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Then leaders are looking at how to better strengthen security in cyberspace, outer space and emerging technologies as they come together to plot how to modernize the 72-year-old military alliance.
U.S. President Joe Biden’s first NATO summit on Monday will “sharpen” the “technological advantage” of the 30-member group, said Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg, and will strengthen its response to possible threats from Russia and China.
The rally of leaders in Brussels comes amid a myriad of internal tensions and questions over how the Cold War pact will be modernized, as it prepares to leave Afghanistan after nearly two decades.
“NATO leaders will agree today on an ambitious agenda for the future, the NATO 2030 agenda,” Stoltenberg told reporters at the alliance’s imposing headquarters on the outskirts of the Belgian capital. “It’s about how to strengthen our collective defense, how to strengthen our resilience and sharpen our technological advantage.”
Heads of state and government are expected to sign a confidential cyber defense strategy, which includes expanding existing powers to invoke NATO’s “Article 5” principle of collective defense in the event of attacks. told reporters Jake Sullivan, a U.S. national security adviser. .
“[This] it will improve the defense, political and intelligence dimensions of cyber through the alliance, ”said Sullivan. “And in the statement that will be issued, there will be a strong commitment to NATO’s emphasis on cyber deterrence and collective defense.”
Speaking ahead of the summit, British Prime Minister Boris Johnson stressed the importance of allies investing in better cyber defenses in the wake of the Covid-19 pandemic, when hostile states were accused of carrying out cyber attacks on health systems. of the allies.
“NATO owes it to the one billion people we keep safe on a daily basis to adapt and evolve continuously to meet new challenges and face emerging threats,” Johnson said.
Recent ransomware attacks on the U.S. colonial pipeline and the Irish health service have underscored the risks posed by hackers to critical national infrastructure.
Write in the Financial Times, Alex Younger, former head of the UK’s Secret Intelligence Service, MI6, said ransomware attacks were no longer just a criminal issue, “but also a national and geopolitical security issue”.
“The people behind these cyberattacks need places to live and enjoy their ill-earned profits…. The reality is that many are in Russia and, as long as they do not enter into Russian interests, they will be left alone,” Younger wrote.
NATO leaders were also expected to push for capacity-building measures in emerging technologies such as artificial intelligence, added officials. NATO countries have become increasingly concerned about the expansion of theaters for possible conflicts, from the war of disinformation to the growing activities of China and Russia in outdoor space.
Some European countries hope the Biden presidency will help revitalize NATO and reduce the conflicts seen by its predecessor Donald Trump, who called the alliance “obsolete” in the 2016 election campaign.
But the Biden administration maintains pressure from the United States on European countries to spend more on its military. He has also pushed for stronger language over potential threats from China, especially for its military and economic presence in the traditional Euro-Atlantic sphere of NATO operations.
In addition to facing external threats, NATO faces some chronic internal tensions, especially between Turkey and some member states such as France in the eastern Mediterranean.
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