NATO Deputy SecGen: We are facing most challenging security environment in a generation

The North Atlantic Treaty Organization has responded with "the greatest ability to adapt" as it is currently facing "the most challenging security environment in a generation," NATO Deputy Secretary General Mircea Geoana said on Monday in Bucharest. "We are facing the most challenging security environment in a generation and NATO has responded with the greatest ability to adapt our collective defense in a generation, because when the world changes NATO changes too," Geoana told a press conference delivered together with Romanian Defense Minister Nicolae Ciuca, Chief of Defense Staff, Lieutenant General Daniel Petrescu, and Chairman of the NATO Military Committee, Air Chief Marshal Sir Stuart Peach. The statements come against the backdrop of NATO's ongoing Steadfast Defender 21 exercise in Romania, which - the Deputy Secretary General emphasized - had been "planned since long, is not targeted against anyone and it is strictly defensive". Also, Geoana said, the exercise "is not only an example of NATO's force, but also of its transparency," whereas the Alliance is capable and ready to defend all its allies, if necessary. The Defense Minister spoke about Romania's involvement in the joint defense in the region. "At every Alliance summit after the Ukraine crisis Romania has come up with a proposal to strengthen the Eastern Flank," Nicolae Ciuca said. AGERPRES (RO - author: Oana Ghita, editor: Claudia Stanescu; EN - author: Simona Klodnischi, editor: Simona Iacob)