U.S. reaffirms on-time relocation of Marines in Okinawa to Guam

WASHINGTON, Nov. 8 Kyodo - The United States is committed to completing the relocation of Marines to Guam
from Japan's Okinawa Prefecture by 2014 as set by Washington and Tokyo, a
senior Defense Department official said Saturday.
''In our meetings, the Japanese government consistently reaffirms that it will
complete the Futemma replacement facility by 2014, which will enable us to
complete the transfer of the Marines to Guam,'' said David Sydney, deputy
assistant secretary of defense for East Asia.
''This reflects our shared determination to realize the new alliance posture
expeditiously and in a manner that strengthens deterrence while reducing the
size of the U.S. footprint in Okinawa,'' he said in a rare weekend statement.
The Pentagon official's statement came days after the top U.S. military
commander in the Pacific suggested the U.S. plan to relocate about 8,000
Marines from Okinawa to Guam may take longer to complete than the targeted
end-of-2014 timeline and be delayed until 2015 or later.
During a news conference on Wednesday in New York, Adm. Timothy Keating said
the transfer will ''take a little bit longer to effect. We won't be done by
2014, or maybe even 2015...''
He cited ''not insignificant budgetary challenges coming ahead of us'' and
said, ''It will cost us a little bit more money than we currently have
budgeted.''
The relocation was projected to cost about $10.2 billion with around $6 billion
to be financed by Japan under a May 2006 Japan-U.S. agreement.
The U.S. Government Accountability Office said in a report submitted to
Congress in September that the cost could swell to over $15 billion.
Any delay in relocating the Marines to Guam could affect another key element of
the agreement -- relocating the U.S. Marine Corps Futemma Air Station's
heliport functions from downtown Ginowan to Nago, both in Okinawa.
==Kyodo