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Source: NATO
NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte met with President-elect Donald Trump in Palm Beach, Florida on Friday (November 22).
They discussed the range of global security issues facing the Alliance.
The Secretary General and his team also met with Congressman Mike Waltz and members of the President-elect’s national security team.
Source: NATO
On Tuesday, 26 November 2024, NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte will travel to Athens, Greece.
Mr Rutte will meet with the Prime Minister, Mr Kyriakos Mitsotakis, the Minister of Foreign Affairs, Mr Giorgos Gerapetritis, and the Minister of Defence, Mr Nikolaos Dendias.
Media advisory
11:15 (CET) Joint press statements by the Secretary General and the Prime Minister of Greece.
Media coverage
The Secretary General’s press statements with the Prime Minister will be streamed live on the NATO website, and broadcast live on EBU News Exchange.
A transcript of the Secretary General’s remarks, as well as photographs, will be available on the NATO website. Video can be downloaded from the NATO Multimedia Portal after the event.
For more information:
For general queries: contact the NATO Press Office
Follow us on X: @NATO, @SecGenNATO and @NATOPress
Source: NATO
On Monday, 25 November 2024, NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte will travel to Ankara, Türkiye.
Mr Rutte will meet with the President, Mr Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, the Minister of Foreign Affairs, Mr Hakan Fidan, and the Minister of Defence, Mr Yaşar Güler.
The Secretary General will engage with representatives from the Turkish defence industry and visit the facilities of the Turkish Airspace Industries (TUSAŞ). He will also lay a wreath at Anıtkabir, Atatürk’s Mausoleum.
There will be no media opportunity.
Photographs, will be available on the NATO website.
For more information:
For general queries: contact the NATO Press Office
Follow us on X: @NATO, @SecGenNATO and @NATOPress
Source: Eurojust
Migrant smuggling is a lucrative global crime that prioritises profits over human life, posing a significant threat to the EU’s internal security. Transnational organised crime groups frequently prey on vulnerable migrants, subjecting them to violence, abuse, exploitation, and even death, as they seek to maximise their gains.
Smugglers also increasingly use digital services and tools, such as social media, online platforms and mobile applications, for recruitment, advertising their services, communication and money transfers. This digital dimension of migrant smuggling investigations has a significant impact on judicial proceedings and presents new challenges to prosecution. During the meeting, Eurojust presented a new leaflet outlining the resources available at the Agency to fight migrant smuggling in the digital domain. The digitalisation of migrant smuggling is also one of the priority work strands under the European Commission’s flagship initiative, the Global Alliance to Counter Migrant Smuggling.
The meeting included participants from across the EU Member States and third countries, including the Western Balkans and EuroMed Justice partner countries. It featured three sessions, including discussions on unaccompanied minors as migrants, migrant smuggling in the digital domain, and country updates on trends and developments in the participants’ countries.
Eurojust has been actively involved in the fight against migrant smuggling, coordinating 425 cases in 2023. The Agency provides operational support to national authorities through all stages of the proceedings, from when a case is opened by an EU Member State until justice is served in court.
To strengthen its work in this field, Eurojust also supports a Focus Group of prosecutors and investigative judges fighting migrant smuggling, which consists of specialised prosecutors from all EU Member States and some non-EU States. The Focus Group serves as an important hub to regularly connect key judicial actors at national level in the EU Member States who are responsible for tackling migrant smuggling crimes, and to support their joint operational response. Members of the Focus Group convene once at year at the Eurojust annual meeting.
Source: NATO
Following Exercise Steadfast Defender 2024, which took place earlier this year, the Logistics Committee met at NATO Headquarters this week (20-21 November 2024) to discuss how to improve mobility corridors, digitalisation, innovation, multi-national maintenance, interoperability with partners, and delivery in a contested environment. These elements are important in ensuring an efficient and effective deterrence and defence.
Much of this comes down to logistics, and getting these right is key to ensuring the Alliance can effectively move, deploy, sustain and reinforce its armed forces. This is fundamental in all military operations and ensures NATO can execute its core tasks across all domains. Allied forces must continue to be fully enabled with all the logistics necessary to deter aggression against – and, if needed, to defend – all of NATO territory.
In the meeting this week, national logistics directors addressed a range of challenges and shared lessons learned and best practices in moving troops into, across and from Europe, including in the context of Exercise Steadfast Defender 2024. Held earlier this year, this was NATO’s largest exercise in decades, with over 90,000 troops from all 32 Allies participating. The exercise tested NATO’s logistics network from the Arctic to the Alliance’s southern flank, including the deployment of large-scale reinforcements from North America to Europe. The Logistics Committee identified opportunities and challenges associated with large-scale deployments, and the importance of working with civil agencies and industry to deliver critical support to military forces at scale and speed. The Committee also met in a dedicated session with partners to discuss these issues.
