Kaine: Navy has long-term role in Gulf

Sailors from Hampton Roads are likely to keep steaming east to the Persian Gulf for some time to come, playing a critical role in keep sea lanes open through the Strait of Hormuz that links the oil-rich area to the rest of the world, Sen. Tim Kaine said Friday, during a break in a visit to the region.

Kaine, chairman of the Senate subcommittee that focuses on the Middle East and South Asia, spoke after visiting with U.S. Naval Forces Central Command and Fifth Fleet in Bahrain.

"I think the Navy will be here in a significant way," he said.

He said the intensity of the naval effort probably will not diminish any time soon.

"We're doing a better job with energy independence, but even if we get to energy independence by 2020, disrupting oil shipments through the Strait of Hormuz would have a significant negative impact on the global economy," he said. The effect of that on the United States would be severe, he added.

But Kaine said while strategic needs dictate a continuing U.S. Navy presence in the Gulf, one thing that could force a pullback was "this foolish sequestration — that's the asterisk right now."

During his visit in Bahrain, Kaine visited the Norfolk-based USS San Jacinto and met with Virginian sailors and Marines stationed there, sharing lunch and fielding questions from them.

The very first question he got was about the federal budget impasse and whether the conference committee he serves on can hit a Dec. 13 deadline for reaching a compromise to avoid another government shutdown. Kaine said he is still optimistic that the committee will come up with a plan for 2014, and possibly for 2015 as well.

He said Navy brass in Bahrain said they're concerned about the across-the-board budget cuts — sequestration, in the Washington jargon — that went into effect this spring.

Although military personnel on the front lines aren't subject to sequestration-linked furloughs, Kaine said top Central Command officers are concerned about how those budget cuts and the prospect of additional ones next year will affect the people who support military operations, including Defense Department civilians and defense contractors.

Kaine is in Bahrain to participate in the Institute for International Strategic Studies' ninth annual conference on regional security. He is participating in the opening panel, with Iraqi Foreign Minister Hoshyar Zebari, Prince Turki Al Faisal of Saudi Arabia and the former Kuwaiti foreign minister, Sheik Muhammed Al Salem Al Sabah. Conference organizers have asked him to be on a panel about Syria, as well.

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