SDA Header
Wednesday 27 August 2008

NATO: An Alliance for Freedom

Fundación para el análisis y los studios sociales (FAES) recently launched their new report 'NATO: An Alliance for Freedom' in Brussels at an event co-organised by the NDA. The report argues that NATO is at a crossroads. It may choose the path of continuity, risking becoming marginal to the security needs of its members, or, alternatively, as argued in this report, it could walk the path of strategic change. It is FAES's belief that NATO should take an ambitious jump if the organisation wants to play a central role in strenthening the security of its members.

 

November 2005

FAES

Placing Terrorism at the top of NATO's reform agenda

Launching Fundación para el Análisis y los Estudios Sociales’s recent report NATO: An Alliance for Freedom, Former Spanish Prime Minister José María Aznar spoke of a global war against Islamic terrorists that could either end in victory or defeat. Focusing on this new existentialist threat, he called for a bold transformation of NATO that emphasised collective defence and made homeland security the Alliance’s major objective. While welcoming its previous expansions, Aznar argued for a change in direction that would open the Alliance’s doors to Japan, Australia, Israel and even Latin American countries such as Colombia. The FAES President admitted that not everyone would agree with the report’s findings. During the debate, he found a measure of support from the panel, but criticism came from the floor of a packed house. Moderating, NATO Review Editor Christopher Bennett remained firmly in control of the proceedings. While describing the report as “strategic”, he reasoned that something was missing and worked with the panel to find additional ingredients.

November 2005

NDA

Closing Ranks: The future of European defence

The latest of the Bibliothèque Solvay’s debates, held under the auspices of the Fondation Robert Schuman, the New Defence Agenda, Friends of Europe, and the Hans Seidel Stiftung, looked at the future of the European defence policy. Based on the level of agreement reached by the main speakers, Javier Solana, Michele Alliot-Marie and John Reid, that future is extremely promising. The only hint of disagreement came when, rather like Banquo’s ghost, the spectre of the Constitution arrived. High Representative for the Common Foreign and Security Policy Javier Solana saw the EU caught in a vicious circle, where it could only become efficient (and take rapid decisions) if it changed its structure, and it could not make those changes without first convincing the public that it was an efficient body. He wanted an EU that acted quickly, one that was far removed from a Union that took decisions at monthly meetings. French Minister of Defence Michèle Alliot-Marie was not concerned that the lack of a Constitution would prove to be harmful to the ESDP, as she sensed that the EU-25 wanted progress on defence. British Secretary of State for Defence John Reid was not anti-Europe but he was anti-Constitution. Reid doubted that the 25 member states had the sufficient will to reduce the amount of bureaucracy in the EU. The Constitution might help but it would not solve all the problems.

November 2005

NDA

Tracking European Space Policies - Have we got the civil - military balance right?

After a wide-ranging debate on European space policies, it was clear that overall requirements need to be defined and that space was receiving inadequate funding. It was anyone’s guess as to which came first. Almost all the panellists called for a clearer requirements definition to be produced on European level and by the member states. The ESA’s Gerhard Brauer wanted these to be harmonised, or even better, common. The EU Satellite Centre’s Frank Asbeck offered the EU the possibility of developing “geographic information systems” that would incorporate network-centric techniques and the option of having another force multiplier on board. NDA Director Giles Merritt added that the existence of a coherent space policy could be seen a quick fix to reduce the growing gap between US and European capabilities. The ESA’s Michel Praet estimated that this gap in expenditure was in the region of 30:1.

October 2005

NDA

CSIS Report: European Defense Integration

October 2005

CSIS - Julianne Smith and Michele Flournoy

European Defence Integration: Bridging the Gap between Strategy and Capabilities

The New Defence Agenda is proud to present this report from the CSIS-NDA joint conference of the launch of the CSIS report “European Defence Integration: Bridging the Gap between Strategy and Capabilities.” A high-level cross section of 200 security and defence experts gathered in Brussels on October 12, 2005 to debate the transformation of European defence capabilities, the needs of the European Defence Agency in order to improve R&T development, and NATO and EU roles in defence integration. The CSIS report is an important contribution to the major project that is European defence integration and the NDA looks forward to working with CSIS in the future as the debate continues to evolve.

October 2005

SDA & CSIS

The outlook for global defence industrial partnerships

Speaking at this New Defence Agenda (NDA) press dinner, Robert J. Stevens, Chairman, President and Chief Executive Officer of Lockheed Martin, gave his audience a comprehensive overview of the prospects for global defence partnerships and his thoughts on the future of the industry. Stevens emphasised how Europe and Brussels had become crucial to a global company like Lockheed Martin. He highlighted that transatlantic collaboration European and American companies working together in a global defence and security marketplace - was important given the advantages of such a collaboration (delivering value to taxpayers, assembling a comprehensive portfolio of capabilities, etc.) Lockheed Martin, a key player in the marketplace, is committed to making transatlantic partnerships work. As concrete examples of successes, Stevens listed the Joint Strike Fighter (JSF), the Medium Extended Air Defense System (MEADS) and the 101 “presidential helicopter”. Programmes like these had demonstrated that a two-way flow of technology exists, that the market was in opposition to protectionism, and that constraints had to be removed while ensuring national security concerns were protected. Network centricity and a wider spectrum of security tools, not only military, would provide response capabilities for the future and enhance cooperation. 

