“It’s August. Where’s the Guam buildup master plan?” asked the lawmaker.
Guthertz also revealed that Maj. Neil Ruggiero, a Joint Guam Program Office official who has left the island, confirmed that the Department of Defense and State Department “worked to keep Japan and Guam in the dark about buildup scheduling.”
July was supposed to be the delivery date for the Guam Joint Master Plan mandated by Congress, said Guthertz. The lawmaker sent a letter to Assistant Secretary of the Navy Jackalyne Pfannenstiel about what has become of the long-awaited document.
Guthertz also told Pfannenstiel that recently reassigned JGPO Public Affairs Officer Major Ruggiero told a member of her staff that DOD was aware well before the Draft Environmental Impact Statement was released that the timeline for the plan was unrealistic.
“However, he (Ruggiero) said DOD had to follow the Department of State’s desires and avoid mentioning this fact to anyone on Guam since any word of it on Guam would get to the Japanese. The State Department, according to [Ruggiero], wanted to keep the Japanese in the delusion that the buildup would be completed by 2014,” said an outraged Guthertz.
In other words, said the senator, the federal government was willing to leave U.S. citizens on Guam in the dark, which created much of the later negative views of the buildup — thanks to the false schedule.
“This is a significant lapse in ethics and integrity by the United States government,” Guthertz said. “Anxiety and opposition to the buildup was created because of the 2014 date. I am disappointed that DOD needlessly traumatized our community with the rushed timelines for the buildup.”
