General Randall Reed, Commander of U.S. Transportation Command

Asia Pacific Media Hub

MODERATOR:  Greetings from the U.S. Department of State’s Asia Pacific Media Hub.  I would like to welcome journalists to today’s on-the-record briefing with General Randall Reed, Commander of U.S. Transportation Command.  General Reed will talk about his travel throughout the Indo-Pacific region, including the Philippines and Japan, where he met with senior leaders and worked to strengthen logistics and security partnerships across the region.

With that, let’s get started.  General Reed, I’ll turn it over to you for your opening remarks.

GENERAL REED:  Natalie, thanks so much, and for the Department of State for hosting this call.  And I do want to say thanks to everyone who is joining with us.  I have the honor of leading the United States Transportation Command.  It provides the United States with incredibly responsive and strategic mobility around the world.  The people that make up USTRANSCOM, along with industries, allies, and partners, make us a ready, united, and decisive force able to respond to crises quickly and also sustain humanitarian and military operations worldwide.

I do want to go back and stress the idea of allies and partners for USTRANSCOM, anything that we do.  We really can’t do it without very strong partnerships, and that’s really what’s driving my travels out here for this week.

So far I’ve been able to visit with senior officials and multinational servicemembers in the Philippines and Japan.  Entirely grateful for their support and hospitality.  It’s been a number of years since I’ve been out here and it’s just always great to get back.

During our conversations, we explored ways to enhance collaboration, obviously deter aggression and increase readiness for any potential crisis in this region.  I’m looking forward to having the same discussions when I visit the Republic of Korea in a few days.  Again, when we talk about partnerships, which is very key for us, the complexities of this region really drive the need for solutions that are multifaceted and involve a number of partners.  And maintaining and expanding our relationships in the region is essential as we cooperate and collaborate to ensure a swift U.S. response to any future humanitarian aid and disaster relief operation while also countering threats to international peace and security, whether they originate from state actors or violent extremist groups or what have you.

In this past week, my counterparts and I, we’ve discussed ways to continue cooperation through standing defense agreements and ways we can further strengthen the logistics system.  This summer, we’re going to have a series of exercises and we’ll test the current logistics architecture and infrastructure, which provides sustained freedom of maneuver in the region and for the joint force.

I’d also like to say that Mobility Guardian, for example, is just one of those exercises that we’re going to run.  We’re seeking to demonstrate our ability to rapidly mobilize, then deploy forces from within the United States to locations throughout the region here.  And these exercises will be very key to allow us to test tactics, techniques, and procedures with allies and partners, and allow us to enhance our connectivity across various locations throughout the region.

These exercises and engagements will help us learn.  TRANSCOM is a learning organization.  It will help us deepen relationships and work together even more closely than we already are to bolster regional security.  So together with continued support, we’ll retain the ability to respond to whatever whenever we’re needed.

And so that’s TRANSCOM in a nutshell.  That’s the reason why we’re out here traveling.  And I’ll pause here and entertain some Q&A.

MODERATOR:  Thank you.  We will now turn to the question-and-answer portion of today’s briefing.  As a reminder, please ensure that your full name and affiliation are displayed and your microphone is enabled.

Our first question goes to David Rising from AP, who sent this question in advance:  “As the U.S. seeks to makes its Pacific defenses more nimble and survivable, can you talk about how pre-positioned materials fits into the equation and provide some specifics about what you are doing?  Beyond U.S. solo or bilateral work, how will the Partnership for Indo-Pacific Industrial Resilience forum fit in?”

GENERAL REED:  Thanks, David.  When it comes to pre-positioning things, obviously, as a professional transporter and logistician, the closer you can get something to the point of need, the better off we all are.  So utilizing pre-positioned stock in a crisis will always be faster than transporting equipment from the other side of the globe, and that can be helpful when needing to deliver a rapid and decisive response to a crisis.

Along those lines, the U.S. has agreements with multiple countries across the globe which allow for pre-positioned stocks, and we even have stocks afloat aligned with a number of regions around the globe as well.  Here in this region in particular, the Partnership for Indo-Pacific Industrial Reliance* forum, PIPIR, is a multilateral forum of 14 Indo-Pacific and Euro-Atlantic partners who are all collaborating to accelerate Indo-Pacific contributions to defense industrial base resilience.  And so working with industry, capital providers, and nongovernment stakeholders, PIPIR is creating that trusted environment for information exchange, technical cooperation, supply chain resilience, and co-production and co-sustainment collaboration.

And then to wrap up the answer to your question here, Secretary Hegseth endorsed PIPIR also, and he announced two marquis projects underneath this forum during his keynote address at Shangri-La.  And so pre-position is really important and – but the strength of it really is in the cooperation.

