Alliances are difficult beasts to manage. Priorities don’t always align; gains for some are sacrifices for others. Resources aren’t equally provided or distributed. It is a difficult dance for leaders to balance participation in alliances for the greater good while maintaining the strategic autonomy of their sovereign nation. Marcus Antonini spent his year at the U.S. Army War College as a member of the Advanced Strategic Art Program (ASAP) examining the concept of strategic autonomy, primarily within the context of NATO. Marcus joins host Darrell Driver to discuss the concepts that he studied in ASAP as well as the Russia-Ukraine Integrated Research Project he participated in. Their conversation covers meetings with French counterparts at École Militaire as part of the program as well as his previous experience leading the Bomber Task Force in U.S. European Command.
France actually has its own strategic voice; it’s an autonomous voice outside of NATO, and it has the power factors to back that up to some extent. So they can be slightly out of tune with what NATO is saying based off of what challenges in the security realm that they perceive themselves.
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MARCUS ANTONINI is a B-2 bomber pilot, a strategist and a colonel in the U.S. Air Force. He is currently serving as the Nuclear Deterrence Operations Panel Chair on the Air Staff. He holds advanced degrees from Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University and the USAF School of Advanced Air and Space Studies. He is a distinguished graduate of the AY24 Resident Course at the U.S. Army War College and a member of the Advanced Strategic Arts Program and the Russia-Ukraine Integrated Research Project.
DARRELL DRIVER is Professor in the Department of Military, Strategy, Planning and Operations at the U.S. Army War College.
The views expressed in this presentation are those of the speakers and do not necessarily reflect those of the U.S. Army War College, U.S. Army, U.S. Air Force or Department of Defense.
Photo Description: NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg meets with the President of France, Emmanuel Macron, in Paris
Photo Credit: Erik Luntang, Courtesy of NATO fickr stream