On October 29, the Atlantic Council’s Brent Scowcroft Center on International Security hosted a not-for-attribution strategy session on regional security cooperation in the Nordic region with Lieutenant General Arto Tuomas Räty, permanent secretary of the Ministry of Defense of Finland.

The Nordic countries have established a successful model for defense cooperation to deal with their security challenges in an age of defense budget austerity. Using this framework helps smaller countries to protect their interests without having to spend too much money on procurement of capabilities and on defense as a whole. The Nordics feel their model might be useful for NATO and the European Union as they struggle with defense budgets. The discussion also touched upon cybersecurity, Arctic security, the future of NORDEFCO, and defense priorities after Afghanistan.

Secretary Räty has been in his position since the beginning of 2011. In 2009, he was appointed deputy chief of staff operations in the Defense Command, Finland. Before that, he was the chief of staff of the Army Command. In 2007, he was named the director of the National Defense Policy Unit.