The United States and european security

NATO is the dean of the institutional bridges between Europe and North America. NATO's core characteristics are that it is a maritime alliance with a political system that is based on a tradition of shared values. The challenge for the NATO of tomorrow is to maintain its transatlantic maritime nature while expanding eastward to include land locked nations. The globalization of economies and changing demographics will require NATO to re-examine how it deals with contingency operations outside the normal NATO Article V focus. The NATO transatlantic bridge of tomorrow must develop a strategy to deal with the politicaI, economic and military dimensions of a redefined concept of security. AIso maritime nations like Portugal will have to play a more important role to bridge the two continents.