Greenland is the northern watchtower of the Western Hemisphere.
Losing it is not an option.
Greenland: America’s Northern Neighbor and High Ground
Greenland is not a far-off territory. It is not symbolic geography. It is our next-door neighbor.
Greenland is considered by most national security experts to be the strategic high ground, and in modern warfare the high ground determines whether threats are detected early, deterred decisively, and rapidly responded to in order to inflict catastrophic damage on any nation that would attack us.
As a former U.S. intelligence officer, I can state this without hesitation: uncontested access to and operational control over Greenland is essential to the defense of the United States, to the stability of the Western Hemisphere, and to the credibility of NATO itself as a deterrent to Russian or Chinese aggression. This is not a political theory. This is an operational reality and a strategic necessity.
The Trump Doctrine and the Western Hemisphere
What we are seeing is the development of the Trump Doctrine — the strategic control of the Western Hemisphere by the United States.
President Donald Trump’s strategic agenda is rooted in a fundamental principle of American statecraft that predates NATO, predates the Cold War, and predates modern globalism: the United States must control the security architecture of the Western Hemisphere. This isn’t territorial ambition; it is imperative to our national survival.
From the Arctic to the Caribbean, from undersea cables to space-based early-warning systems, Greenland and the Western Hemisphere form America’s defensive perimeter. Abdicating control over Greenland, or over the Western Hemisphere more broadly, and allowing our adversaries freedom of movement to pursue their own territorial ambitions — economically, politically, or militarily — is an invitation to strategic disaster.
Why Greenland’s Military Value Is Irreplaceable
Greenland sits at the northern approach to the Western Hemisphere. If that approach is compromised, our defensive strategies are likely to collapse. In simple terms, Greenland’s military value is irreplaceable.
Greenland provides early-warning capabilities that cannot be replicated elsewhere: polar trajectories, space-domain situational awareness and satellite tracking, control of the Greenland–Iceland–United Kingdom (GIUK) maritime choke point, surveillance of undersea infrastructure and transatlantic routes, and forward operating capability that buys the United States time. Time is deterrence. Distance is defense.
Our adversaries understand that early warning of their intentions allows the United States to respond appropriately — protecting the homeland and, if necessary, delivering a proportional or even massive military response.
Russia’s Arctic Militarization
Russia has transformed its Arctic frontier into a launch platform for its strategic nuclear forces. Long-range bombers, nuclear-capable missile systems, electronic warfare units, and submarine forces operate with one objective: to reduce U.S. reaction time and, consequently, our ability to defend and respond.
Any degradation of U.S. capabilities in Greenland directly increases the risk of a Russian strategic move with catastrophic consequences.
The GIUK Gap: Greenland’s Maritime Choke Point Role
Greenland anchors the GIUK Gap. If that barrier weakens, Russian submarines gain freer access to the Atlantic, potentially allowing them to evade existing underwater detection systems. Surface shipping routes are threatened, and undersea cables and energy infrastructure become prime targets.
China’s Strategy: Influence Without Invasion
China’s strategy relies on access. Under Beijing’s civil-military fusion doctrine, commercial infrastructure is inseparable from state intelligence and military objectives. Greenland’s rare earth minerals are essential to Western defense production. Chinese leverage over extraction or the logistics required to support it would amount to military-industrial extortion.
China–Russia Alignment in the Arctic
Russia provides geography and firepower. China provides capital and patience. Together, they pose a growing threat to American interests worldwide. Their coordination in the Arctic represents a strategic challenge the United States must confront directly.
How Strategic Ground Is Lost
Territory is lost through political hesitation, legal obstruction, commercial entanglement, and incremental access restrictions — precisely the tactics adversaries use to advance without firing a shot.
The Warfare Reality of Losing Greenland
Failure to secure Greenland invites missile surprise, electronic warfare, submarine penetration, intelligence collection, and supply-chain coercion.
Why NATO Should Welcome Strong U.S. Leadership
A stronger American posture in Greenland stabilizes NATO, secures reinforcement routes, denies adversaries a staging ground, and restrains expansionist aggression.
Final Intelligence Assessment: Losing Greenland Is Not an Option
Greenland is the northern watchtower of the Western Hemisphere.
President Trump’s insistence on securing that watchtower reflects sound judgment, a clear understanding of U.S. national interests, and strategic clarity.
America must control the approaches, deny adversaries a staging ground, and protect both our northern approach and our soft underbelly in the Caribbean and elsewhere in the hemisphere.
Greenland is one of those watchtowers.
Losing it is not an option.
