J.D. Vance in Greenland jabs Denmark, stresses U.S. interest in Arctic security

Vice President J.D. Vance and top U.S. officials touched down Friday at Pituffik Space Base in Greenland and stressed the need for U.S.-led. “Arctic security.”

Mr. Vance sat with U.S. Space Force Guardians in the lunch room after the trip, which takes a little under six hours.

“It’s cold as [expletive] here. Nobody told me,” Mr. Vance said, prompting laughter.

On a more serious note, Mr. Vance has accused Denmark of being a poor steward of the island, which is home to roughly 50,000 people, glaciers and rare earth minerals. It’s also of strategic importance in the Arctic region, as China and Russia position assets there.

“The president is really interested in Arctic security, as you all know, and it’s only going to get bigger over the coming decades,” Mr. Vance told the Guardians.

Mr. Vance spoke of Greenland’s beauty, despite its harsh climate, and thanked soldiers for serving in a critical part of the world.

“If a missile was fired from an enemy country, or an enemy submarine, into the United States, it is the people here before us who would give notice to our brave men and women further south in the United States to let people know what was coming and God willing, to try to shoot it down and prepare for it,” Mr. Vance said.  “We know that Russia and China and other nations are taking an extraordinary interest in Arctic passageways, in Arctic naval routes and indeed in the minerals of the Arctic territories.”

Mr. Vance said some allies “haven’t kept up” with those superpowers.

“Denmark has not kept pace in devoting the resources necessary to keep this base, to keep our troops and in my view, to keep the people of Greenland safe from a lot of very aggressive incursions from Russia, from China and from other nations,” he said.

Mr. Vance said there are no immediate plans to expand the U.S. military presence in Greenland. But he left open the possibility of increasing the number of U.S. icebreakers or other ships in the Arctic.

“Yes, the people of Greenland are going to have self-determination. We hope that they choose to partner with the United States because we’re the only nation on Earth that will respect their sovereignty and respect their security,” he said.

The vice president visited the U.S. outpost on Greenland with his wife, Usha Vance, National Security Advisor Mike Waltz, Energy Secretary Chris Wright, Republican Sen. Mike Lee of Utah and former Homeland Security Advisor Julia Nesheiwat, who is Mr. Waltz’s wife.

The Vances are taking a pared-down trip to the Arctic island after Greenland and Danish officials objected to the second lady’s plans to stop by a national dog sled race.

Instead, visited the U.S.-controlled base for a meeting with troops and a briefing on Arctic security.

“I didn’t want her to have all that fun by herself,” Mr. Vance said in a video about his visit.

Greenland’s prime minister, Mute B. Egede, has called on allies to push back on Mr. Trump’s aggressive rhetoric about taking control of the island.

Russian President Vladimir Putin said it would be a mistake to dismiss Mr. Trump’s designs on Greenland as mere folly.

“It is a profound mistake to treat it as some preposterous talk by the new U.S. administration. Nothing of the sort,” Mr. Putin said Thursday in a speech above the Arctic Circle.

He said U.S. interest in the island goes back to the 1860s.

“The United States has serious plans regarding Greenland,” Mr. Putin said. “These plans have long historical roots, as I have just mentioned, and it is obvious that the United States will continue to consistently advance its geo-strategic, military-political and economic interests in the Arctic.”