A new Guam-based report says the rapid expansion of the United States military presence in Palau has outpaced the safeguards meant to protect the island nation’s environment and sovereignty, a development underscored as Palau’s president makes a historic first State visit to New Zealand.
The Pacific Centre for Island Security’s Micronesia Security Outlook 2025, published this month, warns that “guardrails” written into the Compact of Free Association are being rendered ineffective by accelerated militarisation, and that Palauan communities are increasingly excluded from decision-making. Jodean Remengesau, director of the Bureau of Agriculture in Palau’s Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and the Environment, authored the Palau chapter and argued the U.S. has “missed and fell short of fulfilling its duties and responsibilities under the compact of the U.S with Palau.”
Remengesau’s section documents concrete environmental grievances. It says the U.S. military cleared 271,807 square metres of land in Angaur, one of Palau’s 16 states, for the first site of a tactical mobile over-the-horizon radar system without obtaining required earthmoving permits or holding community consultations under Palauan law. The report alleges waste from that clearing — including piles of shredded tree debris that created a risk of coconut rhinoceros beetle infestation — was later dumped on residents’ yards in hurried attempts to manage the problem.
Local pushback has taken legal form. In 2023, Angaur Governor Steven Salii filed suit naming Palau’s central government, the Palau Environmental Quality Protection Board, the U.S. government and its military contractors, alleging violations of Palauan environmental statutes and compact obligations over the Angaur clearing. The suit reflects widening unease within Palau about how defence arrangements are being implemented on the ground.
The report acknowledges Palau’s changing strategic calculus: under the renegotiated Compact of Free Association, the United States pledged an US$890-million package to Palau over 20 years, with the funding cycle that began on 1 October 2023. A large portion of Palau’s national budget is funded by compact money and foreign aid, the paper notes, increasing the likelihood that the islands will be drawn further into U.S. and international security objectives. Against that backdrop, the U.S. military’s US$118-million radar project — which the report says was initially presented as a single shoreline radar tower for mutual use — is expected to be operational this year; the report adds that the infrastructure later appeared to comprise two separate installations.
The timing of the report coincides with President Surangel Whipps Jr.’s first State visit to New Zealand, an unprecedented diplomatic step that Pacific analysts say highlights Palau’s efforts to broaden international relations even as it deepens defence ties with Washington. The visit and the report together illustrate the delicate balance Palau faces between accepting strategic and financial support from major partners and protecting local governance, customary rights and fragile ecosystems.
Authors and advocacy groups that contributed to the Pacific Centre’s outlook call for stronger enforcement of environmental requirements in compact arrangements and for clearer, enforceable mechanisms for community consultation. With key projects now coming online and legal challenges pending, the report frames this period as a pivotal moment for how Palau — and other Micronesian states — manage external military interests while safeguarding long-term sovereignty and environmental health.
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