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| Deborah Lee James (Image: Wiki Commons) |
By DEBORAH LEE JAMES
Air Force Secretary Deborah Lee James traveled through Asia, visiting Indonesia, India, Singapore, and the Philippines at the end of the summer. We didn’t hear a great deal about the trip in the US at the time but her meetings with her defense counterparts clearly impressed. In this op-ed, James shares the lessons she learned. China shaped much of what was discussed. Read on. The Editor.
The largest takeaway from my journey: The future is here and our friends are counting on us.
In particular, our friends hunger for closer ties with the American military branch I lead, the Air Force. They want more joint training, more technology transfers, more exposure to the globe-spanning capabilities of our B-1 bombers and our C-17 cargo planes. Those twin bookends of hard and soft power illuminate the relationships our partners crave as Asian economies boom and the region becomes more crowded with commercial and military traffic.
During my time crisscrossing the Asia-Pacific region, I met with many of my defense counterparts in an attempt to understand their world views. From the Philippines to India to Japan, I wanted to know: What are they concerned about? How can we build tangible, measureable security for the region and its expanding economies and cultures?
Read the full story at Breaking Defense