{"id":5136,"date":"2009-12-14T23:45:50","date_gmt":"2009-12-15T08:15:50","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.dmzhawaii.org\/?p=5136"},"modified":"2009-12-14T23:50:29","modified_gmt":"2009-12-15T08:20:29","slug":"new-pacom-center-virtually-gurantees-its-presence-here-for-a-long-time","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.dmzhawaii.org\/?p=5136","title":{"rendered":"Inouye’s legacy: locking the military into Hawai’i “for a long time”"},"content":{"rendered":"
The militarization of Hawai’i is driven by both the ‘push’ of military strategy in the Pacific and the ‘pull’ of politicians, unions and corporate leaders who profit from the military domination of Hawai’i.\u00a0 The logic is spelled out here in a recent Hawaii Business article about Senator Inouye:<\/div>\n
\n
\u201cThe (White House) was not too keen about building a massive state-of-the-art Pacific Command building,\u201d Inouye said. \u201cBut I made that one of my major goals.<\/div>\n
\n

\u201cIt demonstrates the importance of Hawaii as the command center of our security activities in the Asia-Pacific region.\u201d Once the building was completed and staffed, Inouye chuckles, \u201cit would be difficult for succeeding CINCPACs to give it up.\u201d In short, the physical facility cements Hawaii\u2019s importance to the military and virtually guarantees its presence here for a long time.<\/p><\/div>\n<\/blockquote>\n

http:\/\/www.hawaiibusiness.com\/Hawaii-Business\/October-2009\/The-Inouye-Legacy\/<\/a><\/p>\n

Hawaii Business \/ October 2009 \/ The Inouye Legacy<\/p>\n

The Inouye Legacy<\/h1>\n

What he\u2019s doing now to ensure Hawaii\u2019s future<\/h2>\n
Jerry Burris<\/div>\n
\n\n\n\n\n
\"\"<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Dan Inouye, now 85, says he will run for another six-year
\nSenate term in 2010. Photo: Mark Arbeit<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n

Sen. Daniel Ken Inouye has long been Hawaii\u2019s most powerful and influential individual, a man who has brought billions of dollars into his home state and forged or supported industries in astronomy, high-technology, the military complex, research, agriculture and education.<\/p>\n

Critics complain that Inouye is a master of earmarking budget items and pork- barrel spending, in effect wasting national resources on parochial issues. But Hawaii\u2019s senior senator brushes off such criticism, even brags about his mastery of the earmarking process. He argues that every one of his projects can stand the litmus test \u2013 as important both for Hawaii and for the nation.<\/p>\n

On a recent visit home, Inouye told an audience on the Big Island, \u201cI\u2019m the No. 1 earmarks guy in the U.S. Congress.\u201d That remark produced a round of tongue-clicking and commentary from groups who seek to control government spending and stifle earmarks. Whether Inouye is No. 1 or not depends on how you measure things.<\/p>\n

According to the Center for Responsive Politics, a nonpartisan group focused on the influence of money on politics, Inouye ranks No. 5 in total Senate earmarks secured in fiscal 2009. His $450.5 million puts him behind Sens. Thad Cochran, Roger Wicker, Tom Harkin and Chuck Grassley. Hawaii\u2019s junior senator, Daniel Akaka, was way down the list.<\/p>\n

But those are total earmarks, including earmarks co-sponsored by more than one member of Congress. In solo earmarks, Inouye is indeed near the top at $220.7 million, far higher than any other member of the Senate save Robert Byrd, his predecessor as chair of the Appropriations Committee.<\/p>\n

This is nothing new. From the moment of his first election to Congress right after Statehood in 1959, Inouye has been a one-man industry for his home. Inouye, who entered the Senate after the 1962 election, is currently the second most senior senator, after Byrd, and the third oldest, behind Byrd and Frank Lautenberg.<\/p>\n

But Inouye downplays the suggestion that he alone is a key economic player for Hawaii and that the state will be in dire straits when he retires. \u201cI hope that\u2019s not the case,\u201d he says soberly when presented with that proposition.<\/p>\n

