HONOLULU—”The Indo-Pacific is the priority theater of the United States of America.”

This sentence, spoken Monday by U.S. Indo-Pacific Command leader Adm. Samuel Paparo, is a common refrain here on the island that’s home to not just INDOPACOM but U.S. Army Pacific, Pacific Fleet, Pacific Air Forces, Marine Corps Forces Pacific, and U.S. Space Forces-Indo-Pacific. 

And despite reports that defending the homeland is the Pentagon’s new top priority, Paparo said he’s not concerned about a shift in attention. 

“I’m not,” he said. “I mean, one, because the homeland is in the Pacific.” 

Guam and the Northern Mariana Islands—both U.S. territories—are in the western Pacific, while Hawaii is in the central Pacific, Paparo said. And the U.S. operates under the Compacts of Free Association, he said, “a covenant between the United States, Palau, Federated States of Micronesia, Republic of Marshall Islands” under which the United States is “responsible for their national defense.” 

“Defense in depth means the Pacific is a priority theater, because four of the five priority threats to the United States of America—to the security, freedom, and well-being of the United States—traverse the Indo-Pacific geography,” he said.

The president of Palau, Surangel Whipps, said his country fell victim to a cyberattack they attribute to China shortly after renewing the COFA in March 2024. But, asked whether he was concerned about the possibility of the Trump administration turning inward and away from allies, Whipps said he believes the administration “is just trying to refocus and trying to find better ways that they can help us, and they’re carrying through on those commitments.” 

Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth in June told the Senate Appropriations Committee that the Pentagon is operating under an interim National Defense Strategy “focused on defending the homeland,” because previous planning guidance “had the wrong priorities, or some of the wrong priorities.”