NATO Tour - Transatlantic Cooperation on Global Scale

September 30-October 14, 2005, Brussels, Washington, DC, Norfolk, Va.
Contact: Washington Foreign Press Center Program Officer George Brazier
Telephone: 202-504-6318, Email: braziergw@state.gov

NATO is transforming itself as it meets an array of global challenges.  How is it doing and what are U.S. hopes for the Alliance?  Eleven key journalists from across Europe got an insider's look at the health and prospects of world's premier security alliance in a two-week FPC/USNTO reporting tour spanning two continents and visiting key policymakers and specialists. 

The two-week tour began on September 30 with a visit to NATO headquarters in Brussels, where high-ranking NATO officials reviewed operations and underscored the role of the organization as a table around which allies can discuss issues before they require military action.  Next up, a week in Washington began at the State Department, where participants turned talks with Under Secretary Nick Burns, European Deputy Assistant Secretary Kurt Volker, and regional specialists into more than a dozen stories and broadcasts.  The journalists smilingly endured the soggy days that followed thanks to high-level events at the Pentagon, Capitol Hill, White House, and the National Defense University, as well as to visits to key think tanks.

During its two-day stop in Norfolk, the tour saw what transformation was all about at Allied Command Transportation headquarters and even witnessed a NATO experiment in creating water in desert climes - a small indication of the alliance moving beyond Europe.  Thanks to Allied Fleet Command, they toured a U.S. ship just returned from Iraq and Hurricane Katrina duties and met with key officials at Joint Forces Command.  The tour concluded at CENTCOM, with a high-level briefing on developments in Iraq and Afghanistan and a rare chance to meet the assembled 60-plus senior representatives of coalition partners and one-on-one follow-ons with reps from their own countries.