For now, let’s focus on the so-called pivot to the Asia-Pacific area. For the past two months the area has been the center of attention for President Obama, Panetta and Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton.

While the congressional deficit-reduction “supercommittee” was still working in October, Panetta, who was in Japan, said, “We will continue to not only maintain, but to strengthen our presence in this part of the world.”

On Nov. 22, with the possibility of sequestration looming, Ben Rhodes, White House deputy national security adviser for strategic communications, told a news conference, “As we look at areas to cut, which will be the case going forward, we’re going to make sure that we protect the capabilities that we need to maintain our presence in the Asia-Pacific.”

The Nov. 16 announcement of new six-month rotations of 250 U.S. Marines to Australian bases for joint training in 2012 — growing eventually to 2,500 Marines — highlighted the beginnings of the so-called pivot.

But it isn’t as if U.S. attention to the Iraq and Afghan wars had drained all forces away from the Pacific, where the United States has been for years as part of defense treaty obligations. As Air Force Maj. Gen. Michael Keltz, the Pacific region’s director of strategic planning and policy, told reporters Nov. 16, “Quietly, in the background, we in the Pacific have been continuing to reinforce our relationships and our alliances. . . . We’ve numerically taken some things away, we’ve been quietly but very effectively increasing the capabilities that we have in the Pacific.”

For example, Keltz said, three of six F-22 stealth fighter squadrons outside the continental United States are stationed in the Pacific — a National Guard squadron in Hawaii and two in Alaska that rotate to Guam and Japan. In addition, only two C-17 large transport squadrons have been deployed outside the United States,in Alaska and Hawaii. The first Global Hawk, long-distance drone surveillance aircraft deployments were out of Guam.

Keltz also pointed out that F-22s have “leading-edge technology” that provide an “unprecedented amount of situational awareness.”

Singapore has built a facility, ChangiPier, which has been offered for U.S. Navy deployments and repair. Keltz said discussions with the Singapore government are continuing.

New base facilities are being built in Japan and Okinawa, and a major transfer of 8,000 Marines from Japan is scheduled for Guam, but the costs — more than $20 billion — has held things up. Some 31 U.S. Navy nuclear attack submarines are based in the Pacific, along with eight strategic nuclear subs. Three of the latter are normally on patrol.