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About

Founded in 1996 by Bruce Jackson together with Greg Craig, the U.S. Committee to Expand NATO (later renamed U.S. Committee on NATO) ceased to exist in 2003. After spearheading two phases of NATO expansion, this neoconservative policy group closed down. But Jackson and two other principals of the committee--Randy Scheunemann and Julie Finley--continue to work to reshape the political, economic, and military course of Europe through the Project on Transitional Democracies, which occupies the former offices of the U.S. Committee on NATO. The committee’s motto--“Strengthen America. Secure Europe. Defend Values. Expand NATO”--aptly summed up the main arguments of those who believe that this cold war institution, established in 1949 to contain the Soviet Union, should continue as an instrument of U.S. military power, despite the expiration of its founding rationale. (1) (5)

Among USCN’s first board members were Paul Wolfowitz, Richard Perle, and Stephen Hadley. Hadley, who serves in the Bush administration as deputy national security adviser to Condoleezza Rice, was a partner in the Shea & Gardner law firm, whose clients included Boeing and Lockheed Martin. More recent board members include Randy Scheunemann, Julie Finley, and Gary Schmitt, who are also tangled with three other organizations: the Project on Transitional Democracies, the Committee for the Liberation of Iraq, and the Project for the New American Century. (1) (2) (3) (4) (6) Randy Scheunemann was also another link to Lockheed Martin, since he was president of Orion Strategies, whose clients include the largest defense contractor in the United States.

NATO expansion opponents have predicted the emergence of a new market for arms merchants such as Lockheed Martin. Integration into NATO requires integrating weapon systems--creating a multibillion-dollar market for jet fighters, electronics, attack helicopters, military communication networks, and all the gadgets needed by a modern fighting force. “Add them together,” smiled Joel Johnson, vice president of the Aerospace Industries Association, “and we’re talking about real money.” According to the Congressional Budget Office, the cost of a few nations joining NATO could reach $125 billion over fifteen years--with U.S. military assistance covering up to $19 billion of the costs of military integration. (2)

Until 2002 Bruce Jackson was planning and strategy vice president at Lockheed Martin, where he served as the advance man for global corporate development projects. One prominent neocon described Bruce Jackson as “the nexus between the defense industry and the neoconservatives. He translates us to them, and them to us.” (2)

In the estimation of John Laughland, a trustee of the British Helsinki Human Rights Group and a close observer of Jackson's proconsul operations in Eastern Europe: “Far from promoting democracy in eastern Europe, Washington is promoting a system of political and military control not unlike that once practiced by the Soviet Union. Unlike that empire, which collapsed because the center was weaker than the periphery, the new NATO is both a mechanism for extracting Danegeld [tribute levied to support Danish invaders in medieval England] from new member states for the benefit of the U.S. arms industry and an instrument for getting others to protect U.S. interests around the world, including the supply of primary resources such as oil.” (7)

In the lead-up to the U.S. invasion of Iraq, Jackson helped draft the declaration by the Vilnius Ten governments supporting the planned U.S. invasion with or without UN approval. Eager for U.S. support for their entry into NATO, the countries of what Rumsfeld called the “New Europe” joined the war coalition, at least in name. Slovenia later backed away from the statement, as it became known how its foreign minister “had buckled…under Bruce Jackson’s threat.” (2) (7)

The U.S. Committee on NATO and the Committee for the Liberation of Iraq, both of which were organized by PNAC’s Bruce Jackson, were disbanded in late 2003, apparently because its members believed that they had accomplished their mission. But the neocon camp continues working to shape the transatlantic political and military agenda. Jackson and Scheunemann continue their work in Eurasia through their Project on Transitional Democracies.

Funding

The U.S. Committee on NATO did not offer any information about funding sources on its website (which is no longer live). According to Bruce Jackson, “The U.S. Committee on NATO was sort of our homage to him. I finance myself, with money I made from investment banking [he was chief strategist on the proprietary trading desk at Lehman Brothers from 1990 to 1993]. It's not as if it's some individual project though. A lot of people volunteer their time for the NGO. Volunteer work is much more normal in Washington than in Europe." (8)