Rear Adm. Gregory Huffman delivers remarks near Adm. Samuel Paparo, head of U.S. Indo-Pacific Command, during the Joint Task Force–Micronesia assumption-of-command ceremony at Anderson Air Force Base, Guam, June 14, 2024. (Manasseh Demissie/U.S. Air Force)
The Department of Defense established a new senior command on Guam on Friday as it moves to counter China’s growing influence in the region.
Joint Task Force-Micronesia, headquartered on Nimitz Hill, is the newest command on the 212-square-mile island that has increasingly become the U.S. military’s Indo-Pacific stronghold. The task force is expected to coordinate defenses, oversee humanitarian missions and act as a direct conduit for U.S. Indo-Pacific Command.
Rear Adm. Gregory Huffman, formerly the commander of Joint Region Marianas, stepped in as the task force’s inaugural leader during a Friday ceremony at Andersen Air Force Base.
The occasion marked the establishment of the first two-star command in the region in over 70 years, according to a Friday news release from the task force. The task force assumes some broader regional responsibilities from the existing Joint Region Marianas, commanded by Rear Adm. Brent DeVore, with which it shares a headquarters.
“Joint Task Force-Micronesia is focused on breaking down barriers and strengthening our ability to work as a team to ensure a free, open and prosperous Indo-Pacific region,” Huffman said during the livestreamed ceremony.
The new command will be responsible for a significant portion of the southwestern Pacific Ocean, including the U.S. territories of Guam, the Northern Mariana Islands and Wake Island, and the independent Federated States of Micronesia, Marshall Islands and Palau.
“We will be postured and ready to not only support warfighting, but to shape the forces within our region,” Huffman said. “We will continue to develop and expand our infrastructure throughout the region to enhance freedom of maneuver and improve sustainment.”
The Pentagon over the past decade has steadily increased the military presence on Guam, most recently with the establishment of Marine Corps Base Camp Blaz and a newly proposed missile defense system.
Camp Blaz is expected to receive about 1,300 members of III Marine Expeditionary Force and another 3,700 as a rotational force. In May 2023, the Missile Defense Agency began the proposal process for a comprehensive, 360-degree defense system that could counter ballistic, cruise and hypersonic weapons.
The developments are a direct countermove to China’s growing military might and increasing aggression in the region, said Adm. Samuel Paparo, head of Indo-Pacific Command.
“The concept of JTF-Micronesia and the Guam defense system has been in the works for years as the military of the People’s Republic of China continues its alarming buildup in its capacity, modernization and aggressive behavior,” he said during the ceremony. “Our mission to defend the homeland of Guam — and it is the homeland — has become urgent.”
Deterring aggression will be the new task force’s “highest duty,” Paparo added.
The Defense Department views China’s growing military capabilities and claims of large swaths in the region — primarily Taiwan and the South China Sea — as a significant threat and has repeatedly called it the United States “pacing challenge.”
