Name: Denmark's $1.5 Billion Plan to Protect Greenland
Uploaded: 2025-04-08T04:01:00Z
Duration: 8 min 26 s
Description: Denmark is planning to spend over $1.5 billion to protect Greenland. WSJ explains how dog-sleds and drones will bolster defenses—and why the U.S. abandoned several military bases there decades ago.

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Denmark is planning to spend over $1.5 billion to protect Greenland. WSJ explains how dog-sleds and drones will bolster defenses—and why the U.S. abandoned several military bases there decades ago. Illustration: Ryan Trefes

https://m.wsj.net/video/20250408/c515d647-136a-4bca-961d-750a605260c8/4/hls/manifest-hd-wifi.m3u8

Denmark is planning to spend over $1.5 billion to protect Greenland. WSJ explains how dog-sleds and drones will bolster defenses—and why the U.S. abandoned several military bases there decades ago.

Denmark's $1.5 Billion Plan to Protect Greenland 

Denmark plans to spend over a billion dollars on defenses for Greenland, a highly strategic asset coveted by President Trump.

We need Greenland.

Narrator: The Arctic Island is not only three times the size of Texas, it's also full of rare earths, oil and gas, while its location gives it a commanding position for trade flows and defensive posts in the region. The US currently has one military base on the island. On a recent visit there, the vice president criticized Denmark.

You have under-invested in the security architecture of this incredible, beautiful landmass filled with incredible people. That has to change.

Narrator: So here's how Denmark is ramping up its effort to protect Greenland, and why the US abandoned many of its own posts across the icy terrain decades ago. The US began stationing forces on Greenland after Denmark was invaded by the Nazis during World War II,

There was fear in the US that Germany might occupy Greenland, which is an incredibly strategic location in between North America and Russia. With Copenhagen under German occupation, Greenland urgently needed both defenses and provisions, so Denmark's ambassador to Washington, in an enterprising and controversial move, single-handedly struck up a deal with the US. The agreement made the US the defacto protector of Greenland, allowing it to establish fortifications there. Over the next several years, the US expanded rapidly, building military posts, radio stations and airports across the island.

They needed to cut off German weather stations on the east coast providing meteorological guidance to war efforts in Europe. Second, the US wanted to secure the cryolite mine in Ivittuut. At that time, cryolite was the only way to produce aluminum. The US obviously needed that for war efforts. Third, there was a need to be able to ferry aircraft from the US to the defense of the United Kingdom, and that needed an airstrip in Greenland to make that possible.

Narrator: Following the Second World War, Denmark was able to reestablish its links with Greenland.

The Danes came back and said, "Okay, now we expect you to go away again." But the US obviously didn't have that in mind.

Narrator: Instead, with rising tensions with the Soviet Union amid the Cold War, a renewed treaty was signed in 1951.

The US and Denmark formalized an agreement that allowed the US to remain in Greenland and basically use the same military installations and expand them to protect Greenland in the same way it had protected him against Germany to protect it against the Soviet Union during the Cold War.

Narrator: One of the most ambitious projects saw the US construct a military base under the ice. Originally described as an Arctic research center, declassified documents later revealed its mission was to convert an area of Greenland into a launchpad for nuclear missiles. The so-called underground city house tunnels, laboratories, and buildings in the frozen wilderness. But after the Cold War subsided, the US shifted its focus and Greenland's military importance waned. The US abandoned many of its posts, in some cases, leaving behind military equipment that remains there to this day.

And since 2004, the US has really only had military presence at one base in Greenland, what used to be known as the Thule Air Base, but it's now the Pituffik space base. At Pituffik, the US has upgraded early warning radar systems that are designed to detect intercontinental ballistic missiles, potentially from Russia. And it's got space surveillance systems as well that help support the missions of NORAD, the North American Aerospace Defense Command, which is the US-Canadian Joint Command.

Narrator: In contrast, Denmark has only ever had a minimal security presence in Greenland.

The basic division of labor has been that the US has taken care of the whatever is needed for the defense of the North American continent, and the Danish defense has taken care of Coast Guard, Civilian Coast Guard function, et cetera.

Narrator: But now, Denmark is facing increasing pressure from the US to ramp up its own defense spending for Greenland.

There was a lot of criticism from Denmark, a lot of attacks at the Trump administration, at the president, at me, at others in our administration for saying the obvious, which is that Denmark hasn't done a good job at keeping Greenland safe.

So Denmark has very firmly pushed back against this message from the Trump administration, but they also closely got their messaging and haven't really been available for interviews, thus.

Narrator: The Danes have also been sending more concrete signals, announcing billions of dollars worth of new Arctic defenses. The Danish package includes drones, ships, and two additional dog sled teams, which are trained to operate in the most vast and difficult to navigate areas of Northern Greenland.

There's two reasons for it. One, I think Denmark recognizes that now with the current global tensions and Russian aggression in Ukraine, it is necessary to both send a message to Russia, but also actually boost the defenses of Greenland, in case the territory is subject to some kind of aggression. But then I think it's also a signal to the Trump administration and some kind of concession to Trump, who, as we know, has made it clear that he wants the US to control Greenland. I think the Danish government is hoping by making some concessions on security to the US, that can somehow smooth things over with the Trump administration.

Narrator: As Denmark invests, the US also retains the right to expand its military presence in Greenland again.

In the defense area at Thule, the US can basically do what it wants. It would be nice to tell Denmark and Greenland of their plans. Second, there is a provision that if the US sees any other defensive needs, there will be agreement, it says, between Denmark and the US, and now Greenland, to allow new defense areas. And then of course, in the event of a war, it's basically for the US to decide on their own what should be done.

Narrator: Some Danish and Greenlandic politicians say that if Washington is concerned for Arctic security, US military investment would actually be the most straightforward avenue to explore. But currently, the US appears to be focused on pushing Denmark to spend instead.

And it seems like the US at least to some extent, wants Denmark to take over some of the responsibilities, some of the tasks that US soldiers used to do during the Cold War. Whether that's realistic or not, I think it's a different question. Denmark, at the moment, is quite stretched militarily and financially, being very occupied in Ukraine and in the Baltic Sea, and Denmark has already announced a 70% increase in defense spending over the next two years. Some of that will go to Greenland, but a lot of that will also go to Ukraine. Overall, Greenland's vast size and harsh climate make it almost impossible to defend. And recent attention by global powers is leaving some locals feeling vulnerable.

And JD Vance's visit and all the preparations for it was regarded by a lot of Greenlanders with some trepidation. Before the visit, two Hercules planes landed in Nuuk airport. Armored vehicles drove from the plane, and some Greenlanders were worried that maybe this is the beginning of a peaceful invasion, they said outright, the people that I spoke to. And I think even though temperatures might have dropped a little bit now, Greenlanders are concerned that they will now be the subject of geopolitical strife more than they already are, and they are worried that if the US wanted to take the island, they could go ahead and just do so, because the Danish ability to defend it is limited.