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Trump Moves Toward Backing NATO Candidate Over Russian Objections Wall Street Journal The Russian government has vehemently opposed Montenegro joining NATO, keeping with its longstanding opposition to the alliance's expansion. Montenegrin officials have publicly accused the Kremlin of trying to deter its membership by instigating an ... Trump's Administration 'Leaning' to Back Montenegro's NATO AccessionSputnik International all 4 news articles »

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Trump Moves Toward Backing NATO Candidate Over Russian Objections - Wall Street Journal

German Defense Minister Ursula von der Leyen attends a meeting with U.S. Defense Secretary Jim Mattis at the Pentagon in Arlington, Virginia on Feb. 10. Mary F. Calvert / Reuters

Russia's deputy defense minister has called those NATO exercises a "threat."

But Von der Leyen disputed that characterization and deemed the NATO troop movements, which involve a U.S. Armored Combat Brigade, "appropriate."

"Russia knows that it is a reaction for the Russian annexation of Crimea and the hybrid war in Eastern Ukraine," she told NBC News. "Therefore it was important for us to make sure that our Baltic friends know their borders are secure"

Von der Leyen is the first defense minister hosted by Mattis at the Pentagon and their meeting lasted for about an hour, twice as long as scheduled.

Their conversation ranged from Syria to Ukraine, and also touched upon European defense spending levels. She said it was a "fair question" for President Trump to ask why so many NATO countries do not spend the targeted 2 percent of GDP on their military budgets.

"In an alliance there needs to be a fair share of the burden," she said. "We recognize that we need to raise the budget, because we need it in the Armed forces. We need to modernize the armed forces."

The German defense minister also suggested that Europe needs to consider establishing an EU army, to conduct missions that aren't core to NATO's mission.

"We need as Europeans to address problems where for example we do not see NATO," she said, "We have to bring over stability for example to Mali and Niger."

Ahead of Germany's planned election in September, she called on the press to help dismantle "fake news" stories, while suggesting that Russia may attempt to meddle in their democratic process.

"The Kremlin has no interest in having a too stable and too strong Europe, she said. "The free press is the strongest sword you have within these complex situations."

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Germany's Defense Minister: Trump is Committed to NATO - NBCNews.com

13News Now Mike Gooding has the story

Mike Gooding, WVEC 6:44 PM. EST February 10, 2017

nato_logo_.jpg (Photo: WVEC)

NORFOLK, Va. (WVEC) -- Could NATO be on its way out of Norfolk after 65 years here? A column in the publication, 'Defense News' suggested moving the 28-nation command to Washington, D.C.

One way or another, the North Atlantic Treaty Organization has ben a part of Norfolk since 1952. The facility at Naval Support Activity off Terminal boulevard is NATO's only permanent headquarters outside Europe

The organization's current iteration here, Allied Command Transformation, dates back to 2003. Its past commanders include current Secretary of Defense James Mattis, who served here from 2007 to 2009.

The 28 partner nations are responsible for promoting and overseeing the continuing transformation of Alliance forces and capabilities.

Hampton Roads citizens get a small glimpse of ACT every spring during the annual NATO festival downtown. But, if Defense News writers Magnus Nordenman and Henrick Breitenauch get their way, the five-decade-plus local partnership would come to an end.

They write that NATO should move to Washington "to be closer to American decision-makers."

Not everyone agrees with that assessment.

"This is the right place for NATO allied Command Transformation to be, period," said retired rear admiral Craig Quigley. He now serves as executive director of the Hampton Roads Military and Federal Facilities alliance. He says Norfolk and its many nearby military commands is the perfect place for NATO, and, it should stay put.

And as far as he know, Quigley says nobody in NATO thinks otherwise.

"I'm not aware that article by those two writers was anything more than an academic exercise," he said. "I have never, ever heard of substantive plans to move he headquarters away from where it is right now."

Such a move would be a blow to the Hampton Roads region, which in the last decade has lost United States Joint Forces Command, the Navy's Second Fleet, and the Army's For Monroe.

13News Now put in a call to Supreme Allied Command Transformation's public affairs office, for a comment.

So far, they have not called back.

