Communication and Information Services – Nato Requirements, Part I

Land Forces Academy Review Vol. XXV, No. 4(100), 2020

COMMUNICATION AND INFORMATION SERVICES – NATO REQUIREMENTS, PART I

Tibor FARKAS National University of Public Service, Budapest, Hungary [email protected]

ABSTRACT Recent publication is summing up the most important requirements, by which “Heads of State and Government of NATO member countries” have defined the basic tasks and guidelines for the alliance and the member states in order to guarantee their security. These also highly affected command and control supporting communication and information services, systems, beyond that the cyber operation related concepts and developments – latter field becoming of more and more importance. In this part of the article, the author analysed the security threats of the NATO and the according response of them. This part covers the first ten years of the analysed NATO summits, from 1999.

KEYWORDS: communication and information system, cyber defence, development, modernization, NATO Summit

1. Introduction capabilities towards NATO is a key priority Nowadays it became focal, that for the defence ministries and military. NATO has to deal with constantly The securing of suveregnity, changing, renewing security threats, since protection and security of national interest security environment got worse greatly. and citizens require the development of Among the new threats are climate change, military capabilities. To this end, the intensifying threat of terrorism, migration member states began their long term and several other dangers, which require the defence and military development programs developing of defence capabilities and in the recent years, by which the agility of armed forces, as an element of international the alliance is raised through national and national level reaction. capabilities. Key goal is to strenghten the International tendencies support, that abilities of the armed forces and to make during any defence activity, the principle of their operability more efficient. possessing sufficient quantity of Development involves modernisation of information from reliable and secure source technical devices and personal gear, and the is of exceptional importance. Key feature of raising of efficiency regarding command this is the utilisation of state-of-the-art and control. infocommunication systems with high level Development of communication and of information protection capabilities, information support is of highest priority, which is a feature of recent systems in since this secures information flow, process defence sphere only partially. and distribution for the command and Shaping and maintaining requirements control, which beyond supporting needed for the basic purpose of national leasership, also enables communication armed forces, and securing the offered between systems and assets.

281 2. Security Threats for NATO At the beginning of the nineties the Security threats affecting NATO have alliance developed its cooperation with changed significantly in the 70 years of its non-member states, organisations and other existance. By the foundation of the alliance, alliances. Intensifying terrorism further the main objective of the 12 members was shaped the activity of NATO, which has collective defence, through which they been realised trough each multinational aimed to assure their security. This stayed crisis management operation, such as SFOR the main purpose of the alliance throughout (Stabilisation Force in Bosnia and the four decades of its cold war existance. Herzegovina), KFOR (Kosovo Force in With the end of cold war, collective Kosovo), ISAF (International Security defence became indirect, withouth any Assistance Force in Afghanistan), NTM-I potential agressor, instability emerged in (NATO Training Mission – Iraq) and other fields. Focus shifted from the direct NATO Operation Ocean Shield. protection of the allied to the partaking in Based on these, NATO actively regional conflict management. As a clear shares the burden of creating international task emerged the sharing of responsibility peace and security, with the basic in ending wars and building peace and fundament of the member states partaking stability. Such crisis management operation in these tasks, and civil-military decision was the engagement on the Balkans, the process, based on NATO Crisis ending of that conflict. Management Process (see Figure no. 1.).

Figure no. 1: NATO Crisis Management Process (Source: Marinov, 2014)

Fundament of NATO’s success is the definition of the situation, based on the identification of threats, the way of reacting possession of sufficient quantity and quality to them, and the method of maintaining of information. Threats come from beyond complex danger situations. Nowadays the the borders of the Alliance, regional conflicts alliance has to face complex threats, can cause serious impact to the members’ and defined by digital threat even nuclear global security, thus stability has to be endangering beyond the traditional forms of protected and projected beyond NATO. war. Key to success is in any case the early Comprehensive threats to NATO are:

