US to expand network of secret bases
Adam Entous and Julian E. Barnes
The Australian
January 27, 2012
The new strategy would assign specific US-based army brigades and marine expeditionary units to different regions of the world, where they would travel regularly for joint exercises and other missions, using permanent facilities and the forward-staging bases that some advisers call “lily pads”.
Marines, for example, would use a new forward-staging base in Darwin as a launch pad for Southeast Asia, while Washington is in talks to expand its military presence in The Philippines – both of which are signals to China that the US has quick-response capability in Beijing’s backyard.
Many of the proposed bases will be secret and could temporarily house small commando teams, the Defence officials said.
“There are going to be times when action is called upon, like Tuesday night, when it will be clearly advantageous to be forward deployed. On the other hand, most of the time it will help you to be there to develop host nation or regional security,” a military official said.
