[captioning perford by the national captiong institute,e, which is responsible for its ption content and accuracy visit ncicap. Org] happy mothers day an welcome to defense news. I am vago muradian. 2015 was a busy year for the military of 45,000 reserve personnel. With troops in afghanistan and the indian ocean and deployed to the balticscs t to reassure nato members worried about an incrsingly illiterate rusa. Norway was worried in the ke of the ukraine invasion, aggressive exercises in the baltic, and rising assertiveness in the w warming arcti oslo has called on nato to pay more attention to the region andd is working on a new defense white paper. We recently went to norway as part of a factfinding missionon organized by the atlanantic Council Think Tank where i am a member and spoored by the Norwegian Ministry of defense. We met with the admiral, the chief of defense. I asked him how russia, global opererations and the changing arctic will shake his input for the new strategy being developed by his political leaders. Admiral the Main Objective the military vice i will be giving to the minister is to describe what is irrelevant norwegian military for for the fure. Relevant on the one hand, connecting all the difrent changes we have seen inty environment in and arouound europe. Russia is one of them. Internrnational terrorism is another one. We are also concerned about and to take part in today and i pect we will the future, in stabizing the human operations in the middle east and africa the u. N. Operations in the middle east and afri those areas e changing and becoming more demanding. The u. N. Has beecleaear on the type of operations n is more prprotecting civilians thatt require Different Military capabilities. The expeations European Countries contribute are creasing. There are a numb of Security Issues around norway which will affect what bemes a relevant force in the future. Another thing we are looking at is technology. Weve got to do better with tenology instead o of always sitting the back seat and iting for technology to be readily developed we have to be more proactive and try to identify w which technol will give advantages in mitary operationsn the future and get in on using them as quickly as possib. Specifically, if we can save money on doing it. Vago i was going to ask where else you want to leverage the technological edge like the pentagonon to look longterm on how technology will change security. Admiral u. M. B. s arare one of them. Areookiking at nanotechnology and satlite. We have two satellites we puput t up ourselves. We use them to surveyhe identicacation system m around thehe world. It worksks very well. Ththprice is hardlynything inin comparison t ta plane anand nothing inin comparison to an enormous satellite. Vago it increases your marime awareness. Admiral definitelely in the lastst longer than we anticipated when we started the program. It provides us new ideas for how we can do things in the future. Vago are you too thin in capacity and are you going to revisit d disions giviven the threat p profile is fferent now than it was a few years ago . Admir if weak kedge the fact if we acknowledge the fact the securitity and bartman changed, i it is dynamicic around us Dynamic Security environment has changed. You can change again. You have to look at the time scope when you invest in new equipment. We have to revisit previously configured issues. We will also have to maybe reopen some and change them. We have not decided on that yet. We dstill havehe home gud. We reducuced in size i in 2005. The home guard is still pt of our f forces. The levance of the home guard increased after what we have been seeing in eastern ukraine. Infiltrationon and a form of hybrid warfare is posble. Wewe have seen that. It becomes more difficult if the government has a presence in the area whether police, military, or home guard. Ukraine is not lucky enough to have that. Vago let me take you to ukraine. Wh y you look at what the rurussians did, what are the key lessons you take away fromom that conflilict . Admiral the most important lesson we put focus on in norway and which concerns us and will play a part in our future developmt of armed forces and present conducting of operations in the high north is the speed and Rapid Reaction we saw from russia. Thei ability to move forces strategically over large distances in a short time, to make sure they hadilitary presence in and around ukraine in a couple of days. That that things can happen very quickly. We did not give the strategic morning we were expecting in the years after the cold war. You haveo have a higher degree of readinessss and y have to have capabilits that can be put into an area to secure it with a secure presencnce when needed. Vago readiness has become a very important question after the ukrne operation. As you said, youou will not have a lot of warning time. What are things norways military is doing to increase readiness and responsiveness . Admiral what we have been doing in the shortime frame since ukraine is to work on keeping a higher training standard weather at sea, in the air, or on land. And make sure the Readiness Level is as short as we can keep it. It means concentration of training, anit means we have a better system for calling up people when they are require vago coming up, more with norways top military officer i stood outside, assessing the