CIMSEC – The countdown ticks forward, each second marching the Arctic ice closer to its liquid form. Some see opportunity in what will be left behind: new sea lanes, access to resources, and expanded commercial activity. Others see danger in a region where governance structures and territorial claims are outpaced by national ambitions. Is the United States prepared for the risks of a rapidly changing Arctic? 

Author Kenneth R. Rosen confronts this question through more than two years of investigative reporting with military units, scientific stations, and remote communities in Polar War: Submarines, Spies, and the Struggle for Power in a Melting Arctic. Rosen argues that the United States has fallen behind evolving threats along its northern flank, hampered by decades of inadequate investments.