Foreign Forces in Norway

Posted: February 23rd, 2017

By Karsten Friis

Karsten Friis is a Senior Adviser and Head of the Research Group on Security and Defence at the Norwegian Institute of International Affairs (NUPI). Friis previously worked for the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) in Serbia, Montenegro, and Kosovo, as well as for the Norwegian Armed Forces in Oslo and in Kosovo. He holds a Cand. Polit. in Political Science from the University of Oslo and a MSc in International Relations from London School of Economics.

The U.S. this year deployed 330 Marines to Norway. The concept is nothing new; it dates back to the 2005 Oslo-Washington agreement called Marine Corps Prepositioning Program-Norway (MCPP-N). However, Karsten Friis, head of the Research Group on Security and Defence at the Norwegian Institute of International Affairs, notes it is the first time U.S. Marines will be there, rotating in for six months at a time, on a semi-permanent basis. It is the first time since World War II that foreign forces will be actually posted to Norway. The Cipher Brief’s Kaitlin Lavinder asked Friis why this is the case, and how significant a role a resurgent Russia plays into the calculation.

The Cipher Brief: The U.S. has deployed 330 Marines to Norway’s Vaernes Air Station. Is this deployment unique or part of a regular protocol stemming from the 2005 Marine Corps Prepositioning Program-Norway?

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