Public Safety Policy in U.S. Pacific Territories

Summary of the paper

"Governing in the Gap" is an ISPI policy brief on public safety policy for the U.S. Pacific territories. It argues that Guam, American Samoa, the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands (CNMI) and the U.S.-affiliated Freely Associated States receive very little dedicated public safety policy research, despite Guam's strategic importance in the Indo-Pacific, and that this invisibility leads to systematic underdevelopment of the security and emergency management infrastructure these communities need.

The brief identifies three linked problems: a layered jurisdictional structure with no exact mainland parallel, federal grant formulas that fund by population rather than by operational need, and a research literature that is sparse to the point of absence. It closes with four recommendations aimed at federal policymakers.

What the paper finds

• Federal frameworks leave gaps. Federal public safety and emergency management frameworks reach the territories through jurisdictional structures that create systematic gaps between the protections available to mainland Americans and those available to citizens and nationals in the Pacific territories.
• Each territory's status has consequences. Guam is an unincorporated territory whose residents are U.S. citizens but cannot vote in federal elections. American Samoa's residents are U.S. nationals rather than citizens by birth. Each status affects which grant programs apply, which federal agencies have jurisdiction, which emergency management frameworks are mandatory and how federal-territorial relationships shape day-to-day policing.
• Population-based formulas underfund territories, for two independent reasons. Their challenges are not proportional to population: a small territory may have to secure maritime approaches spanning thousands of square miles. And equipment, recruitment, training, logistics and maintenance all cost more in isolated islands, premiums that mainland cost baselines do not reflect.
• Invisibility has a cost. The brief links the lack of attention to systematic underdevelopment of the security and emergency management infrastructure these communities need, and that U.S. strategic interests in the Pacific also require.
• The research base is thin. The brief finds no comprehensive public safety policy research dedicated to Guam, American Samoa, the CNMI or the Freely Associated States from major think tanks.

What it recommends

• Reform federal emergency management and law enforcement grant formulas to include verified geographic isolation factors and documented island operational cost premiums instead of population-based allocation alone.
• Develop territory-specific public safety policy guidance, distinct from the mainland state guidance applied by default, that addresses each territory's legal status and island operating conditions.
• Commission dedicated, practitioner-grounded research on Pacific territory public safety needs rather than adapting continental analysis after the fact.
• Create a Pacific territory public safety coordination mechanism with direct policy input channels from territorial law enforcement, emergency management and community safety agencies to federal decision-makers.

Who it's for

Territorial governors' offices, police, port and emergency management leaders in Guam, American Samoa and the CNMI; congressional delegates and committee staff; Department of the Interior, DHS and DOJ grant program staff; and researchers and journalists covering the U.S. Pacific.

Further reading

• Papua New Guinea: Law Enforcement Workforce and Democratic Governance
• Why Emergency Management Frameworks Fail Island Communities Worldwide
• Native Hawaiian and Pacific Islander Youth in the Justice System — Decades of Disparity, Decades Without Research
• Congress Moves to Establish Pacific Islands Drug Trafficking Liaison Initiative — What HR 9508 Gets Right and What It Misses

Cite as

Pulley, Warren (2026). Governing in the Gap: Public Safety Policy for U.S. Pacific Territories (ISPI PB-03). Island Security Policy Institute, Honolulu. https://ispiglobal.com/papers-landing/pb03-pacific-territories https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.23449976

@techreport{ispipb032026,
  author      = {Pulley, Warren},
  title       = {Governing in the Gap: Public Safety Policy for U.S. Pacific Territories},
  institution = {Island Security Policy Institute},
  address     = {Honolulu, HI},
  number      = {ISPI PB-03},
  year        = {2026},
  url         = {https://ispiglobal.com/papers-landing/pb03-pacific-territories},
  doi         = {10.5281/zenodo.23449976}
}

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