NATO Support Research Articles

NATO Support and Procurement Agency: a Powerful Instrument of Collaborative Logistics

The paper evaluates the level of cooperation between the Ministry of Defence and the NATO Support and Procurement Agency (NSPA) in the field of procurement of military equipment. In the practical part, the results of the research on the level of participation of Czech-based suppliers in NSPA activities between 2018 and 2022 are presented. Pareto analysis comparing the participation of the Czech and international companies in contracts implemented by NSPA in terms of their subject, quantity and financial value is used. Qualitative case studies from three different areas illustrate in which NSPA projects the Czech Republic has already been involved in and which benefits and risks are associated with this cooperation for the MoD. Positives and drawbacks in the process of acquiring military equipment in-house and opportunities and threats that may arise from the acquisition of military equipment through the NSPA are summarised in the form of the SWOT analysis. Finally, recommendations are presented on how to improve the cooperation between the MoD and the NSPA in the field of acquisition.

Challenges for NATO in the First Third of the 21st Century: China and Ukraine

The article is dedicated to the analysis of China’s and Ukraine policies as challenges at the beginning of the XXI century. External and internal factors which influence the NATO’s definition of its role and place in the contemporary system of international relations are considered. To this purpose, the content of certain definitions, specifics of internal development of Western society of the second half of the XXth century which form subsequent perception of security environment as well as the impact of China and Ukraine on the NANO’s choice of the ways of adaptation to the contemporary security processes. The author notes that China and Ukraine are substantially different challenges for NATO and initial analysis shows that the Alliance rather quick and promptly takes into account their meaning for the creation of adaptive mechanisms and instruments to the contemporary world political processes. China’s challenge makes NATO to activate the process of its “globalizing” through the creation and participation in supplementary security mechanisms and institutions beyond the Statute’s defined Euro-Atlantic region. At the same time, Ukraine acts as an outpost of Western word covering the Alliance’s members from Russian aggression and giving them possibility to make rearmament necessary for efficient rebuff in case of attack. Ukraine’s challenge lies in that NATO support of Kyiv increases the risk of direct military collision between NATO and the Russian Federation.

The Role of Nato in Enhancing Ukraine's Cybersecurity during Times of Conflict

This study aims to analyze the impact of NATO support on Ukraine which is in a conflict situation with Russia. Ukraine has taken a step forward to strengthen its ties with NATO by signing an agreement to formalize its participation in the security alliance's Joint Center for Advanced Technologies in Cyber Defense (CCDCOE). This study will discover how this action will affect the tensions in the Cyber Security System between Ukraine and Russia. In order to find the answer, it is necessary to identify the motives by using qualitative research design through secondary sources in the form of official state documents and secondary sources in the form of journals, dissertations and related research. The result of this study conluded NATO’s involvement in the cyber war between UkraineRussia is quite substantial and greatly influenced the course of the war, this is what motivated the researcher to conduct further studies and see what influences were given., regardless of the difficult to collect the information. This study might help us understand the situation of Cyber Conflict between Ukraine-Russia and predicts the potential consequences from this action, and hopefully give us more informations to analyze and evaluate to find the best solution of this existing conflict.

The Role of Turkey in the Post-Soviet Space in US Foreign Policy Analysis

The subject of the study is a set of current ideas, concepts and strategies of representatives of American expert community on Turkish issues. The relevance of the work is determined by the need for a comprehensive analysis of the process of geopolitical transformations in the region taking into account the rising role of Turkey. The research is based on publicistic sources, which include analytical studies, articles, reports and expert assessments of specialists from the leading centers and institutions. The paper shows that the study of the potential of Turkish influence is intended to find a manageable balance of power in the region where Turkey will not oppose to American interests. It is noted that in the post-Soviet space Turkey has already become an indispensable player, proactive and ready to fill the vacuum of political will and power swiftly. The author points out that the expert community emphasizes differing degree of geopolitical influence of Turkey and Russia in the post-Soviet space, which determines the readiness of Turkish leadership to rely on NATO support as a counterbalance to the historical influence of Kremlin in the region. The author concludes that US still considers Turkey as a strategically valuable partner, and in certain scenarios the Republic has a chance to get carte blanche for a sovereign foreign policy and secure a place of a new key player; in this case, the USA can find a new manageable equilibrium in which Turkey's unfriendly actions will not undermine American strategic interests.

