Norway's Defense Minister: It's Time to Boost
NATO's Maritime Profile
By Ine
Marie Eriksen Søreide4:50 p.m. EST December 14, 2015
This has been
another demanding year for Europe. ISIL's terrorism has reached Europe in a
devastating way. We are facing the largest refugee crisis since World War II.
As we are entering 2016, we are also beginning to grasp the long-term
consequences of the tumultuous events of 2014. Russia's actions continue to
affect its neighbors, including a number of NATO allies and partners.
To deal with the
scale, scope and acuteness of the new security situation, trans-Atlantic unity
is more important than ever. US leadership is both desired and necessary, but
Europe must also take more responsibility for its own future. In times like
these, trans-Atlantic solidarity and cohesion — with NATO at its core — is as
important as ever.
Norway has a
special interest in the strategic climate in the North. There is an increase in
maritime activities across NATO's area of responsibility, from the North
Atlantic to the Black Sea, the Baltic Sea and the Mediterranean. We are facing
military-strategic changes with potentially far-reaching, long-term
consequences. Russia has developed new high-end military capabilities,
including strategic submarines and aircraft, and long-range, high-precision
missiles. Russia has also expanded its military infrastructure in the Arctic.
While Norway does not consider Russia a military threat today, we cannot
discount that these military capabilities can pose a challenge to
trans-Atlantic security in the future.
We need to raise
NATO's profile in the maritime domain. This requires maritime power and
presence. Regular training and exercises are also necessary to give us the
knowledge and skills we need to operate in this domain. NATO's maritime forces
need to be able to establish sea control in NATO's area of responsibility to
ensure freedom of navigation. They also need to ensure that sea lines of
communication are open for supply and reinforcements in crisis or war.
This requires
high-end maritime capabilities, situational awareness, updated contingency
plans and collective contributions to NATO forces in the Atlantic.
Furthermore,
reassurance initiatives in the East are important and have had a stabilizing
effect, but we should develop a strategic framework for deterrence and
reassurance beyond the temporary means. Deterrence and reassurance are back as
key concepts in our security policy. For NATO to be politically credible it
needs to be militarily capable.
Given the new
security environment, we need to be able to operate in air, on land and at sea.
The way forward is doctrinal and technological interoperability among systems,
domains and countries.
As we prepare for
the 2016 NATO summit in Warsaw, we must assess the new security environment as
it is, not as we wish it were; we must think strategically while acting
immediately; and we must revitalize the trans-Atlantic link in both political
and military terms.
In short, NATO
needs a coherent and robust long-term strategy to deal with the new security
environment. A key element of that strategy must be maritime power and
presence.
Søreide is Norway's defense minister.
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