Yet other leaders, some of whom started their political careers in his Washington office, see Inouye in a dominant and crucial role.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe is probably one of the state\u2019s largest industries right now,\u201d says Kirk Caldwell, managing director for the City and County of Honolulu. \u201cHe\u2019s a growth industry at a time nothing else is growing.\u201d<\/p>\n

Walter Dods, former CEO of First Hawaiian Bank and a close confidante of Inouye\u2019s for decades, calls him \u201cour biggest secret weapon.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cOver the past dozen years or so, he has really looked to help Hawaii once he ultimately leaves the Senate,\u201d says Dods, who recently chaired a campaign that raised more than a million dollars for the senator\u2019s war chest.<\/p>\n

\u201cHis legacy has been that he has always been out there ahead, trying to fund projects that have a lasting impact.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere\u2019s a method to his madness,\u201d Dods continues. \u201cWithout him, we would be in deep kim chee.\u201d<\/p>\n

<\/span><\/div>\n

When Inouye runs for his ninth senatorial term next year, he can point to the deep-draft harbor at Barbers Point, the Pacific Missile Range, the Maui supercomputer, Camp Smith and many other projects that have propelled one of the nation\u2019s smallest states into an important post for the military and a national model for a sustainable energy future.<\/p>\n

In his Honolulu office, Inouye is both assured and almost self-deprecating about his role in Hawaii\u2019s economic future.<\/p>\n

\u201cI assure you my decisions are not haphazard,\u201d he says. \u201cThey are part of a plan, if you can put it that way.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cMany of my projects are not just for the next 10 to 20 years,\u201d he says, but for the very long term.<\/p>\n

When Inouye steps down, Dods says, \u201cthere will be a significant impact on Hawaii.\u201d He mentions a recent meeting where the senator gathered people to discuss the next 50 years. The meeting was private and its results have not been published, but Dods says it is typical of Inouye\u2019s long-range thinking.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe doesn\u2019t have the quarter-to-quarter mentality of most Americans,\u201d Dods observes.<\/p>\n

While he appears politically invincible, Inouye is keenly aware that his age could play a role in the coming campaign. He noted that he will turn 86 on Sept. 7, just days before next year\u2019s primary election. \u201cI can see my opponent buying up time on the TV stations just to say: \u2018Happy Birthday, Dan! You made 86,\u2019 \u201d he says with a laugh.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n
\"\"<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
A test missile blasts off from Kauai\u2019s Pacific Missile Range and is
\nlater destroyed by an interceptor fired from a Navy ship. Below
\nis the headquarters of Pacific Command at Oahu\u2019s Camp Smith.
\nPhotos: U.S. Navy<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n

While many of Inouye\u2019s appropriations are focused on the military, it would be a mistake, he says, to see his efforts only through that lens. Still, there is no doubt that military spending is the foundation of the money (\u201cpork\u201d to his critics) he has secured for the Islands. And make no mistake: Those in the Armed Services here are more than grateful.<\/p>\n

\u201cSen. Inouye has been a consistent, staunch supporter of initiatives to keep the Pearl Harbor Naval Shipyard active, serving the Pacific Fleet, and to support the Pacific Missile Range Facility at Barking Sands, whose invaluable presence sustained Kauai following Hurricane Iniki in 1992,\u201d noted Rear Adm. Dixon Smith, commander of Navy Region Hawaii.<\/p>\n

Although Inouye hasn\u2019t always spoken about long-range goals, over 47 years in the Senate he has carefully and relentlessly built the infrastructure to solidly establish, for decades to come, two visions for his home state.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\"\"<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n

First, he has worked to establish Hawaii as a place of national importance \u2013 as indispensable as it can be. Without such attention, he points out, these small and remote islands could easily be overlooked. Or worse \u2013 ignored.<\/p>\n

