 Good morning, everyone. Good morning. Thank you. Thank you very much for Silence, please. Thank you. Good morning. I'm Stephen Flanagan, Senior Vice President and Henry A Kissinger chair here at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, and it's a pleasure to welcome all of you on behalf of our our partners the Polish Institute for International Affairs and the our sponsors the NATO Public Diplomacy Division and Rolls Royce North America. It's a it's great to see you all here It's a real testament I think to our to our speaker that we could turn out such a good crowd early on the first Monday after after Thanksgiving But it is an interesting time for NATO and we're delighted to have this chance to provide you with if not a comprehensive certainly a fulsome review of the Lisbon summit accomplishments and the way ahead from Lisbon What are the key challenges confronting NATO and that's very much going to be the topic of our speaker today? I have to first of course ask you the usual admonition Please turn off all devices that buzz or grown or make noises before we start so our speaker is not interrupted And let me take just a brief moment to to introduce him You have some more bio information on him, but it is a pleasure to introduce The Admiral who has served as both NATO Supreme Commander Europe and a commander of the US European Command since July of 2009 I'm sure it seems longer to him The Admiral Stavridis he took the helm and that that is because in all seriousness He took the helm and I should say it was the helm He's the first naval officer to serve as NATO's top operational commander at a time of great challenge to the alliance with Afghanistan and five other significant operations around the world and many questioning the alliance's fundamental direction and purpose But I think as many of you who know him. He is just the right officer to need laid out NATO at this challenging period He's a proven leader of complex military operations a deep strategic thinker and a military statesman in the tradition of some of the finest saccures And of course he was an effective practitioner of smart power long before that became the vogue in Washington And those of you who've tweeted with him know he has boundless energy and is a great communicator able to to tell NATO's story Clearly to wide-ranging audiences and some senior members of Congress to European parliaments to young people in the blogosphere Just a brief word about his background for those of you who don't know him a native of South Florida and the son of a career Marine Corps officer He won an appointment to the Naval Academy where he was a distinguished grad of the class of 1976 He was commissioned as a surface warfare officer and served at sea on carriers cruises and destroyers He went on to learn earn his masters and PhD degree at the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy At Tufts University in 1984 where he where he was the top student of his class He was also a distinguished graduate of the national war college Back at sea Abel Stavridis commanded the destroyer USS Barry completing deployments in Haiti Bosnia and the Persian Gulf He went on to command the enterprise carry a Strike group and the Persian Gulf in support of both operation Iraqi freedom and operation enduring freedom A shore he has served as a strategic and long-range planner for the staffs of the chief of naval operations The chairman of the joint chiefs of staff and as director of the navy operations group deep blue He's also served an executive as an executive assistant to the secretary of the navy Richard Danzig and as a military senior military assistant to secretary defense donald rumsfeld In october 2006 another first he became the first navy officer to lead us southern command where he made great strides in In reshaping counterinsurgency and narcotics assistance to columbia But where he also helped improve attitudes towards the united states throughout the region Through a dynamic and creative strategic security cooperation strategy So his energy and commitment to new missions is exemplified by the fact that when he took over southern command His french was excellent, but he spoke no spanish. So he put himself into a crash course to learn the language Well, he came to nato then clearly knowing the other official language of the alliance But a secretary gates noted when he appointed him. He'd had to learn to speak nato Well, I think those of you who know how he's been performing these last 16 months know He's doing quite well on that assignment and we look forward to his Review and assessment of the key challenges that he sees in implementing the guidance that he and his other fellow commanders have received From the lisbon summit animals to readies. Welcome to csis Thank you, and good morning everybody. I am going to use just a couple of slides, but if you're Still uh overcoming the Little bit of sleepiness from uh, thanksgiving. I assure you they're not Devastatingly boring powerpoint slides. Um, they're really just a few images to kind of move our conversation along this morning Steve thank you for that that far too generous introduction I will uh, I will do my best to avoid uh speaking anything other than clear and simple english this morning But what I'd like to do first slide, please Is is simply talk about the alliance for a few moments And then I'll try and give you a bit of a report from the lisbon summit And then I'll talk about and I think this is what we're really interested in Kind of what's the next step? What are we going to move forward on? What are some of the key issues that we're going to try and focus on and of course in that segment I'll talk a bit from my particular perspective as the supreme ally commander Which is a very exalted title, but what it really means is on the operations officer for nato So I get to operationalize a lot of the ideas that come out of the summit Just to kind of put us on the same sheet of music next slide um I often start a presentation by talking about bridges. This of course is uh a bridge