( 2017 WVEC)

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Article calls for NATO to move HQ from Norfolk to DC - 13newsnow.com

WASHINGTONThe point agency for buying software and technological capabilities for NATO wants to increase the number of small companies that support the allianceand is prepared to put its money where its mouth is.

Peter Scaruppe, director of acquisition for the NATO Communications and Information Agency, told Defense News in a Feb. 2 interview that his office does about a billion euros worth of business in a good yearthats a small number from the U.S., but for Europe that is a major player here.

But that number is set to grow in the next two and a half years, during which Scaruppe says his agency plans to spend around 3 billion (U.S. $3.2 billion) on contracts for requirement ranging across a number of areas, including cybersecurity and IT, but predominantly for command and control capabilities.

Command and control systems for missile defense, for example, and for air command and control systems we will have about 500 million in business in this area alone. We have a lot of communication systems in the pipeline, for example, in the maritime area, in the land command and control area.

The single biggest contract being worked is for satellite communications, which Scaruppe said could come out to about 1.5 billion over the next three years.

Software has been procured for NATO through common-funded financing; that means all 28 nations chip into a project, then the nation can use the software for a national purpose without having to buy it again because its been paid for by NATO already, he said.

In order to broaden the pool of suppliers, the agency is hosting its annual conference outside Europe for the first time. The event will be hosted April 24-26 in Ottawa, Canada, a strategic decision made in part because Canada has a lot of small and medium enterprises, and not the big-ticket industries that tend to appear at shows in the United States.

Roughly 80 percent of the agencies contracts are given to prime contractors, so the conference will feature a challenge where smaller companies can compete to tackle a specific technological problem, which Scaruppe hopes will result in new voices arising.

We need to make it easy on the smaller companies. A lot of them dont want to deal with us because of too much red tape and administration, and an intergovernmental installation like we are tends to have more red tape than a national government, Scaruppe said, adding that many smaller firms dont want to have to share intellectual property rights with the NATO governments.

If those concerns sound familiar, it's because they are echoes of long-running concerns from U.S. defense officialsmost notably former Defense Secretary Ash Carter, who made bringing technological innovation into the Pentagon a key part of his time in office. And just as Carter encouraged smaller companies to raise their concerns with the Pentagon, Scaruppe hopes to leave his conference with a handful of suggestions for improvement.

If we want the best, we need to address this. Were addressing this through the conference, were holding workshops where we want to address this, he said. We want to hear from industry, what are the challenges, and we will have our own experts here, including my own staff, to discuss how we can make it easier for industry to be a part of the successful bid.

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NATO looks to contract $3.2 billion over next three years on C4, IT - DefenseNews.com

BBC News

Nato says viral news outlet is part of "Kremlin misinformation machine" BBC News In the world of viral news, it's a relative baby - but it's already become so controversial that a Nato spokesperson told BBC Trending that Sputnik is an agent of Russian misinformation. Sputnik was set up in 2014 and puts out podcasts, radio shows and ... Nato accuses Sputnik News of distributing misinformation as part of 'Kremlin propaganda machine'The Independent Nato accuses pro-Kremlin site of pushing propagandaThe Times (subscription) all 4 news articles »

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Nato says viral news outlet is part of "Kremlin misinformation machine" - BBC News

NATO Deputy Secretary General Rose Gottemoeller welcomed the Moldovan President Igor Dodon to NATO headquarters on Tuesday (7 February 2017) for talks on the partnership between the Alliance and the Republic of Moldova. Ms Gottemoeller thanked Moldova for its contribution to NATOs KFOR peacekeeping mission, which also gives Moldovan troops valuable practical experience. She explained how the partnership between NATO and the Republic of Moldova helps improve peoples lives, for instance with training for almost 2,000 Moldovans in areas such as fighting corruption in the defence sector, border security and civil emergency planning.

The Alliance has spent 4.5 million euros on destroying pesticides, anti-personnel mines, surplus munitions and rocket fuel. The Deputy Secretary General said that NATO will open a new civilian Liaison Office in Chisinau this year to facilitate NATO support for the countrys reforms, as requested by the Moldovan government. She stressed that NATO fully respects Moldovas constitutional neutrality, as recognised in the Individual Partnership Action Plan.

