Nato's Future Paths

Byline: Shehzad H. Qazi In November 2010, NATO held its 24th summit in Lisbon where its Secretary General Anders Fogh Rasmussen unveiled the organization's latest Strategic Concept. "The world is changing," Rasmussen proclaimed, "We face new threats and new challenges. And this Strategic Concept will ensure that NATO remains as effective as ever in defending our peace, our security and our prosperity." NATO's new ten-year plan has identified 7 key areas of security concern for the transatlantic alliance: crisis-management, proliferation of nuclear weapons and weapons of mass destruction (WMDs), terrorism, secure communication, trade and energy transit routes, cyber attacks, technology-related threats, and environment and resource constraints. At the core of NATO's strategic thinking is the belief, one that NATO's official website spells out, that members must develop new capabilities and skills to combat the new and unconventional threats which have arisen.