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Eleven students from seven different nations, including Allied Command Transformation’s Senior Enlisted Leader, Regimental Sergeant Major Marc Wicks, attended the pilot Command Senior Enlisted Leader Course (CSEL) at the NATO School Oberammergau September 12-23.

The purpose of the course was to familiarise CSEL candidates with the required knowledge to function at the higher CSEL level. The course included a variety of current topics and issues facing the Alliance, helping prepare them for their role as advisors to their commanders and subordinates in the international setting.

There were four main themes in the course including Non Commissioned Officer (NCO) Professional Development, directing international ceremonies, communicating on NCO issues, and providing advice to superior officers.

The course was the culmination of a year’s study from working groups at ACT and ACO and on-going NCO education developments. NATO School’s NCO Programmes Department were tasked with designing and developing the course which is aimed at preparing senior NCOs to serve as a Command Senior Enlisted Leader in an international setting.

The next two iterations of the course will run January 30 to February 11, 2012 and September 17-28, 2012.

For more information on the NATO School Oberammergau visit https://www.natoschool.nato.int/.

Allied Command Transformation’s (ACT) Joint Warfare Centre in Stavanger, Norway, recently concluded the 15th and last Iraqi Key Leader Training (IKLT) course.

The course, which began in 2004, has provided bi-annual Iraqi Key Leader Training in order to assist Iraqi Security Forces in the development of sustainable security institutions and processes in order to establish, lead and maintain security in Iraq.

“This course has helped Iraqi Key Leaders operate more jointly and has given them an inspirational insight into international relations,” said Norwegian Army Brigadier General Gunnar E. Gustavsen, IKLT Director and Special Advisor to JWC’s Commander. “We must remember that Iraq has been isolated from the outside world for many years. Here, we teach an extremely relevant multi-disciplinary training programme with top-notch security specialists from both within and outside NATO providing first-hand knowledge in the operational context and leadership disciplines.”

As directed by Supreme Allied Commander Transformation (SACT), Joint Warfare Centre promotes and conducts NATO’s joint and combined experimentation, analysis and doctrine development to maximise transformational synergy and to improve NATO’s capabilities and interoperability.

Photo: Brigadier General Gunnar E. Gustavsen speaks at
the Iraqi Key Leader Training conclusion ceremony
October 19 at the Joint Warfare Centre in Stavanger, Norway.

The Chief of Defence of France, Admiral Edouard Guillaud, visited Allied Command Transformation (ACT) headquarters today while the death of Colonel Qadhafi was confirmed by Libya’s National Transitional Council (NTC).

Guillaud stressed the death of Colonel Qadhafi has marked a milestone in operation Unified Protector and therefore a milestone for lessons learned for ACT.

The Admiral had been on a visit to ACT to meet with Supreme Allied Commander General Stephane Abrial (SACT) to discuss Smart Defence and the latest developments in Cyber and Missile Defence.

He said Cyber Defence is a domain that goes far beyond the strict protection of military networks.

He also went on to praise the contribution of French service personnel, both military and civilian at ACT HQ and the shared benefit both NATO and France draw from the membership.

ACT interaction with France has been strong and this visit is the latest in a series of meetings with senior French military over the past two years. France was one of 24 nations to sign the formalised collaboration agreement between ACT and the nation’s transformation entities at the recent Chiefs of Transformation Roundtable in December, 2010.

Supreme Allied Commander Transformation, French Air Force General Stephane Abrial was 17 October guest at the “7Live” talk show in San Francisco.

Among other things, host Brian Copeland asked Abrial about NATO’s operations in Afghanistan and Cyber Security… See interview here.

Canadian Rear Admiral (RADM) Robert Davidson recently visited Allied Command Transformation (ACT) to receive briefings and hold a series of meetings with Command Leadership.

During his two-day visit, RADM Davidson met with Supreme Allied Commander Transformation (SACT) General Stephane Abrial to discuss the initiative ‘Smart Defence’, designed to promote more coherent and effective defence spending among NATO member states.

Cyber defence, Countering Hybrid threats and Resource Reform also featured heavily in discussions. RADM Davidson is the incoming Director of the Plans and Policy Division of the International Military Staff (IMS), the executive body of the Military Committee, NATO’s senior military authority.

To find out more on the role of the IMS and the Military Committee please visit http://www.nato.int/cps/en/SID-F0B96060-9AA6E55F/natolive/topics_64557.htm

Photo: SACT General Stephane Abrial meets with RADM Robert Davidson
during his two-day visit to HQ SACT from the 11 - 12 of October, 2011

It's been said that the whole is sometimes greater than the sum of its individual parts. One example of this is when the North Atlantic Treaty Organization, commonly known as NATO, was formed to check Soviet expansion after World War II.

While the Cold War is now over, the NATO alliance continues to be relevant in the post-9/11 world. NATO troops continue to serve in Afghanistan, and alliance member states participated in the invasion of Iraq. The recent employment of NATO airpower over Libya fully illustrates the capability of the alliance and its importance on the world stage.

