Investing in the right capabilities, maintaining connected forces and deepening and widening cooperation with partners will be required to shape a NATO alliance to meet future challenges, according to NATO Secretary General Anders Fogh Rasmussen at Monday’s launch of his Annual Report.
Photo: NATO
“In September we will meet in Wales to shape Future NATO: an Alliance that is robust, rebalanced and ready to provide security for the next generation,” he said.
Terrorism, piracy, regional instability and missile and cyber attacks are some of the areas where NATO must invest to improve capabilities, The Annual Report 2013 said.
Rasmussen said European Allies must play their “full part” in developing critical capabilities such as joint intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance and missile defense.
Connectivity will also play a large role in the future, he said. The International Security Assistance Force in Afghanistan brought together “more than one quarter of the world’s nations: 28 NATO allies and 22 partners in the largest coalition in recent history.
That should lead to the alliance committing to a broad program of realistic exercises, training and education at the Wales Summit to be part of NATO’s Connected Forces Initiative.
Additionally, Allies need to forge closer ties with partners, including helping those partners that need help to build and develop their security sectors. NATO has a network of political and operational partnerships with more than 40 countries and organizations on five continents, he said.
“We have a record of achievement in challenging operations, and world-wide partnerships and we are continuing to adapt to make NATO more agile and more efficient so that NATO remains an essential source of stability in an unpredictable world,” Rasmussen said.
The Annual Report detailed NATO achievements of the past year and set out the challenges of 2014.
Rasmussen said NATO must maintain the transformation momentum of its effectiveness and efficiency.
Paying for allied capabilities will continue to be difficult but vital if allies continue to develop capabilities to underpin the alliance’s role in the future. Thus, members must hold the line of defense spending and focus investment. Collective guidelines were created that encourage members to devote at least 2 percent of the GDP to defense, with at least 20 percent of that allocated toward major equipment.
While the U.S. defense spending has dropped over the past five years, the report said European allies have seen reductions that are more extreme in relative terms. Using graphs, the report showed only three members met the 2 percent guideline in 2013, down from five in 2007. Further, many allies are “falling short” of the 20 percent guideline.
However, economic pressures have not held back some members that have increased major equipment spending to invest in future requirements.
NATO already has a strong foundation based on the guidance provided by the Strategic Concept, which advocates active engagement and modern defense. In 2013 NATO’s activities ranged from military operations to building relationships with partners and from efforts to acquire and preserve defense capabilities to ongoing reforms.
“We continue to assure the security of our Allies by fulfilling our three core tasks: collective defense, crisis management, and cooperative security. Our operations in Afghanistan, Kosovo and off the coast of Somalia, and our Patriot deployment in Turkey are clear examples. Our forces are more capable and connected than ever before,” he said.