The United States and Nato

With NATO having just celebrated its 50th birthday, with the 10th anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall now upon us, and with NATO's historic coercive campaign against Serbia now rapidly becoming grist for the military historians' mill, the time seems right to pause and take stock of where the NATO Alliance stands and where it is headed, with particular attention to the American role.[1] In this article, I shall address six broad topics: the importance of Europe, security challenges facing NATO as it enters the new century, the state of the NATO Alliance today, Operation Allied Force, lessons from the recent Balkan conflicts, and winning in the 21st century. The Importance of EuropeThe figures speak volumes.US trade with Europe, amounting to over $250 billion annually, produces over three million domestic jobs.US companies employ three million people in Europe.One in 12 factory workers in the United States is employed by a European Union (EU) firm operating in this country, of which there are some 4,000.Half of the world's goods are produced by the United States and the EU.Ninety percent of humanitarian aid dispensed throughout the world comes from the United States and the EU.Companies from the EU form the largest investment block in 41 US states.Fifty-six percent of US foreign investment occurs in Europe.Europe buys 30 percent of US exports.We should note too the large oil and gas reserves in the North Sea and particularly in the Caspian basin that provide a strategic hedge against disruption of supplies from the Middle East.What these figures reveal is the enormous degree of economic interdependence between Europe and the United States.The economic ties are complemented and reinforced, of course, by political, cultural, and diplomatic ties of long standing.The unity of vision and purpose shared by Europe and the United States provides enormous leverage as these partners act in concert to encourage peace and prosperity throughout the world.Thus the maintenance of political and economic stability in Europe remains in the forefront of America's national interests.As a result of those interests, we have continued to maintain a strong military presence in Europe, though it is a far cry from the size of the US Seventh Army at the end of the Cold War, which amounted to 17 or 18 brigade equivalents.So far as force structure is concerned, we have two mechanized divisions in Germany, an airborne brigade in Italy, a brigade-size special forces unit, and assorted Reserve and National Guard personnel.The Air Force has two-plus fighter wings distributed in Germany, Italy, Turkey, and the UK, while the Navy maintains NATO-assigned aircraft carriers in the Mediterranean much of the time as well as a Marine Expeditionary Unit afloat.The numbers come to 65,000 personnel for the Army, 34,000 Air Force, 10,000 Navy and Marines, and 3,500 reserves, all embraced within a budget of some four billion dollars

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