At the Camp Atterbury Joint Maneuver Training Center, the Bold Quest 2011 exercise is yet another example of NATO countries coming together to work as one.

The exercise is a multi-faceted capability assessment designed to test the interoperability of command and control, communications and computer systems with a focus on combat identification.

The exercise seeks to test technologies driven by the need to provide tools to make warfighters more effective in engaging targets while minimizing the risk of fratricide by both ground and air forces. Participant nations include Australia, Belgium, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, Norway, Spain, Poland, the United Kingdom, the United States and NATO.

During Bold Quest, technologies developed by different countries are being tested, said German Air Force Lt. Col. Holger Ziedek.

"The German system is called DSID, Dismounted Soldier Identification Device. It is mounted on the Soldier's weapon and uses a laser to interrogate (identify) a target. Sensors worn by the Soldiers answer the interrogation," said Ziedek.

The information gathered is transmitted to combat identification servers. Ziedek said the goal of the system is to reduce friendly fire incidents.

"We are testing this technology in a mixed force to develop a common standard for different forces," he said. The multinational aspect of the exercise allows the various militaries to see how their systems will work with other nation's systems.

"I am grateful for the experience," said French Air Force Sgt. Jerome Fromentin. "Work in this kind of exercise makes our system more efficient. It's good to test our system with NATO -- it increases our compatibility," Fromentin said.

The information that is uploaded to the combat identification servers is also used by aviators, who can use the information to avoid friendly casualties while providing ground support fire.

"Sharing of all information with other nations is the goal, to communicate," said French Air Force Maj. Laurent Pourtalet. "It's important to see how our system, Link 16, works with the Mirage 2000 (fighter aircraft), and can adapt to the German system. Communication is everything."

The interoperability of these systems, from the ability of dismounted Soldiers to identify friendly units to the improved ability to coordinate ground support aviation from different militaries, extend to a human level as the personnel from NATO states work together.

"It's a cool, new experience, being in a new country," said German Air Force Staff Sgt. Phillip Davis. "The American Soldiers are friendly guys. This type of exercise is important because here, we all work together. Here we can train."

Photo: Pfc. Marius Ehinger, from Karlsruhe, Germany, of the German Air Force, uses the Dismounted Soldier Identification Device attached to his weapon to interrogate targets during Bold Quest 2011 held at Camp Atterbury Joint Maneuver Training Center, Ind., Sept. 10, 2011.

The annual NATO Public Affairs (PA) Conference was held at the Joint Force Training Centre in Bydgoszcz, Poland September 26-30. The conference brought together Public Affairs Professionals from throughout NATO and partner Nations to discuss Public Affairs and Strategic Communications, especially with regard to reporting lines, as well as on-going operations in Afghanistan and Libya and communication priorities in the time leading up to the 2012 NATO Summit in Chicago, USA.

Allied Command Transformation’s Chief of Public Affairs, Roy Thorvaldsen opened the conference on behalf of the organisers, Headquarters Allied Command Transformation by introducing the theme “Modern Defence - Engaging PA.” He stressed the importance of the conference in helping to build a network within the PA community.

Photo: Mr. Jack Holt addresses Social Media during a
breakout session at the 2011 NATO Public Affairs Conference.

Public Affairs Advisor to the Chairman of the Military Committee and the International Military Staff at NATO headquarters in Brussels, Brigadier General Massimo Panizzi, spoke on the newly updated PA Policy. “The policy is Simple, Short, Shared, Sustainable, Staff tailored” – and following his address there was a discussion on the lack of resources and national training in the PA community to meet daily mission requirements.

Several major stakeholders addressed attendees through Video-Teleconference addresses including Supreme Allied Commander Transformation, General Stephane Abrial, who explained how, in his mind “Communications is fully part of success”.

In her keynote address, NATO Assistant Secretary General for Public Diplomacy, Kolinda Grabar-Kitarovic emphasised her vision for the 2012 summit preparations and her will to make every citizen of the NATO countries proud of the Alliance.

There were also sessions covering the areas of Social Media, Website Design and Strategic Communications, initiating vigorous discussions.

United Nations and Belgian Ministry of Defence representatives gave their perspectives on Public Affairs contributions to the overall mission within a Strategic Communications framework.

Finally ACT updated conference participants on PA training opportunities and the Strategic Communications capability development work currently being undertaken by the command.

The conference was closed with an address by Allied Command Transformation Chief of Strategic Communications, Captain Jerome Erulin, who stated “I hope the networking we made here and the framework that has been described through the fascinating lectures we have had will strongly contribute to our efficiency in dealing with all the issues Public Affairs professionals face.”

Allied Command Transformation's (ACT) Operational Experimentation Branch recently participated in NATO Consultation, Command and Control Agency’s (NC3A) Ballistic Missile Defence (BMD) Civil Military Information Exchange Table Top Exercise.

The role of the exercise was to identify and detail information exchange requirements between NATO and civil entities.

This is part of BMD Capability Development, supporting the Civil Emergency Planning Community at NATO and throughout the alliance.

