38 MARCH-APRIL 2026 | THE FOREIGN SERVICE JOURNAL On November 27, 2013, IAEA experts visit the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Station in Okuma to view the fuel assembly removal process in Reactor Unit 4. The plant suffered a catastrophic meltdown in March 2011. IAEA At its peak, the United States committed 24,000 service members, 189 aircraft, and 24 Navy vessels to relief efforts under Operation Tomodachi. DOD estimated the cost of the operation, for which it drew on its global humanitarian assistance authorities, totaled $88.5 million. The U.S. also sent a team from the Department of Energy’s Aerial Measuring System (AMS). The AMS team contributed equipment that was mounted on an Air Force helicopter and a fixed-wing airplane to measure the amount of radioactivity on the ground. Flying more than 100 survey flights between March 16 and May 28, the DOE/AMS team mapped the primary deposition zone stretching northwest some 80 kilometers from Fukushima. They also established that more densely populated regions along the coast had received significantly lower doses. Americans on the ground received extensive support, much of it highly technical, from experts back home. NRC and DOE tasked scientists and engineers at U.S. national laboratories to run computer simulations of likely reactor accident developments and to estimate public radiation exposure under hypothetical worst-case scenarios. These “what if” analyses provided valuable context as political leaders discussed whether it would be necessary to evacuate as many as 80,000 U.S. citizens from around Tokyo and Yokohama. Looking Back In 2011 the United States was able to provide substantial assistance to a close ally in a disaster of extraordinary size and complexity. Successful execution of this humanitarian assistance mission directly helped the victims of the disaster; beyond that, the scale, effectiveness, and generosity of U.S. aid paid broad political dividends for the overall bilateral relationship. Our success depended on training, planning, and specialized resources carefully maintained within the U.S. government. Military readiness, ranging from the individual unit level up to the global reach of our strategic airlift, was a visible example, but civilian agencies were similarly prepared. USAID’s Office of Foreign Disaster Assistance was ready to launch a DART when and wherever needed, including by maintaining contracts with local public safety agencies to deploy their urban search and rescue teams. The DART, in turn, drew from conceptual approaches built into Department of Homeland Security planning for responses to major domestic emergencies. The AMS team that the Department of Energy sent to Japan was one component of the emergency response system that would be called on in the event of a nuclear accident or radiological attack at home. (The team is also used routinely to survey high-profile events like the Superbowl to ensure there are no hidden radiation threats.) Embassy Tokyo and U.S. policymakers also tapped into the broad expertise of the U.S. scientific community. Across all agencies, the assistance provided drew on programs, plans, legal authorities, and contingency appropriations approved by Congress. That said, there were certainly areas for improvement. Initial handling of assistance requests was often chaotic, and it took time to establish an orderly process. It was difficult to get Japanese agreement to the public release of radiation measurements, and the United States ended up acting unilaterally, with tacit Japanese concurrence. Federal agencies did not provide data on radiation transport to U.S. territory to their state and local government partners in a timely way. Unfortunately, the natural and man-made dangers that arose following the March 2011 earthquake have not vanished, and we will no doubt face other equally complex situations around the world in the future. If there is a lesson to be drawn from our experience 15 years ago, it is that planning, readiness, and the practiced ability to manage cooperation across normal organizational boundaries will pay substantial dividends in any future crisis. n
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