Maritime Affairs Program (MAP) Handbill Spotlight

Recent Events

Today, Guam primarily operates as a military outpost and tourist destination. As an official U.S. territory, it still receives funds from the U.S. Department of the Interior and other programs for sustainment of and developments on the island. And even amidst the fight against a pandemic, Guam is an increasingly active and vital port for the U.S. military’s operations in the Pacific. 

Travel restrictions due to the pandemic have naturally caused most recent activity in Guam to be centered around naval deployments and exercises rather than economic or tourist engagements. For instance, Naval Port Guam was the chosen port for the aircraft carrier USS Theodore Roosevelt (CVN-71) for 2 months during the early days of the pandemic. From January 2020 to December 2021, Unmanned Patrol Squadron (VUP) 19—the US Navy’s first MQ-4C Triton squadron—conducted a deployment including “large, high-altitude surveillance drones” that was “mostly conducted out of Guam.” This past January, Anderson Air Force Base was the site of the joint multinational naval exercise Sea Dragon 2022 involving the U.S., India, Japan, Australia, Canada and South Korea. Last December, the Los Angeles-class fast-attack submarine USS Jefferson City (SSN-759) officially moved its homeport from Joint Base Pearl Harbor-Hickam, where it has been since 2014, to Naval Base Guam. According to a news release, the change of homeport is part of the Navy’s focus “to bring [the United States’] most capable submarines to theater with the greatest amount of striking power and operational capability to beat in the timeliest manner.” And a few weeks later, a port visit by the ballistic-missile submarine USS Nevada (SSBN-733) made it the first visit by an Ohio-class since 2016. Analyst Thomas Shugart noted that, intended or not, visits like the Nevada’s “sends a message” of the U.S. military’s capabilities in and access to the Pacific. The U.S. military has not been quiet in Guam.

Keep In Mind

For most, Guam remains under the radar; often misunderstood, or even looked over entirely. Its small size and far-out location makes this understandable. For most Americans, the small, far-off island might bring to mind an exotic retreat, but many may be unable to confidently confirm that it is indeed an official territory of the United States. Fewer still could successfully point it out on a map. Could you?

The strategic importance of its location is clear when reviewing World War II. Days after the attack on Pearl Harbor that sparked the United States’ participation in World War II, Guam came under Japanese control and remained in that position for most of World War II. In the summer of 1944, the U.S. returned to reclaim the Marianas and Guam in what became known as the Battle of Guam that officially ended with Japan’s surrender of the war on August 10, 1944. Militaries do not battle over worthless locations; especially ones so far from their homes and backup support.

Now that the world fights across cyber channels more than water channels, and now that decades of research and development has rapidly expanded military equipment’s capabilities, perhaps Guam’s unique vantage point and strategically sound location is not as vital as it once was. But forgetting its presence—and its potential—is a mistake. 

Regarding Guam’s place in the U.S.-China strategic competition, multiple experts, including the past two commanders of the U.S. Indo-Pacific Command, have specifically pointed to China as an upcoming, increasing threat to Guam. When it comes down to it, Guam is the farthest point West—and the only place in the West Pacific—where the U.S. military has the ability to freely and independently aggregate its forces. It has already been repeatedly targeted by North Korea in recent years and, while facing the coming years, military leaders have specifically cited China’s rapid hypersonic technology development as a point of concern. 

As Deputy Commander of USINDOPACOM Marine Lt. Gen. Stephen Sklenka emphasized last December, “[t]hose aren’t idle threats. Those are based off of events that we’re seeing unfold around us right now.” And Washington agrees. These ‘events’ are why the Department of Defense has committed about $11 billion in funding for military construction projects on Guam over the next five years. At the top of these new projects is the new Marine Corps Base Camp Blaz, which was activated in October 2020—the Corps’ first new installation since 1952—and is set to house 5,000 marines and a strong regional defense agenda. How this funding is spent will be a hefty indicator of the role that Guam will play in the big picture of U.S. national security; especially as it relates to the United States’ interactions with China and the rest of Asia. 

So, is Guam arming up to be the United States’ “new front line against China”? It appears time–and Guam’s upcoming development projects–will tell.