The programme was originally conceived at the Lisbon Summit and is an important part of ACT's on-going programme of work managed by Command, Control, Communications, Computers, Intelligence, Surveillance and Reconnaissance (C4ISRN) Division.

Military Representatives (MILREPs) from four NATO nations visited Allied Command Transformation (ACT) recently for briefings on ACT’s role in transformation and current areas of involvement.

Supreme Allied Commander Transformation, French Air Force General Stephane Abrial hosted U.S. Navy Vice Admiral Richard Gallagher, Royal Air Force Air Marshal Sir Christopher Harper, French Navy Admiral Xavier Païtard and Royal Netherlands Air Force Lieutenant General Frederik Meulman.

Discussions focussed on the upcoming 2012 NATO Summit, the NATO-EU relationship, the current training challenges and capability development.

NATO’s Military Committee is made up of senior military officers from NATO member countries who serve as their country’s MILREPs to NATO, representing their Chief of Defence. MILREPs bring a tremendous amount of specialised knowledge and experience that helps shape Alliance-wide military policies, strategies and plans. They also work in a national capacity, representing the interests of their countries while remaining open to negotiation and discussions so that a NATO consensus can be reached.

For more information on NATO’ Military Committee and MILREPs visit
http://www.nato.int/cps/en/natolive/topics_49633.htm.

Photo: Welcomed to ACT by Spanish Navy Vice Admiral Antonio Hernandez (2nd from left)
are Military Representatives Lieutenant General Frederik Meulman (The Netherlands),
Air Marshal Sir Christopher Harper (United Kingdom) and Admiral Xavier Paitard (France)

The Nordic Defence Cooperation Centre for Gender in Military Operations is set to open in January 2012 at the Swedish Armed Forces International Centre (SWEDINT) in Kungsängen.

The purpose of the new centre is to provide seminars and training courses, as well as to function as a knowledge base for the Swedish and Nordic countries Defence Armed Forces. Through the opening of the NORDEFCO Centre for Gender in Military Operations, the Swedish Government and its Armed Forces aim to increase military competency in gender related issues both nationally and internationally.

According to the newly appointed commander of the centre, Jan Dunmurray, 50 percent of the population in conflict zones are women, and without a proper understanding of gender related issues, there will never be sustainable peace in complex conflict zones.

While Sweden is not the only nation to take interest in the area of gender, SWEDINT has an established cooperation with Supreme Allied Commander Transformation, and has sought to deepen this relationship. Both ACT and SWEDINT agree that an efficient tool for bringing the gender dimension into the military fold is to establish a common standards reference individual education and training. Currently, SWEDINT conducts a NATO-accredited gender field advisor course.

With the development of the new NORDEFCO Centre, the aspiration is to provide specialised in-depth, pre-deployment training for Gender Advisors, Gender Field Advisors, Gender Focal Points, and also gender seminars for Flag officers and Operational Planners. By standardising training to include gender, the centre strives to lead military competency development in gender related issues within the Nordic countries.

The location of the centre is also mutually beneficial, as SWEDINT has been working on international competence development within the Swedish Armed Forces since 1993, and has a wide-range of expertise in individual education and training for its military, police and civilian staff personnel in support of Peace Support Operations (PSO).

The Coalition Warrior Interoperability eXploration, eXperimentation, eXamination, eXercise 2012 (CWIX) kicked off recently with a three-day Exercise Specification Conference (ESC) at the Army Officers Academy in Copenhagen, Denmark.

The ESC is an executive level conference where national leaders and NATO come together to set the framework for the event year. Based on guidance from the C3 Board and Nations, the goals and objectives for CWIX 2012 were approved.

In addition, various discussions were held regarding how to best continue to support interoperability testing for the Future Mission Network, the Afghanistan Mission Network and the NATO Response Force. CWIX remains the one true interoperability-testing event that continues to provide an environment to meet the needs of the operational community as well as long-term technology experimentation.

Attendees from six NATO commands and agencies as well as from Bulgaria, Canada, Denmark, France, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Turkey, United States, Austria, Finland, Sweden and New Zealand engaged in discussions.

CWIX is a continually evolving exercise which focuses on the short-term needs of the operational commanders as well as providing an opportunity for emerging technologies to be tested with NATO and national fielded capabilities.

As Netherlands Air Force Major General Jaap Willemse remarked in the CWIX 2011 final report, “The benefit for Nations and NATO Agencies to test at CWIX continues to bear fruit, not just in the successes, but in the interoperability issues discovered now instead of during operations.”

CWIX is an annual NATO Military Committee-approved event designed for continuous improvement in interoperability for the Alliance. Allied Command Transformation (ACT) provides directions and management to the programme, while NATO and Partner Nations sponsor interoperability capabilities with specific objectives defined by ACT and National Leads.

CWIX has three planning conferences prior to the execution period at NATO’s Joint Force Training Centre, in Bydgoszcz, Poland. The meeting minutes and briefing from the ESC, along with further information can be found on the CWIX Portal (http://cwix.act.nato.int/portal).

Plan now to join the CWIX community at an upcoming conference. 2011 promises to be a very exciting year.

