By Michael Walsh
Earlier this week, the U.S. Arctic Research Commission (USARC) deleted one of the USARC Commissioners profiles from its website. That commissioner, Elizabeth Qaulluq Cravalho, was then relisted under the section of the website for Former Commissioners.
This is a very curious development for the U.S. Arctic research community.
The USARC website previously indicated that Cravalho’s term was not set to expire until February 26, 2028.
Meanwhile, there are two other commissioners whose terms have already expired: David Kennedy and Deborah Vo. They have yet to be replaced though.
That undercuts the most obvious hypothesis for why the Trump Administration may have removed Cravalho.
If the Trump Administration was seeking to remake the board of Commissioners in its image, why would it not have started with the Commissioners whose terms have already expired?
U.S. Arctic Research Commission Website (11/11/2025)
There may be a simple answer to that question.
Per its website, the USARC has eight Commissioners. Seven are appointed by the President of the United States. They include two from private industry, four from academia, and one from Indigenous residents of the Arctic. The eighth is the Director of the National Science Foundation (NSF).
It is possible that the Trump Administration recently identified someone from private industry that it wants to appoint as a Commissioner, and it now needs to remove a current Commissioner to make that happen.
However, there is another hypothesis floating around the U.S. think tank community that merits consideration.
Cravalho is the Vice President of Lands for the NANA Regional Corporation, which is owned by 15,000 Iñupiat shareholders that have roots in Northwest Alaska.
Earlier this year, NANA Regional Corporation made headlines when an investigative journalist surfaced accusations of civil rights abuses at immigration detention facilities linked to NANA Regional Corporation.
A few weeks ago, NANA Regional Corporation again made headlines when some shareholders of NANA Regional Corporation publicly criticized existing immigration detention facilities contracts with the United States Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE).
As any professor will tell you, correlation is not causation.
However, this correlation certainly begs the question of whether the reported removal of Cravalho was retaliation for NANA Regional Corporation shareholders publicly criticizing the ICE detention facilities.
Either way, it will be interesting to see what happens now that Cravalho has been reportedly removed as a USARC Commissioner.
At the USARC, the Trump Administration could assign a new USARC Chair. It could immediately replace Cravalho with their own pick. It could replace the other commissioners whose terms have expired. It could terminate other Commissioners whose terms have not unexpired.
Beyond the USARC, the Trump Administration could retaliate against Akima and NANA Regional Corporation for its shareholders’ criticism of ICE. For example, they could push to take away their current immigration detention facilities contracts or freeze them out of bids for future immigration detention facilities contracts.
In the background, there may be bigger structural changes on the horizon.
Some left-wing policy wonks are concerned that Trump Administration intends to overhaul, or even eliminate, the 8(a) Business Development Program.
This development will not assuage those concerns.
Earlier this week, the U.S. Arctic Research Commission (USARC) deleted one of the USARC Commissioners profiles from its website. That commissioner, Elizabeth Qaulluq Cravalho, was then relisted under the section of the website for Former Commissioners.
This is a very curious development for the U.S. Arctic research community.
The USARC website previously indicated that Cravalho’s term was not set to expire until February 26, 2028.
Meanwhile, there are two other commissioners whose terms have already expired: David Kennedy and Deborah Vo. They have yet to be replaced though.
That undercuts the most obvious hypothesis for why the Trump Administration may have removed Cravalho.
If the Trump Administration was seeking to remake the board of Commissioners in its image, why would it not have started with the Commissioners whose terms have already expired?
U.S. Arctic Research Commission Website (11/11/2025)
There may be a simple answer to that question.
Per its website, the USARC has eight Commissioners. Seven are appointed by the President of the United States. They include two from private industry, four from academia, and one from Indigenous residents of the Arctic. The eighth is the Director of the National Science Foundation (NSF).
It is possible that the Trump Administration recently identified someone from private industry that it wants to appoint as a Commissioner, and it now needs to remove a current Commissioner to make that happen.
However, there is another hypothesis floating around the U.S. think tank community that merits consideration.
Cravalho is the Vice President of Lands for the NANA Regional Corporation, which is owned by 15,000 Iñupiat shareholders that have roots in Northwest Alaska.
Earlier this year, NANA Regional Corporation made headlines when an investigative journalist surfaced accusations of civil rights abuses at immigration detention facilities linked to NANA Regional Corporation.
A few weeks ago, NANA Regional Corporation again made headlines when some shareholders of NANA Regional Corporation publicly criticized existing immigration detention facilities contracts with the United States Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE).
As any professor will tell you, correlation is not causation.
However, this correlation certainly begs the question of whether the reported removal of Cravalho was retaliation for NANA Regional Corporation shareholders publicly criticizing the ICE detention facilities.
Either way, it will be interesting to see what happens now that Cravalho has been reportedly removed as a USARC Commissioner.
At the USARC, the Trump Administration could assign a new USARC Chair. It could immediately replace Cravalho with their own pick. It could replace the other commissioners whose terms have expired. It could terminate other Commissioners whose terms have not unexpired.
Beyond the USARC, the Trump Administration could retaliate against Akima and NANA Regional Corporation for its shareholders’ criticism of ICE. For example, they could push to take away their current immigration detention facilities contracts or freeze them out of bids for future immigration detention facilities contracts.
In the background, there may be bigger structural changes on the horizon.
Some left-wing policy wonks are concerned that Trump Administration intends to overhaul, or even eliminate, the 8(a) Business Development Program.
This development will not assuage those concerns.
Michael Walsh
Michael Walsh (@FPCommentary) is an academic researcher at the University of the Witwatersrand. He is a former member of the Communications Committee of the Arctic Research Consortium of the United States (ARCUS) and a former member of the Experts Working Group on Emerging Security Challenges co-chaired by the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) and the Partnership for Peace Consortium (PfPC).
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