Posted on 05/11/2010 2:38:30 PM PDT by ErnstStavroBlofeld
One year after rejoining NATO military command, France wants to see the alliance's headquarters cut down in size, officials in Defence Minister Herve Morin's office told AFP on Tuesday.
French officers feel the Atlantic alliance's 12,500-strong command staff is too large and its structures too unwieldy for 21st century combat.
Paris officials have contacted NATO Secretary General Anders Fogh Rasmussen and US Defence Secretary Robert Gates urging that plans be drawn up to abolish redundant and overlapping command structures, they said.
"This rationalisation could allow us to cut down manpower and command structures by a third and at the same time improve our effectiveness," a French official said, arguing that NATO needed more "deployable assets".
France hopes that proposals as to how this can be done should be agreed before the next full meeting of NATO defence ministers, which is to be held in Brussels on June 10 and 11.
While remaining a Western ally, France pulled out of NATO's integrated command structure in 1966.
It nevertheless contributed to several NATO missions notably in the Balkans and the current war in Afghanistan, and President Nicolas Sarkozy decided to rejoin the command last year.
Who names their kid Herve?
fewer chiefs for the same number of indians seems like a
good idea.
France does not have any credibility when it comes to war tactics especially after their poor performance in warfare in the last century.
We only needed a France final solution in 1940.
They do know something about payroll padding, however.
They have credible forces. Especially the gentlemen in the
white kepis...and their nuclear SLBMs.
They have four subs and in 2009 one of them collided with the British submarine Vanguard
ours ran into a mountain.
LOL
the french long term goal have always been and will always be to create an EU wide army and for NATO abolished. The french hope to run this army, but as always, it be the germans who run it in reality
The French really put a fight against the Germans.(sarcasm on)
They put up an awesome fight in WW1, and were bled white. Their gene pool basically self-selected for less brave people in WWII.
Good idea actually.
They might want to sweeten the deal by allowing NATO to be based out of France also if they want to cut redundancy they might want to start at home.
I am sure there are dozens of posts left over from the French colonial empire that can be removed.
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