At NATO Annual Conference Brussels 14 April 2005

Transforming NATO – A Political and Military Challenge The Danish Response to the Transformation Challenge Speech by H.E. Mr Søren Gade Minister of Defence, Denmark Mr Secretary General, Ministers, Excellencies, Ladies and Gentlemen, First of all I would like to thank the Secretary General for arranging this conference on transforming NATO. It is solid evidence of your strong commitment to developing our Alliance. Let me add that the challenge of transforming NATO as well as our Armed Forces is something Denmark takes very seriously. By transforming our Armed Forces we get better value for our money. We will thereby be able to deploy more troops to international operations. Today Denmark has deployed more than 1000 troops to international operations in primarily Kosovo, Afghanistan, Iraq and Sudan. That should be compared to the size of the Danish population – which is just above 5 million people. So already today we carry a fair share of the burden. But we intend to do more! By transforming our armed forces, we will be able to double our capacity to participate in international operations from 1000 to 2000 troops. This increase will be implemented gradually over the next 5 years. We strive to have available, sustainable, flexible, well-equipped and well-trained troops. Troops that are able to participate in both high intensity operations under difficult conditions, but also in operations of less intensity. And this will all be done within the existing level of the defence budget! How can we get more defence for the same money - you might ask? This I will try to answer during my short presentation today. - - - oOo - - - Let me go back to the early 80’s. At that time I was undergoing reserve officer’s training. Back then we were taught to defend Denmark against a large scale invasion from the Warszawa Pact. Today’s threat comes primarily from international terrorism, from failed states, and from proliferation of weapons of mass destruction. The new threats are global but their implications are also local. What does this mean for NATO and its members? With new and different threats NATO and its members need to respond in a different way. The Alliance and its members must transform to remain relevant. The aim for the Alliance must therefore be to develop the necessary sustainable, deployable and usable forces and capabilities for out of area scenarios. This requires a broad transformation of our Armed Forces. How does NATO ensure that the necessary transformation takes place? NATO’s usability initiative can play a very central role in the transformation process. One of the elements in the usability initiative is that member states should establish national usability targets. The Danish Prime Minister did exactly that. He declared a national ambition of being able to have 2000 troops for international operations. On this basis, transformation plans required to meet this target were developed. In this way a national usability target was used as a catalyst for transformation. The doubling of our capacity for continued deployment of personnel – from today’s 1000 to 2000 by the year 2009 - will bring Denmark well above the 40 and 8 percent NATO usability targets for land forces. The development of a national level of ambition for international operations was not only central to our detailed structural planning. Perhaps more important it was also key to public and political support for the transformation process. This illustrates how usability can be applied in a positive and constructive fashion. - - - oOo - - - Is the increase in the number of soldiers for international deployment the only achievement in our new defence agreement? No, we will do more than that. Under the new agreement we will in the coming five years increase our investments in equipment and military capabilities. We aim at an improved usability of our forces by developing self sustained capabilities. A Danish contribution to an international operation will therefore not only consist of combat units but also include the necessary support units and logistics.   With regard to means of deploying our forces I would like to highlight our sealift capability. The Armed Forces have two Roll On Roll Off ships on a permanent commercial hire for this purpose. This is the so called ARK project – an important Danish contribution to the NATO PCC initiative. The ships are already sailing, and they have been assigned to the NRF. How have we been able to do this within the same budget? The answer is tough choices allowing a transformation of historic dimensions. First of all, we decided to fully abandon the large mobilisation force structure dedicated for territorial defence. Secondly, we had to prioritise between our military capabilities. Consequently, we decided to abolish the submarine force, the Ground Based Air Defence and the Multiple Launch Rocket System. We did so with a view to what NATO needed and what was most required for international operations. In the preparation of our new defence agreement we consulted with NATO both on a political and military level. The Secretary General visited Denmark just after I took office about a year ago, and the advice from NATO was a guiding tool in our decision-making on the future structure of our Armed Forces. Furthermore, we had to slim our Staff and Support structure to free funding for operational capabilities. - - - oOo - - - Another important aim of the new Defence Agreement is to strengthen Homeland Security. For this purpose we have decided to maintain conscription but in a very changed form. Under the new model the conscripts will undergo four months of basic training. When basic training is completed the conscripts will return to their civil life – but in the following three years they may be recalled for total defence tasks if necessary. However, after the four months of basic training a conscript can also choose to continue in the Armed Forces. At that time he will NOT be a fully trained soldier. But if he chooses to stay, he will receive 8-9 months of additional military training, where after he will be deployed to a international operation for up to 6 months. Keeping conscription will thereby strengthen the possibility of the Armed Forces to recruit soldiers for international operations. Maintaining conscription ensures that the Armed Forces will continue to be deeply rooted in the society. Conscription ensures that men from all groups in the society join the Armed Forces. This should foster a better public understanding and a more positive attitude toward the Armed Forces as an institution. - - - oOo - - - Transformation is not only about transforming your capabilities. Transformation is also about changing your concepts, policies, and procedures – to put it briefly it is about changing your way of thinking. It is common knowledge, that you may be able to win a war with military means; but you can certainly not win the peace with military means alone. We need to overcome what one could call the ‘stabilization and reconstruction gap’. In Denmark, we are therefore changing the way we are looking upon international operations. To this end we have introduced a new concept in our defence agreement: Concerted planning and action of civil and military activities – for short CPA. CPA is not the same as the military term CIMIC. CIMIC addresses civil-military cooperation in the field in support of the military operation. CPA is wider in its approach. CPA is about coordination of allcivilian, including political, economic and legal elements, and military efforts during all phases of an operation. And not only in the operation area but also in the capital. This will ensure the maximum effect of the resources we allocate to the area. Speaking about coordination of civilian and military activities, some might ask if military forces should take over humanitarian and reconstruction efforts in areas of operation? No, they should not. Humanitarian efforts and reconstruction of civil societies are not - and will never be - core military tasks. This is the role of civilian organizations. They have the experience and expertise in these demanding and important areas. However, there can be situations where the lack of security makes it difficult for civilian organizations to operate in an area. The most recent example is Iraq. Here our Armed Forces has carried out civilian projects on behalf of the Danish Ministry of Foreign Affairs. These projects range from repairing water supplies to modernization of a local hospital. We have had many positive experiences with our concerted planning and action initiative. We believe the initiative is worth presenting to a wider international audience, and that it could contribute to overcoming the stabilization and reconstruction gap and thereby help shortening the period where there is a need for military presence in a former crisis area. Denmark is hosting a NATO seminar on CPA issues on the 20th and 21st of June this year in Copenhagen. It is our hope that the seminar will be a valuable input to discussions also in NATO on this issue. I think it is fair to say that both nations and NATO needs to develop the thinking on CPA issues. - - - oOo - - - Concerted planning and action is a good example of the need to change the way we are thinking. But it is not only NATO members that need to transform. Also NATO itself as an organization must transform. We therefore strongly support you, Mr Secretary General, in this endeavour, as we support your work for further strengthening political dialogue within the Alliance. A final issue when it comes to reforms in NATO - that isa reform of the common funded budgets and programs. NATO’s cost shares are increasingly unfair. As long as some nations pay more than their fair share of the burden, it will be difficult to agree on the necessary reform of common funding, including an increased level of common funding. Thus the present cost-shares act as a barrier to NATO’s transformation. - - - oOo - - - Excellencies, Ladies and Gentlemen, This was in short the main aspects of our transformation process. I am sure there are many other ways to go in the transformation process, and every country has to choose its own way to go. NATO has transformed in recent years – NRF is one good example – and rest assured that Denmark will do its best to support the continued transformation. Thank you.