09/26/2002
EDITORIAL NUMBER=0-10152

NATO RESPONSE FORCE

The terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon on September 11^th, 2001, have demonstrated the need for NATO to be able to respond even more quickly to crises. To make that possible, U.S. Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld has proposed creating a rapid reaction force within the alliance.

This force could include as many as twenty-thousand military personnel. It would have secure communications; protection against nuclear, chemical, and biological attack; precision-strike capabilities; and airlift transportation. And under Mr. Rumsfeld’s proposal, Response Force elements would be drawn from all NATO members’ forces.

Since the terrorist attacks on September 11^th, 2001, NATO has been a staunch ally in the global war on terrorism. For the first time in NATO’s history, member countries invoked Article Five, which says that an armed attack against one or more NATO countries is considered an attack against all. As a result, from mid-October 2001 to mid-May 2002, NATO AWACS planes were sent to help protect the United States.

In the Balkans, NATO forces have acted against terrorist groups with links to the al-Qaida network. In Afghanistan, fourteen NATO allies have forces directly involved in the on-going operation against terrorists there. Troops from NATO countries also make up the bulk of the four-thousand five-hundred strong international security force deployed in and around Kabul, the capital of Afghanistan.

Clearly, NATO is playing a critical role in the global war on terrorism. Efforts are now underway to better equip the alliance to confront the terrorist threat over the long term. As President George W. Bush said, "NATO must build a capability to field, at short notice, highly mobile, specially trained forces whenever they are needed to respond to a threat against any member of the alliance."