Category: NATOSource

Now Not the Time to Retreat from Europe

By Chad Manske, Global Post

From Chad Manske, Global Post:  Critics do not recognize that we have significantly reduced our forces and installations in Europe since the end of the Cold War. Of the 1.4 million current US military personnel, only 90,000 are in Europe, or about 6.4 percent.

Euro-Atlantic security ‘is vitally important for the entire world’

By Wolfgang Ischinger, Igor Ivanov, and Sam Nunn, the International Herald Tribune

From Wolfgang Ischinger, Igor Ivanov, and Sam Nunn, the International Herald Tribune:  At the close of the Cold War, hopes were high for a more organized and peaceful international system. Two decades later, there is not much sign of one emerging. The focus of governments is shifting away from the Euro-Atlantic community — the heart […]

Most security experts believe cyber arms race is on

By Rachel King, ZDNet

From Rachel King, ZDNet:  The digital arms race is already underway, according to many global experts and their opinions included in McAfee’s global cyber defense report. At least 57 percent of the study participants concurred with this point, while another 36 percent went so far as to argue that cyber security is more important than […]

U.S. Ranked 4th in Cyber Defense

By Zachary Fryer-Biggs, Defense News

From Zachary Fryer-Biggs, Defense News:  The U.S. ranked behind Finland, Israel and Sweden in a new report analyzing the ability of countries to defend themselves against cyber attacks.

France upends NATO’s exit strategy in Afghanistan

By Dan de Luce, AFP

From Dan de Luce, AFP:  France’s decision to withdraw combat troops from Afghanistan a year earlier than planned deals a blow to the US-led war effort and threatens to trigger a "rush to the exits" by other NATO members, experts said Monday.

Obama supports Georgia ‘ultimately’ becoming a member of NATO

By Barack Obama, the White House

From Barack Obama, the White House:  On defense and security, I expressed my gratitude to the President for the extraordinary contributions that have been made by the Georgian military in Afghanistan. 

How NATO’s Global Partners ‘Got a Seat at the NAC table’

By Colin Clark, AOLDefense

NATO Chief: “From mid-2013 there will be a gradual change of the role of our forces in Afghanistan”

By Anders Fogh Rasmussen, NATO

From Anders Fogh Rasmussen, NATO:  First, let me stress that we stick to the road map that was outlined at the NATO Summit in Lisbon in November 2010, according to which we will gradually hand over lead responsibility to the Afghans; a process that has been started and hopefully will be completed by the end […]

Flournoy on Afghanistan Strategy and Military Capabilities Gap in NATO

By Jim Garamone, American Forces Press Service

From Jim Garamone, American Forces Press Service:  I think we’ve turned around the strategy in Afghanistan,” she [Undersecretary of Defense for Policy Michelle Flournoy] continued. “I think there has been a lot of progress there. For the first time in five years, violence is down in Afghanistan.”

NATO allies grapple with shrinking defense budgets

By Craig Whitlock, the Washington Post

From Craig Whitlock, the Washington Post:  NATO allies are confronting a sustained weakening of the military alliance as ailing economies are forcing nearly all members, including the United States, to accelerate cuts to their defense budgets at the same time. The Pentagon’s recent decision to eliminate two of the Army’s four brigades in Europe is […]