Office of Hawaiian Affairs board of trustees chair Kai Kahele is appealing to Congress to press the military to engage with Native Hawaiian groups in negotiations for leases on state-owned training lands.
In a letter dated Monday to the leaders of the Senate and House Armed Services Committees, Kahele expressed support for a section in Congress’s annual defense funding bill — which is expected to be finalized this week — that authorizes the military to seek new leases or land exchanges with the state for ongoing training.
But he also called for lawmakers to amend the section to require that military officials consult with OHA and Native Hawaiian organizations as they press forward with land negotiations.
Kahele’s expressed “strong personal support” for the section and said he wants to “respectfully request its inclusion — along with a targeted amendment requiring consultation with OHA and Native Hawaiian organizations — in the final version of the Fiscal Year 2026 National Defense Authorization Act.”
Kahele said an amendment would “align” the legislation “with long-standing federal principles governing Native Hawaiian trust responsibilities” and that “this request is grounded in decades of federal practice and reflects over 250 federal statutes reaffirming the political and trust relationship between the United States and Native Hawaiians.”
The majority of lands currently leased by the military in Hawaii were originally from the “crown lands” and “government lands” of the Hawaiian Kingdom.
Those lands were seized following the 1893 coup that overthrew the monarchy and subsequently transferred to the United States after it annexed the islands in 1898. But as part of the Hawaii Admissions Act of 1959 the lands fell to the newly established state of Hawaii “as a public trust,” for purposes including improving conditions of Native Hawaiians.
The military, which had used much of these lands since well before statehood, sought to continue using many of them. In 1964, the Army obtained parcels at Pohakuloa on Hawaii island and on Oahu in Makua Valley and at its Kahuku Training Area and Kawailoa-Poamoho. It secured the vast tracks for just $1, with the leases set to expire in 2028.
The Department of the Navy also took several state parcels near the Pacific Missile Range Facility and the Koke‘e Park Geophysical Observatory on Kauai while the Department of the Air Force took state parcels at what is now the Kaena Point Space Force Station on Oahu. The last of the leases expire in 2031.
The current language in the bill includes a clause that says the military’s “lease or acquisition … authority shall expire on December 31, 2031.” Kahele wrote that “ensures that negotiations occur within a defined window, encouraging timely decision-making while preventing indefinite delay. It also promotes a coordinated federal-state process, rather than fragmented or service-specific approaches.”
The Hawaii state Legislature could retain the authority to enact a short-term extension to that process.
“Such an extension would provide predictability for all parties and preserve continuity while detailed negotiations proceed,” Kahele wrote. “Ensuring that these actions occur transparently and with community engagement will help maintain public confidence and support enduring relationships between the military and Hawai‘i’s communities.”
Under new Army Secretary Dan Driscoll, the service has sought to expedite negotiations amid tensions with China and an ambitious plan to quickly test and field new weapons tech in Hawaii for potential Pacific operations. In August, Driscoll told the Star-Advertiser “what we are seeing from the threats in the Indo-Pacific, and what we are seeing with how and where we need our soldiers to be positioned for that threat, has made the United States Army absolutely convinced that this is one of our very top priorities.”
Over the summer, the Board of Land and Natural Resources rejected the Army’s final environmental impact statements for lands. Driscoll’s office has since suggested it may seek the use of eminent domain to take training lands in Hawaii, according to the office of Gov. Josh Green. The governor’s office also said that the offices of the Army Secretary and U.S. Department of Justice have begun consultations on the Army’s legal right to do so.
The Army is focused on a parcel of state land linking the federal lands at the Pohakuloa Training Area. The service has already said it intends to not renew leases on Oahu except for a relatively small portion of its land at Kahuku, and officials have expressed openness to giving up some federal land the military holds on Oahu.
Green, for his part, in late October proposed a $10 billion deal if the federal government moves to take the lands for military readiness and national security, rather than seeking new leases through the BLNR, which would require an environmental review, public input and state approval.
The deal would include help expanding Hawaii’s housing stock by 6,500 new units, increasing Medicare reimbursements, federal government help to expand Honolulu’s Skyline rail system, extend Daniel K. Inouye Highway on Hawaii island and improve Kolekole Pass in the Waianae Mountain range and the full return of the Makua Valley.
On Nov. 13, Green announced the creation of an advisory board including several prominent Native Hawaiians, including former BLNR chair William Aila Jr., deputy director of the state Department of Land and Natural Resources Ryan Kanaka‘ole, director of the state Department of Hawaiian Home Lands Kali Watson and interim OHA administrator Summer Sylva.
The same day, the OHA board voted to ask the Legislature to call for a constitutional amendment on the 2026 ballot to prohibit live-fire military training on the state’s public trust lands. OHA also plans to hold community meetings to discuss the public’s position on military lease negotiations.
The first meeting has been scheduled from 6 to 8 p.m. Nov. 26 at the University of Hawaii at Hilo.
“The state constitution requires that Native Hawaiians and OHA not only be considered and consulted but also compensated for any use of lands of the public lands trust,” Kahele said in a statement following the trustee vote. “Our beneficiaries are insisting that OHA be a leader with the state in talks with the military about the future use of our lands.”
Online input
OHA has created a website with the history and information about military land leases in Hawaii. People can provide anonymous input on military land leases at: oha.org/aloha-aina
Source: The Garden Island