Lic. Jorge Domínguez
In the meantime, the Ministry of Defense, started to develop the contents of this document through its specialized agencies in consultation with the Armed Forces and other government agencies as well as academic institutions and specialists. The result we wished to attain -which we firmly believe has been achieved- was to produce a document reflecting a vision of National Defense shared by all the parties involved.
The Book is intended to describe certain essential features of the Defense System in Argentina and the main political guidelines in force. In this sense, we have attempted to illustrate the political concept whereby the different components of the Defense structure perform their tasks primarily in the national arena, but also contribute to regional and global security.
For the first time in its history, the Argentine Republic is publishing a comprehensive official book about its National Defense.
Its title, "National Defense White Book", follows world trends for this type of documents, which are aimed at disseminating defense and military information at public level, as a way to provide an insight into the National Government's ideas in this area.
We would like this book to become a source of information for the Argentine community, and we also hope that the international community will appreciate it as a proof of transparency and confidence building.
National Defense is a government matter that transcends incumbent governments and their officials. For this reason, this book does not, in general, deal with circumstantial events, except in the case of some especially relevant aspects.
This book is also aimed at integrating substantive and permanent Defense-related matters comprehensively and with a certain level of abstraction. Based on these premises, the book describes the main policies implemented as well as those in progress, which have been consolidated since the final return of democracy to the country in 1983.
It is important to note that, for some specialized areas, this document includes only general objectives and activities, as some matters are under study and discussion in order to achieve the consensus that all government issues require.
The preliminary studies for this White Book started in 1996 and were intensified after the II Defense Ministerial of the Americas, held in San Carlos de Bariloche in October that year.
However, this document was not completed until the National Congress enacted the Armed Forces Reorganization Act in March 1998.
The unanimous approval of this legal instrument helped to define a foreseeable scenario for the Nation and, at the same time, it generated the necessary continuity that Defense issues require.
Some relevant policies and facts of our National Defense that derive from the above concept have been described in detail, including:
- The maturity attained in civilian-military relations and the proper integration of the Armed Forces into the country's institutional structure.
- The process undertaken to achieve military reorganization.
- The move towards Armed Forces jointness.
- Structural reforms in the Military Education System.
- Cooperation in Defense and Security matters in the South Cone region.
- The overcoming of past "conflict scenarios" and the enhancement of all possible confidence-building measures.
- The role of National Defense in the country's strategic projection to the international sphere through its involvement in peacekeeping operations and its participation in the various international security forums of discussion.
- The development of a Defense policy containing environmental protection concerns.
The Ministry of Defense hopes that this first "White Paper" may not be the end of the journey, but only a first step towards a new way of dealing with National Defense challenges together.
Subsequent debates will encourage advances and progress in this area. However, this will be possible only if the people engaged in Defense-related military, strategic or political studies transfer their knowledge to research and dissemination activities.
As it did in the past and more so after this publication, the Ministry of Defense undertakes to give due consideration to any intellectual contribution arising from the study of the issues described in this document.
We believe that the community is, perhaps unconsciously, eager to learn about National Defense, and that the time has come to gradually place these matters within the reach of the different levels of society so that every person, regardless of his or her position, can contribute to this common task.
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