Emergency Episode: What's Happening with Korea? Military exercises, Kim Jong-un and Iran
August 17, 2026 • 2:45 – 3:15 pm EDT
Hosted by Korea Chair
From INDOPACOM to PACOM: Is There a Strategic Backstory?
Subscribe and Listen
In this episode, Mike is joined by Dr. Arzan Tarapore, Visiting Fellow at the Hoover Institution at Stanford University, and Visiting Fellow at the European University Institute in Florence, Italy. They unpack the Pentagon's decision to revert the U.S. Indo-Pacific Command (INDOPACOM) name back to Pacific Command (PACOM). They explore the strategic and political rationale behind the change; its implications for security dynamics in the Indian Ocean and Western Pacific; and what it reveals about U.S. conceptions of the Indo-Pacific as an operational theatre in U.S. defence planning.
