Global Security Challenges and NATO’s role

Mr. Michael Ruhle, Head Hybrid Challenges and Energy Security Section, Emerging Security Division.

The main topic this last conference session was security against modern non-territorial threats: cybersecurity. Another word used by the orator when referring to these threats was non-kinetic. which in the field of international relations, could be used as a defining term for those problematic circumstances that do not include territories nor arms as components of their existence. Cyberattacks, energy cut-offs, proxies… all three of these included in the group of non-kinetic threats, and therefore not physical causes that can be fought with physical resources. That is the main complication of this process.

The current biggest international security threats cannot be fought back with weapons when it comes to cyberattacks by the Russian Intelligence or the implications of climate change like massive migration flows caused by natural disasters.

The NATO has spent a great amount of its 70 years of history basing its reactions on specific territorial issues and assets. Because of this, the appearance of this new threats has forced them to establish a protocol to reacting effectively to these. Michael Ruhle pointed that, it is not therefore the time for the force in force but to prepare soldiers for humanitarian emergencies and recruit experts to prevent and discover cyberattacks. Cyberattacks can bring down a society to the point that is no longer capable of defending itself. It is necessary that universities prepare future experts on cyberattacks and virtual security.

The first of the four steps to this procedure is, of course, being able to identify the threat. This may seem as an obvious first step to take, but this is like this today. 20 years ago, either due to the older operating system or the lack of knowledge in the field of cybersecurity, detecting this kind of problems was way more difficult. This is why the NATO came up with the goal of trying to put all international intelligence together: as a way to deal with these problems more efficiently. The second step into this process is include experts in resilience to help in both preventing and dealing with crisis. Once this step is done, the third part of the process would be to develop links with the private sectors of the world, since both tanks and operating system features are mainly owned by these sectors. The forth and last step is to be aware of what the future trends may be about. This refers not only to focusing on how our actions may reflect on the now, but also on the future.

Michael Ruhle emphasized NATO ‘state of permanent learning to face new threats and develop what the founding fathers started, to take action in the complexity of International Relations. As he, himself stated:  schools should not teach about NATO but the complexity of International Relations.

Furthermore, Mr. Ruhle urged the crucial role of NATO enhancing national resilience. Networks must be rust, otherwise the allies may not be able to produce any meaningful military contribution. Aside from the allies NATO develops links with organizations and the civilian private sector from which more answers can be found than from the allies.

- Julia López y Ana Pérez