by Sabrina Salas Matanane

Guam - The Marines relocation made discussion during a Senate Armed Services Committee hearing today for several civilian nominees to serve the Department of Defense. Senator John McCain made it clear he wouldn't vote for any of them unless the DOD meets the requirements in the National Defense Authorization Act, particularly complying with the submission of an independent assessment of the U.S. force posture in East Asia and the Pacific Region.

The NDAA as we reported freezes U.S. and Government of Japan funding for the Marines relocation from Okinawa to Guam until the conditions are met. Undersecretary of Defense Policy Nominee James Miller said, "I'm going to come back over and meet with you [Senator John McCain], Senator Carl Levin and Senator Jim Webb and we talk through both what happened with this contract and there's no excuse for taking so long for letting that contract, and I won't make an excuse for it, sir."

McCain said, "Well I thank you for that Dr., but I hope you understand to some degree the frustration that we feel. Senator Webb traveled through the region, Senator Levin traveled with him, we've had briefings we've had conversations not only American officials and leaders but also foreign officials, Japanese delegations and we make an input and if not willfully ignored certainly not pursued to fulfill the will of Congress."

During today's hearing it was announced that the contract for the independent study was awarded a few days ago. The study was supposed to be completed by the end of this month.