The agency, which manages a national wildlife refuge at the remote Pacific island, says the F/A-18 jet landed Thursday morning as a precaution after experiencing a mechanical problem.
The plane and its escort landed safely at the atoll's Henderson Airfield. The jets were going to Iwakuni, Japan after participating in Rim of the Pacific military exercises in Hawaii.
The atoll was once home to a U.S. Navy base. The Fish and Wildlife Service took over stewardship of the island when the Navy closed the base in 1993.