According to Jim Ligh, chief, Business Management at POD, the focus toward Korea and Japan was, quite understandably, reflective of national security priorities in Northeast Asia.
“But now, with the Pacific Rebalance and other priorities, we are taking more of a broader look at Asia,” he said. “And we’re looking at ‘capacity-building’ among our broader goals.”
Pointing to the fact that “the traditional USACE posture” in South and Southeast Asia dates back to the 1950s and 1960s, he added, “Now we’re really ‘coming back’ to that area with a new focus.”
Ligh offered several examples of the capacity-building activities across the region in the areas of water management and water security.
“Everyone expects the Corps of Engineers to be just building things,” Jim Ligh said. “But I think we really need to look at civil society and how engineering projects affect that society. And we’re doing that. …
“A lot of countries in Southeast Asia and Asia in general are seeing tremendous economic growth and a lot of them are starting to enjoy some levels of prosperity,” he explained. “Many of the countries have tremendous natural resources and natural resource-based economies, but water is starting to be a growing challenge – especially in areas where water is shared between countries.”
He continued, “One example is the Mekong River, where many countries share the water and everyone wants to use that resource. There are a lot of plans to build dams along the main stem of the Mekong and there are already a lot of dams on the tributaries. So one of the issues that we have concern about is dam safety. Each country has different standards. But if a dam breaks upstream, then it doesn’t make a difference which country you are from. Water doesn’t respect political boundaries.”
USACE not only works with international partners on physical dam safety standards and best practices but also related environmental, social, and economic issues, including the potential for illegal human trafficking among potential labor pools.
“The challenge is how we keep the economic engine going but yet help to provide them with best practices and lessons learned while keeping it environmentally sustainable and socio-economically equitable,” he said.
“Everyone expects the Corps of Engineers to be just building things,” Ligh summarized. “But I think we really need to look at civil society and how engineering projects affect that society. And we’re doing that. Back in the 1970s, we had the environmental movement in the United States and I think that many other countries are starting to learn that they need to look at ‘multisector impact.’ I think that the Corps of Engineers can help provide the best practices and lessons learned by looking at projects from a more diverse viewpoint.”
Foreign Military Sales
USACE’s Pacific Ocean Division is also building regional partner capacity through Foreign Military Sales (FMS). An excellent example can be found in India, where USACE is building critical infrastructure for that country’s new fleet of 10 C-17 Globemaster III cargo aircraft.
According to Larry Phyfe, chief of the FMS Office at POD’s Alaska District, USACE’s FMS activities are performed under an international letter of agreement (LOA) between the State Department, the Defense Security Cooperation Agency, and the host government.
Under the Indian C-17 LOA, Boeing delivers the aircraft, training, maintenance, and spares while USACE is the design and construction agent – under a directed sole-source contract relationship with Boeing and their Indian general contractor – to provide the facilities and infrastructure for those aircraft and ground support equipment.
“We’ve been working for about three years on the project, both prior to the LOA being signed by the Indian government and since its implementation in June 2011,” he said. “And we are currently about 39 percent complete as of Sept. 30, with the actual construction of the C-17 campus on an existing Indian air force installation – Hindon Air Force Station.”
A few boys stand next to one of the new water spigots in Puttalam, Sri Lanka. U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Alaska District, U.S. Pacific Command, and the U.S. Agency for International Development are coordinating an effort to connect 371 family households to the town’s water supply. The project was expected to be completed at the end of October. U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Alaska District photo
Current schedules forecast completion of this FMS project by the end of calendar year 2016.
Interagency and International Support
In parallel with all of the other activities, USACE is also conducting a broad spectrum of interagency and international support projects across the Asia-Pacific region.
According to Stan Wharry, chief of the Asia Office in the Environmental and Special Projects Branch at the Alaska District, the primary customers for these USACE projects are the security cooperation officers working in each country as well as their counterparts at PACOM.
“The work we are doing is in coordination and support of their objectives in the region,” he said, offering the representative example of ongoing design and pending construction of two blood transfusion centers in Cambodia.
… Because if we all work together to coordinate this shift and rebalance, the U.S. government’s goals of partnership and strengthening relations will be magnified and carried out successfully.”
“We’re really excited about that project because we’re working with multiple partners, including the Centers for Disease Control [and Prevention], Australian Red Cross, and our host-nation partners in Cambodia,” he added. “We’re working together to provide some blood transfusion centers that the security cooperation officer has identified.
“But the blood transfusion centers in Cambodia are just one project,” he continued. “The Alaska District has been working with PACOM, currently implementing various projects in seven countries: Vietnam, Cambodia, Laos, Sri Lanka, Nepal, Bangladesh, and Mongolia. We’ve been supporting PACOM’s humanitarian assistance program in those countries for nearly six years.”
Asked about likely impacts of the Pacific Rebalance on future projects, Wharry concluded, “Clearly the U.S. government and all the agencies that do work overseas want to make sure that work is coordinated with the various partners with everyone going in the same direction. That’s been a common theme that we’ve seen for the last six years of doing the work – ensuring that the U.S. Agency for International Development is always involved; working with as many U.S. agencies as possible; and working with the local entities doing work within the countries – to make sure that the objectives of the U.S. government abroad are moving in the same direction. And I see that as becoming even more vital and more important. Because if we all work together to coordinate this shift and rebalance, the U.S. government’s goals of partnership and strengthening relations will be magnified and carried out successfully.”
This article first appeared in the 2014-2015 Edition of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers: Building Strong®: Serving the Nation and the Armed Forces publication.