ADM Mark E. Ferguson III, USN (Ret.)
Former Commander
US Naval Forces Europe;
US Naval Forces Africa; and
Allied Joint Force Command Naples

Please join the Atlantic Council for a conversation with Vice Admiral Clive CC Johnstone, Commander of NATO’s Allied Maritime Command on “NATO’s Maritime Frontier.” The event will take place on Wednesday, January 17, 2018 from 2:00 p.m. – 3:30 p.m. at the Atlantic Council’s headquarters.

Sea power was a critical part of NATO’s deterrent posture throughout the Cold War. But after the fall of the Berlin Wall the focus on sea power and the maritime domain for deterrence and European security gave way to expeditionary capabilities aimed at asymmetric threats further abroad. Since 2007 that picture has changed in several ways: a resurgent Russian navy with new capabilities and a robust deployment program in the North Atlantic, Baltic, Mediterranean, and Black Seas, and a desire to showcase these capabilities for strategic effect in exercises like ZAPAD-17. The NATO maritime challenge is also now wider and more complex, with illegal migrant trafficking, terrorist and insurgent use of sea routes, threats to merchant shipping, and transnational trafficking in arms across the maritime domain. As a result, revitalizing NATO sea power is now recognized as a priority, with Alliance efforts to improve NATO’s maritime posture and emphasize maritime command and control in the ongoing discussions about NATO command structure adaptation.

In a conversation with retired Admiral Mark Ferguson, former Commander of US Naval Forces Europe, Africa, and NATO’s JFC-Naples, Vice Admiral Clive Johnstone will provide an update on NATO’s naval operations and exercises, the evolving security environment and the return of the Russian navy, MARCOM’s role in enhancing deterrence, NATO cooperation with EU missions, the range of maritime challenges across Europe, and will discuss the way forward in reconstructing Alliance sea power to respond to competition, deter aggression, and to project stability.

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Atlantic Council
1030 15th Street NW, 12th Floor (West Tower Elevators)
Washington, DC
20005

This event is open to press and on the record. 

VISITING THE COUNCIL: Metro and parking info