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Floor Speech

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Mr. RISCH. Mr. President, fellow Senators, I rise today in opposition to the nomination of Michael Sfraga to be Ambassador at Large for Arctic Affairs, not because I don't think we need an ambassador--we do--and not because I don't think Mr. Sfraga has the knowledge and the expertise to do this--I think he does--and not because he is not a nice person--I have met him. He is very engaging. I think he is a nice person, generally.

The Arctic is a critically important region under threat from increasing Russian and Chinese activity. An Arctic Ambassador should help advance U.S. leadership, but this person must demonstrate experience and sound judgment, not just in science but also in matters of national security. Dr. Sfraga is not qualified in that regard as far as I am concerned. In fact, I believe he makes the situation worse.

Based on his evasiveness during his vetting by the Foreign Relations Committee, I believe Dr. Sfraga could pose a counterintelligence and foreign malign influence threat to our Nation. I don't say that lightly.

Dr. Sfraga was asked repeatedly to provide his foreign travel, his foreign contacts, and his appearances on panels to the vetting personnel, and he failed to be open and transparent. He updated his file four times--maybe a new record--each time only after being confronted with additional information he tried to conceal.

For instance, while at the University of Alaska Fairbanks, Dr. Sfraga negotiated no less than 27 MOUs with Chinese academic institutions tied to China's intelligence services. Only after confronting him did Dr. Sfraga admit that he negotiated these MOUs. One in particular was with a Chinese university with ties to Chinese intelligence services, and the MOU gave the Chinese access to the university's IT systems, exposing it to substantial cyber threats.

On Russia, Dr. Sfraga failed to disclose a panel he spoke on in November 2021. Transneft, a sanctioned Russian state-owned energy firm, sponsored this conference.

He also failed to disclose articles he wrote and events he spoke at where he advocated for Arctic engagement with Russia and China, as required by the SFRC's questionnaire. There is no one questioning that engagement is necessary. I really think that he is naive, at best, as far as dealing with Russia and China. And, in his defense, the entire academic community, for that matter, shares this naivety when compared to our national security Agencies.

In May 2023, I took the unusual step of formally requesting the FBI to conduct a supplementary background check. In the 16 years that I have been here as a Senator, I have never asked the FBI for any kind of an investigation. I asked that this be supplemented. The FBI's response stated it could not conduct this investigation without White House permission, which the White House would not grant.

This means the Senate does not have a complete picture of the counterintelligence or other risks to our national security posed by Dr. Sfraga. The majority leader should never have scheduled a vote on Dr. Sfraga until a full vetting was complete and until this body, which is a safeguard for our national security, had all the information that it needed. It doesn't.

Despite the poor due diligence on this nominee, there is still time for the Senate to do the right thing. I know it won't. I know this is essentially going to be a party-line vote. The Democrats want this person; they are going to get him.

If we truly care about advancing American and U.S. leadership in the Arctic and tackling the threats posed by our adversaries, we must do better--a lot better--than deliberately putting personnel in place that can pose a risk to national security. This appointment is such an appointment. This is not some political person going into a place where they can't do any harm. This is a person who is going to be at the crossroads of national security, dealing with people from China, for instance, every one of whom is an agent of the Chinese Communist Party, because every Chinese national is an agent of the Communist Party, and they have no ability to conduct themselves freely.

I urge my colleagues to vote no on the nomination of Michael Sfraga for Ambassador at Large for Arctic Affairs.

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