Intervention

It is a great pleasure for me to be with you and to address such a distinguished audience.   When flying to this far west-end of NATO, I realised that barely 2 centuries ago, California was the land of one the most famous, while fictional, Building Integrity defender, raising himsef against corruption and tyranny, you know the famous Z.....!

I don't think that even the imaginative inventor of Zorro, Mr Jonhston McCulley, could have thougt in 1919 of such a gathering as ours, here in 2013, to reflect on injustice and venality with a more strategic perspective I' m sure, and more peacefully too, I hope!

Being here in Monterey, "the language capital of the world", is I think, of particular relevance for a European NATO Commander, supporting 28 Nations in their work to transform their Armed Forces so that they can train, fight, work, communicate, understand and trust each other.   Trust is of particular importance when talking about the impact of corruption in crisis, conflict and stabilisation, and sharing good practices.

In turn, I would like to thank the Defence Resources Management Institute and the President of the Naval Postgraduate School, for organising this important Conference - in collaboration with the Office of the Secretary of Defence.

One of the most famous hallmarks of the French colonial project, in the late 19th century, was the civilising mission, based on the principle that it was Europe's duty to bring civilisation to unenlightened peoples.  In rethinking the so-called “’mission civilisatrice”’, we can imagine how complicated these environments appeared to the settlers!   They were facing natives who considered that their homeland was at the centre of the world, that their culture and traditions were the reference, and that settlers were invaders.   Many of the settlers were farmers, and it was a view commonly held in those times that farmers were well prepared to dwell within such a new world.

As Thomas Jefferson once stated:

"Farmers are the chosen people of God because they are closer to nature than the rest of us. They have their hands in the soil, they cooperate with creation and… the class of farmers generally have never been corrupt in any society whatsoever”.

Chosen and not corrupted, able to understand, integrate, and cooperate in a different environment, these are also ideal qualities for militaries involved in crisis, conflict and stabilisation efforts.  

While NATO has been fortunate to rely on military forces which uphold the highest standards of integrity and honesty, it has to accept that different Nations might have a slightly different interpretation of the word “integrity”, and different tolerance of certain corrupt behaviours.    Lessons learned from NATO operations in Afghanistan, the Balkans and many other places, have shown examples of corruption that had the potential to undermine the Alliance’s ability to conduct effective operations, and possibly even to prevent NATO from winning the so-called “hearts and minds” battle.

The NATO Building Integrity Programme was launched in the Euro-Atlantic Partnership Council in 2007, to raise awareness, promote good practice, and reduce the risk of corruption.   The Programme is part of NATO’s commitment to strengthening good governance, and it potentially encompasses all of the Alliance’s core tasks: collective defence, crisis management and cooperative security.

Allied Command Transformation has been actively involved in the work of Building Integrity from the outset.   When one of my predecessors, General Mattis, addressed the first Building Integrity Conference in 2009, efforts focused on a set of practical tools: the compendium of best practices, Building Integrity Self-Assessment, Survey and development of a Building Integrity Course.  It is encouraging to see that these ideas have grown, and the Building Integrity Programme has developed, into multi-year tailored projects for Afghanistan and South Eastern Europe.

When the Building Integrity Status Report was presented to the Heads of State and Government at the Chicago Summit in 2012, progress was deemed as being very promising.   The report underlined the importance of developing a systematic approach to education and training.   NATO Military Authorities and the International Staff were then tasked to develop a Building Integrity Education and Training Plan.   Presented to NATO and partners nations, the plan was endorsed by the NATO Military Committee and approved by the NAC in August 2012.

To my knowledge this is the first Education and Training plan to be approved by the North Atlantic Council.   Building Integrity is in fact one of the best examples of the importance of Education and Training in a changing and challenging environment.   Therefore, improved Education and Training is one of the objectives of the Connected Forces initiative.   CFI recognizes as well that our ability to learn lessons from our many operations is crucial to adapt our doctrines, our Education and Training, and exercises.

At the request of COM ISAF, ACT’s Joint Analysis and Lessons Learned Centre, or JALLC, is finalising an analysis report that will contain numerous recommendations for furthering the work in Building Integrity in Defence Institutions, particularly those in theatres of operations.

