Coordination office marks first step in U.S. Forces Japan's shift to ‘warfighting' command

Japan Times

2 days ago

Since March this year, a small room at a U.S. base in central Tokyo has been at the heart of a historic transformation set to reshape how the U.S.-Japan alliance coordinates military operations, responds to emergencies and projects power.
Located at the U.S. Army's Hardy Barracks, the room hosts a team of around a dozen experts from across the military that will play a key role in how U.S. Forces Japan (USFJ) and the new Japan Self-Defense Forces Joint Operations Command (JJOC) — plan and execute joint, multiservice missions going forward.
The launch of the JJOC Cooperation Team (JCT) marks the first tangible step in plans announced last year to transform USFJ into a 'warfighting' joint force headquarters amid increasing concerns both in Japan and the U.S. over China's regional assertiveness and its growing military capabilities.
The multiyear effort's ultimate aim is for USFJ to increase both its staff and the authority of its commander — currently three-star Lt. Gen. Stephen Jost — over the next few years to command and control forces in Japan, something that has long been the purview of the U.S. Indo-Pacific Command, of which USFJ is a component.
According to Jost, who concurrently commands the Fifth Air Force, the transition from a liaison and planning body to a joint force headquarters will 'enable us to pool our resources, leverage our unique capabilities, and project power more effectively,' while integrating 'new capabilities' across the services.
'But it's not just warfighting. USFJ, whose main role has been alliance management, is growing in responsibility,' Lt. Col. Raffi Mnatzakanian, who leads the JCT's campaign planning, said in an interview.
The head of the Self-Defense Forces' new Joint Operations Command, Gen. Kenichiro Nagumo (second from right), at the Ground Self-Defense Force's Eastern Army Headquarters in Asaka, Saitama Prefecture, on July 17. |
Japan Self-Defense Forces Joint Operations Command
'It is essentially being placed in a position to not just coordinate activities, but also take a more active role in command-and-controlling U.S. forces in Japan,' he added, explaining that this applies to the entire spectrum of operations ranging from humanitarian assistance and disaster relief to armed conflict.
Experts say that in order to deal with major incidents, Japan would in the past often stand up a joint task force that would be authorized to manage all branches of the SDF. A joint task force was set up in response to the March 2011 Great East Japan Earthquake and ensuing tsunami and nuclear disaster. In 2016, another one was created after a powerful earthquake rocked Kumamoto Prefecture.
But things have changed since Tokyo first formally announced in late 2022 its intention to create a joint operations command.
The unprecedented move also changed the calculus for the U.S. government, ultimately prompting Washington's decision to upgrade USFJ and launch the JCT — a standing organization, manned every day, that isn't only assembled during exercises or contingencies.
This is significant, as the initial phase of the USFJ transformation, which is already under way, involves ramping up both operational and command-and-control capabilities. The moves primarily involve streamlining the traditionally alliance management-focused headquarters structure into a warfighting command and increasing key staff and resources.
The JCT's main role will be to act as primary interlocutor and liaison between the two new independent command structures — the upgraded USFJ and the JJOC — and by doing so, eliminate the hitherto "ad-hoc" nature of joint operations.
U.S. Marines take part in a joint airborne landing exercise with the Self-Defense Forces at Higashifuji training field in Gotemba, Shizuoka Prefecture, in March 2022. |
REUTERS
Officials did not provide a time frame for the USFJ reorganization, which is being funded by the U.S. military's Indo-Pacific Command, or the number of additional personnel to be added as part of the changes. But what's clear is that the transformation is still in its initial phase.
'Just four months ago, we moved into an empty room that had been used as a closet for furniture, so we were starting from scratch,' JCT Deputy Director Lt. Col. Bradley DiDuca said in an interview.
The small JCT team, which is led by a colonel but ultimately under the purview of the USFJ commander, is focused on daily, in-person opportunities for collaboration between the two sides.
In operation since March, when U.S. Defense Secretary Peter Hegseth visited Japan, the JCT has already proven its worth, officials say, by first and foremost enabling much deeper relationships with its JJOC counterparts.
'It allows for more familiar relationships to be built during periods that are not exercise or contingency, meaning that we have an opportunity for more regular interactions with our Japanese counterparts leading up to those events,' DiDuca said. This, in turn, enables a better understanding of what Japan might request from the U.S., or vice versa, in response to any particular incident or crisis.
This, DiDuca added, is partially also due to proximity. Hardy Barracks is much closer to the Defense Ministry in Tokyo's Ichigaya area than USFJ headquarters at Yokota Air Base in Fussa, western Tokyo.
The U.S. Army's Hardy Barracks in central Tokyo hosts a team of experts that will play a key role in how U.S. Forces Japan and the new Japan Self-Defense Forces Joint Operations Command plan and execute missions going forward. |
GABRIEL DOMINGUEZ
Communication between the JCT and JJOC is done in English, Japanese and with an interpreter. Some members of the JJOC are proficient enough in English to permit many interactions to occur in English-only while some JCT members are also proficient in Japanese. However, to ensure clarity, interpreters are often used.
Earlier this month, the JJOC and the JCT had their first opportunity to put their growing ties to the test as Japan and the United States conducted a weeklong disaster-response exercise, known as a joint exercise rescue (JXR), that simulated a magnitude 7 earthquake striking the Tokyo Bay area.
'From the U.S. side, our participation in JXR was about coordinating the potential military support or assistance the U.S. could provide or offer to the SDF, which would be in charge of the Japanese government's response,' Mnatzakanian said.
This included everything from handling transportation requests to providing medical and other support, he said.
Jost, meanwhile, has said he expects the JCT to also continue to grow as USFJ expands its capabilities and authorities.
Observers say that the JCT is only the first step on a transformational trail that is still being blazed.
U.S. Forces Japan Commander Lt. Gen. Stephen Jost greets the U.S. Ambassador to Japan George Glass at Yokota Air Base in Fussa, western Tokyo, on July 23. |
U.S. Air Force
The next step will be to separate USFJ's longtime alliance management role from its developing warfighting functions. While the former will remain within the remit of the USFJ chief, it will be under a new organizational structure that reflects the changing composition of the command.
According to a former U.S.-Japan alliance manager, a streamlining of the command-and-control structure with clearly defined roles for the new USFJ would mitigate all but the highest-level coordination misunderstandings and thus smooth out some of the bumps that routinely plague the alliance and the daily function of facilities allowed to be used under the bilateral Status of Force Agreement.
This is important, the expert said, as the restrictions under which USFJ units operate in Japan — much stricter than those applied to U.S. units in South Korea — have given Washington pause during previous command-and-control revision discussions.
Just how the ongoing transformation will ultimately change USFJ's operational relationships with the U.S. component commands forwarded-deployed in Japan — such as the III Marine Expeditionary Force, the 5th Air Force, U.S. Army Japan and the 7th Fleet — is still unclear.
'This remains in the planning phases,' USFJ spokesman Col. John Severns said.
According to the former alliance manager, the greatest challenge to the ongoing transformation lies in the thought put into it ahead of time, including questions such as where the new USFJ will fit into contingency plans for Northeast Asia and beyond, and what new authorities the new command will be granted to enable it to accomplish its new mission.
'Only after answering those two questions can planners, policy, personnel, and logistics folks move ahead and determine how many personnel, and what types of specialties, are required to man such an organization.'