Honolulu's Asia-Pacific Centers

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Asia Pacific Center focuses on security, terror

Some have called it "Hawai'i's other East-West Center." But that doesn't adequately describe the nine-year-old Asia Pacific Center for Security Studies, which hums along in a quiet corner of Fort DeRussy in Waikiki.

True, both receive federal money and are in the business of higher education, professional conferences and advanced research. Equally important, each has thousands of alumni (the East-West Center about 50,000) who are increasingly moving up the leadership ranks in Asia and the Pacific islands, assets to Hawai'i and our nation.

The security center gets its $13.8 million annual budget from the Department of Defense and is one of five such regional institutions. The East-West Center receives a $15.3 million annual grant through the State Department, plus even more from other federal and private research and program grants.

So the words for them are complementary and parallel.

The security center deals with the aspects of security beyond fighting wars. These include such topics as improving water supplies, other public-health needs, energy issues, corruption, transnational crimes like smuggling of drugs, money and people, piracy and