The North Atlantic Treaty Organization was born in 1949 out of the simplest premise: "We are stronger together," said Air Force Gen. CQ Brown, Jr., chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, on Thursday night.
Brown spoke at the Truman Library Institute event marking the 75th anniversary of the signing of the Washington Treaty that established NATO. The event was in the National Archives, which holds the original treaty and subsequent ratifications.
President Harry S. Truman called the collective defense treaty a simple document, Brown said. But he said at the time that if the treaty had existed in 1914 or 1939 and were supported by the 12 nations that negotiated it, "I believe it would have prevented the acts of aggression, which led to two world wars."
NATO grew out of the suffering and destruction of all wars and was "born out of hope for a better future and a commitment to preserve peace and stability," the chairman said. "President Truman and his fellow leaders knew that the best protection against an uncertain future was to strengthen the partnership of nations."
The alliance has been a rock of stability for the past 75 years and it has deterred aggression, promoted prosperity and provided a source of strength for the world, he said. "Today, the purpose and principles of the NATO alliance are being tested in an increasingly complex global security environment," the senior U.S. military official said.
Brown laid out those challenges, which are familiar to anyone who has read the National Defense Strategy. The challenges the United States sees emanate from China, Russia, Iran, North Korea, and violent extremism. "All five of these challenges are active at the same time and they are becoming interconnected," Brown said.
China has continued to undertake aggressive military behavior in the South China Sea, while also attempting to increase its global influence through economic and political statecraft, he said. Russia's unprovoked invasion of Ukraine is now in its third year, and Russian President Vladimir Putin also seeks to build novel military capabilities and to diversify his nuclear arsenal, Brown said.
Iran has continued attempts to further conflict and regional influence through its proxies, while North Korea persists in destabilizing the region with ongoing ballistic missile research and testing, the chairman said. And violent extremists continue their vile attacks.
"This is not the first time that America and its allies have faced challenging times, and Truman and the leaders of the 11 other founding nations knew in 1949 that we are stronger together," Brown said.
NATO is more than just 32 like-minded nations and more than just unifying military force in 32 countries. "NATO demonstrates the strength possible when nations with shared values come together to focus on achieving a shared vision," he said. "Collectively, NATO's most significant strategic asset is the relationships and collaboration we have with our allies and partners."
While this may be based on a simple premise, it requires hard work and cooperation, he said. "To maximize the advantage, we must be truly integrated," Brown said. "We can't develop our respective national plans and capabilities with allies as an afterthought. We need to start at the beginning with the end in mind. We, as an alliance, need to be integrated by design."
Currently, joint exercises enable forces to meet one another and understand how they work, train and live.
"True integration means we can adapt to dynamic situations," the general said. "True integration allows us to shape crises rather than respond to crises. Integration just doesn't happen. It takes work. Relationships take work, consensus takes work. But the results of our work are far greater than the sum of our parts. We are stronger together."
This is demonstrated in the alliance's response to the largest war in Europe since World War II. "Today, I see the power of countries working together in Ukraine's fight to defend itself from Russian aggression," Brown said. "That Russian aggression designed to splinter NATO, has had an opposite effect, bringing life into the alliance with a renewed purpose and increasing its size."
For more than two years, a group of 50 nations, including all 32 members of NATO, has been meeting monthly to organize support for Ukraine, he said. The Ukraine Defense Contact Group has coordinated more than $95 billion in direct security assistance and trained over 143,000 Ukrainians. "These efforts have been critical reason why Ukraine has been successful in repelling larger and supposed more capable force," Brown said. "Because we are stronger together."
Brown shared his expectations for the U.S. joint force which are intertwined with NATO. First, the U.S. military and its NATO allies have to understand that honing warfighting skills must have primacy. Second, the alliance must modernize and aggressively lead in operationalizing new concepts and approaches. Finally, he said that all service members must know that trust is the foundation of the military profession.
"Honing our warfighting skills has primacy in all we do," Brown said. "We exist to fight and win our nation's wars. We want to be so good at what we do, that our adversaries never want to engage us in conflict. We want to be the worst nightmare to fight. These past 75 years, NATO has been effective because together we've built credible deterrence."
Brown said the NATO nations urgently need to modernize and aggressively pursue new concepts and approaches. This will ensure "that we have the right tools, capabilities and strategies to adapt to the dynamic and complex environment of the future," he said. "NATO is doing this [so] that the set of operational plans are part of the concept for deterrence and defense of the Euro-Atlantic area. NATO has a blueprint to continually modernize collective defense."
Finally, Brown said that no matter the nation, "every military capability we have is a static display without our service members. Trust is the foundation of our profession. Trust that we do right by our servicemembers. The trust of our families that we will take care of them. It is the trust we have with our elected leaders in the publics we serve. Most importantly, is the trust we have with each one of our NATO allies and partners."
That trust is at the foundation of the Washington Treaty and has been earned "through hardships, battle, sacrifice, but rooted in shared values and approaches," he said. "Trust is what has given NATO its strength over the past 75 years. Because we are stronger together."
Looking to the future, the alliance must deal with "nations who wish to overthrow the international order and these actions recklessly threaten global stability," he said. "In the early 20th century, violent aggressors led to some of the most horrific events in history."
But now there is NATO, which is today "the strongest and longest alliance the world has ever seen," Brown said.
NATO has been the beacon of freedom and peace for 75 years, and Brown said he hopes it will continue for another 75 years. The world will face many challenges and the world is changing, Brown said, but one thing remains constant: "We are stronger together."