Report to Congress on Arctic Operations and the Northwest Passage

This report responds to House Report 111-491, page 337, to accompany H.R. 5136, the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2011, which requested the Department of Defense (DoD) provide a report on Arctic operations addressing strategic national security objectives, needed mission capabilities, an assessment of changing the Unified Command Plan (UCP), needed basing infrastructure, and the status of and need for icebreakers. Section One provides the overarching context for the rest of the report and assesses the national security objectives in the region. Section Two assesses the capabilities needed to support the identified strategic objectives and, where gaps are identified, describes mitigation approaches to address them. Section Three assesses the advantages and disadvantages of amending the Unified Command Plan to designate a single Combatant Commander for the Arctic region. Section Four assesses the basing infrastructure needed to support the identified strategic objectives, including the need for a U.S. deep-water port in the Arctic. Section Five assesses the status of and need for icebreakers in the context of the capabilities to support national security objectives.