Arctic Security in a Warming World Challenges and Opportunities

This article was published in Culture and Conflict Review (Earth Day 2011), v.5 no.2"As the Arctic continues to thaw, and with its thaw, to integrate with the world ocean and the maritime economy that unites the world, the question of which of America's regional Unified Combatant Commands (UCC) is best suited to defend the Arctic has been increasingly discussed by American defense officials and their allied counterparts. The Arctic basin overlaps the Area of Operations (AO) of three of America's regional commands: Northcom, Pacom, and Eucom. Each bears responsibility for part of the Arctic's defense, but not the whole. However, the Arctic, while enclosed by the high North Pacific region, the high North Atlantic, and the northern coast and offshore islands of high North America, has not affected the history of each defense sector equally, and consideration of the historical context might illuminate the quest for the appropriate UCC for meeting the challenges of Arctic defense and security in the coming years.