A new Guam‑based think tank report has renewed scrutiny of the United States’ expanding military footprint in Palau, warning that safeguards meant to protect the island nation’s environment and sovereignty have been undermined and that communities are being left out of decisions that affect them. The Pacific Centre for Island Security’s Micronesia Security Outlook 2025, which includes a Palau chapter authored by Jodean Remengesau, was released as Palau’s President Surangel Whipps Jr. undertook a historic first state visit to New Zealand — a diplomatic sign of Palau’s widening engagement as strategic competition in the region intensifies.
Remengesau, who is director of the Bureau of Agriculture in Palau’s Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and the Environment, told the report that the Compact of Free Association grants U.S. forces exclusive use of Palauan land, airspace and waters but also obliges them to meet Palauan environmental standards. “The U.S. military had missed and fell short of fulfilling its duties and responsibilities under the compact,” he writes, citing specific breaches of law and procedure tied to recent construction activity.
The report details one high‑profile case on the state of Angaur, where Remengesau says U.S. forces cleared land for a tactical mobile over‑the‑horizon radar system without obtaining an environmental earthmoving permit or carrying out required community consultations. He describes piles of shredded tree debris at the site that created a biosecurity risk by inviting invasive coconut rhinoceros beetles; some of that debris was later dumped on residents’ yards in a rushed cleanup effort, the report says.
That land clearing prompted legal action in 2023. Angaur Governor Steven 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 the compact after 271,807 square metres were disturbed without an environmental impact assessment or proper permits. The court challenge remains a focal point for critics who say institutional safeguards have not been respected as military activities accelerate.
The report places those concerns in the wider context of Palau’s renegotiated compact with the United States, which began a new 20‑year cycle on October 1, 2023 and includes an US$890 million assistance package. While the compact strengthens U.S. defence commitments, the report cautions that heavy reliance on compact funds and foreign aid increases the likelihood Palau will be drawn more deeply into U.S. and allied security objectives — with trade‑offs for local control and the environment.
Compounding the urgency, the U.S. Defence Department is investing in a roughly US$118 million radar project in Palau that, according to the report, is expected to be operational this year. The installation of a shoreline radar tower system was initially presented as a single piece of infrastructure for mutual use by Palau and the U.S. military but the report says it later involved multiple, separate installations, a development that has heightened local concern.
The PCIS findings come at a moment of heightened geopolitical competition in the Pacific between the United States and China, and follow growing calls from Palauans for greater transparency, stronger environmental oversight and fuller consultation. As the radar project moves toward operation and the Angaur litigation proceeds, the report signals that questions about how defence priorities are balanced with environmental law and community rights in Palau will remain central to regional debate.
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