USA longing for arrival of other allies in Baltics

Photo: Toomas Tatar

James J. Townsend, US Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defence for European and NATO Policy, notes that American diplomats covering the area have been a lot busier that they knew to expect just some three-four months ago.

Sighing through laughter, Mr Townsend admits he and his colleagues are pretty worn out by the intensity of the brainstorming. «When? How? Who will pay for it?» he says, describing the questions facing Americans while discussing ways to encourage NATO states neighbouring with Russia. Underlining that through it all, one goal has remained very clear: to come and to explicitly demonstrate to borderland people as well as Russia that the USA takes helping allies and keeping article five extremely seriously.

With both political and technical aspects in mind: how easy was it for the USA to decide upon sending an airborne unit into the Baltics?

In a way, the decision was a very simple one as we want to assure the allies we’ll be there as problems arise in their region. For us, Estonia is a very important country. We are good friends. With Estonia – as well as with Latvia, Lithuania and other new members – we’ve had cooperation since the cold war ended. I have personally worked very hard at getting you into NATO.

It is very important for us that Estonians would know they have joined an alliance which is credible and capable, and wherein the USA takes its responsibilities very seriously. From that point of view, sending you a company from the 173^rd Airborne Brigade Combat Team, additional planes to police the Baltic air, ships to the Black Sea or any other measures taken by us allies, have been easy.

Meanwhile, there is the more complex side to this: in budgets, nobody had foreseen this. The 173^rd Airborne Brigade, for instance, would surely have had other things to do. Over these past months we all – including, for instance, the US embassy in Tallinn – have been doing things we did not think we’d be doing a couple of months ago. We have had to take difficult decisions in such questions as «When?», «How?», and «Who will pay for this?».

At the same time, the understanding came very simply that we need to come and see that we do sufficient cooperation with Estonian Defence Forces, that we know Estonia and its landscape, and to ensure that the Russians also know that we are here because of allied relations with Estonia.

These past years, the United Stated have repeatedly emphasised that it is time for Europe to bear their share of the defence load. What do you expect from the European allies, in the given situation?

From here, I will be heading to NATO – to talk to them about this very issue. NATO’s European commander, General Philip Breedlove, has compiled a list of initiatives approved by the alliance which will hopefully encourage you and deter Russians. Hopefully, numerous allies will sign up for the various tasks included in the list.

From the beginning, the USA acted very fast. We can do it, not having to wait for a vote in the alliance and other such things. There are also other allies who acted the same – like with the Baltic air policing planes, for instance.

We were able to take many steps and we hope that during the weeks and months to come we will be seeing other allies to assume these responsibilities. While, currently, the 173^rd Airborne Brigade will be arriving, maybe in a few months some other ally state will send a company. I believe we will see allies stepping out and showing that the alliance is genuine and that we are all dedicated.

I also do believe that we will show Russians that we are taking NATO very seriously and that we are taking it seriously when we say that we are here to protect countries that may be attacked.

This week’s decision to send troops to the Baltic region was a US decision, not yet tied to the package discussed in North Atlantic Council on April 16^th? 

Yes. This was a decision by our country; but naturally NATO knew it was coming. We hope that there comes the moment when what we are currently doing under our flag would be overlapping with NATO activities and we could add the NATO flag to the US flag.

Considering that your work load has probably increased a lot lately…

It has.

… could the US defence structures in Europe – both when it comes to officials and servicemen – also start growing again?

We’ll see what the future brings. Definitely, the work load of US servicemen in Europe, including the Embassy in Estonia, has increased. I am not sure if we will have extra staff to help; at least not in the short and middle perspective.

I do not know what the future will be with US forces placed in Europe. I do not foresee it would decrease. Here and there, there might be minor adjustments.

Compared to three-four months ago, we see a substantially changed security situation in Europe, and we need to ensure that there are units and structure in place here that the situation demands. We do not know what the next couple of months will bring – right now, we need to ensure we do the best with what we’ve got.

We can’t just sit and wait for money to fall from the sky and troops to appear where they were not before. We need to do the best we can with what we have, as we have no time to waste.

Here’s another reason why we are quite tired, all of us. Also here, in Estonia – my colleagues in your defence ministry and people in your Defence Forces need to organise more exercises and training. 

Our local embassy would surely tell you how they need to deal with the generals who are coming – driving them around, explain to them the situation, work with them and plan with them. They are hosting one set of US generals after another, plus the people from NATO. Everybody is very busy.