THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1994, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Tuesday, September 27, 1994 TAG: 9409280617
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B3 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY DENNIS JOYCE, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: NORFOLK LENGTH: Long : 172 lines
They were joined against Nazi conquest, but after World War II the Allied nations sought out their real friends and huddled into new alliances to face whatever would come next.
On the heels of the Soviet bloc's expansion, NATO was born. The standoff between the two groups' superpower sponsors, the United States and the Soviet Union, defined world affairs for the next 40 years.
Now what?
Five years after the fall of the Berlin Wall, the question reverberates from Korea to the Caribbean. This week, the future of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization will be the focus of an international seminar in Norfolk, the U.S. headquarters of NATO.
Participants in ``NATO at 45,'' which opens Wednesday night at Old Dominion University, are likely to agree that European security is still important to the United States and that NATO is still vitally necessary to maintaining it - notwithstanding the decline of its former nemesis, the Soviet Union.
``We live in a very unstable world right now - in many ways, much more unstable than when we had a common enemy,'' said Royal Navy Capt. John Harvey, a seminar participant and branch head of intelligence with NATO in Norfolk.
With U.S. attention riveted these days on islands close to home, Americans may forget that the real threats to their security lie far beyond the Caribbean, said Harold Brown, the seminar's keynote speaker and the U.S. defense secretary under President Jimmy Carter.
Brown counts Europe among those threats.
``We worry a lot about Haiti and Cuba. They could be troublesome because they're in our own back yards,'' Brown said. But the real hot spots? ``I think Korea is a very dangerous place, the situation between Russia and the Ukraine, and probably the Islamic world - especially Algeria.''
Said Harvey: ``One of our worries (in Europe) is that public opinion is distancing America from Europe. You remain a vital part of our security . . . and we've got this awful feeling you'll say, `Pull everything out, right now.' ''
It is unlikely the United States would consider withdrawal from NATO. Since the organization first met 45 years ago this month in Washington, the United States has been its pillar, dedicated to preserving the ``freedom and security of all its members by political and military means,'' as the NATO Handbook reads.
``The Parties agree,'' says the original treaty, unchanged since 1949, ``that an armed attack against one or all of them in Europe or North America will be considered an attack against them all.''
But while disbanding may not be an issue, everything else is. The underlying themes of the four panel discussions at the ODU seminar reflect the challenges NATO faces:
Money: Post-Cold War military cuts are sweeping the United States and most other member nations. Will NATO missions remain a spending priority for them?
Expansion: Former Soviet bloc nations are gaining limited membership in NATO under its ``Partnership for Peace'' initiative. It is likely to lead to full membership, which raises concerns because the organization already has trouble reaching consensus among its members. What happens, for example, if Russia and Ukraine - with their age-old territorial disputes - both join the organization?
Mission: Protecting against Soviet invasion was a unifying goal of NATO. How does NATO deal with today's more divisive issues, like the civil war in Bosnia-Herzegovina?
Competition: Other trans-European alliances have formed, such as the European Community, the Conference on Security and Cooperation in Europe and the Western European Union. How will NATO relate to them?
Harvey and Brown say the advantages of a strong NATO are clear to the United States.
``If I were going to put my money on friction anywhere in the world, I would put it on friction in Europe,'' Harvey said.
In times of crisis, NATO still is the organization Europe turns to, Brown said. An example: at the request of the United Nations, NATO warplanes, some from Norfolk-based carriers, are helping prevent the escalation of the Bosnian civil war.
``NATO is and will be, in my view, the only organization that can provide security in Europe,'' Brown said. ``There's a whole alphabet full of other organizations in Europe's 50 countries, but they are so disparate - they have no military, they don't provide security for anyone.''
``Who else,'' he asked. ``is going to do this?'' ILLUSTRATION: Photo
The Supreme Allied Commander of the North Atlantic Treaty
Organization at 7857 Blandy Road in Norfolk.
Graphics
SCHEDULE OF EVENTS
The seminar will open at 7 p.m. Wednesday with a keynote address
by former Defense Secretary Harold Brown. Panel discussions will run
from 9 a.m. through 4:45 p.m. Thursday.
