CAMP FOSTER, Okinawa — The Overseas Basing Commission has canceled the Okinawa leg of its fact-finding trip to the Pacific, which begins this week.
No public announcement was made concerning skipping the one-day trip to Okinawa, originally set for later this week. However, a local Japanese newspaper cited an unnamed commission source in reporting from Washington, D.C., that the cancellation was due to schedule constraints.
U.S. military officials on Okinawa confirmed Monday that the visit to Okinawa, where commission members were to meet with senior U.S. military officials and visit some military bases, was canceled. Although commission members still were scheduled to visit U.S. bases in Hawaii, mainland Japan and South Korea, their itinerary was not made public due to security concerns, officials said. They were not scheduled to meet any local officials.
The group’s formal name is the Commission on the Review of Overseas Military Structure; its members are appointed by and report to Congress. Patricia J. Walker, the commission’s executive director, said its members would visit key bases and get command briefings in as many places as time allows. They’re also to meet with Adm. Thomas Fargo, commander of the U.S. Pacific Command, she said.
Walker said the commission intentionally is not meeting with local officials in an attempt to avoid influencing any ongoing negotiations concerning base closings or consolidations.
“This trip is strictly for collecting information and trying to understand the basing needs in the Pacific,” she said in a telephone interview last week.
She said Okinawan officials have provided the commission with their demands for closing some Okinawa bases, particularly Futenma Marine Corps Air Station, where a helicopter crashed into a university located adjacent to the base on Aug. 13.
