• Military Menu                       

• Introduction
• Systems
• Facilities
• Agencies
• Industry
• Operations
• Countries
• Hot Documents
• News
• Reports
• Policy
• Budget
• Congress
• Links

• WMD
• Intelligence
• Homeland Security
• Space

• Athens’ To Vima, June 8 asserted that at a meeting of NATO defense ministers meeting last week, Athens suddenly lifted its objections to NATO’s attempts to eliminate or downgrade the NATO Air Force headquarters in the Southeastern Mediterranean (AIRSOUTH), which would result in the abolishment of the newly-operational Air Force headquarters at Larisa and the transfer of its operational control to AFSOUTH. The newspaper based its report on a purported statement by Defense Minister Papandoniou that a redistribution of NATO’s new structure was "inevitable and necessary." Stressing that the issue does not end with a decision by the NATO defense ministers, but with working groups which have now started to work on the issue, the newspaper claimed that Greece was now placing its hopes on these groups, in order for the delicate balances over the Aegean not to be shaken. "Greece is confronted with NATO’s persistent efforts to negotiate the fate of the Larisa headquarters," wrote the daily I Kathimerini, June 8. The restructuring of NATO forces "imposed" by "asymmetrical threats" and global terrorism, which comes only three years after the New Defense Policy was approved in Washington in 1999, will bring forth new changes, the first "victims" of which will be several headquarters located in various NATO-member nations. Among them is the Larissa headquarters, which has spent the past two years on full operational readiness in line with the needs of the now-outdated New Defense Policy, the newspaper added. Noting, however, that Papandoniou stressed that there was no major risk of the Larisa headquarters being dismantled, the newspaper explained that the minister elaborated on Greece’s intended strategy on the issue: Greece supports the effort to restructure NATO forces but also stresses that the restructuring should take into account political factors characteristic of the previous structure. This means that Greece connects the fate of the Larisa headquarters with that of the corresponding NATO headquarters in Izmir.

• Moscow’s Interfax quotes Defense Minister Tevzadze saying in a news conference Monday that Georgia supports the U.S. initiative to change the format of the PFP program and proposes positioning the program’s regional headquarters in Tbilisi. Tevzadze reportedly indicated that Secretary of State Powell last week proposed setting up a regional headquarters for the PFP program in the Balkans, the South Caucasus and Central Asia.

• AFP reports Defense Secretary Rumsfeld traveled to the Geilenkirchen air base Friday to personally thank NATO crews that patrolled U.S. skies after the Sept. 11 attacks and to warn that the danger has not passed. "The times require new priorities, a new focus and certainly a new sense of urgency", the dispatch quoted Rumsfeld saying and adding that NATO could continue "in the vanguard" of the struggle against the new threats facing the Alliance. According to the dispatch, Rumsfeld warned that short warning times and the catastrophic effects of chemical or biological weapons attacks posed a new challenge to the Alliance.

UNITED STATES-PREEMPTIVE STRIKES

• The Bush administration is developing a new strategic doctrine that moves away from the Cold War pillars of containment and deterrence toward a policy that supports pre-emptive attacks against terrorists and hostile states with chemical, biological or nuclear weapons, writes the Washington Post. The newspaper stresses that the administration’s embrace of the new doctrine, which will reportedly be laid by President Bush’s National Security Council as part of the administration’s first "National Security Strategy" being drafted for release by early this fall, has triggered an intense debate inside the Pentagon and among military. It has aroused concern within NATO as well. The article recalls that Defense Secretary Rumsfeld told the United States’ allies in Brussels last Thursday that the Alliance could no longer wait for "absolute proof" before acting against terrorist groups threatening countries with chemical, biological or nuclear weapons. It notes, however, that reacting to the statement, NATO Secretary General Robertson said NATO remained a defensive alliance and stressed that "we do not go out looking for problems to solve."

• According to The Daily Telegraph, the British government is planning a 6,000-strong reaction force, formed from the volunteer reserves of the armed forces, to assist the police and civil authorities in the event of a Sept. 11-style terrorist attack on Britain. The proposal, due to be published Tuesday by the Defense Ministry, has reportedly been drawn up by senior military planners in the light of potential international terrorist threats against Britain. According to the newspaper, the discussion document concludes that Britain should not establish specific military units dedicated to home defense and security. Military chiefs reportedly believe that this would be counter-productive as it could cut their ability to carry out existing roles.

TRANSATLANTIC RELATIONS-MISSILE DEFENSE

• According to the Financial Times, June 9, U.S. officials responsible for drawing up plans for a missile defense system will submit a plan to the Pentagon by the end of summer that will propose giving military contracts for the program to large European aerospace companies. The newspaper quotes U.S. military officials saying Friday that the aim of such a move would be to spread advances being developed in the U.S. so they could be adapted for the European theater. It adds, however, that analysts said the overtures were also likely to form part of the U.S. government’s effort to convince skeptical Europeans to back the controversial program.

GERMANY-RUSSIA

• Berlin’s DDP, June 9, reported that Defense Minister Scharping and his Russian counterpart Ivanov agreed at the weekend to increase the cooperation between their countries’ armed forces. The ministers announced that the Bundeswehr and the Russian army intend to launch joint training of soldiers. Cooperation projects are planned, above all, between the two countries’ air forces; a joint airborne operation exercise is planned. The ministers reportedly further explained that their countries want to cooperate, with the inclusion of NATO, on developing transport planes. Germany and Russia, together with NATO, are also working on designing modern tanker aircraft. In a related broadcast, Moscow’s ORT television, June 9, carried Ivanov saying: "Apart from cooperation in the military field, we are planning to use Il-78 military transport aircraft and flying tankers both within the framework of bilateral Russian-German and Russia-NATO relations, which, all the sides believe, can boost the infrastructure and mobility of the force, which we might need to deploy in certain parts of the world."

BALKANS

• Reuters quotes a KFOR spokesman saying Monday that NATO-led peacekeepers in Kosovo have released Shefket Musliu, a former Albanian guerrilla commander, who had been detained last month. The spokesman reportedly indicated that Musliu had been released from a prison at a U.S. military base on Saturday. He added that COMKFOR, Gen. Valentin, who reviews special detentions every 30 days, had "chosen not to extend the detention." The dispatch notes that the spokesman had no more information on the reasons for the detention or subsequent release.

• AP reports unknown assailants gunned down a high-ranking police officer in Serbia and former police chief of Belgrade early Monday. The dispatch quotes police sources saying Maj. Gen. Buha was approaching his car in a parking lot outside of Belgrade’s Hotel Jugoslavija when he was hit by three bullets in the chest at 2.45 a.m. Buha served both under former President Milosevic and under the more democratic government that came to power in 2000. During the uprising against Milosevic, he clandestinely met with leaders of the pro-democracy movement seeking his overthrow. He subsequently ordered his special forces not to crack down on anti-Milosevic demonstrators storming the Yugoslav parliament and to fight forces loyal to Milosevic in case they attacked, adds the dispatch.

 FINAL ITEM