The 1999 Diet delegation spent much of its time in Washington DC, discussing the state of the US-Japan security alliance, policy towards North Korea, and other bilateral security issues. The seven-member delegation kicked off their visit with a workshop at the Brookings Institution that explored the US-Japan security relationship and its implications for both countries’ policies towards the Asia Pacific region. Participants in the workshop included top analysts from think tanks such as the Brookings Institution and the Council on Foreign Relations as well as from US government entities such as the State Department, the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA), and the National Intelligence Council. 

The following day they met with a number of senators and representatives, including Doug Bereuter, Chairman of the House International Relations Subcommittee on Asian and Pacific Affairs, to discuss US-Japan and US-Asia relations. On Wednesday, they spoke with Secretary of Defense William Cohen and other top Department of Defense officials, then discussed US and Japanese policies towards North Korea with senior administration officials, including William Perry, Coordinator for US-North Korea Policy for the Secretary of Defense; Wendy Sherman, Counselor to the Department of State; Stanley Roth, the State Department’s Assistant Secretary for East Asian and Pacific Affairs; and Thomas Pickering, the State Department’s Undersecretary for Political Affairs. Afterwards, they headed to the White House for talks with Ken Lieberthal, the National Security Council (NSC) Senior Director for Asian Affairs and other presidential advisors. 

They then finished off their weeklong trip by traveling to New York for seminars with US and Japanese business executives and a meeting at the Council on Foreign Relations. This was the 22nd delegation of Diet members to visit the United States under JCIE’s US-Japan Parliamentary Exchange program.