over the drina river It's in the Balkans And it it figures in the title of an extraordinary novel the bridge on the drina by andro evich who won the nobel prize This bridge of course is in bosnia herzegovina Today I would thematically think a little bit of the alliance as a bridge in time A temporal bridge it is a bridge that I think connects Both europe and north america the partners as well our larger set of partners our partners for peace many of whom are represented today And indeed potential partners like japan And others who are part of the global set of actors for security and good So today when I speak at nato, I'll talk a little bit about the alliance as a bridge in time from this cold war To this new world that emerged after the cold world And today I think we're in a bit of a new new world So i'll be talking a fair amount about that bridge in time that I believe nato is and where that bridge is headed next please We should start by thinking to ourselves Why does nato exist? This is a very tragic photograph. It's the graveyard at verdun A battlefield in the first world war And I put it here as as emblematic of the terrible wars that swept europe and really swept the world In the 20th century. I mean this was a devastating period in europe and and really throughout the world This battlefield at verdun in 1916 Over a 300 day period during the battle A thousand people a day died A thousand a day for 300 days This cataclysmic series of wars that swept europe and swept the world Really was the the creation point if you will Of nato in a certain sense nato was designed to avoid this kind of cataclysmic conflict next please And so we see a nato that emerges In the cold war period and look at that photograph. It's chrisp. It's precise We knew who we were we knew what we did That was the nato of the cold war period It was sharp. It was clear everything was very defined for us next please So then the berlin wall falls and just as this photograph is a little bit out of focus Even so you can sense the jubilation in it the great sense of wonder that the world is really changing And there is a sense of real optimism at this moment a sense that a a new world is emerging next slide It didn't turn out quite as optimistically as we had all hoped The new world I would argue has moved in time into a kind of a new new world one that is Very challenging for us that presents a very discrete set of challenges to the alliance and I think that set of challenges Is what energized the alliance as it drafted this new strategic concept So let me talk a bit about that As you all know the first strategic concept was written Decades ago the most recent one was in 1999 10 years ago So this new strategic concept that is emerging I think very accurately looks at this the thread of threat And provides us with a way ahead and that's what I'll talk about this morning next please So I'll start with a Challenge that may surprise some of you who might have thought well the saccure will start by talking about Afghanistan and terrorism those are certainly parts of our Challenges, but I would argue demographics is a challenge and it's one that we should consider and think about This is not a nato problem to solve, but as we look at declining Populations particularly in europe in russia In the baltics in the Balkans in parts of western europe as these populations Decline in numbers. We will have security impact First of all almost all of our forces today are all volunteer forces 25 or so 24 of the nato nations are now all volunteer forces So finding that recruiting pool is going to be more challenging We're also going to be spending more Of our tax dollars on social services to support an aging population All of this will create Challenges in the security realm Now these are not nato challenges to solve, but they are Aspects to this security dimension that we must be aware of as we move forward into this 21st century next please The insurgency in afghanistan is of course a challenge and was very much in mind as the new Strategic concept was drafted as we went through the summit and of course the interactions there with president karzai and the ideas of Transition in afghanistan were very much central to the discussions we had in lisbon Afghanistan is a very challenging Problem set for the alliance and for the entire isaf coalition as you're all aware nato the 28 nations of nato are but a part Of the larger isaf coalition a total today of 48 nations the most recent being kazakhstan Who attended the summit? so those 48 nations who are Also supported by 70 nations that are providing financial assistance to afghanistan All undergirded by the united nations all of us despite all of that great international support Find this to be a very challenging problem set next please Next slide please Look closely at this slide it represents A challenge closer to the european continent and it's the balkans This is sarajevo. It's the national library in sarajevo destroyed during the siege of sarajevo There you see a cellist playing bravely during the siege. It's a famous story It's immortalized in a in a novel A fictionalized account of this called the cellist of sarajevo Which i would recommend to any who would like to understand the kind of fabric of what it was like to be in that city under siege for four and a half years I put it here to remind us that while there is great progress in the balkans And today in fact most obviously slovenia croatia and albania are members of nato additional Balkan Nations will probably join nato in the years ahead We have made enormous progress from a period of time in which we had Over 50 000 nato troops at one time or another in the balkans Today in kasovo When i took over 16 17 months ago We had 15 000 troops in the balkans I reduced that to 10 000 I just made the recommendation which has been approved by the secretary general and the council To further reduce the troop levels there to around 5 000 So we've come from 50 000 troops in the balkans down to only around 5 000 That's great progress. I think we're in relatively