup planned for Pacific

Casino buildup planned for Pacific

(AP) – 11 hours ago

SAIPAN, Northern Mariana Islands — Casino investors are buying up hotel properties on Rota, the second-largest island of the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands, in hopes of attracting military gamblers once the U.S. increases its presence in nearby Guam.

Japanese and Korean investors separately bought two Rota hotels this month in anticipation of turning them into the island's first casinos.

Many of their customers would be 8,000 Marines and their 9,000 dependents who will be moved from Okinawa, Japan to Guam, located just 35 miles to the south of Rota.

The new casinos could take business from the Tinian Dynasty Hotel and Casino, located on the island of Tinian to the north of Rota.

Copyright © 2009 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.

Military Buildup Hearing

While Guam Waits For WWII Reparations, U.S. Pays Out $100M To Filipino War Vets

While Guam Waits For WWII Reparations, U.S. Pays Out $100M To Filipino War Vets

By Jeff Marchesseault

GUAM - They suffered the same indignity as Guam's World War II survivors. Their unflagging loyalty to the United States through the violent crucible of war met no recompense for over six decades. In the long interval, most of their class died.

But earlier this year, that all began to change for the Philippines' surviving war veterans. Thanks to $198 million set aside in the Recovery Act, the U.S. has already paid half of that amount to Filipino veterans. About 70,000 of these remaining retired soldiers are receiving lump checks for $9,000 each if they are citizens of the Philippines and $15,000 if they are U.S. citizens.

According to a GMA News alert:

A total of $102 million had been distributed to some of the 34,000 Filipino World War II veterans who applied for the lump sum benefits package given by the US government, a Philippine official said Tuesday.

This news is likely to further inflame those on Guam who are fighting for reparations for the unincorporated U.S. territory's equally loyal war survivors and their families. Just last week the island learned that the Guam World War II Loyalty Recognition Act would not be included in the $680 billion FY2010 Defense Authorization Act. Local leaders have been lobbying Congress for many years for comprehensive compensation while the island has watched its 'greatest generation' pass away.

GMA reports that only four months remain for Filipino war veterans to claim their checks.

CNMI to 'support' Guam on military buildup

77-page draft document seeks public input
By Haidee V. Eugenio
Reporter

The CNMI plans to provide operational support and services to Guam instead of viewing the neighbor island as a “competition” to maximize benefits from the $15-billion, multi-year U.S. military buildup in Guam.

This highlights the 77-page draft document, “A Strategic Approach: Utilizing CNMI's Natural Resources to Provide Complimentary [sic] Support to DoD Guam.”

The publication of the document marks the first time that the CNMI government has come up with a written plan on how to benefit from the movement of some 8,000 Marines from Okinawa to Guam, some 17,000 family members, and up to 20,000 federal construction workers to the island.

The public has until this Friday, Oct. 16, to comment on the draft document.

These operational and support services, which are detailed in the draft report, include the CNMI providing airport and seaport facilities for deployment, training and relocation; provide ground forces training areas; provide storage facilities; provide solid food like “meals ready to eat” for military personnel; catering services; and lastly, provide a rest and recreation destination for military personnel.

Project Management Operations LLC, a Colorado-based global provider of project management and information technology operation consulting services, prepared the draft document as consultants to the CNMI Department of Commerce and Gov. Benigno R. Fitial's Strategic Economic Development Council (SEDC).

In recent months, top U.S. military officials, including Navy Secretary Ray Mabus, visited Saipan as part of a familiarization tour in the Pacific region.

So far, however, the U.S. military has not announced concrete plans for the CNMI when it comes to the buildup on Guam.

Press secretary Charles Reyes, when asked for comment on the draft document yesterday, said the U.S. military regional buildup is strongly viewed as one of the main sources of economic opportunity for an economic recovery, in a critical period under federalization.

He said the CNMI government and the CNMI private business sector are closely collaborating to maximize the economic benefits and reduce the costs of the Marianas U.S. military buildup.

“We want to make sure that the CNMI works with Guam, the federal government, the military, and all stakeholders to ensure a smooth transition into a new economy with federalization and the U.S. military buildup. This effort is but a starting point. Much still needs to be done. We must also coordinate our efforts with the Tinian leadership,” Reyes told Saipan Tribune.

The federal government will take over CNMI immigration by Nov. 28, 2009 as mandated by U.S. Public Law 110-229 or the Consolidated Natural Resources Act.

Among other things, the CNMI may lose its critical Chinese and Russian tourist markets under the visa waiver program of the federalization law. This means millions in tourism revenue loss for the CNMI.

But the void left by these two tourist market, should no legislative fix or administrative fix occur, can be filled up by economic benefits of the regional military buildup in Guam.

Strategic goal

The draft document's goal is to emphasize military opportunities associated with the regional buildup as the CNMI tries to understand how the military buildup can be beneficial to its people.

Currently, there are three recommended choices of strategy:

1. Treat Guam as the competition regarding military operations and service support;

2. Recognize Guam as an ally and offer complementary operational support and services; and

3. Maintain status quo by continuing to market the CNMI's natural resources to the surrounding populations.

Consultants Project Management Operations LLC, in the draft document, recommends for the CNMI to choose option 2 - be a complement to Guam's military buildup with the following strategy focuses in order of importance: operational support; supply and maintenance; and quality of life services.

“If the CNMI views Guam as a partner, then together, the communities can provide a complementary set of operational support, supply and services, along with the opportunities to utilize the natural resources and beauty that the CNMI offers. The islands can enjoy the successes of Guam and reap the benefits of the increased revenue opportunities for the near and long term alike,” the draft document said.

If the CNMI views Guam as its competition regarding military operations and support “then the CNMI has lost,” the consultants said.

CNMI military opportunities

The CNMI, being a U.S. territory and its capital island of Saipan only 120 miles from Guam, can provide alternate airport and seaport facilities that could be used to enhance training opportunities for deployment training, and operations and maintenance logistics function, the document said.

In addition to the training opportunities, the airfield operations facilities, supported by the U.S. Air Force Guam operations staff, provide alternate hangar capacity in the case of relocation of aircraft and crews due to mission requirements and/or weather.

“The CNMI's natural resources and proximity to the other forces in the region give it a unique competitive advantage that should be explored. The CNMI's unique situation provides the DoD with an excellent option for training and support services,” the consultants said.

The CNMI's resources can also be used to provide surface training areas.

For example, a small arms training range, which is being planned for Tinian, is an excellent way for the CNMI to use its resources to meet the needs of the Marines and take advantage of the chance to provide critical operational support while gaining the opportunity to receive capital investment into the CNMI economy.

Historically, ranges of this nature have been estimated to provide between $10 million and $25 million in capital investment into the construction of the project.

“The CNMI has the opportunity to propose further capital investments by offering land for ammunition storage facilities on Tinian. The users of this range will require ammunition for each training rotation,” the draft document said.

Other potential and specific opportunities the CNMI may have with the U.S. Department of Defense: port of embarkation and debarkation; staging of prepositioned equipment; deployment support; deployment training; and ground forces training.

“Overall, [this gives] the best opportunity for the CNMI to show its awareness of the DoD's needs and to demonstrate its willingness to support the U.S. mission in the region. The CNMI needs to move swiftly, but surely, to secure a seat at the table when support operations are being discussed,” the consultants said.

Under the military supply and maintenance support, the CNMI can provide fuel storage and distribution; water storage and distribution; waste removal and processing; food handling and distribution; provide meals, catering services, potable water and ice; provide depot and field level maintenance as well as electronic maintenance; and storage facilities of all kinds.

Lastly, the CNMI can be a place where military service personnel can relax.

“The calm waters and placid beaches set an amazing backdrop that can be utilized to provide the much needed rest and relaxation opportunities that the DoD provides to its service members and families,” the draft report said.

Wanted: Military liaison

Consultants Project Management Operations LLC, in the draft document, also recommended the CNMI's hiring of a military liaison “to help create the necessary relationships to effectively meet both the military's and the CNMI's requirements.”

“The CNMI needs that person who can build rapport by speaking the language and understanding the needs of the [Department of Defense] while maintaining vigilant support of the CNMI's resources, heritage and goals for providing support to the DoD and its allies,” the document reads.

A copy of the draft document is now available on the CNMI Department of Commerce website, www.commerce.gov.mp.

Comments on the draft document can be sent to commercedept@pticom.com.

HEARING: Oversight hearing on military buildup on Thursday

HEARING: Oversight hearing on military buildup on Thursday

Pacific Daily News • news@guampdn.com • October 13, 2009

4 p.m. Oct. 13 — The Legislature's Committee on the Guam Military Buiildup will hold an oversight hearing on the military buildup, starting 9 a.m. Thursday at the Legislature's public hearing room.

The hearing was also supposed to look at the readiness of the Guam Customs and Quarantine Agency relative to the pending buildup, but that part of the hearing has been cancelled.

Guam and Its Three Empires

Guam and Its Three Empires

Few peoples in the world have had continued colonial status for the past 340 years. However, the Chamorro people can claim this unfortunate distinction. It all began when Ferdinand Magellan, and his three small ships stumbled upon the Mariana Islands March 13, 1521. Totally exhausted, sick with scurvy and half-starved, Magellan and his crew were fed and the ship’s stores replenished. Magellan stayed just long enough to take vengeance on the islanders’ for their theft of his ship’s skiff, and, reportedly, carve out human entrails for his sick crew.

It was a tragic beginning to colonization for the Chamorros.

Spanish take charge

Because of the Chamorros’ perceived aggressive ways, Magellan was not interested in claiming the islands for Spain. Sailing out of New Spain (Mexico), Miguel Lopez de Legazpi, a prosperous landowner from Mexico City, officially took Guam as a formal possession of Spain in 1565. But a continuous Spanish colonial presence did not begin on Guam until 1668, after King Philip IV of Spain approved Father Diego Luis de San Vitores’, S.J., mission to Guam. San Vitores needed several years of heavy-duty politicking and persuading to get his vision funded. For this he depended on Queen Mariana and her Jesuit confessor, Father J. E. Nithard.

Fr. San Vitores was Guam’s first governor (head of colony) and his main order of business was, of course, to Christianize the Chamorros. This led to the priest’s murder in 1672 by Chief Matapang and sixteen years of Chamorro resistance that was brutally put down by Spanish force of arms.

