At a meeting held at the Naval Ice Center on 7 July, 2000 with representatives from the National/Naval Ice Center, the Oceanographer of the Navy (N096), the Office of Naval Research (ONR), MEDEA, the Arctic Research Commission, and U.S. Coast Guard the national and strategic issues surrounding operations in an ice-free, or ice-diminished Arctic were framed. It was recommended that a forum be established to evaluate the Naval implications of operating in an ice-free Arctic. In order for this forum to succeed it was deemed essential that the views of nationally recognized experts on Arctic climate change be presented to the Navy in order to assure a sound scientific basis for future planning. The US Arctic Research Commission undertook to survey the community of experts in the field and to present their views to the Navy as a basis for further planning. The following is an edited compilation of the views of that panel of experts convened by the United States Arctic Research Commission to assist the Navy in considering the effects of climate change on their operations in and around the Arctic Ocean in the mid to late Twenty First Century.