The Arctic Circle: A Ring of Influence

• Main Author: Coonan, Scott C.
• Other Authors: NAVAL WAR COLL NEWPORT RI JOINT MILITARY OPERATIONS DEPT
• Format: Text
• Language: English
• Published: 2010
• Subjects: Government and Political Science; Geography; Military Forces and Organizations; Command; Control and Communications Systems; *COMPETITION; *POLICIES; *ARCTIC REGIONS; *MILITARY FORCES(UNITED STATES); *UNITED STATES GOVERNMENT; *COMMAND AND CONTROL SYSTEMS; *INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS; UNITED NATIONS; MINERALS; SWEDEN; FOSSIL FUELS; FINLAND; DENMARK; NORWAY; TREATIES; RUSSIA; CANADA; NATURAL RESOURCES; GOVERNMENT(FOREIGN); ICELAND; NATO; *ARCTIC GEOGRAPHIC COMBATANT COMMAND; ARCTIC REGIONAL POLICY; UNCLOS(UNITED NATIONS CONVENTION ON THE LAW OF THE SEA); *US EUROPEAN COMMAND; USEUCOM(US EUROPEAN COMMAND); TERRITORIAL CLAIMS; NSPD-66(NATIONAL SECURITY PRESIDENTIAL DIRECTIVE 66); USNORTHCOM(US NORTHERN COMMAND); USPACOM(US PACIFIC COMMAND); Arctic; Canada; Norway; Pacific; Iceland; Law of the Sea
• Online Access: http://www.dtic.mil/docs/citations/ADA525304; http://oai.dtic.mil/oai/oai?&verb=getRecord&metadataPrefix=html&identifier=ADA525304

The United States is now taking the necessary steps toward protecting its national economic and strategic interests within the Arctic region. The first step was the release of the Arctic Regional Policy (ARP) by President George W. Bush prior to leaving office in January of 2009. This set clear priorities regarding the region that the United States must now determine how to achieve. This paper addresses the next two steps in the process to secure these objectives. The first is the need to ratify the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS) so that ourt territorial claims within the Arctic have legal validity. The second step is to identify which Geographic Combatant Commander (GCC) should have responsibility over the region. Currently, there are three GCCs that have portions of the Arctic region within their areas of responsibility (AORs). This current structure creates confusion among the GCCs and leaves seams available to be exploited by other nations. By assigning USEUCOM the entire Arctic region and then establishing an Arctic Sub-Unified Commander under it, the United States will assume the leadership role that other nations have come to expect. The United States understands that it must leverage all aspects of military and political influence to ensure that the priorities of National Security Presidential Directive 66 are met, and USEUCOM is the most capable GCC of achieving those objectives. The original document contains color images.