282 ௅ existance of weapons of mass summitss and other periodical meetings, destruction; and professional coordination among ௅ global terrorism and its effects; others. ௅ threats on energy security; ௅ environmental challenges; 3. The NATO Summits in the ௅ cyber attacks, dividing cyber- and Last Twenty Years phisical sphere; NATO summits are not held ௅ constant information attacks, perodically, but according to some desinformation, fake news; important events of the alliance. These ௅ a hybrid warfare; meetings are always organised in one of the ௅ and the complex security member states and led by the Security consequences stemmng from the above. General. The decisions and new guidelines According responce of NATO is: defining the life of the alliance are clarified ௅ collective defence; on these occassions, also the invitation of ௅ developing quick reaction force; new members and strenghtening of ௅ constant development and shaping partnerships (NATO, 2018, pp. 10-16). of command structure; Decisions are summarised in ௅ groving defence expenditure; resolutions, and published in the form of ௅ fastening force development; announcements. Afterwards the member ௅ groving level of national offering; states begin with work, by the leading of ௅ sharing of capabilities; the competent organisation. (see Figure ௅ common training and field activity; no. 2.) With the control of North Atlantic ௅ unified planning; Council as the primer decision making ௅ strenghtening national cyber- organisation of the Alliance, or in case of defence capabilities; military action with the leading of Military ௅ further development of command Committee (NATO MC) coordination of and control with state-of-the-art work begins within the frames of military infocommunication support. leadership structure. NATO MC supports NATO is only able to react efficiently the processing of universal strategic to all these threats and the changing concepts by creating documents (MC), security situation trough constant renewing, being proposals on preparing military force which is recognised and defined at NATO and the realisation of readiness plans.

Figure no. 2: NATO working structure (Source: NATO, 2020)

283 3.1. Washington Summit systems. In this connection, we […] develop (April 24-25 1999) the C3 system architecture by 2002 to form At the beginning of the new a basis for an integrated Alliance core millenium, the points of Washington capability allowing interoperability with Declaration counted as milestones, shaping national systems” (NATO, 1999). the future vision of the Alliance greatly. This Summit defined the The meeting came to life in the times of the requirements and capabilities for the third stage of Balkan wars, Operation upcoming years. Regarding communication Allied Forces, which also greatly affected and information systems, higher level of the decisions made for the future. information support has to be prepared, The summit defined three fields of highest with a focus on compatibility and importance, also as the directions of future interoperability as prime challenges, at the activity. These are the new strategy same time the evolving of information in concept, the Defence Capacity Initiative great volumes, constantly changing and the Membership Action Plan. These technology and technical challenges. decisions ensure recent and future security for the alliance, through these is it able to 3.2. Prague Summit measure and manage them the right way, (21-22 November 2002) and to realise stability (NATO, 1999). According to the above strategic According to the strategic concept, concept – based mainly on the experiences of the most important task of the Alliance is Balkans missions – was shaped the capability the elimination of security threats stemming development guideline, which defined agility from conflicts and instable states, and deployability, sustainability, successfull with a focus on the Middle-East and combat deployment, survivability and North-African region. efficient communication as future The renewal of the strategic concept requirements. The Alliance proceeded with greatly affected command and control, and the development of the strategic concept also infocommunication support, since the based on these, and discussed it at a later broadened collective defence – reacting on event, also creating a written document. terrorism, organised crime, and challenges On these summits the discussion was always threatening NATO’s security interests – maintained with a scope on actual challenges, inducts new capabilities towards the regions threats and requirements, also being mirrored outside the Alliance, such as: in the later (actual) concept of the Alliance. ௅ deployability; This also serves as a fundament for the ௅ development of force/assets in capability development strategy of NATO order to raise defence capabilities; and the member states. ௅ logistic support; Prague NATO summit collected further ௅ increasing of efficiency for aspects of capability development, based on successfull work; the recent Kosovo crisis and the terrorist ௅ increasing of efficiency in attacks of 09.11.2001. A “comprehensive command and control through development action package” was created, further and utilisation of compatible information strenghtening the strategic concept and the systems. capabilities of the Alliance. According to the “Defence capabilities will be document, defence of NATO and allied increased through improvements in the member states against external attacks is of deployability and mobility of Alliance highest priority, with a focus on the protection forces, their sustainability […], and of citizens and territory, further also the command and control and information missions with the call of decreasing threats

