During a joint press conference in Tokyo today, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth announced that the Defense Department has started phase one of upgrading U.S. Forces Japan to a joint force headquarters.
The department originally announced in 2024 that USFJ would be upgraded from a primarily administrative command to a joint force headquarters, meaning it would have more warfighting and operational responsibilities.
Hegseth said the USFJ upgrade will help improve the command’s ability to operate with Japan’s Joint Operations Command, which was just established March 24, 2025, and is responsible for commanding branches of the Japan Self-Defense Forces.
“We certainly welcome JJOC’s establishment this past week,” Hegseth said during his opening remarks.
“It’s more urgency [and] it’s more cooperation in real time. It also increases our readiness to respond to [any] contingency or crisis, support U.S. operations and help Japan and U.S. forces defend [Japan’s] territory,” he added.
As part of the USFJ’s upgrade, Hegseth said DOD will soon add additional personnel to both Tokyo and USFJ headquarters at Yokota Air Base to conduct activities aimed at strengthening bilateral bonds with the U.S. military’s Japanese counterparts, as well as deepening operational cooperation.
Hegseth also said reorganizing USFJ into a warfighting headquarters would necessitate increased staff and the empowerment of USFJ’s commander with the authority needed to accomplish new missions.
“But, as my first platoon motto says, ‘Those who long for peace must prepare for war.’ We must be prepared, [and] we look forward to working closely together [with Japan] as we improve our warfighting capabilities, our lethality and our readiness,” he added.
Regarding China’s growing threat in the Indo-Pacific region, Hegseth said America is committed to sustaining a ready, robust and credible deterrence throughout the U.S. Indo-Pacific Command area of operations, including across the Taiwan Strait.
Reestablishing deterrence is one of the three core pillars Hegseth listed in his message to the force Jan. 25, 2025, with restoring the warrior ethos and rebuilding the military being the other two.
“Our job at the Defense Department … is to build an alliance so robust that both the reality and the perception of deterrence is real and ongoing so that the Communist Chinese don’t take the aggressive action that some have contemplated they will,” Hegseth said.
“Japan would be on the front lines of any contingency we might face in the Western Pacific, and we stand together in support of each other.”
Hegseth’s visit to Japan represents the last stop during a weeklong trip throughout the Indo-Pacific region. Having already traveled to Hawaii, Guam, the Philippines and the island of Iwo Jima, Hegseth spent the week meeting with senior U.S. military and civilian leadership.
He also interacted with troops from all branches of service at multiple stops and participated in a series of international bilateral meetings, with the goal of strengthening U.S. alliances and partnerships, as well as achieving a shared vision for a free and open Indo-Pacific region.
