thedrifter
02-12-09, 08:26 AM
NSA Jones Remarks [Gregory S. McNeal]
The Council on Foreign Relations posted a copy of remarks given by U.S. National Security Adviser James L. Jones at the 45th Munich Conference on Security Policy at the Hotel Bayerischer Hof on February 8, 2009. A few excerpts:
The transatlantic security partnership was largely designed to meet the threats of a very symmetric world. It was reactive. The NATO partnership was conceived to be a defensive and fairly static alliance. And I spent a good deal of my career in uniform serving within this framework. But to move forward, we must understand the terms national security and international security are no longer limited to the ministries of defense and foreign ministries; in fact, it encompasses the economic aspects of our societies. It encompasses energy. It encompasses new threats, asymmetric threats involving proliferation, involving the illegal shipment of arms and narco-terrorism, and the like. Borders are no longer recognized and the simultaneity of the threats that face us are occurring at a more rapid pace. . . .
We know that NATO is a strong alliance, perhaps the strongest the world has ever known. Its capacity does not just come from the strength of its arms but from the enduring democratic values that bind our nations together. And from the iron-clad commitment that ensures our collective security. But I also know this. NATO must also change. It needs to become less reactive and more proactive. I think it needs to become less rigid and more flexible. It needs to become less stationary and more expeditionary. And it needs to become more, not less, essential to our collective security. . . .
http://www.cfr.org/publication/18515/remarks_by_national_security_adviser_jones_at_45th _munich_conference_on_security_policy.html
Ellie
The Council on Foreign Relations posted a copy of remarks given by U.S. National Security Adviser James L. Jones at the 45th Munich Conference on Security Policy at the Hotel Bayerischer Hof on February 8, 2009. A few excerpts:
The transatlantic security partnership was largely designed to meet the threats of a very symmetric world. It was reactive. The NATO partnership was conceived to be a defensive and fairly static alliance. And I spent a good deal of my career in uniform serving within this framework. But to move forward, we must understand the terms national security and international security are no longer limited to the ministries of defense and foreign ministries; in fact, it encompasses the economic aspects of our societies. It encompasses energy. It encompasses new threats, asymmetric threats involving proliferation, involving the illegal shipment of arms and narco-terrorism, and the like. Borders are no longer recognized and the simultaneity of the threats that face us are occurring at a more rapid pace. . . .
We know that NATO is a strong alliance, perhaps the strongest the world has ever known. Its capacity does not just come from the strength of its arms but from the enduring democratic values that bind our nations together. And from the iron-clad commitment that ensures our collective security. But I also know this. NATO must also change. It needs to become less reactive and more proactive. I think it needs to become less rigid and more flexible. It needs to become less stationary and more expeditionary. And it needs to become more, not less, essential to our collective security. . . .
http://www.cfr.org/publication/18515/remarks_by_national_security_adviser_jones_at_45th _munich_conference_on_security_policy.html
Ellie