Iceland to create new national defence strategy

Iceland could have a new National Defense Strategy (NDS) in place after the Independence League and Social Democrats, the North Atlantic island state’s two coalition government parties, reached a preliminary agreement on a new security system that will be implemented in close cooperation with NATO members Norway and Denmark.

“Our goal is to better define the power held by the authorities in this regard and establish a special Institute of Defense,” said Ingibjörg Sólrun Gisladóttir, Iceland’s foreign minister. “More importantly, it will provide a new national defense strategy to fill the void left by the U.S. military’s withdrawal from Iceland in 2006.”

The central platform for the new NDS is the Institute of Defense (IoD), which is to be established and fully operational during the second half of 2008. The IoD will assume operational responsibility for a range of tasks, including military exercises and marine and air-surveillance radar activities.

The NDS agreement provides for funding to establish a new defense headquarters in Keflavik International Airport’s security zone, which was formerly the U.S. military’s central base in Iceland. The IoD is also charged with coordinating national defense collaboration with Denmark and Norway, which signed agreements in 2007 to provide naval, land and air defense assets to protect Iceland’s sovereignty.

Source: G. O'Dwyer - DefenseNews

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