Adm. Dennis C. Blair
Commander in Chief, U.S. Pacific Command
Question: The U.S. Navy has been successful raising the Ehime Maru, and now six bodies have been found so far. What is your assessment of this?
Adm. Blair: First let me say that it was not just the U.S. Navy that was involved in the operation. We had Japanese Maritime Self Defense Force ships assisting and Japanese divers are also alongside U.S. divers right now as we work through the Ehime Maru.
It was a very difficult operation, as you know. There were several unsuccessful attempts to raise it, but I think the persistence and the teamwork and the ingenuity of the diving team made it possible. It was the right thing to do.
Question: Many Japanese people very surprised that you decided to continue the Ehime Maru operation even after the September 11th attack. Why did you decide to continue the operation even after the attack?
Adm. Blair: There really was not a question. We were committed to completing that operation so we went ahead and completed it. It never really entered our minds to stop the very important job. So we felt it was important. We felt that it was at a very critical time in the recovery operation so we continued on with the operation.
Question: Why do you think the Ehime Maru operation was so important?
Adm. Blair: Well, the circumstances of the collision were just what made it important. Our submarine made a tragic mistake. We felt it was our duty to do whatever we could to help the families whose loved ones were lost in that collision, and raising the ship and recovering the bodies was the most important thing that we could do.
It was also because of the nature of our relationship with Japan that we considered it important -- our alliance, our friendship, and our duty.
Question: Would you like to say something to the families?
Adm. Blair: Let me just tell the families that nothing we can do will make up for the loss of their loved ones. We deeply regret the entire incident and it should not have happened and we're very sorry that it did. But once it did happen, then the best thing we can do for the families is to recover their loved ones, to recover some objects -- rings or articles of clothing or other items which actually the families can help remember their loved ones. We thought that these things were the most important things we could do after the collision occurred, so we want to do them.
So our hearts are with the families. We wish them well in rebuilding their lives. We're glad they have some memories of their loved ones for the future.
Question: Let me ask you about the campaign against terrorism.
Adm. Blair: Like almost everything we do, the campaign against terrorism will be a team effort. Not only our military forces here in the Pacific, but also the forces of the law enforcement authorities like the FBI, Treasury authorities from the Department of the Treasury. We're working with intelligence services. And we're working very closely with other countries, both their military force and their law enforcement services and also intelligence exchanges. So it's really an international team effort in order to eliminate terrorism.
We're looking forward to working with Japan and its forces. Japan has responded very quickly with protection for our bases in Japan and when legislation is passed and when Japan is clear to deploy its military forces, Self Defense forces, we look forward to working with them also.
Question: Could you explain to us in what way you are involved in the war on terrorism?
Adm. Blair: Our primary contribution is sending some of our Pacific forces to the Central Command where they're involved in the operations in Afghanistan. These include the Kitty Hawk stationed in Japan. This includes some Air Force tankers which are stationed in Kadena, Okinawa. Also some of our Pacific forces which are stationed in the United States such as the carrier battle group Vinson or the Peleliu Amphibious Ready Group. But that's been our primary contribution to the military operations in Afghanistan so far.
Question: What is your assessment of the operation so far?
Adm. Blair: So far the operation is on track as I read the reports. Osama bin Laden and the al Qaeda forces are on the defensive, which means that they do not have the luxury of a sanctuary and a safe place from which they can plan operations against others the way they did on September 11th and the way they could against other countries. So it's important that they be on the defensive.
It will be a longer time before the campaign is finished and when we can actually eliminate the terrorist threat, but I think the earliest part of it is going well.
Question: You have been providing some forces to Central Command. That could play a role in the defense of Korea.
Adm. Blair: We looked very carefully at the responsibilities that we have within Eastern Asia as we moved our forces.
For example, you mentioned Korea. We moved a squadron of F-15 aircraft from Alaska to Korea to fill in some of the gap that was left when the Kitty Hawk departed. We made other adjustments in our forces so that we can maintain deterrence in the key areas in East Asia. So we have taken that into account.
As you know, we've recalled some reservists into our forces, so we have maintained deterrence in Eastern Asia while we are contributing forces to Southwest Asia.
Question: How important a role is the USS Kitty Hawk playing?
Adm. Blair: I'd rather not go into the operational details of what the Kitty Hawk is doing, but what the aircraft carrier provides is a great deal of flexibility. It provides a good floating logistics base that we can use for many purposes, whether launching aircraft or launching other platforms, and so it's playing an important role.
Question: Why didn’t you send the USS Essex to the Central Command instead of the Kitty Hawk?
Adm. Blair: Both the Essex and the Kitty Hawk are capable of operating helicopters and aircraft, but the Kitty Hawk, because of its larger size, has more flexibility and more capacity. That's the advantage that it has and that's why it was chosen.
Question: Do you feel any concern in the Asian Pacific like in Indonesia because Indonesia has seen demonstrations against the U.S. forces in the campaign?