Peaceful zone in the balkans today, so we can make progress in these very challenging situations But I would include the balkans as part of the area that we must continue to watch and be engaged in to make sure that we do not Fall back to photographs like this next, please I worry about missiles about ballistic missile threat And the alliance as you know during the summit has taken a step to agree to Incorporate the us phased adaptive approach missile system with the nato C2 command and control capabilities to begin to create a missile defense for the alliance And I think that's an important step as well next please terrorism We are all well aware of this there were 300 kinetic Terrorist incidents in europe over each of the last several years Many in the north caucuses like this photograph Some in france some in spain There are different reasons for it, but terrorism which is within the domestic sphere of the nation states is A law enforcement problem But nato has a role to play In supporting this principally in actions as we are undertaking today in afghanistan To ensure that we don't suffer additional attacks From al-qaeda and other organizations along those lines next, please This is a hard picture to look at this is a ukrainian prostitute She's a victim of heroin addiction and human trafficking Again, not a nato problem to solve per se but The effects of heroin addiction for example, which is particularly a problem in russia Which has 30 000 heroin addicts? Correction 30 000 deaths from heroin between the ages of 18 and 24 last year Perhaps a million addicts in russia The concern here in addition to the terrible human cost you see Is that these trafficking routes provide a means to move both heroine terrorists Potentially weapons of mass destruction Also the funds which come out of this multi multi multi billion dollar business Are used to support insurgents in afghanistan and elsewhere It creates corruption. It undermines good governance So again, not a nato problem to solve But nato has a role in supporting law enforcement in understanding next slide These routes these trafficking routes across which move a great deal of deleterious material people This is of concern and as part of the security landscape that was in the mind of the drafters of the strategic concept and at the summit next please There is also illegal migration Which has a terrible human cost here. You see a group of migrants actually being rescued at sea after their boat drifted in the Mediterranean for some weeks But additionally as is the case with the narcotics routes I am concerned about what flows across in addition to the human cost represented here So migration Illegal migration and the use of those routes in that regard. I think is part of this security fabric next please And there's piracy out there now navy admirals get excited about pirates But I will tell you that in addition to my normal My normal nautical juices flowing at the site of pirates In seriousness, we are all concerned about the billions of dollars of cost added to all of our budgets as a result of piracy Of the human cost of this hostages are taken Ships are held hostage All of this creates enormous discontinuities in the global transportation grid This particular photograph is a pirate skiff that is under attack by a Danish ship operating under nato flag Off the coast of eastern africa off the horn of africa So piracy is part of this fabric of security and challenge next please Now look closely what doesn't fit in that picture. There's something strange there I put it there. It's a whimsical photograph, but I put it there You know if even the babushkas in the village are breaking out their laptops You know how vulnerable we all are you know how dependent we are on cyber And I would argue that the nato alliance with its Extraordinary sophistication is probably at the highest level of vulnerability So cyber and cyber defense is very much a part of what we will seek to do coming out of the summit next please Julian Assange the leader of uh wicca leaks You need look no further than today's washington post in new york times to understand the need for cyber security next please High north there are geographic areas We need to ensure that the high north the arctic Remains as it is today a zone of cooperation Of the nations that border The arctic region four of them are nato nations four out of the five principal ones The organization that works this very effectively is the arctic council This is not an area in which I see nato operating extensively, but it is part of Understanding the expanding space in the globe and I can see areas in which nato could be engaged search and rescue Support to environmental work Again working together with the arctic council to ensure that this remains a zone of Cooperation as we go forward next please Let us not discount mother nature and in terms of our challenges These are the forest fires in moscow probably a 15 billion dollar event We need to be able to work together In order to alleviate the kind of challenges that come from this type of operation So i've given you a bit of a sense of the challenges in the security environment And i'll add one more to it next please Which is these are protesters at lisbon wearing shirts that say no nato As as a senior nato officer I always remind myself that not everyone views nato as a global force for good I think it is But part of our challenge in the time ahead in my view and the strategic concept will help us with this Part of our challenge in the time ahead will be to communicate the role of nato So this idea of doing that effectively so that we can win over some of the Individuals who are expressing their right to protest nato will come to see this organization for what it is Which I believe is a global force for good next please So that brings us to the summit if we think about all of that as a kind of uh A prelude a backdrop a strong alliance that comes from a cold war background Into a new world and now into this new new world today 28 heads of state Are happy because together