Three priests—Frs. Francisco Solano, Francisco Ezquerra, and Peter Coemans—followed San Vitores as head of colony till 1674 when the first military man, Captain Damian de Esplana, originally assigned to the Philippines was stranded on Guam. Because of his military rank, the Jesuits requested Esplana to serve as head of the mission.

It was not until 1681 that Captain Antonio Saravia was appointed the first official Military Head Commander (later governor) of Guam upon the authority of King Charles II of Spain. One of Saravia’s first acts was to persuade all the Chamorro leaders, then loyal to Spain, to take and sign an oath of allegiance. They promised to “abide by any law which His Majesty might be pleased to impose upon us.” This show of loyalty was celebrated with cannon and musket fire, shouts, and triton trumpet shell blasts. For the next 217 years and fifty-some foreign governors, the Chamorros would live as both citizens and subjects of Spain.

In 1684, after sixteen years of war, the Spanish had largely subdued the Chamorros and imposed a governing structure. A network of dirt tracks connected five districts each with a pueblo, or main village, and church. A priest and a soldier were assigned to each pueblo. Leading Chamorros were identified and designated as principales. The principales were assigned some village duties and used to persuade all the Chamorros in the surrounding area to take up residence in the main village.

The village priest headed both the church and school with upkeep being done by Chamorros. In 1680 Guam had nine priests and three lay brothers and a population of about 7,000. This was a considerable reduction from the 50,000 estimated at San Vitores’ arrival. The population, reduced by the Spanish-Chamorro War, was further reduced by epidemics in 1688 and 1693 that began from diseases brought by Spanish ships.

The 217 years of Spanish colonial rule on Guam was theocratic and autocratic. Toward the end of that period, however, a royal order of 1885 introduced an element of village-level democracy. The order allowed free use of crown land by Chamorros and the election of local officials called gobernadorcillo, or mayor, from among the principalia class. This was a major change for the islands, with elected officials replacing appointed ones.
Americans were next

Such a change, important as it was, had no impact on the continued decline of Spain’s empire, by 1898 but a shadow of its former self. Aggressive and ambitious, the United States had established itself as a player in the arena of world geopolitics. Irritated by Spain’s autocratic rule of Cuba and the mysterious explosion that destroyed the battleship, USS Maine, then in Havana’s harbor, the U.S. declared war on Spain in April 1898.

In June, Captain Henry Glass quickly took Guam and sailed on to the Philippines. In August a protocol was signed ending the fighting and in December the Treaty of Paris was agreed to whereby the U.S paid $20 million reparations for all the Philippines, Puerto Rico, and Guam.

The transfer of Guam’s sovereignty did not involve the Chamorros and other than the assignment to the U.S. Congress the power to determine the civil rights and political status of the Chamorros, there was no explicit obligation placed on the U.S. to cultivate self-government or improve the political, social, or economic well-being of the indigenous people. The authority to administer Guam was soon transferred to the U.S. Navy, whose appointed governors would assume complete and unquestioned authority of Guam and its people. From the beginning, Guam was and still is but a piece of real estate needed by the American empire for its strategic purposes.

Guam’s first U.S. Naval governor arrived in August 1899 and the last one ended his term when the Organic Act was signed in 1949. As with the Spanish, American military rule was autocratic, the one-man rule of a commanding naval officer. Be that as it may, individual naval governors took initiatives to enlarge Chamorro participation in government.

Governor Roy Smith (1916-1918) established the first Guam Congress. This group of thirty-four members was made up of village commissioners, deputy commissioners and other prominent Chamorros, all appointed by the governor. However, the “legislators” were told in no uncertain terms that they were merely an advisory body with no authority to debate political rights or status issues.

Guam’s greatest naval governor was Willis W. Bradley, 1929-1931. Bradley worked to forward recommendations to Washington, D.C. that Guam’s people be granted U.S. citizenship and a bill of rights. While his efforts were ignored by U.S. leadership, he went ahead and established Guam citizenship and a Guam Bill of Rights. He reconstituted the Guam Congress as a bicameral elected body and called for the direct election of village commissioners. However, the Navy brass in Washington was not happy with Bradley’s initiatives in the area of expanded civil rights for Guam’s people and recalled him at the end of his term.
World War II brought Japanese

U.S. naval rule of Guam was violently interrupted by the 1941 attack of the Empire of Japan’s forces. The Imperial Japanese Navy’s 54th Naval Defense Guard ruled Guam for the purpose of establishing the Greater East-Asia Co-prosperity Sphere. This ideology was intended to liberate Asian peoples from European colonialism and establish one political and economic bloc centered on Japan.

Japan’s grand vision resulted in repressive and harsh rule. Japanese forces would occupy Guam for nearly three years between December 1941 and July 1944. Attempts to implement the sphere ideology came crashing to the ground as an occupying military government had to immediately transform itself into a fighting force which was crushed in less than a month by the overwhelming power of the U.S. military. Guam then reverted to the American empire.
Americans come back

What remained steady and increasingly persistent both before and after the Pacific War was the Chamorro call for political rights and civilian rule. This began in 1901 with a petition calling for a permanent civilian government. In 1917 at the opening of the first Guam Congress, Tomas Calvo Anderson asserted:

It is high time that there be granted to the people, respectful, loyal and devoted to the Great American nation, the same rights that have been granted to the different states, territories and possessions… Our ideals are realized by the giving of that which by right should be granted, that is to say, the defining of the status of the Chamorro people.

Again in 1926 and 1929, the Guam Congress adopted and endorsed petitions for the grant of U.S. citizenship to Chamorros. A few years later, the Guam Recorder of 1933 contained two statements, one by congressmen Manuel F. Ulloa and Dr. Ramon M. Sablan and a second by Guam Postmaster James Underwood calling for American citizenship. In response, naval Governor Captain George A. Alexander endorsed this effort by transmitting the citizenship petition to the White House signed by 2,000 Chamorros.

Dead silence from Washington D.C.

In spite of dead silence from Washington, D.C. in response to all these petitions, the push for citizenship and civil rights continued with the efforts of local political leaders and men of prominence. In 1936, Baltazar J. Bordallo and Francisco Baza Leon Guerrero made the long trip to Washington using donations from school children and their own funds to personally lobby the U.S. Congress for a citizenship bill. Introduced into both the 75th and 76th Congresses of 1937 and 1939, the bill eventually failed because of navy opposition and the specter of war.

After the war—one during which Chamorros demonstrated great loyalty to the U.S. – some 600 Guamanian war veterans could and did become naturalized American citizens. In a January 1947 resolution the Guam Congress requested Governor Charles A. Pownall (a vice admiral) to ask the U.S. Congress to grant American citizenship to Guamanians and pass organic legislation establishing civilian government. The Navy Department postponed action on this request while it awaited the results of the Hopkins Study concerning Guam and American Samoa. That study had been commissioned by President Harry S. Truman’s secretary of defense to inspect and recommend changes in the government of American Samoa and Guam as well as one completed by a cabinet level committee.

Both groups made nearly identical recommendations. They proposed that congressional legislation provide civilian government via an organic act, American citizenship, a bill of rights, and local legislative powers be established by law. Friends of Guam on the U.S. mainland, including former Governor Willis W. Bradley, then a congressman from California, were lobbying for these changes and making Guam’s plight a national issue.

However, what really broke the navy opposition and got President Truman’s attention was the 1949 walkout of the Guam Congress over a serious disagreement with Governor Charles A. Pownall. Besides refusing to grant subpoena powers to the congress — the reason for the walkout — he also declared their seats vacant and stated that he would fill them by appointment.

The walkout and the heavy military hand were reported in both The New York Times and The Washington Post and caught Truman’s attention. In early 1949 the president ordered the Department of Interior to draft an organic act for Guam, approved it in May, and had it introduced into the 81st Congress. Hearings were held on Guam in late 1949 that led to numerous changes to the draft. Even the navy testified in favor of the organic legislation, after all it already had about thirty-six percent of Guam’s land under its control.

Organic Act signed

In mid-1950, the U.S. Congress passed the Guam Organic Act and President Truman signed it into law on August 1. Only one Chamorro was present at this event. This was former Guam Congressman Carlos P. Taitano, then an American citizen and student at the Georgetown University Law School. Taitano had been the key contact to the national press that got Guam’s plight into the newspaper headlines. At a 1998 celebration of the forty-eighth anniversary of the act, he publicly stated that the approval of the Organic Act:

...was the beginning of the decolonization of Guam. Unfortunately, almost half a century after… the Chamorros are still trying to set up an island government without the bounds or restraints of colonialism. It is our hope that before another fifty years have passed… we would see the passage of the Guam Commonwealth Act, now before the U.S. Congress.

The major provisions of Guam’s Organic Act provided American citizenship; a bill of rights; a civilian administration and local three branch government that included a civilian executive that retained many of the powers of the former naval governor and who, just as under the U.S. Navy, would be appointed by the U.S. president, a 21-seat unicameral legislature, and a judiciary.

The act also identified and reserved over thirty-six percent of Guam’s land for U.S. military use and declared Guam to be an unincorporated Territory of the U.S. The act has been amended numerous times by Congress since 1950; notable amendments included those for an elected governor and lieutenant governor, an elected delegate to the U.S. Congress, and most recently, a Guam Supreme court as a separate and pinnacle body of the island judiciary system. Although these changes improved the Organic Act, the government was not yet one of or by the people.

Still under United Nations watch

Chamorros certainly accepted the 1950 act as a large political step forward since it lifted the heavy yolk of military rule. Nevertheless, they did not have an opportunity to vote on it. Strictly speaking, an act of self-determination had not been taken and Guam remains on the United Nation’s list of non-self-governing territories. As an unincorporated territory, Guam continued as a strategically located piece of real estate belonging to the American empire.