Take the new Pacific Command Center at Camp Smith overlooking Pearl Harbor. No question there was a need to replace the antiquated facilities housed in a former hospital. But the push to build the new Nimitz-MacArthur Pacific Command Center was about far more than simply keeping the military happy, Inouye says.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe (White House) was not too keen about building a massive state-of-the-art Pacific Command building,\u201d Inouye said. \u201cBut I made that one of my major goals.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt demonstrates the importance of Hawaii as the command center of our security activities in the Asia-Pacific region.\u201d Once the building was completed and staffed, Inouye chuckles, \u201cit would be difficult for succeeding CINCPACs to give it up.\u201d In short, the physical facility cements Hawaii\u2019s importance to the military and virtually guarantees its presence here for a long time.<\/p>\n

<\/span><\/div>\n

Similarly, Inouye says, he fought for construction of a bridge to connect Ford Island to the rest of Oahu. Opponents argued that it made little sense to build a bridge to an \u201cempty island.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cBut it\u2019s like that movie,\u201d Inouye says, referring to \u201cField of Dreams,\u201d a movie about a baseball field built in a remote Iowa cornfield. \u201cYou build a bridge and they will go across it.\u201d<\/p>\n

Today, Ford Island is thriving with new military housing, a complex of historical attractions and other facilities, serving as a central anchor for local Navy activities.<\/p>\n

Secondly, he has purposely worked to link the Islands into a single strong economic and social unit. Hawaii\u2019s future requires integrating the Neighbor Islands with once-dominant Oahu, he says, and that means putting money and time into projects that bring the scattered Islands together.<\/p>\n

When he was growing up, Inouye says, the Neighbor Islands (then called by an even-more-remote term, the Outer Islands) were backwaters focused on agriculture. \u201cOahu was the Island,\u201d he said. \u201cThe Outer Islands were islands of plantations and working people. I remember once a year on Christmas holidays the plantation managers and their wives would come to Honolulu for their annual spree and Christmas shopping.<\/p>\n

\u201cI wanted to carry on activities that would bring all the Islands together.\u201d<\/p>\n

Inouye notes that fiber-optic links are one major way of uniting the Islands. In addition, the Maui supercomputer; the star-gazing facilities atop Haleakala and Mauna Kea; the Pacific Missile Range on Kauai (\u201cI had to fight like hell for that and now it\u2019s a national treasure\u201d) and other projects were all designed with the idea of making the Neighbor Islands an important piece of Hawaii\u2019s overall economy, he says.<\/p>\n

So, too, are the educational facilities, particularly the community colleges, which are thriving and growing on Maui, Kauai and the Big Island. UH-Hilo is already a full-fledged four-year university. \u201cBefore I go, I want all the community colleges built up to be worthy of being called universities,\u201d Inouye says.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n
\"\"<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
The Imiloa Astronomy Center outside Hilo was created
\nmostly with federal money secured by Inouye.
\nPhotos: Imiloa Astronomy Center of Hawaii and Macario<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n

While much attention has been focused on the observatories atop Mauna Kea on the Big Island, Inouye\u2019s reach goes deeper. Just outside Hilo, the gleaming new Imiloa Astronomy Center (built primarily with funds obtained by Inouye) is entertaining and educating visitors and local residents alike on the importance of astronomy. Just down the street are brand-new tropical agricultural research facilities working on high-tech solutions for Hawaii and the nation\u2019s food security \u2013 again, built mostly with federal money.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re now on our road and soon we\u2019ll have the nation\u2019s No. 1 telescope,\u201d he says, referring to the Thirty Meter Telescope planned for Mauna Kea.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019ve got,\u201d Inouye continues, \u201cthe foundation for Maui, Kauai and the Big Island. \u2026 Hawaii becomes one state. The Neighbor Islands become an important, integral part of the overall equation. They\u2019re no longer the \u2018Neighbor\u2019 Islands.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s not finished yet, but it\u2019s a long-term plan.\u201d<\/p>\n

Caldwell speaks admiringly of this second initiative. \u201cHe\u2019s trying to create opportunities for the Neighbor Islands,\u201d says Caldwell, who worked for Inouye in Washington from 1978 to 1981.<\/p>\n

