The above analysis makes clear that a melting Arctic is not in the American national security interest.
Our allies (like Egypt and the European Union) will suffer while our adversaries (Russia and China) will gain. Some US energy and shipping companies may profit, but the current reality of Western sanctions on Russia means that most of these profits will accrue to Chinese firms — not American ones.
In any case, no economic benefit cannot offset the high geopolitical cost and environmental mayhem wrought by a melting Arctic, which promises to empower Russia and China just as America enters into a new era of long-term strategic competition with them.
The United States should thus develop a formal strategy on how to approach the Arctic over the next century.
Building more ice-breakers is a good place to start. Even better would be for the United States to make a greater effort against climate change; there is still time to close off this new theater of competition before it opens.
Some may like it hot, but the United States is not among them.
Brent Peabody is the Joseph S. Nye, Jr. Intern for the Military, Veterans, and Society Program at the Center for a New American Security.