During remarks on the Senate floor, Sen. Lisa Murwkoski (R-AK) spoke about national security threats posed by Russia and China in the Arctic region.
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NewsTranscript
00:00It's Monday afternoon. We're back for what appears to be the last week of full session before we are due to go on an August recess.
00:13Lots to do back home, but clearly lots to do here in the Senate as well.
00:20And it looks that this week we're going to probably spend the end of the week wrapping up some of the nominations that are out there.
00:32I want to speak to a nomination that I feel very, very strongly about and would hope that we will have an opportunity to weigh in as a Senate on a priority
00:46that I don't think that enough of us as Americans think about our role as an Arctic nation.
00:56And so as we are processing nominations, I want to kind of move our attention to the top of the world up in the Arctic.
01:08We have a lot of hot spots in the world right now, and the last thing in the world that we need is for the Arctic to become one of those hot spots.
01:21And whether we want it to or not, whether we want to will it away or not, the Arctic is increasingly gaining attention by others for different reasons.
01:35And the fact that the United States doesn't have that diplomatic presence, if you will, is a disservice, I believe, to us as an Arctic nation.
01:49So I have come to urge this body to take up the nomination of Dr. Mike Srega.
01:56Mike is an Alaskan, but he would be our nation's first ambassador-at-large for Arctic affairs.
02:05So we've not had a confirmed ambassador-at-large position.
02:11We've had a special representative to the Arctic.
02:14But when you send a, quote, special representative to some of these dialogues to sit at tables with other countries' ambassadors, there is a disparity there.
02:27And I think we have recognized the importance and the role of this ambassador-at-large position.
02:35Dr. Srega was nominated in February of 2023.
02:40He was reported out of the Foreign Relations Committee this March.
02:45And it's time for us to take him up and confirm him.
02:51And I get it. I mean, there is a lot going on.
02:53I mentioned hot spots around the world.
02:56You look at what is happening in Ukraine and in Israel and Taiwan and China, North Korea.
03:01You've got everything that's happening domestically.
03:04Sometimes I think the Arctic is out of sight, out of mind for many.
03:09But it is important that we not lose sight of the consequential nature of the Arctic itself.
03:19Again, we use the phrase, it's a cold place, but it's becoming its own hot spot.
03:27And so what we can do, again, to assert not only our areas of oversight and overlay, but also from the diplomatic perspective, is something that I think is worthy of focusing on.
03:46So why this time? Why this particular nominee?
03:51First, we've got incredible opportunities on the Arctic issues.
03:55You have everything from resource development to tourism to shipping to infrastructure.
04:00You have the people who live and work and raise their family there.
04:03Thousands of American Alaskans live in the Arctic, and their interests deserve to be taken seriously and represented in the highest councils of our government.
04:12We also have the very dynamic situation in the Arctic right now with climate change, with national security, engagement with other nations.
04:22So let's just talk about our neighbor to Alaska's west there, and that is Russia, the largest Arctic nation.
04:33Their war on Ukraine is now in its third year, but it's being powered by their revenues from oil and from gas, and now more and more also from seafood.
04:45Russia is increasingly shipping its oil through the northern sea route, which has the potential to threaten Alaskan waters and our marine resources.
04:54They're testing a combat icebreaker, which could give it significant strategic advantage that we currently lack.
05:03You are very well, Madam President, that in this country we lack that icebreaking capacity.
05:12We have one operational icebreaker.
05:14She is currently at dry dock and will be there for a period of months.
05:21Our medium-strength icebreaker, the Healy, it was just reported last Thursday, had a fire aboard ship as it was going across the Northwest Passage.
05:35And I have not yet received the report, but my understanding is that that vessel is not in a condition to continue with the mission that they had set out on.
05:52And that's it. That's it.
05:55We've worked through the appropriations process to authorize the icebreaking capacity to build out the fleet.
06:02We are not there. We're not even close to being there.
06:04In fact, the updates that we get from the Coast Guard on this are beyond frustrating.
06:12They are to the point where we've got a responsibility to ensure that the commitment that we have made for the taxpayer dollars,
06:24for the infrastructure that we need, which is the icebreaker, we've got to line these up and we've got to line them up quickly.
06:33Last week was an interesting week.
06:36I know that Senator Sullivan and I had some pretty in-depth briefings from the head of NORAD and the head of the Alaska Command
06:45when we saw really an unprecedented air exercise between the Russian Bear Bombers,
06:53two of them coming together, coordinating with two Chinese H-6s, coming into the Alaskan Adiz, into our area,
07:04some close to basically separating these aircraft by about 200 miles from our shore, close enough to certainly get our attention.
07:16They were operating within the rules and they were operating safely.
