SERDP and ESTCP maintain a keen focus on improving infrastructure resilience in the Arctic. As stated in the DoD Arctic Strategy, the Department must be able to quickly identify threats in the Arctic, respond promptly and effectively to those threats, and shape the security environment to mitigate the prospect of those threats in the future.

The Arctic is experiencing great change as a result of a changing climate. These changes include diminished sea ice coverage, declining snow cover, melting permafrost, and weakened ice sheets. Given the importance of both the built and natural infrastructure to DoD in Alaska, SERDP and ESTCP support DoD relevant environmental research in the Arctic.

Projects focus principally on terrestrial Arctic research because that is where current and future infrastructure is sited. SERDP and ESTCP work broadly with science, indigenous knowledge, and engineering communities to reach key objectives while concurrently acknowledging the importance of collaborative interaction with other nations in understanding the important and dynamic Arctic environment.