at lisbon last weekend They came together and authorized this new strategic concept recall that the last time nato got together to do a strategic Concept there were only 19 heads of state in that photograph So this is an alliance that has expanded dramatically Since the last time we had a strategic concept Since the last time we had a strategic concept We've had the rise of the kind of terrorism that we saw in the photograph for the twin towers We are in this new new world next please From a us perspective if I may don my us hat for a moment I think the the summit was regarded as a success Both by president obama who was in attendance And with and by secretary gates You can read the quotes they speak for themselves I would also highlight for this audience president obama's excellent op-ed Which he published in the new york times in the days immediately before the summit Which pointed out that this transatlantic link this european us relationship nato all a part of that Are the cornerstone of us security Now that's a cornerstone not the whole house there are many many bricks in the security of the united states But I think it's significant that the president Would highlight this and I believe that the summit reinforced that next please I think the president had a good time. I was that's my somewhat less handsome head than his chatting with him there Next please And I think this head of state had a pretty good summit president karzai He came he spoke very Uh, I thought extremely sincerely about the gratitude of the people of afghanistan for the work of the coalition And therefore nato, which is a part of that coalition. He spoke about the need for a long term Strategic relationship which all the heads of state validated He spoke about the progress in afghanistan and I think overall Uh, the headline from president karzai was the transition Which will begin next year in 2011 and we will Complete our goal is to complete a security transition to afghan led operations by 2014 All of that was discussed all of that was validated by the heads of state Uh in the presence of and with the participation of president karzai next please And above all my boss secretary general rasmussen. He had a very good summit I think he felt extremely pleased with the results not only on the Strategic concept which you see him holding in his hand there That is literally quite hot off the presses at that moment In addition to the strategic concept the nato russia council, which i'll speak of momentarily and as well The nato afghanistan effort that I spoke of a moment ago all of those things came together Very effectively for the secretary general and I credit his leadership His energy his personal work on drafting the strategic concept I think he's had an extremely successful start to his tenure. He's now about 15 months into it And I think the summit he would say was a highlight for him thus far Any good jumping off point for where he intends to take the alliance next please So with that as prelude you must be saying well, so what do you think about all those challenges and where are we going next please I like to begin always by saying The comprehensive approach and that applies to all of us I would put the comprehensive approach at the At the at the top of my list of things that come out of the summit And the comprehensive approach is everything from learning the languages. That's the rosetta stone To reading and understanding the culture the literature of the different parties states and actors in all of our security dimensions Everything from novels like The Ugly American which is actually a a book about how not to do the comprehensive approach The afghan campaign About the first afghan campaign that of alexander the great It's a novel by steven pressfield that illuminates a great deal about afghanistan Dead souls by nick ol gogol to understand russian literature is to begin to understand russia cyber power and national security Work done here in washington over at the inss There are a million different books to read But i believe part of the comprehensive approach is the study of languages and the study of literature culture history Through reading next please So let's take afghanistan as an example and talk about the comprehensive approach If you look at this thematically around the outer ring you see the flags of the nations that are engaged As i said not only the 28 nato nations It's a coalition of 48 troop contributing nations 70 that are financially engaged in all this and of course at the very top the united nations Uh bottom right there Photograph is stefan demistura the high representative of the secretary general of the united nations a key player in afghanistan So this comprehensive approach begins with the international partners And then next ring in it's the international organizations are part of this the united nations the world bank The u.s agency for international development which represents all of the national developmental Agencies in afghanistan They are part of this and then as you go around the ring you see the private sector There are over 1,700 Humanitarian private sector organizations doing very good work in afghanistan And of course you see diplomats like ambassador demistura Ambassador said well of great britain who is the secretary general of nato's representative The comprehensive approach is bringing all that together. It's the international the interagency the private public The military the economic the diplomatic the cultural the linguistic that's the comprehensive approach When you succeed it looks like this next slide That's a young canadian lieutenant. She's handing out school books to young afghan girls going to school 10 years ago. There were less than 500,000 children in school in afghanistan Today there are seven million Three million of them are young girls like this like my two daughters Who are receiving an education in the end? That's the comprehensive approach We will not deliver security in afghanistan solely from the barrel of a gun Let me say that again. We will not deliver