17 March 1999
TEXT: GEHMAN ON NATO'S DEFENSE CAPABILITIES FOR THE 21ST CENTURY
(From USIA electronic journal "U.S. Foreign Policy Agenda") (2550) (The Supreme Allied Commander for the Atlantic is in a unique position to evaluate new dangers that NATO faces, including "the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction, increases in the lethality of terrorism," and "non-state sponsored adventurism." Admiral Harold W. Gehman points out that the Alliance's recent experiences in Bosnia demonstrate that NATO is well on its way to moving from "a fixed, positional defense" to "flexible, mobile operations." Whatever changes are made to NATO's Strategic Concept, he says, three pillars must continue to support the Alliance's fundamental base: common defense, nuclear deterrence, and the transatlantic link. The following article by Gehman is included in the March issue of the USIA electronic journal "U.S. Foreign Policy Agenda," which addresses the topic, "NATO's 50th Anniversary.") TRANSFORMING NATO'S DEFENSE CAPABILITIES FOR THE 21ST CENTURY By Admiral Harold W. Gehman Supreme Allied Commander, Atlantic Introduction The transatlantic relationship cemented by the Washington Treaty of 1949 has been uniquely enduring, peaceful, and successful in warding off common dangers, both external and, equally important, internal. However, NATO's success has led to a new era, one that is not characterized by a simple "us versus them" scenario. Ethnic conflict, political instability, and territorial disputes around the periphery of NATO's defended territory are mounting. We face the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction, increases in the lethality of terrorism, non-state sponsored adventurism, and other asymmetric challenges. These new dangers have forced us to reconsider the definitions of peace, territorial integrity, and security -- concepts that are the raison d'etre of the Alliance. The Alliance has embraced the need for change in order to remain as relevant in the future as it has been for the past 50 years. This evolution is demonstrated by NATO programs like the Founding Act with Russia and the Partnership for Peace (PfP) program, both of which are extending transparency and dialogue east and south from the center of NATO. Likewise, the Alliance is establishing solid relations with key organizations that have capabilities that complement those of NATO, such as the European Union (EU), the Western European Union (WEU), and the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE). The most visible of new NATO missions has been the assumption of leadership of the multinational Implementation Force (IFOR), followed by the Stabilization Force (SFOR). NATO's experience in Bosnia has been a significant success -- both in humanitarian and geopolitical terms -- but it also demonstrated that the Alliance's transformation from a fixed, positional defense to flexible, mobile operations is well underway. Other significant changes focus on organization, technology, and doctrine to ensure that NATO military forces can serve as an effective crisis management tool wherever the collective interests of members are threatened. NATO's Legacy Given the peaceful demise of its former adversary, NATO is arguably the most successful alliance in history. NATO members enjoy unprecedented freedom, prosperity, and security. Although mutual defense obligations lie at the heart of the Alliance, the psychological impact on the political and economic evolution of Europe may turn out to be its most important function. Under the umbrella of NATO, Western European economies were built anew, as were the organs of civil society and stable political parties. Today's EU and the revitalized WEU are products of the trust, confidence, and sense of community developed within the Alliance. The security provided by NATO created a climate that energized Europeans to work, save, and invest until they created for themselves a prosperity they had never before enjoyed. In the years after World War II, North America gave much to Europe in economic aid and military protection and has received a lot in return. Europe's renewed affluence provided markets, goods, and capital that fed North America's continued economic growth. Europe is now North America's most important trading partner. This year's launch of the euro is a significant milestone in the development of a strong and unified European economy and will significantly increase trade across the Atlantic. These remarkable economic developments are a direct result of 50 years of stability provided by NATO. The Alliance has also provided a rationale for maintaining robust military forces in peacetime. During the Cold War, the NATO force planning process encouraged nations to maintain sufficient force structure to permit a strategy of flexible response. While all NATO nations have decreased the size of their armed forces since the end of the Cold War, the NATO force planning process has served to check the rush to disarmament. The Alliance provides nations a valuable structure to examine the future security environment and to develop new strategies and capabilities. Practical Guidance for NATO's Military Authorities The past 10 years have been a period of unprecedented change within NATO. The 1991 version of NATO's Strategic Concept expanded the definition of security and set the stage for NATO operations in Bosnia. The current challenge for Alliance members is to create a new Strategic Concept that provides visionary, yet practical, guidance