The US had been without an Arctic policy since the last year of President George W. Bush’s administration, leaving the world’s No. 1 economy at a disadvantage, Conley said.
Our policy isn’t keeping pace with the level of change in the Arctic, she said in an interview.
That wasn’t always the case. During the Cold War, the Arctic was an arena of military competition between the US and the Soviet Union, according to Ronald O’Rourke, the naval affairs specialist with the nonpartisan Congressional Research Service.
While the US lost interest, Russia remained combative and in 2001 was first to file a claim at the United Nations to extend its sea territory in the Arctic shelf. It drove the point home in 2007. In a stunt reminiscent of Spanish Conquistadors, bearded polar explorer Artur Chilingarov led a submarine expedition to the North Pole and planted a Russian flag on the seabed below the ice.
Under international law, no country owns the North Pole, and the five nations with Arctic coastlines—Russia, the US, Canada, Norway and Denmark—are limited to their 200-nautical- mile economic zones.