NATO: The Next Decade

Abstract

The issues we are seeking to explore are among the most critical affecting the citizens of our nations. I am grateful, therefore, to have this opportunity to discuss with you the direction the Alliance is taking now and should take in the next decade. This informed audience need not be told that NATO is in the midst of critical times. Many statesmen and scholars are calling it a crisis. Certainly, there is cause for concern, especially given a number of worrisome trends that threaten Alliance security and the foundation on which that security is built. The signals are too serious and the tensions too high for us simply to muddle through another of NATO’s many challenging periods. To move ahead we need a strengthened consensus on the fundamentals of NATO security objectives and on the more divisive questions of what must be done to achieve those objectives.