There are a couple of guiding principles that a military should embrace, before it proactively engages on this subject.  
Firstly, there must be understanding of the environment within which NATO forces are operating.   Secondly, analysis of the risk of corruption is to be embedded in a global planning perspective, and mitigation measures must be clearly identified.   At this stage, it must be stressed that increased transparency and clear accountability represent two key requisites in the BI perspective.   Transparency and accountability nurture the promotion of good practices.   They reduce the risk of corruption, and they guarantee that financial resources are properly spent in accordance with agreed priorities.   More than ever, and thanks to increased access to information, populations are sensitive to the integrity of their leaders (or lack thereof).   In fact, it appears that corruption is today the primary cause of populations’ disatisfaction.   That reinforces as well the permanent need to diffuse any suspicion that NATO forces could be involved in such practices, or even their perceived implicit acceptance of them.

The Building Integrity Initiative is also a true partnership tool, designed and implemented in a cooperative way.   It brings together NATO members and partner nations, and a wide range of organisations - from the Naval Postgraduate School to organisations such as Transparency International.   I am very pleased to note the presence today of such a great number of these partners, in particular, the newly established Norwegian Centre for Integrity in Defence.   It will be of great help, I'm sure, in developing the Education and Training plan.
This plan has two main objectives.   Firstly, it aims to ensure that NATO’s leaders and staffs are properly trained, and able to understand the impact of corruption, as a security factor.   Secondly, it intends to support the development of institutional capabilities and local forces, if requested and approved by nations.   An integral component of NATO’s partnership policy and programme is the promotion of good practices, transparency, accountability and integrity of systems and procedures in national defence sectors.   It also includes local forces’ training in a “building integrity mind-set”.

Indeed, if we want our efforts to be effective, they must not be treated in isolation from wider anti-corruption efforts.   They must be led in a comprehensive approach through an effective coordination and partnership between all involved stakeholders. And since the boundaries between organized crime, drug trafficking, and terrorism are more and more blurred, a stakeholder could be an actor, private or public, international or national, state, non-state, or even an individual with which the Alliance needs to cooperate, in order to deliver mutual benefits based on risk and gain.

The question here is how can we practically turn this conceptual approach into reality?    How can we back words with deeds?
The first part of the Education and Training plan is at the very heart of ACT’s core mission, as my Command is responsible, since the end of last year, for delivering all of NATO’s collective education, training and exercises.  

Our aim is first to integrate, within training and exercises, scenarios that reflect the most of lessons learned from operations.   That will enable those trained to detect, identify and correct activities that are counter to the principles of integrity.

In addition, with the support of the United States Institute of Peace, the Defence Resources Management Institute, and several countries such as Spain, Romania, the United Kingdom and Bosnia Herzegovina, more than 30 courses will be made available to NATO attendees in 2013.   These courses should help in particular to instil the necessary mind-set, and disseminate the best practices in the areas of transparency and accountability.   Also, the Geneva Centre for the Democratic Control of Armed Forces, in collaboration with NATO, has produced very useful guidance.    The golden thread is teaching, educating the military not to create situations that can potentially trigger corruption.    For instance, when NATO employs an indigenous workforce in Kosovo or Afghanistan, it should be careful not to destabilize the local economy.  We also need to develop procurement processes that promote local ownership in using the best practices.

I would now like to turn to the second part of the Education and Training Plan: to support the development of institutional capabilities and local forces.    As a result of a set of complicated and interlinked situations and circumstances peculiar to each operation, all local forces’ education and training support must be developed and delivered on a case-by case basis.

The best current example is the support of the Government of the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan to meet the commitments made at the Chicago Summit and the Tokyo Conference.   The goal is to develop institutional and individual capabilities in support of the Afghan National Security Forces.   The Afghan Ministries of Defence and Interior have already completed the Building Integrity Self-Assessment, and with the help of subject matter experts, the BI team has developed a tailored programme focused on building resource management procedures and individual capabilities.   At this point, priority has been given to management of financial and personnel resources.
Focusing on Afghanistan we must also acknowledge that corruption has found, if I may say so, a fertile ground in poppy cultivation and narcotics trade, and has developed partly because people must satisfy their fundamental needs.   For many Afghan farmers, the alternative to poppy growing has been misery - if not starvation. 

In such circumstance, they could not be expected to obey a law banning poppy cultivation, enforced in such a way as to change deeply their way of life and at the end deprive them of their livelihood.

Not all poppy cultivation, of course, should be attributed to poor farmers with no alternatives.   Some is attributable to greed and motivated by profit – the work of criminal organizations. 

