New ELN Director on Europe’s Worst Security Crisis Since the 1960s

In “Europe’s
Security: Winter is Coming,” his first op-ed for the European
Leadership Network (ELN), new ELN Director Sir Adam Thomson offers a grim
assessment of security risks on the continent. “Europe’s condition is more
dangerous than at any time since the 1960s,” he writes, citing threats from
terrorism, unmanaged migration, poor relations between Russia and NATO, Russian
aggression and the fraying of post-World War II security structures.

 “The coldest autumn winds are blowing through something less
tangible and even more fundamental: Europe’s security cohesion,” he writes. “This
is the web of treaties, arrangements agreed and understandings developed since
the Second World War to ensure that Europe, the bloodiest place on the planet
in the 20^th century, avoids tearing itself apart.”

He makes three recommendations to “stop the rot and improve
the weather” going forward: 

•    Europe’s leaders must accept as grave the
  security problems they face
•    Europe, North America and Russia must work
  collaboratively to restore stabilizing “rules of the game” and
•    States must be transparent and truthful about
  their intentions. 

Sir Adam Thomson KCMG replaced
former ELN Director Ian Kearns earlier this month. Before joining the ELN, one of several NTI-sponsored regional networks dedicated to generating global momentum for reducing reliance on nuclear weapons, he had a
38-year career in the British Diplomatic Service, most recently as the UK Permanent Representative to NATO from 2014-2016.