The Organic Act of 1950 was a major step forward for Guam’s home rule and a model for the rest of the Pacific at that time. The act greatly accelerated political activity with the formal establishment of the Democratic and Republican parties in the 1960s, fierce competition (bi-annually) for legislature seats, and beginning in 1970, battles for the governor and lieutenant governor offices (every four years). Control of the legislature and governorship has oscillated between the Republicans and Democrats, stimulated by dynamic personalities such as Democrat Ricardo J. Bordallo and Republican Joseph F. Ada. The 1998 gubernatorial contest between Democrat Carl Gutierrez, the incumbent, and Ada, attempting to make a political come-back, culminated in an unprecedented post-election controversy that made its way to the Supreme Court of the United States for final resolution in favor of Gutierrez in 1999.

The same excitement evolved in the heated 2002 race between former Congressman Robert Underwood and his running mate, Senator Tom Ada, as they went nose-to-nose with Senators Felix Camacho and Kaleo Moylan, the sons of Guam’s first elected governor and lieutenant governor. In 2002, the sons won, but it took some underhanded campaign maneuvers to pull off an upset. Camacho and Underwood faced off again in 2006 with different running mates. Camacho won again by a slim margin.

Other islands of Micronesia unshackled

In contrast to Guam’s “status of no status,” the island peoples of the Trust Territory of the Pacific Islands (TTPI) surrounding Guam were not shackled by the unincorporated territory doctrine of the U.S. Supreme Court’s Insular Cases. According to this doctrine, the U.S. Congress retains plenary authority over all unincorporated territories (such territories were not recognized as integral parts of the United States) and could decide which Constitutional protections and rights it might (or might not) extend to such territories. In contrast, the peoples of the TTPI were governed by the 1947 Trusteeship Agreement which, unlike the Treaty of Paris, clearly delineated obligations of the U.S. government that included “the development of the inhabitants of the trust territory toward self-government or independence as may be appropriate to the particular circumstances of the trust territory and its peoples and the freely expressed wishes of the people concerned.”

Because of this fundamental difference in legal doctrine, the TTPI leaders could and did negotiate political status change with the U.S. on a more or less equal basis. In negotiations with the U.S., the TTPI leaders (excepting the Northern Mariana Islands) rejected both territorial status and commonwealth status. Finally, in the mid 1980s (1994 for Palau) the various TTPI entities approved and signed compacts of free association with the U.S. that resulted in political independence. In the case of the Northern Mariana Islands (also a part of the TTPI), the leadership there concluded a covenant agreement that established a commonwealth relationship with the U.S. in 1975.

All the while, the U.S. citizens on Guam stood by and watched amazed and even angered at how they were being ignored. Guam delegate to the U.S. Congress, Antonio Won Pat remarked:

Whatever the needs—whether real or imagined—of the Pentagon in the western Pacific, the willingness of Washington to deal so generously with non-citizens while denying their fellow Americans equal treatment can only be viewed with suspicion and resentment by the people of Guam.

Ford approves Commonwealth but plan shelved

The highest reaches of the U.S. government got wind of this suspicion and resentment. In response, the National Security Council commissioned a study in September 1973 of U.S. national objectives, policies and programs for Guam. After the resignation of President Richard Nixon, President Gerald Ford reviewed the study, approved it, and directed that:

The U.S. negotiator should seek agreement with Guamanian representatives on a commonwealth arrangement no less favorable than that which we are negotiating with the Northern Marianas.

President Ford’s directive of February 1, 1975, issued through Secretary State Henry A. Kissinger was never carried out and the Guam study and the directive remained secret for nearly thirty years. Furthermore, the Department of Interior essentially subverted President Ford’s directive by never informing Guam’s political leaders of the study or presidential action on it.

Throughout the period 1980-1997, Chamorro leaders embarked on a serious effort to improve Guam’s political status through the Commission on Self-Determination that was established by the Guam Legislature in 1980. Totally unaware of President Ford’s directive of 1975, the Commission wrote a draft commonwealth act that was approved by the Guam electorate. The draft was introduced into every session of the U.S. Congress during the tenures of delegates Vicente Blaz (1985-1992) and Robert Underwood (1993-2002).

Guam’s commonwealth quest came to a standstill in 1997. At Congressional hearings on the act, John Garamendi, representing the Clinton Administration, rejected the provisions to do with Chamorro self-determination as well as immigration and labor control in the commonwealth bill. Congress remained uncommitted. At the present time, Guam’s government and people remain a creature of the Organic Act and a piece of property of the American empire. Speaking very recently about the Organic Act and political change, former Congressman Underwood summarized the U.S.-Guam situation in these words:

Today, I think people want the relationship between the federal and Guam governments defined so that it can’t be changed arbitrarily. We hope to increase our autonomy and enhance our participation in federal decision making in a way that enhances our economy as well as our autonomy.

By Donald R. Shuster, Ed.D.
For further reading

Leibowitz, Arnold H. Defining Status: A Comprehensive Analysis of United States Territorial Relation. The Netherlands: Martinus Nijhoff, 1989.

McHenry, Donald F. Micronesia: Trust Betrayed New York: Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, 1975.

Pacific Daily News, “Centennial Timeline,” June 21, 1998.

Rogers, Robert F. Destiny’s Landfall: A History of Guam. Honolulu:, University of Hawai`i Press, 1995.

Taitano, Carlos P. “American Citizenship: A Centennial Commemoration.” Keynote address at a public meeting during the centennial commemoration, Plaza de Espana, Hagåtña, GU, August 1, 1998.

“Trusteeship Agreement.” In the 1980 Trust Territory of the Pacific Islands 33rd Annual Report. Washington, D.C.: Department of State Publication 9181, 1981.

Underwood, Robert A. Brief remarks at a public meeting, the Guam Humanities Council Forum on the Organic Act, University of Guam College of Liberal Arts and Social Sciences Lecture Hall, December 7, 2005.

Willens, Howard P. and Ballendorf, Dirk A. _The Secret Guam Study: How President Ford’s 1975 Approval of Commonwealth Was Blocked by Federal Officials. Mangilao, GU: University of Guam Richard F. Taitano Micronesian Area Research Center and the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands Division of Historic Preservation, 2004.

NMI people urged to speak local languages

NMI people urged to speak local languages


Monday, 12 October 2009 00:00 By Richelle Ann P. Agpoon - For Variety
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IF the Carolinian people lose their language, they will also lose their culture, Gov. Benigno R. Fitial said as he urged the indigenous people of the CNMI to continue using their native languages.

Fitial was the guest of honor during the Cultural Month celebration at the Carolinian Village in Garapan where the Carolinian Affairs Office held culture-oriented activities for students of the Public School System on Friday and Saturday.

In his speech, Fitial said “the CNMI must continue to be culturally distinct, with a clear identity of its own despite the international blending of cultures within the islands.”

He called the islands a “salad” because of their diverse cultures.

This diversity is one of the reasons why Chamorro and Carolinian cultures and languages must be preserved, he said.

In an interview, Fitial said Carolinians and Chamorros should teach their children to speak the native languages.

The government is collaborating with the Public School System to help ensure that the children use and understand Chamorro or Carolinian, he added.

“Although we use English, the emphasis should be on preserving our local languages and cultures,” Fitial said.

Students of Oleai, Kagman and Koblerville elementary school participated in a Carolinian speech competition on Friday.

Oleai students joined the Challenge Bowl competition on Saturday night.

The winners will be announced and awarded today, Commonwealth Cultural Day, at the Carolinian Village.

There will be live bands, cultural dance shows and other entertainment numbers from 2 p.m. to 5 p.m. which will be followed by an appreciation night dinner at 6 p.m.

CAO is inviting everybody to join the celebration.

NMI to dismantle immigration system

NMI to dismantle immigration system


Monday, 12 October 2009 00:00 By Gemma Q. Casas - Variety News Staff
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THE local Division of Immigration will end its operations once U.S. immigration laws are extended to the islands on Nov. 28.

An undetermined number of local immigration and labor employees will be displaced in the process.

Those working for the local customs and quarantine, however, are spared because the federalization statute, under U.S. P.L. 110-229 or the Consolidated Natural Resources Act of 2008, did not federalize customs or quarantine.

“The immigration laws with respect to entry and removal now enforced by the employees of the CNMI Immigration Division will be preempted by federal law on Nov. 28. Thereafter, the commonwealth will dismantle its Immigration Division,” states the 47-page Commonwealth’s Protocol for the Implementation of P.L. 110-229 prepared by the governor’s special legal counsel, Howard P. Willens, and the Office of the Attorney General.

The protocol will be observed for 90 days to ensure the smooth transition to federal immigration law.

Adjustments, however, will be made if the governor wins the lawsuit he filed in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia, challenging the labor related provisions of U.S.P.L. 110-229.

Although there was a policy statement under such law that local immigration employees should be absorbed and considered for vacancies under the federally administered CNMI immigration system, many anticipate they will lose their jobs.

The Department of Homeland Security and Customs and Border Protection have not hired a single U.S. citizen from the local population in the CNMI in the 18 months since the enactment of the law, Willens stated in the protocol.

“It has not relaxed its age standard in order to accommodate experienced commonwealth immigration employees over the age of 37; and it has used standardized tests to measure the value that a prospective employee from the CNMI Immigration Division might bring to the performance of the functions performed by Customs and Border Protection at the ports of entry regardless of the practical on-the-job experience of that employee,” Willens added.

“These two requirements have effectively excluded Immigration Division employees from employment with CBP. This leaves the commonwealth with the entire burden of assisting these immigration employees in seeking new employment,” he said.

The CNMI Legislature has passed legislation giving preference for the would-be displaced local immigration employees to fill in current vacancies in the local government.

The Office of the Personnel Management was also directed to keep a list and e-mail addresses of those who may need employment assistance.

Willens said U.S. P.L. 110-229 states that technical assistance will be provided to the commonwealth, but there are no funds for this mandate and the U.S. Department of the Interior has very limited technical assistance funding available.

He said the CNMI Department of Labor is planning to submit an application from its U.S. counterpart to provide each local immigration employee who desires retraining with two years of financial support plus training costs.

Protection for local labor employees is also being sought.

“The commonwealth will make all possible efforts to ensure that current Labor Department employees will not be displaced. Current employees will be retrained to the extent necessary,” said Willens.

DFS wants to discuss feds’ space needs at airport

DFS wants to discuss feds’ space needs at airport


Monday, 12 October 2009 00:00 By Andrew O. De Guzman - Variety News Staff
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DPS Saipan management wants to discuss with the Commonwealth Ports Authority the “adverse impact” of the U.S. Department of Homeland Security’s space requirements when U.S. immigration law takes effect in the CNMI on Nov. 28.