284 stemming from WMD proliferation and and utilisation, for which purpose the terrorism. For all these purposes, forces have Alliance requires more complex (dround to created, which are adaptable, ready to forces, air force, navy) cooperation from the cooperate, quick to deploy to the area of action member states. – involving the field of transportation –, are Increased support of NATO-led able to operate on long term if necessary, and International Security Assistance Force these forces have to be prepared to the (ISAF) was required, in order to secure the management of possible nuclear, biological forthcoming elections in Afghanistan. and chemical attacks (NATO, 2002). According to that had the Afghan forces With these in mind was the creation of been prepared in their capabilities and their NATO Response Forces (NRF) prepared, technical background as well. Provincial with the aim of being combat ready till 2004, Reconstruction Team-ek (PRTs) play a and fully deployable till 2006. The concept further key role in the strenghtening of envisions the creation and management of a stability in the region. Further increasing of force that is able to dislocate to the place of cooperative abilities is inevital for crisis right after the political decision, and to successful operation, also being put into act independently either in article five focus because of the multinational fashion defence operations, or in non-article five of the mission. crisis response. Regarding its structure, The organisation of units, maintaining NRF contains ground forces, air force, modern technological toolbox, new maritime and special operations component, principals of command and control, and suiting to the fundaments of 21st century being more „utilisable” and deployable was warfare, also combat support elements, such necessary, being a task for the member as signal corps. Thus the allied nations need nations, and their possible deployment to stress the preparing of the offered forces, to enforces the commitment of the aAlliance the development of sufficient capabilities, and towards international peace and stability. infocommunication background ready for (Istanbul Summit Communiqué, 2004) cooperation. Weapons of Mass Destruction Another important decision of Prague (WMD) and the proliferation of terrorism summit was the creation, revision of NATO means increased threat for the Alliance, as Command Structure, which supports Euro- being prooved by the terrorist attacks of Atlantic cooperation, and the efficiency of Istambul (2003. november 15. és november leadership decision making structure. 20.) and Madrid (2004. március 11.). The structure created then is the fundament For this reason intelligence tasks and the of the recent system. ability of information sharing among In summary, this summit has put a member states are to be strenghtened. stress on the ability to cooperate, Further development of quick reaction intelligence, modern command and control capability, the provision of NRF forces is principles, and support capabilities, further important in the future in order to meet it prioritized the development of modern requirements. For the sake of successful warfare capability, the protection of fighting and the engagement against computer networks and cyber defence. WMD-s NATO Multinational CBRN Defence Battalion came to life. 3.3. Istanbul Summit In order to support universal (28-29 June 2004) capabilities and secure the realisation of According to the Washington summit, given tasks, focus has beeen put on gaining as described above, Istambul summit of information and the ability to share it. 2004 priorised operational deployability Key features here are compatibility and

285 interoperability, which can be realised ability of self management in the crisis area. through focusing on adequate patterns. According to the actual global security Cooperation in multinational operations state, it can be visualised, that the Alliance (ISAF, KFOR, etc.) greatly enables the has to deploy more smaller, flexible and development of infocommunication agile group on international stage, being capabilities of partaking nations, since able to be active in a broad spectrum. cooperative abilities are inevitable for the Full operability of NRF was success on the grond. According to this a announced as well. The force is created great stress has to be put on meeting NATO from member states’ offered troops, and STANAG requirements, securing the after national preparing they achieve technological and technical component of NATO-training, ending with the highest interoerability. Istambul summit defined level certificate. (NATO, 2006) The above eight key territories of necessary supports development of cooperability and development, among them “deployable and infocommunication support of efficient C2 secure command, control and greatly. communications” (NATO, 2004, p. 52). The summit defined the ever greater need for Network Enabled Capability (NEC), 3.4. Riga Summit meaning the sharing, quick and secure (28-29 November 2006) transmission of information among operative Focal point of the summit in Riga was Allied forces, and it’s protection in case of the repeated revision of security situation attacks against computer networks. This can and the future securtiy environment. Most be regarded as one of the most important serious threat still stems from terrorism, striving in the period, supporting the instable states, regional cryses and abuse of development of communication and inevitable resources (such as energy). information capabilities. NEC is of high Key field of the meeting was the importance regarding information analisation of the situation in Afghanistan. dominance, which is a key feature for the Greater emphasis has been put on regional success of operation. Point is, that reconstruction, requiring greater level of possessing sufficient amount of information civilian presence and cooperational capability. enables the commander to make quicker Important question were the new and more precise decisions. Due to NEC dimensions of action against terrorist the commanders and subordinates at all attacks. Utilisation of most modern tools level are able to understand the given has to be set in the foreground, which are situation and react to it quicker. This able to strenghten efficient reaction to new enables a quality decision making process, types of hostile attacks, and prevention. For every element of which is able to cooperate this purpose, all member states have to in real time for the highest efficiency. constantly develop, further strenghtening NATO NEC capabilities are contained in the military capabilites of the Alliance. NATO Network Enabled Capability Field of mobility was again in focus Feasibilty Study, which defines the basic on the summit, as a key feature for efficient methods, goals and key features of its and timely reaction, and also the need to creation (Buckman, 2005; Toth, 2015): perfection of partaking in multinational ௅ unified aspect in network based missions outside the Alliance in regions information infrastructure; without providing host nation support. ௅ processing of a secure, structured Expeditionary capability is of high data processing and providing mechanism; importance, enabling the constant presence ௅ creation of IP based interoperable of allied multinational forces, and their communication infrastructure;