The Taliban has taken political advantage of the resurgence in poppy farming by reversing its own position.    When the Taliban were in power, they actively suppressed the cultivation of opium poppy, and destroyed crops whenever they found them.    Now they are presenting themselves as the defenders of the farmers against a foreign enemy, bent on destroying their livelihoods in order to shield their own drug dependent citizens and societies.   The Taliban also have benefited from the informal - but organized – “taxation” of revenues from the traffic in drugs.   In such circumstances, building integrity efforts must begin with programs or projects that provide alternative livelihoods through effective replacement crops (like saffron) or other sources of income.   However, despite huge efforts put together by Afghan authorities, supported by NATO and partners, it's worth reminding that at the end of 2012, opium poppy cultivation in Afghanistan still covered 154,000 hectares!   It is well known as well that 98% of poppy production comes from the the most insecure provinces!

One could not imagine any anti corruption, any anti drug policy without security improvement.   That underlines the challenge that stands before the Afghans and allies together, and why the comprehensive approach is indispensable to tackle such a wide encompassing political, societal, economic and security issue.

We must acknowledge that the primary contribution of NATO in a comprehensive approach is to fulfill its core mission to provide security - and then to be the facilitator for others to do their jobs. Security and corruption are intricately linked, and as a golden rule, one can say that the absence of security implies systematic corruption.

Of course, all of this depends on technical arrangements and appropriate policies being in place.   In particular, while recognizing that we must work together to plan and execute the task, it is not enough to improvise coordination in the field.   NATO must be able to communicate better with other actors as early as in the planning phases, and even share certain common standards.

Another prominent aspect of Allied contribution to nations' security building, is providing their military and security forces with appropriate equipment.   On this point, I would like just to mention that donation or sale of equipment must be carefully monitored as is the case for the current NATO Training Mission in Afghanistan, so that this does not trigger potential sources of corruption.   The same applies to financial aid and project assistance, under the responsibility of military authorities or civilian agencies. 

Careful planning and active controls on funding for projects is critical.  NATO and its military and civilian partners must have sufficient local knowledge to understand the intentions and capabilities of those local actors charged with implementing projects or administering grants. The absence of sufficient concern for where our assistance goes and how it is spent, cannot be allowed to undermine our overall ability to fight against corruption.

With that in mind, NATO must adequately prepare transition phases.  In Afghanistan, planning is going on for the post 2014 Resolute Support mission.   It will concentrate on training, advising and assisting the Afghan National Security Force.  As it is being demonstrated in Afghanistan, developing defence and security institutions that are transparent and accountable, and building capacity to manage resources require a long-term commitment.    There are still considerable shortcomings and gaps in the Afghan National Security Forces.   These have been well documented by the Afghan authorities and international community. The Building Integrity Programme tailored for Afghanistan will focus on the most urgent needs.

We will not address these extraordinarily complex issues anywhere, without tackling the roots of corruption and helping the locals to rebuild their own institutions. This means adapting education and resource material into native languages, and being able to see events through the cultural lens of the local forces and population. 

This means possessing a good knowledge of legislative and judicial system, and being aligned with other good governance efforts led by the international community.   For NATO forces and partners, this "hosting nation" centric approach requires high quality individual training prior to deployment, and longer-than-current postings to theatre in order to bring continuity. Continuity in our efforts, continuity in our commitment, continuity in funding as well.

The Kosovo stabilisation and reconstruction mission was established in 2000 and is on-going.    More than 15 billion euros have so far been spent in efforts to stabilise and reconstruct the Balkans’ region since the end of the war.   Although the context will vary markedly from one operation to another, in Afghanistan or Kosovo, Building integrity and stabilisation and reconstruction are two faces of the same coin.   As NATO shifts to the post-2014 phase of its Afghanistan mission – and prepares for other contingencies – one common feature will be the need for a broad and enduring commitment, requiring the integration of civilian and military efforts. Building integrity and stabilisation need a realistic transition planning from the outset, along with trained militaries and civilians prepared to work, if needed, in demanding environment.    It can only be effective if anti-corruption strategies are properly taught and implemented.   From the NATO perspective, future operations – whenever and wherever they may be – will require a level of cooperation and consultation with partners supported by processes to be continuously developed within a Political Military Framework.

The necessity of integrity is as old as the world, and of paramount importance for humankind.   A 17th century French playwright, Jean Baptiste Poquelin, best known as "Molière", wrote in his famous play Tartuffe:

"If everyone were clothed with integrity, if every heart were just, frank, kindly, the other virtues would be well-nigh useless."

I offer you this powerful thought for this exciting conference.

Thank you for your attention.