DEFENCE DIPLOMACY
1. Defence diplomacy is not a new idea. Britain's Armed Forces have a proud record of providing support to peacetime diplomacy. Ship visits, exchanges with other countries' forces and the training of foreign personnel are a long established part of daily military business. Since the end of the Cold War, all three Services and MOD civil servants have made an important contribution to improving relations with former adversaries in Europe and in promoting stability worldwide. They have built schools in Bosnia, helped feed refugees in Africa, monitored arms control agreements and conducted major exercises with Poland and the Ukraine.
2. In today's strategic environment, there is scope for doing much more. We must of course be able to deal effectively with crisis and conflict when it occurs. Equally important, however, is helping to prevent conflicts occurring in the first place. There is growing recognition internationally that bolder steps are required to forestall escalation into conflict, as reflected in the recent reports by Lord Carrington and the US Carnegie Commission. The Defence Secretary has described the contribution that Armed Forces can make to this process as 'defence diplomacy', and he has characterised its aim as disarmament of the mind.
A New Mission
3. To give new impetus to these activities and signal that they are now an important priority for defence, it has been decided to make Defence Diplomacy one of the eight core Missions which define the activities which we expect our Armed Forces to be able to undertake. This will ensure that defence diplomacy is properly linked to policy objectives.
We have defined the Defence Diplomacy Mission as follows:
To provide forces to meet the varied activities undertaken by the MOD to dispel hostility, build and maintain trust and assist in the development of democratically accountable armed forces, thereby making a significant contribution to conflict prevention and resolution.
4. Three specific Military Tasks will contribute most directly to this new Mission:
- arms control, non-proliferation, and confidence and security building measures;
- Outreach, a new Military Task, designed to contribute to security and stability in Central and Eastern Europe, particularly Russia, but also extending as far as countries in the Trans-Caucasus and Central Asia, through bilateral assistance and co-operation with the countries concerned;
- other defence diplomacy activities, covering those military assistance activities with overseas military forces and defence communities not covered under Outreach.
Arms control, non-proliferation, and confidence and security building measures are addressed in the following essay.
Outreach - Building Bridges in Europe
5. Tension and conflict from Chechnya to Bosnia, and now in Kosovo, demonstrate that security and stability in Europe cannot be taken for granted. Britain's security depends ultimately on a secure and stable Europe. It is therefore in our interests that we remain actively committed to promoting peace and security throughout the continent.
6. The MOD's Outreach programme of bilateral defence assistance complements NATO's work to help promote a safer, more stable Europe. Britain will make a major contribution to NATO's initiatives. We will:
- continue to provide assistance to Poland, Hungary and the Czech Republic to ensure they are effectively and efficiently integrated into NATO's military structure;
- work hard, within NATO and outside, to ensure that those countries that are not NATO members do not feel isolated. We will place particular emphasis on improving our already close bilateral defence relationships with Russia and Ukraine;
- take a full part in NATO's Euro-Atlantic Partnership Council to develop political consultation and the Partnership for Peace programme which provides for military co-operation with NATO's 28 Partner nations. During September this year, Britain will host a major Partnership for Peace exercise - Exercise CO-OPERATIVE BEAR 98 - which will allow NATO and Partner nations to develop further interoperability in the air delivery of humanitarian aid and aeromedical evacuation.
7. There is no single way to achieve our objectives, individually or in concert with Allies. It requires the patient implementation of a variety of activities. Our national programme of Outreach will include:
- increased English language training to help our Partners work with us and in NATO;
- more high level visits, between senior MOD civil servants and military officers so that key decision makers are better able to understand each other;
- expert advice to Partners to accelerate the development of democratically accountable, cost effective armed forces;
- more opportunities for British troops to train with their counterparts in Central and Eastern Europe to build trust by fostering personal contacts at all levels;
- enhanced assistance in the field of military education through additional places at military schools and colleges, the provision of advice on defence management, military training, and the attachment of in-country advisers.
8. Additional resources will be made available and targeted to ensure that they contribute in practical ways to ensuring security and stability in Europe.
Other Defence Diplomacy Activities
9. Beyond Central and Eastern Europe, we have traditionally provided military assistance to friendly Governments in support of our defence and foreign policy objectives. The Defence Diplomacy initiative has given a new emphasis to these activities and reinforced the need to target our efforts carefully where they are really needed, and in ways which reinforce our interests and responsibilities in the widest sense.
10. As with the Outreach programme, a range of activities supports this military task. They include:
- the provision of advice and training overseas through short term training teams, such as that provided to the Zimbabwe Defence Force on wilderness search and rescue and casualty evacuation techniques;
- the provision of loan service personnel, on longer periods of secondment, such as those currently assisting with the establishment of the Kuwaiti and Bangladeshi National Defence Colleges, and the team in South Africa which has assisted since 1994 with the integration of the then-existing armed forces (both statutory and non-statutory) into a new National Defence Force;
- training and education courses in Britain, where our aim is to build on our already excellent reputation;
- exercises with the armed forces of friendly countries, which help to develop regional stability and improve interoperability. Recent exercises with the Regional Security System in the Caribbean are a good example;
- establishment of a Defence Diplomacy Scholarship for overseas officers and officials;
- visits to friendly countries, which help maintain and develop friendly relations at all levels. These visits are usually scheduled additions to other operational activities.
Organising Defence Diplomacy
11. In-country representation is vital to the success of many aspects of defence diplomacy. This is provided by attaché, liaison and exchange posts. These individuals have the opportunity to develop strong bilateral relationships. Attachés in particular play a fundamental role in defence diplomacy and can ensure that the UK is aware of their host countries' interests and concerns.
12. Because of the nature and complexity of defence diplomacy, its aims will only be met by integrating the MOD's activities very closely with those of other Government Departments, particularly the Foreign and Commonwealth Office and the Department for International Development. We will, for example, be working with the Foreign and Commonwealth Office to ensure that we have the right number of attachés in the right places to meet our defence and security goals.
13. More generally, all those involved in defence will have a role to play as ambassadors for peace and security worldwide. This will require new skills and a shift in thinking. To help achieve this we will provide appropriate training to meet the requirements of defence diplomacy.
14. Finally, because this is in large part new territory, and we need to keep track of the impact of what we and others are doing, we will develop, with outside assistance, transparent methods for monitoring and evaluating security reform in those countries in which we invest the most. This will help us to prioritise assistance and to assess the relative merits of our activities.
Conclusion
15. The new emphasis on defence diplomacy will provide important support for Britain's foreign and security policy objectives, using defence resources in constructive and imaginative ways. This will put Britain in a strong position to make a real contribution to conflict prevention. Defence diplomacy is therefore a significant challenge for all involved in defence in the modern world.
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