Angus MacIntyre is a serving military officer in the RAF and has recently returned from a year working in NATO HQ in Brussels as part of the team delivering support to Ukraine. The key aspect of Angus’ work was cohering UK, UKR, US and NATO efforts to ensure unity of thought and direction of travel, during delicate start-up negotiations. In exploring NATO’s current role in deterring Russian aggression and supporting Ukraine there are questions that arise that go to the very core of NATO’s existence. The change of government in the US has placed huge pressure on NATO’s European members to shoulder a greater burden for their own defence or risk limiting the US’ response in a crisis. What happens if the US completely withdraws from NATO ? Does Article 5 really have any utility ? What can be done to lure the US back into a more committed relationship with NATO ? With commentators and governments from around Europe both hinting at the inevitability of escalation and further conflict the key question arises – Is Security in Europe by Luck or By Design ?

Angus will look at what NATO is currently doing, versus what he believes it should be doing and examine key aspects of current NATO activity and role, concluding that luck is playing far too big a part for fear of escalation. NATO must commit to doing much more from strategic leadership, innovation, and a willingness to be seen to be leading the multi-national campaign from the front.