Arctic Security Conference 2026 Puts Maritime Threats at Center of High North Debate
NATO warship F311 Roald Amundsen of the Royal Norwegian Navy in a fjord off Smøla, December 1, 2016. Source: iStock.com/arild lilleboe
The third Arctic Security Conference will convene at The Hub in Oslo on September 16, bringing maritime security and hybrid threats at sea to the center of a wider debate over growing strategic competition in the Arctic.
Hosted by the Fridtjof Nansen Institute, the conference gathers political leaders, military officials, researchers, and security specialists from Europe and North America. Additional open and closed events are scheduled for September 15–17.
This year’s program focuses on how increasing maritime activity, geopolitical rivalry, and emerging hybrid threats are reshaping security in the High North. The discussions come as Arctic states face questions ranging from the protection of critical infrastructure and shifting shipping patterns to military preparedness and the future of transatlantic cooperation.
Maritime Security Moves to Center Stage
The main conference is organized around five sessions examining different aspects of Arctic security.
The opening discussion, chaired by American Enterprise Institute senior fellow Heather A. Conley, will address political leadership in increasingly turbulent waters. Participants include Norwegian Foreign Minister Espen Barth Eide, EU Special Envoy for the Arctic Claude Véron-Réville, Canada’s Director General for Continental Defence Policy Jonathan Quinn, and Michael Sfraga, senior advisor on Arctic and national security policy at the University of Alaska Fairbanks and formerly US ambassador-at-large for Arctic affairs. Arne O. Holm, editor of High North News, will deliver the closing commentary.
A second panel will consider the implications of an ice-free Arctic Ocean in 2050. Chaired by Anthony L. Russell of the US Coast Guard’s Center for Arctic Policy Studies, it brings together experts from the Arctic Council’s emergency preparedness working group, the University of Montreal, UiT The Arctic University of Norway, the University of Akureyri, and the expedition cruise and shipping industries to examine how changing environmental conditions could affect shipping, governance, emergency preparedness, and security.
Hybrid Threats at Sea
The third session is titled “Hybrid Threats at Sea—Do the Rules Still Apply?”
Chief of the Norwegian Fleet Kyrre Haugen will be joined by Ørjan Kvelvane, senior vice president for safety and security at Equinor, Fridtjof Nansen Institute senior researcher Erdem Lamazhapov, Outer Space Institute co-director Michael Byers, and Gunhild Hoogensen Gjørv of UiT The Arctic University of Norway.
Arctic Partnerships under Pressure
The conference will also examine the future of transatlantic and Nordic security partnerships at a time when Arctic policy is becoming increasingly tied to wider geopolitical tensions.
Conservative Party leader and former Norwegian foreign and defense minister Ine Eriksen Søreide is among the participants in a panel devoted to the future of regional partnerships, alongside experts from Greenland, Sweden, Canada, and the Arctic Mayors’ Forum.
The final session, chaired by Whitney Lackenbauer of Trent University, who leads the North American and Arctic Defence and Security Network, will focus on how governments and defense organizations can respond to maritime security threats in practice. Speakers include Norwegian State Secretary for Defense Marte Gerhardsen, US Coast Guard Arctic District Commander Bob Little, UK Royal Navy Commander Operations Rich Cantrill, NATO Maritime Command Arctic lead Caroline Hoefsmit, Finnish Defence Forces Deputy Chief of Staff on Strategy Sami Nurmi, and Tetiana Ostra of the Boryviter Centre of Excellence.
The Arctic Security Conference was launched in 2024 as a research-oriented forum for discussion of security policy in the High North. After previous editions focused on links between the North American and European Arctic and on growing polarization, the 2026 conference shifts attention firmly toward the maritime domain.
The September 16 conference is open to the public, with an entry fee of NOK 250, and will also be streamed live.
Source: Arctic Security Conference