Vol. 35 No.7
       ©2007 Marianas Variety
Monday, March 26, 2007 www.mvariety.com
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Guam to host anti-terrorism exercise

By Gemma Q. Casas
Variety News Staff

GUAM Gov. Felix P. Camacho says the world’s largest anti-terrorism exercise — TopOff 4 — will be held in the territory sometime in September or October this year.
TopOff 4 is a congressionally mandated series of large-scale anti-terrorism exercise created after 9/11 designed to strengthen America’s ability to respond to terrorist attacks involving weapons of mass destruction.
Camacho said the exercise highlights Guam’s growing strategic military importance to the U.S.
TopOff 4 is envisioned to be bigger than last year’s Valiant Shield war games which involved 30 ships, 280 aircraft and 22,000 military personnel.
Next year, 8,000 U.S. Marines from Okinawa, Japan will start relocating to Guam.
“The details as to how the $6 billion commitment made by the Japanese government to pay for the move from Okinawa, Japan to Guam — the specifics on how that will be executed remain to be worked out in detail,” Camacho said.
He was here last week for the three-day 7th Western Micronesian Chief Executives Summit.