Hawaii, Guam not covered by treaty, but NATO supports them, U.S. official says

HONOLULU/AGANA (Pacific Island Times) – If a foreign aggressor attacked Hawaii or Guam, the U.S. State Department is optimistic that the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) would come to the rescue, even though the Pacific territories are excluded from the treaty.

Philip G. Laidlaw, principal deputy assistant secretary of defense for legislative affairs, said any attack on the United States or its territory “even if it falls outside the geographic scope of Article 5 would almost certainly provoke a response from allies.”

“This includes Hawaii, Guam, Puerto Rico, the U.S. Virgin Islands, American Samoa, and any other areas of the United States in the Indo-Pacific,” he wrote in response to a May 13 letter from Rep. Ed Case asking about NATO’s role, if any, in the Pacific.

Not so fast.

“Guam and the other islands are not protected by NATO’s Article 5,” David Santoro, president and CEO of the Hawaii-based think tank Pacific Forum, said in an email to Pacific Islands Times. “If these territories and island nations were attacked, there would be no need for NATO to respond.”

Article 5 of the North Atlantic Treaty provides for collective action by NATO if a NATO ally is attacked. However, Article 6 of the treaty places a geographical limit on Article 5, which only applies to the territories of member states in Europe, North America, Turkey, and the North Atlantic islands above the Tropic of Cancer.

Also likely to be excluded are Pacific island nations with ties to the United States, including Palau, the Federated States of Micronesia and the Marshall Islands, which are on the fringes of the treaty even though the United States considers them part of its homeland defense.

Keyes is concerned that the treaty “does not explicitly extend its protection to the United States’ states, territories, and possessions in the Indo-Pacific region.”

Hawaii and Guam are at the heart of the U.S. military deployment in the Indo-Pacific region, which is designed to offset China’s growing military power and North Korean aggression. While the strategy focuses on deterrence, critics worry that the military buildup makes the locations targets for attack.

Laidlaw acknowledged that the geographic scope of Article 6 “does not reflect the changes in the territories of individual Allies since NATO’s inception.”

He was not optimistic that NATO could reach a consensus on amending the treaty to cover U.S. territories beyond Hawaii and the North Atlantic region, given that the United States is not the only member with territory outside the treaty’s demarcation zone.

Santoro agreed. “I think changes should be made, but I don’t know if they’re possible,” he said.

Keyes decried the exclusion of the Pacific from the treaty as a “historical mistake.” “It stands to reason that at least some of our NATO allies might not consider invoking Article 5 if we were attacked in the Indo-Pacific,” the Hawaii congressman said.

Laidlaw said the obstacle could be discussed through Article 4, which allows member states to raise security-related issues with the North Atlantic Council.

“While I appreciate the State Department’s response, it is clear that more work needs to be done on this issue. These assurances are helpful as we continue to pursue possible next steps, including direct communication with NATO and legislative action,” Case said.

Laidlaw said that at the recently concluded NATO summit, hosted by President Biden in Washington, D.C., NATO reaffirmed its “unwavering commitment to Article 5 and to defending every inch of allied territory.”

In the summit declaration, NATO agreed to meet with Australia, Japan, New Zealand, South Korea and the European Union to “discuss common security challenges and areas of cooperation.”

“The Indo-Pacific region is important to NATO as developments in the region directly impact Euro-Atlantic security,” the declaration states.

“In recent years, we have seen how threats from the Indo-Pacific region can directly impact Euro-Atlantic security, such as North Korea’s provision of ballistic missiles and munitions to Russia for use against Ukraine, and China’s support for Russia,” he wrote to Case.

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