By 2022, ensure that Diplomatic Missions reviewed through the Post Security Program Review (PSPRs) process receive a 95-100 percent rating. By 2022, Department of State will move overseas U.S. government employees and local staff into secure, safe, and functional facilities at a rate of 3,000 staff per year. By 2022, domestically, USAID will improve safety and efficiency by consolidating scattered smaller spaces into more efficient larger locations. 

The Evolution of NATO, 1988–2001 

The North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) was born at the outset of the Cold War, designed to meet three complementary objectives: deter Soviet expansionism, prevent the revival of nationalist militarism in Europe through a strong North American presence on the continent, and encourage European political integration. Its core function lay in the collective defense of Central and Western Europe against a Soviet attack. The end of the Cold War and the disintegration of the Soviet Union forced the organization and its member states to adapt to a new security environment. This evolution has played out over a protracted series of decisions addressing a series of complex and interrelated issues: the Alliance’s mission in the post-Cold War setting, and the related questions of its force structure, command structure, and decision making processes; NATO’s composition; and its role in the complex system of interlocking European institutions. 

This process began in the late 1980s, as Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev instituted a sweeping series of reforms in the Soviet Union. Gorbachev considered it imperative to reduce the proportion of the Soviet economy devoted to defense spending. That objective quickly manifested itself in a new openness toward arms control, and eventually led to a dramatic reduction of Soviet forces in Eastern Europe and abandonment of the Brezhnev Doctrine. The subsequent collapse of the Warsaw Pact and the reunification of Germany ended the threat of Soviet-led invasion that had been the centerpiece of NATO’s defense posture since its foundation. 

Wary of Soviet intentions and aware of the possibility of a reversal of these reforms, policymakers in the West responded cautiously to Gorbachev and his calls for a “common European home.” NATO’s first formal response to the changes in the security environment came in July 1990, with the “London Declaration on a Transformed North Atlantic Alliance.” Acknowledging the changes in the Soviet Union, NATO’s heads of state agreed on changes to force structure and nuclear posture, directed the Alliance to prepare a new strategic concept and an accompanying defense strategy, and emphasized the importance of the Conference on Security and Cooperation in Europe (CSCE)’s role in the emerging European security architecture. The London Declaration closed, “Today, our Alliance begins a major transformation. Working with all the countries of Europe, we are determined to create enduring peace on this continent.” 

Alliance leaders meeting at the Rome Summit in November 1991 approved a new Strategic Concept outlining NATO’s purpose and missions in the new Europe. The “Rome Declaration on Peace and Cooperation” emphasized the importance of NATO’s traditional collective defense mission, calling for “smaller and more flexible” forces. The Concept outlined NATO’s purpose in providing a “stable security environment in Europe,” a decision that committed the Alliance to sustaining the stability within NATO and areas on its periphery. The Strategic Concept projected NATO’s place in the emerging strategic architecture in Europe, with the maturation of the European Union, an expanded role for the CSCE, and construction of the North Atlantic Cooperation Council as a consultative mechanism for NATO and its former adversaries. The Rome Declaration “welcomed the development of a European security and defence role, reflected in the further strengthening of the European pillar within the Alliance.”