U.S. Should Increase Its Strategic Commitment to the Arctic, Says CFR Task Force

U.S. Should Increase Its Strategic Commitment to the Arctic, Says CFR Task Force

“The United States, through Alaska, is a significant Arctic nation with strategic, economic, and scientific interests,” asserts a new Council on Foreign Relations-sponsored (CFR) Independent Task Force report, Arctic Imperatives: Reinforcing U.S. Strategy on America’s Fourth Coast. With the Arctic “warming at twice the rate as the rest of the planet” and melting sea ice opening up this resource-rich region to new trade routes and commercial activities, the report stresses that “the United States needs to increase its strategic commitment to the region or risk leaving its interests unprotected.”

March 22, 2017 11:28 am (EST)

News Releases

“The United States, through Alaska, is a significant Arctic nation with strategic, economic, and scientific interests,” asserts a new Council on Foreign Relations-sponsored (CFR) Independent Task Force report, Arctic Imperatives: Reinforcing U.S. Strategy on America’s Fourth Coast. With the Arctic “warming at twice the rate as the rest of the planet” and melting sea ice opening up this resource-rich region to new trade routes and commercial activities, the report stresses that “the United States needs to increase its strategic commitment to the region or risk leaving its interests unprotected.”

More From Our Experts

Chaired by Thad Allen, retired admiral and former commandant of the U.S. Coast Guard, and Christine Todd Whitman, former administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency and governor of New Jersey, the Task Force finds that the United States lags behind other Arctic nations that have “updated their strategic and commercial calculations to take advantage of the changing conditions stemming from the opening of the region.”

More on:

Arctic

Climate Change

The report notes that while Russia has numerous ice-breaking vessels and China is building a third icebreaker, the United States owns only two operational ice-breaking ships—one heavy icebreaker and one medium-weight icebreaker—to serve both the Arctic and the Antarctic. Asserting that “icebreakers are a national capacity” required for a range of maritime missions to support U.S. security, economic, and commercial needs, the Task Force recommends that the United States fund and build additional icebreakers. 

The report also finds that the United States needs greater investment in Alaskan infrastructure, including deepwater ports, roads, and reliable telecommunications, to support economic development and a sustained security presence in the region. Currently, “almost no marine infrastructure is in place within the U.S. maritime Arctic.”

The bipartisan Task Force is composed of twenty experts from diverse backgrounds. The project is directed by Esther Brimmer, executive director and chief executive officer of NAFSA: Association of International Educators, and a recent CFR adjunct senior fellow for international institutions.

More From Our Experts

As the United States concludes its chairmanship of the Arctic Council this May, the Task Force identifies six main goals that U.S. policymakers should pursue to protect the United States’ growing economic and strategic interests in the Arctic:

    More on:

    Arctic

    Climate Change

  • Ratify the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea. The Senate should help secure the United States’ legal rights to more than 386,000 square miles of subsea resources along its extended continental shelf by ratifying this treaty.
  • Fund and maintain polar ice-breaking ships. Congress should approve funding for up to six icebreakers to improve operational capacity in the Arctic, so as to have at least three operational ships in the polar regions at any one time.
  • Improve Arctic infrastructure. Invest in telecommunications, energy, and other infrastructure in Alaska and find locations for safe harbor ports and a deepwater port.
  • Strengthen cooperation with other Arctic nations. Continue diplomatic efforts within the Arctic Council and work with other Arctic states, including Russia, on confidence-building and cooperative security measures.
  • Support sustainable development and Alaska Native communities. “Maintain the [Arctic] Council’s focus on sustainable development, environmental protection, and continued involvement of the Arctic’s indigenous peoples.”
  • Fund scientific research. Sustain budget support for scientific research beyond 2017 to understand the regional and global impact of accelerated climate change.

For a full list of the Task Force’s findings and recommendations, read the report, Arctic Imperatives: Reinforcing U.S. Strategy on America’s Fourth Coast

***

Task Force Members:

Thad W. Allen (co-chair), Booz Allen Hamilton, Inc.

Scott G. Borgerson, CargoMetrics Technologies

Lawson W. Brigham, University of Alaska Fairbanks  

Esther Brimmer (project director), NAFSA: Association of International Educators

Stephen A. Cheney, American Security Project

Charles F. Doran, School of Advanced International Studies, Johns Hopkins University

Dalee Sambo Dorough, University of Alaska Anchorage 

Jill M. Dougherty, Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars

Richard H. Fontaine Jr., Center for a New American Security  

Sherri W. Goodman, Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars  

Katherine A. Hardin, IHS Markit

Jane Lubchenco, Oregon State University

Kimberly Marten, Barnard College, Columbia University

Marvin E. Odum

Sean Parnell, Law Offices of Sean Parnell

James B. Steinberg, Maxwell School, Syracuse University

Rockford Weitz, Fletcher School, Tufts University

Christine Todd Whitman (co-chair), The Whitman Strategy Group, LLC

Margaret D. Williams, World Wildlife Fund

Kenneth S. Yalowitz, Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars 

***

CFR-sponsored Independent Task Force reports offer analysis and policy prescriptions of major foreign policy issues facing the United States, developed through private deliberations among a diverse and distinguished group of experts. Task Force members are asked to join a consensus signifying that they endorse “the general policy thrust and judgments reached by the group, though not necessarily every finding and recommendation.” They participate in the Task Force in their individual, not institutional, capacities.

Close

Top Stories on CFR

United States

Each Friday, I look at what the presidential contenders are saying about foreign policy. This Week: Joe Biden doesn’t want one of America’s closest allies to buy a once iconic American company.

Immigration and Migration

Dara Lind, a senior fellow at the American Immigration Council, sits down with James M. Lindsay to discuss the record surge in migrants and asylum seekers crossing the U.S. southern border.

Center for Preventive Action

Every January, CFR’s annual Preventive Priorities Survey analyzes the conflicts most likely to occur in the year ahead and measures their potential impact. For the first time, the survey anticipates that this year, 2024, the United States will contend not only with a slew of global threats, but also a high risk of upheaval within its own borders. Is the country prepared for the eruption of election-related instability at home while wars continue to rage abroad?