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The new Quadrennial Defense Review, published on February 1, 2010, provides the first official Department of Defense endorsement of the Law of the Sea Convention during the Obama Administration. The QDR uses US interests in a changing Arctic to illustrate the reasons for its endorsement of US accession to the Convention.

The effect of changing climate on the Department's operating environment is evident in the maritime commons of the Arctic. The opening of the Arctic waters in the decades ahead which will permit seasonal commerce and transit presents a unique opportunity to work collaboratively in multilateral forums to promote a balanced approach to improving human and environmental security in the region. In that effort, DoD must work with the Coast Guard and the Department of Homeland Security to address gaps in Arctic communications, domain awareness, search and rescue, and environmental observation and forecasting capabilities to support both current and future planning and operations. To support cooperative engagement in the Arctic, DoD strongly supports accession to the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea. (emphasis added)

Quadrennial Defense Review report, February 2010, page number 86 (page 108 of the PDF file)
Available on-line at: http://www.nationaljournal.com/congressdaily/issues/graphics/Defense-Review-2010.PDF

00 Enrolled HJR 22
01 Urging the United States Senate to ratify the United Nations Convention on the Law of the
02 Sea (the Law of the Sea Treaty).
03 _______________
04 BE IT RESOLVED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF ALASKA:
05 WHEREAS, in August 2007, Russia sent two small submarines into the Arctic Ocean
06 to plant that nation's flag under the North Pole to support its territorial claim that its
07 continental shelf extends to the North Pole; and
08 WHEREAS Denmark is exploring whether a mountain range under the Arctic Ocean
09 is connected to Greenland, a territory of Denmark; and
10 WHEREAS Canada is considering the establishment of military bases to protect its 11 claim to the Northwest Passage; and
12 WHEREAS the actions taken by Russia, Denmark, and Canada have been exercised
13 under the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea; and
14 WHEREAS the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea permits member
15 nations to claim an exclusive economic zone out to 200 nautical miles from shore, with an
16 exclusive sovereign right to explore, manage, and develop all living and nonliving resources,
17 including deep sea mining, within that exclusive economic zone; and
01 WHEREAS the United States Arctic Research Commission estimates that the United
02 Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea would permit the United States to lay claim
03 beyond the present 200-mile exclusive economic zone to an area of the northern seabed off
04 Alaska that is equal in size to California; and
05 WHEREAS 155 nations have ratified the United Nations Convention on the Law of
06 the Sea, including all allies of the United States and the world's maritime powers; and
07 WHEREAS ratification of the current form of the United Nations Convention on the
08 Law of the Sea has been pending before the United States Senate since 1994, and hearings on
09 the treaty were held by the United States Senate Committee on Foreign Relations in 1994,
10 2003, and 2004, and on September 27, 2007, and October 4, 2007; and
11 WHEREAS, despite favorable reports by the United States Senate Committee on
12 Foreign Relations regarding the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea in 2004
13 and 2007, the United States Senate has yet to vote on the ratification of the Convention; and
14 WHEREAS the United States, with 1,000 miles of Arctic coast off of the State of
15 Alaska, remains the only Arctic nation that has not ratified the United Nations Convention on
16 the Law of the Sea; and
17 WHEREAS, until the United States Senate votes to ratify the United Nations
18 Convention on the Law of the Sea, the United States may not have the authority to promote its
19 claims to an extended area of the continental shelf, refute the claim of authority by other
20 nations to exercise greater control over the Arctic, or take a permanent seat on the 21 International Seabed Authority Council; and
22 WHEREAS, until the United States ratifies the United Nations Convention on the
23 Law of the Sea, the United States cannot participate in deliberations to amend provisions of
24 the Convention that relate to the
25 (1) oil, gas, and mineral resources in the Arctic Ocean and other northern
26 waters;
27 (2) conduct of essential scientific research in the world's oceans;
28 (3) right of the United States to the use of the seas;
29 (4) rules of navigation;
30 (5) effect of the use of the seas on world economic development; and
31 (6) environmental concerns related to the use of the seas; and
01 WHEREAS the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea will have an
02 important and beneficial effect on virtually all states, both coastal and noncoastal, because the
03 United States is heavily dependent on the use, development, and conservation of the world's
04 oceans and their resources; and
05 WHEREAS the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea will not interfere
06 with the intelligence-gathering efforts of the United States or the navigational freedom of the
07 United States Navy; and
08 WHEREAS ratification of the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea has
09 wide bipartisan support;
10 BE IT RESOLVED that the Alaska State Legislature urges the United States Senate
11 to ratify the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea.
12 COPIES of this resolution shall be sent to the Honorable Joseph R. Biden, Jr., Vice-
13 President of the United States and President of the U.S. Senate; the Honorable John F. Kerry,
14 Chair of the U.S. Senate Committee on Foreign Relations; the Honorable Richard G. Lugar,
15 ranking Republican on the U.S. Senate Committee on Foreign Relations; the Honorable Lisa
16 Murkowski and the Honorable Mark Begich, U.S. Senators, members of the Alaska
17 delegation in Congress; and all other members of the United States Senate.

This information originally appeared in the 1996 DOD-JCS publication "National Security and the Convention on the Law of the Sea" published in January, 1006. It is still current and should not be relegated to a dusty stack of old reports:

The Law of the Sea Convention will:

• Preserve freedoms of navigation and overflight on the high seas.
• Maintain these high seas freedoms in the 200 NM Exclusive Economic Zone of coastal states [e.g. Vietnam].
• Guarantee freedom of navigation and overflight through international straits [most crucial are Gibralter, Hormuz, and Malacca].
• Establish the regime of archipelagic sea lands passage [for transit through strategically located archipelagoes, such as Indonesia and the Philippines].
• Guarantee passage through foreign territorial seas along with a clear delineation of coastal State regulatory authority.
• Limit the width of the territorial sea to twelve nautical miles.
• Establish more objective rules for drawing baselines for measuring maritime zones [restrains coastal States from extending their jurisdictional reach further seaward].
• Preserve the sovereign immune status of our warships and other public vessels and aircraft.
• Maintain the careful balance between coastal State jurisdiction over maritime pollution and the international community's navigational freedoms.
• Preserve the freedom to conduct military surveys seaward of foreign territorial seas [without the requirement to obtain the coastal State's permission].