Welcoming Remarks To the 21st International Workshop on Global Security

General George A. Joulwan
Former Supreme Allied Commander Europe

It is a pleasure to be with you once again at the Twenty-first International Workshop on Global Security—and particularly in Berlin. Berlin is a special place for me. I first came here as a young Second Lieutenant in 1962 as the Berlin Wall was being built and witnessed the desperation of people willing to sacrifice their lives to live in freedom. What a joy it was to return in 1989 when the Berlin Wall and Iron Curtain were torn down. Again in 1994 when the occupation of Berlin ended—and troops in the eastern part of Germany came under NATO and SACEUR operational control. 

There is no better place to be when the world is in crisis than in Berlin. It was here that we demonstrated Alliance solidarity and mutual trust and confidence. It was here that the Cold War threat was most visible and the transatlantic link between Europe and the United States best demonstrated. And we prevailed—as an Alliance, as one team with one mission. 

Today the threat is different but equally dangerous. Again, we must meet the threats not alone but together. We must not forget the unity and solidarity demonstrated by our Alliance during the forty years of the Cold War, a unity that we witnessed more recently in Bosnia and the Balkans, and how effective like-minded nations can be in the defense of freedom.One nation did not do it alone—but we did so as an Alliance: then at 16 nations, now at 26. 

While military capability is important as we transform the Alliance, it is equally important to retain the shared values and ideals, the mutual trust and confidence and the friendship between our peoples and our militaries. Today—as in the past—this great Alliance must demonstrate its solidarity, its cohesion and its competence to meet today’s challenges. My hope is that this workshop will provide a venue to reinforce those attributes.