Date: 10 January 2005
 
Speaker: H.E. Nicholas Burns, Ambassador of the U.S. to the NATO
 
 
Speaking at the first CEPS lunchtime meeting of the New Year, US Ambassador to NATO Nicholas Burns gave an outlook for transatlantic relations over the next twelve months through the perspective of NATO and the US.  Ambassador Burns put forth an optimistic tone for the future, saying that 2005 presented great opportunities for cooperation with NATO and its allies.  He sighted current examples of the cooperation that NATO embarked on, like the devastating tsunami tragedy that has affected many parts of South East Asia, and the efforts in Afghanistan to support the upcoming parliamentary elections.  He also talked of the training missions ongoing in Iraq to help stabilize the Iraqi political and military situation.
 
The Ambassador also spoke on the upcoming NATO summit where he stated that the Iraq issue would be the main issue that needed some more immediate addressing.  He elaborated on this subject by demonstrating where NATO could be even more effective in the conflict.  With the pending elections later this month in Iraq, Ambassador Burns said that with these new elections will come a new government, and NATO can be effective by helping to train the new government, especially the military officers on how to handle such crucial issues as border control, stabilization and peace keeping.  He thought this was the most important way that NATO could have a positive effect in Iraq.
 
Another issue the Ambassador spoke of in terms of importance was the ongoing mission in Afghanistan.  He stressed the need to continue and even progress with ‘provincial reconstruction teams’ in the north and the need to expand them in to the western parts of Afghanistan.  With the Coalition already starting into the western territories it would indeed be advantageous to coordinate and even eventually give over command to NATO provincial reconstruction teams.  This could bolster the Afghan government by allowing for more open and fair elections in that region for the pending parliamentary elections.
 
The Ambassador also went on to further discuss the strategic vision for NATO in the year 2005.  He illustrated the change in vision that has already occurred since the fall of the Soviet Union by elaborating on the vision that NATO must now have, and that is of looking outside European borders for NATO involvement, because the importance of defending national borders has decreased significantly over the last decade.  One of the longer term goals of NATO, which is currently being addressed, is for the EU to look to build and stabilize Europe, and to do so by looking to Russia and others such as Ukraine to work together in shaping the continents future.  The Ambassador said this has already started and that the relations with Russia will continue to grow in 2005 and beyond.  He also said that the next possible area of NATO efforts could be the Caucasus’, Central Asia and the greater Middle East.
 
Ambassador Burns concluded his statements by posing some of the challenges that face NATO.  He talked of some of the capability differences that are developing between the allies.  One of major concern is the growing military capability gap not only between the US and Europe but also within Europe itself.  He put forth some figures to help illustrate his point; one being the defence expenditure of the US, which will be around 420 billion dollars in the upcoming year, with the rest of the allies combined not even totalling half of that number.  Another point he mentioned is the ‘usability’ of a nations forces.  With Europe having a combined military force of 2.5 million they are able to deploy outside their borders about 3 to 5% of those forces.  While on the other side of the Atlantic the US with an active force of about 2.4 million could deploy outside their borders up to 75%, in extreme circumstances.  Ambassador Burns stressed these were challenges needing to be addressed to further strengthen NATO, not the sings of a decaying alliance.