Pacific Adventure - Part 1

A Little Background

Come join me on a virtual trip to some of the beautiful islands of the Pacific! I've scanned about 60 of the better photos I took on a recent trip to the Pacific and I invite you to come along for the ride. I've tried to make this virtual trip not only interesting and informative, but also easy on your internet connection by limiting each page to no more than 5 or 6 JPEG graphics. The navigational buttons at the bottom of each page will help you to move forward or back during the tour. But first,...

If you've visited the page about my job with the U.S. Department of the Interior's Office of Inspector General, you know that I'm responsible for managing a small office that is charged by Congress with the task of auditing the operations of the local government of the U.S. Virgin Islands, an American insular area in the Caribbean. ["Insular area" is the politically-correct term used to refer to the present and former territories of the United States.] Although I'm physically located in St. Thomas, U.S. Virgin Islands, during the period of September 1996 to September 2001, I was also been responsible for the Office of Inspector General's office in Agana, Guam.

In May 1997, I made my first trip to the Pacific, to attend the annual conference of the Association of Pacific Island Public Auditors (APIPA). Each of the Pacific insular areas has its own internal audit organizations and, through APIPA, the auditors from the islands get together annually to discuss issues of mutual interest and to participate in continuing professional education training courses. Because my office has audit responsibilities that overlap those of the public auditors, our offices maintain active contact with each other, sharing audit-related material and coordinating our audit work.

The Pacific Islands

There are many present and former American territories in the Pacific, with a wide range of political attachments to the United States, ranging from statehood to independent nations.

• Hawaii, of course, is the 50th State of the United States.

• Guam and American Samos are unincorporated territories of the United States, which means that their internal governments are based on laws passed by Congress, rather than by constitutions developed and voted on locally. [In the Caribbean, the U.S. Virgin Islands is also an unincorporated territory.]

• The Northern Mariana Islands is a commonwealth of the United States, which means that its internal government is based on a locally-adopted constitution that was ratified by Congress. Through a Commonwealth Covenant between the Northern Mariana Islands and the United States, the islands have local jurisdiction over some issues (such as immigration) that the unincorporated territories do not enjoy. [Guam is in the midst of negotiations with the United States to also become a commonwealth. In the Caribbean, Puerto Rico is already a commonwealth, but is also in negotiations with the United States to obtain more internal autonomy.]

• The Republic of the Marshall Islands, the Federated States of Micronesia, and the Republic of Palau are all independent nations that have chosen to be associated with the United States. Through Compacts of Free Association, these groups of islands have complete autonomy over internal matters, but receive financial assistance from the United States and rely on the United States for their defense. In return, the United States has certain access rights to some of the islands for national defense purposes.

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Last Updated: January 1, 2003