THE WATCH STAFF
The U.S. Department of Defense (DOD) has selected Alaska’s most populous city to be the site of its new center for regional security studies.
The DOD announced November 17, 2021, that the sole candidate to be the home for the Ted Stevens Center for Arctic Security Studies is Anchorage. (Pictured: The USS Anchorage departs its namesake Alaska city framed by the downtown skyline and the Chugach Mountains.)
U.S. Sen. Lisa Murkowski, R-Alaska, who secured authorization and U.S. $10 million in funding for the institution, called the decision “incredibly welcomed news.”
“We are the state that makes America an Arctic nation, and our geostrategic location creates unparalleled possibilities available nowhere else,” Murkowski said in a statement. “Alaska is indeed the … logical place for an Arctic Studies Center.”
In addition to the United States, the Arctic nations and members of the Arctic Council are Canada, Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Norway, Sweden and Russia.
The center, named after the late former U.S. senator from Alaska, will be the sixth such regional institution for the DOD.
“The Ted Stevens Center will provide a new venue to collaborate across the U.S. government and with our allies and partners to advance shared interests for a peaceful and prosperous Arctic,” Pentagon spokesman John F. Kirby said during the June 9 announcement of the center’s establishment.
“Defense Department regional centers are international academic venues for bilateral and multilateral research, communication and training, with the goal of building strong, sustainable, international networks of security leaders.”
The strategic importance of the Arctic is growing because of melting sea ice brought on by climate change. Russia and non-Arctic state China are competing with the U.S. and its regional partners for newly accessible natural resources and shipping routes.
The DOD’s establishment plan to Congress defined four mission areas for the center:
- Advance Arctic awareness, both among partners and within the increasingly professionalized field of U.S. Arctic military service.
- Advance DOD Arctic priorities.
- Reinforce the rules-based order in the Arctic.
- Address the impacts of climate change in the region.
Other regional centers include the George C. Marshall European Center for Security Studies in Germany; the Daniel K. Inouye Asia-Pacific Center for Security Studies in Hawaii; as well as the William J. Perry Center for Hemispheric Defense Studies, the Africa Center for Strategic Studies, and the Near East-South Asia Center for Strategic Studies, all three of which are in Washington, D.C.
“As a nexus for security cooperation,” Murkowski said in her statement, “the center will soon play host to America’s global partners and allies along with a variety of federal and state authorities and academic institutions, also bringing economic benefit to the area.”
IMAGE CREDIT: JUSTIN CONNAHER/U.S. AIR FORCE PUBLIC AFFAIRS