The Arctic is the one place where U.S. Northern Command, European Command and Indo-Pacific Command all operate side by side, and the plan is to put that overlap in writing. The three will sign an agreement covering how they coordinate there, with information sharing as the core commitment. The signatories are Gen. Gregory Guillot of Northern Command, Gen. Alexus Grynkewich of European Command and Adm. Samuel Paparo of Indo-Pacific Command.
Sharing information is the point: if the commands each see the same picture, Russia and China lose the option of working the boundaries between them. Missile warning, space surveillance and homeland defense all overlap there, which is why the boundaries matter. Greenland’s Pituffik Space Base, used for launches and tracking, now hosts fighter detachments on rotation.
Guillot said his command has absorbed several new missions into its routine, among them Greenland, the southern border, the Golden Dome missile defense program and counter-drone work. He also runs NORAD, the binational U.S.-Canadian command watching the continent’s air and space approaches.
No other country holds as much Arctic coastline as Russia, and Moscow has long treated the region as a place to mass military force. China claims no Arctic territory but argues for a seat on transit grounds, and it sends research vessels and submersibles north. A joint Russian and Chinese bomber patrol in 2024 added to the worry on both continents.
Glen VanHerck, who ran Northern Command before Guillot, said Beijing’s aim is to hold the United States at risk through the Arctic. Iris Ferguson, who handled Arctic policy as a senior Pentagon official until 2025, called the Northern Command-European Command boundary the most serious gap. Northern Command pushed hardest for the agreement, working closely with European Command, whose chief, Grynkewich, also serves as NATO’s Supreme Allied Commander Europe.
