Japan Engineer District Commander Thomas J. Verell, Jr. received keys to the new Japan District facility from Bobby N. Rakes, director at Directorate of Public Works, Oct. 12 in Sagami Depot.
The building will accommodate a newly established Foreign Military Sales and Missile Defense Agency Branch. Approximately 15 personnel working in this branch will execute two FMS Aegis Ashore projects and other potential U.S.-funded MDA projects.
“Numerous initiatives that have increased JED’s end-strength at its headquarters in Camp Zama created a need for the new space,” said Verell. “The Sagami Depot facility will enable us to have a usable administrative workspace immediately to adequately support implementation of these projects and potential US-funded projects for Missile Defense Agency.”
The new facility will also accommodate a Continuity of Operations Plan site for its Emergency Operations Center to execute contingency operations that will support 30 personnel for mission essential functions. The COOP site is operated on a contingency basis, thus in the event building 250 must evacuate, EOC operations would resume at the COOP site. In addition, the Kanagawa Resident Office has also transitioned to this new facility to consolidate JED’s operations on Sagami General Depot. Thus, this new facility will truly be a multi-purpose extension of JED’s mission at Camp Zama.
“The new building at Sagami General Depot will enable JED to successfully execute its mission in Japan.” said Project Manager Geoff Dorsey, who managed the renovation works and final handover of the keys.