The organisation will also improve intelligence sharing between partner countries, NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg said
NATO is determined to improve its ability to prevent the threat of a biological weapons attack. Alliance Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg said this in an interview with the DPA news agency published on Tuesday.
“We have troops that specialise in defending against biological weapons threats, and they are part of our exercises. But we need to improve our capabilities in this area”, – he said. In particular, he said, NATO is working to improve intelligence sharing among partner countries.
Stoltenberg pointed out that the need to step up efforts in this direction has been shown by the pandemic, although the coronavirus, he said, is “naturally occurring”. “It is not a laboratory-created virus, but of course it has shown the threats that come with the use of biological agents,” the secretary-general said.
“These weapons, like chemical weapons, are banned under international law, but we must be prepared for their use because we know that these weapons still exist and there is a danger of their use – by state actors and terrorists”, – he said.
In the event of such an attack, NATO would immediately retaliate depending on the scale of the attack, he said.
“NATO does not possess prohibited weapons, but we have a range of capabilities to respond proportionately. If we activate Article 5 [of the North Atlantic Treaty] on collective defence, we use the capabilities we have”, – Stoltenberg said.
At the same time, he noted that security threats had not disappeared with the pandemic, but had instead “become even more worrying”.
“We have to deal with Russia, which is challenging us, which is deploying new nuclear-capable missiles in Europe”, – the NATO secretary-general argued. In addition, he pointed to cyber attacks, terrorism and the “shifting global balance of power with the rise of China”. “All of this has created new circumstances that continue to make investments in our security necessary”, – Stoltenberg said.