security in afghanistan solely from the barrel of a gun It takes this comprehensive approach now next slide Another example of it. Here you see afghan soldiers holding books And you might say to yourself well, that's slightly odd because 80 percent of afghans cannot read sadly It is a country with low literacy rates So why would afghan soldiers be holding books? The answer is because we are teaching them to read That is the comprehensive approach Today the isaf coalition has 27 000 afghan soldiers who are learning to read That may be the most lasting thing we do in afghanistan in the end We will teach Hundreds of thousands of afghan soldiers to read by next summer. We'll have a hundred thousand afghan soldiers in literacy training Now they're not going to become scholars at csis like my friend steve flanigan They are going to have a third grade to sixth grade facility to read They will be able to file a police report They will be able to read license plates. They will be able to record the serial number on their weapons They will be able to function at a basic level of literacy so they can be afghan security forces army and police So that's part of the comprehensive approach Next please and oh by the way, we are teaching them to fight and we do need military Effectiveness as part of the comprehensive approach this idea of building partner capacity of making security local Is part of the comprehensive approach that package i think and i've simply used afghanistan as an example But that package is really part of what we seek to accomplish In the alliance using a comprehensive approach next please Now that's a boring picture. It's just a building But to me that's a very beautiful building. It's an important building. It's the center Of excellence for cyber security. It's in talin estonia And it is very much the beginning if you think of us Kind of on the beach at kitty hawk in terms of aviation We are just beginning in this world of cyber security This is the beach at kitty hawk It is a place where we are bringing together The nations to begin the discussions about cyber security cyber policy and improving our abilities in cyber all of which are Part of the strategic concept and part of what was discussed at the summit So i look for great things from this center of excellence And it will be a key focus area for us and particularly for my organization working with the nato agencies As we go forward to improve cyber security next please Missile defense now you knew you weren't going to get out of here without having at least one picture of a navy ship shooting a missile This is an arlie berg destroyer I was lucky enough to command one of these as were several of my friends here in the audience This is the basis for the phased adaptive approach missile system. It is initially going to be sea based We'll see the first few of these ships flowing into the Mediterranean in 2011 And our objective now that the summit has Given us authorization to move forward on this is to connect the us phased adaptive approach Missile system with the nato command and control I do not have details on that or how it will all come together That's one of my principal homework assignments over the next six months to develop this as a proposal Which will then go forward to the nations of nato Ultimately for their decision as to how to connect what we call alt bmd, which is the nato Ballistic missile command and control system with the us phased adaptive approach system Initially sea based by mid decade. It will begin to come ashore All of that to be determined exactly where Radars and missiles will go But I am confident that this system will move forward with success and that the alliance will incorporate it I think it's a fundamental responsibility of the alliance to protect itself from ballistic missile threat next, please We also have exciting micro technologies I think that today The age of biology is emerging. These are biometrics. This is using retinal scans Exploring these kind of micro technologies Is also going to be an important movement forward and it's something the alliance will be very focused on in the time ahead next, please And that's the ags system. I put it there to represent the capabilities the 10 capabilities that the alliance has pledged to begin to move toward one of which Ags there's a basket of these that focus on afghanistan And there's a basket that focus on longer range and newer and emerging threats from ballistic missiles To cyber the ags is moving along well, and I believe it'll be part of this capability package in the time ahead next, please Russia I was very Very pleased to see the participation of president miedvedev Here you see him shaking hands with the secretary general this was Very much a handshake that was consummated It was a a very good session between President medvedev and the 28 heads of state of nato We have a basket of real Cooperation in a variety of zones as we go forward and i'll mention a couple of them piracy Today russian ships are operating very effectively off the horn of africa alongside our nato and our european union and other nations counterterrorism counter narcotics We spoke of a moment ago the narcotics problem particularly with heroin in afghanistan Russian cooperation is very possible in afghanistan everything from logistics to mi 17 helicopters And I would also add missile defense Details to follow but all of those topics were discussed and agreed as areas of potential And in some cases current cooperation that we seek to expand With russia as a in the phrase from the strategic concept is as a true strategic partner next please And here's a photograph to help illustrate it You know i'm a cold war product. I graduated from anapolis in 1976 and went into the cold war In my wildest dreams. I couldn't have imagined this photograph which is Which was taken about three weeks ago in moscow when I was visiting as sakir That's a russian sailor raising the nato flag at a ceremony in my honor in moscow The russia is really reaching out and I think that we would be well served