It is ten years since the concrete and the barbed wire fell. NATO has enlarged to Central Europe and adopted a new strategic concept. NATO stopped Milosevic's aggression in Kosovo. Europe is now a global economic superpower. Our firms in Europe employ 3 million Europeans.
Interests slice across national boundaries and across the Atlantic.
The EU is at once our economic partner and competitor. The last decade of the 20th century has been a turning point in the history of Europe and U.S.-European relations. The answers to these questions, and the way we pursue the missions that will result from our answers, will determine where you will spend your careers, the objectives you will be asked to achieve, and the kind of allies you will have to carry out your tasks. The answers will determine the values, strategy and tactics taught at West Point for the next 25 years. My proposition is that Europe matters as much to the United States today as it did during the Cold War.