Kirk Spitzer

Kirk Spitzer is a veteran journalist and defense correspondent, based in Tokyo. He has covered nearly every major US military deployment since Operation Desert Shield and Desert Storm and has made more than a dozen reporting trips to Iraq and Afghanistan. He was the first journalist to report from the fighting in Fallujah, Iraq, in November 2004, where he was embedded with US special operations forces. Spitzer has won numerous journalism awards, and is a frequent speaker at military-media symposiums. Before moving to Tokyo, he worked as defense correspondent for USA Today in Washington DC, and reporter/producer for CBS News in London. Spitzer has a B.A. in journalism from the University of Hawaii; he was also a Jefferson Fellow at the East-West Center in Honolulu and a Davenport Fellow at the University of Missouri.

Articles from Contributor

BattlelandPacific

Japan Takes Command — But Don’t Tell Anyone

By Kirk Spitzer June 28, 2012

TOKYO – Japan’s potent but often over-looked military takes another step onto the world scene when a Japanese commander assumes one of the top posts in a major multi-national exercise scheduled to begin Friday in waters off …

BattlelandPacific

U.S. Gets Its Asian Allies Together — Finally

By Kirk Spitzer June 21, 2012

TOKYO – For the first time ever, warships from the United States and its two closest Asian allies have come together in a joint military training exercise. But if the Americans can just keep the South Koreans and Japanese from …

BattlelandJapan

No Love For The Marines’ V-22 In Japan

By Kirk Spitzer June 14, 2012

TOKYO – Pity the poor V-22. The Marines’ beleaguered tilt-rotor aircraft can’t get any love even overseas. Even before the crash this week of an Air Force V-22 in Florida, local leaders in Japan were lining up against plans …

BattlelandPacific

U.S. Takes A Pass — For Now — On China Sea Disputes

By Kirk Spitzer June 11, 2012

TOKYO – The territorial disputes in the South China Seas are over, China has won, and the U.S. couldn’t care less. But that’s not necessarily bad.

While arguments over who owns which reefs, rocks and lagoons in the South …

BattlelandJapan

Tokyo Puts a Pro in Charge — for a Change

By Kirk Spitzer June 05, 2012

TOKYO – Japan finally has a defense minister who knows what he’s doing – and it couldn’t come at a worse time. Satoshi Morimoto, a prominent national security analyst and government advisor who served in both the Japan …

BattlelandPacific

“Delicate Dance” for Panetta in China’s Backyard

By Kirk Spitzer May 31, 2012

TOKYO – When U.S. Defense Secretary Leon Panetta arrives in Singapore this week to talk about containing China – and that’s really what this trip is all about — he’ll find plenty of support from friends in the region. …

BattlelandSouth China Sea

Clock Ticks On China-Japan Islands Dispute

By Kirk Spitzer May 24, 2012

TOKYO – Japan has one year, maybe two, to resolve the ownership dispute over a tiny group of islands or risk an honest-to-goodness shooting war with China. Unfortunately, neither Japan’s diplomats nor public seem to realize …

BattlelandPacific

Americans Choose Up Sides — Japan Over China

By Kirk Spitzer May 22, 2012

TOKYO – Maybe it’s sympathy from last year’s triple disasters or maybe it’s just China being China. But for what it’s worth, Americans increasingly view Japan as its most important ally in Asia.

A poll released …

BattlelandPacific

China’s ‘Security Dilemma’ Risks Arms Race in Asia

By Kirk Spitzer May 16, 2012

TOKYO – A shooting war with China may not be inevitable, but a dangerous arms escalation seems a dead certainty. That’s the take from a rare public discussion here this week among naval experts from Japan, the U.S. and …

BattlelandPacific

U.S. and Japanese Troops Draw Closer

By Kirk Spitzer April 30, 2012

The prospect of U.S. and Japanese troops fighting side by side in the next land war in Asia — and heaven forbid the need for either — comes a step closer with a little-noted provision in U.S. realignment plans announced last …

BattlelandPacific

Kiwis to Yanks: Welcome Back!

By Kirk Spitzer April 26, 2012

TOKYO – For the first time in almost three decades, Americans are training for combat in New Zealand – and even the Kiwis are happy about it.

U.S. Marines and soldiers began a joint-training exercise Thursday with the New Zealand Army in the rugged mountains of the North Island. The 10-day exercise is the first combat-related …

BattlelandChina

A Risky Game Over Japan’s Disputed Islands

By Kirk Spitzer April 20, 2012

TOKYO – Whether it’s a genuine attempt to steer Japan’s foreign policy or a clever ploy to annoy political leaders in both Japan and China, Tokyo Gov. Shintaro Ishihara’s plan to buy three disputed islands in the East …

BattlelandJapan

Tokyo: Wait Until Next Time

By Kirk Spitzer April 13, 2012

TOKYO – You could almost hear the collective “Aw, damn,” from Japan’s Ministry of Defense Friday as a North Korean missile broke up soon after takeoff and plopped into the sea. Japan spends about $5 billion a year on missile defense and had mobilized forces throughout the country to shoot the missile down if it strayed …