Pakistan, June 19 -- In a surprise move, the US Defence Department announced that Indo-Pacific Command - the Hawaii-based headquarters responsible for American forces across the Pacific and eastern Indian Ocean - would revert to its original name: Pacific Command, or PACOM.

Officially, the explanation was institutional memory. The Pentagon said the restoration of the USPACOM designation honoured the command's "deep historical roots", from its role in shaping the post-Second World War regional security architecture to its coordination of joint forces during the Korean War, the Vietnam War and countless humanitarian operations across the Pacific.

This may be true. But in Washington, strategic names are rarely only about nostalgia. They ar...