The House Armed Services Committee leadership unveiled the HASC Asia-Pacific Oversight Series, a five-month-long slate of oversight activities focused on the Obama Administration’s Asia-Pacific rebalance. Rep. Randy Forbes (R-Va.), chairman of the HASC seapower and projection forces panel, will lead the effort, along with HASC member Rep. Colleen Hanabusa (D-Hawaii). The series will consist of committee hearings, closed briefings, and other engagements between now and early 2014 to help answer operational and tactical questions about how the US military will posture in the region in the coming years, states the committee’s Oct. 29 release. The committee will solicit input from US Pacific Command officials, regional ambassadors, and others, states the release. “There is a broad consensus at a strategic level to continue the now seven-decade-old project to maintain a stable balance of power in the region,” said Forbes. “It is time for Congress to devote more of our resources and energy to providing leadership in this arena,” said Hanabusa. Among the upcoming events will be hearings on: the Pentagon’s rebalance efforts; responding to Chinese military space capabilities; regional maritime disputes; and responding to Chinese naval and aerospace modernization. (See also Hanabusa release and Forbes-Hanabusa op-ed piece.)
Amid NATO’s continued push to ramp up air defenses in Eastern Europe, Secretary of the Air Force Frank Kendall swung by seven allied countries to boost relations last week, including those on Russia’s and Ukraine’s doorstep.