US Drawdown of Only Arctic-Capable Forces ‘Makes No Sense’ - Senator

The drawdown of the US Army’s only Arctic-capable combat brigade is a strategic mistake, US Senator Dan Sullivan told Sputnik.

WASHINGTON (Sputnik), Leandra Bernstein — In the 2016 defense bill, the US Congress tasked the Department of Defense to draw up a strategic plan for defending US national security interests in the Arctic.

“To draw down the most Arctic capable forces when the Russians are building up dramatically, and when the Congress has tasked the Department of Defense and the Secretary of Defense to come up with a strategy and an OPLAN [military operations plan]… it makes no sense,” Sullivan said on Thursday.

Sullivan, who represents the state of Alaska in the Senate, explained that as of yesterday, the US Army is planning to draw down 2,600 soldiers from the 4/25 airborne unit at Fort Richardson near Anchorage, Alaska.

“That is the only airborne Arctic brigade in the US Army and the only airborne brigade in the entire Pacific theater,” Sullivan said, calling the force drawdown “strategically very unwise.”

This week, Coast Guard Commandant Paul Zukunft told US press that the United States is “not even in the same league as Russia” when it comes to US presence and capabilities in the Arctic.

Russia is currently the world’s most capable Arctic nation in terms of existing infrastructure, presence and its ability to navigate the extreme terrain.