Northern Security Chronicles Northern Security Chronicles

In this fourth episode of the Northern Security Chronicles, and the first of the China Trilogy, host Vee R Doc begins to dive deeply into a specific threat vector in Great Power Competition in the Arctic.  She also explores how we, the United States, are at risk based on our own institutional failings, expands on the concepts of “Grey Space” warfare, identifies and describes three types of gaps or seams being exploited, and introduces the concepts of actor types.

In this series introduction episode, host Vee R Doc defines the objectives of the Northern Security Chronicles, detailing the first three preparatory episodes (“The Arctic is Under Construction”) and introducing the second episode arc (“The China Trilogy”).

In this third installment of the Northern Security Chronicles, host Vee R Doc speaks about Arctic America, and how the lure and mystique of the region continues to this day.  Recognizing that the Arctic is America’s (and Canada’s) “back door,” she notes that the explorers have given way to people who make careers around Arctic political science, geopolitics, and the speculation and publication of “what ifs” with few real solutions.  Unfortunately, ultimately, Arctic Science diversity has remained flat and the science of security has not emerged. Using Arctic economics and personal experiences as a background, she underscores that the Arctic is a double-edged sword – offering the chance to secure the region, and the vulnerability of failing to do so.  This leads to a critical need for a Strategic Intelligence Framework to reveal what the threats are, and which are the most sinister. 

In this second installment of the Northern Security Chronicles, host Vee R Doc dissects how perceptions created a bias in the Intelligence Community, leading to the mistaken conclusion that there were few if any threats in the Arctic.  Looking at the multiple stakeholders, she lays out that there are many Arctics – and why security matters.  And she reveals, how a group of scientists analyzed data from multiple sources and identified what appears to be irregular warfare being conducted in our back yard.

In this inaugural episode of the Northern Security Chronicles, host Vee R Doc discusses how we create the world through perceptions, how we perceive the Arctic, and how we make decisions based on perceptions of reality, not reality itself.  Looking at the rapidly changing Arctic, she urges an integrated systems science be applied to security that includes different aspects of cultures, economies, and environmental change to create a blueprint to secure our nations last frontier.