WASHINGTON, D.C. — U.S. Senator Angus King (I-ME), Co-Chair of the Senate Arctic Caucus, in a hearing of the Senate Armed Services Committee, questioned General Christopher Cavoli, Commander of the United States European Command and Supreme Allied Commander Europe, about the United States’ position as an Arctic nation — and the importance of bolstering our nation’s presence in an emerging strategic hotspot amid rising tensions with Arctic adversaries. Senator King made the point that Russia and China are currently positioning themselves more strategically than the U.S. in the High North, through investments in military installations and icebreakers — which directly threatens American security. During the exchange, Senator King and General Cavoli agreed the U.S. needs to be paying closer attention to the Arctic as a new domain for potential conflict.

Senator King began,” Please discuss Russian and Chinese activities in the Arctic. Strikes me this is a looming threat area we should be addressing. The reason it is becoming so important is the melting of the arctic ice which has something to do with climate change. 70% of the Arctic ice has disappeared in the last 40 years. Talk to me about the strategic importance of the Arctic.”

“Absolutely, Senator. From the U.S. perspective, the most important thing to understand is the shortest distance from Russian airfields to the U.S. is over the polar cap,” responded General Cavoli.

“They are building up those airfields, are they not,” asked Senator King.

“They are. They were before the war at a fast-paced. It has slowed down a little bit during the war, but they are still opening airfields and repairing existing ones. The other thing that comes out of the arctic is the northern fleet in Murmansk comes up, sails down through the Greenland-Iceland-United Kingdom (GIUK) gap, and tries to break into the Atlantic from which they could hold key U.S. targets at risk with sub-launched cruise missiles among other weapons,” said General Cavoli.

“We should be paying particular attention to the arctic as a new domain of potential conflict,” questioned Senator King.

General Cavoli replied, “And I think we are. U.S. Northern Command has the primary U.S. responsibility for it. Of course, Strategic Command has activities up there. European Command also has activities up there because so much of the activity is in my area of responsibility (AOR). And the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO), of course. Almost all the nations in the Arctic Council are NATO. The only one that is not is Russia. We have been sponsoring tabletop exercises to make sure we understand the details of command and control and coordination of operations there.”

As Co-Chair of the U.S. Senate Arctic Caucus, Senator King is an advocate for Maine and America’s interests in the North Atlantic and Arctic region — as Maine is the first port in the contiguous 48 states that will see increased traffic via activity in northern waters. Along with Caucus co-chair Senator Lisa Murkowski (R-AK), King introduced the Arctic Commitment Act  in 2022 to improve America’s posture and opportunities in the Arctic. He has been calling for the appointment of an Arctic Ambassador since 2015, and pushed for the confirmation of the first Arctic Ambassador last year. King also laid out the challenges and opportunities of a warming arctic in an article in the Wilson Quarterly, and in last year’s National Defense Authorization Act, he successfully secured the inclusion of provisions including funding authorizations for University of Maine to increase America’s activity and opportunities in the Far North.

###