MODERATOR:  Okay.  The next question will go to Christopher Woody.  I see your hand is raised.  You are now unmuted.  Please, go ahead.

Okay, the audio here – we can’t hear, but Christopher, if you could just check to see if your audio is enabled on your device.  Okay, we’ll come back to Christopher.

Let’s take a question from Walter Liu from Business Today in Taiwan, who sent his question in advance:  “What do you think the major challenges facing USTRANSCOM in East Asia and the possible short and mid-term solutions to them?”

GENERAL REED:  Walter, for logisticians, the challenge here is universal amongst us, and it’s just how large the region is.  And when we look at the vast ocean distances we need to cross, in some places the scarcity of established logistics hubs in order to sustain operations, it really drives all logisticians to drive for innovative solutions and stronger partnerships.  So again, it’s all about the partnerships.

The Pacific Deterrence Initiative paved the way for the U.S. to strengthen some of those ties, primarily through exercise and logistics agreements.  We’re also committed to modernizing and expanding our sealift and airlift fleets.  That’s particular to TRANSCOM.  In this way, we’re pushing to make sure that we can increase our capacity to move the personnel and equipment rapidly across this vast region that we just spoke about.

MODERATOR:  Okay, we got a question from Ben Blanchard from Reuters, based also in Taipei:  “How well-prepared in terms of pre-positioning materials are U.S. forces in the Asia-Pacific at present to respond to a crisis over Taiwan or in the South China Sea?  What areas need further work?”

GENERAL REED:  Thank you for – pre-positioning, that is something that we’ve done historically.  and one of the things that we continue to do is to assess where the point of need is.  So in anyone who’s studying in supply chain management, you look to see where is the point of origin, where is the point of need, where can you establish your stocks that get you closer to the point of need, and that’s something that we work all the time.

MODERATOR:  We’ll take a question from Gordon Arthur from the Defense News, based in Christchurch, New Zealand:  “If there were a conflict involving China over Taiwan, for argument’s sake, you’re going to have to rely upon shipping across the Pacific for nearly all of your logistics.  How will you secure such long shipping lanes, and is it even possible?”

GENERAL REED:  Gordon, right now the United States works real closely with partners to ensure that the region remains open and accessible.  That’s really what we’re seeking to do.  That leads to peace and prosperity.  And the region’s seas and skies are governed and used according to international law, and we seek to follow that as well.

In particular, we are building support for security, freedom, and prosperity-based approaches to the maritime domain, including all of the seas here.  And so when it comes to operating out here, the main thing is we operate here all the time, and we’d like to make sure that we can continue that.

MODERATOR:  Okay, it looks like Christopher Woody has put the question in the chat:  “Can you discuss how TRANSCOM and Indo-Pacific Command are thinking about threats to U.S. airlift capabilities, specifically how Chinese missiles and airborne sensors will impact tanker and cargo plane operations?”

GENERAL REED:  Thank you for that, Chris.  So for the capability of the aircraft, TRANSCOM depends on the United States Air Force to actually provide us the platforms that can operate, and then what TRANSCOM does with INDOPACOM is we are very closely tied together in planning.  And TRANSCOM’s role is to support the commander of INDOPACOM.  And so in that vein, we work with him and depend on him to make sure that he can provide the protection.

In addition, TRANSCOM is also working with the Air Force and the department to strengthen our connectivity and our communications such that we can become aware of what’s in the space, such that when the crews are operating, they can cooperate with the forces that are already here and make sure that they can close the mission.

MODERATOR:  Okay.  Ben Doherty, I see that your hand is raised.  We’ll try to unmute.  I also see the question that you submitted in advance.  Please try to go ahead and ask your question verbally.  Ben Doherty?

Okay.  I’m going to read the question that Ben submitted in advance.  He’s from The Guardian, based in Sydney, Australia:  “General Reed, you’ve been traveling across the Indo-Pacific, talking to allies about strengthening logistics and security partnerships across the region. I wanted to ask about Bougainville, a province of Papua New Guinea, but which has announced an intention to declare its independence.  China has recently started extending the runway at Aropa Airport in Bougainville, a key piece of infrastructure for that island – the president of Bougainville and prime minister of PNG attended a ground-breaking ceremony this week.”

So the question is:  “Is the US concerned about Chinese infrastructure projects, or increasing Chinese influence, in Bougainville?”

GENERAL REED:  Ben, there’s a lot there.  But what I’ll tell you is the United States is committed to deepening and expanding relationships throughout the region in addition to PNG.  Both of our countries share a relationship that’s based on trust and mutual interest.  And so with that long history of our defense partnerships, commercial links, and people-to-people ties, we continue to follow through with a 15-year defense agreement, which allows for the use of a number of sea and airports for us.

And because of that strong and continuously growing relationship between us, together with commercial partners, we’ll continue to build that relationship and our ability to respond to a crisis in the region.

