The strategy aims to bolster American Arctic capabilities through increased cooperation with allies in the face of aggression by China and Russia.
ARLINGTON, Va.—Pentagon leadership is unveiling its latest strategy for the Arctic region as competition for geopolitical advantage heats up with China and Russia.
The strategy takes aim at the increasing militarization of the region by Beijing and Moscow amid an expanding race for natural resources.
“The Arctic is strategically vital to U.S. security,” Deputy Secretary of Defense Kathleen Hicks told reporters during a July 22 briefing.
Ms. Hicks added that it’s imperative to national security that the United States ensure the Arctic “remains a secure and stable region” in the face of increasing aggression by the Chinese regime and Russia throughout the world.
The strategy directs the U.S. military to adopt a “monitor and respond approach” while “exercising [a] calibrated presence” in the region by coordinating with Arctic allies on issues pertaining to strategy, training, and equipment.
Ms. Hicks described the strategy as part of a “whole of government” effort to round out U.S. deterrence and readiness in the Arctic through regular training and exercises with allies, as well as investments in new systems, space capabilities, and cold weather gear.
Among the efforts outlined is a directive to modernize the North American Aerospace Defense Command, through which the United States and Canada respond to emergent threats in North American airspace.
The strategy is the Pentagon’s first since 2019 and follows the Biden administration’s National Arctic Strategy unveiled in 2022. It further outlines the U.S. objective to maintain an Arctic that is “peaceful, stable, prosperous, and cooperative,” while confronting communist China’s “pacing challenge” in the region.
The Arctic houses vast reserves of natural resources, including oil, natural gas, rare earth metals, diamonds, and pristine fishing grounds. For the last decade, the Chinese regime has increased its efforts to project power into the region, in part to seize those resources for itself.
The Chinese Communist Party (CCP), which rules China as a single-party state, declared China a “near-Arctic state” in 2012, although its nearest territory is some 900 miles away.
