2004 CIOR Seminar: NATO's Role in 21st Century - CIOR��CIOMR

Forty-nine Reserve officers, representing 14 NATO countries, and 11 distinguished speakers met in Wesseling, Germany, for the 2004 CIOR Seminar. The seminar lived up to its title of "NATO's Role in the 21st Century: New Challenges and the Need for Transformation." The four days of the seminar offered flesh insight into NATO's and the United Nations' transformation, as well as into European Union and United States' efforts to operate and integrate within the mutual self-interest parameters in a post-9/11 free world.

Sponsored by the Konrad-Adeuauer-Stiftung Institute, the seminar presentations focused on the transformation taking place in NATO, and critical deficiencies in NATO. Specific areas of consideration were:

* Sustainability of deployed forces;

* Winning the military war, different from stabilizing peace;

* Absolutely needing decisive and rapid response.

As the world faces the continued threat of economic instability, natural disasters, environmental degradation, and global terrorism, the seminar considered how the free world is positioned to work cooperatively toward the consolidated solution of mutual concerns. One of the consistent themes that resonated throughout the seminar was that of "Rapid Response." Both NATO and the United Nations have long had the reputation of being too bureaucratically complex to respond to world threat with any immediacy. At the end of the day, the conclusion was that the nations of NATO are now more aligned than ever before. At the same time, the United Nations is considering its capability to respond to the growing needs of international security.

One example of a novel security approach was the European Union position paper "Secure Europe in a Changing World," postulating that preemption should be considered a valid political option. Other presentations considered the Near Middle East and Arab world after the Iraq War. These topics sparked a spirited debate on the merits of the coalition forces' campaign and the United States' decision to pursue regime change.

One seminar presentation considered the critical role of Reservist employer support. A clear correlation was drawn between Reserve readiness and the relationships that can be developed and nurtured between the employer, Reservists and the Reserve command. In his talk, Brig Gen Walter Vartan, USAF (Ret.), highlighted how the Employer Support of the Guard and Reserve (ESGR) plays a critical role in support of the U.S. Reserve mission.

Col Niklas V. Witzendoff, German Air Force, Pet., of the Konrad-Adenauer-Stiftung Foundation, hosted the event. The distinguished list of speakers included Dr. Jamie E Shea (NATO spokesman); Reinhard Bettzuege, German ambassador to Canada; Ingo Radke, director, Malteser Foreign Aid Service; Dr. Karl-Heinz Kamp and Dr. Andreas Jacobs, both of the Konrad-Adenauer-Stiftung Foundation; Col Stan Wulffaert, Netherlands Army, EU military staff, Brussels; Dr. Peter Hunseler, University of Cologne; and Brigadier General (German Air Force, Ret.) Dr. Hermann Hagena; Dr. Franz-Josef Meiers, senior fellow, Center for European Integration Studies; and General Vartan, USAF (Ret.), chairman, ESGR Europe

For more information, please visit http://www.nato.int/cior.

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