National logistics directors also met in a joint session with two other senior NATO committees: the Resilience Committee and the Defence Policy and Planning Committee. These consultations focused on the delivery of the logistics and enablement capabilities required for collective defence from both military and civilian perspectives. Allies emphasised the importance of adopting a whole-of-government approach to logistics.
Source: NATO
On Thursday 21 November 2024, the NATO Military Committee visited Supreme Headquarters Allied Powers Europe (SHAPE) in Mons to be briefed on the status of collective defence planning and the ongoing changes to NATO’s Command and Control.
Upon its arrival, the Military Committee was welcomed by Supreme Allied Commander Europe (SACEUR) General Christopher G. Cavoli, who expressed his appreciation for the Military Committee’s continued support for transitioning SHAPE into a warfighting headquarters. He stipulated that NATO and national defence plans are more and more intertwined and mutually supportive. General Cavoli stated that across the Alliance there is ever-growing unity of military action.
The opening statements were followed by a briefing from SHAPE officials about the strategic implications of the Concept for the Defence and Deterrence of the Euro Atlantic Area (DDA). This strategy, together with its subordinate ‘DDA Family of Plans’ optimises NATO’s ability to collectively defend and deter against two threats: Russia and the Terror Groups. True to its motto “vigilance is the price of liberty”, SHAPE is making sure all Alliance military operations are optimised for collective defence. Admiral Bauer, Chair of the NATO Military Committee stated: “The fundamental difference between crisis management and collective defence is this: it is not we, but our adversary who determines the timeline. We have to prepare for the fact that conflict can present itself at any time.”
The last session of the day focused on NATO efforts to update its command and control. SHAPE continues to streamline its command process to operate as NATO’s strategic warfighting headquarters. The ongoing changes will allow it to incorporate all the tools of the Alliance to deter, and if needed, defeat any adversaries, for 24 hours a day in continuous and contested environments.
Overall, the visit enabled the NATO Military Committee to closely interface with SHAPE officials on operational and strategic military developments in the Alliance. Following the Washington Summit, NATO has reiterated its ironclad commitment to strengthen NATO’s deterrence and defence by reinforcing and modernising NATO for a new era of collective defence.
Source: NATO
Experts on climate change from 16 countries – including NATO members and partners – as well as from NATO, the European Union and the African Union gathered in Rome (Italy), from 19 to 21 November 2024, to examine some of the most pressing climate-related challenges facing Europe and the Mediterranean. In the face of extreme weather events, rising sea levels and drought, the security implications across the Alliance’s southern neighbourhood are significant.
The experts came together to share views and experiences on disaster management and crisis response and how to mitigate risks stemming from such events, including through the use of digital and satellite technologies. Among their key findings is the important role played by defence forces to protect social, economic, and industrial systems, and critical infrastructure.
The event is one of many that NATO convenes through its Science for Peace and Security Programme (SPS). “This event demonstrates NATO’s increased level of ambition in its cooperation with partners in our southern neighbourhood, within the framework of SPS. These activities contribute to building long-term practical cooperation on challenges that know no borders through dialogue and knowledge exchange,” noted Dr. Claudio Palestini, Head of the NATO Science for Peace and Security Programme.
Kais Abu Dayyeh, Ambassador of the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan to Italy, highlighted how the event “reflects the depth of the strategic partnership between the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan and NATO, which has developed over three decades under the NATO’s Mediterranean Dialogue.” He added that Jordan enjoys an “Enhanced Partnership status with NATO,” which is going to be further bolstered by the establishment of a NATO Liaison Office in Amman.
The event, entitled “Climate Change and Natural Hazards in the Euro-Mediterranean region: Security Implications and Crisis Management,” was organised by the Italian Med-Or Foundation and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Expatriates of Jordan, with support from the NATO Science for Peace and Security Programme.
Source: US Defense Joint Chiefs of Staff
November 21, 2024
WASHINGTON, D.C. — Joint Staff Spokesperson Navy Capt. Jereal Dorsey provided the following readout:
Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Gen. CQ Brown, Jr., met with Chief of the General Staff of the Slovak Armed Forces Gen. Daniel Zmeko yesterday at the Pentagon.
Gen. Brown and Zmeko discussed continued security assistance support for Ukraine and defense modernization challenges. Additionally, Gen. Brown affirmed U.S. commitment to the security of Slovakia and Eastern Europe.
The Slovak Republic is an important NATO ally and plays a critical role in maintaining peace and security in Europe.
For more Joint Staff news, visit: www.jcs.mil.
Connect with the Joint Staff on social media:
Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, YouTube,
LinkedIn and Flickr.
