NORFOLK The shift ends at the Norfolk Naval Base in Virginia, USA. Hundreds of young men and women appear on the jetty of the aircraft carrier George HW Bush. The ship is undergoing maintenance work.
An armed guard watches us from the high bow deck of the ship.
There are 14 piers, and they have a total length of almost 20 kilometers. There are tugboats, destroyers, various landing craft, and two aircraft carriers at the docks. The British support ship Prince Charles is visiting.
Norfolk is the largest US and world naval base. We have arrived here because Finland, the newest NATO country to command Norfolk, would very much like to.
Norfolk is responsible for the security of the Arctic region.
Tim Henry is deputy commander of NATO’s Joint Operations Command in Norfolk.
Norfolk’s operations are run in this cramped building in the middle of the base.
Expansion of the headquarters building is planned.
Norfolk is one of NATO’s nerve centers and its importance is growing. One of the three joint operation command steps is located there, from which NATO’s military activities are controlled.
In addition to the navy, there are also several airfields in the area, and radar surveillance planes and helicopters are constantly in the air.
– This headquarters was created because the union’s relationship with Russia changed after Russia changed its behavior, says the deputy commander of the staff Tim Henry.
Russia made NATO active
When Russia annexed Crimea in 2014, NATO returned to its roots and began to strengthen the allies’ defenses.
In recent years, Russia has reintroduced its northern military bases, for example on the Kola Peninsula. According to Henry, Russia seems to have changed its view on the meaning of the Arctic region.
It is Russia’s business what it does in its territories, Henry says.
– But as a defense alliance whose purpose is to reduce the possibility of conflict, we must understand what is happening and, if necessary, be ready to respond.
Henry is a Rear Admiral in the British Navy. Like the other hundred officers working in the headquarters, he works in the middle of the huge Norfolk base, in a cramped building.
Henry outlines the new building in the air. In NATO’s plans, the Norfolk headquarters will grow significantly more spacious than it is now and there will be more people.
Last summer, NATO approved new defense plans in which Norfolk plays a significant role.
– Norfolk oversees the regional defense plan for Northern Europe, says the researcher Sean Monaghan.
Monaghan studies the defense policy of the United States, NATO and the EU. He has worked in the British Ministry of Defense and is now a Visiting Scientist at the CSIS Research Institute.
The plans are secret and have not been made public. According to Monaghan, the most important thing is to know that they exist.
After the Cold War, defense planning lost its importance. After Russia occupied Crimea in 2014 and launched a major attack on Ukraine last year, the military alliance decided to make new, credible plans.
It assigned tasks to the troops and areas of responsibility to the allies, and drew up plans on how to defend the member countries.
There are dozens of US Navy ships at the Norfolk Naval Base.
There are tens of thousands of workers at the base, even on one aircraft carrier there are thousands.
There is almost no public transport, so you come to work with your own car.
Traffic signs have been collected at the end of the platform, with which the officers reserve their own parking spaces.
The Nordic countries are reconciled to the command of the Norfolk staff
The Atlantic opens from the mouth of the Norfolk harbor.
On the other side, Norway is one of the countries that is part of the Norfolk headquarters. Sweden is not yet a member of the military alliance, and Finland and Denmark are commanded from the Netherlands, from Brunssum’s joint operation command ladder.
Public sources do not provide information on how the countries are divided under the headquarters.
In general, it is extraordinary that a public discussion has arisen about the matter. In other countries, staff solutions are mainly military solutions. In the Nordic countries, the issue has also become political, because of the threat from Russia.
The Nordic countries’ wish is to come under the same command, and that would be Norfolk.
Finnish politicians have rarely taken a stand on the matter in public. The defense forces have not publicly said anything about it.
NATO decided in the spring that Finland would be commanded from Brunssum. Previous Minister of Defense Antti Kaikkonen said that Finland is dealing with Brunssum’s staff, because Norfolk is not yet fully operational.
– Longer-term solutions will fall into place in time, Kaikkonen said.
The commander of the Norwegian Defense Forces said that the Nordic commanders – including Finland – had proposed to NATO that a staff be established in the Nordic countries that would represent Norfolk on this side of the Atlantic.
In NATO’s military leadership, the idea of Northern Europe and the Arctic region also includes the Nordic countries. According to ‘s information, NATO is planning to strengthen the Norfolk headquarters. In this context, the Nordic countries should also be included in the Norfolk command.
However, no decision has been made on the matter, and NATO has not publicly commented on it. The issue needs to be agreed politically among the NATO countries, and no agreement has been found.
Researcher: The Nordic countries could rely on each other and the rest of Europe
Looking from Norfolk on the other side of the Atlantic, the Nordic countries seem far away in many ways.
The base is at the same latitude as Gibraltar. A pod of dolphins is circling off Virginia Beach at the mouth of the Norfolk Channel. The Milky Way to Helsinki is 7,000 kilometers.
Is it then worth connecting the Nordic countries to Norfolk, and why do they themselves want to join it?
Pohjola’s location near the Arctic region and on the Russian border speaks for itself.
The importance of the Arctic is increasing, as the northern lanes are used more due to climate change, and different countries increase their activities there. With the exception of Russia, the countries of the Arctic region are NATO countries.
For the United States, deepening defense cooperation with, for example, Finland is beneficial. Researcher Monaghan says that Finnish intelligence is a pioneer and produces information that the United States is interested in.
In Finland, politicians and soldiers see that the country is safer if it is under a command led by the United States and in very close cooperation with the United States.
All the Nordic countries have an existing or nearly ready defense cooperation agreement (DCA) with the United States.
Monaghan says he understands why Finland, a new member state, hopes to come under US command.
According to the researcher, this is explained by Finland’s recent history. During non-alignment and after the Cold War, Finland sought cooperation with the United States and bought weapons and equipment from there. It wanted to ensure that when a serious situation came, the strongest country in the region would support Finland.
The same thought pattern still seems to prevail.
– The countries believe that this binds them more closely to the United States and they will benefit more from defense cooperation. And in the event of a crisis, they would be more likely to receive help from the United States.
In NATO, however, all allies are committed to protecting Finland in accordance with the fifth article of the agreement, not just the United States. This would be important for Finland to understand as well, says Monaghan
In his opinion, closer cooperation between the Nordic countries would be essential, as well as, for example, the cooperation between the Jef countries grouped around Britain.
– Finland should be looked at more closely.
The decision about where the Nordic countries will be commanded is made by the NATO countries together. In the Norfolk staff, the deputy commander does not take a position on which group the Nordic countries should belong to in the future.
– The Arctic regions and the Nordic countries are like married to each other, the deputy commander answers.
However, it would be essential for the Nordic countries to be together.
– When you look at the map of the northern part of Finland, Sweden and Norway, just like the reindeer move relatively freely there from one place to another, how would we ensure that, if necessary, the military forces operate there in the same way.
At the naval base, the sun sets into the sea. The sound of the signal horn blares from the loudspeakers around the base and the ships’ flags are lowered.
After dark, the F-18 fighters begin their night flight exercises from the sea to the field.