Top United States military commanders told the House and Senate Armed Services Committees in late April that allied cooperation is critical to maintain security. Speaking during a defense authorization request for fiscal year 2027, United States Navy Adm. Samuel Paparo, Commander of U.S. Indo-Pacific Command (USINDOPACOM), and U.S. Army Gen. Xavier Brunson, commander of United Nations Command, Combined Forces Command, and U.S. Forces Korea (USFK), detailed the evolving security challenges in the Indo-Pacific area of responsibility. Their testimony emphasized that forward basing of U.S. forces and close partnerships with Allies remains the most effective strategy to ensure regional stability and deter aggression.
Adm. Paparo expressed significant concern over the deepening military cooperation among the Chinese Communist Party (CCP), North Korea and Russia, describing their collaboration as a complex challenge to U.S. security and regional stability. He testified that North Korea’s continued development of nuclear weapons, weapons of mass destruction and ballistic missiles pose a direct, immediate threat to the U.S. and its regional Allies. He also highlighted in his written statement that while the expanding relationship between Pyongyang and Moscow remains transactional in nature, it is steadily deepening and complicating regional security. Lawmakers and commanders went on to note that the CCP is aggressively accelerating its military modernization, viewing it as the leader of an “axis of aggressors.”
To counter these geopolitical threats, Adm. Paparo argued that forward basing and shared operational access are vital. “Maintaining an agile posture and a substantial combat-credible forward presence ensures USINDOPACOM forces stand ready to rapidly and effectively respond to crises in the region, deter malign activities and, if necessary, prevail in conflict,” he said in his written remarks. Furthermore, maintaining a distributed and resilient forward posture relies heavily on Allied nations granting sustained access to U.S. military forces. By hosting U.S. troops and allowing for the integration of defense networks, Allied nations enable the U.S. military to operate from multiple dispersed locations, he said. This infrastructure complicates adversary planning, shortens response times and directly bolsters collective defense frameworks.
“Securing access, basing and overflight with the right forces at the right times ensures a mobile and distributed force disposition. USINDOPACOM works unceasingly in concert with the Office of the Secretary of War and the Department of State to improve bilateral and multilateral relationships, secure agreements and enhance interoperability,” Adm. Paparo said.
Brunson said the Korean Peninsula serves as “key strategic terrain vital to defending the American homeland and advancing American interest in the region.” He noted that USFK is pursuing modernization to respond to rapidly changing strategic challenges, focusing on advanced military capabilities rather than overall troop numbers. The active participation of USFK in broader USINDOPACOM exercises demonstrates the immense potential to project capabilities directly from Korea to support deterrence across the entire Indo-Pacific theater, Brunson told lawmakers.