The U.S. Senate has confirmed Michael Sfraga as the nation's first ambassador-at-large for Arctic affairs, a position created in 2022 to organize the U.S. State Department’s Arctic-related priorities.
“The Arctic is emerging as a region of enormous potential, and for far too long, America has been on the sidelines – not demonstrating the level of commitment and attention shown by the other Arctic nations. That ends today,” U.S. Senator Angus King said in a statement. “Not only is the High North drawing additional attention and investment by nations like Norway, Canada, and Russia, but China and India are also making moves in the region – investing millions in icebreakers and critical mineral research, laughably passing themselves off as ‘near-Arctic nations.”
A geologist by trade, Sfraga was the founding director of the Polar Institute at the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars and chaired the United States Arctic Research Commission. First nominated in February 2023, Sfraga was confirmed in a 24 September vote, with 56 senators voicing support for the nomination.
The confirmation comes following Russian and Chinese military forces conducting multiple high-profile incursions into Alaska’s air defense identification zone (ADIZ) and the U.S. economic exclusive zone (EEZ). On 23 September, the North American Aerospace Defense Command (NORAD) declared that it had tracked four Russian military aircraft operating in the AZID, although they did not enter America’s sovereign airspace.
“The need for this leadership in the Arctic has become even more urgent, as we [recently] saw the fifth publicly reported incursion by Russian military aircraft in Alaska’s Air Defense Identification Zone in the last two weeks,” Senator Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska) said. “Our new ambassador will not only help America push back against our adversaries heightened aggression in the Arctic but will be a critical resource in advocating for economic expansion in this increasingly vital region, committing to do everything in his power to protect American economic and security interests in the Arctic. I congratulate Sfraga on his confirmation and look forward to the progress he will usher in.”
NORAD noted that “Russian activity in the Alaska ADIZ occurs regularly and is not seen as a threat.”
U.S. officials have responded by calling for an increased military investment and presence in Alaska, and the U.S. Army has deployed soldiers to the Aleutian Islands.
The foreign military presence off the coast of Alaska has been intimidating for commercial fishers operating out of the state.
“People are nervous,” United Catcher Boats Executive Director Brent Paine told the Juneau Empire after an incident in July. “We just want to know that the U.S. government is very well aware that these ships are there – and it would be nice to know, if they know, why they’re there.”
Earlier in September, in an unrelated incident in the Arctic Ocean near Norway, a Russian military vessel reportedly intimidated a small Norwegian fishing vessel, firing a warning shot and chasing the fishers out of the area.
This isn’t the first time foreign military vessels have posed a menacing presence for fishermen; in 2020, multiple commercial fishing vessels operating in the U.S. EEZ were chased by Russian military forces.
“I can’t help but think back to when Russian warships chased Alaska fishermen out of an area within our EEZ back in August 2020,” Murkowski said in a speech supporting Sfraga’s nomination. “These are hardly isolated incidents. Last August, the Coast Guard detected and shadowed a Russian intelligence ship operating off the Aleutians. This past July, the Coast Guard detected and shadowed a Chinese Surface Action Group within our EEZ in the Bering Sea.”