CPA forwarded DFS’s request to the governor’s special legal counsel Howard Willens.

“Attorney Willens communicated that [U.S. Customs and Border Protection] is not insisting that the space leased by DFS be made available by Nov. 28, 2009,” then-CPA Executive Director Efrain Camacho told DFS president Marian Aldan Pierce in a letter.

“In any event, the governor has made it clear that the commonwealth will not support or direct termination of the lease,” Camacho said.

DFS is paying CPA about $19,000 a month for the lease.

Press Secretary Charles Reyes Jr., in an e-mail to the Variety, said: “The governor’s staff is in close contact with DHS and CBP. We are working to achieve the smoothest transition possible and we expect more CBP officials to arrive later this month to continue our coordinated efforts to achieve the best possible outcomes for investors, workers, and all community stakeholders, as we transition into new and unprecedented federal immigration rules for the CNMI.”

In her letter to the CPA after they were informed of the federal authorities’ space requirements at the Saipan airport, Pierce said among the spaces identified by CBP is the warehouse space covering over 15,000 square feet of the terminal building’s airport and currently leased to DFS.

“Currently, DFS uses the space for storage of merchandise for our airport concession, offices and employee lounge for airport shop employees, including employee restroom facilities,” Pierce informed CPA.

“DFS is not without remedies under the concession agreement,” Pierce added.

These include consulting DFS, “fully compensating” the company or providing “suitable and comparable” facilities to replace the lost warehouse space under the agreement, she said.

“DFS hereby requests that we immediately commence consultations to determine how best to minimize the adverse impact the demands on DHS will have on our business and operations,” Pierce said.

Before he resigned as CPA’s executive director, Camacho told CBP San Francisco Field Office Operations Director Richard Vigna that the space requirements at the CNMI airports and seaports have “spawned great concerns.”

Bordallo: War claims bill alive: 'I am going forward with this bill next year'

Bordallo: War claims bill alive: 'I am going forward with this bill next year'

By Laura Matthews • Pacific Daily News • October 12, 2009

Guam Delegate Madeleine Bordallo said she wasn't given enough time to make a decision that represented the view of Guamanians regarding the war claims bill when offered a compromise by Senate leadership.

She added that she couldn't have made the decision without consulting the people of Guam.

In a town hall meeting yesterday at the Hilton Guam Resort & Spa, Bordallo told more than 50 residents that she only had a half an hour to decide whether to accept a compromise on compensation for Guam residents killed during World War II and living survivors of the Japanese occupation. The Senate compromise would have excluded payments to spouses and children of Guam's war survivors who have died.

Bordallo said the bill is still alive and that she won't exclude anyone who suffered until she exhausts all other avenues.

Bordallo was criticized by some for not taking the compromise, including Vice Speaker Benjamin Cruz, who worked on the war claims commission. Cruz said past Guam Legislatures and other officials have pushed for heirs to be included in the measure, but it goes against established, recognized legal precedence.

Cruz also said the only way the war claims bill would be enacted is to hold a public hearing in Washington, D.C., and to revise the bill to comply with that legal precedence.

Congress has awarded compensation to Japanese Americans and Aleutians who suffered during World War II, but the reparations were limited to survivors and not their heirs, Cruz noted.

A number of Senate and House representatives decided not to include the Guam World War II Recognition and Loyalty Act to the last version of the defense spending bill. Bordallo said Senate Armed Committee chairman Sen. Carl Levin and Sen. John McCain were concerned about the precedence the war claims measures might set.

The war reparations provision would repay Guam Chamorros for their suffering during the brutal occupation by Japanese forces in World War II. There are about 8,000 survivors, 1,000 people who died in the war and between 9,000 and 10,000 who died, Bordallo said.

"The ... 9,000 to 10,000, ... that was the group they were going to take away, so I don't think it would be fair for me alone to make that decision in Washington, D.C.," Bordallo said.

"I had to make some agonizing decisions in Washington, D.C., on your behalf because I had 30 minutes to do it. I just felt that it wouldn't be fair to my people to make that decision to exclude one group," Bordallo added. "They wanted to take my bill and take it apart. It had three components in there which addresses the survivors and those that were injured or raped and the ones that died during the war. And it was the third section they wanted to remove and that is why I wouldn't compromise."

Bordallo said the bill will have to be heard at next session of Congress.

Both the Senate and the House have promised a public hearing on the measure, the delegate said.

"Knowing that we still had one more chance, one more year, I decided to go with that," said Bordallo.

The bill will go through the same process as before. Bordallo said she will probably put it on the defense spending bill for 2011 and have hearings on it. By this time next year, the bill could be passed or a compromised reached, she added.

Some residents who attended yesterday's meeting said Bordallo should have pressed for more time because it could be too late to get a resolution.

"We see what she had to go through, but given you should have already, if you are pushing for the hearts of the people of Guam, have fought for more than 30 minutes," Margaret Taitano, the heir of a someone who endured the occupation, said. "For 65 years the people of Guam have waited for the injustice to be corrected."

Bordallo's war claims bill would award Guam's World War II victims or their heirs a total of about about $126 million. Some said that wasn't enough.

"(The) $126 million will never pay for the injustice of what happened in Guam," said Larry Ramirez of Ordot, a war claims heir. "How can this pay all those people justly?"

Bordallo said Guam has come a long way and she will bring closure to the war claims issue by next year.

"I am going forward with this bill next year. We're going to have the hearing, track it carefully and probably put it on a defense authorization bill or an appropriation bill or whichever we can get it on," Bordallo said. "And if there is no change in the minds of these senators, then we will go ahead with the compromise, but otherwise I would like to keep it as it was."

BLAS FIRES OFF LETTERS TO MCAIN AND LEVIN

BLAS FIRES OFF LETTERS TO MCAIN AND LEVIN

Written by :
Clynt Ridgell


Senator Frank Blas Jr. has fired off two letters to two members of the US Congress. The senator has sent a letter to Senator's John Mccain and Carl Levin stating that he will not give up on the fight for Guam war reparations. In addition to this he is currently working on drafting a letter along with democrat senator Frank Aguon Jr. requesting that public hearings on the Guam WWII Loyalty Recognition Act be held on Guam.



Congresswoman Bordallo stated in her release last week that while war reparations weren't included in the Defense Authorization Act public hearings would be held on the Guam WWII Loyalty Recognition Act as a stand alone bill before the next defense authorization bill. Blas would like for these public hearings to be held on Guam to make it easier for the elderly WWII survivors to provide testimony

FDM to Be Used for Live Fire Training

http://www.saipantribune.com/newsstory.aspx?cat=1&newsID=94224

Saturday, October 10, 2009

Navy to conduct live-fire exercises on Farallon de Medinilla
SANTA RITA, Guam-The U.S. Navy will conduct live-fire training exercises on the island of Farallon de Medinilla from 7am to 1am on Oct. 13-14, 16 and 18.

The general location of this activity will be on the island of Farallon de Medinilla Training Area on a 10-nautical mile radius on all quadrants. The general public especially fisherman, commercial pilots and marine tour operators are advised to stay clear from this area during the time and date indicated.

Farallon de Medinilla plays a special and unique role in national defense because its location provides access frequency that supports established training requirements. In addition, the air and sea space in the Farallon provides sufficient room for the many different attack profiles necessary to replicate training opportunities in the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands.

Democrazy Now!: Guam Residents Organize Against US Plans for $15B Military Buildup on Pacific Island

Democracy Now!: Guam Residents Organize Against US Plans for $15B Military Buildup on Pacific Island

Part 1



Part 2



Guam Residents Organize Against US Plans for $15B Military Buildup on Pacific Island

The United States is planning an enormous $15 billion military buildup on the Pacific island of Guam. The project would turn the thirty-mile-long island into a major hub for US military operations in the Pacific in what has been described as the largest military buildup in recent history. We speak with Julian Aguon, a civil rights attorney from the Chamoru nation in Guam.

U.S. says not to renegotiate Futemma relocation plan with Japan: source

U.S. says not to renegotiate Futemma relocation plan with Japan: source

WASHINGTON, Oct. 9 KYODO
October 09 2009 17:59

The United States has told Japan of its intention not to renegotiate the planned transfer of the U.S. Marine Corps' Futemma Air Station in Ginowan to the shores of Camp Schwab in Nago, both in Okinawa Prefecture in southern Japan, a source close to Japan-U.S. relations said Friday.

The action is apparently meant to tamp down increasing expectations within the Japanese government of Prime Minister Yukio Hatoyama and Okinawa for relocating the air base in a densely populated area outside the prefecture or outside the country.

The United States signaled the intention at Monday's gathering of senior Japanese and U.S. officials held at the State Department as part of preparations for Defense Secretary Robert Gates' trip to Japan later this month.

Gates is expected to try during his talks with Japanese leaders to reaffirm a 2006 Japan-U.S. accord on the transfer of the Futemma's heliport functions within Okinawa as part of a broader deal on the realignment of U.S. forces stationed in Japan.

At Monday's director general-level talks, U.S. officials told their Japanese counterparts that while being willing to listen to Tokyo's view on the realignment issue, Washington has no intention to renegotiate the framework already agreed on, the source said.

Expectations for a review of the plan were fueled in Japan after Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said in a meeting with Japanese Foreign Minister Katsuya Okada in September that the United States was ready to talk about the realignment issue with Japan.

Another source close to Japan-U.S. relations said it would be a mistake to extend the interpretation of the U.S. diplomatic gesture.

Hatoyama's Democratic Party of Japan has said it will aim to transfer the Futemma facility outside Okinawa, despite the 2006 bilateral accord on the relocation of the facility within the prefecture.

The State Department expressed caution over the party's stance after the DPJ's victory in the Aug. 30 general election, saying the United States would not renegotiate the agreed-on plan.

Transferring Futemma's heliport functions is closely associated with another key element of the agreement -- moving 8,000 Marines from Okinawa to Guam.

At Monday's meeting, Japan was represented by Kazuyoshi Umemoto, director general of the Foreign Ministry's North American Affairs Bureau, and Nobushige Takamizawa, director general of the Defense Ministry's Defense Policy Bureau.

