US Defense Secretary Robert Gates has announced the establishment of a new bilateral working group to develop options for enhanced US-Australian cooperation on Australian soil, and signed a new partnership agreement with his Australian counterpart that would provide improved intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance capabilities.
The new working group, expected to begin work in December 2010, will “look at the array of enhanced, joint activities we might be able to undertake” with the Australians, Gates said.
The group will explore areas such as greater US naval presence and port visits in the region, more military-to-military training opportunities and the pre-positioning of US humanitarian assistance and disaster relief equipment in Australia.
The group also will look into opportunities to base US military members in Australia to work directly with their Australian counterparts.
“I expect that the joint working group will put a number of things on the table,” Gates said during a roundtable session with reporters following the news conference.
“The first thing that we have to see is … ‘What is useful to both countries from a military standpoint and a standpoint of preparedness, especially for natural disasters?’”
Any force posture decisions would be made within the context of the ongoing Defense Department evaluation of its force posture and global presence.
Gates said he had yet to decide what recommendations he would make to the National Security Council and the president, but he made clear he saw a greater US presence in Asia and the Pacific.