“Our meetings serve as an important venue to engage in open, honest, and robust dialogue to build upon our partnership in pursuit of mutual interests that support a secure and prosperous Indo-Pacific,” Lasky said. “As a team, we will continue to support your national sovereignty, territory, and people. We will work to defend against outside threats and aggression, and support your law enforcement operations, maritime security, multi-domain awareness, and border protection capabilities.”
The robust agenda included briefs from both U.S. representatives and FSM agencies with vital discussions surrounding four lines of effort – homeland defense; internal security; maritime security and maritime domain awareness; and disaster preparedness and community resiliency building.
“In recognition of the threat of natural disasters, evolving weather and environmental conditions, we are also dedicated to partnering with you to build capabilities for the FSM to prepare for, respond to, and recover from hazards unique to this part of the world,” Lasky added. “Environmental resilience is important to ensuring the culture, identity, and legacy of Micronesia lives on for future generations.”
This session also focused on strengthening security and stability in the region with discussions about threats to cyber security and maritime security; law enforcement requirements; and humanitarian assistance and disaster response. Additionally, the committee convened a separate defense site working group to enable conversations in a smaller forum.
Following the two-day meetings with updates of previous action items, the FSM Department of Justice Acting Secretary Leonito Bacalando, Jr., delivered closing remarks and thanked the delegation for thoughtful and productive conversations.
“We wish to reassure you that we are very supportive of the JCM process,” he said. “This is very important dialogue between our two countries and we continue to do so in that spirit. As you can see here in Guam, we were able to cover a number of important areas of cooperation, and we intend to continue to do so in the future.”
The JCM is in accordance with the Compact of Free Association (COFA) Title III: Security and Defense Relations and promotes ongoing dialogue between nations for the purpose of enhancing security and defense responsibilities in the region. The meeting is supported by inter-agency departments and units to include the U.S. Coast Guard, the U.S. Air Force, the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) and many others.