NATO Defense College building in Rome

Remarks by Ambassador Ronald P. Spogli

“U.S-Italy Relations in the Field of Security”

at NATO Defense College / Temple University in Rome
Honoring the 40 th Anniversary of Temple University in Rome

 

October 11, 2006

Thank you very much, General Vankeirsbilk. I’m grateful to you, Dean Grier, and NATO Defense College for the opportunity to speak to this distinguished audience on the subject of U.S.-Italian security cooperation.

Before I turn to that subject, though, let me offer congratulations to Dean Kim Strommen and the faculty and students of Temple University in Rome. As a former exchange student in Italy, I can attest to the importance of international education. During my eight years of undergraduate and graduate education at Stanford and Harvard, my six months spent studying in Florence in 1968 were the most personally rewarding and stimulating. In the years since then, I have dedicated much time and energy to promoting cultural and educational exchanges between the U.S. and Italy. Distinguished programs such as Temple University in Rome deepen the bonds between our two countries even as they bring new generations of Italians and Americans to understand the history, the ideas, and the fundamental values that make up our common heritage.

“Fundamental values” is indeed the key term. I’d like to say something about our fundamental values – and the policies and relationships that stem from them -- as a way of approaching the more specific subject of U.S.-Italian security cooperation.

Why values before security? Thinking about shared values reminds us that security is not an end in itself. Our fundamental values come first, since through our values we define ourselves – and continue constantly to redefine ourselves -- as individuals and as societies. Security, on the other hand, is a primary interest generated by those values. We need a framework of security in order to live according to our values, and to keep those values alive as our societies grow and change.

To understand American foreign policy, including American security policy, we have to consider the role of fundamental values. Historians and political analysts have worked hard to try to identify various doctrines that describe the direction of American foreign policy. Every few years, they, or indeed U.S. leaders, have declared that the U.S. has undertaken a brand new strategic initiative or changed the course or direction of U.S. policy. In fact, U.S. foreign policy has changed very little in the past one hundred years.

The guiding principle of our international involvement, since the beginning of the Twentieth Century when the U.S. became a global power, has been and remains support for freedom and democracy around the world. Having been founded by men and women seeking to escape political and religious persecution, the U.S. has been committed throughout its history to defend the integrity of the human individual through the principles of human, civil and individual rights.

In his second Inaugural Address, President Bush restated this traditional American commitment in what has become known as the Freedom Agenda. As he put it, "the best hope for peace in our world is the expansion of freedom in all the world." Expanding freedom through the world has been a consistent goal of American foreign policy since Woodrow Wilson.

A visit to the American military cemeteries at Nettuno and Florence will attest to the depth of our commitment to freedom. For nearly a century, through two world wars and a cold war, the U.S. worked to prevent the flame of democracy from dying out on the European continent, using means that were in marked contrast to those used by Germany in two world wars or the Soviet Union during the cold war. In fostering European democracy after the Second World War, we sought a framework of security based on shared fundamental values rather than on coercion. Today, just as much as then, we hold firm in the belief that free and democratic nations are net contributors to the peace, stability and security of the world.

Italy is prominently such a free and democratic nation. For this reason, the U.S. has found it almost second nature to turn to Italy as an Ally for almost sixty years.

Again, shared values are at the heart of the transatlantic link between the U.S., Italy, and other European Allies. Our bonds of culture, shared history, shared systems of democratic governance and market economies make up a common ground that is deeper than cooperation between the governments of the day. Core values include democracy, a commitment to the importance of the individual, respect for basic human rights, rule of law, tolerance, and an appreciation of diversity. Both sides of the Atlantic believe strongly, too, that freedom extends to trade and competitive markets, which continue to improve the lives of our citizens and, we hope, the lives of others on this planet.

Now I’d like to turn more specifically to our common interest in security. Italy needs its Allies; and the Allies need Italy. As a country bisecting the Mediterranean, Italy’s geo-strategic position makes it uniquely vulnerable to threats from abroad. But that same geographical placement also makes Italy a cornerstone of NATO – and NATO remains t he most important strategic link between the U.S. and Italy.

Beyond geography, deeply shared values and a strong common interest in security have made Italy a major player in NATO – not only in terms of Italian military capabilities but also in terms of Italian political leadership in the North Atlantic Council. I hardly need to remind this audience that NATO is not only the most successful military alliance in history, but that NATO is the unique forum for strategic consultation among Allies. In finding ways to ensure security, NATO has become a critical link binding our societies together.

Italy and the United States have always understood NATO’s indispensability. Anyone wondering about Italy’s commitment to the Alliance should recall the NATO southern command in Naples and the presence of 17,000 U.S. personnel at Italian military bases under NATO auspices. Anyone wondering about the U.S. commitment to NATO should recall the expensive and sometimes difficult changes we are making to modernize our force structure in Italy: including the closure in 2007-8 of our facility at La Maddalena and the consolidation of the 173 rd Airborne Brigade at Vicenza.

