NATO’s Contribution to Stability in the Mediterranean and in the Middle East

Lt. Gen. Marc Vankeirsbilck

Commandant of the NATO Defense College

Rome, Center for High Defense Studies, 25 September 2006

It is my conviction that cooperation in the academic field between NATO and Partner Nations, is an imperative and effective way to better prepare together for future security challenges, to improve our common understanding of those challenges, to increase the efficiency of our defence establishments and to raise the ability of our military forces to work together. This, in essence, is the thinking behind a NATO initiative that is taking shape at the moment, and which would have the Alliance share its knowledge and expertise on a wide range of defence and security issues with its Partners in the Region. I will expand on that initiative and on a possible role of the NDC in it, in the second part of my speech. But let me first, before coming to the "how" of the NATO initiative, describe briefly the "why".

NATO is continually adapting to the changing security environment but as we heard this morning, we frequently question ourselves on its relevance and its future. NATO's Summits have been a reliable indicator for anyone seeking answers to these questions and the upcoming Riga Summit in November will further shape the Alliance in view of 21st century challenges.
The immediate risks we face today are no longer those of a conventional state-on-state strategic attack but rather, amongst others, they are threats associated with the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction, rogue states and increasingly fundamentalist terrorism on a global scale.
Let me quote in this context from Admiral Sanfelice di Monteforte's most interesting speech this morning: "There are not anymore only risks, instability, and failed states. There is also, somewhere, someone who hates us and is ready and eager to put his own and others' life at stake to kill our people and damage our Nations' vital interests".

No individual nation is, or will be, able to respond effectively to these challenges by itself. In the context of the 21st century strategic environment, it is clear that challenges such as the Balkans or Afghanistan do not just affect NATO Allies. Rather they have an influence certainly outside their immediate neighbourhood and arguably, in this ever shrinking world, right around the globe. It is imperative, therefore, that if NATO is to be able to help meet those challenges, that we must have mechanisms in place that allow other countries to partner with NATO, both politically and militarily. I must be clear here to emphasize and repeat what the Secretary General of the Atlantic Treaty Association, Mr Trøls Froling and Mr Daniele Riggio said this morning, that I am not suggesting that NATO becomes a modern day global policeman. Far from it in fact; NATO's aim is to create the conditions and support for an effective multilateral action, which is very different.

It is self-evident therefore that NATO alone cannot deliver total solutions to the problems, which provide democratic, multi-ethnic, economically vibrant statehood, that is a necessity for long-term stability. The approach, if not the solution, we need to adopt, will require partnerships of all types. We need to look at security today in a holistic fashion. In an age where security challenges have become multi-dimensional, our responses must be multi-dimensional as well. This means that we have to apply political, economic and military instruments in a concerted approach. Or to use Mr Jim Townsend's words: "…not all missions are purely military, but will be integrated with civilian agencies and NGO's as well".
Any viable security strategy today must therefore be a strategy of teamwork. No single institution, let alone a single nation, possesses all the necessary means for effective security management. Only through cooperation will the full range of instruments be available to us.

But do we have the correct mechanisms to interact in a transformational sense with partners? A research paper published recently by the Research Branch of the NATO Defense College on the future of NATO's Partnerships, clearly articulates a possible architecture to address this concern. The authors postulate that partnership arrangements should be tailored in the future, in a more focused way. The rigidity of today's partnership framework and geographical constraint may not best serve NATO's objectives, and indeed those of Partners, for the future. A closer grouping of partners under a functional, a geographical and/or a organizational strand may achieve greater focus on the individual competencies that each partner can deliver and stimulate greater practical military cooperation, training and education. It would lead me too far to further expand on this important dimension for the efficiency and effectiveness of cooperation; namely the architecture of future partnerships. You will be able to discuss this particular issue with Dr Carlo Masala, author of the Forum Paper in the workshop dedicated to global partnerships.

Without doubt a key area where NATO can assist in the delivery of closer working relations with current and future partners is in the area of education and training. With each of the current institutional partners, be they PfP, NATO Russia Council, NATO – Ukraine Commission, Mediterranean Dialogue or the Istanbul Cooperation Initiative and indeed wider if you consider also the growing connection with the African Union, the value added of dialogue and the trust that is fostered through education and military training is considerable.

But let us come back to the region we are focusing on today. At the Istanbul Summit on 28 June 2004 the Alliance made a firm decision to extend the geographical and functional areas of its Partnerships in the Mediterranean and the Middle East, and more specifically in the Gulf States. Among the concrete proposals that have been made since then, NATO's offer of cooperation in the area of education and training is high on the list, as I mentioned earlier.
Indeed, to achieve the goal of the Istanbul Cooperation Initiative, which is "to enhance security and regional stability through a new transatlantic engagement with the region", the Alliance proposes to institute security cooperation in order to "develop the ability of the countries' forces to operate with those of NATO".

The aims of any practical military cooperation are not limited to the immediate operational objective of creating or enhancing interoperability in both technical and above all in human terms. Military cooperation has more ambitious, long term objectives: easing tension, dispelling misconceptions and promoting regional integration. Cooperation in the area of education and training meets this dual short and long term objective.
In order to develop defence and security forces' interoperability, specific training and education programs, among other things, need to be set up.

NATO has acquired highly diversified experience in training and education: in addition to implementing the programs designed for its member countries, for over ten years now NATO has been engaged in dynamic cooperation projects with its Partners. Of course, NATO's educational institutes – the NATO School in Oberammergau, Germany and the NATO Defense College in Rome and a range of other institutes – are open to members of the Partnership for Peace, the Mediterranean Dialogue and the ICI. In some cases, such as the Partnership for Peace Consortium of Defence Academies, NATO has displayed creativity in developing a wide virtual network of security institutes. The Conference of Commandants of defence and security institutions meets every year to discuss issues of common concern. And since 2004 NATO has also been directly involved in the education training of Iraqi security forces.