The United States was represented by Kurt Campbell, assistant secretary of state for East Asian and Pacific affairs, and Wallace Gregson, assistant secretary of defense for Asia and the Pacific.

Cruz: Congress won't pass payments to heirs

Cruz: Congress won't pass payments to heirs

By Dionesis Tamondong • Pacific Daily News • October 10, 2009

Guam Delegate Madeleine Bordallo's decision to refuse the war claims proposal by key Senate members was a mistake, said one of the members of the Guam War Claims Commission.

Vice Speaker Benjamin Cruz said the current Guam World War II Loyalty Act won't be accepted by the Senate as long as the measure requires payments to heirs of those who were killed or survived the Japanese occupation.

The Pacific Daily News requested comment from Bordallo's office. As of 6 p.m., the office didn't provide a comment.

The Senate Armed Services Committee this week excluded the Guam war claims provision from the Fiscal 2010 National Defense Authorization Act.

Bordallo had inserted the measure into the spending bill earlier this year -- a move that raised the chances of the reparations bill finally passing.

The war claims bill and previous measures have failed over the decades. The House of Representatives has approved Bordallo's measures in recent years, only for it to stall in the Senate.

This year, the measure advanced further than it ever has, even getting the support of President Obama.

But Senate Armed Services Committee Chairman Sen. Carl Levin and ranking member Sen. John McCain objected to payments for spouses and children of Guam's war survivors who have since died.

Levin and McCain offered to keep Bordallo's provision if the claims were awarded solely to those killed during the war and to living survivors of the occupation.

But Bordallo rejected the offer because it wouldn't recognize everyone who endured Guam's occupation.

"It was unfortunate that she didn't take it, but I understand the predicament she was in," Cruz said.

He said past Guam Legislatures and other officials have pushed for heirs to be included in the measure, but it goes against established, recognized legal precedence.

Cruz said the only way the war claims bill will be enacted is to hold a public hearing in Washington, D.C., and to revise the bill to comply with that legal precedence.

Congress has awarded compensation to Japanese Americans and Aleutians who suffered during World War II, but the reparations were limited to survivors and not their heirs, Cruz noted.

Cruz said Levin has been pushing legislation that would compensate about 400,000 U.S. prisoners of war, but if Guam's war claims bill is approved and heirs receive reparations, it could open the door for heirs of POW's to be compensated also.

Sen. Judith Guthertz said Congress should look at each war claims case separately.

Speaker Judith Won Pat said she was happy that Bordallo refused to accept the compromise.

She said Guam should beef up its lobbying efforts now that the island knows which federal officials it should focus its efforts on.

CNMI ranks lowest in ARRA money spending

Commerce wants public to consider factors

By Haidee V. Eugenio
Reporter

The CNMI is at the bottom of the list when it comes to spending federal stimulus funding, according to an updated report from the federal tracking system.

At the same time, the CNMI Department of Commerce is now soliciting requests for proposals from qualified information technology contractors to create its American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 reporting system.

As of 3pm yesterday, seven contractors have picked up copies of the RFP at the Division of Procurement and Supply in Lower Base. The deadline for submission of bids is Oct. 21.

As of Sept. 30, the CNMI has only spent $358,669 or 0.8 percent of the $44,736,824 in ARRA funding so far made available to it, data from recovery.gov shows.

The total amount announced for the CNMI stands at over $53 million.

The CNMI's spending level is the lowest among 50 states, five territories, and three Pacific nations receiving ARRA money.

'Fairness'

But Commerce Secretary Michael Ada, when asked for comment yesterday, said there are several dynamics that need to be considered when it comes to ARRA money expenditure.

“The reason our percentage is now less than 1 percent is because more money has come in. As I have mentioned in previous communications to the press, there is lag time for fund draw downs simply due to systems. The other reason for our expenditures being 'behind' even among smaller jurisdictions could be the type of funds being drawn down,” Ada said.

For example, the money could have gone to things like Medicaid payments which are easier spent as the funds cover Medicaid reimbursements, than energy money, he said.

“In addition, you need to consider that the CNMI government is not the only recipient of the money, so it is unfair to blame the expenditure lag strictly on the central government,” he added.

He said the Northern Marianas College, Northern Marianas Housing Corp., Commonwealth Ports Authority, and Public School System all received direct money that didn't come through the CNMI executive branch and whose money doesn't go into the central government's Financial Management System.

For fairness' sake, he said, the same questions should be asked of autonomous agencies.

Other territories

To date, Guam has already spent $17.3 million or 17 percent of the $103.5 million made available to it.

American Samoa has so far spent $4.6 million or 9 percent of $51.9 million in available ARRA funding.

The U.S. Virgin Islands has spent $19.7 million or 19 percent of $101.7 million ARRA money, while Puerto Rico spent 28 percent or over $813 million of $2.854 billion available so far.

Even Palau, the Marshall Islands, and the Federated States of Micronesia spent more in ARRA money than the CNMI. Palau has so far spent $950,000 or 37 percent or over $2.5 million in ARRA money. FSM has so far spent over $3.6 million of $5 million in available federal stimulus funds, while the Marshall Islands, $1.8 million of over $2.9 million.

Press secretary Charles Reyes, when asked for comment yesterday, said “Michael Ada and all relevant staff are working on these issues and placing the highest possible priority on the expeditious processing of such funds.”

Delegate Gregorio Kilili C. Sablan (D-MP), in a news briefing on Tuesday, said he understands the need for strict financial control when it comes to ARRA funding.

But Sablan said it raises concerns when even Guam and American Samoa are bound by the same strict financial controls and are still able to move much faster in allocating and spending ARRA money.

“I'm pleading.we need recovery dollars in our economy as soon as possible,” he told reporters.

Procurement

Ada said the procurement process also holds up a great deal of the contracting, obligation, and ultimately, expenditures of ARRA money.

Procurement regulations require a 30-day posting of RFPs, followed by the evaluation, negotiation, and subsequent contract award, and this only obligates the money, he said.

In addition, provisions such as “Buy America” have proven to be an obstacle in projects as simple as lighting retrofits.

“Another thing to note is that just because other jurisdictions have quickly spent money doesn't mean they have done so with accountability, transparency, and responsibility, but that has yet to be seen,” Ada told Saipan Tribune in an e-mail response.

The CNMI, according to Ada, also reported updates to the federal tracking system and the numbers will not be made available until Oct. 31.

“The reports are due on the 10th. We have from the 11-30th to amend, and they become public on the 31st. This is per the Recovery Accountability and Transparency Board. In addition, I am not sure what the autonomous agencies reported, so it is premature in all aspects,” Ada added.

In closing, Ada said the ARRA issue is a complex one.

“It is very hard to break down in snippets so where folks can really grasp it. I think it would help everyone have a better understanding of this and for you to provide a clearer picture to your readers,” he added.

On Sept. 18, Saipan Tribune reported that the CNMI spent only 1 percent or $332,000 of the $27.935 million in federal stimulus money that was made available as of that date.

Mariana fruit bats threatened with extinction

Mariana fruit bats threatened with extinction

Saturday, October 10, 2009

The United States Attorney for the Districts of Guam and the Northern Mariana Islands and the CNMI Department of Land and Natural Resources announced today that poaching on Rota is threatening the Mariana fruit bat with extinction.

The Mariana fruit bat (or the fanihi, as it is known locally) has been part of the Chamorro culture for centuries. When the bats were hunted by traditional means, their population was stable. With the advent of firearms, however, their numbers have declined drastically. The Guam and CNMI fanihi are listed as an threatened species under the Federal Endangered Species Act. It is a violation of federal, Guam and CNMI law to kill them.

Mariana fruit bats roost in maternal colonies, made up mostly of females and their pups, as well as a few juvenile and breeding males. Adult male bats roost in small bachelor colonies or individually. There are only about 100 fruit bats left on Guam. Until this year, there were approximately 1,700 on Rota, in five maternal colonies. Since 2008, a small gang of poachers has been attacking the maternal colonies, slaughtering females and their babies. If this continues, the Rota fanihi will soon be extinct, and a symbol of Chamorro life will be gone forever.

In June 2008, half of the Fanlagon maternal colony was destroyed by individuals using 12-gauge and .410 shotguns. It is estimated that 45 females and juveniles were killed. In June 2008, the Liyo colony was also attacked. This has resulted in the bats changing their flight path to and from the colony site. They now fly far out over the ocean, often in heavy winds, expending energy that should go to sustain their young. Mothers return less often to feed their pups during the night, or fail to return at all, resulting in the neglect and abandonment of the babies.

In October 2008, the As Dudo maternal population was destroyed by poachers using 12-gauge and .410 shotguns. According to CNMI wildlife biologists, some 65 fanihi, about 90 percent of the colony, were killed.

In November 2008, the Sumac maternal colony was attacked, and 70 percent of the females and juveniles were slaughtered, again with .410 and 12-gauge shotguns.

Only four days ago, on Oct. 5, 2009, the Lempanai colony was attacked and approximately 30 females and juveniles were killed.

A species cannot survive if its breeding grounds, its breeding females, and its young, are killed. In the last 14 months, half of the fanihi population on Rota has been destroyed. If the people of Rota want their children and their children's children to know and appreciate these gentle animals, they need to help stop this slaughter.

If you have any information about the identities of these poachers, please call (670) 236-2980, (670) 233-0938, CNMI Crime Stoppers (670) 234-7272, or Guam Crime Stoppers (671) 477-4357. (PR)

Guthertz Seeks National Attention For Guam WW II Reparations By Proposing Toll Boths Outside Bases

Guam - A local Senator today is making waves with her introduction of a bill that is sure to spark much debate.



The bill was introduced by Senator Judi Guthertz that would place toll booths at the entrance to Guam's military bases.

In reaction to the Congress' rejection of the Guam WW II Loyalty Recognition Act, Senator Guthertz has introduced a bill that would set up toll booths outside of Guam's bases charging a fee to anyone on base who wants to use Guam's roads.

The Senator says that the money collected from these toll booths could help fund the various expenses govguam will incur as a result of the military buildup however her real goal is to use the measure as leverage to get the U.S. Federal Government to begin listening to the people of Guam.

