NATO’s highest military authority, the Military Committee, will convene in Brussels on 15 and 16 January 2025. The meeting will bring together Allied Chiefs of Defence alongside over 20 counterparts from NATO Partner nations.
The event will be presided over by Admiral Rob Bauer, Chair of the Military Committee, and supported by General Christopher Cavoli, Supreme Allied Commander Europe (SACEUR), and Admiral Pierre Vandier, Supreme Allied Commander Transformation (SACT).
The discussions will focus on the key strategic priorities of the Alliance, with particular emphasis on strengthening cooperation with NATO Partners and addressing global challenges through unified responses. “This meeting will reaffirm NATO’s commitment to the security of the Euro-Atlantic area and beyond,” said Admiral Bauer in anticipation of the event.
NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte will join the Military Committee for the opening session to outline the Alliance’s current priorities and the most pressing challenges it faces.
The first session of the meeting will see General Cavoli brief the Chiefs of Defence on NATO’s readiness to deter and defend the Euro-Atlantic region, safeguarding the security of over one billion people. He will also provide updates on NATO’s ongoing missions, particularly the support being extended to Ukraine through the NATO Security Assistance and Training for Ukraine (NSATU).
During the second session, Admiral Vandier will lead discussions on NATO’s concept of “Interoperability by Design,” which aims to streamline the collaboration between NATO members and Partners to enhance military operations.
Updates will also be provided on various ongoing processes, including the NATO Defence Planning Process, the status of the Joint Analysis Training and Education Centre (JATEC), and the implementation roadmap to establish a multi-domain-enabled Alliance by 2030.
In the third and fourth sessions, the Chiefs of Defence will turn their attention to the various manifestations of global instability. These sessions will involve discussions with NATO Partner nations about military cooperation, standardization, and interoperability.
The second day will feature thematic sessions on the Global South and the Indo-Pacific regions. These discussions will offer briefings on the strategic security challenges in these areas, exploring their implications for global stability and security.
The meeting will conclude with a joint press conference featuring Admiral Bauer, General Cavoli, and Admiral Vandier, summarising the outcomes of the discussions and outlining NATO’s path forward in addressing current and future security challenges.
NATO meets to discuss preparations to defend Alliance? Really? What have they been doing then since April 4th, 1949 then?
Same thing but perhaps this is in light of a call for assistance from certain NATO members.
Well let’s be honest we would all be deeply concerned if they had a long meeting in 194849 decided all the principles and what was needed to defend the alliance and once they had decided upon 10,000 Patton tanks, formulate the prospective design for 40 Leander Class frigates, start building Forrestal Class carriers and commit to 5000 Shooting Stars, Sabres and god forbid Cutlasses and go home patting themselves on their backs in the knowledge that all work had been completed.
Reports like this do make you think have they only just got the message but in reality you need constant updates and re formulations and one hopes this is part of that process.
Don’t be stupid. Defending the alliance is the organisation’s raison d’etra so surely they have been planning to do that since day one. I never said they had decided everything on day one you did that and then went on to make yourself look stupid. Saying they are discussing preparations to defend the alliance is surely redundant? Just like that lump of protein between your ears.
So doing their job ??? I mean I would be shocked if NATO was not doing this
The orange one is coming.
Thank the Lord. The grown ups are back.
Exactly.
Grown ups? You mean as in Bugsy Malone. Are we really so stupid and manipulatable that we seriously think Trump and Vance and crew are actually Grown ups? Captain Mainwaring would be a better bet.
Doubling down on the stupid today aren’t we? Do you think corrupt Biden and the corrupt US State Department have been the paragon of logic and the model of statesmanship? We are lucky they haven’t dragged us into WW3. They have destroyed Germany. What an utter idiot you are.
Trump and his cabinet are all successful people unlike a UK Government filled with incompetent nobodies who have never even managed a lemonade stand. And you really think that the world is better off four years after Trump left office? The adults thankful that “we” lost the last US presidential election.
You mean the tantrum prone children are about to take over. You just have to see the exchanges this week between factions of MAGA opposing and supporting H-1B visas to see how dysfunctional the MAGA movement is. Incapable of reasoned internal debate on the subject it quickly deteriorated to character assassinations and insult. All very childish.