CWIX POCs:
LTC Stephan Siemens, CWIX Director, stephan.siemens@act.nato.int, 1+757-747-4133
Mr. Kell Hvolbol, CWIX Deputy Director, kell.hvolbol@act.nato.int, 1+757-747-3652

In May 2011 nearly 100 private sector professionals joined military and civilian counterparts from the transatlantic security community to collaborate in an experiment called; “Countering Hybrid Threats.” Based on a fictional scenario resembling the complex geo-strategic and fissure ridden Caucasus region, the experiment was organized by NATO Allied Command Transformation (NATO ACT) and conducted over a full week. It proposed to test and examine the viability of two key concepts that have emerged following the adoption of the new NATO Strategic Concept last November. Hybrid threats “are those posed by adversaries, with the ability to simultaneously employ conventional and non-conventional means adaptively in pursuit of their objectives.” The concept that has evolved to counter the multi-dimensional nature of hybrid threats is the “comprehensive approach,” which promotes the coordinated application of the full range of collective resources available, including diplomatic, military, intelligence and economic among others. The experiment benefited substantially from the participation of the private sector participants, each of which invested a full working week, demonstrating their interest as well as NATO’s continuing credibility within the international business community.

The North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) was the most successful collective security arrangement among states in the 20th century. Having deterred and outlasted its primary adversary, the Soviet Union, NATO today faces the challenge of re-defining its roles and purposes in the 21st century. Like all pluralist organizations NATO must reflect the common interests of its 28 members, and defining common interests that motivate all members to sacrifice for the good of the whole has been difficult. In the absence of a direct common military threat, such as that once posed by the Soviet Union, disparate interests, commitments and visions of the trans-Atlantic future have fragmented Alliance coherence.

The Strategic Concept adopted by heads of state and government in November 2010 reconfirms NATO’s commitment to, “deter and defend against any threat of aggression, and against emerging security challenges where they threaten the fundamental security of individual Allies or the Alliance as a whole.” It offers itself as the strategic map for NATO in the 21st century and touches on extremism, terrorism, and trans-national illegal activities such as trafficking in arms, narcotics and people as well as cyber-attacks and other technological and environmental threats. It does not however refer to hybrid threats or provide insight into the magnitude, likelihood, nature, or nuances of the “emerging security challenges.” Moreover it does not address the possibility of having to face some or many of these challenges simultaneously, or the threat posed by the convergence of these many separate elements, which when braided together constitute a threat of a new and different nature.

The Hybrid Threat

The new threat confronting NATO’s diverse nations is insidious and not easily defined or identified. It flourishes in the seams between states, and in the soft areas of bad or weak governance. The new threat consists of distinct but tangled elements; hence the rubric “Hybrid Threat.” Hybrid threats are much more though than the amalgamation of existing security challenges. This is due, in part, to the interrelatedness of their constituent elements; the complicated and interdependent nature of the activities required to counter them; the multiplicity of key stakeholders with vested interests; and the dynamic international security environment in which traditional military solutions may not be best (or even a key component) but may nevertheless be necessary. As NATO Secretary General Anders Fogh Rasmussen has recently written, “The paradox then is that the global order enjoys more stakeholders than ever before yet it has very few guarantors.”

Admittedly, hybrid threat is an umbrella term, encompassing a wide variety of existing adverse circumstances and actions, such as terrorism, migration, piracy, corruption, ethnic conflict etc. What is new, however, is the possibility of NATO facing the adaptive and systematic use of such means singularly and in combination by adversaries in pursuit of long-term political objectives, as opposed to their more random occurrence, driven by coincidental factors. It is this possibility that merits a fresh and more conceptual approach from NATO. It is particularly important to note that hybrid threats are not exclusively a tool of asymmetric or non-state actors, but can be applied by state and non-state actors alike. Their principal attraction from the point of view of a state actor is that they can be largely non-attributable, and therefore applied in situations where more overt action is ruled out for any number of reasons.

The most recent iteration of the NATO Capstone Concept defines hybrid threats as, “those posed by adversaries, with the ability to simultaneously employ conventional and non-conventional means adaptively in pursuit of their objectives.” By not specifying state adversaries this definition acknowledges both the ambiguity of the enemy, as well as the simultaneous and combined conventional and unconventional nature of the threat itself. Clearly the traditional boundaries defining the conflicts that served as the basis for the Alliance’s historic shared interests no longer apply. It is no longer true that only the most powerful states have the means and intention of posing a dire security threat to the Alliance or its members. The means of destruction have proliferated from the few to the many, with the barriers to entry for some technologies and methods capable of wrecking havoc relatively low or nearly non-existent. As noted, adversaries capable of threatening NATO and its members need not be government actors; non-state and anonymous actors can and do pose such a substantial threat. Security threats are no longer bound by geography and can have impact on a sub-state or worldwide basis. They are not even bound by terrestrial limits and may manifest themselves in space or cyberspace against Alliance interests or against NATO itself. Deadly and devastating attacks against Alliance members can be perpetrated and initiated in an instant from remote locations, leaving no trail to determine their origin.

