Navy Secretary Braithwaite: 'Russia Has Re-Militarized the Arctic'

Navy Secretary Kenneth Braithwaite told the Senate Armed Services Committee this week that ''Russia has re-militarized the Arctic,'' and the U.S. is prepared to maintain ''a tailored maritime presence'' in response.

"It should be an alarm to all of Americans, as an Arctic nation, that we should have a more formidable presence to ensure rule of law and freedom of the seas in that part of the world,'' Braithwaite said during a hearing on Navy and Marine Corps readiness on Wednesday, according to the Washington Examiner.

He added that the U.S. will responsd with ''a tailored maritime presence'' and ''lethality,'' if necessary.

During the hearing, Sen. Dan Sullivan, R-Alaska, the chair of the panel’s subcommittee on readiness and management support, accused Russia of having ''accelerated its provocative encounters in the North Pacific,'' by ''harassing American fishing vessels in U.S. waters,'' and ''sending bombers towards Alaska's shores.''

Braithwaite said that as a former Ambassador to Norway, he is quite familiar with Russia’s activities in the North Sea.

''The United States Navy, the United States Marine Corps, senator, is committed to being present in the Arctic in a much more visible way than we've historically been,'' Braithwaite said, noting that the USS John McCain recently made a navigation mission in the Bay of Peter the Great. 

''Power projection, sea control, and the ability to ensure to our partners and allies and to our own people that we, the United States Navy, have that first and foremost in our minds,'' he added.

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