The House Armed Services Committee unveiled its “Asia-Pacific Region Priority Act” Monday afternoon, previewing several requests for studies, recommendations to the Defense Department and “sense of Congress” provisions that will be incorporated into the National Defense Authorization Act and future standalone language.
After six months of hearings and meetings, Reps. Randy Forbes (R-Va.) and Colleen Hanabusa (D-Hawaii) wrapped up this phase of their work in an attempt to answer the questions, “what is Asia-Pacific? What would a pivot entail?” Hanabusa said.
The two told reporters that many of the items in their bill require further studies–among them, the Office of Net Assessment (ONA) will study the balance of maritime forces in the Pacific as China modernizes and grows its Navy, ONA will study the Russian and Chinese threat to U.S. space capabilities, and DoD will seek an independent assessment of anti-access/area-denial challenges in the Pacific. Hanabusa stressed that these studies are not redundant, but rather fill in the gaps in Congress’s knowledge of the Asia-Pacific region and ensure the whole of government has its definitions and jurisdictions in sync as various departments move forward with the pivot.
Forbes noted that the Asia-Pacific is “an area we think is going to be vitally important for the security and also for the economic prosperity of our country for years to come.” But despite the region’s importance, DoD was still hit with across-the-board sequestration cuts, hurting operations and assets needed for Pacific operations in the same way it did for lesser priorities.
With the Defense Department struggling to tie specific actions or platforms to the pivot in a plain-to-see manner, Hanabusa said it was important to help the rest of Congress understand what is at stake with the pivot so that next time budget cuts come along, perhaps important relationships, training and acquisition specific to the Asia-Pacific rebalance could be spared.
Aside from the studies, the bill would establish a Defense Unmanned Systems Office to coordinate research and development through deployment of unmanned systems. Forbes said this provision came largely from a conversation with the Center for Strategic and International Studies, and the hope is that a central office will not only monitor the systems’ performance during testing and operations but will also ensure the greatest cost-benefit to the United States and the greatest cost-imposition to potential enemies.
The bill would also require the services to examine their munitions capabilities and the health of the associated industrial base, which would be compiled into a Pacific Command Munitions Strategy. The need for a focus on PACOM-specific munitions was made clear earlier this year, when HASC Chairman Buck McKeon (R-Calif.) requested an Unfunded Priorities List from the services and combatant commanders and the PACOM commander wrote back with a list almost exclusively of munitions: Advanced Medium-Range Air-to-Air Missiles, Joint Air-to-Surface Standoff Missile-Extended Range, cluster bombs, guided bombs and more.