US military planners are pushing ahead to secure additional access to Greenland, the latest sign of Donald Trump’s sustained strategic interest in the Danish island.
The Pentagon and State Department are negotiating with Denmark for a ‘permanent presence’ at three additional bases in Greenland, General Gregory Guillot told Congress in mid-March.
Guillot heads US Northern Command, which is responsible for defending the US homeland, Canada and Mexico.
Trump has warned that ‘Denmark cannot protect that land from Russia or China,’ and that Moscow and Beijing’s vessels regularly transit off the coast of Greenland, as Arctic warming has opened up new routes that were frozen over.
Guillot confirmed at a Senate Armed Services Committee hearing that negotiations with Denmark are moving ahead, with the US seeking ‘increased access to different bases across Greenland.’
The US is negotiating access to three Greenland bases, two of them long-abandoned by American forces. Only one outpost is currently active: Pituffik Space Base, a remote missile defense installation staffed by a few hundred troops.
The structure of the agreement is still being worked on, a White House official told the Daily Mail. ‘We are very optimistic that we’re on a good trajectory,’ the official added.
Guillot told the Senate he wants broader access to bring special forces and Navy assets permanently to the island as its geopolitical significance grows.
President Donald Trump’s administration is negotiating with Denmark to allow US forces ‘permanent’ access to three additional military bases on Greenland
Special operators conduct training in austere conditions at Pituffik Space Base, Greenland, on May 4, 2023
US Northern Command is looking to expand its presence on Greenland to provide forces with a deepwater port and bases suitable for special operations
‘What we have now is access to a particular air base [Pituffik] in the northern part of Greenland which gives us some of the fighter and tanker capability and a lot of space capability, but we don’t have a permanent presence for [special operations forces] and then we don’t have a permanent presence for some of the maritime capabilities that I need.’
‘I’m working with our department and others to try to develop more ports, more airfields, which leads to more options for our secretary and for the president, should we need them up in the Arctic,’ Guillot added.
Trump has repeatedly insisted he wants to wrest control of Greenland from Denmark, a wrinkle that may yet complicate the negotiations.
The President has insisted US control of Greenland is a national security imperative, and has threatened to use military force to take it before pulling back.
A 1951 Danish-American defense agreement is central to the negotiations as it gives sweeping access to the US military in Greenland.
‘We don’t really need a new treaty. It’s very comprehensive, and it’s frankly very favorable to our operations or potential operations in Greenland,’ Guillot told lawmakers.
The US is seeking access to Narsarsuaq, a southern Greenland town with a deep-water port, and Kangerlussuaq in the southwest, which has a runway capable of handling large US aircraft, Northern Command spokeswoman Lieutenant Commander Teresa Meadows said.
The third location the US is vying for has not been publicly disclosed.
Both Narsarsuaq and Kangerlussuaq were American bases used during WWII and the Cold War before US forces abandoned them and returned them to local authorities.
