A new security study warns that guardrails meant to protect Palau’s environment and sovereignty are being eroded by an accelerated US military buildup — a development that has heightened scrutiny as Palau’s president makes a historic first State visit to New Zealand.
The Guam-based Pacific Centre for Island Security’s Micronesia Security Outlook 2025 says longstanding legal and environmental protections embedded in the US-Palau Compact are “rendered ineffective” by hurried construction and limited local consultation. Jodean Remengesau, who authored the Palau section and is director of the Bureau of Agriculture in Palau’s Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and the Environment, wrote that “the U.S military had missed and fell short of fulfilling its duties and responsibilities under the compact” by failing to meet required environmental standards.
The report cites a high-profile instance on Angaur, one of Palau’s 16 states, where US forces cleared land for an initial site of a tactical mobile over-the-horizon radar system without obtaining an environmental earthmoving permit or conducting community consultations as mandated by Palauan law. Remengesau’s account details piles of shredded tree debris left at the site, which he said invited infestation by the invasive coconut rhinoceros beetle and were later dumped onto residents’ yards in a hurried attempt to address the problem.
Angaur Governor Steven Salii has taken legal action over the incident. In 2023 Salii filed suit naming Palau’s central government, the Palau Environmental Quality Protection Board, the US government and US military contractors, alleging violations of Palauan environmental law and the compact after some 271,807 square metres of land were reportedly disturbed without an environmental impact assessment or permits.
The report notes that the legal and geopolitical context has shifted since the compact was renegotiated: the United States pledged an US$890 million assistance package to Palau over 20 years, a cycle that began on October 1, 2023, and the agreement explicitly provides for US defence of the islands. The study warns that because a significant share of Palau’s national budget derives from compact funds and foreign assistance, the scale of those flows increases the likelihood that the US military will make more extensive and longer-term use of Palauan territory.
One specific project spotlighted is a US-funded radar initiative with a budget of about US$118 million that the report says is expected to be operational in 2026. The paper also alleges that what was initially presented to Palauan authorities as a single, jointly used shoreline radar installation subsequently appeared to be two separate systems — a detail the report argues undermines transparency around the scope and footprint of military infrastructure.
The Pacific Centre for Island Security’s findings come amid rising US–China strategic competition in the region and at a moment when Palau’s leadership is visibly engaging traditional partners, underscored by President Surangel Whipps Jr.’s first-ever State visit to New Zealand. The report concedes Palau’s security and economic calculus is changing but warns that accelerated militarisation risks compromising the environmental protections and local control that Palauans expect under their compact with the United States.
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