US Working to Expand Control Over Compact States in the Pacific

The United States is quietly working to reassert its control over the compact states, three island states in the central Pacific Ocean.

Last month, witnesses at a congressional hearing revealed that the Trump administration is expanding military and intelligence operations in Palau, the Marshall Islands, and the Federated States of Micronesia. Witnesses told lawmakers that the three countries occupy an area critical to U.S. power projection and pivotal for geopolitical competition with China.

“This is a region that is increasingly central to United States security and global stability,” State Department official Tony Greubel said. “And as geopolitical competition intensifies, the Pacific strategic sea lanes, abundant resources, and vibrant communities, they’re more important than ever to the United States and our allies and partners.”

Some congressional leaders criticized the Trump administration’s imperial ambitions in other parts of the world, with Representative Jared Huffman (D-CA) warning about “a colonial conquest binge” affecting Greenland, but they exhibited the same kind of imperial mindset for the Pacific. Lawmakers from both parties called on the Trump administration to preserve U.S. military controls in the compact states.

“If we lose the foothold there, we are never going to get it back,” Representative Addison McDowell (R-NC) said.