Securitization of Disinformation in NATO’s Lexicon: A Computational Text Analysis

Following the Russian meddling in the 2016 US elections, disinformation and fake news became popular terms to help generate domestic awareness against foreign information operations globally. Today, a large number of politicians, diplomats, and civil society leaders identify disinformation and fake news as primary problems in both domestic and foreign policy contexts. But how do security institutions define disinformation and fake news in foreign and security policies, and how do their securitization strategies change over years? Using computational methods, this article explores 238,452 tweets from official NATO and affiliated accounts, as well as more than 2,000 NATO texts, news statements, and publications since January 2014, presenting an unsupervised structural topic model (stm) analysis to investigate the main thematic and discursive contexts of these texts. The study finds that NATO’s threat discourse and securitization strategies are heavily influenced by the US’ political lexicon, and that the organization’s word choice changes based on their likelihood of mobilizing alliance resources and cohesion. In addition, the study suggests that the recent disinformation agenda is, in fact, a continuity of NATO’s long-standing Russia-focused securitization strategy and their attempt to mobilize the Baltic states and Poland in support of NATO’s mission.

ASPECTS REGARDING MULTINATIONAL LOGISTIC SUPPORT IN NATO OPERATIONS. LIMITATIONS AND CONSTRAINTS

Within the North Atlantic Treaty Organization / NATO we have in most cases operations and activities supported in a multinational environment, diverse and especially different in terms of technology and levels of training. The logistics of military actions is one of the pillars and basic factors taken into account right from the moment of their preparation, which initiates a widespread need to understand the phenomenon of multinational logistical support, both tactically and operationally, as well as issues related to legality, funding, responsibilities, limitations and constraints. We also believe that multinational logistical support must primarily reflect the interests of the state and, secondarily, the obligations of the state that generates the logistical support in accordance with the treaties, conventions and alliances to which it is a party. At the same time, we believe that the harmonization of national strategic cultures and logistics cultures is a major challenge that will find a rather difficult answer. Also, noting the current technological advancement but also the growing threats of Russia, we believe that defining on the territory of one of the NATO member states on the eastern border a large and rapid reaction logistical support capacity would be one of the solutions for ensuring the least material support of NATO's eastern countries in the event of military aggression that would invoke Article 5. Major logistical support provided by the alliance could support frontline countries to military support from other members, thus decongesting the material burden, being able to focus on the conduct of combat actions.

Organisational learning during the Donbas War: the development of Ukrainian Armed Forces lessons-learned processes

ABSTRACT This article examines the development and performance of formal organisational learning processes in the Ukrainian Armed Forces (UAF) during the Donbas War (2014-present). Through original empirical research conducted with UAF personnel and documentary analysis, the article develops understanding about the detail of UAF lessons-learned processes and their effectiveness in helping to recalibrate UAF activities to operational demands. The article finds that the performance of UAF lessons-learned processes during the Donbas War has, on the whole, been poor. Since the escalation of Russian aggression in 2014, some positive steps which have been taken to implement best-practices in UAF lessons-learned processes. However, the article uncovers a number of organisational activities, structures and processes which could be improved to weaken the negative impact of bureaucratic politics and organisational culture on learning. It concludes with recommendations for the further development of UAF lessons-learned processes. The article highlights the particular importance of improving the capacity of the civilian leadership to exert effective oversight of military learning and of US and NATO support for these efforts.

