Sen. McCain: Syria, NATO Expansion Should Be on Summit Agenda
By Chris Lindborg, BASIC, Washington DC
Although the news on NATO has become increasingly bleaker in the run-up to the Chicago summit, US politicians and former policymakers were not calling for any sea changes for the Alliance during their remarks at an Atlantic Council event on March 20th in Washington, DC.
Senators Jeanne Shaheen and John McCain headlined the event titled: “NATO in a New Era: A Congressional Event on the NATO 2012 Chicago Summit”. Sen. Shaheen, a Democrat from New Hampshire who is Chair of the Foreign Relations Subcommittee on European Affairs, acknowledged the problems that NATO continues to face in Afghanistan with civilian casualties and public relations mistakes, and warned that the Alliance would need to define better the country’s security transition by the time of the summit in May. Sen. McCain, Chairman of the Armed Services Committee and former Republican presidential candidate from Arizona, called for sustaining a US presence in the long-term through reaching a Strategic Partnership Agreement with the Afghan government that would include keeping US special operations units in the country past 2014.
Sen. McCain lamented that the topics of further NATO expansion and Syria would not be on the summit’s agenda, and dramatically chided the United States and the rest of the Alliance for not intervening in the Syrian crisis.
Both Senators McCain and Shaheen said that they supported NATO’s “Smart Defense” approach. Despite the prolonged economic downturn, however, they still echoed the time-worn complaint that Europeans should avoid further cuts in military investments because they continue to lean too heavily on US capabilities during allied missions.
In the first panel session, which focused on NATO in a ‘globalized world’, former US Secretary of State Madeleine Albright said that she was pleased with how Secretary General Anders-Fogh Rasmussen used the Group of Experts’ recommendations for input into the last revision of NATO’s Strategic Concept in 2010. She said that the flexibility of the New Strategic Concept would help the Alliance to adapt to new global challenges. Former Navy secretary and Senator John Warner criticized the recent discussions over US defense plans as over-emphasizing the strategic shift toward the Pacific and Asia, and added that the United States should reinforce relationships with its old allies during times of rapid change.
Dr. Albright expressed more caution than Sen. McCain over whether the Alliance should become involved in Syria, and warned that the crisis poses a different set of challenges when compared to Libya. Mr. Warner said that NATO should rely on Turkey for more help and direction in dealing with Syria, similar to the way he thought that the Alliance benefited from French and British leadership on the Libyan intervention.
The second panel discussion focused on what would be “at stake” at the Chicago summit. The panelists all iterated that Afghanistan was still a test of NATO’s usefulness and that the outcome will be critical to the national interests and security of member states. Lt.-Gen. David Barno, former head of the Combined Forces Command-Afghanistan, agreed with Sen. McCain on maintaining a presence past 2014 to continue counterinsurgency efforts, although he added that the presence need not be large. The panelists also agreed on the efficiency and utility of focusing on niche capabilities, but also saw a potential danger in becoming too dependent on certain states. Former under secretary of defense for policy Walter Slocombe pointed out, however, that reductions in European spending have not necessarily led to a proportional decline in relative capabilities compared to the United States.
The only panelist who talked about NATO’s nuclear posture was Kori Schake. Dr. Schake, who has served in the National Security Council and the State Department, contended that the Alliance should not feel an immediate pressure to reduce its nuclear posture. She said that collectively NATO members have reduced their nuclear weapons by a percentage far greater than Russia, and suggested that the onus is on Moscow to become more transparent over its tactical nuclear arsenal. She added that NATO members should continue to rely on nuclear sharing as a tool for enhancing alliance solidarity. Her remarks were in line with a report that she previously authored with Frank Miller and George Robertson, in which they argue against moves to unilaterally remove US tactical nuclear weapons from Europe.