NATO Has Missions and They Are Big: Keeping Putin and Terrorism at Bay

NATO’s New Strategy Will Better Protect Europe, Top Commander Says| BY DAVID VERGUN

The top U.S. military commander in Europe says the U.S. military will have a more productive role in NATO as a means of protecting Europe against two basic threats: Russia’s “malign influence” and international terrorism.

Air Force Gen. Tod D. Wolters, NATO’s supreme allied commander for Europe and commander of U.S. European Command, told Pentagon reporters yesterday that continuing to support NATO by promoting democratic values is the key to defending Europe and deterring aggression.

“And as we support NATO with that number one priority, we are promoting those value systems. And it’s very, very important that we stay tied to that,” he said.

As for deterring aggression in Europe, Wolters said that means countering Russian malign influence. “And, as you talk about countering Russian malign influence, you go back to the value system that we promote.”

To counter Russia, the U.S. is a big advocate of building military relationships with NATO nations — there are 29 — and other nation partners through personal relationships and readiness exercises, he said.

One of the good news stories is that NATO now has its own military strategy, he said, something they didn’t have for the last 50-plus years. “We did not have a document that the military arm that represents NATO could follow in order to apply a strategy,” he said.

That strategy, which was endorsed by the North Atlantic Council, allows the U.S. military to have a more productive role within NATO and identifies two basic threats: Russia’s status as a near-peer competitor and international terrorism, he said. 

Gen. Tod Wolters, Supreme Allied Commander, Europe, and Commander, U.S. European Command, Press Briefing on USEUCOM Priorities

NATO has also implemented a “command structure adaptation,” which means forces are placed in Europe wherever they are needed to better deter potential conflict, wherever that might be anticipated.

Although Europe is the primary focus, Wolters also said he is in consults regularly with his counterparts in other combatant commands to ensure the right balance of forces in the places they’re needed most.

‘m – I’m Tod Wolters. I serve as the United States European commander and I also have a hat that’s called the Supreme Allied Commander for Europe. And the beauty of those two postings is it allows me the opportunity to take a look at U.S. equities and fuse them from a transparency and alignment perspective to the max extent practical with all of the challenges that we face from a NATO perspective to be effective.

I have some foundational priorities that – that I – I stick to as the United States European commander, but as you could well imagine, those priorities nest very nicely with the activities that I embrace as Supreme Allied Commander for Europe.

And the first priority is to make sure that we’re doing all we can from a U.S. perspective to support NATO. And as we support NATO with that number one priority, we are promoting those value systems. And it’s very, very important that we – we take – stay tied to that.

The – the – the second priority is to make sure that we counter Russian malign influence. And as – as you talk about countering Russian malign influence, you go back to the value system that we promote. And when I take a look at all those activities, it’s very, very keen to ensure that I stay focused on those activities that are malign in ensuring that we can preserve our value system as it applies to the 29 nations that represent NATO.

The third large priority is relationships and engagements, which means we do everything we can within our USEUCOM power to make sure that we’re promoting the readiness of our forces, so that they can be as responsive, as resilient and as lethal as possible, to continue to promote those democratic values that are so important to NATO and that are certainly so important to the U.S.

A couple of recent activities that we’ve embraced from a USEUCOM perspective and from a SACEUR perspective that at the strategic level have been very, very important in enhancing our value system.

The first is the adaptation of the NATO military strategy. NATO did not have a strategy for the last five decades plus. We did not have a document that the military arm that represents NATO could follow in order to apply a strategy.

So in the first time for over five decades, we’ve been able to produce this document. It was endorsed by the North Atlantic Council. And it allows myself and the components that serve me the opportunity to go forward with a productive strategy.

And that strategy defines two basic threats, one, being the near-peer competitor of Russia; and two, being international terrorism. It also identifies four additional challenges that I don’t need to mention at this point.

But the beauty of that NATO military strategy is it defines the large picture ends, ways and means, and the approach that we can take to be more productive on continent, to promote those democratic values, and to make sure that we can do all of that’s in the realm of possible from a military perspective to continue to march down a path of neutralizing near-peer competitors, and doing all we can to exhaust the existence of international terror groups, two things that make conflict in the 21st century far different than it was in the past.

The last thing I’ll leave you with is, on top of that NATO military strategy, we have recently produced the initial concept for the deterrence and defense of the Euro-Atlantic area. And that concept starts to describe the maneuvering patterns that we have to take as a NATO entity, all 29 nations involved, to improve our ability to deter in the 21st century and, if called upon, to defend. And the beauty of that concept is, it starts to lay out the transitional activities that you would have to embrace as a military entity to transition out of deterrence, into defense; something that’s a lot easier said than it is actually done.

And finally, we’ve done some really smart things inside of NATO with respect to the force. We’ve just completed a NATO command structure adaptation. And that’s, kind of, a term of art that we use that really means we are putting the forces where they need to be to be best aligned to most effectively deter, so that the unfortunate potential of conflict never occurs. And we need to improve our ability to deter so that we actually never get to a situation to where we have to have kinetic conflict and defend. And we need to make sure that we’re focused keenly in that area so that we can be more productive.

And this NATO command structure adaptation is a path that we’ve been on to make sure that you’ve got the right uniform military member in the right place at the right time to more effectively deter, so that ultimately a kinetic conflict never has to occur.

So some very, very exciting changes that have occurred on continent. The one thing that I’ve been very, very grateful of is the fact that I’ve had the opportunity to serve in this area for a long time. I’ve had the opportunity to be a close personal friend of Gen. Breedlove, who was the Supreme Allied Commander and the USEUCOM commander about three and a half years ago. And I’ve also had the golden privilege to serve as a subordinate to Mike Scaparrotti, who was our last Supreme Allied Commander and U.S. commander, EUCOM.

And I’m very familiar with what their TTPs were; their tactics, techniques and procedures; what their desires were. And what we’ve seen from those two commanders was a European continent that transitioned out of assurance, into a deterrence mindset, which was Phil Breedlove’s charter, and during Mike Scaparrotti’s time he did a fantastic job of posturing the forces to better be able to deter.