HAGÅTÑA, Guam – Governor Lou Leon Guerrero and Lieutenant Governor Josh Tenorio announced the final passage of the Fiscal Year 2026 National Defense Authorization Act, which for the first time explicitly authorizes the Department of Defense to provide Operations and Maintenance funding for the Guam Cultural Repository.
The provision, included in Section 2821 of the enrolled bill signed into law by the President, marks the culmination of years of negotiation. While the DoD funded the repository’s initial construction, the local government has previously been left to cover the substantial costs of staffing, curation, and high-intensity climate control required to protect CHamoru artifacts unearthed during military construction.
The Leon Guerrero-Tenorio Administration recognized that the disruption of cultural artifacts was imposed for national security purposes and therefore the DoD should bear responsibility for mitigating the impacts.
“Our success in this year’s NDAA is a direct result of our partnership with leaders who understand the unique challenges of the Pacific, most notably Senator Brian Schatz,” said Governor Lou Leon Guerrero. “Senator Schatz’s leadership in the Senate ensured that Guam’s cultural priorities were not overlooked in the broader defense conversation. This authorization is a promise kept to our people—that the federal government will finally take responsibility for the ongoing costs of protecting the heritage they have disturbed.”
The push for this language was driven locally by the Community Defense Liaison Office and the Guam Museum, as directed by Lt. Governor Tenorio. The Guam team worked in tandem with Senator Schatz’s office to provide the technical justifications needed to categorize repository operations as a federal mitigation requirement.
“This victory is about dignity for our ancestors and relief for our taxpayers,” said Lt. Governor Tenorio. “I want to personally thank Senator Brian Schatz for his tireless advocacy in the Senate. He recognized that as the military footprint grows, so does the federal obligation to Guam’s cultural resources. By working with the CDLO and the Guam Museum, we presented a united front that secured this critical O&M support. This ensures our repository can operate at the highest standard without draining local coffers.”
Senator Schatz, a senior member of the Senate Appropriations Committee and the Vice Chairman of the Senate Committee on Indian Affairs, was instrumental in ensuring the Senate version of the NDAA mirrored the cultural protections sought by Guam’s leadership, and his involvement was key to maintaining the provision during the final conference negotiations between the House and Senate.
The FY 2026 NDAA formally recognizes the repository as a critical infrastructure component linked to the Marine Relocation DPRI program, mandating that the DoD resource the facility at levels sufficient to handle the influx of cultural findings from new defense projects.
“It is clear that the impact of the military buildup on Guam is significant and often unpredictable. Without a sovereign political status to allow us to negotiate on equal footing, our people remain at the mercy of what qualifies as mitigation and our ability to secure commitments from DoD, Congress, and the Senate,” said Melvin Won Pat-Borja, President of the Department of CHamoru Affairs. “I am grateful for the aggressive approach that this administration took –refusing to accept defeat and instead finding allies who could advocate for us in the places that mattered. No one else was paying attention to the reality that the mitigation effort, which created the repository, was unfinished, but Lt. Governor Tenorio proved that he understood the issue better than most.”
