NATO needs a fourth core task to protect allied populations from non-traditional threats like COVID and climate change.

Listen on

About this episode

The scope, scale, and impact of future non-traditional threats require NATO allies to think outside the framework of traditional security concepts and prepare the Alliance for missions that do not neatly fit an Article 5 scenario. To this end, the Alliance should approve a fourth core task focused on resilience, preparing NATO to protect the populations of member states against novel threats while reinforcing collective defense.

Watch the video

Key takeaways

• 1:56: Anca shares her thoughts on why NATO allies should build resilience for an era of shocks and why it’s not redundant with the Alliance’s other core tasks
• 2:54: Jim adds his thoughts on why building resilience is important
• 6:01: Jim explains three things that NATO is doing to minimize bureaucratic hurdles in providing personal protective equipment to member states as opposed to the EU’s approach to COVID-19
• 9:39: Anca discusses why NATO was able to be more efficient in this case than the EU
• 11:27: Jim explains the differences between what the EU and NATO were built to do
• 13:24: Jim talks about how NATO deals with unconventional situations like climate change, the flow of refugees, and food scarcity, and their impact on allied security
• 16:55: Anca and Jim talk about how NATO and the EU are cooperating for the greater good
• 19:27: Anca talks about why they want to formalize resilience as a fourth core task and include it as part of the NATO Defense Planning Process
• 21:11: Jim discusses why this is especially important in this day and age
• 24:25: Jim and Anca discuss if there should be new ministerial guidance given to NATO headquarters in regards to resilience as a core task
• 30:02 Anca and Jim talk about the long-term effects of making resilience a fourth core task in NATO

Read the essay

NATO 20/2020

Oct 14, 2020

Build resilience for an era of shocks

By Jim Townsend and Anca Agachi

NATO needs a fourth core task to protect allied populations from nontraditional threats like COVID and climate change.

Climate Change & Climate Action Crisis Management

Explore the podcast series

NATO 20/2020 Podcast

NATO 20/2020 is a weekly podcast that explores 20 bold ideas to push NATO to be more visionary, more capable, and more self-evidently valuable to the security of more people.

Related NATO 20/2020 essays

NATO 20/2020 Oct 14, 2020

Reimagine the Washington Treaty

By Damon Wilson and Will O’Brien

Reexamining NATO’s founding charter can be an exercise in creating an Alliance fit for a new geopolitical era.

Economy & Business Europe & Eurasia

NATO 20/2020 Oct 14, 2020

Build an Atlantic-Pacific Partnership

By James Hildebrand, Harry W.S. Lee, Fumika Mizuno, Miyeon Oh, and Monica Michiko Sato

NATO is the only institution capable of organizing transatlantic and transpacific stakeholders to address China’s political, military, and information threats.

China Defense Policy

NATO 20/2020 Oct 14, 2020

Open a bank

By Max Bergmann and Siena Cicarelli

NATO can fund critical defense investments by bringing the necessary financial tools in house.

Economy & Business Europe & Eurasia

Related experts

Fellow

Anca Agachi

Nonresident Fellow

Scowcroft Center for Strategy and Security Transatlantic Security Initiative

Africa Conflict

Related program

The Transatlantic Security Initiative, in the Scowcroft Center for Strategy and Security, shapes and influences the debate on the greatest security challenges facing the North Atlantic Alliance and its key partners.

Explore the Initiative

Image: A C-130 cargo plane of the Spanish Air Force carrying 10,000 protective medical suits donated by the Czech Republic lands at Torrejón airbase (Spain) as part of allied efforts to combat the effects of the coronavirus pandemic.