Nato Strategic Direction South A New Strategic Reality against the security of NATO ’ s populations and infrastructure must be countered . The ability of ISIL and similar organizations to not only recruit others to fight for them , but also to plan and conduct a wide variety of attacks within NATO ’ s territory must be disrupted . In recent times , the terrorist strikes in Paris , San Bernardino , Ankara , Brussels , Orlando , Istanbul , Nice demonstrates our nations ’ inability to deal with that kind of a threat alone .
Moreover , enabled by human-traffickers and complex criminal organizations , migrants and refugees are a poignant reminder of the growing complexity of the European security environment .
Emigrants Rescued In the Mediterranean Sea . Photo from PO1 RJ Stratchko identified by DVIDS
Two key aspects contribute to the migrant crisis in Europe : “ the push ” and “ the pull ” aspects . The push factors such as war and instability will continue to be the main root causes of the problem , while the pull factors of stability , asylum and potential economic opportunity will continue to extract migrants from their countries . The conclusion we must reach is that large scale migration will continue for the foreseeable future .
How does NATO deal with this kind of problem and unacceptable conditions ? At the Warsaw Summit the Alliance provided an answer to this question , or at least a part of it . NATO ’ s response is to bolster the deterrence capability against state and nonstate actors and to increase the Alliance ’ s efforts to project stability to our neighbours .
This is achieved through a series of coordinated actions and initiatives .
To start with , for many years NATO has played an active role in stabilization operations . At the Warsaw Summit , leaders decided that the Alliance will increase its support to the US-led coalition to counter ISIL , by assigning advanced AWACS surveillance aircrafts to Coalition forces . NA- TO ’ s presence in Afghanistan , the Alliance ’ s biggest operation ever is , in fact , a stabilization and capacity building operation : “ We went there to prevent Afghanistan from becoming once again a safe haven for international terrorist 5 ”. In addition , NATO is developing new , cutting-edge technologies and capabilities to protect troops and civilians against terrorists attacks – Defence Against Terrorism Programme of Work
( DAT POW ).
Recently , NATO has increased its presence in the Mediterranean Sea and boosted counter-terrorism and intelligence-sharing activities by transforming the Active Endeavour maritime operation into a new , broader maritime security operation : Sea Guardian . This operation is complementing the EU ’ s current activities in the area by providing cooperation between the navies and coastguards of the region in order to strengthen their ability to fight terrorism and to curtail human trafficking .
Last but not least , the Alliance is significantly increasing support to its partners in the south in order to enable them to better defend themselves and fight efficiently against terrorism and extremism , “ Partnership is a necessity not a luxury 6 ”. This is being achieved through a number of initiatives , an example of which is the Defence and Related Security Capacity Building Initiative ( DCB ).
The DCB Initiative 7 is NATO ’ s flagship capacity building initiative that attempts to provide assistance across a wide spectrum of activities 8 .
Emigrants Rescued In the Mediterranean Sea . Photo from PO1 RJ Stratchko identified by DVIDS
The DCB package for Iraq involves numerous Allies and partner nations . Training for the Iraqi forces is being conducted in Jordan , a Mediterranean Dialogue country . Jordanian and NATO forces are providing C-IED , EOD and demining
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