to NATO military authorities. In order for the next Strategic Concept to guide us into the 21st century, it must reflect changes that the Alliance has undergone as well as allow for changes yet to be encountered. The revised Strategic Concept must also provide useful guidance for the military, so that a military officer like myself can develop contingency plans, establish force goals, and design realistic training exercises -- in other words to accomplish everything that is expected of a military force. Transforming NATO Defense Capabilities In April of this year, NATO heads of state will mark the 50th anniversary of the Alliance. In addition to commemorating the past, the Washington Summit presents a unique opportunity to focus on transforming NATO's defense capabilities for the next 50 years. I am convinced that NATO needs a more systematic and methodical process to develop the military capabilities that will be required by the Strategic Concept. Before discussing these changes let me emphasize that the three pillars of the Alliance -- common defense, nuclear deterrence, and the transatlantic link -- are and must remain the underpinnings of our efforts. They represent the core policies that made our Alliance so successful in the past and are critical for our success in the future. Experts often disagree on the nature of the future security environment and on which military capabilities and war-fighting concepts will be required. After all, the future is hard to predict. My crystal ball is not any better than anyone else's, so I don't put my faith in any one scenario for the future. Instead, I want to ensure that we have a systematic transformation process. I believe this process should include a common operational vision to describe how NATO commanders will employ future military capabilities. Such a vision will provide a template that NATO force planners can use to optimize force structure and decide how the Alliance can best exploit new technology. Even with a common operational vision, NATO force planners will have a number of competing investment strategies from which to choose. We must prioritize, coordinate, and integrate our efforts to ensure that what the Strategic Concept states will result in actions that improve our national and Alliance defense capabilities. We should experiment to determine which strategies are most likely to provide the greatest increase in defense capability. Experimentation can also help us solve technical, organizational, and doctrinal problems and hedge against nasty surprises from potential adversaries (especially of the asymmetric variety). Experimentation may take the form of seminars, war games, command exercises, or field exercises depending on the subject. Our experience in Bosnia and in recent Combined Joint Task Force (CJTF) exercises indicates that the most immediate focus of our transformation process should be in the area of communications and logistics. We must improve the speed and effectiveness of command through more compatible, interoperable, and integrated command-and-control systems. This will improve our ability to exploit future commercial and military technological developments. We have learned that Cold War logistics systems are not up to the task of supporting NATO forces that are deployed beyond traditional operating areas. We must have the ability to quickly locate and move assets and the ability to perform multinational logistics operations. Allied Command Atlantic and the Transatlantic Link Throughout NATO's history, the transatlantic link has referred to the political, economic, and military ties between North America and Europe. Allied Command Atlantic (ACLANT), headquartered in Norfolk, Virginia, represents the western pillar of the transatlantic link. ACLANT was created to ensure that military forces and supplies could flow from North America to assist in the defense of Europe. In the event of hostilities during the Cold War, ACLANT's primary mission was to conduct anti-submarine and anti-surface ship operations and to challenge the Warsaw Pact by creating a second front on NATO's northern flank. Traditional defensive operations, known in NATO as Article 5 operations, are at the heart of the Atlantic Alliance and remain ACLANT's primary mission; however, the changing security environment provides an opportunity to use ACLANT's maritime expertise in new ways. Today ACLANT is at the forefront of planning and conducting sea-based combined and joint operations designed to employ the full spectrum of military capabilities from different military services -- capabilities that will provide the means to deal with crises on the periphery of NATO's defended territory. These efforts benefit from having a maritime officer's approach to war-fighting, which includes an appreciation for flexibility, speed of information, mobility, self-sustainment, and integrated logistics. The development of progressive issues such as CJTF, PfP, European Security and Defense Identity (ESDI) within NATO, and counter-proliferation will be vital to the Alliance in the future and are given the highest priority. Solving interoperability problems and learning to exploit new technology are major focus areas. The character of the ACLANT staff has changed greatly to meet these new challenges. The staff has representatives from all the services. Exercises and operations are planned to combine the capabilities from different military services to create an effect that is greater than the sum of the parts. New Mission for Maritime