The light at the end of the tunnel for the CNMI economy came from a seemingly-innocuous picture the governor’s office emailed to the media last week. In it, Arnold Palacios is seen posing after a meeting with Patrick O’Brien, the director of the U.S. Department of Defense Office of Local Defense Community Cooperation (OLDCC).
OLDCC is a little-known entity that packs a behind-the-scenes punch for communities affected by military activities to receive as much support as possible from the rest of the federal government to ensure local priorities are addressed. But it will only provide that support if the local community’s political leaders reciprocate with policy positions echoing Defense priorities.
In the case of the CNMI, local government prioritization of Chinese investment and tourism directly contradicted U.S. posture for years, until Mr. Palacios took office in January. Shortly after his inauguration, the new governor announced a pivot from China and toward support of the military and federal government investment.
The office used to be called the Office of Economic Adjustment. And, together with Matrix Design Group contracted for years to assist with the Guam military buildup, coordinated and supported Guam’s receipt of hundreds of millions of dollars in federal grant funding over the past decade.
Mr. O’Brien leads this office. And he doesn’t meet with just anyone. Mr. Palacios recently was in Washington to spread his message of unity with federal priorities and ask for support for the CNMI in light of the dire government financial and overall economic situation of the Commonwealth.
Mr. Palacios, since returning to Saipan, has been consumed with his review of the Fiscal Year 2024 budget act, which he signed Saturday, and has yet to debrief the media about the particulars of his meetings in Washington. As Kandit has reported, these meetings were attended by the President and included an audience with the U.S Secretary of State.
2 Comments
Counter Intelligence
10/02/2023 at 1:35 AM
There’s nothing wrong with companies from China or anywhere else doing business in the CNMI, as long as they don’t break the law and they don’t control the government. Tall order, but that’s not only an issue of push but also pull. It’s not as if CNMI politicians had never taken bribes before IPI showed up. If one wanted to keep politicians pliable, keeping the meth flowing would certainly be one way of doing so.
Russ Mason
10/02/2023 at 7:49 PM
Although I am (generally) in favor of cutting ties with China, I am a bit concerned about the CNMI’s new alliance with OLDCC.
To assume there won’t be strings attached strikes me as naive. What does the U.S. seek to gain by such an arrangement? A military build-up on Saipan? Missiles? Military personnel? The US motives are not forthcoming.
Be careful what you wish for, Gov.