In addition to the capital projects, Inouye has focused on bringing better healthcare to the Neighbor Islands\u2019 rural population, notes Caldwell.<\/p>\n

An Inouye theme, Caldwell says, is a deep concern for the underdog, those groups who may not receive the attention or services they deserve. Over the years, he has championed Native Americans, Native Hawaiians, people with disabilities, the nation of Israel and others.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe Native Hawaiian community, he\u2019s trying to figure out ways to empower them,\u201d says Caldwell.<\/p>\n

\u201cSomething puts him there to drive him. It pushes him toward people who need help. He stood up for the Vietnamese boat people when Japan would not accept them. He flies at the highest level but he hasn\u2019t forgotten his roots.\u201d<\/p>\n

Inouye has his eye on a new effort that links the Islands and, at the same time, supports both the civilian economy and the military: A \u201cmulti-multibillion-dollar\u201d deep-water energy cable that would link Oahu with energy-producing operations on Maui, Lanai and Molokai and, someday, the Big Island.<\/p>\n

\u201cTo provide the energy necessary for all the Islands, we need an underwater cable,\u201d he said. A previous cable effort flopped. That\u2019s not going to happen this time, Inouye suggests, because there is buy-in from the state, the counties, Hawaiian Electric Co. and the military.<\/p>\n

Beyond the physical infrastructure, Inouye has also focused on the social and intellectual infrastructure of his home. He is a staunch defender of the East West Center, which is key to Hawaii\u2019s reputation as a meeting ground between the West and Asia. He has pumped millions into the University of Hawaii with the goal of making it a major research institution, able to attract top scholars and capable of winning national grants. And he has been a core supporter of programs such as Alu Like, aimed at bettering the lives of Native Hawaiians. That focus, in part, is to fulfill a promise Inouye says he made to his mother when he was first elected to Congress. Kame Inouye, as a child, had been hanaied by a Hawaiian family and felt a lifelong obligation for that kindness.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe Hawaiians have been good to me,\u201d Inouye remembers his mother saying. \u201cYou (must) do the gratitude repayment.\u201d<\/p>\n

Inouye\u2019s long-term projects and ideas have created political risk, although his powerful electoral victory margins over the years suggest the risk was more than manageable.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf I went for some of the earmark programs some of my colleagues go for, I would have done my state a disservice,\u201d Inouye says. \u201cSo I took a risk.\u201d<\/p>\n

Still, the day will come when Inouye is no longer a force for Hawaii. When he does leave the Senate, Inouye has advice for his successor:<\/p>\n

\u201cTo the extent possible, I hope they would carry out the programs I felt would be helpful in establishing a healthy economy in Hawaii,\u201d he says. \u201cHawaii should be an important part of the national picture.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n
<\/span><\/div>\n

Dan\u2019s long-range plan<\/h3>\n

During his five decades in Congress, Daniel Inouye has long had a specific plan as he worked to secure Hawaii\u2019s long-term economic stability and security. It\u2019s a plan not always obvious in the daily controversies over federal spending, earmarks and pork barrel politics.<\/p>\n

The twin pillars of Inouye\u2019s bedrock plan are:<\/p>\n

1. To integrate Hawaii\u2019s Islands into one economic unit, bringing the often-ignored Neighbor Islands fully into the mix;<\/p>\n

2. To make Hawaii as indispensable to the nation as possible.<\/p>\n

Whether it is the Barbers Point Deep- Draft Harbor, the Maui supercomputer, the Saddle Road on the Big Island, the sprawling network of fiber-optic cables that serves both the military and civilians, or the new high-tech headquarters for the Pacific Command at Camp Smith, Inouye says, his projects always serve those two purposes.<\/p>\n

Inouye\u2019s name doesn\u2019t go here<\/h4>\n

For all the capital projects Inouye has won for Hawaii, you won\u2019t see his name on many of them. That\u2019s deliberate, he says.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf your colleagues know you want a project because you wanted to be recognized from here to eternity, they will use it against you.\u201d Thus, there are few \u201cInouye\u201d facilities in Hawaii.<\/p>\n

