Colorado Springs 8 Oct. 2003

Press Conference by US Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld following the Study-seminar Thank you, good afternoon. As the Secretary General indicated, we've really done something that's never been done before at NATO. And that is to conduct an exercise seminar involving all of the NATO Ministers of Defence, the Chiefs of Defence, and the NATO Ambassadors. The seminar tested the potential capabilities of the new and evolving NATO Response Force, and its ability to deal with the types of asymmetric threats that NATO is likely to face in the future. It was hypothetical, but it was designed to deal with real-world threats and capabilities. I think it was useful, I know I learned some things, and I hope others feel the same way. It was last year that the United States recommended to NATO Ministers that they fashion a NATO Response Force, so the progress has been swift. And the seminar underlined the importance of that decision last year, and highlighted the need for that Response Force to have capabilities that are agile, swift, and lethal, so that this wonderful alliance of ours can respond quickly and effectively to rapidly unfolding crises. It also highlights the need for NATO to transform not only our forces and capabilities, but also to bring NATO's decision-making structures up to date, so that NATO military commanders can take decisive action against fast-moving threats in the 21st century. I should add that the point of an exercise like this is to challenge Alliance leaders with hypothetical, but hopefully realistic, scenarios to test our strengths and our weaknesses so we can study and discuss what we might do to improve our ability to respond. We had a good discussion following the seminar. Those discussions will continue this afternoon and tomorrow. The Ministers will be meeting to plan the next step forward for the Alliance. The seminar, I should add, was designed by NATO and the staff of the Allied Transformation Command, not by the United States. All the Ministers were participants, as was the Secretary General, the Chiefs and the ambassadors. I want to say how particularly grateful to Brigadier General Kristiansen of Norway, and his team, and all those who contributed to the design and presentation of this seminar, for their insights and their hard work. We also appreciate the hospitality of the folks at the National Integration Centre at Schriever Air Force Base.