The Comprehensive Approach

The organizations, individuals and networks that animate the hybrid threat, “employ a complex blend of means that includes the orchestration of diplomacy, political interaction, humanitarian aid, social pressures, economic development, savvy use of the media and military force.” In short they avail themselves of a comprehensive range of methods and weapons to accomplish their objectives; a comprehensive approach to goal attainment. What changes in structure, process and procedure might NATO adopt to account for the recent evolution of the international security environment and enable it to respond effectively to the comprehensive range of methods and weapons employed by hybrid threat adversaries?

Countering hybrid threats is first of all about new understanding of such threats and the innovative use of existing capabilities to meet these new challenges, rather than about new hardware. Indeed the relevant countermeasures are largely included in the existing comprehensive approach to strategy, a concept NATO has embraced. However, the current understanding of the comprehensive approach is heavily influenced by the conflict that brought it about, as is often the case with innovation in the field of strategy. NATO therefore needs a more generic and conceptual grip on the kind of hybrid threat/comprehensive response cycle, of which Afghanistan is but one example. A recent NATO study of members’ perspectives on the comprehensive approach concept found amid a range of interpretations, from which three consistent themes emerge;

(i) Coherent application of national instruments of power;
(ii) Comprehensive interaction with other actors;
(iii) Comprehensive action in all domains and elements of crises.

While these consistent themes emerge, the concept remains relatively undeveloped. The necessary tools for economic development, rule of law, governance and institution building, and other “comprehensive activities” traditionally reside in non-military governmental and inter-governmental agencies, and non-governmental organizations (NGOs), as well as the private sector. These capabilities are not found either in member nations’ militaries or in the NATO bureaucracy itself. And the civilian organizations or actors best equipped to provide them are frequently suspicious of, or even hostile to, the military. At best, they are unaccustomed to working with the military, with few exceptions.

To overcome many civilians’ lack of familiarity or reluctance toward working with NATO, one of the lessons learned from Afghanistan and Kosovo is that where the military and civilian sectors must work together, the military must often take the initiative to establish trust and communication with civilian counterparts. Collaboration and cooperation should begin with a shared analysis; all participants in a comprehensive approach must understand the challenge not only from their own vantage point, but from those of the other major participants as well.

Many of the perceived threats (terrorism, trans-national crime, violent extremism) are symptoms or consequences of underlying root causes (poverty, ethnic strife etc) that are not within the technical competence of most military organizations. Whereas treating the symptoms is about preventing actions in the shorter term, addressing the root causes of instability is about changing conditions in the longer term, which is the fundamental goal of development. Consensus on solving fundamental problems is far more difficult to achieve at the national as well as the international or coalition level; this is a challenge of political agreement and thus of diplomacy. This means of course that in the absence of a political agreement, NATO may have to accept that treating the symptoms, despite its limitations, is ”the best buy under the circumstances”. Even in such cases, the participation of non-military organizations will enrich the military’s understanding of the challenge they face.

As for planning, while the military may be best equipped to plan and facilitate the cooperation through planning and outreach, the civilian sector should be included in the earliest aspects of the planning for best results. Outreach should be done early and often to permit the civilians the necessary time for budgetary and other preparation. It should not be left to commanders on the ground to begin the search and engagement for the non-military capabilities and partners they may need.

Once initiated an effective comprehensive approach requires unity of effort. Due to the diverse stakeholders and their respective equities full unity of command will be impossible. The challenge is how to achieve unity of effort in the absence of full unity of command. Many NGOs reject any kind of inclusion in coordinated strategies, particularly when they also involve the military, since this violates their principle of strict neutrality in any conflict. Other factors are bureaucratic rivalry between the different government agencies and departments which must necessarily contribute to a comprehensive effort, lack of trust between public sector agencies and private sector participants and national sensitivities at coalition level. The overall effect of the absence of unity of command is a considerable dissipation of energy and effect for a comprehensive approach strategy. This means that achieving success will require more time, more treasure and potentially more human lives than would otherwise be the case. However, it seems to be a firm conclusion that unity of command cannot be achieved, at least not unless and until the group of nations forming the coalition face an immediate existential threat. A comprehensive approach to hybrid threats is, in other words, as much an institutional as a conceptual problem. The fact is that there will rarely if ever be a single overarching goal to which all actors can be expected to subscribe. It is better to acknowledge that different actors in the same situation have different perspectives and purposes, and seek to identify the common ground that can form a basis for collaboration.

What Role for the Private Sector?

Arguably the single most important factor in successful stabilization of failed or failing states is economic development. This, in its turn, depends on financial incentives to investors, improvement of infrastructure (digital as well as physical), access to energy and a skilled workforce. This makes institutions like the World Bank and IMF key players and potential partners of NATO. This requires some qualification however. Although economic development is obviously of the utmost importance in most scenarios, we should bear in mind that the western, materialistic definition of development is not a universally accepted standard or measure of welfare or happiness. Notably religion and adherence to religious customs are on the rise, particularly in the muslim world, as the most important metric of human progress. In other words, not all root causes of hybrid threats can be eliminated simply by improving the material conditions of the people in question. The rage commonly felt by many in the muslim world today towards the West – irrational as it may or may not be and sustained as it is by conditions stemming from the incompetence and corruption of their own governments – is nevertheless very real. NATO therefore needs to partner with, or have in-house institutions capable of precise appreciations of the non-material dimension of the root causes of hybrid threats. It is also interesting that many people living in poverty and squalor in many parts of the world rank competent and honest government as more important in the short term than a larger income, presumably because they realize that good governance is a prerequisite for any degree of sustained economic growth.

