DOD Establishes Arctic Strategy and Global Resilience Office by Jim Garamone, DOD News
October 1, 2022
The United States is an Arctic power,
and the Defense Department has established an office to ensure U.S.
strategy and policy protects U.S. interests in that crucial region.
Iris A. Ferguson is the deputy assistant secretary of defense
for Arctic and global resilience, a new position that signifies the
importance U.S. leaders place on the region.
The northern lights glow behind a Patriot M903 launcher station assigned to 5th Battalion, 52nd Air Defense Artillery Regiment, during Exercise ARCTIC EDGE 2022 at Eielson Air Force Base, Alaska
on March 5, 2022. The Patriot system allows Soldiers to detect, analyze and defend against incoming air and missile threats. (U.S. Air Force photo by Senior Airman Joseph P. LeVeille)
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"[The Arctic] is a critical region for power projection and also for
homeland defense," Ferguson said during a Zoom interview.
The importance of the region will only grow as the impacts of
climate change accelerate. Ferguson noted that temperatures in the
Arctic are rising at least three times faster than anywhere else in
the world. "We're seeing a lot of geophysical changes that have
dramatic impact on our operations and our infrastructure," she
said.
A lot of military infrastructure in the region is
built on permafrost foundations, which are melting. "We're working
to mitigate that," she said. "There's also coastal erosion that has
the potential to impact our radar sites."
The changes are
also opening up the area to civilian endeavors — and to strategic
competitors, Ferguson said. "We're seeing increased geopolitical
activity by Russia, as well as China, in the region," she said.
Russia has the largest land mass in the Arctic, and Russian
leaders think of the country as the region's preeminent power, the
deputy assistant secretary said. "They have been refurbishing a lot
of their airfields and renewing much of their defense architecture
across the Arctic region."
Russia is only 55 miles away from the United States at the
Bering Strait. Russian officials maintain their bases and assets in
the Arctic are defensive, yet they arm their icebreakers with Kalibr-K
missiles, defense officials have said. "We're increasingly watching
the amount of activity that's happening in the Arctic region from
them," she said.
Green Berets assigned to 19th Special Forces Group (Airborne) traverse tundra on snowmobile in support of Exercise ARCTIC EDGE 2022 near Utqiaġvik, Alaska, March 4, 2022. AE22 is a U.S. Northern Command (USNORTHCOM) exercise scheduled every two years, first taking place in 2018. Arctic exercises have been conducted in Alaska for the past five decades under different names such as JACK FROST and BRIM FROST. (U.S. Army photo by Staff Sgt. Anthony Bryant)
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China, the United States' other strategic
competitor, is thousands of miles from the Arctic. Yet, Chinese
leaders have "been trying to insert themselves into the Arctic," she
said. "They have called themselves a near-Arctic nation, even though
they aren’t even remotely near the Arctic."
Chinese leaders
are trying to adjust international norms and governance structures
in their favor, and they are cognizant of their economic coercion
globally and in the Arctic region, she said. "So, we're being very
mindful about their activity and in wanting to ensure that our
interests are protected in the region," she said.
The
Arctic is often overlooked, "but it's a place where we have immense
territorial equity, actually, for our homeland defense needs, our
ability to monitor and respond to threats, and our capacity to
project power," Ferguson said.
The Air Force has based its
top-of-the-line aircraft in Alaska because they can be easily
deployed to respond to crises throughout the Indo-Pacific. It's also
a key refueling stop for aircraft. The Army has established the 11th
Airborne Division in the region to develop expertise in Arctic
mobility and extreme cold weather operations.
U.S. Army paratroopers assigned to the 4th Infantry Brigade Combat Team (Airborne), 25th Infantry Division, U.S. Army Alaska, jump from a U.S. Air Force C-17 Globemaster III assigned to the 62nd Airlift Wing, Joint Base Lewis-McChord, Washington, over Malemute Drop Zone during airborne operations at Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson, Alaska, March 24, 2022. The 4-25th IBCT is the only airborne brigade combat team in the Pacific Theater and regularly conducts training to maintain operational readiness skills in an arctic environment. (U.S. Air Force photo by Airman 1st Class Julia Lebens)
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From a military standpoint, the region is a
key defense node for the homeland, with missile defense facilities,
radars, early warning sites and more throughout Alaska and Canada as
part of the North American Aerospace Defense Command.
The
latest DOD strategy on the Arctic refers to the region as an avenue
of approach to the homeland. "The priorities for that defense
strategy are in protecting the homeland, ensuring that our national
interests are safeguarded and protected, and working with nations on
shared challenges," Ferguson said. "The overarching goal is to
ensure we maintain peace and stability in the region."
The
Arctic is a huge area with segments in three geographic combatant
commands' areas of responsibility: U.S. Northern Command; U.S.
European Command; and U.S. Indo-Pacific Command. Ferguson's office
is a focal point for Arctic policy. Its initiatives include helping
the services prioritize capabilities for the region, developing
deeper partnerships with allies and partners, and enhancing Arctic
education across the department through its oversight of the newly
created Ted Stevens Center for Arctic Security Studies on Joint Base
Elmendorf Richardson near Anchorage, Alaska.
"It's important
to have an office like this now to try to start laying the
groundwork for how we can best prepare ourselves and to know what
the challenges of the future may be," she said. "There might not be
conflict now — and there hopefully will never be conflict in the
Arctic — but we need to be prepared to operate there."
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