Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg addressed the first meeting of senior officials responsible for resilience at the NATO Headquarters in Brussels today (16 November 2022).
Allies shared their insights and guidance on enhancing national and collective resilience in light of the significantly changed security environment in the Euro-Atlantic area. Their guidance will inform the definition of resilience objectives for the Alliance, which will be presented to NATO leaders at the Vilnius Summit next July.
“The strength of our deterrence and defence rests upon the resilience of our states and societies,” Mr Stoltenberg said. This is why NATO has focused on resilience since the Alliance was founded. Since 2016 NATO has accelerated this work, establishing baseline requirements for Allies to evaluate national resilience in key areas, including the continuity of government services, communications, transport, food, water and energy supplies, and dealing with mass casualties and the uncontrolled movement of people.
Last year, Allies agreed a strengthened resilience commitment and, as part of the NATO 2030 agenda, to designate a senior official to coordinate national resilience efforts and enhance consultations within NATO. At their first meeting in Brussels today Allies agreed to develop a resilience roadmap to the 2023 Vilnius Summit to ensure tangible and timely progress.
The Secretary General recognised the rapid actions Allies took after the Nord Stream incidents to ensure the resilience of critical infrastructure with greater military presence and intelligence sharing. He also called on Allies to work more closely together and accelerate their efforts on resilience, underlining NATO’s role as the critical hub for transatlantic consultations.