A new security assessment by a Guam-based think tank says accelerated US military activity in Palau has outpaced the legal and environmental safeguards meant to protect the island nation, leaving local communities sidelined and sparking renewed questions about sovereignty and oversight.
The Micronesia Security Outlook 2025, published by the Pacific Centre for Island Security, includes a Palau chapter authored by Jodean Remengesau, director of the Bureau of Agriculture in Palau’s Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and the Environment. Remengesau argues that while the Compact of Free Association grants the United States wide access to Palauan land, waters and airspace, it nevertheless obliges the US to meet Palau’s environmental standards — obligations he says have been routinely missed as military buildup accelerates.
The report highlights a high-profile example on the western state of Angaur, where the US military cleared 271,807 square metres of land for the first site of a tactical mobile over-the-horizon radar system without obtaining an environmental earthmoving permit or carrying out required community consultations. Remengesau says the site was cleared without the environmental impact assessment and permitting Palauan law requires, and that the resulting piles of shredded tree debris created a biosecurity risk by inviting invasive coconut rhinoceros beetle infestation. According to the report, debris was later dumped on residents’ yards in a rushed attempt to address the problem.
That clearance triggered legal action in 2023 when Angaur Governor Steven Salii sued Palau’s central government, the Palau Environmental Quality Protection Board, the US government and its military contractors, alleging violations of Palauan environmental laws and compact agreements. The lawsuit is cited in the report as emblematic of growing local dissatisfaction with how military projects are being planned and executed.
The think tank’s assessment also underscores the geopolitical drivers behind the expansion. Under the renegotiated Compact of Free Association, the United States pledged an US$890-million package to Palau over 20 years, a cycle the report notes began on October 1, 2023. With a significant share of Palau’s national budget tied to compact funding and foreign aid, the report warns the nation is likely to see further US military use of its territory as Washington seeks to bolster regional posture amid rising US-China tensions.
One immediate project under scrutiny is a US$118-million radar system, which the report says is expected to be operational this year. The installation, originally presented to Palauan audiences as a single shoreline radar for mutual use, later evolved into what local observers describe as two separate systems — a development the report links to broader concerns about transparency and shifting project scope.
The Pacific Centre for Island Security says the net effect of these trends is to render the compact’s “guardrails” ineffective, eroding the protections intended to preserve Palau’s environment and sovereignty. Remengesau’s chapter frames the situation as a growing disconnect between national-level agreements and community-level impacts, and warns that accelerated militarisation without stricter enforcement of environmental and consultative processes risks legal, ecological and social consequences for Palau.
The report marks the latest development in an unfolding debate in Palau over how to balance strategic relationships and development finance with environmental stewardship and local rights. It amplifies concerns first raised by Angaur’s 2023 lawsuit and is likely to add pressure on Palauan and US officials to clarify project approvals, oversight arrangements and community consultation processes.
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