History of the Joint Chiefs of Staff

Staff, Joint Chiefs of (2019). History of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. 4. Washington, DC: Independently Published. ISBN 978-1-6995-2831-0.

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Abstract: See "Micronesia: “Free Association” for the Marianas," page 231

"...The end of “close-in” containment rekindled US interest in Central Pacific bases. If forward positions became untenable, alternatives would have to be found. One possibility stood out: Micronesia, which covered more than three million square miles of ocean embracing the Mariana, Caroline, and Marshall Islands. Since 1947 the United States had held most of Micronesia as a “strategic trusteeship” from the United Nations. Under its terms, the US government could establish military bases in the Trust Ter- ritory of the Pacific Islands and close all or part of the territory for security reasons. The terms of this trusteeship, however, obliged the United States to direct Micronesia toward either self-government or independence. The Nixon administration proposed that Micronesia permanently associate itself with the United States as a common- wealth. After Micronesians rejected that solution, US negotiators offered a compact of free association, giving the US government full authority over defense and foreign affairs. In 1972, however, Micronesians asked that independence and free association be discussed concurrently.

The Joint Chiefs of Staff fully endorsed a free association, on condition that “those essential elements of sovereignty involving foreign affairs, defense, access, and denial [to third countries] must be firmly retained by the United States.”61 But independence was another matter...""

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PMID: 4488914
MAG: 2412122321
CorpusID: 3150159
OpenAlex: W2412122321