Juan Limtiaco was a six year old kid when he was taken to the concentration camp in Manengon during WW II. While he too would like to see war reparations for Guam he believes that the Federal Government who built most of Guam's roads will simply take them back if needed.

Chamber of Commerce Chairman Frank Campillo is also cautious about supporting Senator Guthertz's Bill.

The military has yet to take a stance on this issue however Navy Spokesperson Lt. Jodie Cornell did offer a statement saying: "It would be premature to comment at this time. We will review the proposal and comment at the appropiate time."


Written by :
Clynt Ridgell

CNMI Descent for Self Government and Indigenous Rights

CNMI Descent for Self Government and Indigenous Rights (Part 2 of 7). By Oscar C. Rasa. September 30, 2009, MCV Studio, Saipan MP 96950

This is URGENT!

Guam Buildup Scorecard - DOD: $734M; Community: $0

Guam Buildup Scorecard - DOD: $734M; Community: $0

Written by Jeff Marchesseault, Guam News Factor Staff Writer
Friday, 09 October 2009 06:05

Civilian Development Noticeably Absent From Massive List Of Guam Buildup Projects

By Jeff Marchesseault

GUAM - Sorely needed civilian-side development projects are noticeably absent from a $734 million list of Guam military buildup projects released to media yesterday.

The project rundown was issued in a news release from the Washington, D.C. Office of Guam Congresswoman Madeleine Bordallo. The local buildup projects are part of the approximate $700 billion FY2010 Defense Authorization Act agreed to by a joint conference committe of House and Senate leaders yesterday.

The installation construction plan may come as welcome relief for anyone who ever hoped that the $15 billion, multi-year buildup would get off the ground with the necessary funding to kickstart first-year development in time to meet a stated 2014 deadline.

But it also flies in the face of anyone else who may have recognized the federal government's consistent lack of focus on, or monetary commitment to, Guam's civilian needs relative to the buildup. Absorbing the impact of 8,000 marines, their 17,000 dependents, up to 20,000 federal construction workers, their families, plus anyone and everyone else gravitating to Guam in search of opportunity in a freshly cash-infused economy is a tall order for Guam's strained and dilapidated infrastructure and utilities -- much less for the island's already underfunded public services and social programs.

Fortunately, local senator and Guam Buildup Committee Chair Judi Guthertz has just as consistently directed attention to the island's unpreparedness for the buildup

On August 12th, Guthertz confronted Members of a Congressional Delegation (CODEL) at a hotel luncheon during their visit to Guam.

As Guam News Factor then reported:

Among other issues, the lawmaker expressed that an Omnibus Appropriation measure would be most appropriate to address the needs of the civilian community and assist in preparing the island's island-wide infrastructure system. Sen. Guthertz told the CODEL that piece-meal legislation which parcels out small appropriations over a long period of time will not answer the needs that will appear immediately during the course of the buildup.

Sen. Guthertz expressed, "It is also not just or sufficient to require Guam to compete with the 50 states and the other territories for grants and loans for the above listed projects as if they are not absolutely necessary for a successful buildup."

However, on that same day, Congresswoman Bordallo, the CODEL host, disagreed with Guthertz' assessment. Here is what Guam News Factor reported in our August 12th CODEL analysis:

When asked whether her subcommittee would recommend the omnibus funding legislation now being called for by Guam Senator Judi Guthertz to help ensure adequate funding for a long list of projects related to the civilian-side of the buildup, Bordallo said she preferred piecemeal legislation. And she expressed confidence that all necessary funding would be identified and committed in due course.

Bordallo chairs the Insular Affairs, Oceans and Wildlife Subcommittee under Natural Resources Chairman Nick Rahall, D-West Virginia, in the U.S. House of Representatives.

Minutes prior to Bordallo's stated preference for piecemeal legislation for Guam's civilian needs, Rahall had just told Guam News Factor that he would support Bordallo's funding recommendations, whatever they might be.

And at an afternoon news conference later that day, most Members of the CODEL supported Bordallo's assessment, stating that an omnibus appropriation for the buildup would be too difficult to pass through Congress, given budgetary constraints and the large number of committees involved.

At this juncture, Guam's call for adequate funding for municipal, civilian-side development that keeps up with the rapidly paced base-side buildup has gone unanswered.

Here is the Bordallo news release on the Department of Defense's Guam projects now supported by funding in the joint conference committee's Defense Authorization Act of 2010:

(*Note, this Defense-spending bill will now be sent to both Houses of Congress for final debate and voting, then to the President's desk for signature or veto.)

Conference Report Finalized On National Defense Authorization Act For Fiscal Year 2010

Bill Continues Rigorous Oversight Of Guam Military Buildup

October 7, 2009 - Washington, D.C. - Congresswoman Madeleine Z. Bordallo today announced that the final conference report for H.R. 2647, the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2010 (FY10 NDAA), was signed by conferees this morning. The conference report has now been referred to the House Committee on Rules and will subsequently be debated and voted on by the full House of Representatives on Thursday afternoon. The House of Representatives is expected to pass the legislation. The conference report will then be sent to the Senate for their consideration and vote. No date has been set for the Senate's consideration of the bill. After Senate passage, the bill will be sent to President Obama for his signature.

H.R. 2647 authorizes spending and sets policy for the Department of Defense for fiscal year 2010. H.R. 2647 would also provide the Department of Defense with $550.2 billion in budget authority while authorizing $130 billion to support defense operations overseas. Servicemembers will receive a 3.4% increase in their pay, a 0.5% increase over the President's Budget. Moreover, the FY10 NDAA provides for significant military construction funding for Guam in support of the Guam International Agreement.

"The Congress is clear in its support for the military build-up on Guam," Congresswoman Madeleine Z. Bordallo said today. "The final conference committee report has significant funding commitments for military construction on Guam. More importantly, I worked closely with Committee leadership including Chairman Solomon Ortiz of Texas and with Congressman Neil Abercrombie of Hawaii to find a compromise on the matter of Davis-Bacon and limits on H-2 workers on Guam. We will not extend Hawaii's Davis-Bacon wages to Guam but we do have a provision that requires contractors to be diligent and ensure that reasonable efforts are taken to hire U.S. workers. The conference committee also adopted protections against worker abuses and enhanced reporting requirements on workforce issues."

"The defense bill also continues the commitment of this Congress to properly ensure that our servicemembers in harms way have the equipment and access to training that makes them so capable," added Congresswoman Bordallo. "We also continue to honor our commitment to the Reserve Components through substantial funding of the National Guard & Reserve Equipment Account. I supported, and the Congress authorized, the authorization for several programs important to the National Guard including the State Partnership Program and increase in the federal cost share for the Youth ChalleNGe program. These provisions demonstrate Congress's understanding of the important contributions of our citizen soldiers and airmen."

A table of the President's requests and a summary of Congresswoman Bordallo's requested and supported provisions included in the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2010 are listed below.

Codifies the charter of the Guam Executive Council within the Department of Defense and makes the Deputy Secretary of Defense the lead agent from the Department of Defense for coordination of all interagency efforts;

Establishes an Interagency Group of Inspectors General to conduct and supervise audits and investigations regarding programs and operations related to the military build-up on Guam;

Extends Davis-Bacon wage protections to all military construction projects on Guam and requires the U.S. Department of Labor to conduct yearly wage surveys on Guam during the period of major construction for the military build-up. The provision does not tie Davis-Bacon wages rates on Guam to those set for Hawaii;

Requires contractors performing work on military construction projects on Guam to develop a recruitment plan that is submitted to the U.S. Department of Labor that details their efforts to hire local and other U.S. citizens and nationals. It also requires that the contractors submit a follow-up report that details why any U.S. citizen or national was not hired for a specific project. Finally, it also maintains the Governor of Guam's ability to certify the need for H-2B workers but he must submit an additional certification to the Secretary of Defense for military construction projects only;

Prohibits any inpatient fee increases for TRICARE beneficiaries for fiscal year 2010 and was added in response to recent Department of Defense announcement that it was increasing the inpatient co-pay by 20% for retirees on TRICARE Standard;

Parity for federal employees in Alaska, Hawaii and the U.S. territories by phasing out cost of living allowances and phase in locality comparability pay in place of the allowances. In particular, the language protects wages for federal employees on Guam;

Funds the procurement of 8 Joint Cargo Aircraft (JCA) for Fiscal Year 2010;

Requires the Government Accountability Office (GAO) to report on alcohol and liquor procurement policy for resale at commissaries and exchanges on Guam;

Suspends A-76 studies for three years until the Administration reviews the process and reports back to Congress;

Reauthorizes the Sikes Act for an additional five years from 2009 through 2013 which provides for cooperation by the Departments of the Interior and Defense with local agencies in planning, developing and maintaining fish and wildlife resources on military reservations throughout the United States (this provision also extends a requirement that DoD manage for invasive species on its installations on Guam);

Increases DoD funding support from 60% to 75% for the National Guard Youth ChalleNGe Program and allows the states and territories to include in-kind, non-cash support as part of the statutorily mandated State share of the cost of operating the program;

Requires the Secretary of the Army to report to Congress on the feasibility of establishing an Army National Guard Trainees, Transients, Holdees, and Students (TTHS) account;

Adds $600 million to the National Guard and Reserve Equipment Account and a total of $6.9 billion in National Guard and Reserve equipment for Fiscal Year 2010;

Requires a report on the implementation guidance for Special Purpose Entities (SPE) and also requires that all construction of facilities be done in accordance with U.S. building standards;

Requires the Secretary of Defense to report to Congress Grants the Office of Economic Adjustment (OEA) with the authority to assist local communities with public infrastructure improvements;

Authorizes the Secretary of Defense to use Department of Defense funds to pay costs associated with the National Guard's State Partnership Program and requires the Department of Defense to prescribe regulations governing the expenditure of future funding for this program;

MILITARY CONSTRUCTION - The Conference committee fully authorized several projects on Guam and incrementally funded them for fiscal year 2010. Fully authorizing the projects allows each respective service to issue a contract for the total cost of the project and begin construction incrementally. Projects that were fully authorized were the new Navy Hospital at $446 million; Apra Harbor Wharf Improvements at $167 million; Andersen AFB North Ramp infrastructure improvements at $183 million and Andersen AFB North Ramp utility improvements at $101 million.

