Smart Defense and the Future of NATO: Can the Alliance Meet the Challenges
Volume: 88 pages, pdf
Description:
In June 2011 outgoing U.S. Secretary of Defense Robert Gates repeated in public what many had privately acknowledged: NATO, the lynchpin of European security and transatlantic relations, faces “the real possibility [of] a dim, if not dismal future.” The experiences in Afghanistan and Libya have pointed to the consequences of chronically underfunding defense establishments, the difficulties in getting twenty-eight sovereign states to commit resources equitably and predictably, and the challenges of responding effectively to new, rapidly emerging threats. The transatlantic alliance must confront a number of fundamental strategic questions about its future.