Map Shows US Nuclear Base Hidden Under Greenland's Ice Since Cold War

Miami Herald

15-05-2025

NASA scientists have rediscovered an abandoned U.S. nuclear base buried beneath Greenland's ice sheet since the Cold War.
During a research flight over the Arctic Circle last spring, the team detected a vast network of tunnels and structures hidden deep within the ice.
The site was later identified as Camp Century, a military outpost built as part of Project Iceworm-a secret Pentagon project which aimed to build nuclear-missile launch sites beneath the ice that could target the Soviet Union, the Wall Street Journal reported.
Scientists were testing a new radar system designed to scan deep beneath the ice, and what initially appeared to be remnants of a lost civilization turned out to be the Cold War-era military base.
The rediscovery is a reminder of the extent of U.S. involvement and its presence in Greenland, the Journal reported.
President Donald Trump is on a quest to acquire the vast, resource-rich island-a development which has faced significant criticism. He said in March he would seize the autonomous Danish territory "one way or another" and hasn't ruled out using military force to do so.
Radar scans revealed an extensive network of ice-buried tunnels stretching approximately 9,800 feet-remnants of the once-secret U.S. military outpost known as Camp Century.
Partially constructed in 1959 during the height of the Cold War, Camp Century was abandoned in 1967 as Greenland's shifting ice sheet was too unstable to support the envisioned underground network of ballistic missile launchers. Today, the base lies entombed beneath at least 100 feet of ice.
Per a 1951 treaty with Denmark, the U.S. is able to build military installations in Greenland. At its peak during the Cold War, Washington had 17 military base across the island with about 10,000 troops.
That presence has since shrunk to about 200 troops at just one U.S.-operated military outpost-the Pituffik Space Base.
Trump has doubled down on his desire to seize the 57,000 resident island. The president has argued that Greenland's status poses a growing national security concern as Russia and China, who have ramped up their presence in the Arctic Circle, may attempt to access its mineral resources.
Last week, Reuters reported, citing two officials familiar with the matter, that the U.S. will look at offering Greenland a special status that can loop the island into the U.S. sphere of influence.
Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen has said that "Greenland belongs to the Greenlanders." Greenland's Prime Minister Mute Egede has echoed that sentiment, adding that use of the island's territory was "Greenland's business."
"Greenland is ours. We are not for sale and will never be for sale. We must not lose our long struggle for freedom," Egede told Reuters in December.
NASA scientist Chad Greene, who was part of the team to make the discovery last spring, said: "It's like flying over another planet, and it's hard to imagine anyone or anything ever being able to survive there."
Vice President JD Vance said during a visit to Greenland in March:
"Our message to Denmark is very simple. You have not done a good job by the people of Greenland.
"Denmark has not kept pace in devoting the resources necessary to keep this base, to keep our troops, and in my view to keep the people of Greenland safe from a lot of aggressive incursions from Russia, from China, and from other nations.
"Why does Greenland matter so much? We know that Russia and China and other nations are taking an extraordinary interest in Arctic passageways, Arctic naval routes, and in the minerals of the Arctic territories. We need to ensure America is leading in the Arctic."
It remains unclear if, how or when the Trump administration will move to acquire Greenland.
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