By: Aaron Mehta
WASHINGTON – The Pentagon wants to see financial plus-ups in the fiscal year 2018 budget for greater US-led military exercises, state department foreign financing and Coast Guard actions in the Pacific.
Those areas form part of what Secretary of Defense Ash Carter called a “third phase” of the Obama administration’s rebalance to the pacific, and as budget discussions firm up over the next few months, a senior defense official says the department hopes to see “increases in real terms” in those areas.
While noting DoD does not control the Coast Guard budget, the official, speaking on background said “we’re certainly encouraging increased funding not just for the Coast Guard, but for the State Department’s foreign military funding. I don’t have the figures at my fingertips.”
In a speech Sept. 29, Carter laid out his priorities for the next step of the Pacific rebalance, including increased military exercises, greater Coast Guard engagement in the region, and development of cyber capabilities.
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