Vulnerabilities

Abstract

Recent literature discussing the movement of U.S. forces to Guam largely focuses on the strategic advantages the island offers: specifically, its status as sovereign U.S. territory and its ability to relieve political pressures associated with the extensive U.S. military footprint on Okinawa. There are few discussions of the operational advantages and disadvantages of moving significant amounts of U.S. forces to Guam, especially in the context of a conflict between the United States and the People's Republic of China. An evaluation of Guam's geography and Chinese military philosophy, capabilities, and published discussions reveals that Apra Harbor, the only maritime egress point for the island, is quite vulnerable to offensive mining by PRC submarine. The paper discusses how this determination is made and discusses and rejects solutions available with given force infrastructure. The paper concludes that strategic leaders, having decided to maintain U.S. commitments in the region, need to provide the operational commander additional forces to provide for Guam's defense.

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Document Details

Document Type
Technical Report
Publication Date
May 04, 2009
Accession Number
ADA503118

Entities

People

  • David M. Zielinski

Organizations

  • Naval War College

Tags

Communities of Interest

  • Ground and Sea Platforms
  • Human Systems
  • Space
  • Weapons Technologies

DTIC Thesaurus Topics

  • Boats
  • Environment
  • Geography
  • Governments
  • Infrastructure
  • Military Facilities
  • Military Operations
  • Military Personnel
  • Military Science
  • Naval Operations
  • Navies (Foreign)
  • Navy
  • Ships
  • Transport Ships
  • United States
  • War Colleges
  • Warfare

Readers

  • Asian Economic Studies
  • Strategic Security Studies
  • Traumatic Brain Injury (TBI) and Cognitive Aging in the Guam and Border Populations Affected by Alzheimer's Disease and Tau-Associated Dementias.