By Gemma Q. Casas
Variety News Staff

GOVERNOR Benigno R. Fitial has named Lt. Gov. Timothy P. Villagomez head of the six-member special military task force that will negotiate with the U.S. Department of Defense.
The task force members are Rep. Absalon Waki Jr., Covenant-Saipan; Microl Corp.’s general manager Michael Brennan; Hotel Association of the Northern Mariana Islands chairwoman Lynn Knight; Strategic Economic Development Council co-chairman Bob Jones; and SEDC co-chairwoman Marian Aldan-Pierce.
Fitial said the task force will help his administration “meet the needs of the U.S. military’s expansion into our region.”
He forwarded the names of the six to Rear Adm. Charles Leidig Jr., commander of the Naval Forces Marianas, who is also the U.S. military’s representative to Guam, the Northern Marianas, the Federated States of Micronesia, and Palau.
“Most of the members of this group are in the CNMI’s private business sector and they have generously volunteered their time to help the CNMI support an increased military presence in our region,” the governor said in a letter to the rear admiral.
He told Leidig to contact Brennan, who is a member of the Saipan Chamber of Commerce’s armed forces committee, on issues regarding possible military operations in the CNMI.
The CNMI is urging the U.S. to use the islands for its planned military build-up in the Pacific Region.
Allen Stayman, the senior staff member in charge of insular affairs for the U.S. Senate Committee on Energy and Natural Resources, said the Pentagon plans to use the Northern Marianas for training and other similar activities.
But he said the military has no plan to put up permanent structures like bases in the Northern Marianas despite the relocation of 8,000 U.S. Marines from Japan to Guam starting next year.
Guam, he added, has enough land resources to cover the needs of the additional troops.