Alliance at the crossroads

Military Committee - Chiefs of Staff Meeting in Brussels on 21 and 22 May

 
Edited by Nigel Chamberlain
 
Opening remarks by the Chairman, General Knud Bartels, prior to the meetings
 
I welcome the Chairman of the Military Committee of the EU, the Air Force General Patrick Rousiers, who joins us today. I myself participated yesterday at the meeting of the Military Committee of the EU format Chiefs of Staff of the defence. Our goal is to establish robust military advice, based on consensus, for our ministers and our heads of state and government, and provide guidance for strategic commanders. During the next two days, our discussions will obviously reflect the increased sense of urgency from the issues of the moment.
 
Ukraine
 
Russia’s annexation of territory, in a sovereign nation, on NATO’s borders has to cast a shadow of insecurity across the Alliance’s Eastern Flank and has potentially serious implications for the region and beyond. NATO will continue to support de-escalation and resolution of the current Russia-Ukraine crisis through a political solution. However, the Alliance will also be resolute in its deterrence and commitment to collective defence. Recent NATO deployments to the region underline this commitment.
 
Afghanistan
 
In this the final year of the ISAF Operation, we will complete the process of transition to NATO’s planned future role of Training, Advice and Assistance, which underlines Alliance’s commitment to Afghanistan beyond 2014. The Afghan National Security Forces will continue to be supported through the new NATO-led Mission called RESOLUTE SUPPORT. Planning for this Mission continues. However, it will only be implemented once the necessary legal framework has been put in place. This is process which must now be completed as a matter of urgency.
 
Refocus post-ISAF
 
The end of NATO’s ISAF Operation brings with it a potential strategic inflection point and the opportunity and capacity for the Alliance to refocus its military capability towards a broader range of potential future threats. The Alliance is increasingly surrounded by an arc of instability from Ukraine, to Syria to the Sahel. NATO must therefore ensure that it retains the capability, commitment and credibility to deliver against its three Core tasks of Collective Defence, Crisis Management and Cooperative Security.
 
The Alliance must build upon the interoperability and the partnerships experienced in Afghanistan. Both collectively and individually, NATO Nations will also need to invest in the capabilities and training necessary to develop Alliance’s readiness and maintain its qualitative advantage, which are its greatest deterrence to potential adversaries. The Connected Forces Initiative and Smart Defence are central to this transformation process and to our efforts to set the conditions for NATO Forces 2020 which are defined as: Modern, tightly connected forces, equipped, trained, exercised and commanded so that they can operate together and with partners in any environment.
 
Summit
 
The findings of our various working sessions this week will help shape the September Summit and will strengthen the foundations of the transformation of military structures and NATO forces . Our discussions will cover a wide spectrum of topics , including:
  • Key regional security threats affecting the Alliance;
  • The main capability shortfalls of the Alliance and the necessary steps to fill them;
  • The involvement of the Alliance in the maritime domain;
  • The role and resources of NATO in the area of strengthening defence capabilities; and
  • Multinational approaches to capability development, including examples of the application of the concept of Nation framework.
The Chiefs of Defence Staff will identify ways to improve training, exercises and evaluation within NATO and nations. The objective is clear: to have military means capable of meeting the challenges that the Alliance is and will be facing, and whose credibility depends on the demonstration of its ability to act. TRIDENT Juncture 2015 will provide a concrete illustration of the determination of the Alliance to conduct high-quality training.
 
Partnerships
 
During the next two days the Chiefs of Defence Staff will also meet with representatives from 49 Alliance partner countries, including special partners, such as Georgia and Ukraine, for which there will be dedicated specific sessions.
 
Preserving NATO 's relations with partner countries and taking full advantage of the cooperation and interoperability forged during operations will be recurring themes in our discussions in advance of The Summit.
 
Opening statement by General Bartels at the joint press point following the meetings
 
This gathering has been extremely important for us. It has allowed the Chiefs of Defence to share their perspectives and provide clear and unequivocal Military Committee advice to Ministers and Heads of State and Government on key Summit issues.
 
Our view is that the global security situation is becoming increasingly unpredictable, unstable and interconnected. Recent events have reinforced the need for NATO to be ready for a wide range of potential threats both near and far abroad. The challenges are global and multifaceted, non-traditional, and we must address them as such.
 
NATO’s credibility and thereby its capacity for deterrence, collective defence and crisis management is dependent on a demonstrable capability, readiness and usability of our military force. NATO Chiefs of Defence agreed to reinforce the Education, Training, Exercises and Evaluation programme. They also agreed that NATO and its member nations need to address capability shortfalls, training and readiness through investment, activity and cooperation. From a military perspective, Partners have a great deal to offer and we should continue to focus on strengthening relationships and interoperability, especially with those Partners who express their will to operate alongside NATO.
 
Opening statement by the Supreme Allied Commander Europe General Philip M. Breedlove, at the joint press point following the meetings
 
Our Alliance is at the crossroad deciding how we are going to adapt in the long run to address an aggressive neighbour. We've had some very productive discussions today, talking a great deal about the current situation in Ukraine and NATO's response to the shift we see in the European security environment.
 
Today, we are in the midst of providing a broad set of assurance measures for our members in NATO's eastern region. We plan to sustain this increased activity over the coming months as well, by continuing the new ones and augmenting previously planned activities such as our exercises. NATO must undergo a strategic adaptation to address Russia's use of snap exercises, cyber-activities and covert operations to achieve their State objectives. With this fundamental change is our security environment, we must transform. It will cost money, time and effort.
 
