Victor Consaga/For Pacific Sunday News
http://cmsimg.guampdn.com/apps/pbcsi.dll/bilde?Site=M0&Date=20060326&Category=NEWS01&ArtNo=603260302&Ref=V2&Profile=1002&MaxW=600&Q=80Congressional visit: Two senior members of the U.S. House Committee on Armed Services, Congressman Gene Taylor of Mississippi, left, and Congressman Roscoe Bartlett of Maryland, right, arrived last night at the Guam airport as part of a congressional delegation reviewing shipbuilding issues and locations in Asia.
http://www.guampdn.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20060326/NEWS01/603260302/1002Delegates to review Guam's shipyards
By Valerie Lynn M. Maigue
Pacific Sunday News
vmmaigue@guampdn.com
Yesterday evening, Guam Delegate Madeleine Bordallo along with, Congressman Roscoe Bartlett, R-Maryland, Congressman Gene Taylor, D-Mississippi, Deputy Assistant Secretary of the Navy for Ship Programs Allison Siller, and Vice Adm. Paul E. Sullivan, Commander of the Naval Sea Systems, arrived on island and are scheduled to visit the Guam Shipyard, as well as U.S. Air Force and Navy facilities.
"Because of Guam's strategic location, it is going to become more and more important militarily," Congressman Bartlett said at a reception last night at the Hilton Guam Resort & Spa. "We're going to see a lot of military activity here on Guam."
Bartlett said the delegation's goal is to determine the capabilities of the shipyards in the region. He then will forward his review of the shipyards to U.S. Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld and Secretary of the Navy Gordon England.
Guam has been in the running for a Navy carrier and plans are in place to homeport another submarine on Guam in September.
Two fast-attack nuclear submarines are already stationed on Guam."In today's world the security of bases on foreign soil is uncertain," Bartlett said. "Anything can happen and we're very close to some areas where there could be some potential flashpoints in the world, so I definitely think that Guam is going to become increasingly more and more important."
Originally published March 26, 2006