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NATO backs stable, secure and neutral Moldova - NATO HQ (press release)

Thank you very much.

Prime Minister Groysman, welcome to NATO Headquarters. Its a real pleasure and honour to see you here today, sir.

The Secretary General regrets very much being unable unwell today and unable to meet with you today.

We just discussed the serious situation in eastern Ukraine and NATOs support for your country.

Since Russias aggressive actions began three years ago, NATO has stood by Ukraine. This will not change. Last night, I chaired a special meeting of the NATO-Ukraine Commission where we discussed the latest facts on the ground. Every single Ally took the floor to express strong support for Ukraines sovereignty and territorial integrity.

NATO does not, and will not, recognise the illegal annexation of Crimea and we condemn Russias continuing destabilisation of eastern Ukraine.

We are deeply concerned by the recent spike in violence. The ceasefire has been violated almost every day for the last two years. But last week, the OSCE, the Organization for Security and Co-Operation in Europe, registered over 10,000 ceasefire violations in a single day. Including with heavy equipment banned under the Minsk Agreements. We have seen the heaviest fighting in the past two years. We must not accept this as the new normal. It is essential that OSCE monitorsare granted free access to all of Ukraine. Up to the border with Russia, as required by the Minsk Agreements. So I call on all parties to honour their commitments.

Russia has a special responsibility in this regard. Ukraine is continuing on the path of reform and anti-corruption despite these very difficult circumstances. And the Prime Minister and I just had a very serious discussion about the continuation of the reform process in Ukraine. I commend you on your efforts.

I encourage Ukraine to continue to press ahead with such reforms. NATO will continue to provide political and practical support to Ukraine. Through our Comprehensive Assistance Package, and through Trust Funds.

Overall, we are also helping Ukraine reform its security and defence institutions.

To enable Ukraine to better defend itself.

And resist the threat of hybrid warfare.

Prime Minister Groysman, again, welcome to NATO, a very warm welcome.

We look forward to continuing to work closely with you and your colleagues.

Please sir, you have the floor.

DYLAN WHITE [Acting Deputy Spokesperson]: Thank you, well go to Unian please.

Q: Good afternoon here, my name is Irina Somer, Ukrainian News Agency Unian. I have a follow up question for Deputy Secretary General. Because you got invitation from Ukrainian Prime Minister to visit Ukraine together with the North Atlantic Council because last time it was hundreds years ago, when do you think this visit can take place? And another question on yesterday NATO Ukraine Commission I saw in the news that it was written that NATO will increase political pressure on Russia. So how exactly you see it to happen? And question for Prime Minister.

[Interpreted]: Prime Minister did you, did you achieve any results in the headquarters? These results that you have expected?

ROSE GOTTEMOELLER (NATO Deputy Secretary General): In terms of our upcoming visit, I support an effort by the North Atlantic Council to visit, to visit Ukraine. It is a matter of scheduling, its something that has to be worked out but I am recommending the visit and it hasnt been a hundred years since I visited Ukraine, its just been actually I think two years ago which is too long, I need to come back again. So Im very much looking forward to a near term visit and I was honoured and pleased to hear an invitation from the Prime Minister not only for the North Atlantic Council which I think is a terrific idea but also for me personally to visit Ukraine and Im looking forward to that opportunity soon. In terms of our support for Ukraine you heard how the, the group around the table yesterday when we had our extraordinary meeting of the NUC, the commission that is the NATO Ukraine special body, we heard unanimity around the table. So at a very high level there is strong support from all the allies to Ukraine and to, to the efforts Ukraine has underway to defend its territorial integrity and sovereignty. I can also say from the point of view of this institution, this institution also supports Ukraine very, very strongly and prominently with the Secretary General himself frequently speaking out in support of Ukraine and Ukraines territorial integrity and sovereignty but also in terms of the many programs that we have underway which I outlined in my remarks. So I think we have not only a kind of moral strength in our support for Ukraine but were backing it up with concrete programs as well.

