5
Indeed, the events of September 11 essentially ended the so-called “out-of-area” debate
that had raged within NATO throughout the latter half of the 1990s.
NATO’s new security
environment, former NATO Secretary General Lord Robertson observed in late 2002, “does not
afford us the luxury of fighting theoretical battles about what is ‘in’ and what is ‘out of area.’
We will have to look at threats functionally, not geographically. We will have to be able to act
wherever our security and the safety of our people demand action.”
8
NATO foreign ministers
also agreed at Helsinki in May 2002 that “NATO must be able to field forces that can move
quickly to wherever they are needed, sustain operations over distance and time, and achieve their
objectives...so that NATO can more effectively respond collectively to any threat of aggression
against a member state.”
9
This decision was affirmed at Prague in 2002,
10
and, again, at Istanbul
in June 2004, where the Allies declared that they were now “determined to address effectively
the threats to our territory, forces and populations from wherever they may come.”
11
Even more
8
Lord Robertson, “NATO: A Vision for 2012,” Speech at GMFUS Conference, Brussels, October 3, 2002
(http://www.nato.int/docu/speech/2002/s021003a.htm)
9
Final Communique, Ministers’ Meeting of the North Atlantic Council held in Reykjavik, Press Release M-
NAC-1(2002) 59, May 14, 2002 (http://www.nato.int/docu/pr2002/p02-059e.htm)
10
Prague Summit Declaration, Press Communique PR/CP (2002) 127, Issued by the Heads of State and
Government participating in the meeting of the North Atlantic Council in Prague, November 21, 2002.
Convention