There is much to venture that the Riga Summit will be successful in articulating a vision that will build on previous Summits' successes. The Summit will necessarily have a strong political and military dimension but also will explore training and education proposals to reinforce our partnerships activities.
In this vein, the NATO Defense College, together with Allied Command Transformation and other NATO training institutions, has been asked to develop possible options for a NATO Education and Training Initiative for consideration at the Summit. Earlier this summer we forwarded concrete proposals in support of that vision. I would like to share with you a little bit of what the NDC has in mind.
Our proposal referred to as the "NATO Education and Training Initiative for the Middle East" is inspired by Med Dialogue and ICI countries.
This contribution was presented to and reinforced by a seminar hosted at NDC on 10-11 July, this summer. Participants included officials from Allied Command Transformation, Allied Command Operations, NATO HQ, as well as academics and officials of NATO/PfP and MD/ICI nations. The presentations and discussions focused on regional security constraints, the demands of the various local actors, the Alliance's experiences up to now and existing models at regional level. During a frank and open debate the following points were stressed:

an assessment of education and training needs in the region (possibly led by ACT) must be the first priority;
any initiative should be developed through an iterative and interactive process and should promote mutual acculturation, including at the political level;
before any local implementation, attention should be paid to confidence building, in order to avoid not only misperceptions of NATO's strategic involvement in the Middle East but also the risk of introducing new internal tensions and lines of division in the region;
during the debate, it also became apparent that in view of the complex context and the need to promote a cooperative culture in the initial phase, the best sustainable options at the moment that could improve on the existing situation, should be built on existing NATO training facilities and could be supplemented with appropriate contributions from other Centres of Excellence (in the region or in NATO countries).

It is on that last point that the College really focused its proposals to contribute to the NATO Education and Training Initiative. You will probably ask why NDC? The NDC is a place of intellectual refreshment, where participants can stretch their minds, explore issues from a perspective that might be uncomfortable, provocative or controversial elsewhere, and where we do not pretend to have the right answers to the challenging political-military and strategic questions facing the Alliance, its Partners and the International Community.
In our proposal, as an institution of choice, we aimed at preserving NDC's high quality academic environment, at maximizing synergies with other institutions and at contributing to the maximum extent possible to three conceptual broad categories of possible forms that of NATO's Education and Training initiative could take.

The first conceptual broad category could be defined as the expansion of the NATO-wide, existing partnership tools. In order to fully contribute to this segment, the possible option proposed by NDC was to increase the Med Dialogue and ICI participation on the Senior Course, the Modular Short Courses and/or the General, Flag Officer and Ambassador's Course. As an example, the present Senior Course hosts less than 5% course members from the Med Dialogue / ICI region, which is probably not enough. Considering the short courses as well, we have a yearly total output of approximately 25 Course Members from the region. Under this option we would be able to multiply this output by a factor of up to 4. This would be done with a slight increase of resources, mainly personnel.

The second possible option proposed by NDC, would be to tailor a dedicated curriculum, building on existing Senior Course modules and a Mobile Education and Training Team from the NATO School and national contributions. This option would constitute NDC's contribution to a second conceptual broad category consisting of establishing MD/ICI- tailored programs at existing NATO and addressee nation facilities. This would offer the Med Dialogue and ICI nations a jointly developed and instructed program that bridges the strategic and operational levels, fully tailored to their needs. This specific course could potentially be of a 8 to 10 week duration where a good portion would parallel the Senior Course, offering attendees an opportunity to interact with NATO senior officers, officials and diplomats in an academic environment.

A third possible option that has been brought forward at NATO HQ, is the creation of a dedicated Regional Security and Cooperation Centre, possibly using the NDC as a generic model. The NDC is fully prepared to contribute to such an option with its solid, 55 years long experience and expertise.

These possible options are mutually exclusive. Options could be pursued individually, incrementally, in varying combinations, or all three in parallel.

Drawing on the seminar recommendations, NDC understands that a Middle East Education and Training Initiative must manifest comprehensive ownership by the stakeholders. Especially in this area of training and education, NATO must be careful to avoid any suspicion of wanting to impose particular views or activities. That is why the same principles of joint ownership, inclusiveness and complementarity that guide all activities under the Mediterranean Dialogue and the ICI would certainly also apply to this training initiative that furthermore should be demand-driven.
We have experiences to share within the region, but many MD/ICI participants to our seminar highlighted the importance and the need of improving NATO's image in the region. Not only can we share our experience, we must be mindful of how our intentions are perceived in local public opinion. NATO nations must also remain permeable to knowledge from the region. This is why reciprocal training focusing on language for instance is part of a possible approach.
The NDC's proposed solutions could be put forward in the short term while discussions continue on the establishment of a regional centre, making Riga Summit conclusions dynamic.

There are still a number of open questions. What are the expectations of the countries of the region with regard to the education and training initiative? How do they perceive NATO's offer? What type of officers and other security practitioners will be part of the audience? Which curriculum, what courses and instruments would be desirable to addressee nations? How many students may NATO/PfP and MD/ICI nations send? What level of financial and manpower support will the nations provide?
The Alliance has faced equally daunting questions in the past, and it has risen to the challenges every time. The NDC stands ready to implement Riga Summit solutions and in the spirit of fostering mutual understanding and the development of common values.