ICYMI: Sen. Sullivan Talks Arctic Security, Russia-China Incursions & Historic Coast Guard Build-Up with Fox News
WASHINGTON— In a recent article on FoxNews.com, U.S. Senator Dan Sullivan (R-Alaska), a member of the Senate Armed Services Committee (SASC), discussed the rapidly changing strategic landscape in Alaska’s Arctic as increasing activity from Russia and China demonstrate the growing need for enhanced strength and investments in U.S. Arctic national defense. The article follows a hearing chaired by Sen. Sullivan, chair of the Senate Commerce Subcommittee on Coast Guard, Maritime, and Fisheries, where U.S. Coast Guard Commandant Adm. Kevin Lunday confirmed that the Coast Guard is considering home-porting up to four new Arctic Security Cutters in Alaska, part of an eleven-ship initiative under the U.S.–Finland Icebreaker Agreement and the ICE Pact.
Sullivan also emphasized the strategic importance of reopening the Naval Base on Adak Island in Alaska, noting that restoring a U.S. military and maritime presence in the Aleutians would dramatically extend America’s operational reach in the North Pacific and Arctic, closing a critical gap as Russian and Chinese activity continues to surge near Alaska’s western flank. Sullivan has long stressed the need to steel America’s presence in the region through robust defense investments and highlighted congressional momentum, including historic investments in the Coast Guard he championed in the Working Families Tax Cuts Act (WFTCA) and the 2026 National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA), to enhance capabilities and infrastructure in Alaska.
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Russia, China squeeze US Arctic defense zone as Trump eyes Greenland
Sen. Dan Sullivan highlighted funding and plans to reboot WWII-era base on far-flung Adak
By: Charles Cretiz
February 4, 2026
EXCLUSIVE: After U.S. officials detected a sharp rise in Russian and Chinese military incursions near Alaska — including a growing number of joint operations — Sen. Dan Sullivan is warning that the Arctic has become an active security front. And he's pushing Congress to accelerate icebreaker construction, reopen Cold War–era bases and bolster U.S. defenses in the region.
Sullivan’s warning comes as new data show foreign military traffic near Alaska climbing sharply, a trend he says has gone largely unnoticed outside the region even as Moscow and Beijing coordinate more closely. He argues the activity has exposed how thin U.S. Arctic capabilities have become and why Washington is now scrambling to catch up.
"Let’s just say the world's largest fleet of oceanographic survey ships wasn't off the coast of Alaska to ‘save the whales,’" Sullivan told Fox News Digital in an interview.
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Sullivan, R-Alaska, recently chaired a Senate Commerce Subcommittee hearing examining the U.S. Coast Guard’s Arctic presence and discussed a new U.S.-Finnish deal to secure crucial new icebreaker craft and funding from the recent tax-cut law funding for at least three USCG Arctic security cutters amid a record $25 billion total investment in Coast Guard prowess.
Sullivan shared data with Fox News Digital showing a sharp rise in Russian, Chinese and joint Sino-Russian military aircraft and maritime incursions into the U.S. Air Defense Identification Zone, or ADIZ, a security buffer stretching beyond 12-nautical-mile sovereign U.S. airspace where foreign craft are required to identify themselves.
Since 2019, there have been more than 100 Russian aircraft, four Chinese vessels and, most alarmingly, more than a dozen joint operations that have entered the ADIZ, Sullivan said.
President Donald Trump's ongoing friction with Denmark over Greenland reflects the growing importance of the Arctic for the administration, Sullivan said. As melting ice opens new shipping lanes, energy access and military routes, Alaska is becoming a front line in the contest for economic and strategic dominance.
Click here to read the full article.
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