NATO restructures command to boost security in north
Sign up now: Get ST's newsletters delivered to your inbox
NATO top commander Alexus Grynkewich giving a press conference in Casteau, Belgium, on Dec 4.
PHOTO: REUTERS
Follow topic:
- NATO will integrate Nordic nations under U.S.-based Joint Force Command Norfolk to improve transatlantic security.
- The restructuring shifts Nordic countries from Brunssum command to Norfolk, strengthening NATO's northern position after Finland and Sweden joined.
- General Grynkewich stated Norfolk is the "strategic bridge between North America and Europe," overseeing the Arctic region.
AI generated
MONS, Belgium - NATO will this week integrate its Nordic nations under the US-based Joint Force Command Norfolk in an effort to improve transatlantic security and boost the alliance’s positioning in the high north, NATO top commander Alexus Grynkewich told reporters on Dec 4.
Under the new structure, all Nordic countries would fall under the headquarters based in the US port of Norfolk, Virginia, which is oriented towards North Atlantic defence, instead of some countries in the region remaining under NATO’s Brunssum command in the Netherlands, which is responsible for NATO’s northeastern flank.
Finland joined NATO in 2023 and Sweden in 2024, after Russia’s 2022 full-scale invasion of Ukraine prompted the two countries to rethink their national security strategies.
Their accession to the now 32-member military alliance has strengthened NATO’s position in the north and the Baltic Sea region, leading to the command restructuring.
“With the alignment of our adversaries around the globe, it’s imperative that we strengthen the Euro-Atlantic area as much as possible, and reinforce our posture in the high north,” General Grynkewich, a US Air Force general serving as NATO’s Supreme Allied Commander Europe, told reporters at the alliance’s military headquarters outside the Belgian city of Mons.
“Norfolk is the strategic bridge between North America and Europe,” he said.
The Norfolk command will be responsible for the Arctic, Denmark, Finland, Greenland, Iceland, Norway, Sweden and the United Kingdom. REUTERS
