<![CDATA[<P>78The Military Engineer l November-December l 2009
As a collective security organization
of 28 sovereign nations, NATO budget
decisions are based on consensus de-
cision making among all nations. The
procedures and project execution de-
cisions are likewise arrived at by con-
sensus. This sometimes makes for a
very deliberate planning and decision
making process; however, absent U.S.
agreement, NATO projects will not be
approved or executed. This fact, com-
bined with extensive U.S. guidance to
recast NSIP procedures over the past de-
cade, allows the U.S. to obtain the maxi-
mum operational bene?t at locations in
Europe and competitively position U.S.
contractors for bidding on NATO-fund-
ed project solicitations.
With more than $1 billion in NATO-
funded infrastructure constructed at
U.S. installations in Europe since the
mid 1990s, understanding the bene?ts
and limitations of the program is key to
supplementing a constrained MILCON
budget. More importantly, understand-
ing the programs ability to build part-
ner capacity for deployability and force
transformation is critical to meeting
both U.S. strategic goals in Europe as
well as ensuring the ability to maneuver
forces to and through Europe.
At its foundation, NSIP provides capi-
tal investment needed to enhance the
capabilities and capacity available to the
NATO to achieve a new European secu-
rity environment. The decision to invest
common funding is based on NATO stra-
tegic guidance issued by its political and
military governance bodies. Through
an intricate process involving decision
makers both at NATO and on national
staffs, strategic guidance is distilled into
operational plans and ultimately into in-
dividual projects at speci?c locations.
NSIP has an annual ceiling of more
than $900 million for infrastructure in-
vestment. The U.S. is highly interested
in the role that NSIP can play in ful?lling
both its own strategic interests as well as
enhancing partner-nation capabilities.
Additionally, because the U.S. cost share
of NSIP is rooted in the annual Depart-
ment of Defense MILCON appropria-
tion, active involvement by the U.S. in
the planning, development and imple-
mentation of NSIP-funded investment
is crucial. This effort ensures alignment
between U.S. requirements and NATO-
identi?ed needs, thus maximizing U.S.
return-on-investment.
Synchronized Requirements
The staffs at U.S. European Com-
mand and the U.S. Mission and Military
Representative to NATO are respon-
sible for synchronizing U.S. and NATO
requirements. This undertaking is in-
creasingly challenging given the current
global economic situation, an expanded
NATO—16 nations have joined since the
end of the Cold War—and the military
operation underway in Afghanistan. De-
spite these challenges, the U.S. has suc-
cessfully aligned requirements to obtain
more than $600 million in infrastructure
investments at U.S. bases in Europe
since 2004. For the U.S., the bene?ts can
be easily illustrated: For each NSIP dollar
spent, the U.S. share is just shy of a quar-
ter, providing a return on investment of
better than 4 to 1.
Since NSIP rules changed in the early
1990s, NSIP is no longer used to fund fa-
cility requirements for European forces
assigned to NATO, rendering almost all
European nations project requirements
ineligible for NSIP; however, because
NATO-assigned forces are deployed out-
side our national borders, most U.S. op-
erational requirements remain eligible.
This situation has been bene?cial at U.S.
bases in Europe, leading to the restora-
tion and upgrading of existing facilities
and providing new infrastructure to
support capabilities such as strategic air
transport, maritime logistics, air refuel-
ing and fuel storage.
An Expanding Role
Beginning with NATOs deployment
into the Balkans in the mid-1990s,
the use of NSIP for operational facili-
ties outside the NATOs territory took
root. Since then, NATO has used NSIP
to fund common-use facilities and in-
frastructure for operations in Kosovo,
Iraq and Afghanistan. And, with the
International Security and Assistance
Forces (ISAF) ongoing operations in
Afghanistan, NATOs out-of-area opera-
tions have come of age. From 2003 until
March 2009, NATO has invested nearly
$1 billion in runways, aircraft parking
aprons, headquarters, logistics support
and other operational infrastructure to
support NATO nation operations.
While other NATO allies have made
use of NSIP in Afghanistan, until re-
cently the U.S. had not pursued com-
mon funding in earnest. Starting in late
2008, however, the U.S. and NATO en-
gineering staffs began collaboratively
working to identify NSIP-eligible U.S.
infrastructure requirements. This action
creates several potential bene?ts for the
U.S. and NATO: It aids in unity of effort;
reduces the strain on a limited and often
overtaxed contractor and resource base;
and provides the U.S. with access to
common funding to pay for infrastruc-
ture that directly or partially supports
NATO operations.
A Collaboration Catalyst
Beyond the readily-apparent bene?t
of investment in infrastructure and facil-
ities, NSIP provides the added bene?t of
a forum for engagement among the U.S.,
allied nations and NATO engineering
staffs. These engagements provide the
opportunity for the U.S. to work side-
by-side with NATO colleagues in devel-
oping NATO capability requirements
and infrastructure planning documents
that serve as the genesis for NSIP project
funding. In all cases, these engagements
ensure the U.S. maintains a leadership
role in NATO and provide the basis upon
which other, non-engineering, bilateral
issues can be discussed and solved.
NSIP continues to serves as a cata-
lyst for the U.S. and its European allies
to collaborate on a wide range of issues
affecting our national and international
security concerns. As the war in Afghani-
stan continues, NSIP will provide ?nanc-
ing needed to build the air?elds, ammu-
nition storage points, headquarters and
medical facilities needed by U.S. and al-
lied forces. It will also provide the central
column around which all nations will
gather to solve key strategic and opera-
tional concerns in the ongoing war.
Lt. Col. Christian Knutson, P.E., M.SAME,
USAF, is Commander, 49th Civil Engineer
Squadron; 575-572-3071, or christian.knut-
son@me.com.
Steven Ashton, P.E., M.SAME, is NATO and
Host Nation Program Manager, Commander,
Navy Region Europe; +39-081-568-2885, or
ashtons@eu.navfac.navy.mil.</p>
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