Air Force Lt. Gen. Laura Lenderman was the special guest of the Saipan Chamber of Commerce on Friday, Jan. 20, 2025.
PACIFIC Air Force Deputy Commander Lt. Gen. Laura Lenderman said on Friday that the military’s presence in the Marianas serves as a deterrent to China.
“Unlike in the Middle East where there’s really not an air threat in particular … that’s a different kind of challenge that we face here,” Lenderman said in her remarks to the Saipan Chamber of Commerce. “We do see a very significant threat, a near peer competitor, China,” she added.
She said peace is preferred, but staging military forces here in the Marianas allows America to project force into Asia.
The military facilities on Tinian offer strategic options for American forces and provide them with an “asymmetrical advantage,” she added.
“We have a vital interest in our peace and prosperity in this region. Our presence here is really to deter. Ultimately that’s our goal, but if we’re required to move into the spaces we never want to go into, we’re prepared to go. This is where we would fight from,” she said.
The CNMI has a “mature” airfield and ports, and has the ability to “accept a force laydown if needed,” Lenderman said.
“We can’t rely on fixed bases; we need to have, ideally, lots of options, lots of opportunities to be flexible and move around the theater,” she added.
Small businesses
Lenderman also highlighted some of the ways her office can bring opportunities to small businesses in the CNMI as part of the military buildup on Tinian.
She said she has set up a full-time office dedicated to small business, and military contractors are required to hire locally.
“Our recent request for proposal language for civil projects requires contractors to maximize hiring folks within the CNMI,” she said. “We’re making it official and it won’t just be encouraged but we’re directing them to hire from within.”
She has also advocated for the Department of Defense to bring the APEX Accelerators program to the CNMI.
According to its website, the program helps DoD identify “a wide range of businesses that can enter and participate in the defense supply-chain.”
“The program provides the education and training to ensure that all businesses become capable of participating in federal, state, and local government contracts,” its website stated.
Lenderman said the program can verify whether companies are ready for federal contracting and eligible for certification. Additionally, it can “research past and future contracts that companies might qualify for.”
