if you can bring them from the bering sea across the northern sea route and say for, five to six daystransit time to get energy products to china, they will take advantage of the. that's why they are building icebreakers. that's why they are exploring, why they are making scientific observations in the arctic. to wrap this up, the next major event i which was an event called arctic frontiers which is held in norway. i got the opportunity, norway's foreign minister is a very good friend and is very enthusiastic, and he was very generous with his time with me and get a chance to sit over lunch and then have a private meeting together. and i gave him my third of the white singapore was in reykjavÍk, iceland. of course, the same singapore delegation was in norway as well. so the minister looked at me and said admiral, your theory is almost right. i said what you mean by that, mr. minister? he said, it's not going to be reykjavÍk. it's going to be -- [inaudible] and sure enough when i spoke to the delegation from singapore that's what they are there as well. i think the trend could learn s

mike healy commanded the revenue cutter bear, a famous vessel on the bering sea and arctic waters. that was a ship that was 200 feet long, all wooden hulls, six inches, reinforced. it was a sailing vessel but also a full powered steam vessel. it was a rugged area. he went to siberia and they got reindeer and brought them to starving inuits in alaska. he cared about the inuits. he got in trouble. he drank too much. he disciplined them severely and physically. he got court-martialed and was suspended from the service. they brought him back in. he served for 40 years and died in 1904. today there is a 420 foot icebreaking cutter named after him. the healey. it is among the many duties of the coast guard, a scientific exploration platform. they take scientists with them to the arctic. captain charles shoemaker was chief of the revenue cutter service in the late 1800s. he took the revenue cutter service into the spanish-american war. before he became commandant, an interesting thing happened. he was stationed on a cutter out of mobile bay, alabama. the civil war started. as happens too

paul island, smack in the middle of the bering sea.the boat's rudder snaps off, the four men on board are in trouble. >> i got a phone call that said, hey, we've got a fishing vessel that's trapped in the ice in st. paul, and we need you to go up there. >> gooth and her crew will have to fly 600 miles to get to the ship, which will take them six hours. meanwhile, the coast guard cutter rushes toward st. paul island, muscles in as close as it can, and tries firing tow lines across the ice to the alaskan monarch, but it doesn't work. lieutenant commander's gooth's chopper is half an hour from the island when she begins hearing radio transmissions from the two ships. >> we hear the captain from the monarch telling them we're coming close to the rocks, we're putting our survival suits on. when we heard them say, "survival suits on," that keys us to say, this is not a salvage anymore, boys. we'd better be ready for a rescue. >> by the time laura gooth maneuvers her chopper over the bow of the monarch, four crewmen are ready to leave the shi

if you can bring them from the bering sea across the northern sea route to say four or 56 days of transittime to get energy products to china, they'll take advantage. that's why they are making scientific observations in the arctic. to wrap this up, the next major event i went to was an event called arctic frontier which is held in tromso, norway. i got the opportunity of the foreign minister is a very good friend and is very enthusiastic and he was very generous with his time with me. we had a chance to set up her lunch and have a private reading together. i gave him my eerie about why singapore was in reykjavÍk, iceland. the same singapore delegation as well. he says pat burrell, your theory is almost ready. what you mean by that, mr. minister? it's not going to be reykjavÍk. and sure enough when i spoke to singapore, that's why they are in there as well. the united states could learn some lessons. other countries are preparing or the arctic. the challenge is finding the balance. how do you protect the environment, how do you sustain the environment, but also look for development as wel

in alaska in the bering sea it's normal weather during the wintertime.nstead of passing over a 24 hour period it stays there for sometimes weeks on end and you just get the batter. it will either make you choose not to be a sailor anymore or will convince you that this is what i want to do. fortunate for the topic that this is what i wanted to be. i would also say i learned about what i call the tyranny of time and distance. that 800 miles out to adak, when you steaming around the ship at holy ghost 12 months it to get places in alaska. from adak although it up above the arctic circle was about 900 miles, from dutch harbor, the largest deep water port in alaska out in the aleutian chain, it's about 900 miles up to where shell is operating right now. to the nearest deep water port for shell is about 900 miles away. of coast guard cutters are up in the arctic, the nearest place they can refuel the dutch harbor. so the united states is rather limited in terms of infrastructure. deep water ports, telecommunication challenges and. that is the island but these

sea floor. fortunately they found it with their side scan sonar and not their hull. we're also looking at a traffic separation scheme in the bering strait to assure that you don't have collisions at sea up there as well. >> couple of similar questions. should the navy take possession of the coast guard's icebreakers? what would you say to giving up that mission? how important is it to have more than just a few icebreakers and to modernize the military assets in the arctic region now? how is the arctic mission changing given russia's new build-up there? >> we made probably once a week i see the cno in the tank. i have a seat with the chairman and other service chiefs. each year we have staff war fighter talks. we've had lengthy discussions about the arctic. i am confident the admiral doesn't want to take on an icebreaking mission. when you look at what does an icebreaker need to do in the 21st century? clearly it needs to break ice and support a scientific mission. russia is militarizing the arctic. they turned the arctic into an area of access denial. if you look at an icebreaker as you look into the future, if you look at modula

there's a cruise ship planning to run from the bering sea carrying overand, 1000 passengers next yearhrough the northwest passage. as i said earlier, much of this area -- 5% is charted to what we would call 21st century standards. void up there is a great concern because if one of these ships does find a pentacle, we have a seamount named after the coast guard cutter healy because they found one. it rises up over 10,000 feet from the seafloor. fortunately they found it with their side scan sonar and not with their hull. that is a big concern as you look at charting, navigation. we are also looking at a traffic separation scheme in the bering strait to ensure that you do not have collisions at see up there as well. -- sea up there as well. similar questions, should the navy take possession of the coast guard's icebreakers? what would you say to giving up that mission? how important is it to have more than just a few icebreakers and modernize the ships you have given russian proliferation of assets? how is the arctic mission changing given russia's build up? i have a seatft: with the ch