While proponents say the idea has a number of benefits, critics point out that a base in that part of the world would cost a lot of money, be virtually inaccessible most of the year and is the product of obsolete Cold War-era thinking.
The United States might build a base far north in Alaska to counter Russian presence in the Arctic region, but many consider the idea ill-conceived, a Defense News report says.
According to the 2020 National Defense Authorization Act written by the Senate Armed Services Committee, the Pentagon, the head of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, the Army Corps of Engineers, the Coast Guard and the Maritime Administration will be tasked to work together to identify and mark potential sites for a strategic port in the American Arctic. The bill is slated for a vote next week, according to Defensenews.com.
The rationale is that the port will counter Russia's activity in the Arctic, including the cutting-edge “Northern Clover” air defence military base at the Franz Joseph Land archipelago. Russia sees the Arctic as a region of emerging new trade routes and of untouched vast oil and gas deposits, which President Vladimir Putin estimated to be worth $30 trillion.
Proponents of an American Arctic base say it is beneficial in that it will force Russia to spend money on countering a new threat.
“The plus side of putting a port up in [the Arctic] is that you don't have to do a whole hell of a lot to force the Russians to put a lot of resources up there to…
