Pentagon announces new director of Asia-Pacific Center for Security Studies

Pentagon announces new director of Asia-Pacific Center for Security Studies
by Sheri Walsh
Washington DC (UPI) Nov 4, 2024

The Defense Department announced Monday that a retired major general with decades of service will take over next year as the new director for the Asia-Pacific Center for Security Studies.

Maj. Gen. Suzanne Puanani Vares-Lum will become director of the Daniel K. Inouye Asia-Pacific Center for Security Studies, starting in early 2025.

DKI APCSS is a Defense Department institute dedicated to scholars and practitioners focused on the Indo-Pacific region. It opened in September 1995 in Honolulu, Hawaii.

The institute "builds resilient capacity, shared understanding and networked relationships among civilian and military practitioners and institutions to advance a free and open Indo-Pacific," according to the DKI APCSS' website.

Retired Rear Adm. Pete Gumataotao "departed the Center this last summer after more than six years of distinguished service as director," said the Defense Department.

Vares-Lum has served as president of the East-West Center -- a national educational institution for the United States, Asia and the Pacific islands -- since January 2022. During her service in the U.S. Army, she received the Defense Superior Service Medal, Legion of Merit and Bronze Star Medal.

"Maj. Gen. Vares-Lum's leadership as president of the East-West Center and her 34 years of service in the U.S. Army provide her with the vision and experience needed to be a transformational leader at this vital DoD institution in the Indo-Pacific region," the Defense Department wrote in a statement Monday, as East-West Center announced Vares-Lum would be leaving in a post on X.

"EWC president Suzanne Vares-Lum announced to EWC community this morning that she will be leaving the Center at the end of this year to accept an official appointment as head of the Daniel K. Inouye Asia Pacific Center for Security Studies."

"It is with a heavy heart that I will be moving on from the East-West Center, whose amazing staff and community have made my time here some of the most professionally and personally rewarding of my life," Vares-Lum wrote Monday.

"Making the decision to depart this great institution was very difficult, but ultimately I believe this new appointment is the best opportunity for me to draw on my cumulative experiences toward making a positive impact on our region."