Regional government and law enforcement representatives from Somalia visited the NATO flagship HMS CORNWALL 13 August off the port of Boosaaso.  The delegation, headed by the Minister of Ports and Marine Transport, Mr Abdil Irazaq Gaaiyte met the NATO Task Force Commander, Commodore Steve Chick CBE Royal Navy. The meeting was the first direct engagement between the Boosaaso authorities and the NATO Task Force since its arrival in the region on 29 June 2009.
The purpose of the visit was to establish a working relationship between NATO, the Government, Bari regional authorities and local law enforcement agencies. Following briefs by both parties much common ground and opportunity to co-operate further was identified.

 The Task Force Commander, Commodore Steve Chick Royal Navy said:  ‘I welcome the opportunity to work with the Minister and his colleagues from Boosaaso and the Bari Region. The purpose of today’s meeting is to work out how our efforts can best be combined to deter piracy and disrupt any attacks before they take place. Although they operate from shore and we at sea, there is a shared goal; that is stopping piracy and the damage that it brings not only to international shipping but also to Somalia as a whole. There is much common ground and we must use this opportunity to align our efforts as best we can to bring maximum pressure on the pirates and those that support them’ more…

 I started last week in Lisbon, on the heels of a trip to Stuttgart the previous Friday for staff briefings at European Command (EUCOM) and EUCOM’s Annual Summer Reception, which included a spectacular concert with an Elvis Presley impersonator in full U.S. Army regalia! 

I was in Lisbon for a significant event: the change of command of the major NATO Headquarters there, where a senior French officer took command of a key NATO military post.  I was very proud to officiate and speak, along with the Portuguese Minister of Defence, Nuno Severiano Teixeira, as Lieutenant General Phillipe Stoltz, a French Army 3-star, proudly took command.  Over some good Portuguese wine in the officer’s mess later, I was able to personally welcome Phillipe.  I said, “C’est un jour important pour France, mais c’est un jour magnifique pour notre l’Alliance.” (It is an important day for France, but it is a magnificent day for our alliance).   I also visited an innovative organization: the Maritime Analysis and Operations Center.  This small group with representatives from seven European nations is focused on counter-narcotics from their operations center in Lisbon.   Comparable to the U.S. Joint Interagency Task Force South in Key West (with whom they frequently collaborate), they seek to coordinate the law enforcement efforts of European nations to stem the flow of into the continent drugs (estimated by JIATFS to be in the region of 550+ tons of cocaine annually, for example).  Headed up by an exuberant Brit, Tim Manhire, they have shown much success and I hope to partner with them under my European Command hat in interagency and international counter-narcotic work. more…

On Friday, 13 March, the New York Times published an opinion submitted by journalists who recently attended a media tour of Afghanistan. The Op Ed highlighted the importance of the international effort in Afghanistan and described the situation from their point of view with opinion and analysis. The article made both supporting and critical observations about the current operation. The free exchange of ideas is essential in our democratic societies, and we wholeheartedly welcome opinions – both positive and negative ones. We do however take issue with one particular point presented as fact.

The authors state that “NATO’s forces can’t do antidrug missions, but they can provide assistance like air support and medevac units to American military advisers embedded with Afghan Army units involved with poppy eradication.” The author concludes that “NATO plays a key role in individual antidrug operations, but there is no way to integrate its forces into broader counternarcotics efforts.” This is simply not true. more…