Source: Eurojust
Eurojust and Europol have assisted the German authorities with the coordinated takedown of a smuggling network, which was illegally transporting Syrian migrants via the Balkan route. In total, 29 suspects involved in the smuggling of at least 750 migrants to Germany and the United Kingdom were arrested. Twenty arrests were made yesterday during a coordinated action. Last month, the Serbian authorities already arrested and charged nine suspects involved in the same organised crime group (OCG).
Eurojust also supported Germany, Poland, Bosnia and Herzegovina, and Serbia in setting up and financing a joint investigation team (JIT), in operational partnership with Austria, to investigate the criminal network.
Migrants paid between EUR 4 500 and EUR 12 000 per person to be transported irregularly to Europe by the OCG. At this stage, it is difficult to make an adequate assessment of the OCG’s overall profits.
The network arranged the further transport of Syrian migrants who had arrived on European shores mainly via the Balkan route, through Serbia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Hungary, Poland, Lithuania, Czechia and Austria. On some journeys, around one hundred Syrian migrants were transported to their final destinations in Germany and the United Kingdom at the same time. The transports to the United Kingdom took place via the Netherlands, using different types of vehicles. Routes were often changed to avoid detection by law enforcement.
During the action day, 25 places were searched and vehicles, cash, various communication devices and data carriers were seized. More than 450 police officers were deployed in the countries involved as part of the operation.
The investigations into the OCG was initiated in May 2022 by the German Public Prosecution Office (PPO) of Traunstein. In 2023, the German authorities requested Eurojust to facilitate contacts with all the other countries involved and assist in setting up the JIT.
The Agency also organised a coordination centre on its premises to support the action day and direct contacts between all authorities on the ground. In preparation, Eurojust organised four coordination meetings and assisted with the execution of European Investigation Orders and requests for Mutual Legal Assistance to the non-EU countries involved.
Europol established an Operational Taskforce in collaboration with Austria, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Germany, the Netherlands, Poland, Serbia, the United Kingdom and other European countries. The information exchanged within this taskforce revealed the dynamic operations of the criminal network under investigation. Europol’s experts analysed this information, and the international exchange helped to clarify the structure of the criminal activities and identify the actors involved in the smuggling and the financial activities linked to the network.
The operations on the ground were carried out at the request of and by the following authorities:
Source: NATO
From November 19 to 21, 2024, the NATO Committee of the Chiefs of Military Medical Services (COMEDS) held its 62nd plenary meeting at NATO Headquarters in Brussels. This critical gathering brought together representatives from Allied and Partner nations, as well as COMEDS Observer Organizations, to advance NATO’s medical support initiatives.
Major General Tim Hodgetts, Chair of COMEDS, welcomed participants and emphasized the committee’s role in supporting NATO’s priorities, reaffirmed at the Washington Summit earlier this year. “COMEDS seeks to directly support the Alliance’s agenda for Deterrence & Defence, through the work we are undertaking to highlight key issues for medical support in Collective Defence,” he stated.
Lieutenant General Andrew Rohling, Deputy Chair of the NATO Military Committee, delivered a keynote address highlighting COMEDS’ integral role in strengthening NATO’s deterrence and defence capabilities. Lt. Gen. Rohling outlined how summit outcomes are shaping NATO’s high-level programs, including those aligning with COMEDS’ work. He stressed the strategic importance of the COMEDS Medical Action Plan in ensuring NATO’s medical capability requirements for both current and future operations are met.
A central focus of the plenary was the implementation of the COMEDS Medical Action Plan, designed to enhance NATO’s medical support in Collective Defence. LCDR Megan Hinton, Lead Action Officer, presented the plan’s key elements, emphasizing its role in bolstering NATO’s readiness and resilience. The plan prioritizes interoperability between civilian and military medical sectors, ensuring a cohesive response to emerging threats and fostering a unified medical force.
The plenary also addressed contemporary medical lessons learned from recent conflicts, with particular attention to the ongoing war in Ukraine. These discussions aimed to refine NATO’s medical strategies and ensure preparedness for evolving challenges.
A highlight of the meeting was the presentation of the prestigious COMEDS Dominique-Jean Larrey Award, which recognizes exceptional contributions to multinational cooperation and interoperability in military healthcare. This year’s award was bestowed upon Colonel Alexander Faas of the Swiss Army Medical Services, who currently chairs the COMEDS Military Healthcare Working Group.
The 62nd COMEDS Plenary Meeting concluded with a leadership transition. Major General Tim Hodgetts, who served as Chair of COMEDS for three years, handed over the position to Brigadier General Petter Iversen, the Surgeon General of Norway. Major General Hodgetts was lauded for his dedication to advancing NATO’s medical capabilities and aligning them with the Alliance’s Deterrence and Defence goals.
Through collaborative efforts and strategic initiatives, COMEDS continues to play a vital role in strengthening NATO’s medical support framework, ensuring readiness to address current and future challenges.