Norfolk 19 June 2003

Media Opportunity with Lord Robertson, Admiral Giambastiani and General Jones at the Allied Command Transformation Activation Ceremony and Change of Command Question inaudible. Lord Robertson: The key thing here is that this is something completely new and completely different that’s quite revolutionary. NATO has transformed itself. This is a new NATO. This command is absolutely critical to the way in which we develop and are able to deal with the new threats and challenges. And what makes it so different and distinctive is that it’s not just simply going to be about keeping the United States inter-operable with the allies but it’s with a much wider family and constituency than that. We see it as being a network that involves the European Union, the partner nations, possibly even Russia, to make sure that the freedom loving people of the world are on top of the capabilities that are going to be required to deal with some very new challenges in the future. So we’ve gone from what was a traditional, old, essentially Cold War command, in charge of the Atlantic with all the submarine threats that are involved there, now to dealing with these unconventional, unpredictable threats of the future. So this is an article of faith by the alliance in the future. And linking it so clearly to the U.S. Joint Forces Command means that the United States will never be alone in the future and that the allies will always know that in times of trouble they’ll be able to act with the United States in the interest of international law and order. Question: Lord Robertson, what place will the new allies, like Romania, have in the new set up? Lord Robertson: Well transformation means that the new allies will have a critical new role to play. They will add value to the alliance, and this command will make sure that they fit in with the total power that we can deploy in the rest of the world. So the nation capability, the specializations that can be brought in by the newer countries will not simply be bolted on, they will an integral part of a new, whole concept for making sure that our armed forces are sharp, they’re deployable and they’re powerful and effective, acting as both a deterrent and as a high integretity war fighting group. As and when required. Question: General, you as the operator and Admiral, you as the transformer are going to have to work closely together I would imagine. Are you already planning any kind of exercises or experiments for the NATO forces (rest of question inaudible)? Admiral Giambastiani: What I would say is that, first of all, General Jones and I are old personal friends, professional friends, which, I think, helps that there’s going to be a very strong relationship between the two of us. There already is, and I think in our commands. As a matter of fact just walking over here we were re-emphasizing some of those relationships and partnerships. I would describe it as a very, very robust and a very enthusiastic partnership on both sides. My job, and our job, as Supreme Allied Commander Transformation is, frankly, to support the operational command, just as Joint Forces Command supports the other combatant commanders inside the United States. We do that with the direction of the NATO Allied Council. We do that through the military council but the bottom line is that our job is day to day to support of the operations of the allied command operations. Jim. General Jones: You underscored what Admiral Forbes and now Admiral Giambastiani we have been working on the modalities of defining this relationship for quite a few months. And it really is going to be very, very strong and robust and cohesive relationship that will enable us to continue the transformation of the military capabilities that we all know we need for the 21st century challenges that face us all in common around the globe. Question: Do you have any specific exercises for experimenting… Admiral Giambastiani: Maybe we could say that frankly that these organizations are going to work hard on the NATO response force. That’s about as important as you can get. General Jones: That’s really the prime vehicle for transformation as well. Not it not only generates the capability but it’s the vehicle by which we achieve that transformation. Lord Robertson: This has been a remarkable month for NATO. When you consider not only did last week the alliance, indeed, get a whole new command structure. This is one critically important part of it that we’ve got a slimmed down, highly effective, very efficient new command structure agreed in about 8 ½ months. The last command structure took 10 years to put in place. So we have a command structure, we’ve got the NATO response force and it’s concept of operations now defined, and today we’ve got Allied Command Transformation. So this is a retooled, re-engineered, re-invented NATO, ready to deal with the threats that we all know are out there but also ready to deal with some of the threats that we don’t know are out there. Question: Can you address the urgency in which you need to get the force ready? Is there an urgency to make it happen tomorrow as opposed to several years from now? General Jones: I personally think that there’s, certainly operationally, if you’re looking at all the operations that are facing NATO that this is no longer an alliance that is content to wait for something to happen in its own back yard. We’re preparing a force—a sizable force—to go to Afghanistan. We’re preparing to deploy one of our member nations as a framework mission to Iraq. We’re running a very successful Mediterranean naval operation—Active Endeavor—that has resulted in a 50 percent decrease in illegal immigration, and a substantial decrease in the commercial insurance rates for commercial shipping in the Mediterranean. So we’ve completed a deployment to and from Turkey. And, we never forget the ongoing operations in the Balkans, which are yielding unparalleled success in apprehending indicted war criminals—100 out of the 120 named so far. So we are responding to the real challenges that face NATO. So there is some sense urgency with the arrival of ACT, the relationship with Allied Command Transformation and the Allied Command for Operations is going to hasten the delivery of the NATO response force, which is really going to be a terrific and incredible response to all of these challenges. Lord Robertson: The missing link at the moment still is sufficient progress on getting the European capabilities up to the standard and the quantity and quality of the American ones. But again the NATO defense ministers last week made serious progress in that as well. So there is a growing realization of the threat, the danger, how it can be tackled and also what it needs to make sure that we are going to make sure we are going to ensure safety and security. So this is an old headquarters building that is housing now one of the most modern military concepts in the world. And as the general and the admiral have said, this is not theory; this is theory put into practice. And every day there are people in uniform out there doing a remarkable job of work. This command is going to help them to make sure they do it well in the future. Admiral Giambastiani: I might add that the secretary general has said three important words “capabilities, capabilities, capabilities.” I would add three very important words to what Allied Command Transformation has to bring those capabilities about and that is “product, product, and product.” I mean that because we’ve done that within the United States Joint Forces Command. The product happens to be an intellectual capital transfer, it happens to be doctrine and organizations, it happens to be what we can do to help bring about changes across that entire spectrum that will foster those additional capabilities for NATO. Lessons learned, not lessons noted. Lessons implemented. Those are all important. They’re all part of an overall package. Question: Lord Robertson, in terms of transformation of Eastern European militaries is there any sort of plan for financing or some way to get those countries that don’t have the budget up to speed militarily? Lord Robertson: Well in many ways these countries are spending more of their national wealth on defense than the majority of NATO countries at the moment. So they’ve had to make serious progress as far as their application to be members of the alliance. And we will be expected to make the contributions that are required. But of course to be a member of NATO means that you can do it more cost effectively because you are part of collective security and collective defense. There are common funding programs that NATO has and it is part of NATO’s role that the common funding programs will assist and help them as well. But NATO is not some sort of charity. It’s not some benevolent body. It is collective security alliance whereby you make your contribution and you add value to the collective whole. So those countries—the new countries as well as the old countries—are expected to pay their share of the burdens because at the end of the day they expect their share of the security as well. Captain Carman: Very good. Thank you Secretary.