02.14.25

NORTHCOM Commander Recommends Reopening Adak Base, Bolstering Homeland Missile Defense

WASHINGTON—In response to questions posed yesterday by U.S. Senator Dan Sullivan (R-Alaska) in a hearing of the Senate Armed Services Committee (SASC), General Gregory Guillot, commander of U.S. Northern Command and the North American Aerospace Defense Command (NORAD), endorsed the idea of reopening the long-shuttered Adak Naval Air Station and increasing military infrastructure investments across Alaska. In his exchange with Gen. Guillot, Sen. Sullivan highlighted the escalating incursions by Russian and Chinese military aircraft and vessels in Alaska’s Air Defense Identification Zone (ADIZ) and Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ) in the past several years.

Gen. Guillot also committed to working with Sen. Sullivan on implementing President Trump’s executive order, “Iron Dome for America,” and on Sens. Sullivan and Kevin Cramer’s (R-N.D.) IRON DOME Act, new legislation to strengthen and expand the U.S. homeland missile defense system.

Below is a full transcript of Sen. Sullivan’s exchange in SASC.

Sen. Dan Sullivan: Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Gentlemen, thank you for your testimony. I want to echo what the chairman has been saying. We do need Canada to step up. When they don't meet their 2 percent of GDP NATO commitments, it undermines the entire alliance. I appreciate that the chairman mentioned that. General, it was good to meet with you the other day. We had a meeting with senior Trump administration officials just a couple days ago—a number of senators who are focused on the border. They focused, like your testimony, a lot on the northern border, which I really appreciate. I have a chart here that depicts a lot of the air and sea incursions that we've seen in the last few years. It's been quite remarkable, particularly the joint Chinese-Russian strategic bomber missions into our ADIZ and the joint Chinese-Russian naval task force—quite big—[an 11] ship naval task force [in 2023]. President Trump himself commented recently that we need to increase military investments in Alaska as Russia and China make more menacing moves in the region. That's a list—that's just an example of all the different incursions, air and sea, just in the last [few] years, which is quite astounding. General, I want to go into a little bit more detail. Your troops have done a great job of intercepting these strategic bombers. By the way, they come with armed MiGs, right? This is a serious incursion. Not easy to do. Our Navy's done a good job—although, the first time we had that joint Russian-Chinese task force, we didn't have any Navy response, nothing, which was ridiculous, in my view. One 150-foot Coast Guard cutter. But these are difficult missions, made more difficult—for example, when you're intercepting strategic bombers, a lot of times our fighters are having to fly over a thousand miles just to get to the end of the ADIZ to intercept them. So, my question—Do you agree we need more infrastructure? You and I have talked about reopening the airfield and the Navy base at Adak, which is out here in the Aleutian Island chain, or Utqiagvik and Barrow, Alaska, to help with the SAR missions. Can you explain that in a little bit more detail? Admiral Paparo is in agreement with you on this. These incursions are going to increase. This is America, our northern border, and yet the infrastructure we have for the young men and women who are doing these dangerous intercept missions, both at sea and in the air, they need more infrastructure for their safety and for our rapid response. Do you agree with me that they do and would you support reopening the Adak naval base and the extension of the Barrow runway, which is way up there in the northern part of America, North America?

Gen. Greg Guillot: Senator, I do agree with you. As you mentioned, Admiral Paparo and I are very closely linked and aligned on all issues in the Pacific. I would support Adak for sure for maritime and air access and, as you pointed out, Deadhorse or a point at the far north part of Alaska, because those missions aren't only long—a thousand miles or more with five or six or seven air refuelings usually at night—but also the harsh conditions. If a pilot should have to eject, having those forward points that you mentioned would allow us to pre-position search and rescue aircraft or be able to land there in an emergency, which are capabilities that we just don't have right now.

DS: Great. Thank you on that. Again, I want to thank the men and women under your command. They do these intercept missions all the time. They're very tough. They're dangerous. They don't make a lot of news down here in the Lower 48, but they're doing a great job.

Let me turn to missile defense. Senator Cramer and I recently introduced our IRON DOME Act that reinforces what President Trump's executive order does. That's a depiction of that, covering the whole United States with integrated missile defense systems to protect our homeland. I'd love to get co-sponsorships from all my colleagues. My 2017 Advancing America's Missile Defense Act, which pretty much became law in the NDAA, had 30 co-sponsors—ten Democrats, 20 Republicans. Can I get your sense to—first, your commitment to work with me and Senator Cramer on that? Then, you mentioned the NGIs and the ground-based missile interceptors. Those are almost all based in Alaska. Why is it taking so long to fill those 20 silos that we just built out that are needed? Can I get your commitment to work with me, as part of this IRON DOME Act, to accelerate that?

GG: Senator, you have my full commitment to work with you on the Iron Dome. The core mission of NORAD and NORTHCOM is to defend just as you described there. You also have my full commitment to work to move all defense industrial base capabilities to the left to bring these capabilities earlier as our adversaries are advancing their capability, and we must keep pace.

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