September 2005

NDA

Strategic Priorities for protecting Europe's critical infrastructure against terrorism

The last NDA roundtable before the summer break examined Europe’s plans to counter terrorist attacks on its critical infrastructure. Ten days after this NDA Roundtable on the vulnerability of critical infrastructures to terrorist attack, London's transport system was hit by four near-simultaneous bomb attacks. The London death toll, at just over 50, was mercifully low in comparison to Madrid's loss of almost 200 people in the Atocha railway station bombings of March 2004, to say nothing of New York's 9/11 casualty list of about 100 times as many deaths. But if London underlined the importance of chance in determining the loss of life, the bombings there have also given fresh impetus to efforts to better coordinate national counter-terrorism measures.   

June 2005

NDA

Reinventing NATO: Does the Alliance reflect the changing nature of transatlantic security?

The NDA conference attracted an audience of three hundred industry leaders, government, EU and NATO officials, members of the European Parliament, journalists and think tank experts. As you know, the major question addressed by the conference was whether NATO has enough political vision and clout to maintain its position as the primary forum for transatlantic security dialogue when the European Union is also forging a stronger defence and security identity. NATO Secretary General Jaap de Hoop Scheffer told the conference that NATO is both setting the political agenda and setting the pace as an “institutionalised forum for transatlantic security consultation, coordination and common action.” Recognising there is need for change, General Harald Kujat, Chairman of the NATO Military Committee urged a “slimmer, tougher and faster” alliance, supported by a rationalised defence industry.

May 2005

NDA

Countering Bioterrorism: How can the EU and US work together?

Hosted jointly by the NDA and the Chemical and Biological Arms Control Institute, the meeting was an example of excellent EU-US collaboration. If there was one conclusion that could be drawn from the meeting itself, it was that such teamwork had to be duplicated in the actual fight against bioterrorism. Not that the event lacked ideas, as these were ever present. But there were few signs of real co-operation and the spectre of different "threat perceptions" was forever hovering in the background.

April 2005

NDA

Will the EU get though on opening-up national defence procurements?

Returning to address the NDA after 12 months, European Defence Agency Chief Executive Nick Witney concluded that something had to be done and done quickly. After admitting that time was not on his side, Witney was strongly supported by industry. Witney also shared the platform with representatives from the Commission, the member states and think tanks. No one doubted that the Agency and the Commission were taking positive steps but many speakers saw the need for greater political backing if a genuinely transparent and competitive European defence equipment market was to be created.

April 2005

NDA

What policies will create effective peacekeeping?

Peacekeeping was the topic of the day and it raised a multitude of questions. How should it be defined, where does it begin and end, and crucially, how does it vary in different regions of the world. A variety of views were expressed at the NDA Roundtable, disagreements surfaced and strong opinions were declared. On two subjects, however, there was universal agreement: 1) peacekeeping in all its forms is a growth industry 2) interoperability between the various players is an absolute must.


March 2005

NDA

Defence Aspects of the NATO and EU Enlargements

The questions of the day related to the new EU member states to the east: were NATO standards driving the transformation of their armed forces and how could their defence industrial base be revitalised? While there was general agreement that the need to be interoperable with NATO was acting as a catalyst, there was relatively little conformity when it came to the subject of the newcomers' industrial base.

February 2005

NDA

Towards an EU Strategy for Collective Security

This is the Summary of Debates of the high-level international conference 'Towards an EU Strategy for Collective Security' organised by the New Defence Agenda, EADS, TIPS and Konrad Adenauer Stiftung on February 3 at the Palais d'Egmont in Brussels. Some 300 political and defence industry leaders, national, EU and NATO officials discussed the security threats and the emergence of a collective counter-terrorism EU policy. Among the featured speakers were Gijs de Vries, the EU's Counter-terrorism Co-ordinator and European Commissioners Franco Frattini and Günter Verheugen.

February 2005

NDA

Next Generation Threat Reduction: Bioterrorism's challenges and solutions - Introductory Paper

This is an introductory paper to the third meeting of the NDA's Bioterrorism Reporting Group, written by Drs. Jill Dekker-Bellamy, Bio-Defence Consultant for the New Defence Agenda.

January 2005

NDA

Next Generation Threat Reduction: Bioterrorism's challenges and solutions

This report examines common challenges for mutual threat identification in a wider European landscape. Among the recommendations in the report is a call for sustained collaboration between the G-8, EU and US, and the implementation of regional programmes to secure pathogens and increased partnership opportunities with bio-industries to keep bio-defence experts engaged in peaceful research.

January 2005

NDA

Is the Transatlantic Defence Marketplace becoming a reality?

“THE TIMES THEY-ARE-A-CHANGING”
That’s what Bob Dylan sang back in the sixties, and moderator Brooks Tigner had a similar message when he opened the latest New Defence Agenda roundtable on the status of the transatlantic defence marketplace. He wanted panellists to focus on today’s situation and he did not want to hear about the history of transatlantic co-operation. And Tigner got exactly that. All the panellists said exactly what they thought and it was not all good. If one word could sum up the mood of the morning, it was frustration.  But in the afternoon, after a light lunch, a new panel under Giles Merritt’s careful guidance saw things in a different light. Several panellists reminded the meeting that defence and security requirements were international and not limited to a particular geographic sector.

January 2005

NDA
Powered By OdysseePowered by Odyssee