On 15 April the Deputy Permanent Representatives of the 28 NATO nations visited the NCI Agency's facilities in The Hague. The visit was an opportunity for an in-depth discussion on the cyber and IT challenges NATO faces ahead of the 8-9 July Warsaw Summit.
Members of this committee had the opportunity to see first-hand work by the Agency's scientists and engineers in what are NATO's most advanced command and control laboratories, including live connection to Afghanistan and other operations.
Eye-opening discussions
NCI Agency General Manager Mr Koen Gijsbers highlighted some of the Agency-supported milestones achieved since the Wales Summit in 2014, such as the connecting the NATO Force Integration Units, delivering the Air Command and Control System, enhancing NATO Cyber including the NATO Industry Cyber Partnership Programme, improvements in NATO intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance, and cooperation with Ukraine.
The Agency being the deliverer of IT and cyber solutions for NATO, Chief of Staff RADM Thomas Daum pointed out many of the opportunities the Warsaw Summit might hold in the cyber domain.
Following Ballistic Missile Defence and Command and Control demonstrations, the Deputies said that they were leaving with a much broader perspective on NATO's IT and the NCI Agency's role in it, eventually a potentially soon-to-be fourth domain in modern warfare.
The conclusions of the day portrayed an interesting new perspective for these senior decision-makers right before the Warsaw Summit, which will define the way forward for the Alliance over the next two years and beyond.