A new Guam-based security report has amplified local unease over the expanding U.S. military footprint in Palau, just days after Palau’s president made a historic first State visit to New Zealand — a development that underscores how the Pacific nation is managing competing security, environmental and diplomatic pressures.
The Pacific Centre for Island Security’s Micronesia Security Outlook 2025 says that “guardrails” meant to protect Palau’s environment and sovereignty under the Compact of Free Association are being undermined by an accelerated military buildup that, the report argues, has left many Palauans out of the loop. Jodean Remengesau, director of the Bureau of Agriculture in Palau’s Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and the Environment, authored the Palau section and wrote that “the U.S military had missed and fell short of fulfilling its duties and responsibilities under the compact.”
The report details specific environmental and procedural complaints, most notably the clearing of large tracts of land on the southern island of Angaur for the first site of a tactical mobile over‑the‑horizon radar system. According to the report, the military cleared the site without obtaining an earthmoving permit or conducting required community consultations; shredded tree debris that increased the risk of invasive coconut rhinoceros beetle infestation was later “dumped on residents’ yards” in a rushed cleanup effort. In 2023, Angaur Governor Steven Salii filed suit against Palau’s central government, the Palau Environmental Quality Protection Board, the U.S. government and its contractors, alleging violations of Palauan environmental law after 271,807 square metres of land were disturbed without an environmental impact assessment or permits.
The report acknowledges the strategic logic driving increased U.S. activity. Under the renegotiated compact the United States pledged an US$890‑million assistance package to Palau over 20 years, a cycle that began on October 1, 2023. The compact also reaffirms U.S. defense responsibilities for Palau — and, the report notes, a large portion of Palau’s national budget depends on compact funds and foreign aid. Those financial realities, it says, make Palau more likely to see further military use of its territory.
A high‑value radar project is imminent: the U.S. military’s US$118 million radar installation in Palau is expected to become operational this year, the report says. It adds that an installation initially presented as a single shoreline radar for mutual use by Palau and U.S. forces later involved additional, separate infrastructure — a development that locals and environmental advocates say was not properly disclosed or consulted on.
Palau’s recent diplomatic outreach — President Surangel Whipps Jr.’s first State visit to New Zealand — comes as an important backdrop to the report’s findings. The visit, described by New Zealand officials as the first-ever State visit by a Palauan head of state, signals Palau’s efforts to broaden bilateral ties in the region even as security arrangements with the United States deepen.
The report frames these developments against growing U.S.-China strategic competition in the Pacific, warning that Palau’s peace and sovereignty “as its people once knew it has been increasingly compromised by accelerated militarization.” With the radar due online and legal and community grievances still unresolved, the report is likely to fuel calls in Palau and among regional partners for stricter enforcement of environmental safeguards, fuller community consultation and clearer transparency around the scope of U.S. installations on Palauan land.
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