With one exception, all events will be free and open to the
public. There will be a $16 charge - $10 for students - to attend
the 7 p.m. dinner and closing address by Richard Burt, former
ambassador to Germany and chief U.S. negotiator in the Strategic
Arms Reduction talks. For reservations and information, call
461-3664 or 422-8445.
All events will be held at ODU's Webb Center. For more
information, call 683-5700. The events are sponsored by ODU's
Graduate Programs in International Studies in conjunction with the
World Affairs Council.
NATO IN NORFOLK
Norfolk is home of the Supreme Allied Commander Atlantic,
SACLANT, one of three major NATO commands. Its area of
responsibility covers 12 million square miles - mainly, the Atlantic
Ocean - from the United States to European coastlines and from the
North Pole to the Tropic of Cancer.
The other two NATO commands are responsible for Europe and the
English Channel.
SACLANT, which began operations three years after NATO's creation
in 1949, links North American NATO members - the United States and
Canada - with its 14 European members - Belgium, Denmark, France,
Germany, Greece, Iceland, Italy, Luxembourg, the Netherlands,
Norway, Portugal, Spain, Turkey and the United Kingdom.
More than 400 people from 13 of the 16 NATO nations work at
SACLANT headquarters, off Terminal Boulevard at Norfolk Naval Base.
The man who holds the post of supreme commander is U.S. Navy Adm.
Paul David Miller of Norfolk, who also commands all American
military forces based in the continental United States in his dual
role of commander in chief, U.S. Atlantic Command. Miller is
retiring and will be replaced by Marine Gen. John J. Sheehan, the
first commander from outside the Navy to hold the jobs. The deputy
supreme allied commander Atlantic is a British navy officer, Vice
Adm. Sir Peter Abbott.
SACLANT has a permanently assigned naval force of six to 10 ships
drawn from member nations, called the Standing Naval Force
Atlantic.
Feb. 28, 1948: Communists seize power in Czechoslovakia, raising
fears that the Soviet Union might invade Western Europe.
April 4, 1949: 12 nations sign the North Atlantic Treaty in
Washington. Four others join over the next four decades.
Dec. 19, 1950: Gen. Dwight D. Eisenhower is appointed first
Supreme Allied Commander, Europe.
Jan. 30, 1952: Vice Adm. Lynde D. McCormack appointed first
Supreme Allied Commander, Atlantic. Headquarters are in Norfolk.
May 7, 1954: The United States and United Kingdom reject Soviet
bid to join NATO.
Dec. 20, 1962: President John F. Kennedy agrees to contribute
part of the U.S. strategic nuclear forces to NATO.
March 10, 1966: Disagreements over contributions prompt France to
expel NATO forces and remove its own forces from NATO command.
Oct. 16, 1967: NATO headquarters moves from Paris to Brussels,
Belgium.
Aug. 14, 1974: Greece withdraws its forces from NATO command
after NATO powers refuse to stop Turkish invasion of Cyprus.
Nov. 9, 1989: The opening of the Berlin Wall.
July 6, 1990: NATO heads of state issue ``London Declaration,''
pledging cooperation with Warsaw Pact nations.
Feb. 25, 1991: Warsaw Pact members announce its dissolution.
Oct. 14, 1992: NATO begins monitoring ``no flying zone'' over
Bosnia-Herzegovina to prevent air war there.
Jan. 10, 1994: NATO offers limited membership to former Warsaw
Pact nations under ``Partnership for Peace'' program.
Feb. 28, 1994: NATO warplanes down four Serbian ground attack
jets, the first combat action in the organization's 45-year history.
April 10, 1994: NATO warplanes destroy a Serb command post to
protect U.N. observers in embattled Gorazde, Bosnia-Herzegovina.
Sept. 21, 1994: NATO warplanes destroy a Serbian tank in
retaliation for aggression against U.S. peacekeeping forces in
Bosnia.
Sources: The NATO Handbook, World Book Encyclopedia, Facts on
File
KEYWORDS: NATO HISTORY ANNIVERSARY NORTH
ATLANTIC TREATY ORGANIZATION by CNB