Fiscal Year 2010 Military Construction Authorizations, including branch of service, project, and cost:

Air Force
Andersen AFB - Commando Warrior Operations Facility
$4,200,000

Air Force
Andersen AFB - Northwest Field Perimeter Fence and Road
$4,752,000

Air Force
Andersen AFB - Northwest Field Combat Support Vehicle Maintenance Facility
$15,500,000

Air Force
Andersen AFB - Electrical Infrastructure Hardening
$33,750,000

Defense Logistics Agency
Agana Naval Air Station - Gas Storage Facility
$4,900,000

Army National Guard
Barrigada Readiness Center
$30,000,000

Navy
Marine Aviation - AAFB North Ramp Improvements Phase 1
$88,797,000

Navy
Marine Aviation - AAFB North Ramp Utilities Phase 1
$21,500,000

Navy
Apra Harbor Wharves Improvement Phase 1
$127,033,000

Navy
Consolidated Training Facility
$45,309,000

Navy
Defense Access Road Improvements
$48,860,000

Navy
Military Working Dog Relocation
$14,000,000

Navy
Torpedo Exercise Support Building
$15,627,000

Navy Family Housing - Replace N. Tipalao Phase 3
$20,730,000

Defense Health Programs
Hospital Replacement Phase 1
$259,196,000

Grand Total: $734,154,000

Guam Delegation To UN Sparks Up Self Determination Question

Guam Delegation To UN Sparks Up Self Determination Question

Written by Guam News Factor Staff Writer
Friday, 09 October 2009 02:43

Chamoru Nation: 'We Need UN Intervention'

This news announcement has been repurposed from an official United Nations General Assembly press release posted at the UN website on October 7, 2009.

(Edited for use by Guam News Factor)

GUAM / New York City / 7 October 2009 - The United Nations Fourth Committee (Special Political and Decolonization) continued its consideration of decolonization items on Wednesday afternoon, October 7, hearing 22 petitioners on the questions of Gibraltar, Guam and Western Sahara.

On the question of Guam, several petitioners expressed concern about the United States planned military expansion on the island and stressed that their pleas for assistance had essentially fallen on deaf ears. Calling the United States pledge made in 1946 to ensure the decolonization of Guam "politically empty and spiritually murderous" words, a representative of the Chamoru Nation said his group came to New York year after year to, in effect, "throw ourselves on the funeral pyre that is the United Nations decolonization apparatus".

Speaking on Wednesday on the question of Guam's political status were Michael Tuncap, of the Pacific Islands Study Group of the University of California, Berkeley; Hope Alvarez Cristobal, Guahan Coalition for Peace and Justice; David Roberts, PhD candidate in the Department of Geography of the University of Toronto; Megan Roberto, of the University of California Berkeley Pacific Islander Alumni; Josette Marie Quinata, Southern California Chapter of Famoksaiyan; and Destiny Tedtaotao, a Graduate Student at the University of Southern California School of Social Work.Petitioners on Question of Guam

MICHAEL TUNCAP, of the Pacific Islands Study Group of the University of California, Berkeley, said that as a descendant of a 4,000 year civilization that had existed before the nations of Germany, France, Great Britain and the United States, he requested that the United Nations recognize the inalienable right to self-determination of Guam. The continued occupation of United States military forces in Guam and the Northern Marianas Islands was rooted in a system of racial inequality between European Americans, Asian and Pacific settlers and the indigenous Chamorro people.

He said that since initial contact with the United States in 1898, massive pacification and military occupation had prevented the people of Guam from exercising their inalienable right to self-determination. Colonial ideas of racial and gender superiority had shaped a long history of military violence and United States economic security. As such, the United States currently asserted that its citizens -- military personnel -- had a "constitutional" right to vote in the people's decolonization plebiscite.

However, he said, the indigenous Chamorro people in the Marianas and the other island residents were denied the right to vote in United States elections. The United States also continued to deprive the people of Guam their right to land, even as they caused the toxic pollution that was irreparably damaging the environment. The United States military also threatened the integrity of the land through economic colonization, and colonialism had also caused irreparable harm to bodies of land and water. For those and other reasons, the Fourth Committee must immediately enact the process of decolonization for Guam in lieu of the severe, irreversible impacts of United States militarization. The process must include the maximum funding allowed to achieve a far-reaching education campaign informing all Chamorus from Guam of their right to self-determination and decolonization options, he said.

HOPE ALVAREZ CRISTOBAL, Guahan Coalition for Peace and Justice, said the Chamorro people of Guam had a long history as a free and independent people, interrupted by over 450 years of colonization by outside nations beginning in the sixteenth century. She said that earlier United Nations resolutions had addressed military issues in the operative clause calling on the administering Power "to ensure that the presence of military bases and installations would not constitute an obstacle to decolonization". However, she said the United Nations today seemed satisfied with obscure reference to the military -- the single most serious impediment to decolonization. Those types of changes undermined the intent and purpose of the United Nations Charter, especially Chapter 11, devoted to the "territories whose people had not attained a full measure of self-government".

The administering Power of Guam had in the past cited the issue of its military activities as one of the reasons why that Power would no longer cooperate with the Committee. She noted the "positive light" used to describe the massive militarization of Guam in the working paper, which said its inhabitants "generally welcomed the build-up", and she said nothing could be further from the truth. The militarization of the Chamorro people through the militarization of Guam, combined with over a century of United States immigration policies, was a flagrant violation by the administering Power of accepted standards in its fiduciary responsibilities, and must be addressed.

JULIAN AGUON, speaking on behalf of the Chamoru Nation, said instead of advancing the decolonization mandate of Guam, the United States was engaged in the largest military build-up in recent history, with plans that would bring, among other things, 50,000 people and six nuclear submarines. The United States pledge in 1946 to ensure its decolonization mandate on Guam had, half a century later, become "politically empty and spiritually murderous" words, and the Chamorro people continued to live in colonial conditions. That was why his delegation had come to New York, year after year to, in effect, "throw ourselves on the funeral pyre that is the United Nations decolonization apparatus".

Self-determination, as outlined in the United Nations Charter and international conventions, was an inalienable right, he said. As a Member State, the United States was bound to protect and advance the human rights articulated within the United Nations system. "We need United Nations intervention into the increasingly desperate human rights situation in Guam," he said. "The hyper-militarization of Guam is no doubt illegal under any principled construction of international law."

DAVID ROBERTS, PhD candidate in the Department of Geography of the University of Toronto, said that the United Nations must work for a just solution in Guam, based on the understanding that Guam's status as a non-self-governing entity effected the ability of the Chamorro people to make crucial decisions about their lives and where they lived. He maintained that Guam's virtual status as a colony should be abhorrent to those who champion democracy around the world.

He urged the Committee to give top priority to the fulfilment of the right of Chamorro to self-determination through a decolonization process that included a fully-funded campaign informing all Chamorro from Guam of their rights and options. The Committee, with United Nations funding, must investigate the administering Power's non-compliance with its international obligation to promote the economic, social and cultural well-being of Guam, and must send a team within the next six months to assess the effects of the past and future militarization of the island. Finally, he said the Committee must comply with the Indigenous Forum's request for an expert seminar to examine the impact of the United Nations decolonization process on indigenous peoples.

MEGAN ROBERTO, of the University of California Berkeley Pacific Islander Alumni, said that, having been educated by one of the best universities in the world, she spoke English with no recollection of her mother tongue. She was a success story of the United States colonization of Guam. However, she questioned that success, wondering if leaving the island had been the best option for her family.

Continuing, she said the physical and emotional consequences that colonization had had on the remaining Chamorro who lived on Guahan pointed to a positive answer. Among other things, Chamorro people had been exposed to radiation, Agent Orange and Agent Purple as a result of the island being a decontamination site for the United States in the 1970s. The community was also robbed of its cultural resources. The effects of colonialism on the Chamorro people had travelled along with them in the forced migration and assimilation. However, forced migration was not self-determination.

She said that the Committee should give top priority to the fulfilment of her people's inalienable right to self-determination and immediately enact the process of decolonization of Guahan in lieu of severe, irreversible impacts of United States militarization. The process must include a fully-funded and far-reaching education campaign informing all Chamorro from Guahan of their right to self-determination and decolonization options.

The Committee must send United Nations representatives to the island within the next six months to assess the implications of United States militarization plans on the decolonization of Guahan and the human rights implications of the United States military presence. And finally, the Committee must comply with the recommendations of other United Nations agencies, especially the Permanent Forum in Indigenous Issues, which had recently requested an expert seminar to examine the impact of the United Nations decolonization process on indigenous peoples of Non-Self-Governing Territories.

JOSETTE MARIE QUINATA, Southern California Chapter of Famoksaiyan, said her homeland was threatened by the impending United States military build-up on Guam that was scheduled to begin in 2010. Yet Guam continued to be excluded from decisions that would affect the very people whose environment would be destroyed, and whose concerns were "second to militarization and colonialism". The question of Guam was not solely based on political turmoil and chaos among those who claimed Guam as a United States "possession", but also a reflection of Guam's identity, which continued to suffer from political hegemony and an administering Power that failed to recognize and respect political rights.

She recounted a dream in which she saw her ancestors, and spoke about revitalizing the Chamorro people and preserving their language and culture. She said that a "powerful calling" had kept her passion alive in understanding Guam's heritage and struggle for self-determination. She looked forward to creating a future "moved by heart, strength, and courage" to reaffirm that the question of Guam was a question of decolonization and the eradication of militarism and colonialism.

DESTINY TEDTAOTAO, a Graduate Student at the University of Southern California School of Social Work, speaking on behalf of the Chamorro grass-roots organization "I Nasion Chamoru", said that as the end Second Decade for the Eradication of Colonialism neared, Guam unfortunately still remained a Non-Self-Governing Territory under the United States. Guam continued to be a possession of its colonizers, and the Chamorro people were still being denied their rights to land and political destiny.

She said the devastation wrought on the island and its people created an uphill climb for self-determination. Yet, with the impending military build-up on Guam that was to start in 2010, she asked that the United Nations uphold the promise and "sacred trust" set forth in General Assembly resolutions 1514 and 1542, and ultimately hold accountable Guam's administering Power in recognizing and respecting its quest for self-determination.

