Mike Lee Threatens U.S.-Japanese Security Agreement Unless It Frees Imprisoned Navy Officer

Rare showing of force for Mike Lee, an isolationist-leaning senator

Sen. Mike Lee (R., Utah) threatened to sabotage Japan’s security agreement with the United States unless the prime minister frees an imprisoned Navy officer by the end of February.

Lee used Twitter to criticize Fumio Kirishida, the Japanese prime minister, for imprisoning Lt. Ridge Alkonis for his fatal car accident in Japan in 2021. Alkonis claims that it occurred after he suffered altitude sickness.

“Let’s face it, @kishida230, you’ve got a really good security arrangement with the United States, and you’ve had the luxury of not having that arrangement discussed or seriously questioned in Congress for a long time. That’s about to change,” Lee wrote.

The Comment—which Lee made on Thursday from his personal Twitter account @BasedMikeLee—are a rare show of force for the senator, an isolationist-leaning Republican who earlier this week Opposed to the Pentagon’s defense spending and has opposed sanctions on Russia.

“If you transfer Lt. Alkonis back to the U.S. before midnight on February 28, 2023, we will do our best to forget that this whole thing never happened. It will be hard, but we will try.”

Lee stated that Alkonis can be replaced if he is “not on U.S. soil by then, many of us will work equally hard to make sure America knows (1) what a good security arrangement you have with the U.S., (2) what you did to one of the best and brightest our military has to offer, and (3) what we should do about it.”

Alkonis’s family has been lobbying the White House and Congress for his release. After allegedly falling asleep due to acute mountain sickness, the Naval officer hit and killed two pedestrians. Japanese prosecutors claimed that he had fallen asleep at the wheel. The Japanese judge sentenced him to three years imprisonment, which he began last summer.

“Out of respect for you and your relationship with the United States, there are a lot of us who have remained relatively quiet about all of this, hoping that it would give you the chance to do the right thing,” Lee was warned by Kishida via a tweet

“I still hold out hope that you will. But my approach to all of this is about to change,” Lee added. Lee said, “And it will.