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Alaska Federation of Natives. Challenges at the Northernmost Border: 10,000 Years of Adaption Innovation and Action. (January 29-30, 2020) The Alaska Federation of Natives (AFN) under the leadership of Co-Chairs Ana Hoffman, and Will Mayo, in partnership with the Alaska Congressional Delegation and Lt. General Thomas Bussiere representing the Northern Command and NORAD Region, and the Pacific Air Forces, were pleased to welcome leaders and decision-makers to this 2020 Alaska Day conference. The Alaska Day conference was titled: Challenges at the Northernmost Border: 10,000 Years of Adaptation, Innovation, and Action. The focus of this gathering was on solutions with an emphasis on public-private partnerships, communications (both terrestrial and low earth orbit), public safety and security.
Department of Defense. Report to Congress: Department of Defense Arctic Strategy. (July 2019) The 2019 Department of Defense (DoD) Arctic Strategy updates the previous 2016 DoD Arctic Strategy as requested by Section 1071 of the John S. McCain National Defense Authorization Act for fiscal year (FY) 2019. This update includes a classified annex. Specifically, the 2019 DoD Arctic Strategy updates DoD's strategic objectives for the Arctic region, in light of DoD's renewed assessment of the evolving Arctic security environment and the release of the 2018 National Defense Strategy (NDS). Anchored in NDS goals and priorities, this updated Arctic strategy outlines DoD's strategic approach for protecting U.S. national security interests in the Arctic in an era of strategic competition.
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Media
Department of the Air Force Introduces Arctic Strategy. The strategy outlines the Department's unique regional role and efforts to optimize Air and Space Force capabilities throughout the region in support of the National Defense Strategy. "The Arctic is among the most strategically significant regions of the world today - the keystone from which the U.S. Air and Space Forces exercise vigilance," Barrett said. "This Arctic Strategy recognizes the immense geostrategic consequence of the region and its critical role for protecting the homeland and projecting global power."
Air Force Link
Armed with a New Arctic Strategy, the Air Force Seeks Increased Connectivity in the Region. With commerce, travel and international competition in the Arctic region on the rise, the Department of the Air Force will prioritize making investments that will enable greater connectivity among U.S. military assets, the Air Force's top general said July 21. "Missile warning, space capabilities, air capabilities, how you marry up fifth generation and fourth generation [fighter jets]. It's more the case as we look at the future of warfare that data will be the currency that we operate on," said Air Force Gen. Dave Goldfein at a roll out of the department's new Arctic strategy hosted by the Atlantic Council.
Defense News
Raymond: Space Force to Play Key Role in Military Operations in the Arctic. U.S. Air Force Secretary Barbara Barrett on July 21 rolled out a strategy for how air and space forces will prepare for operations in the Arctic, a region of the world where Russia and China are trying to grow their influence. Speaking during an Atlantic Council virtual event, Barrett said the strategy "recognizes the immense geostrategic consequence of the region and its critical role for protecting the homeland and projecting global power."
Space News
 New Air Force Arctic Strategy May Update Planes for Polar Ops. As part of its new Arctic Strategy released today, the Air Force is eyeing how to modernize mobility aircraft capable of polar operations, improve existing bases, and expand allied cooperation as it gears up to face increased challenges in the region from Russia and China - as well as the changing environment. "Historically the Arctic, like space, was characterized as a predominantly peaceful domain," Air Force Secretary Barbara Barrett told the
Atlantic Council Tuesday afternoon. "This is changing with expanded maritime access, newly discovered resources, and competing sovereign interests."
Breaking Defense
 Pompeo to Discuss Arctic Issues with Officials From Denmark and Greenland. US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo is set to discuss security issues in the Arctic with Danish and Greenlandic Foreign Ministers Jeppe Kofod and Steen Lynge, respectively, today in Copenhagen. The meeting comes a month after the historic reopening of the US consulate in Nuuk, Greenland, in June, as part of the White House's recent efforts to expand the US presence in the Arctic in a bid to curtail Russian and Chinese influence in the region.
Foreign Brief
[Russia] Arctic Development Strategy is Being Approved at the Presidential Executive Office. The new government program for Arctic area development will be approved this September. Total program financing until 2024 will total 57 billion rubles. "This is a major strategic document for our country. There are fundamentals and there is strategy. The President has already signed the fundamentals (of Arctic development). The strategy is being agreed on at the Presidential Executive Office," said Alexander Kozlov, Minister for the Development of the Russian Far East and Arctic at an online news conference.
The Arctic
 How Sub-Arctic Seas are Influencing the Arctic Ocean and What It's Telling Us About Climate Change. "We are used to seeing the Arctic Ocean as its own system," said Kristina Brown, an NSERC Visiting Fellow with Fisheries and Oceans Canada in Sidney, British Columbia (B.C.) and one of the paper's authors. "What's so interesting is to see how sub-Arctic oceans are affecting it differently across the pan-Arctic. "This paper looks closely at the importance of Atlantic and Pacific Ocean waters in the Arctic, and the increasing influence of these sub-polar waters in painting the physical, geochemical, and biological canvas of the Arctic Ocean," she said in a phone interview from B.C.