MODERATOR:  Next question is from Mike Yeo from Breaking Defense:  “Is there an ongoing plan to increase the number of ships accessible to TRANSCOM through the building of more hulls?”

GENERAL REED:  Thanks, Mike, for that question.  Anyone who’s been following my hearings in Congress this year know that I’ve been incredibly vocal in getting more capability for sealift.  The fleet that we have is capable but aging, and quite simply, we need to get newer, more modern ships for the crews to operate.  As we’re able to do that, another thing that I’m seeking to do is with newer, more modern ships.  The quality of life for the crews will also improve.  And that will make that very important sector of our transportation much more attractive to folks who are seeking a life of purpose and adventure.

MODERATOR:  Next question, from Ron Calunsod from Kyodo News, based in Manila:  “General Reed, can you please share more details about the exercises you mentioned for this summer, both bilaterally each with the Philippines and Japan and multilaterally among the U.S., Japan, and the Philippines, if any.  When, the participating units, and where?  Thanks.”

GENERAL REED:  Okay.  I think Ron was the one who asked the question.  What I’ll tell you is the main thing we’re looking for here is to build on the excellent relationships we already have, to sharpen our skills, to increase our capability to communicate and to work with each other, and to do experimentation.  Where possible, where we cooperate, if we can determine where we can simplify procedures and perhaps seek more common equipment, that would be great.  But in the end, what we’re looking to do is to make sure that, simply, everyone can communicate with each other, that we can transport our goods, that we can sustain, and that we can reset at the end.  Thank you.

MODERATOR:  The next question comes from Hope Ngo from the International Community Radio, based in Taiwan – Taipei, Taiwan:  “What learnings and takeaways, if any, do Ukraine’s recent operation in Russia have for Taiwan defense?”

GENERAL REED:  Hope, what I’d share with you here is that I would not draw a link between the two when it comes to logistics.  And when I look at logistics, any loggie that’s out there, the whole thing that we’re seeking to do is that we can deliver to whoever needs the services.  So being able to deliver to the point of need, that’s what we’re all about.  And when we think about logistics, again, it takes partnerships to make sure that we can do that.  And so what TRANSCOM does is no matter where we need to go, we work very hard to make sure we have strong partnerships in advance.  And so with that being said, no matter what the task we’re given, we are driven to make sure that we can get the task done and just make sure that we can get goods to whoever needs them, wherever they might be.

MODERATOR:  Okay.  We have time for one final question, and this is from Jonathan Edward from INS News:  “What outreach efforts are being made to countries in ASEAN besides the Philippines – mainly Malaysia, Vietnam, Brunei, and Indonesia – on the importance in protecting their interests in the South China Sea?  Are there any capacity building efforts by the U.S. to assist friendly ASEAN states, such as improving ISR and anti-shipping munitions in the pipeline?”

GENERAL REED:  Thanks, Jonathan.  Kind of a broad question, but I’ll try to narrow that down just a little bit and say that TRANSCOM works real closely with our fellow combatant command, primarily to ensure that we can contribute to regional stability and uphold international law.

For anything more specific than that outside of transportation, I’d actually have to refer you to USINDOPACOM for that.

And then for your follow-on question, in terms of capacity building, we’re deeply committed to strengthening security capability amongst all the partners.  And we recognize a strong and resilient ASEAN is vital to maintaining stability, and we’re an active participant, that being the U.S. and the ASEAN Defense Ministers Meeting-Plus framework, and that includes capacity-building programs.  And so I’m not privy to the specifics of that, and so if you need a follow-on, I’ll have to refer you once again to USINDOPACOM for that.

MODERATOR:  General Reed, if you have any closing remarks, I’ll turn it back over to you.

GENERAL REED:  Thanks, Natalie, and thanks to everybody who joined in today.  Thank you for the questions.  I’ll tell you, for me, this time went by incredibly fast.  It seems like we just sat down.  But I want you to know that my team and I are very excited about being here in the theater.  Even though it’s been quite some time since I’ve been here, I’ve bumped into some old friends.   And the professionalism and the cooperation that exists between the countries is very inspiring.  And anyone who has an opportunity to witness it, much less be a part of it, you can’t help but be hopeful about how bright the future is because we work so well together.

And so with that, once again, I want to say thank you.  And as we like to say at USTRANSCOM:  Together we deliver.

MODERATOR:  Thank you, General Reed.  Unfortunately, that is all the time we have for today.  Thank you for your questions.  Thanks again to the General for joining us.  We will provide a transcript of this briefing to participating journalists as soon as it is available.  We’d also love to hear your feedback, and you can contact us at any time at AsiaPacMedia@state.gov.  Thanks again for your participation and we hope you can join us for another briefing soon.

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