But, Inouye says with a laugh, one of the few facilities with his name is a dining facility at Camp Smith called the \u201cInouye Mess.\u201d<\/p>\n

After he sought federal funding to upgrade the swine production industry on the Big Island, Inouye says, he was honored by having one of the animals named after him \u2013 \u201cDanny Boy.\u201d And one of four new tugboats at Pearl Harbor is named in his honor, but is not called The Inouye. Officially, it is called Kaimanahila, a traditional Inouye campaign song. Informally, it is called \u201ctwo scoop rice,\u201d after the senator\u2019s standard order when he eats at Zippy\u2019s.<\/p>\n

Some of his biggest projects<\/h3>\n

Here is a sampling of the many Hawaii projects Inouye has pushed through Congress in the past several years.<\/p>\n

Maui Supercomputer:<\/strong><\/p>\n

The Maui High Performance Computing Center was created in 1993 to support the Department of Defense and to stimulate technology development on Maui and throughout Hawaii. The MHPCC has received more than $60 million in support, providing access to parallel computing hardware, advanced software, high bandwidth communications and high-performance storage technologies to researchers.<\/p>\n

Saddle Road on Big Island:<\/strong><\/p>\n

Hawaii annually receives about $130 million in federal highway formula funds to support the state and the four counties. On top of that, dollars have been specifically set aside for priority projects on all Islands. For example, the federal government has invested $200.4 million over the past 10 years in the construction of the Saddle Road to ensure the safety of public motorists and military users.<\/p>\n

Pacific Missile Range improvements:<\/strong><\/p>\n

PMR features the military\u2019s latest technology in protecting both Hawaii and the U.S. from ballistic missile attacks. More than $944 million has been invested in and around the range \u2013 the largest industrial and technology employer on Kauai.<\/p>\n

Imiloa Astronomy Center:<\/strong><\/p>\n

Located at the foot of Mauna Kea in Hilo, Imiloa is a celebration of Hawaiian culture and Mauna Kea astronomy \u2013 combined to bring a vibrant educational experience to Hawaii\u2019s youth and demonstrating that science and culture are not mutually exclusive. Thanks to nearly $15 million in federal funding, there have been more than 120,000 visitors since it opened in 2006.<\/p>\n

Agricultural research on the Big Island:<\/strong><\/p>\n

The Pacific Basin Agriculture Research Center in Hilo provides research support for the transformation from plantation agriculture to a diversified agriculture in Hawaii and America\u2019s Pacific territories. About $48 million in federal funds helped complete Phase I; plans and about $15 million in funding for Phase II construction are ongoing.<\/p>\n

Camp Smith Headquarters:<\/strong><\/p>\n

Since 2000, nearly $90 million has been appropriated to build a state-of-the-art headquarters for the Pacific Command overlooking Pearl Harbor. The command has jurisdiction over a sweep of the Pacific and Asia reaching nearly to the Mid-East.<\/p><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The militarization of Hawai’i is driven by both the ‘push’ of military strategy in the Pacific and the ‘pull’ of politicians, unions and corporate leaders who profit from the military domination of Hawai’i.\u00a0 The logic is spelled out here in a recent Hawaii Business article about Senator Inouye: \u201cThe (White House) was not too keen … <\/p>\n

Continue reading “Inouye’s legacy: locking the military into Hawai’i “for a long time””<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_exactmetrics_skip_tracking":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_active":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_note":"","_exactmetrics_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[161,2391],"tags":[47],"class_list":["post-5136","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-projects-issues-and-campaigns","category-maui-molokai-lanai-kahoolawe","tag-mauna-kea"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.dmzhawaii.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5136"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.dmzhawaii.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.dmzhawaii.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.dmzhawaii.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.dmzhawaii.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=5136"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/www.dmzhawaii.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5136\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":5138,"href":"https:\/\/www.dmzhawaii.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5136\/revisions\/5138"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.dmzhawaii.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=5136"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.dmzhawaii.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=5136"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.dmzhawaii.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=5136"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}