Defense One:

The tiny U.S. territory of Guam would play an outsized role in a U.S. war in the Pacific—and that’s why the Pentagon must urgently improve the island’s missile defenses, current and former military officials said Tuesday.

“The reality is we have to defend Andersen [Air Force Base], the submarine base, and more broadly Guam, and that investment is clearly called for in this year’s” National Defense Authorization Act, Mark Montgomery, a retired rear admiral and former director of operations for U.S. Pacific Command, said at a Missile Defense Advocacy Alliance livestream event. “I tell you who’s not delaying in their development of capabilities and capacity: that’s the Chinese. And every year we delay makes the problem harder and the solution more expensive. So, we really need to get on that this year.”

Creating a comprehensive missile defense for Guam has been U.S. Indo-Pacific Command’s top funding priority for nearly four years, said Marine Lt. Gen. Stephen Sklenka, the command’s No. 2 officer…

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