Congressman Michael San Nicolas testified on a wide range of issues during the House Armed Services Committee “member day” which allowed congressional representatives to express their views as the Committee moves forward on the National Defense Authorization Act or NDAA.

Specifically, Congressman San Nicolas is seeking language to improve the likelihood of DoD hiring in communities they are present in. He also provided testimony supporting the establishment of Aegis Ashore Missile Defense System. As we reported establishing such a system on Guam is the centerpiece of INDOPACOM’s Pacific Deterrence Initiative aimed at deterring threats from China. During the hearing, Hawaii representative Kaiali'i Kahele questioned whether there was public support on Guam for the system.

"Our community has had to deal with North Korea even just making empty threats but still having psychosocial impacts not only in our community but also in our visitor industry," San Nicolas responded. "And so having those assets on the ground here would, of course, protect our mission our DoD investments, the military personnel the Americans living on Guam but it would also be very psychological reassuring and it would be taken off the table, the ability for a closed in adversary like North Korea be able to spew a few words and economically impact American interests in terms of the economy here on Guam. So an absolutely unequivocally yes we would like Aegis Ashore and there is public support it."

The congressman is also seeking language in the NDAA for reporting on DOD efforts to secure Guam communication networks, and establishing aircraft and air wing assets and capabilities in the Guam Air National Guard.