The Foreign Service Journal, April 2019

THE FOREIGN SERVICE JOURNAL | APRIL 2019 29 territory and providing deterrence against would-be aggressors is the mission. Nevertheless, the alliance must be able to address regional threats, threats that could destabilize and adversely impact member-states. NATO shouldn’t have a knee-jerk reaction to act “out of area,” but it also shouldn’t believe it is insulated from instability in its southern neighborhood. Today the alliance is try- ing to tackle threats in both theaters, even if there is a lack of politi- cal consensus among member-states. However, to continue to properly confront these challenges, increased defense spending, capabilities development and interoperability across the alliance will be essential. Conclusion As NATOministers mark the signing of the Washington Treaty this spring, there will be much focus on political divisions and uncertainties. But there is much to celebrate, too. The last 70 years witnessed an unprecedented era of peace despite the tensions of the Cold War and the uncertainties of the post–Cold War era. Conflict in Central and Western Europe today may not be impos- sible, but it certainly stretches the imagination. This is in large part due to the security guarantee by NATO, underwritten by American leadership, which afforded Europe a chance to seek a sustainable peace that has spanned several decades. But it is not a foregone conclusion that what the alliance has been able to achieve in the past will continue into the future. Thankfully, as former Defense Secretary James Mattis said in an address last October: “In an unpredictable world, allies have renewed their sense of urgency.” NATO is as important today as it has ever been in the post–Cold War world. But as high-level rheto- ric from the United States clashes with a clear need for strong, capable alliances, the efforts of officials and experts at the working level of the trans-Atlantic relationship will be critical. Understand- ing the key role that NATO can play in addressing the many chal- lenges to U.S. security today, the alliance can overcome the tumult it is currently experiencing, as it has in the past. In the meantime, it will be critical for NATO nations to remem- ber that in confronting today’s challenges, no member is better off without the alliance. As NATO enters its eighth decade, a strong sense of the global challenges facing both sides of the Atlantic is crucial. And those who wish to see the stability of the last several decades extend into the future would do well to articulate this to their capitals and to their alliance counterparts. n