Navweek: Pac Man
“The Pacific is my home ocean, I know its moods, its colors, its nature.”
Let me confess straight away that I am stealing that quote from John Steinbeck – or at least very strongly borrowing it. The great American author penned that quote in “Travels with Charley: In Search of America,” published in 1962.
U.S. Navy Adm. Harry Harris struck that chord again about a week ago during his speech as the new head of Pacific Command. He was making a very personal point about his ties to the region and how it shaped his life with his wife. “Bruni's and my roots and histories run deep here in the Pacific,” he said during his change-of-command address. “This is our home.”
(Here’s a copy of the admiral’s speech:
http://www.cpf.navy.mil/leaders/harry-harris/speeches/2015/05/change-of-command.pdf)
The American people could not ask for a better U.S. host during these most contentious of times in the Asia-Pacific. Harris does indeed know the mood of the region. Its nature is his second nature. When he talks about the region, it is as if he is reading his own heart.
He is the right officer – the right person – for the role and the times. He leaves little doubt what needs to be done.
“Our President is crystal clear,” he says. “The U.S. will rebalance to the Pacific. Our joint force will work closely with our allies and friends in the Indo-Asia-Pacific region. And our boss’s scan is broad. So Pacific Command will work with our interagency partners and with all the combatant commands to support [Defense] Secretary Ashton Carter as he hones his strategy to accomplish our national objectives globally. I am mindful of my responsibilities to judiciously manage the global employment of the considerable forces assigned to the Pacific. To this end, I will work closely with the service chiefs as Pacom employs their priceless personnel and costly material.”
There’s no shortage of challenges, he notes.
“From North Korea with its quest for nuclear weapons and the means to deliver them intercontinentally, to China’s preposterous claims to and land reclamation activities in the South China Sea, to a resurgent Russia whose Pacific coastline boasts four strategic submarine and air bases and exceeds the distance from here to California, to the plight of Rohingya migrants in the Indian Ocean – this is hard work, but this is what we live for. It’s juice worth the squeeze. If called upon, we would fight tonight to defend American interests in the vast Indo-Asia-Pacific. This is not aspirational, it’s in our DNA.”
He’s not about to stop and savor his promotion: “Our adversaries didn’t pause for this ceremony; they have aspirations, so let’s get underway and go to it.”
Carter certainly has no doubts about Harris. During the change of command, the defense secretary said, “Admiral Harry Harris is the son of a Navy Chief Petty Officer who served on the USS. Lexington, which left Pearl Harbor just a few days before that fateful Sunday morning in December 1941. And throughout Harry's career, he's dedicated himself to making certain that we're never surprised again.”
At Pacific Fleet, Carter says, Harris “helped bring our most advanced capabilities to the Asia-Pacific and shift 60 percent of our naval assets to the region. He also stressed and maintained the readiness that's at a premium in this dynamic region. For all those reasons and many more, Harry's the Pacom commander we need for the next phase of the rebalance.”
Harris once told me he was surprised about all the interest in China when he took over Pacific Fleet. Now, Carter says, “China's actions are … increasing demand for American engagement in the Asia-Pacific, and we're going to meet it. We will remain the principal security power in the Asia-Pacific for decades to come.”
The reason is simple. As Carter says, “I've said this many times, but it bears repeating America's future rests with the Asia-Pacific.” And who better to ensure that future than the man and officer for whom the Pacific is his home – a part of his DNA.