By Mar-Vic Cagurangan
Any attack on Guam and the Northern Marianas would be met with “appropriate response,” Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said, noting that both territories are central to the United States’ defense mission focusing on China.
Despite sweeping policy changes under the new Trump administration, Washington's posture in the Pacific remains unchanged.
"We are home. These islands are the tip of America's spear in the Pacific,” Hegseth said.
“We're defending our homeland. Guam and CNMI are vital parts of America, and I want to be very clear—to everyone in this room, to the cameras—any attack against these islands is an attack against the U.S.”
Flying in from Hawaii, Hegseth arrived on Guam Thursday afternoon for the second segment of his Pacific tour amid a growing number of Democrats in Congress who are calling for his resignation over the leak of a Signal chat discussing a strike in Yemen.
"This is our first stop for a reason. This is America first, also right here," Hegseth said.
He delivered remarks before the airmen from the 36th Wing at Andersen Air Force Base and took an aerial tour of the island before meeting with Guam Gov. Lou Leon Guerrero and CNMI Gov. Arnold Palacios.
As the most forward U.S. territories in the Pacific, Guam and the Northern Marianas are considered critical to U.S. defense and power projection across the region to quell China’s aggression and attempts at military expansion.
Guam is home to 20,000 active duty members, Department of Defense civilians and their families, as well as 12,000 veterans.
At least 150 active duty members are deployed to the Northern Marianas, where the military is rebuilding the Tinian airfield, which will be used as a divert airfield for Andersen Air Force Base.
“And we're going to continue to stay committed to our presence here,” Hegseth said. “It's important to emphasize: we are not seeking war with Communist China. But it is our job to ensure that we are ready.”
The Missile Defense Agency plans to build $1 billion missile defense architecture, which military officials said is designed as a deterrence.
Hegseth said Guam's missile defense system is the model for Trump's "Golden Dome," which is touted to protect the U.S. from long-range missile strikes.
"We're going to learn a lot here, and also forward deploy capabilities that need to exist on American soil," he said.
"My first platoon motto is: those who long for peace must prepare for war," Hegseth said, stressing that Guam is central to defense preparations. "It is our responsibility as the Defense Department to be leaning forward and prepared."
In his remarks before the airmen with the 36th Wing, Hegseth said the defense department is building the mission in the Pacific "in the hope of a generation's peace on this absolutely beautiful island."
"So I'm here to let you know that, as I said to the troops, we have your back. President Donald Trump has your back as well," he told the troops.
But while Guam accepts its role in the Pacific theater, the governor said the island shoulders the burden of the defense strategy as it did during World War II.
"Our people suffered great atrocities. Families saw their mothers raped and their fathers beheaded. And so we still have that vivid vision, and that's why we are so patriotic with the military," Leon Guerrero told Hegseth in a meeting.
Guam is willing to help with the U.S. military's combat preparation, but the U.S. government must take its corresponding role for the island, the governor said.
"I always say national security cannot happen without human health security first. And that's very important in terms of looking at some of the assistance and the needs of our civilian communities here in our island," she said.
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