WASHINGTON, March 12 (UPI) -- The U.S. Marine Corps will need an extra $465 million a year to move from Okinawa to Guam.
The move is scheduled to be completed by 2014 and the price tag estimate was in a new report from the Inspector-General of the U.S. Department of Defense.
The U.S. Navy and Air Force will also incur additional annual costs by moving forces out of Japan and South Korea to Guam, but the services have not yet determined what they are, the report said.
U.S. Pacific Command has reached an agreement with Japan and South Korea to reduce the number of U.S. forces in them in favor of Guam, for diplomatic, strategic, and financial reasons. The U.S. forces, however, would still be committed defending Japan and South Korea from the new bases.
The Marine Corps will move 8,000 Marines and 9,000 dependents to Guam by 2014, a $10.3 billion effort for which the government of Japan has agreed to pay $6 billion.
After the relocation, the Marine Corps and other U.S. services will see increased annual costs. Japan and South Korea have paid a large part of the costs of U.S. forces in their countries: Japan paid $3 billion a year and South Korea paid $7 billion.
The IG report warned that Japan may reduce the annual payments to support remaining troops in Japan to offset the $6 billion one-time payment.
The U.S. Air Force plans to move 3,500 people to Guam from various locations. The U.S. Navy closed many facilities in Guam 14 years ago and will need funding to refurbish them for U.S. Air Force and Marine personnel, the report said. The amount the services will need additional to their budgets remains unclear.
