ABCD 2011
From the Cold War and Hot Peace to the Long War and Beyond: What Are Our Armed Forces (Good) For?
Conference Centre of “Nordic Hotel Forum”
Wednesday, September 28
20.00: Welcome reception hosted on behalf of Martin Hurt, Director of the ICDS, Estonia
Welcome address by Toomas Hendrik Ilves, President of Estonia
Keynote address by Sir Richard Shirreff, General/British Army, DSACEUR, NATO Allied Command Operations
9.00-9.30: Registration
9.30-10.30: Opening session
Introductory remarks by Tony Lawrence, Senior Researcher, ICDS, Estonia
Welcome speech by Mart Laar,Minister of Defence, Estonia
Keynote speech by Egon Ramms, General (ret.)/German Army, former Commander of the Allied Joint Force Command Brunssum
10.50-12.30: Session 1
Strategic trends and the utility of force
What are the trends in our strategic environment and what are their implications? To what extent are warfighting and armed suasion still the most important rationales for maintaining military force? How do emerging security issues (e.g. cyber threats) affect the role and utility of military force? Where is the line between war and peace? How can we maintain support for defence spending and military operations in post-military societies in the absence of a clear and direct military threat?
| Panellists: | Raphaël Glucksmann,Senior Advisor on Foreign Affairs and European Integration to the President, Georgia
Mikkel Vedby Rasmussen, Professor, Director of the Centre for Military Studies, Department of Political Science, University of Copenhagen, Denmark Sir Richard Shirreff, General/British Army, DSACEUR, NATO Allied Command Operations Nick Witney, Senior Policy Fellow, European Council on Foreign Relations, UK |
| Moderator: | Jüri Luik, Ambassador, Permanent Representative to NATO, Estonia |
14.00-15.40: Session 2
Defence reform in Europe
What gaps will the decreasing US presence leave in Europe and how will we fill them? Why are we so slow to build complementary capabilities in Europe, rather than duplicating them? How will the CSDP with its ‘pooling & sharing’, Weimar and Ghent initiatives influence Europe’s ambition to project military power collectively? How can budgetary austerity be used as an opportunity to redefine the ways we build and sustain military capabilities?
| Panellists: | Frank Boland, Director of Force Planning, Defence Policy and Planning Division, NATO IS
Etienne de Durand, Director of the Centre for Security Studies, French Institute of International Relations (IFRI), France Günter Katz, Colonel/German Air Force, Branch Chief, Political-Military Affairs and Bilateral Relations, Armed Forces Staff at the Federal Ministry of Defence, Germany Mark A. Welsh III, General/USAF, Commander, U.S. Air Forces in Europe and Allied Air Command Ramstein |
| Moderator: | John Kriendler, Professor of NATO and European Security Issues, George C. Marshall European Centre for Security Studies, USA |
16.00-17.40: Session 3
Strategic options for small allies
Does enhanced regional defence cooperation supplement or undermine multilateralism in NATO and the EU, thus making small allies more vulnerable? Can small allies be of any significant value in ‘power projection’? How can they best maximise their contribution to NATO and EU policies and strategies? What tools can small states use to complement their military capabilities to strengthen their positions and security effectively? What experiences and approaches do they offer to draw on as examples of and inspiration for defence reform?
| Panellists: | Svein Efjestad, Director General, Department of Security Policy, Ministry of Defence, Norway
Christoph Israng, Head of Division 212 (Central, Eastern and South-Eastern Europe, Caucasus, Central Asia), Federal Chancellery, Germany Imants Lieģis, Chairman of the Parliamentary Delegation to the NATO Parliamentary Assembly, former Minister of Defence, Latvia Karlis Neretnieks, Major General (ret.)/Swedish Army, Senior Research Fellow, Swedish Defence Research Agency (FOI), Sweden |
| Moderator: | Kęstutis Paulauskas, Researcher, Institute of International Relations and Political Science, University of Vilnius, Lithuania |
17.40-18.00: Conclusions by Jonatan Vseviov, Acting Undersecretary for Defence Policy, Ministry of Defence, Estonia
18.00: Farewell reception
Please note that, in order to encourage candid exchange of views, the conference is held under the Chatham House Rule: “When a meeting, or part thereof, is held under the Chatham House Rule, participants are free to use the information received, but neither the identity nor the affiliation of the speaker(s), nor that of any other participant, may be revealed.”