NATO officers talk on role of alliance

When a NATO briefing team chose this past Wednesday to speak at the University, they could hardly have picked a more appropriate date. Just hours before North Atlantic Treaty Organization forces launched massive air strikes in Yugoslavia, three NATO officials addressed about 100 Penn students in Logan Hall about the structure and mission of the organization. The dramatic highlight of the presentation concerned the situation in Kosovo. Lt. Colonel Gerome Church of the British Army said that "we are facing what appears to be a disaster and the most important chapter [of NATO's history] may be written in the next few days." U.S. Navy officer Capt. George Hodermarsky started off the hour-long session by clarifying some facts about the event. "We are a NATO briefing team travelling around U.S. cities to provide information," he said. "We are not dispatched by NATO to convince people about our policies." With the help of colorful computer slides, Hodermarsky outlined the basics. Presently, NATO is an alliance of 19 sovereign nations, each with a military corps. Originally, it was created to "keep the Soviets on their side of the fence" during the period of the Cold War. The primary distinction of NATO from other international organization is that it requires unanimity in making decisions. All 19 nations must consent to a policy before it is implemented. "Every adopted policy is in the interest of each nation," Hodermarsky said. NATO's decision-makers are appointed ambassadors who comprise the North Atlantic Council stationed in Brussels, Belgium. Hodermarsky also discussed the 1997 Madrid Summit where of the 12 countries that applied to enter NATO, only Poland, the Czech Republic and Hungary were admitted. He emphasized that a significant criterion for membership is civilian control of the military. NATO does not have its own army or navy, but instead has small immediate reaction forces and rapid reaction forces which can respond in days or weeks, respectively. "Structure is what the alliance is about, not forces," Church remarked. Near the end of the hour, Hodermarsky, Church and Pavel Hosa of the Czech Republic Air Force answered more questions which focused on the Kosovo crisis and its impact on the Balkan region. Despite the fact that the briefing team had only 50 minutes to speak, students found the program worthwhile. "I thought that it was insightful. I agreed with most of the things that were said," College senior Bryan Abrano said. "It was nice that three countries were represented so that the officers complemented each other." Afterwards, the officers had lunch with 20 International Relations majors on the third floor of College Hall.