Trump Is Right: Greenland Is Vital to US National Security
In dealing with the world’s largest island, he should play businessman rather than conquering hero.
By any name, Pituffik Space Base is important.
Photographer: Thomas Traasdahl/AFP/Getty Images
One vivid recollection I have from my time as the North Atlantic Treaty Organization’s military commander was a tense hour in a command center observing long-range tracking of Russian strategic bombers flying toward the North Atlantic. Our radars were able to precisely follow the planes and transmit the information to the North American Aerospace Defense Command in Cheyenne Mountain, Colorado. I also had the data routed to my US European Command headquarters in Stuttgart, Germany.
So, where was I: At NATO military headquarters in Mons, Belgium? At the alliance’s air command HQ at Ramstein Air Base in Germany? In the control room of a high-tech US warship sailing the North Sea?