On 11 and 12 April, 2019, the NATO Defense College held an international conference to celebrate the 70th anniversary of the Atlantic Alliance. On Thursday 11, April, the event started with an opening dinner hosted at the Casina Valadier in the Villa Borghese, where former NATO Secretary General Anders Fogh Rasmussen delivered the keynote speech.
On Friday 12, April, the conference was opened by LGEN Chris Whitecross, Commandant of the NDC, before a keynote address was delivered by NATO Deputy Secretary General Mrs Rose Gottemoeller. Two Panels followed, dealing in sequence with NATO’s broad mandate 70 years after its inception (chaired by Dr Mariano, NDC Dean), and with NATO’s current deterrence and defense posture towards Russia (chaired by Dr Ozawa, NDC Senior Researcher). These two sessions featured Dr Tardy (NDC Head of Research), Dr Lindley-French (Institute of Statecraft), and Dr Dassu (Aspen Institute), Mr Turner (Assistant Secretary General, NATO), Dr Hooker (US National Defense University), and Dr Valasek (Carnegie Europe).
In the afternoon, two other Panels looked at NATO’s Projecting Stability agenda (chaired by Dr Berger, NDC Faculty Advisor) and future challenges facing NATO (chaired by Dr Gilli, NDC Senior Researcher). In these two Panels, Amb. Barakzai (Ambassador of Afghanistan to Norway), Mr Alexander (former Deputy Special Representative of the UN in Afghanistan) and Dr Berti (Policy Planning Unit, NATO), as well as Dr Brasioli (Italian MFA), MGEN (ret.) Davis (Deputy Assistant Secretary General, NATO), and Prof. Shea, addressed the audience.
Admiral Foggo, Commander, Allied Joint Force Command Naples and Commander, U.S. Naval Forces Europe-Africa, delivered the closing speech, while LGEN Whitecross provided the closing remarks.
The event brought together more than 200 participants from the NDC Senior Course (SC) and Regional Cooperation Course (NRCC), the Italian ministries of foreign affairs and defence, Ambassadors and other members of Rome-based diplomatic representations, and the think tank and academic communities.
NDC Public Affairs Office
Collège de Défense de l'OTAN