VOLODYMYR GROYSMAN (Prime Minister of Ukraine): [Interpreted]: I am satisfied with this working meeting. I would like to underline that what we have heard today is that the unanimous full scale support of Ukraine in this difficult times. We appreciate very highly our common cooperation, joint cooperation with NATO in all these spheres and we are grateful for this all around support. I would like to underline that we have an action plan and the government has approved it, the President will sign it soon, it means that we will enhance our cooperation through using different tools including trust funds which are been created today and that have to get support from the allies. Its in the education, education of our military and many others spheres which include our cooperation, we have talked separately today that we will enhance our cooperation in the direction of our emergency services in Ukraine. That I would like to underline that those events that took place in Adviivka, we managed to control, to take control of the situation due to the professionality and competence of the workers of our emergency service. But if we manage to strengthen their technical equipment possibilities, equipment capacity that will help us to resist Russian aggression. And I would like to express again my personal gratitude for this very resultative talk for the fact that Ukraine is constantly in the radar and in the focus of the General Secretary, of you personally, of the North Atlantic Council and we think that after such contacts our task is to enhance our cooperation. We have a very precise plan of action which will allow us to implement reforms and they will be on the NATO standards, according to the NATO standards. So we are going on and our interaction is helping us to provide reforms.

DYLAN WHITE: Danish Media please.

Q: Mina Skau of the Danish News Agency Ritzau. Question for the Prime Minister. After the recent change at the top in Washington and the different political signals from the president and some of his top officials, are you still confident that, and I would say also what President Trump has said about President Putin and Russia, are you still confident that the U.S. stands by Ukraine and you have the unwavering support of the United States?

VOLODYMYR GROYSMAN: [Interpreted]: I am sure that the new president, newly elected President Trump, he is a leader, he will always fight for democracy and democratic values. And I am also certain that he will continue to be a world leader. This is my personal opinion, I believe in that and Im sure it will happen. You know that recently there was a telephone conversation between the President of Ukraine, President Poroshenko with the President of United States, and they have agreed that there will be, the visit from our president to America will take place very soon and I hope it will be very resultative. And I really reiterate that I do believe that the United States of America will always support justice and I think justice is now on the side of Ukraine.

DYLAN WHITE: Thank you. Lady in the front please.

Q: Allana Bromovich (sp?), 112 Ukraine. [Interpreted]: I have a question to both speakers, talking about the changes of the, establishment in USA. Well there are some programs from NATO supporting Ukraine in the context of what Trump said about doubting about NATO and diminishing their financing, would it influence the programs that run with Ukraine? And did you discuss whether the new diminished funding of NATO from United States will diminish support for Ukraine? Did you discuss it today?

ROSE GOTTEMOELLER: President Trump has not been supporting diminished funds for NATO, he has been supporting that all allies step forward and increase defence burden sharing. Meaning that allies who are not at this moment spending two per cent of their gross domestic product or GDP on defence need to up their game as we say. They need to increase their investments in defence and provide additional resources to this alliance. So this is a goal that has been shared by a number of U.S. presidents for as long as I can remember. George W. Bush, President Obama, they all supported this goal and the Secretary General and I, Jens Stoltenberg and I definitely have been pushing this goal as a very, very important one. It was also inscribed in two important summit documents starting in Wales and then again reemphasised at Warsaw just this past summer that this is an area where a number of allies have to pay attention and have to plan for more defence spending. So in answer to your question I think that and I expect and hope that there will be more resources available for the NATO alliance, I cant say what proportion of those would be devoted to programs or projects with Ukraine but I do and I think I laid out the vigorous already agenda of cooperation that we have. So I think that enhanced resources for this alliance can only be helpful to our joint programs and projects with Ukraine.

DYLAN WHITE: If thats, thank you very much thats all we have time for. Thank you.

ROSE GOTTEMOELLER: Thank you.

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with NATO Deputy Secretary General Rose Gottemoeller and the Prime Minister of Ukraine, Volodymyr Groysman - NATO HQ (press release)

MOSCOW Moscow is ready to renew cooperation with the United States and other NATO powers to reach mutual goals in Afghanistan, Zamir Kabulov, a Russian Foreign Ministry official, said in an interview with the state TASS agency published on Thursday.

