This is the Cato Daily Podcast for Monday, October 25, 2010.

I'm Caleb Brown.

Should Japan be responsible for its own defense?

The Obama administration says, not really.

Chris Preble, Director of foreign policy studies at the Cato Institute, says yes.

He is author of the book The Power Problem.

At the Cato Club 200 retreat held last month,

he discussed ways the United States can rid itself of the burden of defending

countries perfectly capable of defending themselves.

My argument is that we should be looking for ways to devolve these security responsibilities back to the Japanese.

The Obama administration is holding fast to the status quo.

But again, there are these tensions between what we're doing for the Japanese and what

value they place on these things, that I think open the possibility for a real

fundamental change in the nature of this alliance.

That is a more equitable alliance where no longer a patron client relationship, but one where they are primarily responsible for their own defense.

But this is crucial because domestic factors in Japan alone will not lead to such a change.

There needs to be a signal from Washington and a very strong signal from Washington that we want

a new partnership.

We will not be Japan's guardian indefinitely and that we want to

ease them into a posture of self-sufficiency and be a capable partner. If for no

other reason then to reduce the burdens on our troops and our taxpayers here in the United States who

understandably think that our military is primarily intended to defend us.

...