BRUSSELS — NATO’s senior civilian official said on Monday that the military organization’s all-for-one, one-for-all collective defense provision would be expanded to encompass attacks in space.
At a German Marshall Fund think tank event, NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg stated, “I believe it is crucial (with) our Article 5, which specifies that an assault on one would be viewed as an assault on all, that we all will respond.”
Around 2,000 satellites orbit the globe, with NATO nations controlling more than half of them. These satellites provide everything from mobile phones and financial services to weather predictions. Some of them are used by military leaders to navigate, communicate, exchange intelligence, and detect missile launches.
Around 80 governments have satellites, and private corporations are beginning to enter the market. In the 1980s, satellite communications accounted for just a small portion of NATO’s communications. It’s at least 40% these days. NATO had more than 20 stations during the Cold War, but modern technology allows the world’s largest security group to increase its coverage with a sixth of that number.
NATO’s collective defense clause has only been used once, in the aftermath of the September 11 attacks, when the alliance rallied behind the US.
Since assuming office, Biden has tried to reassure them, and he will use the summit as a formal occasion to reaffirm America’s commitment to its European friends and Canada.