Dan Sullivan

The Navy cannot conduct visible surface FONOPs, in all weather conditions during all times of the year without ice-hardened and winterized ships; neither can any other nation or military.

It is a strategic area we need to pay more attention to.

All of this within the context of the great power competition with China and Russia that are the highlights and emphasis in the National Defense Strategy.

First, the readiness issues with regard to the Navy and the Marine Corps, importantly within the context of the new National Defense Strategy (NDS) and the recent National Defense Commission report.

I know that our full Committee Chairman, Senator Inhofe, is committed to ensuring that we continue down the path to readiness and recovery while we still prioritize modernization.

I want to thank all the members for being here for this important hearing that really kind of emphasizes that modernization and readiness go hand in hand.

I think there is a lot of agreement. You could tell from the panel. I think you can see it among Senators and a lot of good ideas.

I think there is still some work to do but no question, it is important and a lot better than where we were before we had the Polar Code.

The other country that is becoming very active, aggressive, in the Arctic is China.

I think the Polar Code is a good step in the right direction.

We need to put our puzzles together so there is a unified PARS for the entire Arctic.

I think they took everything to heart and adjusted some of the routes to satisfy different seasons for hunting.

I would like our witnesses, any and all of you, to do a little bit of comparing and contrasting.

I continue to harp upon prevention, but I also know that you can still can have fires, car accidents, despite all our efforts.

The biggest threat to safe, environmentally sound shipping in the Arctic?

I have been and remain an advocate to ensuring that the Coast Guard gets another ice breaker that is at least as capable as the Mackinaw.

It therefore, behooves our Federal Government, all of us, private industry and Arctic stakeholders to fully focus on preparing for this new eventuality.

My own sense is we are very behind on this issue relative to other countries, relative to what is happening and that is a problem.

The National Defense Authorization Act, this year, which was signed into law by the President in August had a provision that I authored.

I think the communities along the North Coast are ready to provide the information that is required.

I think it is extremely important to have those international standards that we are talking about.

If God forbid we did have some kind of accident, we certainly do not have the capability to safely rescue them right now.

Funding for dredging and outer breakwater construction at Nome will help our Nation take advantage of the opportunities the Arctic presents for our economy as well as help fulfill our responsibility of protecting our Arctic waters from…

The Coast Guard's Polar Security Cutter initiative is clearly in our Nation's best interests in protecting this emerging maritime frontier.

I think it is a great point that certainly we have a lot to learn from, in terms of, how the Great Lakes have operated.