AESS Historical Interview With Dr. Catherine Warner

Dr. Warner is the Director of the NATO Science and Technology Organization Centre for Maritime Research and Experimentation. She was the science advisor to the Director, Operational Test and Evaluation within the U.S. Office of the Secretary of Defense. Her mission was to ensure the office fulfilled its statutory responsibility on the oversight and reporting of test and evaluation results for major weapons systems to Congress and senior Defense Department leadership. In 2013, at the request of the Defense Information Systems Agency, Dr. Warner deployed to Kabul, Afghanistan for 16 months in support of NATO's International Security Assistance Force and the U.S. Operation Enduring Freedom. She led a team of Information Technology specialists in advising Afghanistan's Ministry of Communications and Information Technology. From 1991 to 2010, Dr. Warner was with the Institute for Defense Analyses in Virginia where she performed analysis of operational tests for Army, Navy, and Air Force systems. She was an Assistant Director and the lead for Air Warfare. Her analysis portfolio included major aircraft systems such as the F-22, F/A-18E/F, V-22, and H-1. She was the lead analyst for unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) systems including Predator, Shadow, Hunter, and Global Hawk. Dr. Warner worked at the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, attended the University of New Mexico, the San Jose State University, and earned both M.A. and Ph.D. degrees in Chemistry from Princeton University. Dr. Warner earned the NATO Meritorious Civilian Service Medal, DISA Exceptional Civilian Service Award, and the Presidential Rank Award.

Opening in times of crisis? Examining NATO and the EU's support to security sector reform in post-Maidan Ukraine

ABSTRACT Security sector reform has remained largely disconnected from the broader debate on societal transition in the literature thus far. We conceptualise how external support to security sector reform could potentially facilitate socio-political order opening in a limited access order. Based on two dimensions, we examine the case of NATO and EU's support to Ukraine's security sector reform between 2014 and 2019. NATO's support to the military and the EU's support to the police and state security service (SBU) appear unlikely to cause opening of the social order, while NATO's support to the military-industrial complex is more likely to cause opening.

Charlie Kersten’s war: a Catholic crusader goes to Congress

ABSTRACT Congressman Charles J. Kersten (R-WI) authored the Kersten Amendment to the Mutual Security Act of 1951, allocating $100 million annually to train refugees from Eastern European countries in national military units in support of NATO or for “some other purpose.” He advocated “positive” policies to promote liberation of captive Eastern European peoples, including waging an all-out psychological war and training the exiles; Kersten funds supported ongoing covert plans by the CIA and State Department. His career reveals the influence of religious faith on foreign relations and both cooperation and tensions between Congress and the Administration in the early Cold War.

The Role of the NATO Support and Procurement Agency in Support to Operations

It is a basic requirement of the nations participating in multinational operations that the necessary resources be available at the required place and time, in the determined quality and quantity with optimal costs. In all of this, the Contractor Support to Operations, one of the pillars of the support to operations, has a more and more significant role. This method of support (besides the Host Nation Support) is destined for covering the gaps in the national military capabilities and capacities. It is indispensable these days to employ contractors for capitalising on their technological knowledge, as well as for achieving cost savings and a growth in the capabilities. The NATO Support and Procurement Agency (NSPA or Agency), the ‘contract integrator’ organisation of the NATO also support the NATO and the nations this way. In this article, the authors would like to introduce the operation of the NSPA and discuss the potential opportunities in its use.

NATO at 70: Is the USA still in it for the long haul?

The election of Donald Trump as president of the USA has raised questions about America’s commitment to the alliance given his ongoing criticisms of allies, particularly regarding their defense spending. On the other hand, support for the alliance remains strong throughout the bureaucracy, in Congress, and among the public. Two trends, however, cast doubt on the robustness of US support of NATO. One is Trump’s assault on the post-World War II order by championing hyper-nationalism and economic protectionism. The other is the deepening partisan divide emerging in US public opinion data on favorable views of NATO shaped by presidential rhetoric.

Italian foreign policy under the Gentiloni government: do the ‘three circles’ hold in 2017?