The people of Guam were strong, and had a resilient culture that had continued to prevail amidst agonies of political disarray, militarism and colonial dominance. Yet, the people's voices for choosing their own political destiny had been silenced, ignored and misunderstood. Guam's administering Power had neglected the people's right as an indigenous people, and the people had long suffered at the hands of outside influences and decisions that neglected their voices and interests. As a daughter of Guam, self-determination was not only a word that encompassed and exuded empowerment, but also a struggle, she said.

Read the original United Nations General Assembly news release in its entirety, Hearing Petitioners on Questions of Gibraltar, Guam, Western Sahara, Fourth Committee Continues Decolonization Debate: Weary of ‘Empty Words', Speakers Urge Administering Powers to Live Up To International Obligations, Set Self-Determination Processes in Motion", October 7, 2009.

http://www.un.org/News/Press/docs/2009/gaspd424.doc.htm

Read the WebNEWSWIRE post in its entirety: "Hearing Petitioners on Questions of Gibraltar, Guam, Western Sahara, Fourth Committee Continues Decolonization Debate:UN", Submitted by Navneet Singh on October 8, 2009 - 20:43

http://www.webnewswire.com/node/470097

Okada acknowledges U.S. ties, but cites need for talks

Okada acknowledges U.S. ties, but cites need for talks

By Teri Weaver and Hana Kusumoto,
Stars and Stripes
Pacific edition, Friday, October 9, 2009

TOKYO — Japan’s new foreign minister on Wednesday again stressed the need for renewed talks about a long-term plan to realign troops on Okinawa.

Katsuya Okada acknowledged the 2006 agreement that set in motion many moves involving security in Japan, including a relocation of a Marine air station on Okinawa.

But Okada, in his third week as Japan’s top diplomat, said he wants to lessen the burden Okinawa bears as the home to about half of the U.S. troops stationed in Japan. He’s put the issue on a list of topics to tackle in his first 100 days in office.

“The U.S.-Japanese alliance is extremely important,” Okada said at his first news conference as foreign minister at the Foreign Correspondents’ Club of Japan.

“However, Japan has its own national interest and the United States has its own national interest,” Okada said. “And in true alliance, the two will discuss and adjust in order to realize their national interests … in past Japanese diplomacy, the U.S. basically made decisions and Japan was more or less dragged along.”

The Democratic Party of Japan has pushed to reopen the realignment agreement since it seized power from the Liberal Democratic Party, which had controlled Japan for nearly five decades.

The proposed air station on Okinawa has long concerned locals, who now have more power thanks to the political change and to Diet representatives who have pledged to stop the construction. The new air station is linked to plans to move 8,000 Marines on Okinawa to Guam, a plan that the U.S. military says is still under way.

Following the elections, U.S. military officials stood firmly by the plan, saying that it could not be rewritten. Two weeks ago, Assistant Secretary of State Kurt Campbell met with Okada and toned down the response, saying the United States was committed to listening to concerns.

A draft budget plan is due out from the Japanese government Oct. 15. The spending plan may give an indication of how much Japan wants to renegotiate.

On Wednesday, Okada also talked about the money Japan is sending to Afghanistan to counter Taliban efforts, including funds that pay for 50 percent of Afghan police salaries.

He also said Japan would continue to support talks between the U.S. and North Korea, so long as Japan, China, South Korea and Russia have a final say in negotiations with the reclusive country.

Okada said that, despite the talk about the realignment plan, he sees Japan continuing to rely on the United States for security in the region.

“We depend on the U.S.,” he said, adding that the relationship stretches beyond the military to economic, cultural and societal interests.

“We do not have any plans to go away from this pillar.”

Residents & officials want more time, more input

Residents & officials want more time, more input

Posted: Oct 06, 2009 11:01 PM PDT
Updated: Oct 06, 2009 11:11 PM PDT

by Janjeera Hail

Frustrations are mounting as preparations for the impending military buildup continue on a daily basis. Senators have already expressed concerns after a briefing with the Joint Guam Program Office on Monday, and now KUAM News has confirmed more discussions will be held in Hawaii this week.

But officials and island residents are calling for more time and more input.

"I don't think that's ample time," stated Guam resident Tessy Paulino. After receiving an invitation just five days ago, Bureau of Statistics & Plans Director Tony Lamorena will make his way to Hawaii to attend a technical review of the more than 8,000-page Draft Environmental Impact Statement of the military buildup. He said, "Because of the lateness of the invitation I am the only one going. And so I am working very closely with the other regulatory agencies so I can get all their issues and concerns so I can relay that message to the team."

Lamorena says the DEIS was divided among the corresponding local and federal agencies so it could be reviewed and commented on as quickly as possible. He expressed frustration that the decision was made to hold the meeting in Honolulu, thousands of miles from the island and the people it will directly impact.

"It should be held on Guam," he maintained. "I really think a project of this magnitude should be held on Guam so we can get the input of as many regulatory agencies as possible."

While some island residents like Jon-Carl Peterson expressed faith that there is true concern behind the military's actions, saying, "I feel like it's not so courteous but yet at the same time I'm sure there's a rush and a reason they gave us a deadline. I mean, if they gave us a hundred days would we get it done?"

Others, like Paulino, are disappointed, saying there's a possibility the military's recent actions could reflect a broader disregard for local input that will continue through the buildup. "It could be, yeah. That's pretty sad and disappointing news though."

Island residents and local leaders will have a chance to voice their concerns when a public review is held in November.

Vice-Speaker B.J. Cruz joined some of his other colleagues who have already written officials asking for additional time to review the DEIS. Additionally, Cruz has written Governor Felix Camacho asking information about Matrix Design Group, Inc. and its role as the government's advisor for the review and comment process.

The Vice-Speaker is concerned that the Legislature was excluded from consultation services in the Administration's request for proposal for advisory services.

Reparations provision not included in Defense Authorization Act

Reparations provision not included in Defense Authorization Act

Posted: Oct 07, 2009 3:39 PM PDT
Updated: Oct 07, 2009 5:12 PM PDT

by Mindy Aguon

The House and Senate Armed Services Committees have reached agreement on the conference report to H.R. 2647, the Fiscal Year 2010 National Defense Authorization Act, but the report does not include the Guam World War II Loyalty Recognition Act that island residents and leaders had been pushing for.

House Armed Services Committee Chair Ike Skelton made the announcement that the agreement had been reached as H.R. 2647 authorizes $550.2 billion in budget authority for the Department of Defense and the national security programs of the Department of Energy.

The bill also authorizes $130 billion to support overseas contingency operations during FY2010. A review of the agreed upon report does not include any reference to war reparations for the island of Guam for the thousands who suffered and died during the Japanese occupation. Hundreds of island residents and elected leaders had been pushing

Senate members to support the inclusion and President Barack Obama sent a letter of support as well providing hope that the provision would be a part of the final product.

Chairman Skelton released a statement saying, "This defense bill reflects our commitment to support U.S. service members and their families and to provide the necessary resources to keep Americans safe and protect our national interests. The conference report to this year's defense bill promotes our main policy objectives: restoring military readiness; taking care of our troops and their families; focusing on our strategy in Afghanistan and Pakistan and on redeployment from Iraq; eliminating waste and recovering savings through acquisition reform; and maintaining robust oversight of the Department of Defense."

"I did not accept the offer from the Senate conferees because it would not recognize all of those who endured Guam's occupation," Congresswoman Madeleine Z. Bordallo said today. "While I am disappointed that H.R. 44 was not included in the final defense authorization bill, the compromise that was reached allows another opportunity to build on the progress we have made and to bring closure to this issue within a year. I believe that hearings on H.R. 44 would allow the Senate's concerns to be aired openly, and to have our concerns heard by the House and Senate Armed Services Committees. I will continue to build on the support that we have received from the House leadership, the Obama Administration and key committees in the Senate."

Guam's congressional delegate added, "I believe that our local leaders and our community would use this opportunity to help us make Guam's case for H.R. 44 and for full inclusion of all those affected by the occupation. We are on a path to closure, and we have additional time to make our case. I hope that the commitments made by the House and Senate conferees to hold hearings and to readdress war claims in next year's bill will give us the best opportunity to resolve this issue and to finally have closure."

Some victims of the WWII occupation have taken it upon themselves to lead the movement lobbying Guam's congressional representative and senators like Senator John McCain and Senator Carl Levin who sit on the Senate Armed Services Committee to make sure that the war reparations were included in the final senate version. Leonard Aguigui said he was heartbroken and questions how the people of Guam will be able to feel comfortable with this new influx of military on the island.

"Well, I don't know what else to do or what else to say. I'm very disappointed in it. I'm not upset with our Congresswoman, I know she did everything she could do, but I'm very disappointed in the Senate. This thing may have an affect on the build up in Guam. if you can't give us justice, then what are you doing here? Are we just a pawn?" he said.

Aguigui says this was his last chance and his generation will not feel duly compensated for all they have sacrificed once this news reaches the community. "They don't care what happens to us. We are still part of the U.S. like any other citizen in the continental U.S. Why can't they think this way? We aren't asking much. We are just asking what is due to us. That is all we are asking for," added Aguigui.

Cruz: Extend time for buildup study's review

Cruz: Extend time for buildup study's review

By Dionesis Tamondong • Pacific Daily News • October 8, 2009

Vice Speaker Benjamin Cruz has asked the Joint Guam Program Office to extend the review period of the draft Environmental Impact Statement.

In a letter to Maj. Gen. David Bice, executive director of the office coordinating the military buildup on Guam, Cruz said more time will be needed for the Legislature and the public to go over the study's 10,000 pages and to properly respond.

Cruz, in his letter, said keeping the review and comment period to 45 days would be "a disservice to the people of Guam."

The detailed study, which looks at the potential consequences the planned military projects will have on the island's environment, is set to be published Nov. 20 on the Federal Register.

Cruz noted the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency is allowing 60 days for people to comment on a proposed offshore disposal of dredged material from Apra Harbor.

"Surely, the sheer volume of the buildup (draft Environmental Impact Statement) and the complexity of issues it covers warrants a comment period longer than 45 days," his letter stated.