THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Saturday, September 16, 1995 TAG: 9509160271
SECTION: FRONT PAGE: A1 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY DALE EISMAN, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: WASHINGTON LENGTH: Medium: 81 lines
The Marines never run from a fight on the battlefield, but that doesn't mean they don't know how to avoid one.
A report Friday that the leathernecks' new commandant, Gen. Charles Krulak, wants to move troops and additional Navy ships from the Atlantic coast to the Pacific had the Corps looking for cover.
While Krulak's boss, Navy Secretary John H. Dalton, quickly issued a statement suggesting that no transfers are being considered, a Marine spokesman said that statements attributed to the commandant by a former New York Times reporter resulted from a misunderstanding.
What Krulak wants, the spokesman said, is for military thinkers to focus more attention on Asia. That need not translate into the stationing of more troops or ships in the Pacific, he said.
As the sea services' top civilian, Dalton would have to sign off on any shift in forces. He said Friday that he wants the sea services to follow changes in the Pacific closely, ``but we do not do so at the expense of our commitments around the world. We are a global force.''
Dalton disclosed that he recently asked Undersecretary Richard Danzig ``to convene a roundtable forum on Asian issues.''
``This group will consider national and regional security issues and our ability to provide the president the response options he requires,'' Dalton said. ``It's a strategic thought process here, not a force structure study.''
The rhetorical maneuvers came as copies of former Times reporter Richard Halloran's account of an interview he conducted with Krulak earlier this month in Honolulu circulated in the Pentagon.
Now living in Hawaii and writing a book on Asia's growing importance in world affairs, Halloran reported that Krulak told him that ``perhaps the time has come to shift some of our assets,'' from the Atlantic to the Pacific.
Such a move could have far-reaching implications for Hampton Roads, the Navy's East Coast center of operations, and for North and South Carolina, home to the East's est concentration of Marines. In addition to needing approval from Dalton and Defense Secretary William J. Perry, the shift would require Congress' blessing.
``I don't see it happening,'' said Rep. Owen B. Pickett, a Democrat who represents Hampton Roads.
``We do have vital national interests in the western Pacific, which we will protect,'' Pickett said. But the U.S. is reducing, not expanding, its foreign basing of troops and ships, he pointed out, and can dispatch forces to the Atlantic or Pacific as needed.
Krulak's comments come as the Navy's attention, and that of most of the rest of the U.S. military, is focused on an ``Atlantic'' issue: the civil war in Bosnia. A flotilla of U.S. ships in the Adriatic this month has launched airstrikes and missile attacks against Bosnian Serb positions; Marines in June rescued a downed Air Force pilot.
In his interview with Halloran, Krulak said his ideas about a shift in emphasis toward the Pacific have received enthusiastic support from the chief of naval operations, Adm. Mike Boorda.
As commandant, Krulak is a member of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, the senior military advisers to the secretary of defense and the president. The general, who commanded the Marines in the Pacific from his headquarters in Hawaii until he went to Washington to become commandant July 1, told Halloran he wants to reinforce the U.S. commitment to the security of the Pacific and Asia.
``One of the things I'm trying to do,'' he said, ``is to take the Pacific perspective to the joint staff.''
Since the end of the Vietnam War, the U.S. has deployed more forces to the Atlantic and Europe than to the Pacific and Asia.
Budget cuts have left the forces roughly in balance today, with about 100,000 troops each in the Atlantic and Pacific. Two-thirds of the Marines' combat power is stationed on the West Coast or in Hawaii and Okinawa, however.
The general said that to reassure Asian leaders who have grown increasingly uneasy about the U.S. commitment to the region, the American military presence has to be visible. ILLUSTRATION: [Color Photo]
A report Friday that the leathernecks' new commandant, Gen Charles
Krulak, wants to move troops and additional Navy ships from the
Atlantic coast to the Pacific had the Corps looking for cover.
by CNB