ABSTRACTItaly under the Gentiloni government faced significant foreign policy challenges in 2017 against the backdrop of a volatile geopolitical climate. The present chapter employs the ‘three circles’ approach to analyze Italy’s foreign policy, arguing that the three circles approach remains relevant in 2017. In the first Atlanticist foreign policy circle, Italy’s foreign policy influence appears at first blush to have weakened, owing to growing American isolationism and uncertainty surrounding support of NATO and multilateralism more broadly, though the Gentiloni government succeeded to some extent in bridge-building efforts with the United States. In the second European foreign policy circle, Italy’s influence was somewhat enhanced as it took positions of solidarity with its European partners on critical security, economic and environmental matters. In the third Mediterranean foreign policy circle, Italy sought to take on a more active role in addressing the Libyan conflict and the migrant crisis, but its role within this circle was to some degree overshadowed by France following the election of President Emmanuel Macron. On balance, however, Italy continued to focus on its traditional interests within its three foreign policy circles and to seek to leverage multilateral institutions to achieve foreign policy goals within an ever more turbulent global environment.

Аналіз підтримки, що надає НАТО силам безпеки і оборони інших країн на прикладі Афганістану

Today, collective defense remains the main task of NATO. The emergence of new challenges and threats that arise far beyond the borders of the area of responsibility of this Organization, in particular terrorism, are challenges that can not be overcome solely on the basis of a “territorial” understanding of security.Therefore, the study and analysis of NATO support to the security forces of other countries is important given the processes taking place in easternUkraine.The purpose of the article. Analyze the experience of NATO activities to provide support to Afghanistan's defense and security institutions during the Operations in by the International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) contingent within the NATO Resolute Support Mission (RS-A), as well as in the within the framework of long-term cooperation.Support for the “Security Operations in Afghanistan” by the contingent of ISAF.The ISAF mandate was initially confined to security in and around Kabul. In October 2003, the UN extended the mandate of ISAF to the entire territory of Afghanistan (UNSCR 1510), which paved the way for expanding its mission throughout the country.Support during the mission “Resolute Support” (RS-A).The principal function of the RS-A mission is to provide advisory and consultative assistance to the Government of Afghanistan on the development of the operational capabilities of the Afghan national security and defense forces, including with the use of Expeditionary Advisory Packages outside the permanent locations. According to the Secretary-General of NATO, the RS-A mission is a mission to train advisers and assist the Afghan security forces.Support in the framework of long-term cooperationDespite the fact that NATO focuses its support efforts onAfghanistanwithin the framework of the RS-A mission and the financing of the Afghan security forces, work continues in the area of long-term partnership, which includes political dialogue and practical cooperation between NATO andAfghanistan.Conclusions:1. The support of the Afghan security and defense forces is carried out by NATO in three important areas - within a non-combat Resolute Support Mission, which was the logical continuation of the military operation, Operation Security Assistance in by the contingent of the ISAF, financial support under the fund managed by NATO together with the UN fund and in the framework of long-term cooperation.2. Despite the significant amount of funding and support to the Afghan security and defense forces, they are not able to fully control the situation in the country independently without international assistance.3. A promising direction for NATO's practical assistance to Afghanistan is the gradual transition to a Sustainable Partnership.Further studies should focus on the study of NATO's support of the security and defense sector of non-NATO countries in order to identify conceptual approaches, general principles and tendencies in providing assistance, as well as the peculiarities of shaping and decision-making in support of individual countries in political, military and other areas.

2018 – Year of Ukrainian Reforming

The interview with Аlexander Vinnikov, Head of the NATO Representation to Ukraine, provides answers to such questions as NATO assistance to Ukraine in the process of reforming the defence and security sector, and availability of programs already being implemented in Ukraine. NATO members help to develop capabilities of Ukraine in logistics, standardisation, cyber defence, communications, and medical rehabilitation. Special attention is drawn to the enhancement of knowledge and skills of employees of the defence and security sector in Ukraine, NATO support in social adaptation of former servicemen, improvement of the defense and education system of Ukraine, construction of communication facilities and expansion of cooperation among scholars, working upon security-related projects. NATO Trust Fund for Medical Rehabilitation provides aid both for private persons and medical establishments. Ukrainian rehabilitation centers are being equipped with modern medical facilities, and servicemen are undergoing rehabilitation both in Ukraine and abroad. The article also offers an account of the possibility of NATO accession as one of the most important matters in the relations of Ukraine and NATO along with key global threats NATO is facing. Among such threats, the Ambassador singles out nuclear proliferation in North Korea, terrorism, a precarious situation in the Middle East and North Africa as well as permanent violation of international state borders by Russia. An ever-increasing number of cyber attacks is also mentioned. No state can counter these challenges on its own. In the modern unified world, such complex global challenges require global actions. Thus, the Ambassador stresses that NATO is working upon continuous adaptation of the Alliance to an ever-demanding security environment. Keywords: NATO, international relations, state borders, servicemen, medical rehabilitation.