NGOs and industry have been dealing with some of the issues and many of the geographies of interest to NATO for much longer than the Alliance. Indeed it is in the private sector, individual companies and industry sectors, that the harm done by hybrid threat elements is felt most intimately. Counterfeiting networks steal the intellectual property and potential revenues from legitimate companies. Cyber attackers can disable information and communication companies resulting in lost business. Financial institutions are compromised by money laundering and other illicit financial transactions. These adversaries attack their bottom line. Their more direct familiarity with the illicit networks and other discrete elements of the hybrid threat that leech their operations provides them with a far more granular appreciation of the identity, methods, and extent of the hybrid threat. Indeed the business community has been countering discrete elements of the hybrid threat for some time. Innovative techniques have been developed to counter specific threats and risks, but they are not widely shared. Private sector experience is extremely valuable to NATO in this regard. At a minimum, NATO could greatly benefit from this expertise.

Assuming NATO decides that engaging the private sector is worthwhile, it must examine ways to ensure that industry is incentivized to respond to NATO’s outreach attempts favorably. Ideally, industry should be encouraged to reach out to NATO on its own initiative if it believes it necessary or desirable. To incentivize industry, NATO should consider ways to make both outreach and responses to industry engagement transparent and easy. Regular engagement will go a long way toward that end. NATO must also listen and genuinely seek input and collaboration. Finally, NATO should consider what, if anything, it might provide to industry. On this latter point, recent U.S. experience might be illustrative. Senior Command and Department officials regularly engage the defense, technology, space and other industry members by providing insights into Department activities and goals, speeches on leadership or “war stories” of lessons learned that might be applicable to industry. In exchange, they receive unprecedented access to high-level management and expertise, and even task various private organizations for assistance.

Conclusions

A hybrid threat is more than just the sum total of its constituent parts. Combating such threats does not require new capabilities as much as new partners, new processes and, above all, new thinking.

Experimentation and gaming offer benign, non-hostile fora in which to conduct outreach and to engage civilians where they do not feel threatened. Through the give-and-take of such activities, both military and civilians may be encouraged to overcome predispositions concerning each other, begin to understand each other and the civilian participants might make progress toward questioning their prejudices, if any, concerning cooperating with NATO. Experimentation and gaming may also provide an atmosphere where important issues can be explored collaboratively that are related to the best means of conducting NATO engagement with “soft power” providers. While it might be clear that each NATO member nation is best suited to engage its own government institutions and individuals who can provide the needed capabilities, it is less clear who should approach the private sector. It also might seem obvious that NATO should reach out to large multilateral institutions, such as the United Nations, World Bank or Gulf Cooperation Council to provide them with capabilities needed for the “hold and build” in its most recent deployments, but is institution-to-institution the only type of desirable engagement? What about NATO engagement of civilians in the preventative or pre-deployment stage in which it might be interested in the knowledge and experience of others in order to understand and shape the environment? What about interactions with non-governmental and smaller multilateral institutions, including those of the host country or region? At what level should NATO reach out to them and begin to plan cooperatively with a needed civilian workforce? When should that happen? Does it make sense to establish regular relationships with institutions in anticipation of likely problems that NATO may be called upon to address in order to shape the environment early? Where should that engagement happen – is that a function reserved for Brussels and other NATO headquarters elements or to local commanders, as they see fit? Should NATO develop a broad, overarching policy that guides these types of engagements; and what input, if any, should the non-NATO, civilian government and private players have in developing such a policy?

Synergies between NATO’s various bodies must be enhanced. This will allow experimentation and the lessons that emerge from experimentation to impact the ongoing work on the ‘Deterrence and Defence Posture’, the ‘Comprehensive Approach’, ‘Strategic Planning’ and possibly in time, NATO reform. One can hope that this will provide food for thought to the North Atlantic Council in the course of its work over the next few months. It might even allow NATO, with the agreement of member states, to remain ahead of developments, become more proactive rather than remain simply reactive. The United Nations, European Union, Organization of Security and Cooperation in Europe, African Union and others should be engaged, as well as more experts from the diplomatic field.

While NATO member states must lead the way on anticipating the skills, practices and capabilities needed to confront emerging hybrid threats, the Supreme Allied Commander Transformation (SACT) and ACT have a vital role in “soft power” engagement and in initiating a necessary dialogue with those non-NATO actors best positioned to assist in this endeavor.

Sir Michael Aaronson, Generals Yves de Kermabon and Sverre Diesen, and the Honorable Mary Beth Long. The author wishes to acknowledge their substantial contributions.