Kabulov said Russia was concerned about insurgents' activity in Afghanistan and it was not the best time for Washington to withdraw troops from there.

"The situation with security in this country is deteriorating, while Afghan national security forces are unable to stand against armed opposition due to a number of reasons," Kabulov said.

"In such circumstances a hasty departure of foreign military servicemen could have unpredictable consequences and destroy those minimal positive results that were achieved in recent years."

(Reporting by Andrey Ostroukh; Editing by Andrew Heavens)

WASHINGTON President Donald Trumps wall along the U.S.-Mexico border would be a series of fences and walls that would cost as much as $21.6 billion, and take more than three years to construct, based on a U.S. Department of Homeland Security internal report seen by Reuters on Thursday.

PARIS Seven out of 10 French voters want conservative presidential candidate Francois Fillon to step down, an opinion poll by Odoxa for France Info radio said on Friday as a scandal over alleged "fake work" by his wife continued to weigh on his campaign.

KABUL The Afghan Defence Ministry welcomed on Friday suggestions by the commander of international forces in Afghanistan that more troops were needed to train Afghan security forces, who are battling to hold back a growing Taliban-led insurgency.

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Russian foreign ministry says ready to cooperate with NATO in ... - Reuters

When Jrgen Bornemann was a junior army officer in West Germanys Bundeswehr, he spent many months of every year practicing getting his unit from its base to likely conflict zones near West Germanys border with East Germany. His unit was not alone. Entire divisions were moved within West Germany, Bornemann, who went on to become a lieutenant general and director general of NATOs international staff, told me. (A division consists of some fifteen thousand soldiers.)

Practicing movements involving tens of thousands of troops towards potential hot spots was, in fact, a main component of NATOs Cold War defense planning. NATO was constantly practicing, fine-tuning deploying fifty thousand troops across the Atlantic and moving them across Europe, said Ian Brzezinski, an assistant secretary of defense under George W. Bush. It was a demonstration, but it was also a way of making sure the wheels were always greased.

By comparison, todays NATO troop movements look rather modest. Exercises are less frequent and typically involve brigade-size forces, around five thousand troops each. In 2015 we had an exercise [Trident Juncture] that involved thirty-six thousand troops, but it took a long time to plan and only took place in Italy, Portugal and Spain, Brzezinski pointed out. And as Bornemann notes, with many years having passed without large regular exercises, officers lack the knowledge of how to do it. They often lack the equipment, too. During the Cold War, Germanys Deutsche Bahn kept thousands of rail cars available for Bundeswehr transportation. Thats no longer the case.

Equally worrisome is the speed at which the exercising troops advance. Referring to NATOs Very High Readiness Joint Task Force, which consists of five thousand troops, a senior NATO official told me, Sometimes we have ten nations participating. Its not just a matter of the number of troops and vehicles moving. We have to be able to go from anywhere to anywhere. Its extremely complex, whereas during the Cold War everyone knew which route they would be taking.

With battle zones so much harder to predict than during the Cold War, its difficult to know where to pre-position equipment. We dont know where well need it, whereas during the Cold War we knew exactly where wed need it, the NATO official said.

Cold War NATO commanders also knew the specifics of every bridge, railroad, road, tunnel, airport and seaport on NATO territory. They could easily access the information in the alliances Capability Catalogues, a meticulously maintained encyclopedia that detailed every piece of infrastructure that could be used by the military. But we let the Capability Catalogues go, the NATO official told me. As a result, commanders have incomplete information about the infrastructure they need to use in order to move their troops. Though bridges and railroads may seem secondary, logistics is the pillar of any military exerciseand any military engagement.

Newer NATO member states capabilities never added Capability Catalogues, and were also left with Communist-era infrastructure. Some of them have rebuilt their infrastructure in a lot of places where some of the older Allies havent, but some of the bridges in some of the former [Warsaw Pact] nations will probably need upgrading at some stage, the NATO official said. Were talking sometimes seventy or eighty tons of armor, so you put that on top of a flatbed and then youve got the issues of going across a bridge. Since the 2014 Wales Summit, NATO has again been collecting capability entries from its member states, and the official says the alliance is making progress towards a complete set of catalogues.

