U.S. Military Overseas Presence in the Northeast Asia-Pacific Region
Abstract
Military presence overseas has been an important element of the United States National Security Strategy since World War II. The military's overseas basing has been a visible commitment to defend America's interests and its allies. This was particularly important to containing and deterring the spread of communism to foreign countries by the Soviet Union and other communist regimes. However with the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1989-1991 the threat from communist expansionism has diminished and appears to have eliminated the core rationale for maintaining an overseas presence. To remove all of our forces and close our facilities in this region is not a practical solution. Such a policy change ignores the reality of our commitment to our allies and would negatively affect our ability to rapidly engage an adversary overseas. The more relevant issue confronting the Defense Department is whether or not our overseas bases could be reconfigured as power projection sites rather than static installations. Is it possible to reduce the overseas installation footprint by repositioning forces without degrading our military capabilities? Would a repositioning of forces have a detrimental impact on our relations with our Allies?
Document Details
- Document Type
- Technical Report
- Publication Date
- Mar 19, 2004
- Accession Number
- ADA423938
Entities
People
- Scott R. Thon
Organizations
- United States Army War College