Photo caption: SACT is greeted by the Estonian Chief of Defence,
Lieutenant General Ants Laaneots, and
Allied Command Transformation Brigadier General
Roy Hunstok before informal discussions at the CHT-E. 

Supreme Allied Commander Transformation, French Air Force General Stephane Abrial spoke to an audience of nearly 300 people about the Future of NATO during the Air Force Association’s 2011 Air and Space Conference September 20.

The annual conference, held from September 19-21 at the Gaylord National Resort and Convention Center on the Potomac, Washington, D.C., brought together Air Force leadership, industry experts, academia, and current aerospace specialists from around the world to discuss the issues and challenges currently facing America and the aerospace community.

Abrial offered his insight to the audience on the future of NATO, comprised mainly of active duty air force, saying, “NATO Nations are currently and will be confronted with many real challenges.”

His update on NATO operations, including the International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) and Operation Unified Protector, set the stage for the range of issues likely to be covered during the upcoming NATO Summit to be held May 2012 in Chicago, including lessons from Libya, Partnerships, Missile Defence, Cyber Defence, and Smart Defence.

Abrial closed by saying “NATO has done a lot already for our collective security, and can bring much more as we continue to seek greater effectiveness and efficiency.”

Photo: General Stephane Abrial speaks to an audience
at the Air Force Association's 2011 Air and Space
Conference September 20 in Washington, D.C.

“A computer assisted exercise (CAX) is a type of synthetic exercise where forces are generated, moved and managed in a simulation environment based on the commands coming from the exercise participants.”

This unofficial definition drafted by the Joint Warfare Centre some years ago is the essence of what constitutes a CAX. Although unofficial, the definition fits well within the official and published Allied Command Transformation’s Modelling and Simulation Vision which is “to exploit modelling and simulation to enable NATO transformation wherever it can enhance capability, increase interoperability, save resources or reduce risk.”

As part of its assumption of duties, planning and execution of the CAX Forum is now the responsibility of the NATO Modelling and Simulation (M&S) Centre of Excellence (COE). The COE leadership selected the Ergife Palace Hotel in Rome as the conference venue.

With 220 attendees the conference has almost doubled in size since last year. Part of the success formula of this year’s conference was that it teamed with the I3M: The 8th International Mediterranean & Latin American Modelling Multiconference with its own 300 mostly academic attendees. With 18 industry partners also in attendance the resulting mélange was a true success and demonstrated well the COE’s mantra to whenever possible work within the triangle of government, academia and industry.

In his closing address to the forum, Italian Army Brigadier General Giovanni Fungo, Assistant Chief of Staff Capability Engineering, noted that the forum attendees were not satisfied to allow CAX to continue using only time honoured CAX methods. A number of special topics were also presented and discussed including the comprehensive approach, medical and pandemics, cyber defence, reconstruction and stability, and refugees.

COL Francesco Mastrorosa, Director of the NATO M&S COE, stated at the closing, “due to the spectacular success of this year’s CAX Forum, I invite you to come back again next year to this same venue where the COE will again be pleased to host this event.”

Photo: Brigadier General Giovanni Fungo, Assistant Chief of Staff Capability Engineering,
speaks to attendees at the 6th NATO CAX Forum. NATO Photo by Wayne Buck.

Deputy Supreme Allied Commander Transformation, Polish Army General Mieczysław Bieniek recently visited Ireland to discuss the country’s future cooperation with NATO Allied Command Transformation, Cyber Defense, Missile Defense and Energy Security program with the Irish Chief of Defence, Lieutenant General Sean McCann.

“I believe that exchanges with our Irish colleagues and their involvement in the Alliance’s work on the Comprehensive Approach and C-IED will be mutually beneficial to all of us,” said Bieniek.

Apart from discussions with the Chief of Defense, Bieniek was offered an extensive series of briefings on Ireland’s Structure of Defense Forces (DF), DF current Issues, Partnership Programs, and the transformation of Ireland’s DF.

Ireland is a Partnership for Peace (PfP) nation that has a DF that is organized into two sub-categories, the Permanent Defense Force (PDF) and a Reserve Defense Force (RDF). The PDF consists of the Army, the Air Corps and the Naval Service. Of these forces, over 500 personnel are currently deployed to both UN and NATO-led missions.

Bieniek stated, “I appreciate that Ireland maintains the same mutual commitment to both the EU and NATO-led peace support operations. The constant commitment of 850 personnel to peace support missions is significant in the context of a professional defense force of some 9,600 personnel,” he went on to say, “I found this visit a very interesting and useful interaction and believe it allowed Ireland to better comprehend most of the current venues of NATO’s work and should result with more pro-active and profound mutual cooperation.”

Commodore Michel Hijmans visited Allied Command Transformation (ACT) on Thursday to brief staff on NATO's counter-piracy operations over the last year. Between June 2010 and June 2011 Commodore Hijmans served as the Commanding Officer of the NATO Standing Maritime Group 2 which conducts Counter Piracy operations under Operation Ocean Shield.

"We have tried to bring the fight to the pirates, not be reactive but to be more proactive, the pirates were changing their tactics and we did the same" Hijmans said.

