A top US Navy admiral wants the powerful Third Fleet to expand its engagement in the Western Pacific from its headquarters in San Diego, California, by operating more closely with the Japan-based Seventh Fleet to focus on areas with the “greatest instability.”

In two recent speeches that received little media attention, US Pacific Fleet commander Admiral Scott Swift questioned the need for an administrative boundary running along the international date line to demarcate operations for the Seventh Fleet in the Western Pacific and the Third Fleet to the east.