286 ௅ the processing of an unified operational activity necessitates the interface pattern system to reach involvement of greater forces, which requires interoperability; unified command and control principles, ௅ patternising of softvare radios for operational plans and infocommunication the aim of securing uninterfered allied activity supporting them throughout the communication; common operations. Shaping common ௅ development of NATO-level operational picture can be realised only via network information infrastructure. CIS support based on the sharing of Further developments aim the information, being state-of-the-art, and protection against CBRN threats, which meeting NATO STANAG standards. also develops the defence of forces in order Agreement was fostered on to reach success. strenghtening network provided capabilities In summary, several decisions were in order to achieve information dominance, taken in Riga affecting the development of which requires integrated C2 system for infocommunication systems, with NEC more efficient realisation of operations. based on information process and NATO is still dedicated to patternisation, distribution as a key element. the development of high level cooperability, and the protection and 3.5. Bucharest Summit security of information networks. (02-04 April 2008) Terrorist activity and the initiative Bucharest Summit of 2008 didn’t against it bear the attributes of assimetric bring any decisional breaktrough in the life warfare, but terrorist groups can utilise of the Alliance, but stability strivings have beyond conventional weapnry also WDS-s, been defined as prime aim. Intelligence and which makes Allied engagement difficult, change of information, as key elements of thus the development of capabilities in this combating terrorism ere decided to be field cannot be negliged either. Further strenghtened, further supporting the strenghtening of information capabilities presence and protection of forces involved involves integrated air command and in NATO missions. It was emphasized, that control system; increased maritime NATO is continously ready to quick situational awareness; and timely delivery reaction against any sort of threat, but of the Alliance Ground Surveillance closer cooperation is required for the sake capability, and special operation capability of managing actual and future dangers of in the field of interoperability. international security. Initiative and Beyond these Policy on Cyber offerings of the member states – strategic Defence was created, according to which, air lift and air lift within theater of NATO and the member states have to operation – enhanced stronger presence protect their critical information systems, (regarding international operation share their experience, and maintain primarily), which was a highly important capabilities, through which helping each- field of the meeting. ISAF in Afghenistan is other can be realised. still of great importance, aiming the The summit announced the success of stability and reconstruction of the region. NATO strategic communication, which was These are realised through the creation of defined as further being of necessity and 25 provincial reconstruction groups and the high importance. The alliance doesn’t only deployment of around 42 000 soldiers in the utilise open diplomacy tools, but great mission area (Gallis, 2008). During the emphasys is put on the importance of tasks, ability of cooperation becomes of strategic communication in operations, such ever greater importance, since the complex as ISAF (Nemeth, 2013).

287 4. Conclusions putting focus beyond conventional military NATO has gone a rute of great operations later to those regarding cyber changes in its organisational structure and defence as well (mainly after the mid of capabilities as well, in the last 20 years. 2010’s). Response to the changes of global security The Cyber Defence Policy was the environment and the striving to meet top of this period regarding the new renewing threats required constant changes technical and technological achievements, from the member states. Renewing threats and the needs of information security. In can only be met with renewing responses, addition to information sharing, more and this secures the security of the Alliance and more emphasis was placed on information its members. security and protection, which should be the While Washington summit had the key of the successful communication and primary goal of develop efficiency of information support. defence capabilities in the whole spectrum of multinational operations, and Acknowledgements interoperability among members and also This article was supported by the the Alliance and its partners, later the need Ludovika – University of Public Service. for collective defence increased again,

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