A New Arctic Security Council: Why the Arctic Needs a Security Cooperation Forum

This paper focuses on the second topic of security and makes the case that an Arctic security forum best serves the long-term interest of the United States. To analyze the argument this paper answers two foundational questions Why a security forum? and Why now? Research formulates the answers to these questions. First, security is avital issue in the Arctic. Second, no stable forum exists to facilitate security discussions. Third, evidence suggests Arctic Council members support the formation of a forum. Additionally, this paper highlights the rise and impact of internationalization as a potential spoiler to current Arctic governance structures. This first part also includes a discussion on past unsuccessful attempts and why an Arctic Council-initiated forum is more likely to succeed.