Adm. Blair: There are many different countries which are supporting the United States in this campaign, and Indonesia has officially expressed support for the campaign. There is no question that in a democratic country like Indonesia there are many different expressions of opinions, and there are some within Indonesia who object to the U.S. campaign and they're expressing that objection. But the policy of the Indonesian government has been to support the United States. They're providing also protection for our embassy and our citizens against some of the more unruly citizens of Indonesia. So we think that Indonesia is playing a helpful role right now.
Question: Do you expect to conduct non-combatant evacuation operations in Indonesia?
Adm. Blair: There are no areas in which we are immediately worried about non-combatant evacuation operations. Some Americans have left certain areas of their own accord, but we're not concerned right now with military non-combatant evacuation operations. We think that the countries in the region are protecting our citizens and the citizens of Japan and other countries, as they should.
Question: How will you destroy the network of al Qaeda in the Asian Pacific region?
Adm. Blair: I think that there will be a team effort, as I mentioned earlier, that will involve our friends and allies and partners in the region. It involves a lot of exchange of intelligence information. And it involves action which is generally the responsibility of the host nation government.
Many governments have taken action, for instance, in regard to finances, to freezing accounts that have been used to provide money to al Qaeda sympathizers. In other cases it's a case of very careful customs and border regulations to ensure that the inspectors know the names of affected terrorists so they are stopped at the border.
I think this is going to be the main thrust of this sort of effort.
I would also mention that in a place like the Philippines where there's an organization like the Abu Sayaf group which has some sympathy and some connections with the al Qaeda group and has taken hostages and has killed hostages, the United States and the Philippines will be working together in order to eliminate that group. We have a team right now in the Philippines which is consulting with the Philippine government about what we can do to assist the campaign down there.
It will be a wide variety of activities, some of them military, most of them not military in nature, in order to eliminate the networks in the Asia Pacific region.
Question: Can you provide more detail about how you're working on the Philippine insurgency? Are you going to provide some forces or... What are you working on?
Adm. Blair: That's what the U.S. Team is determining right now. They're actually meeting with Philippine officials and comparing views and they'll come back with a recommendation on what sort of assistance would be most valuable. So we will be working on that here in the next couple of weeks.
In the past we have done some training activity which developed a Philippine unit for hostage rescue operations. That was a combination of training and some equipment. I think that sort of training and equipment model will certainly be carried forward. I'm not sure of the other aspects that we will decide on, but certainly there will be a training and an equipment component of it.
Question: Is there any other concerns about the terrorist networks in Asia-Pacific?
Adm. Blair: The Abu Sayaf group is one that is certainly important. Aside from that group the international terrorist groups are primarily in terms of sympathy and support and perhaps some infrastructure.
We have no country like Afghanistan in the Asia Pacific region in which there's a government which is actively abetting or sheltering an international terrorist group. So the international terrorist networks in the Asia Pacific region are more small cells, sympathizers, that sort of activity with the exception of this Abu Sayef group which is in really a different category.
Question: Do you have specific plan to protect American people who live in overseas locations?
Adm. Blair: We primarily rely on the host nations for the security of our people overseas, and I must say that Japan takes that responsibility very seriously and they're doing a very good job of it.
Similarly, our military forces that are stationed overseas such as those that we have in Japan receive a great deal of cooperation and support from Japan -- both the police force and in this most recent crisis the Japanese Self Defense force has assisted and is assisting in the protection of our people at their bases. I'm very satisfied with the measures that Japan has taken and very grateful to the Japanese government for the way that they have moved forward in that way.
Other countries in the region have also been very aggressive in that same way. The Republic of Korea, for example, has taken strong measures to ensure that our people there are safe.
I think the countries in the region all recognize that this is not just a threat to the United States. I mean citizens of many countries died in the World Trade Towers. There are high rise buildings in Tokyo and in Seoul and in Kuala Lumpur and in many other places which terrorists could attack and kill innocent people. So I think the countries of the region have really realized that this is a threat to all of us. It's not just an American campaign. I think that lies at the heart of the sort of cooperation that we're seeing in this campaign, and I think it really gives us a good basis, an optimism that we can win this campaign because so many countries are working on it so hard.
Question: The Japanese government is trying to pass a law to support the campaign. Specifically, what do you, specifically what do you think of the Japanese efforts to support this campaign?
Adm. Blair: Let me first say that that decision, of course, is Japan's to make. Not mine to make. It's being made in a full consultative process with the Prime Minister and the Diet and a great deal of public discussion.
But I think the direction that Japan is moving is a very positive one. Japanese leadership understands this is a threat to all of us and we all have a role to play. So there are many different areas in which we can cooperate. We've already mentioned some of them. The protection of U.S. citizens and Japanese citizens throughout the region, exchange of intelligence information, and on the military side it's a case of support and a great deal of watchful activity that needs to be done.
