![\"Military](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/japan\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/080925OKI-NDAA.jpg\")
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\n\t\t\t\tU.S. service members and Okinawa police patrol Gate 2 Street in Okinawa city, Okinawa, on April 19, 2025. (Keishi Koja\/Stars and Stripes)
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CAMP FOSTER, Okinawa \u2014 The Defense Department could be required to study ways to prevent criminal conduct by U.S. troops stationed on Okinawa under a draft defense policy bill advanced by the House Armed Services Committee.<\/p>\n
The measure, sent to the full House this summer, directs the Pentagon to evaluate the effectiveness of existing programs and policies aimed at curbing crimes by service members<\/a> on the island.<\/p>\n \u201cThe committee remains concerned by sexual assault cases involving U.S. military servicemembers stationed in Okinawa, Japan, and reports that the Okinawa Prefectural Government and the local community were not promptly informed,\u201d the committee wrote in an Aug. 19 report accompanying the bill.
<\/p>\n The bill, totaling $848 billion, differs from the Senate Armed Services Committee\u2019s version, which adds $32 billion and makes no mention of Okinawa. Lawmakers must reconcile the two drafts before passing the annual National Defense Authorization Act, which sets defense priorities.
<\/p>\n Okinawa has faced a series of sexual assault cases involving U.S. troops since 2023. In December, Senior Airman Brennon Washington was convicted of kidnapping and sexually assaulting<\/a> a minor the previous year. In July, Marine Lance Cpl. Jamel Clayton was convicted of an attempted sexual assault<\/a> from May 2024. Both cases are under appeal, and two others remain pending.<\/p>\n U.S. Forces Japan tightened liberty rules in September. The military and local leaders also launched the Okinawa Community Partnership Forum<\/a> in May and have conducted several joint patrols<\/a> of Okinawa city since April.<\/p>\n Under the House bill, the Pentagon would contract with a federally funded research and development center to develop recommendations to strengthen crime-prevention programs. The Defense Department would be required to submit a report within 30 days of the study\u2019s conclusion. Each service branch would then have 180 days to draft plans and brief Congress.<\/p>\n That report also directs the defense secretary to provide details about the Okinawa cooperation forum by Feb. 1, 2026.
<\/p>\n USFJ spokesman Col. John Severns declined by email Thursday to comment on pending legislation. Joint patrols are \u201can essential tool for commanders to maintain good order and discipline and foster strong, positive relations with local communities,\u201d he said in a follow-up message. \u201cWe look forward to continuing these cooperative efforts with our partners in Okinawa.\u201d<\/p>\n An official in charge of Okinawa\u2019s Military Base Affairs Division called the draft \u201cextremely significant\u201d and said the provisions \u201care effective measures to prevent recurrences.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cWe believe this is a reflection of our past visits to the United States and our appeals by our Washington office staff to members of the Congress,\u201d she said by phone Thursday. In Japan, some government officials are required to speak to reporters on condition of anonymity.
<\/p>\n Sections of the House committee\u2019s report also raise concerns about contamination from per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances, known as PFAS or forever chemicals, near U.S. military facilities in Japan<\/a>, and about access to health care for service members, civilian employees<\/a> and their families in the country.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"U.S. service members and Okinawa police patrol Gate 2 Street in Okinawa city, Okinawa, on April 19, 2025.…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":2968,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[8,3079,3080,3077,3076,162,3078,3081,1534,1315,2071],"class_list":["post-2967","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-okinawa","tag-japan","tag-military-miscondcut","tag-military-misconduct-okinawa","tag-national-defense-authorization-act","tag-ndaa","tag-okinawa","tag-okinawa-ndaa","tag-sexual-assault","tag-sexual-assault-okinawa","tag-us-military","tag-us-military-okinawa"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/japan\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2967","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/japan\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/japan\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/japan\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/japan\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2967"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/japan\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2967\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/japan\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2968"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/japan\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2967"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/japan\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2967"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/japan\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2967"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}