"Our first line of operation was to deter and disrupt. We also sought to protect commercial shipping. We worked closely with the merchant community to help them better protect themselves and interacted with all counter-piracy actors in the area".

The Commodore stressed the sheer scale of the operating area and the challenges that brings.

"The joint operating area is twice the size of mainland Europe, it's enormous. It's like if you have an incident in Oslo, Norway and call the police in Madrid and they'll come and help you, but it will take a few days. The limited assets that you have you have to put them where you expect interactions with the pirates".

He emphasised the critical importance of close cooperation between NATO and international partners in tackling the problem.

"There is no unified command and a lot of counter-piracy actors in the same area so we've established coordinators for different areas in order to coordinate all counter-piracy efforts there. It was a team effort. Without the European Union, Combined Maritime Force, US Oilers and other actors we couldn't have done it.

"Every day we were talking with each other, we were exchanging views and helping each other perform better".

Following the presentation there was a question and answer session chaired by Chief of Staff Vice Admiral Robert Cooling. He said "It was extremely enlightening and insightful, the more we can all share and learn from the practitioners perspective, the more likely we are to find a solution for the long term".

General Stephane Abrial, recently completed the first official country visit to Iceland from a SACT on 14 September as part of his on-going plan to visit every NATO nation during his tenure at ACT.

During this visit, SACT called on Mr. Össur Skarphéðinsson, Minister for Foreign Affairs and Mr. Hermann Örn Ingolfsson, Director General of the Directorate of International and Security Affairs. Noting that Iceland is the only NATO nation with no standing military forces, SACT also participated in talks at the Icelandic Coast Guard (ICG) Headquarters.

During the course of the day, SACT had detailed discussions on matters relevant to Iceland and her contributions to NATO, ACT activities and on-going NATO operations. At the ICG HQ, SACT was made aware of the many missions under the ICG’s mandate and given a tour of the facilities responsible for Iceland's contribution to NATO's Integrated Air Defence System.

With a willingness demonstrated for greater cooperation on both sides, SACT thanked Mr. Skarphéðinsson, noting these country visits were of "great importance", as they enable SACT to get a better "vision of nation’s interests".

Before departing, Gen. Abrial indicated his pleasure with the productive talks and his impressions from this very fruitful visit and looked forward to increased cooperation with Iceland and ACT.

Supreme Allied Commander Transformation, French Air Force General Stephane Abrial visited the Netherlands September 7.

During his visit, Abrial met the Netherlands Chief of Defence, General Peter van Uhm and high-ranking staff members of the Ministry of Defence and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

During these meetings, they discussed the issue of the Netherlands’ Armed Forces transformation and conferred on topics related to cooperation in this domain.

Abrial cited his appreciation for the Netherland’s support for the ACT-led Task Force on Multi-National Approaches and Innovative Solutions, and offered ACT’s continued support for their transformational efforts.

“It is truly a great pleasure to scan the strategic and transformation landscape with you as we begin an eventful year, which for NATO will culminate with an important summit of the Heads of State and Government in Chicago in May 2012,” said Abrial.

They also discussed on the next DEU-NLD exercise that will take place at the end of September in order to better prepare for future missions. General Abrial stressed that this exercise, based on the lessons learned from Uruzgan is a very good example on how to integrate Comprehensive Approach and how to work together with civilians and military in a crisis situation.

In the evening, Abrial delivered a lecture to the members of the KVBK (Koninklijke Vereniging ter Beoefening van de Krijgswetenschap), the Royal Netherlands Society for Military Art and Science.

During this lecture, Abrial spoke on the importance of a reinforced solidarity and of multinational cooperation between allies to face difficult financial times.

“We simply need to do better in developing capabilities within the envelope we are given,” said Abrial. “Our Alliance has remained strong for over six decades, and, hopefully with ACT’s support, the time has come to go even further than we already have in working together.”

Supreme Allied Commander Transformation (SACT) General Stephane Abrial marked NATO night on Friday by throwing out the first pitch at the Norfolk Tides baseball game.

After a brief warm up on the sidelines, SACT was greeted by Vice Mayor of Norfolk, Anthony Burfoot, and Tides manager, Gary Allenson, who presented General Abrial with a Tides cap and personalised jersey. In front of a crowd of just over 7,000 spectators, SACT pitched into the hands of Tides catcher Tyler Henson. The Tides went on to defeat the Charlotte Knights 7-2.

NATO night is part of the Norfolk NATO festival, recognising and celebrating the long standing friendship between ACT and the City of Norfolk. It is the longest continuously running festival in the Hampton Roads region, and the only one of its kind in the United States which honours the NATO Alliance and its member Nations.

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More than 50 students from Washington’s National Defense University International Fellows Class of 2012 visited Headquarters, Supreme Allied Commander Transformation (HQ SACT) August 4 for briefings and discussions.

Hosted by Spanish Navy Vice Admiral Antonio Hernandez, Assistant Chief of Staff Joint Deployment and Sustainment, the group received briefings on the mission of ACT and participated in panel discussions on current issues and events.