- Transcript from HASC, 31 March 04
REP. LARSEN: I was here. I had to step out for a meeting. I'm
sure that was the case. Admiral Fargo, in your testimony you talked
about your maritime security initiative and how it's part of the PSI.
I think I gathered that -- Proliferation Security Initiative. Could
you update us on how that cooperation is working? Could you just give
us a feeling of operationally how it's working, what hasn't worked and
how we can improve it?
ADM. FARGO: Congressman, I'd be happy to. We have proposed what's
called the Regional Maritime Security Initiative, which I believe will
help operationalize the policy that's been set forth in PSI. Fundamentally
we don't have as clear a view of the sea space, the maritime space,
as we do the airspace today. An aircraft takes off today -- we know
where it's going, who's on board and we know its status pretty much
throughout its trip. We can't say that about the sea space right now.
And we certainly know that an awful lot of the transnational threat
and transnational crime is communicated through the sea space. And by
that I mean terrorism and the trafficking in drugs and humans and piracy,
and so on. So our proposal is that we need to put together an architecture,
if you will, that allows us to share information and share intelligence
that puts standing operating procedures in place with the countries
of the region, such that we can take effective action against this illicit
activity. There's very large, widespread support for this initiative.
I just came back from Singapore and had a very solid conversation with
the "Sings" and they're going to help us with this. My instinct,
it probably ought to start at the Straits of Molucca and work its way
out, because the Straits of Molucca are fundamental to the movement
of all of the energy through the region. So this is a pretty large and
complex undertaking, but I think it's particularly important for our
future. We need to know who's moving through the sea space. We need
to know the status of those ships. We need participation from the vast
majority of them so that we can single out and cue on those that aren't
within the law.
REP. LARSEN: A couple of questions on that. Although this is
-- the PSI is a relatively new initiative from the administration, certainly
it seems to be an important one to help us with proliferation threats.
However, how new is it for you, and do you need new resource to specifically
do it? Second, a lot of the countries that are part of the PSI are not
in this region. Australia is, but, you know, Spain and Portugal and
the U.K., and so on. So what kind of cooperation do you expect from
-- you mentioned Singapore, but other countries like Malaysia, Indonesia,
any other country that we can point to as a partner in the war on terrorism.
ADM. FARGO: Well, I certainly expect expanding cooperation on
PSI. You know, most recently India has indicated to us that they'd like
to be part of PSI. Singapore has recently joined. And certainly with
respect to the Regional Maritime Security Initiative, I expect a very
broad range of support. All of the countries in the region are concerned
about the transnational threat. As I mentioned, it's terrorism and proliferation,
but even the trafficking in humans is a concern. So we need to gain
control of the sea space. I think you'll find that all of the countries
in the region have an equity here and a means to make a contribution,
however modest.
REP. LARSEN: Do you feel you're adequately resourced to implement
this?
ADM. FARGO: Well, I think we're going to have to do -- we're
going to have to rely on some old capabilities that we've used in the
past in the war on drugs -- our ability to conduct detection and monitoring;
our ability, as we have enforced previous embargoes, to do maritime
interdiction operations. These are skill sets that apply also with this
particular requirement. But I think we're also going to have to take
a look at how we transform our capability to deal with it. You know,
we're looking at things like high-speed vessels, putting Special Operations
Forces on high-speed vessels, putting, potentially, Marines on high-speed
vessels so that we can use boats that might be incorporated with these
vessels to conduct effective interdiction in, once again, these sea
lines of communications where terrorists are known to move about and
transmit throughout the region.
REP. LARSEN: Just quickly, one last question, something different.
Is any decisions made or thoughts given to repositioning existing aircraft
carriers into -- from the West Coast, or the East Coast for that matter,
into the Pacific?
ADM. FARGO: Well, I think as we've stated pretty clearly, we're
taking a look at the global integrated force posture and footprint,
and certainly this will be one of the key issues that we look at as
part of this total review. You know, the importance of Asia and the
Pacific I think is well understood and has been stated clearly by the
president. It's very important to the future. Forty-four percent of
the gross domestic product of the world right now is just in Northeast
Asia alone, when you take a look at the United States and China and
Japan and the Republic of Korea. And that's only going to grow. So the
importance of the Pacific and East Asia is going to be tremendously
important in the security of our country.
REP. LARSEN: Thank you. Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
-- Federal News Service
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