DoD establishes Stevens Center for Arctic Security Studies in Anchorage

U.S. Senator Lisa Murkowski last week announced that the U.S. Department of Defense selected Anchorage as the location for the new Ted Stevens Center for Arctic Security Studies. According to a press release, the Stevens Center “will support and strengthen advances DoD is making in the Arctic, using security cooperation, research and academia, and diplomacy.” The Center will be the sixth DoD Regional Center and the only one specifically focused on the Arctic. According to a fact sheet, the center’s mission is that to “build strong and sustainable domestic and international networks of security leaders and promote and conduct focused research on Arctic security to advance DoD security priorities in the Arctic region.”

The DoD defined four mission areas: To advance Arctic awareness, both among partners and within the U.S. Arctic military service; 2. Advance DoD Arctic priorities; 3. Reinforce the rules-based order in the Arctic and in keeping with Secretary o f Defense Lloyd Austin’s priorities and the Interim National Security Strategic Guidance, address the impacts of climate change in the region.

Senators Murkowski and Dan Sullivan (both R-Alaska) pushed to include the Stevens Center in the Fiscal Year 2021 National Defense Authorization Act; the project is funded with $10 million that were appropriated in fiscal year 2021.

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 Ted Stevens Center for Arctic Security Studies will develop collaborative insights with allies and partners.

“The center will support the U.S. Interim National Security Strategic Guidance direction to work with like-minded partners and across the interagency to pool our collective strength and advance shared interests,” Secretary Austin said. “It will address the need for U.S. engagement and international cooperation to strengthen the rules-based order in the region and tackle shared challenges such as climate change.”

In September the DoD announced the appointment of Maj. Gen. (Ret.) Randy “Church” Kee as Senior Advisor for Arctic Security Affairs. In this capacity, Kee will support the Under Secretary of Defense for policy in the establishment and early operations of the Stevens Center.