07:21But again, it's a demonstration, a show of partnership that while it may not be the first time that we've seen the Russian and the Chinese flying together,
07:33we've never seen them in these northern areas.
07:36And so it begs the question, why? What is their interest up there?
07:40So making sure that we are engaged has got to be a priority.
07:48I mentioned seafood.
07:49People don't necessarily think about the prospect or the reality that Russia would be engaged in economic warfare on seafood,
07:57over-harvesting fisheries that are shared with Alaska, selling that over-harvest to China for reprocessing,
08:03to get around the sanctions that are in place, and generally throwing the global seafood markets into chaos,
08:10all to generate additional revenues for its war machine.
08:14And this threatens not only the species, the seafood, but also the way of life for so many who count on the fisheries for their very existence.
08:32In many, many areas, we are seeing the Russians and the Chinese partnering to help enhance the Chinese position in the far north.
08:46I mentioned the activity that we just saw last week in the air.
08:52We're seeing the cooperation and the collaboration on Russian energy, the collaboration with processing of Russian seafood.
09:01Now, Russian Federation Security Service has signed a memorandum of understanding with the Chinese Coast Guard
09:07to enhance maritime security cooperation in the North Pacific, in the Bering Sea, and in the Arctic.
09:14Last year, one of the pictures that got, again, a lot of attention was a flotilla of 11 Russian and Chinese warships off the Aleutian Islands.
09:25Just a few weeks ago, there was a new flotilla of Chinese military ships that transited the U.S. EEZ off of Alaska.
09:33So, Madam President, we know that they're not going out whale-watching or looking at the glaciers.
09:39This is activity that is close to Alaska, along our shared maritime border with Russia, and just beyond our sovereign territory.
09:55But I share these because these are the events that are happening now.
09:59These are the events that are happening now, and they're capturing the attention of the country.
10:06And so making sure that as we're paying attention to these current events, we have somebody whose day job is to do nothing more than monitor, engage,
10:16work with the State Department, work with our friends and allies, work with the administration.
10:21We've made some good progress in recent years on infrastructure in the Arctic.
10:27We have done a lot more in partnering from a diplomatic perspective by putting a consulate there in Nuuk in Greenland,
10:34but we've got to do a lot more to ensure our nation's interests and well-being in the region.
10:39And that's why it comes down to the right people in the right place.
10:44The right people in the right place.
10:46And this is why I am so strong in urging that we take up Dr. Svega's nomination to be the Arctic Ambassador-at-Large.
10:58He's got over three decades of experience on Arctic issues.
11:02He is the chair of the U.S. Arctic Research Commission and has been since 2021.
11:09Prior to his nomination for Ambassador-at-Large, he was the founding director of the Polar Institute.
11:15He was the director of the Global Risk and Resilience Program at the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars in Washington, D.C.
11:23He serves as chair and distinguished fellow in the Polar Institute.
11:28He was a co-lead scholar at the State Department for the Fulbright Arctic Initiative.
11:35He has served as chair of the Committee of Visitors Review of the Section for Arctic Science,
11:40Office of Polar Programs, National Science Foundation.
11:45He earned the first Ph.D. in geography and northern studies from the University of Alaska in Fairbanks.
11:50The guy knows the Arctic. He gets it.
11:54He is clear-eyed about the realities and the intentions of our adversaries.
11:57He understands what we need to do to advance our nation's equities in the Arctic.
12:03He knows the people. He knows the scenes. And they know him.
12:06That is really incredibly important.
12:10They're waiting for us. They're waiting for us to confirm Dr. Srege's nomination.
12:17They've worked with him in the past, and they're really anxious to have him in this position.
12:22I was at an event last week. It was the going-away for Iceland's ambassador to the United States.
12:29Her next role is a newly created role.
12:33She'll be Iceland's ambassador to the Arctic at large.
12:37We should confirm our own already.
12:40The Arctic is where our domestic policy meets foreign policy.
12:43It's where homeland defense meets the protection of our national fisheries.
12:47It's where our changing climate meets increased resource development and shipping and trade.
12:52It's where NATO's other flank, its western flank, meets Russia and China.
12:58It is the most strategically important place in the world.
13:02So, Madam President, I know that people are looking at our calendar.
13:07They're saying that time is running short. I don't disagree.
13:12But I think it's critically important that we have somebody of Dr. Srege's caliber in this position.
13:18We need to have that representation, and I would certainly urge the Senate to act on his nomination,
13:25hopefully before we're able to conclude at the end of this week.
13:30The reality is, if we want to do right by the Arctic and all of our growing interests and challenges in the region,
13:35we really can't wait any longer.
13:38And with that, Madam President, I yield the floor.