A new Guam-based security report warns that an accelerated U.S. military buildup in Palau is eroding environmental safeguards and leaving Palauans sidelined in decisions that affect their land and livelihoods — a warning that arrives as Palau’s leader makes a historic first state visit to New Zealand this week.
The Pacific Centre for Island Security’s Micronesia Security Outlook 2025 singles out gaps between written protections in the Compact of Free Association and on-the-ground practice in Palau. Jodean Remengesau, director of the Bureau of Agriculture in Palau’s Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and the Environment, authored the report’s Palau chapter and says the compact’s “guardrails” intended to protect environment and sovereignty have been weakened by the pace of militarisation. “The U.S military had missed and fell short of fulfilling its duties and responsibilities under the compact,” Remengesau writes.
The report details specific instances it says demonstrate those failures. It recounts how land was cleared in Angaur — one of Palau’s 16 states — for a site planned for a tactical mobile over-the-horizon radar system without an environmental earthmoving permit or required community consultations. Debris from the clearing, the report says, was left in piles that risked inviting invasive coconut rhinoceros beetle infestation and were later dumped on residents’ yards during a rushed clean-up.
Those actions underpinned legal action by Angaur Governor Steven Salii in 2023. Salii sued Palau’s central government, the Palau Environmental Quality Protection Board, the U.S. government and its military contractors, alleging violations of Palauan environmental law and compact obligations after 271,807 square metres of land were disturbed without an environmental impact assessment or permits.
The report also places the military expansion in a broader fiscal and strategic context. Under the renegotiated compact, the United States pledged an US$890‑million assistance package to Palau over 20 years, a cycle that began on 1 October 2023. With a substantial share of Palau’s national budget reliant on compact funds and foreign aid, the report says the nation is likely to host increasing U.S. military activity. A US$118‑million radar project tied to the military presence is expected to be operational in 2026, the report notes, and infrastructure initially communicated as a single mutually used facility later emerged as two separate installations.
Authors of the Micronesia Security Outlook frame the expansion against rising 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.” The report calls for stronger enforcement of environmental requirements, transparent consultations with affected communities, and clearer accountability for any compact-related projects.
President Surangel Whipps Jr.’s state visit to New Zealand comes as these concerns move into the diplomatic arena. The visit — the first state-level engagement of its kind between Palau and New Zealand — gives Palau an opportunity to broaden regional ties at a moment when questions about environmental protection, legal accountability and national sovereignty are shaping public debate at home.
With legal proceedings still outstanding and the radar installation slated to come online next year, the report’s findings are likely to keep scrutiny on how Palau balances security partnerships, environmental stewardship and local consent as its strategic profile grows.
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