New under secretary of the Navy Hung Cao’s first visit to Guam since being sworn-in continued on Wednesday. Throughout the past three days, the senior defense official for Guam met with local and military leaders to talk infrastructure and resources for both behind and beyond the fence.

A “really good meeting” but “no commitments” were made - that’s how Governor Lou Leon Guerrero described her talks with Cao. "We raised, of course, all of our priorities that we wanted to have the Department of Defense look at in terms of the impact of the military buildup to Guam and how to mitigate those," Leon Guerrero said.

Since he landed on island Sunday night, the senior defense official for Guam has been touring the US territory's military installations, meeting with top brass and service members to ensure all bases are defense ready.  He met with the governor on Tuesday to talk about how the military and local government can work together.

Leon Guerrero said, "We talked about the hospital, we talked about infrastructure, cybersecurity, utilities, the roads, and various other priorities that I think need to be supported and also funded for the continued defense of Guam and the nation. Of course he took notes, but there was no commitment made. He's only been in office for three weeks."

Cao told local media Monday night that it was a “whirlwind” trip as he gets his bearings. It’s his first visit to Guam since taking office three weeks ago. He added, "It was very fast because I have to report back to the Secretary on the status of our infrastructure in Guam to make sure that we have everything we need to defend the island and our forces here."

He says the point of his trip is to make sure troops have what they need to stay focused and ready. But his visit comes amid an ongoing federal shutdown, now on its 21st day with no end in sight, which is affecting military personnel. 

"I’ll be honest with you, it’s a lot of silly stuff," he stated. "We’re fighting back and forth between the House and the Senate because they can’t come to an agreement on the budget, which is their job. We need to get going because we have a lot of military people who are depending on paychecks to feed their families."

Guam currently houses some 20,000 servicemembers and their families. That number is projected to grow to about 10,000 more in the next ten years. That includes 5,000+ US Marines slowing starting to relocate from Okinawa.

When asked if those relocation plans have changed, Cao says while the Department of War is “constantly re-evalutating,” they remain committed to defending Guam and the nation. "We’re always re-evaluating, but this is a very central part and very important for the defense of the United States," he said.

"And we will always defend Guam."

For the time being, despite no commitments being made on Cao's part on the governor’s expressed priorities, she remains hopeful for progress with his personal ties to the territory. 

As reported, Cao and his family first set foot here 50 years ago as a 4-year-old Vietnamese refugee as part of Operation New Life, saying “Guam was the doorway to freedom.”