President Obama's no-show at October 2013 East Summit (EAS) and US-ASEAN Summit in Bali--compounded by cancelled bilateral visits to Malaysia and Philippines either side--has added to doubts already being expressed volubly within region about durability and commitment of US or to wider region, particularly given Washington's claims to be pursuing sub-regional focus on Southeast Asia. There is, however, nothing especially new about alternating swings in regional attitudes towards United States. As Alice Ba has argued, regional perceptions have tended to cast US policy towards Southeast in binary terms, alternating between extremes of over-militarization and systemic neglect. (1) The first and George W. Bush administrations typified this curve, initially sparking concerns that United States was intent on opening up second front in so-called war on terror in Southeast yielding to disappointment at Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice's non-attendance at successive meetings of ASEAN Regional Forum (ARF). (2) The rebalance (3) to Asia--launched two years into Barack Obama's first term--initially re-awakened over-militarization critique of US policy, given its up-front focus on US force realignment and rising tensions in South China Sea. Within US military global commands structure, Western Pacific and eastern Indian Ocean fall within Pacific Command (PACOM) and Pacific Fleet's area of responsibility. This automatically subsumes Southeast in--a wider strategic context. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton's intervention at July 2010 ARF in Hanoi, and her subsequent November 2011 Foreign Policy article--still closest document to an official doctrine for pivot--clearly signalled an intensification of US interest in South China Sea. (4) Attention in Southeast was further garnered by Washington's apparent interest in more redistributive footprint for US military forward-deployed presence in Western Pacific, given its top-heavy dispositions in Japan, South Korea and Guam. According to Don Emmerson, the pivot's association with security unbalanced policy itself, overshadowing pivot's economic rationale and creating impression that goal of tapping into material dynamism of emerging seemed to be more of an afterthought (5). Since 2012 there has been conscious re-calibration to pivot/ rebalance, widening base of US engagement efforts to include diplomatic and economic legs to match already extended defence component. Although pivot concept, as originally used by US officials, suggested transfer of resources and strategic attention from Middle East and Europe to Asia, military substance--at least in terms of additional US military deployments--in Southeast has been somewhat underwhelming. (6) Nonetheless region has maintained consistently high profile within overall geographical focus on borne out in high number of senior administration officials visiting region, beginning with Hillary Clinton's February 2009 visit to Jakarta in early phase of Obama presidency, which was judged to be the public relations highlight of her first trip to as Secretary of State. (7) Clinton went on to visit all ten ASEAN capitals, while a greater emphasis on Southeast Asia was further reflected in thirteen visits to made by Defense Secretaries Robert Gates and Leon Panetta, as well as senior officials and military officers including National Security Advisor and Chairman of Joint Chiefs of Staff. (8) Notwithstanding cancellation of two previous presidential visits to Southeast before October 2013, overall engagement effort has been relatively consistent, given considerable presidential face time invested in annual attendance at both EAS and APEC leaders meeting. …