U.S. signs Greenland security pact; Murkowski says she is encouraged

The United States secured permanent military basing rights in Greenland under an agreement signed Tuesday in New York during the United Nations General Assembly. President Donald Trump signed the deal alongside Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen and Greenland Prime Minister Jens-Frederik Nielsen. The agreement bars any U.S. adversary from establishing a base, a military presence, or sensitive investment in Greenland without American approval. It also guarantees permanent U.S. access, basing and overflight rights across Greenland. The White House said the arrangement comes at no cost to American taxpayers.

Frederiksen described the agreement as strengthening common security between the three governments. Nielsen called the agreement historic. Sen. Lisa Murkowski welcomed the outcome.

"I’m encouraged that our nations have reached a breakthrough that respects Greenlandic self-determination and the sovereignty of the Kingdom of Denmark while strengthening our shared security in the Arctic," Murkowski said in a statement released by the White House. She said she hoped the agreement would build on the longstanding framework established by the 1951 Defense of Greenland Agreement, adapting that cooperation to today's security challenges.

The agreement text amends and supplements the 1951 accord signed in Copenhagen on April 27, 1951. It authorizes modernization and expansion at Pituffik Space Base. It also permits new defense areas at Narsarsuaq and Mestersvig. It requires the United States to prioritize Greenlandic sources for contracts tied to those defense areas. The document reaffirms Danish sovereignty and the Greenlandic right to self-determination.

The Congressional Research Service describes the 1951 agreement and its 2004 amendments as the legal basis for the U.S. military presence in Greenland and the mechanism for expanding it. That agreement governs Greenland alone. Alaska sits in the same broader northern defense geography Murkowski has cited in Senate hearings on Arctic infrastructure and basing, but the state is not covered by it. In June, Murkowski and Sen. Jeanne Shaheen introduced a Senate resolution naming China and Russia as sources of strategic competition in the Arctic, following a bipartisan delegation to Canada, Greenland, Norway and Iceland. Alaska News has previously covered the state's parallel buildup, including the Coast Guard's decision to homeport its first two Arctic Security Cutters in Kodiak.

The White House release compiles only supportive statements, from the signatories and allied lawmakers to commentators, media figures, former officials and business executives. It includes no critical voice, and no nonofficial Greenlandic or Inuit perspective on expanded military access. None was available for this report.