There are many ships that pass through the narrow waters of the Straits of Malacca, for example. Japan has in the past been at the forefront of strengthening international efforts to stop piracy in this region. This region is also susceptible to terrorist attacks as it is to pirate attacks. In many cases pirates and terrorists use the same techniques. So certainly Japan's efforts against piracy would be applicable to the campaign against terrorism also.
Logistic support is very, very important for military operations, and if Japan can provide logistic support for U.S. Navy ships that would be very useful, too.
These are some of the areas that I think would be useful, but let me repeat that this is Japan's decision to make, and we will be ready to cooperate with Japan when it makes its decision.
Question: Is there a specific request you’ve made? How do you want Japan’s support?
Adm. Blair: Right now our areas of interest are general. If the legislation is passed and the orders are given to the Japanese Self Defense Force, then we can assess specific things. But we will have to wait until the policy decisions are made.
There are many other countries which are helping us now in the region -- Australia is assisting. In addition the United Kingdom is assisting. So there are many examples of the kind of military support which is being made available. So when Japan is able to join, we can have a specific discussion.
Question: What is the future vision of security against terrorists?
Adm. Blair: I think once we finish this active campaign of the war against terrorism, surely continued vigilance. Very steady and hard attention to it.
I would point at the model of the Japanese campaign against the Aum Shin Rikyo cult. There was the terrible incident in the subway where people were killed. Then, following that incident, as I understand it, Japanese security forces mobilized and pursued a very relentless, focused campaign against Aum Shin Rikyo in which it did not falter, and resulted in the arrests and the breaking up of that ring. That's the sort of sustained effort we need once we pass this initial phase. Much of it will be not in the headlines, but will be behind the scenes. It will be the steady work of many people piecing together intelligence and financial records and making it difficult for terrorists to do their business around the world. It's that kind of a steady, relentless, international campaign that we need to do for the long term in order to free our people from this threat which they face now.
Question: Do you have a specific plan to involve nations in the Pacific in the war on terrorism?
Adm. Blair: We have the elements of a plan but the actual form is being determined. I notice, for example, that in the Association of Southeast Asia Nations there are proposals for conferences on this campaign on many levels. Heads of states and ministers and others.
Here in Hawaii we will be having a conference of Regional Chiefs of Defense Staff from 19 countries around the region. The Chairman of the Joint Security Office, General Takeguchi will be here for that conference. So will our Chairman, General Myers, and certainly the campaign against terrorism will be discussed at that conference.
So there will be many different forums at which this plan will be worked out. Although the plan will be fixed in its goal, it will be very flexible in the way that it's implemented because we are coming up with new ways to deal with this new threat all the time. So I think that conferences and coordination and individual action plans will be developed as we move along in this campaign.
Question: Do you think it’s possible we could see acts of terrorism in the Asian-Pacific?
Adm. Blair: With the growth of international transportation available these days, information, with the free flow of money, all the things that have made the world such an interconnected place offer opportunities also offer opportunities to the bad people to make attacks. So no place is really safe with the sort of world that we have. So what we have to do is continue to attack, to take the offensive against these international terrorist groups so that they cannot move around our world, gather their people, gather their supplies and make attacks against us.
So we have to take the offensive and intelligence information we have seen that some of these international groups have thought about attacks in many, many areas throughout the Asia Pacific region, so we must go after them in order to wipe out the threat so that they do not have a free opportunity to come to attack our citizens where they live.
Question: Do you think the Japanese Self Defense Force, but also other nations in the Asia Pacific must transform their militaries? Because our primary mission is to defend our country, but terrorism represents a new mission for our country. We don’t know where the threats are coming from. Do you think we have to transform the military?
Adm. Blair: I think that most countries are realizing now that defense of their country has a wider meaning than perhaps the traditional concept.
In the Asia Pacific region I talk about seams of lawlessness. These are areas in which the law and order authority of a government simply does not extend. And in these seams of lawlessness narcotics are produced and then transported; hostages are taken; pirates attack our citizens; international terrorists, components of weapons of mass destruction can be moved around. And these seams of lawlessness run from the southern Philippines where this Abu Sayaf group is operating, through Burma where narcotics are made in the golden triangle, out to the Straits of Malacca where pirates are operating. I think we're realizing that these seams of lawlessness need to be closed. Governments need to cooperate so that law and order is enforced in these areas, so that honest citizens can do honest work, so that the outlaws cannot simply live there and cause problems which kill and injure our citizens. I think it's very much in the interest of all of the countries of the region to act cooperatively, in a team way, to eliminate these seams of lawlessness. That would go a long way towards taking care of international terrorism, towards taking care of drug trafficking, international crime. Illegal migration is another of these threats that thrive in these seams of lawlessness.
So we look forward to Japan Forces when its government makes that decision to cooperate, in closing these seams of lawlessness so that the threat to our countries and our citizens from all of these types of activity, whether they be terrorism or drugs, can be eliminated. I think those are the challenges of the 21st Century. And yes, our armed forces will have to make some changes to be able to deal with those threats.
Adm. Blair: Thank you.
(END)