To find these zones of cooperation. We will not agree on everything This relationship will have its Moments of disagreement But what I saw at the summit and my direction from the secretary general and from the nations are to Find and expand these areas of cooperation that I mentioned earlier next please And there's a practical one mi 17 helicopters. These are superb helicopters We would like to get them more of them flying with the afghan air force. We're building a trust fund We're discussing how to train the pilots and the crew and the maintainers for these helicopters These are all areas of potential cooperation with russia next please And there are other good partnerships out there This one isn't is a slide simply to illustrate the Mediterranean dialogue. These are the flags of the nations that are involved in it It's mirrored in the gulf with the istanbul cooperative initiative We also have strong partnerships Really with nations around the world through the isaf coalition australia new zealand japan is engaged in afghanistan Korea we have a wide range of partners and partnerships and that is underlined in the new strategic concept that we should expand these Try and find ways to help Integrate the efforts of nato with other partners as we collectively seek using a comprehensive approach to enhance security next please And I think turkey is very important in this regard turkey is obviously a powerful Important islamic country. We're very lucky to have them in nato. They're a strong nato partner strong supporter Their work in afghanistan has been exemplary as it has been across the spectrum of alliance activity I think Using and working with our turkish partners in a nato context will help us develop partnerships more strongly in the islamic world Very important next please And we need new ways of thinking about command and control and operations. This is piracy And here I would say this is not a nato led operation at all. We are a participant in it The european union, I would say is the strongest actor here. You see an example of the european union and nato Serving working alongside each other in complementary ways. I think that's an important relationship in the future It's mentioned in the strategic concept and as you can see from the slide you see flags of other nations That are equally involved in this piracy effort independent ones including russia china As well as combined maritime forces us led coalition operating out of the gulf so It's complicated It's not simple. It's certainly not just nato steaming off to try and solve a piracy problem it is instead this new new world of global cooperation of Partnerships like this that come together to work on problems in this case like piracy Which I would freely admit will not be solved at sea It's going to have to be addressed eventually in the horn of africa itself And I think over time the european union may be very well positioned to do so next please And we've got to communicate all this and we've got to do that vastly better than we do now And I I put a few journals along the side. I like academic journals. I've published in a few of them over the years I think books are important. I've talked about books But all of that pales by comparison with moving your message in the social networks That's why I made facebook the big thing there I gave a talk at russi About a year ago in london small group I I said as I often do I'm on facebook friend me Got a little laugh out of the audience just like that. Ha ha ha There was a reporter in the audience From ap and she wrote a very short article as ap often does and the headline was NATO admiral needs friends And uh, it was nice the article got picked up in only two countries. It got picked up in indonesia and finland The next day I got 250 friend requests from indonesia and finland Most of which the ones from indonesia said admiral I understand you need friends What is nato? Now we laugh, but the point is You reach out to this global audience. You have a chance to explain what nato is To educate to hopefully convince that nato is a force for good in the world That's the power of facebook the kind of cliche Trick question these days is what's the third largest nation in the world after china in india? It's facebook nation. There's 500 million people on facebook today so Using these kind of mechanisms to move. I think the good ideas That have been generated in the strategic concept and that have come out of this summit Will be an important challenge for us in the time ahead next please the command structure We have a still too large command structure in nato If you can look here back in the 1990s, we had 40 headquarters and 25 000 people now that's been on a pretty steady downslope But we're going to cut it even more. We're going to go down to six headquarters and about 9 000 people Those are big cuts from the cold war, but they're appropriate. We're going to make them sensibly We'll do them analytically based and in a militarily sound way And they will then be debated by all the nations and agreed to So this is efficiency This is saving money. This is saving costs and it's important to do that This is part of nato reform that i am involved with Secretary general is also driving nato reform in the agencies and in his headquarters in brussels But this is my command structure that we are going to be reducing next please And even so we'll continue with operations next please And we will never never We will never Undervalue the importance of this this is article five of the nato treaty Article five says an attack on one nation is regarded as an attack on all This is the absolute bedrock of the alliance So i've talked a lot about a variety of different aspects of the alliance moving forward But i would want to emphasize the ongoing importance and the bedrock of article five This is what the alliance in the end is all about next please And it happens all of this all these exciting things i've talked about Happen in an era in which money is being squeezed That's a one euro coin folks for the americans in the