By Bryan Manabat
bryan@mvariety.com
Variety News Staff
SOME U.S. think tanks are reviving discussions about potential statehood for Guam and the Northern Marianas, framing it as a way to strengthen America’s defensive posture in the Pacific, according to former U.S. Congressman Robert A. Underwood of Guam.
Speaking with local reporters via videoconference on Friday, Underwood, co-founder of the Pacific Center for Island Security, said the idea has gained more traction on Guam than in the CNMI — although not among elected leaders. “It’s just people who are interested in it,” he said. “Think tanks in the United States have offered the idea. Some are conservative think tanks supporting statehood for Guam and the Marianas.”
Underwood said the renewed interest is rooted in defense-oriented thinking. “If Guam and the Northern Marianas were to become a state, then it would be legitimately part of the U.S. homeland, and nobody would dare attack the U.S. homeland,” he said.
Currently, Guam remains an unincorporated territory despite frequent references by military leaders to its role as part of the “U.S. homeland,” he said. “There’s nothing in law that says Guam is part of the U.S. homeland,” Underwood added. “In a conflict, it’s fodder.”
He noted that war-gaming scenarios conducted by institutions such as the Center for Strategic and International Studies often show Guam as a primary target in a U.S.-China conflict over Taiwan. “So the idea that attacking Guam is really attacking the U.S. homeland is open to question,” he said.
Billions of dollars are being invested in an integrated air missile defense system for Guam, but the system does not extend coverage to the Northern Marianas. “Apparently, not under the integrated air missile defense system,” Underwood said. “The hollowness of that rhetoric is clear to many conservative thinkers in the U.S., and that’s why they argue that Guam and the Marianas should start thinking about statehood.”
He added that the average American does not view Guam the way they view Hawaii. “Honolulu, yes. Hawaii, yes. But Guam, well, maybe, maybe not — only to the extent that you’re hurting ‘real’ Americans on Guam. And who are those ‘real’ Americans in Guam? People in uniform,” Underwood said.
For the conversation to move forward meaningfully, Underwood said territorial leaders must articulate a stronger vision. “If you want to engage in something more meaningful, then the leadership of these island entities have to speak up and articulate something more than just agreement and asking for benefits from military spending,” he said.
He noted that any path toward true integration would require Guam and the CNMI to consider a significantly new political status — such as full U.S. statehood, independence, or a freely associated state. Practical integration efforts so far, he added, have lacked a common issue that unites both jurisdictions, though recent Department of the Interior actions on deep seabed mining may provide an opportunity.
Underwood, who is also a past president of the University of Guam, co-founded with Dr. Kenneth Kuper the Pacific Center for Island Security, a Guam-based think tank that focuses on geopolitical, security, and strategic issues affecting Micronesia and the wider Pacific. Its mission is to provide island-centered perspectives on foreign policy and military strategy while promoting cooperation and countering disinformation. PCIS projects include an interactive map tracking military activities, economic agreements, and diplomatic relations in the region, supported by a Carnegie Corporation grant.
For more information, go to https://pacificcenterforislandsecurity.com
Bryan Manabat was a liberal arts student of Northern Marianas College where he also studied criminal justice. He is the recipient of the NMI Humanities Award as an Outstanding Teacher (Non-Classroom) in 2013, and has worked for the CNMI Motheread/Fatheread Literacy Program as lead facilitator.