The UK is either a member of the EU or a N.A.T.O. member, but it can’t be in both.
What drivel, silly person. EU is a totally different creature than NATO.
Most NATO members are members of the EU? The EU is also more likely to be there in ten years time thanks to Trump.
Well the UK is NOT a member of the EU and is a member of NATO, but if it wished it could both be a member of NATO and the EU because shock horror the vast majority of NATO members are also EU members ( 23 out of 32) and almost all EU members are also NATO members ( 23 out or 27)…and for 47 year the UK was both a member of the EU ( or it’s precursor) and a NATO member..
So your statement is utterly factually incorrect.
Indeed and I am beginning to see why the likes of Trump does feel you can fool all or the people all of the time, or at least enough of them. Indeed it’s why Musk bought Twitter, Trump his Truth Social (Ministry of Truth in 1984?) so they could bombard the populace with all manner of warped views and lies to influence the gullible under the illusional guise that they are offering them ‘free speech’. Jeez Goebbels would have loved this delusional version of ‘free speech’.
Dur …
Utter nonsense, totally divorced from reality.
Marky, don’t worry. The UK is not in both. We left the EU! Anyway I disagree with your premise. Of course a country can be in both….and many of them are. They do different things.
I think this is because the Finnish boarded a Russian flag tanker operating within their EEZ which had cable cutting gear onboard as well as military communications gear. Ergo Russia has been caught red handed. Well done Finland for having the balls to board the Russian vessel as other NATO nations seem to be petrified to do what’s right.
NATO probably needs to announce an inspection regiment for any Russian vessel entering a member nations EEZ. Any vessel found with cable cutting gear and military Comms kit will have that kit confiscated or destroyed and the crew arrested for criminal damage. Yes that’s an escalation but Russia needs to be informed in a very clear manner their cutting of cables, Gas lines and power lines is considered an act of war and we will not tolerate their idiotic behaviour. Don’t like it. Tough.
Or we could just sink them. Which seems to be happening quite frequently to Russian flagged “civilian vessels” recently.
Totally agree, this needs to be confronted. Was specialist cable cutting gear found on this vessel? I assumed it was just a matter of cradling its anchor. If what you say is true then the contempt for the West is even worse than I imagined as one presumed the crew were assured that there would be even this relatively minimal response to their provocative war like actions. Can not tolerate such behaviour or every cable and pipeline will be cut and crews and owners need to imprisoned and put out of business wherever possible. Otherwise we will have Iranian and North Korean vessels shamelessly sailing up and down doing it.
No the ship was found to be carrying a load of portable surveillance gear according to an article in Lloyds List. It also apparently dropped surveillance sensors when transiting through the English Channel.
Doesn’t need to have specialist cable cutting gear – the presence of which would destroy any plausible deniability. Dragging an anchor is sufficient, and according to one report, the vessel is now missing its port anchor.
Dur …
Sorry – this one posted in error. This is skeptical response to the first comment in the thread, and I can’t seem to edit it out.
I would welcome an article on this – just what can be done legally in a situation short of declared war in an EEZ, or indeed in Territorial Waters?
The law of the sea is not exactly clear iirc, from the times I have tried to get to grips with this previously.
I think the Finnish action was a textbook example of what can be done. If in a countries EEZ then boarding is allowed to check for illegal activities. In this case criminal damage to civilian infrastructure.
The crew should of been arrested and the ship impounded.
Russia cannot be allowed to think it’s hybrid actions whilst not direct conflict are not going to be resisted and counter attacked. If Russia wants to continue illegal activities it’s people and president should know those doing it are going to be arrested, charged and imprisoned and their ships impounded or worse sunk.
I’m a strong believer in sinking vessels carrying out state sponsored terrorist actions.
Sounds like a routine scheduled meeting to discuss these topics, nothing special arranged to discuss cable cutting or the arrival of Putin’s man in the White House.
I wonder whether the US will bring up defence spending as the “Orange One” will have been sworn in well before that date.