Coast Guard, National Guard meet with community leaders

Members of the U.S. Coast Guard, Alaska Air National Guard, the Alaska Department of Military and Veteran’s Affairs and Special Operations Command North visited Nome last Tuesday for a meeting with city officials, Nome Eskimo Community, and community stakeholders. The meeting’s description noted that it would be a “planning and listening engagement with civil, tribal, and port stakeholders to identify dual-use infrastructure opportunities” in the Bering Strait. On Wednesday, the group planned to travel to Brevig Mission with a Black Hawk helicopter but cancelled due to persisting ice fog.
The meeting was organized by USCG Arctic Coordinator Shawn Hay, but most of the talking was done by Major James Goddard of the Alaska Air National Guard and the guard’s Innovative Readiness Training, or IRT, coordinator. Azara Mohammadi, a tribal liaison with the Department of Military and Veteran’s Affairs, also spoke briefly.
As representatives of the City of Nome, Norton Sound Health Corporation, Kawerak, Bering Straits Native Corporation and Alaska Sea Grant took their seats, it became clear that the meeting would not begin at the planned 1 p.m. start time. The representatives from the Alaska Air National Guard were late – reportedly getting lunch at Airport Pizza.
Just after 1:30 p.m. the meeting got underway. To begin, Hay noted that there was media in the room and asked if everyone attending the meeting was comfortable with that. Major James Goddard with the Alaska Air National Guard objected and made a ‘thumbs down’ gesture.
Gay Sheffield of Alaska Sea Grant asked Goddard if he planned to say anything different if the media was not present. Goddard responded that he wanted to make sure everyone in the room felt comfortable voicing opinions. Hay asked the assembled members if anyone had any objections; none voiced any, so the press remained.
Goddard started the meeting with a description of innovative readiness training, or IRT. He explained that National Guard units doing their annual two-week military training can come into communities and fulfill a need, like medical care, construction, or transportation of resources.
“It’s a mechanism for the community to let the military know that there’s a need or service that’s not being met, and the community can request that the military help with that,” he said.
It wasn’t clear at first what IRT had to do with identifying dual use infrastructure.
Later in the meeting, Goddard noted that IRT applications might gain more traction in places that have dual use infrastructure.
“When I say dual use infrastructure, the port [of Nome] will be used for economic development, it’s going to be used for the cruise industry, whatever it’s used for on a day-to-day basis,” he said. “But in a time of need, the military or the Coast Guard could come in and use that port. That’s a dual use infrastructure.”
“Anything else that is dual use infrastructure in the Seward Peninsula, that’s going to be something that the Pentagon is going to focus on,” Goddard said.
Hay noted that the Coast Guard has been doing a lot of work recently with the Denali Commission. The Denali Commission, an independent federal agency designed to improve utilities, infrastructure and economic support in Alaska, is interested in dual use infrastructure. A 2025 report to the commission by RANE, a risk intelligence company, defines dual-use infrastructure. “Dual-use infrastructure, in its simplest form, is infrastructure that serves both a civilian and military purpose – e.g., a civilian airfield that is long enough and robust enough to handle military aircraft, or a port facility that can accommodate U.S. Navy vessels.”
Goddard said that about 50 percent of IRT work is medical related, where the military can help a community with medical and dental services. (Arctic Care, a program that visited Kotzebue last spring and delivered free medical care, was an IRT mission.)
The other half of IRT work is construction projects. Community stakeholders can apply to receive help with projects. “We cannot purchase the materials for you. We can transport materials for you, and we’re generally providing labor,” Goddard explained.
Goddard said that the 3-D printed house that began construction in Nome last summer was IRT-involved. The materials and printer were transported up to Nome using a C-17 plane as part of an IRT program.
Sheffield asked if the National Guard had any plans for the region that related to the IRT. Goddard said he did not know. “I don’t know what plans big DoW [Department of War] has for Nome. I don’t know if there are any plans.”
Hay said that the Coast Guard isn’t ready to make a committed statement on their plans. “I have not heard any component of the federal government or military branch wholeheartedly commit to they’re going to do this in [the] Bering Strait Region,” he said. “But I have heard the question asked a lot more than normal over the last year.”
Anna Rose MacArthur, Kawerak’s Marine Advocate, asked Goddard to clarify the scope of the IRT program. She asked if the IRT program could provide trainings for the region on how to deal with emergency situations.
Goddard responded that an IRT could do something like emergency preparedness training, but it would depend on which units were available and willing. “But maybe there’s a yes. It’s not an exclusion,” he said.
MacArthur asked if the IRT programs could provide a rapid response or emergency response. Mohammadi responded in the negative. “This is not a response capability. This is usually a two year turn around,” she said.
Sheffield asked if the IRT program could provide trainings on how to handle transboundary, international waterway issues. She referenced the landing of the Chinese aircraft in Teller this past fall. “We don’t even have a way to get good communications from who we’re supposed to call the night that all occurred,” she said.
Goddard said that the IRT trainings are more training for the soldiers who are providing a need for the community. “It doesn’t necessarily mean that we’re training the civilian population to do a thing, even if it’s a thing that we typically do, like rescue,” he said. “I’m not exactly sure if the IRT is going to be the best conduit for that.”
In a later interview with the Nugget, Hay said that he went into the meeting to try and learn how to support communities and tribes. “We got some feedback from community leaders on what they’re currently working to advocate against, and what projects are currently have underway that are that are trying to meet an unmet need,” he said. “That’s an opportunity for us to take those back and see how we can align those needs with a project.”
Hay noted that the trip was not planned by the Coast Guard and was spearheaded by Goddard. He said that the Coast Guard came along because they wanted to maintain their good relationship with communities in the region. They wanted to take the opportunity to hear of anything the Coast Guard could help with. “I was hoping we got more of those interactions,” he said.
Hay said that the contingent wanted to travel to Brevig Mission to hear of any unmet needs that the Coast Guard could help with. “I know that there were some other priorities that some of the other representatives that were in my party had,” he said.
He said that the Coast Guard is committed to supporting the Bering Strait region but did not go into specifics.
When asked about the Coast Guard’s interest in Port Clarence and the decommissioned LORAN station there, Hay noted that the facilities at Port Clarence are basically a tear down. “Port Clarence is on the map with multiple other dots on the map. Are we ready to break ground? I don’t think we’ll know yet,” he said.
About 2,000 acres on Point Spencer were conveyed to BSNC in 2020. In 2010 the USCG Loran Station at Port Clarence was decommissioned and along with the property, BSNC received title to the airstrip associated with the former Loran station. Larry Pederson, Vice President of BSNC’s operations in Nome, said that BSNC still has an interest in anything the facility and airstrip could be used for. “We just don’t know what that’s going to be yet,” he said.
He said that BSNC is open to any opportunities. “It can certainly be used as an emergency landing strip,” he said.
On Wednesday, the group planned to head out to Brevig Mission in a Blackhawk helicopter but were thwarted by the weather. They attempted to make the journey in a track vehicle but traveled 22 miles  before they realized they did not have enough fuel to make the trip.
Diana Haecker contributed reporting.