A new Government Accountability Office report delving into whether DOD has complied with Congressional tasking to provide meaningful annual master plans for its overseas restructuring efforts finds that the most recent plan “generally exceeded the reporting requirements.” There were just two exceptions, one of which zeroed in on training range issues in Japan and South Korea. GAO said that US Pacific Command “did not describe the challenges DOD faces in addressing training limitations.” The air training range problem in South Korea finally prompted Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld to threaten to pull USAF elements out, and South Korea now is upgrading a range for USAF use. However, the Pentagon only partially concurred with GAO, saying it would address such training issues “as part of the risk assessment discussion” rather than separately.
No sooner had the Defense Intelligence Agency issued its North Korean Military Power report, in which it predicted Pyongyang would resume ballistic missile tests, than North Korea did exactly that, lofting a submarine-launched ballistic missile Oct. 19. The test, in which an SLBM launched from the port of Sinpo into…