Does that alarm Russia?

One of the things with this extraordinarily complex country that is Russia is to realize that it doesn’t think or operate like the West. And that doesn’t mean it’s wrong, and it doesn’t mean it doesn’t have a voice in the world. We’ve somehow got to assure Russia and to achieve a better level of mutual understanding. And you’ve got to do that from a real position of strength because, at the moment, the Russians are doing things that make us feel really uncomfortable. They may look at things we do and be alarmed. One of the manifests of the exercise of power is to make people quite clear why you are exercising power. For example, sailing through the South China Seas to keep freedom of navigation open, is an absolutely, fundamentally essential task, to remind China that though they’re building these islands, which we disagree with, we can sail wherever the high seas are. But in the sailing of those vessels around, you’ve got a message to everybody that the reason you’re doing it is this: to prove freedom of navigation, to make sure the seas remain open, to make sure countries don’t lock out other countries from being in places of open water. Our strategic messaging, our communicating of what we do, is just as important as the capabilities we enact.

We’ve got to be very open to the intellectual ability of the member nations. The diversity of experience and intellectual opinion is sometimes breathtaking when you hear views expressed in different ways.

 

What I hear you saying is that we shouldn’t be at all ambiguous about what we’re doing, or leave it open for interpretation.

And that doesn’t mean being blunt, hard, aggressive, or dogmatic, or any of those things. But it’s like in any relationship, the more you can offer certainty and clarity, the more people know where they are and then can adjust accordingly.

 

As an operational commander, what is it that you wish you had that you don’t have now?

I’d like to see a reversal of the long-term disinvestment that is occurring with the navies within the NATO nations. All the demand signals are going up. There are more requests for naval presence around the NATO area of operations – whether it be just to do maritime situational awareness and the very soft side of maritime security, through to the slightly more robust of almost maritime security maritime policing role, through to the much more powerful carrier strike operations and sophisticated nuclear submarine patrols – I just don’t have enough capability. So if you were to ask me for one thing, it would be for nations to turn around the shipbuilding programs and build a few more frigates. I need frigates as escorts that can cope with both the mundane, normal tasks, but also escorts who are not frightened to be put into a reasonably high threat environment. And at the moment, everybody – literally everybody – is disinvesting in their frigate and destroyer programs. And that bothers me. Because they are my lifeblood to keeping the shipping lanes open; to enabling our partner nations – especially those of second and third tier partner nations who are staggering out of some form of democratic crisis and standing up on their feet. The unit of escort is the unit that goes into a port that provides nation-building, capability-building, provides support, and enacts a presence without having to enact a huge national footprint.

 

What is the most gratifying part of this job?

I think the world is in a state that it needs somebody to try to make a difference, and one of the gratifying things is having the authority to try to make a difference. I think the second thing that is wonderful about the job is having the ability to do it with other nations and on a scale that allows you to make a meaningful difference. This is one of those fantastic values of NATO. We can do an exercise with a little bit of preparation where we can get six submarines playing against 10 frigates with nine maritime patrol aircraft. The intensity of training is extraordinary. And then the third thing is, and this may sound terribly arrogant as a natural English speaker, but I have been bowled over how good our people are. You have to sometimes have to listen more carefully. And you sometimes have to give a bit more time because this guy isn’t a natural speaker. And then once you’ve given him more time – and I love traveling with two or three staff officers because I have time to get to know them – you suddenly realize the absolutely extraordinary things they’re saying.

 

One of the things you really haven’t touched on – and maybe it isn’t the NATO mission – but right now in the Mediterranean there is a crisis of boats, many of them unseaworthy, with people that are trying to flee North Africa and the Levant and for political and economic reasons. Many of them are an untenable situation and are desperate. And it’s become a huge crisis for Europe, but it has a huge maritime component to it – for safety of life at sea, and the security of Europe. How is NATO involved in that?

Clearly, in any instance where safety of life at sea is involved, any NATO ship that comes across one of these tragic boats has an absolute responsibility in the international code to respond. It is, however, an EU mission to provide the policing function across the Mediterranean. NATO doesn’t have a role there. And while we have an ability to informally pass information and share things, there are sensitivities between NATO and the EU for certain countries, and we have to respect that. Where NATO can have a part to play is in thought leadership. So, while the tragedy of the ships and boats crossing the seas is the visible side of the situation, the real issue about immigration is the hub of where people are leaving and their destination and how we deal with that when they arrive. This is entirely a political and social conversation about how we can create a reality where people don’t feel they have to leave.

 

You will be speaking at Surface Warships 2016 in Bucharest next week. What will you be discussing with the Romania Navy leadership?

We have to help Admiral Mirsu train his forces, and find the kinds of adventures where he can train and develop the Romanian Navy so he can have a truly a capable ocean-going navy rather than ships that can sail on the ocean. Jamie Foggo and I are in total agreement, and we’ll contribute to exercises, offer staff, and welcome him out of the Black Sea if he chooses to go there.  We want to build with nations such as Romania as they stand up into the NATO fold. When we have a Romanian frigate or a Estonian or Bulgarian mine sweepers in my force, that’s a big commitment by these smaller nations. This is where NATO is strong if it’s well-handled. We’ve got to be very open to the intellectual ability of the member nations. The diversity of experience and intellectual opinion is sometimes breathtaking when you hear views expressed in different ways.

 

You’ve touched on the quality of the commanders you work with and the leadership and the intellectual capacity and capability of the countries that you’re dealing with. Can you say anything, one last thing, about the Sailors that are out there? The men and women on the ships?

Sailors are different. Sailors are mongrels and I don’t mean that disparagingly.

 

Some people might think that.

Sailors are mongrels. Sailors are not thoroughbreds, and that makes them all the better – a thousand times over. Sailors are caught by the sea and are thrown about. They are faced with danger every day, and they understand humanity in a way that, because of that environment, that the people who operate on land or in the air don’t understand. In whatever nation you are in, under any conditions you are in, Sailors as a bundle of people – and there’s good and bad – are truly extraordinary, because they understand humanity. I can think of no greater pleasure than wondering into a bar with a couple of friends and bumping in to some Sailors and talking about their life and the richness of their experience. If you’re in a steel box for 6 months, and you have to get on with people, and you both missed your home and therefore value your home very deeply, but you understand how to work with humanity. And I think that makes them intensely attractive people. It’s an extraordinarily privilege to lead them. People say that, and it sounds glib, because with it becomes the utter responsibility to care for people. If you have the authority but you don’t have the nervousness that you’re looking after people, you’re a fool. More than anything, my responsibility is to make sure this headquarters works as a group of individuals happily together.