Radio Canada International
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Future Events
** New this week **
Expansion of Maritime Activity in the Bering Strait Region: Mitigating Existing and Future Risks, 11- 12:30 pm ET on July 27, 2020 (Virtual). The Bering Strait region supports some of the most remarkable wildlife in the world, which in turn has supported subsistence cultures for thousands of years. In this webinar, experts will discuss the current situation in the region, future vessel traffic trends, increasing threats, and existing gaps in preparedness and response. The webinar will also consider possible measures that could help ensure safe and environmentally sound shipping, from strong communications to maritime traffic management tools and industry area-specific practices. WWF's new publication,
Safety at the Helm: A Plan for Smart Shipping through the Bering Strait, will be referenced during the event. The webinar is hosted by the Polar Institute
** New this week **
Polar Week: July 2020, July 27-31, 2020 (Virtual). The Wilson Center's Polar Institute will host its second edition of the Polar Week to explore, analyze, discuss, and inform many of these important issues and dynamics. Through several public events, the July 2020 Polar Week will address: maritime activity in the Bering Strait; Canada's Arctic and Northern Policy Framework; the European Union's Arctic strategy; the complex relationship in the Arctic between the United States and Russia; Marine Protected Areas in the Southern Ocean, and; the launch of the inaugural edition of the Wilson Center's Polar Perspectives publication series.
Arctic Science Coalition Building Webinar with Brett Veerhusen, 2-3 PM EDT July 29, 2020 (Virtual)
.
The most impactful Arctic research is driven by a strong, diverse coalition of individuals, businesses and organizations united by a common mission. In this virtual workshop Brett Veerhusen, Ocean Strategies founder, will share how he has built coalitions in fisheries research, management, and policy action in Alaska, and teach you how to move from an idea to an action plan by building a coalition that gets you to your Arctic research or policy goal.
The event is hosted by
Migration in Harmony
: An Interdisciplinary Network in Littoral Species, Settlements, and Cultures on the Move (MiH-RCN), an international, cross-disciplinary network of Arctic migration researchers funded by the National Science Foundation.
Arctic Circle Assembly, October 8-11, 2020 (Reykjavik, Iceland). The annual Arctic Circle Assembly is the largest annual international gathering on the Arctic, attended by more than 2000 participants from 60 countries. It is attended by heads of states and governments, ministers, members of parliaments, officials, experts, scientists, entrepreneurs, business leaders, indigenous representatives, environmentalists, students, activists and others from the growing international community of partners and participants interested in the future of the Arctic.
Arctic Science Summit Week, March 20-26, 2021 (Lisbon, Portugal). The Portuguese Minister of Science, Technology and Higher Education, the Portuguese Foundation for Science and Technology (FCT) and the Local Organizing Committee will host the Arctic Science Summit Week 2021. The Conference is organized by FCT, Ciência Viva, AIR Center, the Portuguese Arctic Community and by IASC and partners. Framed by the overarching theme for the Science Conference "The Arctic: Regional Changes, Global Impacts," Lisbon invites International experts on the Arctic and Indigenous Peoples to discuss the "New Arctic" and also its impacts and interactions to and with the lower latitudes.
Save the Date: 2nd Symposium on Polar Microbes and Viruses, May 3-6, 2021 (Hanko, Finland). Organizers announce, that due to the coronavirus outbreak, the 2nd Symposium on Polar Microbes and Viruses has been postponed to 2021. This symposium will bring together molecular microbial ecologists specializing in different organism groups to share our latest results and discuss methodological problems, as well as future prospects in the field, including practical international collaborations. The environmental focus will be on cryospheric environments including sea ice, glaciers, ice sheets, and permafrost, but excellent research in other polar environments is also invited. The methods to be discussed will focus on 'omics' techniques, ranging from single cells to metagenomes, but research using additional methods is encouraged as well.
3rd Arctic Science Ministerial, May 8-9, 2021 (Toyko, Japan).
The Japanese and Icelandic organizers of this ministerial continue to plan for an in-person ministerial, in Tokyo, but have moved the dates from November 21-22, 2020 to May 8-9, 2021 because of Covid-19. Since the last Arctic Science Ministerial in 2018, changes in the Arctic ecosystem and the resulting impacts locally and globally have been severely felt. Considering the need for climate change mitigation, adaptation, and repair measures, the relevance of an international Arctic Science Ministerial has never been greater. It is necessary to strengthen scientific cooperation and collaboration among both Arctic and non-Arctic States in order to develop our understanding of the rapid changes impacting the Arctic. The First Arctic Science Ministerial (ASM1) was hosted by the United States in 2016, and two years later, the Second Arctic Science Ministerial (ASM2) was co-hosted by Germany, Finland, and the European Commission. ASM3 will be co-hosted by Iceland and Japan.
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