Regardless of what sometimes appears in the press, the fact is that we share a basic consensus on our security relationship; and this consensus transcends the main political competition that naturally exists inside our two democracies. Republicans and Democrats, Center-Right and Center-Left – all responsible political parties speak NATO.

We cannot take this for granted, though -- we must do everything possible to keep it this way. It is vital that our leaders keep seeing NATO as the place where the U.S. and Europe will continue to have their strategic dialogue and that NATO will remain the primary strategic link in our relationship.

Among Allies such as the U.S. and Italy, security is indivisible.

Only NATO can make this connection. Unlike the UN, NATO is comprised entirely of democratic states. Unlike the European Union, NATO decision-making includes the U.S. Unlike any other multilateral organization in the world, it has robust, flexible military forces capable of being projected out of area. This capability has been used for peacekeeping, peacemaking, and humanitarian operations, including providing relief to victims of Hurricane Katrina and the earthquake in Pakistan.

This conference has already taken up the issue of NATO’s dramatic transformation to address the security challenges of the Twenty-First Century. Substantial credit for these changes must go to Italian leadership in Brussels. Undoubtedly Italy’s voice in the NAC carries extra weight because of a decade of vigorous Italian contributions to NATO missions in the Balkans and the Mediterranean. As for Afghanistan, Italy has understood from the start that the credibility of a transformed NATO depends on ISAF’s success. Only recently the Italian government confirmed Italy’s commitment in Afghanistan by resisting calls from radical coalition members to draw down military forces. Italy’s national interest coincides with ours in this regard: ISAF will succeed.

So far, influenced perhaps by my setting, I have been talking mainly about NATO. Italy’s contributions to global security extend in many other directions as well. For example, Italy has played an important role in both planning, deploying, and commanding EU peacekeeping forces in Macedonia and Bosnia. Perhaps more than any other EU member, Italy has worked to achieve complementarity, and not duplication, between NATO and EU mandates.

We should not forget that, as part of the international coalition in Iraq, Italy’s peacekeeping, police training, and reconstruction assistance contributed to making Dhi Qar province one of the most stable regions in the country. Italy also leads three of four training segments at the NATO Training Mission in Iraq.

The most vivid example almost goes without saying. When Lebanon reached the boiling point this summer, Italy stepped forward and brought world leaders together. The result is the European contribution to UNIFIL’s monitoring and peacekeeping mission – once again, Italy led the way in offering troops and determining the right command structure.

These last examples demonstrate that Italy, even when it undertakes security operations outside the Alliance, never stops acting as an Ally in the interest of regional and global security. By what it believes and what it does, Italy is at the forefront of our security relationships.

I would be mistaken, however, if I did not balance these positive remarks with a few serious words of caution. The U.S., NATO Secretary Generals Robertson and Scheffer, and recently the European Defense Agency have voiced concern about declining defense budgets in many Allied countries. Unfortunately Italy is a prime member of this group.

With defense expeditures sinking well below 1% of GDP, Italy will have a harder and harder time maintaining its prominent role in the Alliance both in terms of missions and strategic influence. Training, equipment replacement, and continued modernization of forces – Italian leaders have warned that all these areas are suffering from lack of funds. Ideological divisions within political coalitions and a general lack of public awareness about NATO and Italy’s key role as a contributor of peace make it harder to make the right long-term security choices.

Notwithstanding these problems, the U.S.-Italian relationship continues to epitomize the best aspects of the transatlantic link in the face of new security threats.

We need one another for the largest purposes, since simply containing security challenges will not be sufficient to end the threats of terrorism, instability and the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction. To succeed, we must seek out and destroy the roots of these problems with the most successful instruments our societies wield: our shared values of democracy and freedom.

Together, as well as each in our own way, we will cooperate to seek the growth of democratic movements and institutions in every nation and every culture with the ultimate goal of ending tyranny in our world. Through NATO and other multilateral organizations, we will find partners around the world, to build and sustain democratic, well-governed states that will respond to the needs of their people and conduct themselves responsibly in the international system. We will use our political and economic influence to help those living in tyranny and oppression to better their own lives, to build their own nations and to transform their own futures.

This is a long term project that will pay out long term dividends only if we remain committed to the task. I am confident, however, that our societies will rise to the challenge. Our experience during the Cold War taught us that by working together we can ensure the victory of freedom over tyranny. Our experience in the Balkans showed that by working together, we can ensure the victory of peace over hatred and intolerance.

I am confident that our experience in the post 9/11 era will show that by working together we can ensure the victory of our democratic values within a framework of security.