US Forces Japan to be upgraded to warfighting command

TOKYO—The Pentagon will upgrade and expand its three-star command in Japan to handle operational control of U.S. forces based there, part of an effort to deepen ties between the U.S. and Japanese militaries and to streamline command and control of joint operations, senior defense officials told reporters traveling with Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin on Friday.

“Secretary Austin plans to announce that the United States intends to reconstitute U.S. Forces Japan as a Joint Force Headquarters, reporting to the commander of U.S. INDOPACOM,” said the senior official. The shift will give USFJ, which is “currently, primarily, an administrative command” more warfighting responsibilities. “They do day-to-day management of the alliance, but not operational command of forces. So it'll be a significant difference for them.” 

The announcement comes as part of the Joint Statement of the Security Consultative Committee (“2+2”) committee meeting taking place in Tokyo between Austin, Secretary of State Anthony Blinken, and their Japanese counterparts.

The command will grow as it adds missions and responsibilities to its current alliance-management functions, the official said, “including some of the planning exercises and commanding of operations, and we'll be doing those, as I mentioned, side-by-side with Japanese forces like never before.”

Many details of the new headquarters aren’t yet known and officials said that the approach will be phased, with many more discussions about how to implement yet to come. Among the decisions to be made is whether the expanded USFJ will have a command structure that integrates Japanese forces, the way U.S. Joint Forces Korea does for South Korean forces. 

“A major part of that phased approach will involve bilateral working groups with the U.S. side, led by INDOPACOM, to work through important implementation factors, including potential resourcing needs, infrastructure, personnel, authorities and ranks,” the official said.

The new Joint Force Headquarters will allow INDOPACOM officers and operators to have daily interactions with Japanese counterparts about how to plan exercises, operations, and how to act on shared intelligence and information, the official said. 

The U.S. and Japan already share maritime information and specific intelligence via the two-year-old Bilateral Intelligence Analysis Cell, or BIAC. The new headquarters will enable better planning of missions and exercises around that intelligence, said the official. 

“There are different types of intelligence that we share with Japan through different channels. What I would say is one of those is the maritime domain awareness efforts that we have underway through BIAC, that's an area where we will be taking additional steps to help mature that organization…There's a lot of intel sharing already underway, and that information will absolutely inform, on a day-to-day basis, the work of the integration between the JJOC, and the upgraded USFJ.”

“JJOC” refers to the joint operations command being set up by the Japan Self-Defense Force to coordinate its Ground, Maritime and Air branches. The plans were announced in February and the center is expected to become operational next March. 

“The United States is in a position to make this announcement because of the really important steps that Japan has taken to increase its role in ensuring peace and stability in the Indo-Pacific,” said the official. “They have committed to doubling their defense budget. They are introducing new capabilities, like counter-strike capabilities; they're standing up this new JJOC, and that is opening up a lot of opportunities for us to be integrating and working more seamlessly than ever before.”

The officials emphasized that Congressionally approved funding would play an important role in ensuring the new effort was a success. The Senate version of the FY2025 National Defense Authorization Act proposes to require a plan for a new joint force headquarters with Japan under INDOPACOM. 

“Congress has the power of the purse, so to the extent that this effort requires additional resources, whether for personnel or for infrastructure, and otherwise, Congress will be really important player in that they also have an important role in the distribution of ranks across the U.S. military, and more importantly, they're critical players on the Indo-Pacific in general, and there's a lot of members with really strong interest in this issue. And we think it's important that we have their support if we're making such a significant change to USFJ.”