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“I want to highlight the importance of what I call Smart Defence…”
Since the Munich Security Conference in February this year in Germany, NATO Secretary General
Anders Fogh Rasmussen has been calling for ‘Smart Defence’
“Smart Defence is key to NATO’s future and it will be one of the key issues at our
summit in Chicago next year”
But what is Smart Defence? “Smart Defence is working together to make
better use of the resources which are available to us”
Together with Deputy Secretary General Bisogniero, the Supreme Allied Commander Transformation,
general Abrial, will be working with NATO member states on possible Smart Defence projects.
He recognizes the need to increase multinational cooperation. For him it is imperative to maintain
the necessary capabilities at a time when defense budgets are falling.
“As we can see around us we have all kinds of possible crises, we have shrinking resource
budgets in our nations and we have rising costs for our capabilities. Therefore, it
is necessary that we all work together, so that despite reducing national budgets, the
Alliance as a whole keeps the capability necessary to meet our level of ambition.”
Since large national debts can make countries less stable and less secure, bringing down
debt burdens is not only an economic priority, but also a security priority. That’s why
General Abrial emphasizes that Smart Defence is not just a fancy way of saying NATO needs
to cut back on its spending: “No, we do not need to cut back, we are
faced to cuts and since we have to address these cuts we need to find the right solution
to make sure we keep the right capabillities.”
“One of my concerns is that European allies risk falling behind the pace of technological
change because of their low level of defence spending. But when defence budgets are tight
it’s not easy. If we acknowledge that there is no more money available right know, then
we need to change the way we spend our money”
The Smart Defence approach to defence spending could be a way of ensuring greater security
for less money. But to make it work, nations should not only set the right priorities and
coordinate their efforts better, but should also agree to share their resources. Something
that sovereign nations might not be too keen on, even though they are part of the NATO
Alliance.
“Well, when you have to do something and you assess that you cannot do it alone, the
solution is let’s do it together. But when you do it together, of course you have to
know which part of your sovereignty you agree to share with others and then seen from the
Alliance we have to have this right balance between making sure the capabilities developed
together are always available to the Alliance and making sure also that those who participate
can use them for their own use and their own needs when needed.”
NATO Secretary General Rasmussen stresses that Smart Defence is not about NATO imposing
anything on nations. The Alliance should rather enable the nations to work more effectively
together and identify new possible areas of cooperation.
“NATO can help nations to build greater security with fewer resources, but more coordination,
more coherence, so that, together we can avoid the financial crisis from becoming a security
crisis.”
And already there are some initiatives within NATO that could be seen as a Smart Defence
approach, like the Strategic Airlift consortium for which a group of nations have acquired
C17 transport aircrafts to transport troops, equipment and supplies across the globe.
Or the Baltic Air Policing for which NATO nations rotate their crews and aircrafts in
order to guard the airspace over the three Baltic States.
“It’s a little bit too early to give examples because we are starting the process, but we
are working on issues like joint intelligence, surveillance, reconnaissance, medical support,
force protection, maintenance, logistics, training, we have lots of issues on the table,
as you know we have more than 150 ideas which have been staffed already and we are going
to be more precise in a few weeks.”
“Missile defence is a case in point. By pooling their contributions and by sharing
the costs, Allies will be able to protect their own territories and citizens against
missile attacks.”
In the coming months NATO is going to identify and discuss new possible Smart Defence projects
with all individual member states.
“We are going to talk with every single nation inside NATO and see what are the projects
which are most interesting to the nations and most useful to the Alliance. The objective
being now to transform the intentions which have been declared so far into decisions.”
The financial crisis should not become a security crisis
In the coming years, it looks like this is what Smart Defence will be about.