AUSA 2022 — The US military’s joint command for defending the homeland is not adequately postured to rapidly launch operations in the Arctic should it need to meet ever-increasing threats from Russia and China, according to the chief of Northern Command.
“More than 50% of my AOR [area of operations] is in the Arctic. Yet we’re not organized, trained and equipped to be able to operate in that Arctic environment in a timely manner,” Air Force Gen. Glen VanHerck said bluntly. “[T]he White House on Friday put out their Arctic strategy, and their number one pillar is defense in the Arctic. So we probably ought to get after that from a department perspective.”
The White House arctic strategy — not to be confused with the broader National Security Strategy released today — puts security and defense in the far north at the top of its agenda.
“We will deter threats to the U.S. homeland and our allies by enhancing the capabilities required to defend our interests in the Arctic, while coordinating shared approaches with allies and partners and mitigating risks of unintended escalation,” states Pillar 1 of the strategy. “We will exercise U.S. government presence in the Arctic region as required to protect the American people and defend our sovereign territory.”
VanHerck’s comments Tuesday at the annual Association of the United States Army conference also come in the wake of the Defense Department’s Sept. 27 announcement that it has established of a new office focused on the Arctic, as well as climate-related issues. Iris A. Ferguson was appointed as 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 Pentagon press release said.
But VanHerck said that he has made clear to the secretary of defense that “one of my biggest challenges” with executing contingency and operational plans is getting ready access to forces prepared to operate in there. And he stressed that the threat to the US homeland emanating from the far north is real, and growing.
“As environmental change happens, both Russia and China are significantly interested in the Arctic. It’s the closest route to the homeland, by the way, if you’re going to attack the homeland — over the pole and from the Arctic,” he said. “Russia has already modernized their Arctic infrastructure, by the way, and they modernize their nuclear forces, more than a dozen installations or so across the Arctic, with the intent to change the norms and rules that have existed since the end of World War Two.”
For example, he said, Moscow has been attempting to put serious restrictions on commercial maritime traffic through the Arctic and the Northern Passage, “demanding things like putting military personnel on commercial vessels.”
Russia in 2019 reportedly introduced new controls on commercial ships that sail on the Northern Sea Route around the Russian coast that links the Northeast Passage on the Russian side and the Northwest Passage on the Canadian side. And the Russian wire service Tass reported in July that Moscow now has proposed to put restrictions on military traffic along the same route, including a 90-day advance notification.
“China’s not far behind,” VanHerck said. “They’re continuing to do surveillance in the Arctic under the guise of research and development. What we know is that’s also military development as well. And we look forward, as China builds their type 95 and type 96 submarines, that they’re going to field ballistic missile capabilities and park them in the Arctic just off the Alaskan coast, which significantly reduces our decision space and timeline. … It matters because it erodes strategic stability; it risks strategic deterrence failure.”
Thus, he said, “domain awareness” in the region remains a NORTHCOM/NORAD critical concern.
“My biggest challenge is domain awareness. You certainly can’t deter and can’t defeat something if you can’t detect it, VanHerck said. “[T]he challenges with domain awareness are eroding strategic stability each and every day.”
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