Navy Rear Adm. Colin J. Kilrain, who leads the Special Operations Command at Camp H.M. Smith’s U.S. Pacific Command, has been nominated for his third star and will become commander of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization Special Operations Headquarters in Belgium., the Pentagon announced today.

Kilrain’s replacement will be Brig. Gen. Bryan P. Fenton, assistant chief of staff of U.S. Army Pacific at Fort Shafter.

Fenton has also served as deputy commanding general of operations at the 25th Infantry Division.

The Pacific Command’s special warfare operations was established in 1965 on Okinawa as the Special Operations Center to provide unconventional warfare task force support for operations in Southeast Asia. Its functions were later transferred to the U.S. Pacific Command.

According to the Pacific Command’s website, Special Operations Command Pacific was activated on November 1983 at Camp Smith as a subordinate command of the U.S. Pacific Command.

Units under operational control of the Special Operations Command include the 353rd Special Operations Group and 1st Battalion, 1st Special Forces Group (Airborne), which are on Okinawa and Torii Station in Japan; Naval Special Warfare Task Unit-Pacific and a subordinate SEAL platoon, which are based at Apra Harbor Naval Station on Guam; and an airborne company in South Korea.

In January 2002, soon after terrorists attacked the United States, Pacific Command special forces deployed to the Southern Philippines, conducting counterterrorist operations with the Philippine Government. The joint special forces task force left the country nine months later, leaving elements to work with the Philippines’ military units, according to its website.