Derek Grossman is a senior defense analyst at RAND and a professor at the University of Southern California. He previously served as the daily intelligence briefer to the assistant secretary of defense for security affairs in the Asia-Pacific region at the US Department of Defense.
On the sidelines of the United Nations General Assembly in New York last month, US President Joe Biden held a brief meeting with leaders of the Free Associated States, including the Federated States of Micronesia, the Marshall Islands and Palau. The three nations, through newly renewed Free Association Agreements with Washington, grant the US military near-exclusive access to the land, air and seas of the Second Island chain — critical vantage points for winning future wars in the North Pacific. .