Forces -- The CJTF Concept The new security environment increases the likelihood that NATO military forces will be required to conduct operations around the periphery of NATO's defended territory. The CJTF concept provides a framework for organizing forces for missions beyond NATO's network of fixed headquarters. NATO envisions a CJTF as an ad hoc organization built from an existing headquarters to perform a specific mission. Sufficient equipment, personnel, logistics support, and related assets are assembled to conduct the operation and are dissolved when the operation is complete. In March 1998, ACLANT conducted the first major trial of a NATO sea-based CJTF headquarters. Exercise "Strong Resolve Crisis South" was part of an exercise employing more than 50,000 personnel. The sea-based CJTF headquarters was formed from the headquarters of Commander Striking Fleet Atlantic onboard the command ship, USS Mount Whitney. The CJTF commander was tasked to prepare for a peace-support operation in a fictional country. The trial demonstrated the advantages of a sea-based CJTF headquarters with the speed and flexibility to reach all likely areas of conflict. A sea-based headquarters must be logistically self-sufficient for extended periods and may be the only option in a contingency operation in certain geographical areas which are difficult to reach, have no host nation support, or where the situation is too volatile to risk establishing a headquarters on land. Trials have shown that the CJTF concept is viable and that the land- and sea-based CJTF headquarters have proven capable of dealing with the challenges of assigned missions. The next phase of the concept will concentrate on staff analysis of the trial evaluation results, lessons learned from operations in Bosnia, and additional study. The outlook is encouraging and both major NATO commanders (the Supreme Allied Commanders for the Atlantic and for Europe) look forward to implementing fully the CJTF concept into the Alliance Command Structure. European Security and Defense Identity A significant outcome of the 1997 Madrid Summit was the reaffirmation of NATO's commitment to a strong, dynamic partnership between the European and North American member nations. This commitment centers on the vitality of the transatlantic link. For NATO's first 50 years, this link was primarily one-way in nature with support flowing from North America into Europe. With the Berlin Summit came the declaration that NATO would begin to build a European Security and Defense Identity (ESDI) that would develop a more balanced partnership between North America and Europe. Creation of an ESDI calls for force elements separable, but not separate, from the NATO force structure that could be made available for use under the political direction and strategic control of the WEU. The essential elements for building a viable ESDI include making NATO assets available for WEU operations, adaptation of the CJTF concept to WEU-led operations, and commitment to transparency between NATO and WEU in crisis management. ACLANT has been developing a concept for a European Multinational Maritime Force (EMMF) to begin to address the issue of maritime support to ESDI. The EMMF concept seeks to capitalize on NATO's strengths -- the existing trained multinational forces, our common doctrine, our practiced exercise structure, and our mature command-and-control organization. Partnership for Peace The introduction of the PfP initiative in 1994 added a new dimension to the relationship between NATO and its Partner countries. Together with the special relationships that are being developed between the Alliance and Russia, and the Alliance and Ukraine, PfP is helping to set the stage for new enhanced security arrangements in Europe. PfP aims at enhancing peacekeeping abilities and interoperability of Partner countries' military forces with those of NATO through joint planning, training, and exercises. It also facilitates transparency in the defense planning and budgeting process and promotes democratic control of defense forces. ACLANT sponsors an extensive series of maritime-related military exercises and other training activities ranging from language training to workshops on strengthening the roles of non-commissioned officers. A number of Partner countries have officers serving at ACLANT headquarters, and we are looking forward to an exchange of officers with Russia, perhaps in the next year. Conclusion For 50 years the Atlantic Alliance has provided the security and stability that have underpinned the peace and prosperity that members enjoy today. The 1991 Strategic Concept began a transformation of the Alliance and its military forces that continues apace. Transforming NATO defense capabilities is a daunting challenge since it involves a complex reallocation of resources and significant work to implement new organizational structures. Because our energies are no longer focused on winning the Battle of the Atlantic, ACLANT now concentrates on redefining the transatlantic link to include new ideas, concepts, doctrine, and technology in addition to providing North American military power to the Alliance. During this transition period, the Atlantic Command will serve as a flexible and innovative center of excellence -- one that identifies ideas and proposes solutions to keep NATO the military organization of choice for the next 50 years. I am encouraged by our progress thus far, and I believe NATO will enter the 21st century on a successful and positive note.