By Donna Miles
American Forces Press Service
WASHINGTON, Nov. 14, 2013 – When travel brochures feature
Arctic expeditions, adventure-seekers think of a once-unreachable fantasyland
rich with wildlife and a pristine frozen tundra stretching as far as the eye
can see.
Coast Guard Capt. Ed Westfall, chief of U.S. European
Command’s Arctic strategy branch, thinks more of the second- and third-order
effects of the melting polar icecap, in terms of not just tourism, but also its
effect on maritime traffic, fishing and oil and gas exploration.
Although analysts’ forecasts range from about five to 25
years, almost all envision a day when the Arctic has no significant ice
coverage for at least part of the summer.
“The conditions in the Arctic are changing, and we are
already seeing increased human activity indicative of that easier access,”
Westfall said during a phone interview from the Eucom headquarters in
Stuttgart, Germany.
The United States, along with the seven other nations whose
territory rings the Arctic Circle, recognize the commercial, energy and
security implications, he said.
As members of the Arctic Council, all have committed to
ensuring the Arctic remains peaceful and stable. But they also know more human
activity raises the risk of mishaps ranging from shipwrecks to oil spills that
could exceed their respective civil authorities’ response capabilities,
Westfall noted.
“Often the military forces end up having the actual
capabilities needed in terms of range and the hardiness of equipment to support
the civil authorities in what they are trying to do,” he said.
The Defense Department, in support of the National Strategy
for the Arctic Region, works closely with other federal agencies and the United
States’ Arctic partners to ensure they are ready to provide that support, if
needed in the event of a crisis.
“The Arctic is an incredibly harsh environment, and
everybody who operates there faces common challenges,” Westfall said. “Because
the infrastructure is so sparse and the distances so vast, the resources that
any individual nation is going to have [available to support a contingency] are
likely to be limited.
“So it instantly becomes a team sport,” he said. “You are
going to be calling upon all your neighbors, and anyone who happens to be
around to help support whatever is going on.”
The Defense Department modified its Unified Command Plan in
2011, in part to reflect the growing importance of the Arctic. The plan
assigned U.S. Northern Command responsibility for overseeing the Arctic
frontiers in Alaska and Canada. Eucom focused its attention on the six Arctic
nations within its theater. With that charter, the two commands collaborate
closely with their Arctic partners to ensure they’re ready to respond to a
crisis in the Arctic.
Their senior officers sit down together discuss the issues
involved through the annual Arctic Security Forces Roundtable that the United
States and Norway co-sponsor. “It’s an opportunity to share ideas, focusing on
communications among security forces, domain awareness and just knowing what is
going on in the Arctic with the increase in traffic,” Westfall said.
The partners also regularly test their response capabilities
through tabletop exercises and field and maritime drills based on disaster
scenarios.
In early September, for example, U.S. military forces joined
participants from Denmark, Iceland, Canada, Russia and Norway during SAREX
Greenland Sea 2013, a Danish-led search-and-rescue exercise centered on a
notional cruise ship disaster between Iceland and northeastern Greenland that
required a massive rescue.
The United States sent two New York Air National Guard
aircraft and crews that regularly support scientific research missions in both
the Arctic and Antarctica. In addition, U.S. Coast Guard members served as
observers and subject-matter experts in command centers the Danish government
operates in Greenland. Westfall was an observer aboard the Danish exercise
control ship HDMS Vaedderen.
In the coming year, U.S. European Command and U.S. Northern
Command plan to co-sponsor a multilateral tabletop exercise called Arctic
Zephyr that will focus on search-and-rescue issues in the Arctic, Westfall
reported. Other Arctic partners have indicated that they hope to host
additional multinational exercises as well, he said.
Westfall said he anticipates that exercises will
increasingly incorporate scenarios involving environmental disasters such as
oil spills to reflect other pressing concerns in the region. He noted a
maritime oil pollution and response agreement was signed this past spring under
the auspices of the Arctic Council.
“That’s definite an area for growth in terms of exercising
what this would mean among the different states, and how they would work
together to respond,” he said.
This multilateral training is invaluable to U.S. forces that
are relative newcomers to the Arctic, Westfall emphasized. “We recognize that
we have a lot to learn from others that already do a lot of operating up
there,” he said.
As non-Arctic nations increase their presence in the Arctic,
Westfall said, the United States will welcome them as partners in keeping the
region safe, secure and stable. “From the U.S. and DOD perspective, we welcome
increased interest in the Arctic from any country that is assuming responsibilities
consistent with their economic and national capabilities,” he said. “We welcome
the positive benefits from that cooperation in the Arctic.”
Meanwhile, U.S. and partner nations are building on the
foundation already laid as they learn about each other’s capabilities and how
they can work together, if required, in a crisis response.
Training now for the “what-ifs” helps to establish important
relationships while building a spirit of cooperation and confidence among the
Arctic partners, Westfall said. “And that is going to matter if something bad
happens,” he added.
“Responding to contingencies in the Arctic is a team sport,”
Westfall said. “It is a lot easier to work together … in a mass disaster
response when you already know each other and have had an opportunity to form
those relationships to make it successful.”
Posts