And troops need to regularly use the infrastructure. We used to move armor up from Greece into Kosovo and the Balkans, for example, the NATO official pointed out. Its not new for NATO to be able to do that, we just need to get to where we were before in terms of being up to speed and having that situational awareness.

In recent months, the alliance has made crucial progress in another area: border crossings. Until last year, many NATO member states didnt issue automatic clearance to alliance troops entering their territory. Now that issue has been resolved.

Still, NATO is decidedly less swift than Russia, which can deploy tens of thousands of soldiers on several days noticeand has the advantage of large military bases not far from three NATO member states: Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania. By contrast, NATOs best and largest armed forces units are based in western Europe, where the United States still maintains a respectable military presence.

Thats where NATOs decisionmaking speed plays a crucial role. After the Cold War, decisionmaking power for NATOs exercises shifted from commanders to the civilian North Atlantic Council, which operates at distinctly unmilitary speed. Military commanders have been aware of the problem caused by slow decisionmaking for a long time, but political decisionmakers have had their heads in the sand. Brzezinski said, Its changing now, but is it changing fast enough?

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Is NATO Really Ready for a War? - The National Interest Online

Few outside of the NATO community realize that one of the alliance's two strategic commands is located not in Europe, but in Norfolk, Virginia. Stood up as NATO began to reorient itself in response to the threats and challenges of the 21st century, Allied Command Transformation, or ACT, is now nearing its 15th anniversary in Norfolk. Today, ACT is charged to look to the future and help the alliance develop new capabilities, forces and doctrine for emerging challenges. But now is the time to consider ACTs future in light of new political realities in America and the worsening security situation in Europe.

For starters, ACT should move to Washington to be closer to American decision-makers and to be able to more effectively draw on the discussions and the decisions being made at the Pentagon. In addition, it is more crucial than ever that American leaders are reminded of NATO's importance on a near-daily basis. What better way than to have a strategic NATO command right next door to the White House, Congress, the State Department and the Pentagon?

All of this matters because of the role of ACT inside NATO. The two major commands in NATOs relatively light organization deal with two different sides of NATOcurrent operations and preparing for the future. Located in Mons, Belgium, NATO Allied Command Operations handles the coordination of the numerous ongoing international operations under a NATO flag. NATO countries also provide forces for other operations such as Operation Inherent Resolve in Iraq and Syria. ACT, on the other hand, is tasked with the business development side of the alliance. ACT is a somewhat overlooked node in a powerful network for the United States and the allianceand, because of the way the alliance works, also for U.S. national interests.

The organization behind NATO is relatively smallonly a few thousand people. NATO as an organization does not have significant military assets. The member states have control with their own armed forces and can choose to use them under a NATO hat or in an ad hoc coalition of the willing.

Through NATO, allied nations learn how to modernize their armed forces and invest for future capabilities and through training and regular standardization they develop common ways for operating together. The resulting interoperability means that NATO militaries are prepared to deploy and contribute to military operations also outside of NATO, such as in Operation Inherent Resolve. ACT plays a crucial role in this effort.

A move to Washington should not mean that NATO departs the Norfolk area. Instead, NATO should leave behind a planning cell that could provide the beginnings of a structure that could support U.S. reinforcements across the Atlantic in times of crisis. A linkage could be made with U.S. Fleet Forces Command, which is responsible for providing U.S. naval forces to the various geographical combatant commands.

Its time to bring NATO to Washington, both as a constant reminder of the alliance's importance to U.S. decision-makers and to energize ACTs purpose for being: transforming NATO toward tackling the many security challenges of the 21st century. And President Donald J. Trump should welcome having a strategic NATO command as a next-door neighbor.

Magnus Nordenman is the director of the Transatlantic Security Initiative at the Brent Scowcroft Center on International Security at the Atlantic Council. Henrik Breitenbauch is the director of the University of Copenhagens Centre for Military Studies and is a nonresident senior fellow with the Brent Scowcroft Center on International Security at the Atlantic Council.

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Let's bring NATO to Washington - DefenseNews.com