Ka‘ū News Briefs, Monday, March 14, 2022

 

U.S. military conducts training on Hawai'i Island, like this session at Pohakuloa called Exercise Lava Viper. The US. Department of Defense budget, passed last week, includes funding a study to create noise contour maps to be incorporated in community planning through a Noise Mitigation Community Partnership Program. See more on military funding for Hawai'i below. Photo from U.S. Department of Defense

MANY PRIORITIES FOR HAWAI'I ARE INCLUDED IN BILLIONS OF DOLLARS IN DEFENSE SPENDING APPROVED LAST WEEK BY CONGRESS, said U.S. Rep. Ed Case. He is a member of the House Committee on Appropriations, responsible for all federal discretionary spending. Case voted March 9 with a majority of his colleagues to pass the $1.5 trillion funding for the federal government for the current fiscal year. The measure awaits the President’s signature.
    Among local funding measure is $4 million to expand the work of the Daniel K. Inouye Asia-Pacific Center for Security Studies, the premier defense-supported research and education center in that fosters shared understanding and networked relationships among civilian and military leaders throughout the Indo-Pacific.
    Another $293 million for Environmental Restoration will help accelerate efforts to remove unexploded ordnance and discarded military munitions in Hawai‘i and throughout the nation.
    The budget also funds a study from the DoD’s Office of Local Defense Community Cooperation on how local communities are impacted by military helicopter and tiltrotor noise. This study will result in noise contour maps that can be incorporated in community planning through the OLDCC’s existing Noise Mitigation Community Partnership Program.
    The funding includes $235 million for military construction throughout the state, and billions to fund the Pacific Deterrence Initiative to strengthen America’s national security in the Indo-Pacific and Hawai'i’s central role. The language includes a military contracting preference for Native American tribes and Native Hawaiian Organizations.
    Case stressed the Pacific Deterrence Initiative as key to ensuring a free and open Indo-Pacific. “PDI provides the foundation for establishing a forward-deployed, properly equipped and postured force to deter aggression and assure our allies and partners,” he explained. “We must deter and deny our adversaries’ ability to engage in acts of aggression or coercion against our partners and allies. We need investments in Guam, our Pacific Island partners, training ranges throughout the Indo-Pacific and a new generation of weapons to overcome the tyranny of distance.”
    Case emphasized continued Congressional support for the Homeland Defense Radar Hawai‘i. “Given the prominence of Hawaii’s military and strategic value, Hawai’i has become far more of a target to those who wish to do us harm. The need for a fixed, persistent and comprehensive missile defense cannot be understated. This requirement hasn’t gone away and won’t. The Homeland Defense Radar Hawai‘i is the solution. It is regarded by the Missile Defense Agency and U.S. Indo-Pacific Command as vital and appropriate,” he said.    He said Hawai'i’s strategic importance is growing with the continued threats and instability in the Indo-Pacific, home to more than 50% of the world’s population, several of the world’s largest militaries, and two of the three largest economies in the world.
    Case said this investment in the State of Hawai‘i has a direct economic impact, pointing to a 2021 report from the state Department of Business, Economic Development & Tourism. It places total defense-related payroll and contract spending in the state at $7.2 billion. He said construction for Hawai‘i military installations "plays a crucial role in keeping the U.S. safe and protecting the national interests worldwide, especially given the shift in our national security strategies and resources to the Indo-Pacific. Improvements to these facilities also expand Hawaii’s economy and support high-paying construction jobs that ensure a high-quality standard of living."
    Key programs and provisions requested and secured by Case that are relevant to Hawai‘i include: $75 million to continue development of HDR-H. This “discriminating radar," said Case, is a "critical state-of-the-art system designed to protect our country and state from ballistic missile threats that is strongly supported by Indo-Pacific military leaders." It will identify and classifying specific missile threats and address current and emerging threats.
    Funding includes non-construction elements of the Shipyard Infrastructure Optimization Program , to include $264 million for ongoing operations and maintenance (in addition to military construction described below). Case requested funds to ensure support for the SIOP, which is undertaking a multi-year $21 billion effort to improve the Navy’s public shipyards, including Pearl Harbor Naval Shipyard and Intermediate Maintenance Facility, Hawai'i’s largest industrial employer. The budget supports a Naval Shipyard Apprentice Program, with instructions to the Secretary of the Navy to induct classes of not fewer than 100 apprentices at each of the respective naval shipyards and to include the costs of the class of apprentices in the Fiscal Year 2023 budget request.
    Case noted that he helped to block efforts to change the command and control structure of the U.S. Pacific Fleet. He said efforts within the department to streamline control of forces under one command structure would have limited the ability of Navy forces in Hawai‘i to respond quickly to changing threats in the Indo-Pacific region.
    He pointed out the approval of the Readiness and Environmental Protection Initiative, in response to land development and loss of habitat in the vicinity of or affecting military installations, ranges and airspace. It requires the Department of Defense to work with state and local governments, conservation organizations and willing private landowners to address these challenges to the military mission and the viability of DoD installations and ranges.
    Efforts to confront the climate crisis is shown with investments for clean energy and climate adaptation to protect facilities, readiness and global security, to include $1.6 billion for restoration and modernization of military facilities.
    Congress also funded $88 million for wargaming analytical tools to support U.S. Indo-Pacific Command, $59 million for the U.S. Indo-Pacific Command to support planning and design efforts to advance future construction projects throughout the Indo-Pacific, $19 million to advance a Pacific multi-domain training and experimentation capability, a $4.6 million increase for the Asia Pacific Regional Initiative, a key program supporting U.S. Indo-Pacific Command. This program enables the military to execute Theater Security Cooperation activities, such as humanitarian assistance and paying incremental personnel costs of training and exercising with foreign security forces. The initiative is a critical tool for the U.S. military to strengthen relationships throughout the Indo-Pacific region.    Congress also approved $500,000 for U.S. Indo-Pacific Command’s proposed Pacific Movement Coordination Center. It funded international security cooperation programs with countries in the Indo-Pacific, with a focus on Maritime Security Programs.
    The bill’s defense section supports federal agencies and programs in the DoD and Intelligence Community, including the military branches of services, the Central Intelligence Agency and the National Security Agency. The bill provides $728.5 billion for these national defense programs, an increase of $32.5 billion over the FY 2021 enacted level.

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