Opening statement by the Supreme Allied Commander Transformation General Jean-Paul Paloméros at the joint press point following the meetings
 
Transformation is about adapting our Alliance to the challenges of tomorrow by taking into account the challenges of today. The main strands of work that we worked on was how we adapt our strategic thinking, strategic military affairs, strategic thinking for the future. Secondly, how we assess and how we develop the capabilities which are really needed for the future. We discussed multinational solutions to these challenges. It is very important that we encourage interoperability with partners.
 
Q & A at the joint press point following the opening remarks
 
Q1. Iryna Somer, Interfax-Ukraine News Agency: What exactly did you discuss with Ukrainian Chief of Defence and what is the outcome of this discussion?
 
A1. General Bartels: The new Ukrainian Chief of Defence gave us an overview of events as they have been unfolding. He also gave us an understanding of the way the Ukrainian authorities and the Ukrainian Armed Forces were reacting to the use of military power in Crimea and in other places in vicinity of Ukraine or in Ukraine itself. We also talked about the upcoming elections here on the 25th, the importance of those elections and the democratic process in Ukraine. We also reviewed our military to military cooperation and to see how we could extend it within the agreement which exists and we are ready to reconvene to address whatever issues pops up in the future.
 
Q2. Adrian Croft, Reuters: General Breedlove, what is your assessment of what the Russian military is doing? How many Russian troops you estimate are still in the vicinity of the Ukraine border and what their intentions are now?
 
A2. General Breedlove: We are now seeing some movement of troops. It is far too early to classify the size or what is the effect of the troops. It is interesting that we note that most of the movement is in one particular area and there remains a large formation, a very capable formation in several concerning avenues of approach.
 
Q3. Waseem Ibrahim, As-Safir Lebanese Newspaper: What’s your real assessment of the situation in Syria? What are you doing in this contest? Do you think that the politicians are kidding with us when they are talking about a real threat or not?
 
A3. General Bartels: There’s no doubt that the events in Syria have a substantial de-stabilizing effect on the whole region of the Middle East which has repercussion for the Alliance security. As far as I know, nobody is kidding anybody.
 
Q4.Brooks Tigner, Jane’s Defence: How will the NATO Response Force fit into NATO’s strategic adaptation to this changed security environment and Russia’s tactics? And do you envision it to be used beyond training and interoperability in this new environment? Secondly, are you encouraging the national CHODS to further develop their special forces for this changed security environment?
 
A4. General Bartels: The NRF is one of those issues which has been discussed with regard to the current crisis and also the use of Special Operation Forces.
 
A4. General Breedlove: Certainly, the NRF is a part of our considerations as to what we do next. Are we asking it to do the right things in face of the new threats? That is part of the discussion that I believe we need to have.
 
Q5. Associated Press: Have you observed anything on the military realm with regard to Russian pressure being brought to bear against Moldova and Georgia as the deadline for signature of an agreement with the EU approaches?
 
A5. General Bartels: We are well aware of the possibility of that dimension and indeed this has been addressed during our discussions.
 
A5. General Breedlove: We will not go into classified details here, but what you have seen is that some of the narrative that first played out in Crimea and then started playing out in Eastern Ukraine, some of that now is playing out in Transnistria and Moldova.
 
Q6. Terri Schultz, National Public Radio and CBS News: What would constitute a meaningful pullback of Russian forces? Would that affect your future planning now that you know they can do this, nothing is ever the same again
 
A6. General Breedlove: One hundred per cent pullback would be the right answer. These forces were brought to the border in the name of an exercise. They should return to their pre-exercise stationing areas. As long as they remain in the area of the border or nearby the border, they remain a coercive force.
 
Q7. Czech News Agency: Do you envisage any worsening of the situation with ISAF because of the bad relations with Russia?
 
A7. General Bartels: I do not see any reason why there should be any negative impact on our conduct of operations in Afghanistan.
 
A7. General Breedlove: The return routes that we use which involve Russia would see no change in and there are areas in ISAF where it is very much in Russia’s interest to continue to cooperate with us.
 
Q8. Jim Neuger, Bloomberg: Are you still working with a number of 40,000 Russian troops massed in forward position near the border, or are you able to reduce that estimate? And what sort of emplacements or hardware have these initially withdrawn troops left behind? How quickly could they move back into an aggressive stance on the border?
 
A8. General Breedlove: We have seen movement. It is too early to classify the size and nature of it. We have seen some loading of mechanized vehicles but the scope of the movement that we have seen so far is not going to affect the capability of the very large force that’s there.
 
Q9. Ian Cordisse, Agence Europe: General Paloméros, you all talked about the necessary adaptation given the changing security environment. Can you say how the ETEE programme is going to be modified in the coming years because this is a programme you’ve been working on for several years? Now the context has changed. Is the nature of the exercises going to change in the geographical space, for example?
 
A9. General Palomeros: The Connected Forces Initiative programme which was launched two years ago has been developed and is now a complete programme. It has already been implemented. We had Steadfast Jazz, which was the first manifestation of it. You may have followed the exercise with the NATO naval forces and the Spanish rapid reaction force? They bring together all the national, multinational and NATO components. And we try to answer the requirements of training force availability on a permanent basis to try and enhance interoperability. But of course this programme must be adapted to a new environment.
 
Q10. News Agency Interfax Ukraine: Earlier we heard that Russian troops, if ordered to, can cross the border with Ukraine in 48 hours. What it will take now when they will have this order to withdraw? How many hours?
 
A10. General Breedlove: Nothing has changed (not an answer to the question).