Summary of Data Farming

Data Farming is a process that has been developed to support decision-makers by answering questions that are not currently addressed. Data farming uses an inter-disciplinary approach that includes modeling and simulation, high performance computing, and statistical analysis to examine questions of interest with a large number of alternatives. Data farming allows for the examination of uncertain events with numerous possible outcomes and provides the capability of executing enough experiments so that both overall and unexpected results may be captured and examined for insights. Harnessing the power of data farming to apply it to our questions is essential to providing support not currently available to decision-makers. This support is critically needed in answering questions inherent in the scenarios we expect to confront in the future as the challenges our forces face become more complex and uncertain. This article was created on the basis of work conducted by Task Group MSG-088 “Data Farming in Support of NATO”, which is being applied in MSG-124 “Developing Actionable Data Farming Decision Support for NATO” of the Science and Technology Organization, North Atlantic Treaty Organization (STO NATO).

Security Identities and ‘No More, No Less’ Operations: On Making NATO's Involvement in Darfur Possible

This article explores NATO's support mission to the African Union's peacekeeping operation in Darfur, Sudan between 2005 and 2007. NATO policies are commonly presented as functional responses to events, but how did a conflict on the African continent become the Atlantic Alliance's business? In this essay, a poststructuralist practice-oriented approach is used to understand the way in which discursive practices progressively establish a policy option as ‘natural' in a given situation. It is argued that the normalization of NATO's support mission to the African Union in Darfur and the integration of this operation in NATO's security identity were the result of complex and conflict-ridden social interactions between different discursive practices supported by different actors.

Game for Peace: progressive education in peace operations

We present a modeling and simulation approach that clearly increases the efficacy of training and education efforts for peace support operations. Our discussion involves how a computer simulation, the Peace Support Operations Model, is integrated into a training and education venue in Kyrgyzstan for a “ Game for Peace.” On September 12–23, 2011 members of NATO’s Partnership for Peace Training and Education Centers collaborated to instruct a United Nations’ Peacekeeping Operations course at the Kyrgyz Separate Rifle Battalion in Bujum, Kyrgyzstan. Phase II of the course was also conducted on October 17–21, 2011 for members of the Peacekeeping Brigade of the Kazakhstan Army (KAZBRIG) in Almaty, Kazakhstan. Although such courses are a mainstay in NATO support in preparing member nations for peace support operations, the application of a computer simulation is unique. We relate the decision to use a computer simulation to support the training event and provide an overview of the methodology for planning and executing the game. Insights from the game about training and educating future peacekeepers and lessons for using computer simulations are instructive for future efforts and mark the way to leverage the advantages of computer simulations.

Defense Education Enhancement Program: The NATO Functional Clearing-House on Defense Education

