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Good afternoon ladies and gentlemen and welcome to NATO Headquarters.  It’s always a pleasure for me to address the staff and students of the Canadian Forces College and because I’m only scheduled to be with you for 25 minutes, I will keep my remarks very short to allow time for some of your questions.

There are four things that you should retain from my intervention today.

  1. The Alliance is going through a period of transition.  It is in the process of renewing its Strategic Concept, which is a highly political document that provides guidance and direction for how we will operate through the year 2020.  The new Strategic Concept, which was last revised in 1999, will be adopted by the Heads of State and Government at the NATO Summit in Lisbon this November and will take into account the hybrid threats, challenges and global security environment of the 21st Century.  Transforming our forces to meet these new threats and challenges, many of which come from afar, is critical to our success, and doing so in a period of financial constraints makes it all the more complicated.
  2. Afghanistan remains our top priority with over 100K ISAF troops deployed there.  Our aim is to slowly and deliberately transition the responsibility to secure the country from ISAF to Afghan National Security Forces, which will be predicated by the conditions on the ground, of course.  Although the tactics to be used in the upcoming operation in Kandahar will differ from those in the recently successful action we saw in Marja, the outcome of ridding the region of Taliban influence and instilling confidence in a legitimate Afghan governing body remains unchanged.
  3. We must also strive to enhance our partnerships because gone are the times when NATO forces operate independently from others.  Military might alone can no longer win today’s battles as it has done through history up until the end of the Cold War.  The military must now be part of a larger, comprehensive approach and operate alongside a myriad of partners including civilian bodies from the international community.  The unique set of skills resident in other organizations will help the military instil good governance, proper reconstruction, and the restoration of basic services to the people, which are critical ingredients for lasting stability and security in any crisis environment.  NATO must also enhance its partnership with the EU and find greater opportunities for cooperation with Russia, especially in the areas of counter-terrorism, counter-piracy, counter-narcotics and missile defence.
  4. Let me leave you with one final thought.  Although NATO is evolving in an era ripe with new and forthcoming global security challenges, we will continue to be a trans-Atlantic Alliance of members who share common democratic values.  NATO’s door remains open to those who seek to join our Alliance, so long as they are able to meet the standards of membership.  We may very well be a regional security organization, but our actions have global implications.  Let us also not forget that we will never waver on our core commitment of collective defence, which has been ascribed under Article V of the Washington Treaty and is the backbone of the Alliance.

With that, I will now take your questions.