The Norwegian High North has received increasing U.S. attention in recent years. In late March 2024, U.S. Department of Homeland Security Under Secretary Dmitri Kusnezov made his second visit to Tromsø , pictured above, in less than a year. AFP/GETTY IMAGES
THE WATCH STAFF
A high-ranking U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) official recently visited northern Norway for the second time in less than a year to study a range of potential threats to the United States homeland. Under Secretary Dimitri Kusnezov said he visited the Arctic city of Tromsø to gain insight into the region and receive briefings on topics ranging from climate change to hybrid threats.
Kusnezov, who heads the DHS Science and Technology Directorate, visited the University of Tromsø, known as the Arctic University of Norway, on March 22, 2024, according to the High North News, a Norwegian newspaper. Kusnezov is a theoretical physicist and had a distinguished academic career before joining DHS, where he also created an office of Artificial Intelligence (AI). “As the science advisor to the Homeland Security Secretary, Dr. Kusnezov heads the research, development, innovation and testing and evaluation activities in support of the Department of Homeland Security’s (DHS) operational components and first responders across the nation. S&T [Science and Technology] is responsible for identifying operational gaps, conceptualizing art-of-the-possible solutions, and delivering operational results that improve the security and resilience of the nation,” according to his official biography on the DHS website.
Part of the Science and Technology Directorate’s mission involves “familiarizing itself with research analyses and developing knowledge grounds for policy,” according to the High North News. “One goes to the Arctic and sees how things are changing. So, it is a dose of reality — and one of the key strengths of Norway, Norwegian researchers, and the UiT [University of Tromsø] is your understanding of the Arctic. We are here to try to get a sense of what the world looks like from here, with your deep bench of expertise,” Kusnezov said, according to the newspaper.
The university’s pro-rector of Science and Development, Jan-Gunnar Winther, said Kusnezov’s most recent visit (he also was there in June 2023) represents an exciting opportunity for collaboration with DHS and other U.S. institutions. “We are always looking for resourceful and highly competent partners. The DHS will soon open a Center of Excellence at the University of Alaska in Anchorage, and there’s always the possibility for U.S. researchers and representatives to come to Norway and the European Arctic,” Winther said, according to the newspaper.
Part of Kusnezov’s job involves building the ADAC-ARCTIC Center of Excellence for Homeland Security in the Arctic. ADAC stands for Arctic Domain Awareness Center. In January 2024, his agency announced the University of Alaska at Anchorage would lead a consortium of U.S. academic institutions and other partners in the effort to create a cutting-edge research center. DHS will provide the center with $46 million over 10 years, according to the newspaper. “The ADAC-ARCTIC COE [Center of Excellence] will affect major DHS mission priorities by focusing on critical research needed to prepare for and implement effective responses to challenges facing the Arctic domain,” Kusnezov said in a news release announcing the selection. “The Arctic’s dynamic ecosystem has proven to be an extraordinary challenge, and DHS is fortunate to leverage the expertise of academia to meet operational requirements.”
U.S. involvement in Norway’s Far North has increased dramatically in recent years. In October 2023, a U.S. Coast Guard vessel, the icebreaker USCGC Healy, docked in Tromsø after an international research voyage in the Eastern Arctic Ocean. Later that same month, the U.S. State Department reopened a “presence post” in Tromsø, saying it was needed for climate change and geopolitical reasons. Since the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine, the Arctic has assumed a much higher priority in the defense plans of the U.S., Canada and their NATO allies because it contains strategic approaches to the North American and European homelands.