Category: Intelligence

Involving more than 3,500 Allied troops, Resolute Warrior 24 marks the first major field war-fighting exercise for the NATO Multinational Brigade in Latvia. The Canadian-led brigade includes personnel from twelve other Allies and is part of NATO’s strengthened defence posture on the eastern flank.

During his visit to Ādaži Military Base, the Secretary General said that exercises such as Resolute Warrior, “give our forces experience of working together.” He added that such intense training, “will make us more prepared to deter any aggression, and demonstrate our ability to defend all Allies.” 

During a press conference alongside President Rinkēvičs, Mr Rutte highlighted that Latvia spends more than 3% of its GDP on defence and supports Ukraine “with military equipment, ammunition and training”.

He called for more Allied support for Ukraine, including air and missile defence, to protect critical infrastructure during the winter season. 

Enhanced Forward Presence battlegroups and exercises like Resolute Warrior serve as critical elements of NATO’s reinforced deterrence.

NATO Assistant Secretary General for Innovation, Hybrid and Cyber, Jean-Charles Ellermann-Kingombe said: “Maintaining a technological edge – not least on emerging and disruptive technologies – is a key priority for NATO and a prerequisite if we are to remain in charge of our own security. Quantum is one of the technologies where we cannot take our leadership for granted. Where ensuring a technological edge will require not only substantial investments – but also mobilisation of resources and competences among all stakeholders, public and private across our Alliance and among our partners. This is what we are trying to achieve with this gathering, which is a model for engaging on emerging and disruptive technologies, including with our partners. Today’s conference set this work out on a promising and ambitious trajectory with a lot at stake.”

In 2023, NATO published its first-ever Quantum Technologies Strategy detailing its ambition to become “a quantum-ready alliance” and 22 Allies are currently part of NATO’s quantum community. This week’s conference sought to advance work including on topics such as scaling up of quantum technologies, partnership with industry and funding bodies, and understanding of dual-use cases of quantum technologies.  Since its establishment, multiple nations have committed resources to engage in this forum and lead work streams. Given the urgency to address opportunities and risks of quantum technologies, the rate of progress is of key importance to NATO, as is the evolving convergence of quantum with related domains such as AI and biotech. The Danish Chair also launched a new “Quantum Industry Network” to facilitate NATO’s broader engagement with quantum industry and funding leaders. 

Poland invests over 4 percent of GDP on defence, more than any other NATO Ally. “This sends a clear message not only to our adversaries, but also to the United States. That Europe understands it must do more to ensure our shared security.  And that starts with spending more and also fielding more capabilities,” Mr Rutte said.

Mr Rutte also commended Poland for hosting NATO forces, for its contributions to NATO missions in Kosovo and Iraq, and for its strong support for Ukraine. He noted that Poland has welcomed over a million Ukrainian refugees and committed 4 billion euros in military aid. Mr Rutte said that “Putin’s increasing reliance on Beijing, Pyongyang and Tehran shows that our security is not regional, it is global,” and welcomed Poland’s commitment to building stronger ties with NATO’s Indo-Pacific partners.

The Secretary General welcomed the official opening of the Aegis Ashore missile defence base in Redzikowo, Poland, describing it as “a testament to the strong commitment of both the United States and Poland to our collective defence.” 

In his video address, Mr Rutte highlighted the substantial progress that NATO and individual Allies have made since 2014 to strengthen resilience – an increasingly important task as societies across NATO are faced with growing challenges, whether from climate-related disasters or malign cyber activities. In a NATO context, resilience is the ability to prepare for, resist, respond to and quickly recover from shocks or disruptions and is a priority for Allies and partners alike. The Secretary General highlighted that resilience is not strictly military or civilian but “a whole-of-government and whole-of-society responsibility.” This is why Allies decided to integrate civilian planning into national and collective defence planning. And while this progress is important, Mr Rutte recognised that there is more work to do, emphasizing the “need to double-down on building a shared culture of resilience across the Euro-Atlantic” while building a NATO community involving public and private sectors, along with other international organisations, especially the European Union. “Together, we can better resist the growing pressure from those who seek to exploit our vulnerabilities,” the Secretary General concluded.

This year, the Symposium focused on promoting a proactive civil-military approach to resilience, in support of NATO’s defence plans and in line with commitments made by Allies at the 2024 Washington Summit.

Bringing together over 200 civil and military leaders, policymakers, practitioners and experts from Allied nations, partners, academia and industry, the annual NATO Resilience Symposium offers an opportunity to take stock of ongoing work and explore ideas to inform NATO’s resilience agenda.