Trump administration to name new Indo-Pacific command chief

Donald Trump is expected to nominate Pacific Fleet commander Admiral John Aquilino to head all military operations in Asia.

The Trump administration is preparing to name a new head of the US Indo-Pacific Command, which oversees operations and strategy for China and elsewhere in Asia, US officials said.

President Trump is expected to nominate Admiral John Aquilino, currently the commander of the Navy’s Pacific Fleet, to head all military operations in Asia, the officials said.

If confirmed by the Senate, Adm. Aquilino would succeed the current commander, Adm. Philip Davidson, who is expected to retire. The incoming Indo-Pacific chief would execute military policy in the Pacific Asia region, expected to be a prominent feature of President-elect Joe Biden’s foreign and national security policy as tensions continue to rise between the U.S. and China.

Adm. Aquilino’s nomination will be sent to the US Senate for consideration, officials said, and could be taken up by politicians in the early winter.

US Navy Nimitz-class nuclear aircraft carrier USS Ronald Reagan leads a group of multinational ships during RIMPAC (Rim of the Pacific) exercises in the Pacific Ocean.

Adm. Aquilino has been widely thought by defence officials and experts to be on a shortlist to head IndoPacom. The incoming Biden administration could choose to reverse the nomination and name a different officer if it disagrees with the nomination. A spokesman for the Biden transition team declined to comment.

Army Gen. Robert Abrams, who serves as commander of US Forces Korea, was among those being considered, defence officials said. The commander of U.S. operations in the Pacific has always been led by a Navy officer.

The nomination would come as the Trump administration has made a series of personnel moves involving top defence officials, including a new acting Defence Secretary. Unlike those changes, the nomination of Adm. Aquilino appears to be more in keeping with scheduled rotations of top officers.

Adm. Aquilino took the Pacific Fleet job in May 2018 when the Navy was reeling from a string of accidents, including two major ship collisions in the Pacific that claimed the lives of 17 sailors.

He signed off on a visit by the U.S. aircraft carrier Theodore Roosevelt to Vietnam earlier this year, just before it was docked for weeks to combat a coronavirus outbreak, which struck nearly a quarter of the crew. An internal investigation found no wrongdoing by the admiral.

Adm. Aquilino has also overseen sailors in the Middle East as the head of Fifth Fleet, which is responsible for naval operations in that region.

The next head of Indo-Pacific Command will face ongoing challenges in securing the funding and resources necessary to fulfil defence strategies emphasising a focus on major powers such as Russia and China over the Middle East, experts and former officials have said. Indo-Pacific Command doesn’t have dedicated funding, for instance, as does the military’s European Command.

That has led to congressional frustration with Pentagon budget plans, said Eric Sayers, a visiting fellow at the conservative American Enterprise Institute in Washington.

“Given this, perhaps the largest challenge Aquilino will face is how to work with a new Biden Pentagon to ensure there is a clear, aligned vision for working with Congress to address operational shortfalls in the Pacific,” Mr. Sayers said.

Dow Jones