audience that that's worth about a dollar 40 But it's squeezed and so our our finances here in the united states And so people ask me what's the biggest challenge in all of this and i would say It's doing all of these exciting things in an era declining resources Now here's the good news The nato alliance has a gdp a gross domestic product of 31 trillion dollars This is an extraordinarily wealthy alliance We have Seven million people under arms Active and reserve almost all of them volunteers. We have 3400 ships This is a big capable alliance so Will we be able to find the money to do the things i've talked about i think so If we do it smart Just about a hundred years ago. There was a famous british admiral sir jackie fisher Some of you may have read about him. He faced A similar series of cuts And he said it's a great line. He said now that the monies run out. We must all start to think And i think that's where we are today. We must apply Intellect to the challenge and if we do that sensibly we will be able to Deliver the promise of the lisbon summit next please We're going to remain militarily capable in this alliance I've talked an awful lot about soft power and teaching people to read and school books for children Those are all important parts of the comprehensive approach This is the heart of the alliance article five is the heart of the alliance We will not let the military capability of this alliance falter next please But i would argue in today's world And steve mentioned smart power in today's world. It's it's not an on and off switch It's not as though we have an alliance that goes into combat or sits in a barracks somewhere We have an alliance that has to be able to operate along the spectrum From soft power to hard power and that ability to turn the dial and find it in the right place I would argue that is smart power. That's the challenge for the alliance in the time ahead next slide last slide Here i want to talk to all of you to conclude Thank you for coming today. Thank you for being part of this debate this dialogue this Grand conversation on global security and i would close by saying that all of you are part of A kind of a wiki this of course is the good wiki. This is wikipedia and wikipedia exists wikipedia exists not because 12 geniuses are in a room typing up all that great information wikipedia exists because all of us Are inputting all of us are adding to that base of knowledge You know it's a perfect metaphor of why no one of us no one person no one Nation no one alliance no one of us is as smart as all of us thinking together And that's kind of the vision statement of wikipedia the vision statement is a world in which every human being Can freely share in the sum of all knowledge a world in which every human being can freely share in the sum of All knowledge. I would argue events like this that csis is putting on This conversation in which you were all involved. You are helping create the sum of all security Thank you very much. It's a pleasure being with you today. Thank you. Thank you Great, thank you Thank you, admiral Admiral has about 10 minutes for a few questions If you could please identify yourself and wait for a microphone and also just to clarify for those journalists that are here This the admiral's remarks and the entire proceedings today are all around the record indeed hunts benedict hunts There's a mic right there hunts hunts here stand next one Thank you very much for a great presentation. I'd like to ask you about new start As you know the administration will be seeking during the lame duck session to get new start ratified and there was a call In the communique at lisbon for ratification and a number of heads of state in the same There was a lot of progress on missile defense both within nato and with the russians That obviously will allay some of the concerns of those who are potentially opposed to ratification There was a statement in the strategic concept that said that nato will remain a nuclear alliance And then you just said russia is reaching out So i wonder how that all plays in uh to the upcoming ratification debate Put a sharp point on it from a european perspective What do you think would be the uh consequences of start as nato? um Well, first of all, uh, I think hunts you've outlined very well the The view from europe and the view from the alliance and and also the view from the administration Which is that the treaty is a good treaty it makes military sense It makes strategic sense And it is also part of our relationship quite obviously with russia both the united states and therefore A part of the nato relationship as well So as you articulate, uh, the alliance is in favor of it the administration is in favor of it As a senior military officer i am in favor of it I think the treaty is a good one that will advance US interests and I believe it will also be have a salutary effect on US russian relationships and therefore nato russia relationships, and I think all those things are important Others Hi, sandi sorsbach from the air warfare center at china lake. Hi sandy As you were discussing things at the alliance Discussion with russia. Did you get a sense of russian concerns about china's ever expanding ambitions? Especially as they look at russia's resources. Do they have concerns about china's reaching out toward them in a less than friendly way? I did not hear that addressed sandy at the summit. I think, um russia and china have A relationship that from what I can see is Professional and civil I think personally that A a strong russian relationship with europe a strong russian relationship with the west Is extremely positive for them, and I think that's a separate discussion For russian relationships with china So I would I would stand on my earlier remarks that Over time I am convinced we can find zones of cooperation with russia that will help orient russia toward the west, and I think that's of of great importance julian lindley french from the netherlands defense academy admiral um A subtext for the entire strategic concept was understanding