NWC INS Lecture Series -- Lecture 17 "The Arctic"
Channel: U.S. Naval War College
Date: 2021-05-05

The U.S. Naval War College is pleased to host the seventeenth lecture in this academic year's "Issues in National Security" lecture series.

Join Professor Walter Berbick, RADM Lars Saunes and Professor Rebecca Pincus speaking about "The Arctic".

From the Professors: The coming decades will witness significant changes to the Arctic Region. Professors Walter Berbrick, Lars Saunes and Rebecca Pincus highlight key challenges and drivers of great power competition in the Arctic and various ways the United States and Norway are adapting their strategies to secure their interests and prosperity.  An increasingly accessible and navigable Arctic operating environment will place new demands on Arctic states and their naval forces. The countries and organizations that best understand and anticipate these challenges will be best prepared to prevent and respond to future incidents at sea.

Walter Berbrick is as an associate professor in the War Gaming Department, founding director of the Arctic Studies Group and co-lead scholar of the Newport Arctic Scholars Initiative. He has authored many reports and publications on defense and foreign policy issues and is the co-author of the forthcoming book “Newport Manual on Arctic Security.” Most recently, he served as the senior arctic policy advisor to the Secretary of the Navy and special representative for the Arctic region at the U.S. State Department. He is an international affairs fellow and member with the Council on Foreign Relations, holds a doctorate from Northeastern University and has served 10 years in the U.S. Navy.

Rear Admiral (ret.) Lars Saunes was born in Alesund Norway. He retired from the Navy from the position as Chief of Royal Norwegian Navy August 2017 and is now CNO Distinguished international fellow at the USNWC. He is a Submariner by trade and has held different command position on Kobben and Ula class submarines. He has been the commander of the Norwegian task group, Chief Naval operations at joint HQ, Commander submarine operating authority, Commandant and commander of the Norwegian Coast guard as well as Chief of the Royal Norwegian Navy. He has served as the head naval section of the Norwegian defense high command/join and the Norwegian defense research Institute.

Rebecca Pincus is an assistant professor in the Strategic and Operational Research Department (SORD) in the Center for Naval Warfare Studies at the U.S. Naval War College, and a member of the Institute for Future Warfare Studies within SORD. She previously served as primary investigator (PI) at the U.S. Coast Guard's Center for Arctic Study and Policy, located at the U.S. Coast Guard Academy.

The Family Discussion Group follows the formal lecture in order to provide information to the community on specific programs and services available here in Newport. Special guest for this week is Ms. Anne Champney from the Fleet and Family Service Center who will talk about important information concerning the center’s programs.

About the Lecture Series

The Issues in National Security (INS ) lectures are specifically designed to offer scholarly lectures to the spouses, partners and significant others of our students; military/civilian employees assigned to the Naval War College and Naval Station Newport and its tenant activities; NWC Foundation members; and local-area retirees or active/reserve personnel.