IntroductionIn the immediate aftermath the Cold War period the 1990s, NATO was highly engaged with the armed forces number states the former Soviet Union and the Eastern Europe-based Warsaw Pact. The intent this engagement was to assist their militaries the process Western-style transformation as part their national preparation for interoperability and potential integration with NATO. One the major supporting components for this NATO process was the development regionally focused clearing-houses.The Merriam-Webster Dictionary defines clearing-house as a central agency for the collection, classification, and distribution, especially information;.... [a] channel for distributing information or assistance. In the case NATO, these regional clearinghouses were to serve an integration function for the NATO member states to provide specific support for the transformation militaries former Soviet republics and Warsaw Pact countries. The NATO member states would participate these periodic meetings to identify the required assistance needs on the part the non-member target states that were not being filled (gaps that existed the support process), and to determine which member nations would be willing to support efforts to meet those needs through the execution various programs and individual events.After heads state and government created the Partnership for Peace (PfP) program 1994, they developed number tools to assist partners, including the perpetuation the original clearing-house concept. A clearing-house had been existence at NATO headquarters up to the late 1990s, when NATO realized the difficulty meeting partner requirements with offers from Allied nations when the partner states participated the same meeting, sometimes the same room. Several Allies made decision to reinvent the clearing-house tool by taking regional approach after NATO disestablished the clearing-house Brussels. The first regional clearing-house was established support the three Baltic nations: Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania. This was followed the first decade the twenty-first century by regional clearing-houses designated for Southeastern Europe (Balkan countries) and the Caucasus (Azerbaijan, Armenia, and Georgia, later joined by the Republic Moldova). In addition, one clearing house exists solely to provide support to Ukraine. Over time, these regional clearing-houses have become critical security cooperation management tools for the Alliance its effort to support the transformation the armed forces partner nations.The Creation the First Functional Clearing-HouseUntil the mid-2000s, NATO support to partner states had primarily focused on the guidelines the 1999 Training and Education Enhancement Program (TEEP), which was intended to promote interoperability in the field. NATO defense reform efforts gained added momentum with the creation the Partnership Action Plan on Defense Institution Building (PAP-DIB) at the 2004 Istanbul Summit. The PAP-DIB Action Plan outlines the specific goals that NATO and partner states want to achieve the area defense institution building. One the functional subject areas which NATO provided support since the mid-2000s, via the International Staff, was that defense education. Defense education support was designed to address interoperability of minds - set common references, doctrines, and approaches to problem solving that would allow officers from different backgrounds to understand each other. NATO support for defense education is defined the EAPC document, Implementing the PAP-DIB: The Education & Training for Defense Reform Initiative - Guidelines for Development.1 It has been reconfirmed by the Berlin decisions on partnerships and discussions at the 2012 Chicago Summit that identified the need for the further development partner capacity through defense education. …

Cross‐class Coalitions and the Making of the Arab Revolts of 2011

Theorists of social movements and revolutions have given great attention to the factors creating vulnerability for the state – including elite divisions, loss of foreign support, and economic problems. Substantial attention has also been given to factors facilitating the mobilization of protest actors, including framing, prior network ties, social and public media, and political openings. Somewhat less evident has been the role of cross-class coalitions, which play a vital role in affecting both the strength of the state and mobilization, and in shaping the outcomes of protest and revolutionary change. If a protest draws support mainly from just one class or group (peasants, workers, students, urban shopkeepers, professionals), the state can confront that group as a disruptive force, and seek to unify elites from other sectors against that threat. However, if protestors represent many different groups, it is much harder for the state to find allies against them. Moreover, while a state can claim to be preserving society by acting against isolated disruptive elements, it is far more difficult to maintain legitimacy when acting against a broad cross-class coalition. Elites are more likely to desert the state, creating crippling elite divisions, if protestors represent a broad spectrum of society. In addition, a broad cross-class coalition facilitates further mobilization by creating ‘meganetworks’ linking prior, tightly-linked within-group networks to each other. The impact of public media in favor of the protestors is also greater if media representation shows protestors as representative of the whole society, rather than as one particular group seeking partisan advantages for itself. For these reasons, virtually all successful revolutions were forged by cross-class coalitions that bridged the diverse goals and interests of different groups, thus pitting society as a whole against the regime and its loyalist supporters. Conversely, revolts rooted in the needs and organization of one particular class or group – peasant revolts, urban uprisings, student protests, regional rebellions – have usually been effectively repressed by regimes able to draw on other groups for support. The three successful revolutions in the Arab world in 2011, in Tunisia, Egypt, and Libya, all demonstrate the crucial role of cross-class coalitions.