James Black
NATO is grappling with a 21st-century reimagining of the threat that first galvanised its creation in 1949: the prospect of war directly threatening its citizens where they live and work. Yet too many nations still lack robust plans, organisations, legislative powers, or capabilities for tackling preparedness challenges or securing their homelands against shocks or attack.
Gone is the comforting notion that wars happen far from home. As NATO leaders have acknowledged in recent summits and its revised Strategic Concept, the alliance now faces direct and pressing threats. Even still, too many policymakers—let alone members of the public—cling to the idea that any future conflict involving NATO would primarily occur on its fringes, impacting only the border regions of eastern Europe or the frozen High North.
Instead, countries in western and central Europe, as well as the United States and Canada, face a mounting threat of direct attack on their homelands. The combination of age-old tactics with new technologies offers hostile actors such as Russia or China new ways to sabotage, disrupt, or damage the complex and vulnerable systems upon which allied societies depend, especially in a shooting war.
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