CIAO DATE: 08/03

Thoughts Before Yet Another NATO Summit

Abstract

A significant NATO Summit is approaching. The United States and its European allies are at a crossroads. NATO is expanding to embrace former members of the Warsaw Pact. The future role of NATO as a military alliance in the 21 st century remains under discussion. Will NATO truly be given tangible new missions and really act out of area, and what force structure will support its strategic objectives? Will the United States and its European partners bridge the gap over how to fight the war now underway? Will the widening gap in military capabilities between the United States and its coalition partners be addressed, and will there ever again be coalition operations with U.S. participation under NATO command? Are Europe and the United States “de-coupling,” with the creation of “Fortress Europe” and “Fortress America” in defense? There is an opportunity to seize the moment, and act on these vital issues.

Sound familiar? Much as this is the case today before NATO’s Prague Summit in November, it was also the case three years ago before NATO’s 50 th anniversary Washington Summit in April 1999. In 1999 in Washington, while Hungary, Poland, and the Czech Republic were being admitted to NATO - a major accomplishment in its own right signaling the end of the Cold War era, many serious questions existed about the Alliance’s future. Concerns were voiced that the new Common Foreign and Security Policy Initiative (CFSP) - empowering the European Union (EU) in defense and national security - would undermine NATO’s primacy. There were contentious issues in the ongoing Kosovo campaign (focused on the potential use of ground force and differences over aerial targeting). Moreover, the Kosovo campaign had highlighted glaring capability gaps between the United States and its allies and a lack of interoperability as well as the difficulties of coalition warfare by “committee” under NATO command.

Full Text (PDF format, 29 pgs, 352 kbs)