History & Seal of the APCSS

History

On Sept. 30, 1994, President Clinton signed H.R. 4650, which included $3 million for the start-up of the Asia-Pacific Center for Security Studies, patterned after the George C. Marshall European Center for Security Studies.

The Center officially opened on Sept. 4, 1995, with a ribbon-cutting ceremony attended by the Honorable William J. Perry, then-Secretary of Defense and General John M. Shalikashvili, then Chairman of the U.S. Joint Chiefs of Staff. Also, ninety attendees from 33 countries participated, including several ministers of defense and key international representatives.

The Center was created to build on the strong bilateral relationships between the U.S. Pacific Command and the armed forces of the nations in the Asia-Pacific region, by focusing on the broader multilateral approach to addressing regional security issues and concerns.

Seal

The Lamp of Knowledge represents the academic focus of the Center and signifies the desire to foster understanding, cooperation and the study of regional security issues. The laurel branches form a Wreath of Peace that emphasize the Center’s non-warfighting approach to addressing regional security issues. The visible portion of the world globe depicts the U.S. Pacific Command’s area of responsibility. The continuous ribbon symbolizes the strong interrelationship among the six geographic regions of the Asia-Pacific theater. (This Seal was created by Dr. Jimmie R. Lackey, who was then an Army colonel, and is a former APCSS executive director.)