The Best Defense

Defense Secretary Robert Gates today urged an audience of NATO officials to "enhance" the deterrent effect of the alliance's creed, which holds that an attack on one member means an attack on all of NATO.

The alliance's new strategic concept being developed now "must be clear that Article 5 means what it says: an attack on one is an attack on all," Gates said in a speech at the National Defense University this morning. "The concept also must go further to strengthen Article 5's credibility with a firm commitment to enhance deterrence through appropriate contingency planning, military exercises, and force development."

Gates made his comments after mentioning a string of recent Russian activities -- Moscow's " invasion of Georgia" in 2008 and Russian military exercises ("the largest of that type since the collapse of the Soviet Union") near NATO's border in Europe.

"I know that some see a tension between (expeditionary) missions and the core goal of defending the territory of member states from attack," Gates said. " (H)owever, there is no inherent contradiction between force projection and collective defense since just about any conflict will probably require deployable forces."