Russia’s increasingly hostile actions and the emerging Anti-Access/Area-Denial (A2/AD) challenge in Europe’s northeast have demonstrated that bolstering defense and deterrence on NATO’s eastern flank is a strategic imperative for the Alliance–especially for the Baltic states. An effective maritime framework would be a critical element in an integrated NATO deterrence and reassurance strategy for the Baltic Sea region.
In “A Maritime Framework for the Baltic Sea Region,” Franklin D. Kramer and Magnus Nordenman argue that such an approach would enable the Alliance to start long-term development of maritime and air capabilities and planning in a way that would focus NATO and national efforts and avoid gaps in both capabilities and contingency planning. The authors outline key aspects of a fully developed framework, which should include considerations for capabilities development, exercises, enhancement of existing regional cooperation, domain integration, command and control, and the role of the United States in the region, as well as the potential benefits for framework development across the Alliance.