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Pacific Chief Vows to Make Region 'Terrorist-Unfriendly'
Friday, February 22, 2002
By Linda D. Kozaryn
American Forces Press Service

"As President Arroyo has emphasized, defeating terrorism in the Philippines requires both a war on terrorism and a war on poverty, and the Philippine plan addresses both fronts. The U.S. military support is just one piece of a more comprehensive effort.”

WASHINGTON -- AFIS
U.S. Navy Adm. Dennis C. Blair wants to ensure the Asian Pacific region is "a very unfriendly place for terrorists who may be looking for new homes."

The commander in chief of U.S. Pacific Command said he's intensified the command's counter-terrorism offensive. He talked about the command's effort in an address at the National Defense University here Thursday. When President Bush launched the war against terrorism, Blair said, U.S. forces in the Pacific did not take off "from a cold start."

"Based on our previous efforts against terrorism, drugs and other transnational threats," he said, "we realized quickly that the key to victory is a sustained, unprecedented, relentless, cooperative effort among all the countries in the region against the common threat."

Command officials created a new counter-terrorism division, upped intelligence efforts and began building interagency and international links. They deployed personnel to U.S. embassies in the Philippines, Indonesia, Malaysia and India to better integrate operations with interagency country teams.

The Joint Intelligence Center, Pacific rapidly enhanced its support to the counter-terrorism mission. Analysis of the threat in the region has significantly improved, Blair said, "with increased collection, analysis, reporting, and sharing of information."

Since September 11th, Blair said he has visited the Philippines, Thailand, Malaysia, Indonesia, India, Singapore, Japan and Korea. He's met with the U.S. ambassador to each country and with key senior government and military leaders to discuss U.S. intentions and practical ways to link up.
(More: DoD News Source)
2002 © The United States Department of Defense.

Dan