II 

117TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION S. 2967 

To establish an Assistant Secretary of State for Arctic Affairs. 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

OCTOBER 7, 2021 

Ms. MURKOWSKI (for herself, Mr. KING, Mr. CRAMER, Ms. COLLINS, Ms. 

KLOBUCHAR, and Ms. HASSAN) introduced the following bill; which was 

read twice and referred to the Committee on Foreign Relations 

A BILL 

To establish an Assistant Secretary of State for Arctic 

Affairs. 

1 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa2 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 

3 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 

4 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Arctic Diplomacy Act 

5 of 2021’’. 

6 SEC. 2. ASSISTANT SECRETARY OF STATE FOR ARCTIC AF7 FAIRS. 

8 Section 1(c) of the State Department Basic Authori9 ties Act of 1956 (22 U.S.C. 2651a(c)) is amended— 


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1 (1) in paragraph (1), by striking ‘‘not more 

2 than 24 Assistant Secretaries of State’’ and insert3 ing ‘‘not more than 25 Assistant Secretaries of 

4 State’’; 

5 (2) by redesignating paragraph (4) as para6 graph (5); and 

7 (3) by inserting after paragraph (3) the fol8 lowing new paragraph: 

9 ‘‘(4) ASSISTANT SECRETARY OF STATE FOR

10 ARCTIC AFFAIRS.— 

11 ‘‘(A) IN GENERAL.—There is authorized to 

12 be in the Department of State an Assistant 

13 Secretary of State for Arctic Affairs, who shall 

14 be responsible to the Secretary of State and the 

15 Under Secretary of State for Political Affairs 

16 for all matters, programs, and related activities 

17 pertaining to the Arctic region in the conduct 

18 of foreign policy by the Department, including, 

19 as appropriate, leading the coordination of pro20 grams carried out by United States Government 

21 agencies abroad, and such other related duties 

22 as the Secretary may from time to time des23 ignate. 

24 ‘‘(B) AREAS OF RESPONSIBILITY.—The 

25 Assistant Secretary of State for Arctic Affairs 


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1 shall maintain continuous observation and co2 ordination of all matters pertaining to energy, 

3 environment, trade, infrastructure development 

4 and maintenance, law enforcement, and polit5 ical-military affairs in the conduct of foreign 

6 policy in the Arctic, including programs carried 

7 out by other United States Government agen8 cies when such programs pertain to the fol9 lowing matters: 

10 ‘‘(i) National security. 

11 ‘‘(ii) Strengthening cooperation 

12 among Arctic countries. 

13 ‘‘(iii) The promotion of responsible 

14 natural resource management and eco15 nomic development. 

16 ‘‘(iv) Protecting the Arctic environ17 ment and conserving its biological re18 sources. 

19 ‘‘(v) Arctic indigenous peoples, includ20 ing by involving them in decisions that af21 fect them. 

22 ‘‘(vi) Scientific monitoring and re23 search. 

24 ‘‘(C) ADDITIONAL DUTIES.—In addition to 

25 the responsibilities specified in subparagraph 


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1 (B), the Assistant Secretary for Arctic Affairs 

2 shall also carry out such other relevant duties 

3 as the Secretary may assign. 

4 ‘‘(D) DEFINITIONS.—In this paragraph: 

5 ‘‘(i) ARCTIC REGION.—The term ‘Arc6 tic region’ means— 

7 ‘‘(I) the geographic region north 

8 of the 66.56083 parallel latitude 

9 north of the equator; 

10 ‘‘(II) all the United States terri11 tory north and west of the boundary 

12 formed by the Porcupine, Yukon, and 

13 Kuskokwim Rivers; 

14 ‘‘(III) all contiguous seas, includ15 ing the Arctic Ocean and the Beau16 fort, Bering, and Chukchi Seas; and 

17 ‘‘(IV) the Aleutian Chain. 

18 ‘‘(ii) ARCTIC COUNTRIES.—The term 

19 ‘Arctic Countries’ means the permanent 

20 members of the Arctic Council, namely the 

21 United States, Canada, Denmark, Iceland, 

22 Norway, Sweden, Finland, and Russia.’’. 

Æ 


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