BOD\u00d8, Norway \u2014\u00a0US Deputy Defense Secretary Bob Work wrapped up the first-ever meeting of Nordic and US deputy defense ministers, proclaiming the discussions a success,\u00a0with\u00a0a\u00a0number of staffers calling the\u00a0talks better\u00a0than\u00a0expected.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
“This body has both NATO allies, as well as non-NATO allies,” Work told reporters in Oslo, Norway, Sept. 8 during a break in the talks, “but we all have a shared interest in peace and stability in the Baltics and the High North.\u00a0And so Nordic defense cooperation is a very innovative way for non-NATO and NATO countries to get together to describe, or to discuss, common security problems.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Ministers from the US, Norway, Sweden, Denmark, Finland and Iceland attended the one-day conference, prompted by provocative Russian military action in several world theaters, including the Baltic Sea region.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
“We have, as we all know, a very complicated situation according to security in the world, in Europe, but also in our own region,” said Jan Salestrand, Swedish state secretary to the minister for defense. “The US presence in our region is of great value \u2014 and I’ll say crucial.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Norwegian State Secretary for Defense \u00d8ystein B\u00f8, who hosted the talks, noted the “meeting has been an important milestone.\u00a0It’s the first time we meet in this format to exchange views on security situation in Nordic region and to explore the possibilities for joint cooperation.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n
But publicly, Norway, which shares a border with Russia above the Arctic Circle, expressed less alarm about Russian actions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
“We don’t see any direct threat to our security in the High North,” B\u00f8 said. “We notice the activity that’s going on. We follow it closely. But as of now, we don’t see any direct threat.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n
On Wednesday, Work traveled north in Norway to Trondheim, where he and B\u00f8 toured one of several caves used by US Marines to preposition equipment \u2014 facilities built during the Cold War to help defend Europe against Soviet attack. Again speaking to the media, Work noted how the political situation has changed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
“For the past 25 years, United States and NATO and the European Union together have tried to embrace Russia and make it part of the European community,” Work said. “We try to make sure that the area is peaceful, with a lot of stability, economic growth for everyone.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
“So Russia’s aggressive activity last year in both Crimea and eastern Ukraine caught us all by surprise.\u00a0And we were surprised at the length by which Russia went to destabilize that country.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
“So NATO, acting together, primarily through diplomatic and economic responses, has said, ‘Look, this type of activity is unacceptable.’ And so we also want to make sure that there are no further aggressive activities, and we’ve seen that over the past year in a lot of different exercises” with military allies.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Work traveled on to Bod\u00f8, where he received a briefing on the Norwegian command’s operational headquarters, buried deep in a mountainside \u2014 a Cold War relic designed to withstand a nuclear blast.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The Pentagon’s No. 2 man than flew to London, where on Sept. 10 he’ll deliver an address on the third offset strategy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n