situation. I knew it could rough in there but how rough . There was no way to know for sure. Hey guys. Daddy, its pink but hey. A new house its a blank canvas. And we got a great one thanks to a really low Mortgage Rate from Navy Federal Credit union. Pink so shes a princess. You got a problem with that . Oorah oorah open to the armed forces and their families for over 80 years. Navy federal credit union. Vago in april, norways military issued its report that detailed operations in afghanistan, fighting pirates off the one of africa, and reassuring its nato allies. In our connuing conversation withth the admiral norways chief of defse i asked about the rength and weaknessess highlighted in the annual report. Miral the strength is we have been passed with nine tasks from the government which we do on an annual basis. They have not been nen for 2014 tour 2015. Some of these tasks start at home. That has to do with surveillance, intelligence gathering in facilities, maintaining our sovereign rights fishery ptection and a number of issues. We also support the police in various operations like counterterror and soso on. These tasks we believe we do fairly well. We have the available forces necessary to solve the issues on a daytoday basis. They are welltrained. They are wellmaintained. Their readiness is very short. We are talking about hours to get these forces available. Internationally, we contributed in 2014 in 10 different operations in 16 places around the world. 35 of the Navy Activity was abroad. We also believe we do those fairly well. Again, this is forces that are highly trained. They are ready. And they have a high level of technology as well as our people have a high level of educationon. The feedback we get from allies like the United States is that we do fairly well. We asked more we ask more and we will never win anything on volume so we try to focus as much as possible on quality. What we have seen in 2014 with the changing world around us is the demand for our forces have increased at home since we are the nextdoor neighbor to russia. They have inincreased in nato on the reassurance measures. They have increased internationally the cause of the increase in violations that have taken place in the middle east and africa and so on. This increased demand is one of my major issues and problems. I nnot continue with an imbalance between activity and resources. I have to increase the resource level or reduce the level and capability of the armed forces oror the ambition we have for using them to reestablish that balance. Vagogo there has been a defense bubudget increase of about 3 3 . Most of f that is gog to the joint Strike Fighter. How much more will the government have to give you as the chief of the military to b be able to meet the demand signal coming from your leadership . Admiral it is correct as you po the majoririty of increase put into the Defense Budget is the finance of the f 35. That has been a choice from the military perspective. We gave that advice in 2012 to the government. It is a Political Choice to finance the f35 that way. We are satisfied with that. It works well as of now. How much do you need to keep the level of ambition going at the level we had in 2014 . I think you would have to put in approximately one billion norwegian krone to maintain the 2014 level with the existing structureses we have. What is the ambition to be in the future . That is the political question. Trying to convey to the politicians is the ambition level for 2014 is n not fully finananced. If you want to maintain it, you have to finance it. Vagogo you have other modernizatn priorities. Tell us why the jsf is so important to norway. It is the rgest Defense Program in your histotory. What a the other modernization priorities you have as well . Admimiral the f 35 is important to us because we always look at our main task as defending norway and the allies. If we have to get in that kind of operation, we are talking about a state to state conflict. Traditional with larger powers. We believe it would happen quickly and the initial phase would be in operation. In order to survive and be able to contribute, we need firsthand aircraft that have the capabilities and ability to ght asymmetric war against uaequal powers. That is why we have decid on ingoing for the f35. That is why we put so much resources into it. That is the most important factor for retaining our own sovereignty and defendining norway. Defending the alliance if it happens elsewhere in europe or america. Vago what abouout other modernization priorities . Wh else is on your modernizationist . Will you have to gap certain capabilities to cover the joint Strike Fighter . Admiral on the priorities list is always the capabilities that are now coming up towards the age limit. We have the p3s passing 30 years. Our submarines are passing 35 years. Vago one of which he commanded. Admiral yes, i did. Our helicopters are reaching their age limit. If we want to maintain, we have to r renew the capabilities. That does not necessarily mean the submarine replaced by new submarines, but we would like to replace it with the same capabilities. These capabilities all have priority. We said the f35 was the most important. Yes, that produced gaps. But they were gaps whicwere acknowledged accepted to the level where we felt this is the amount of money we can do within the defense b budget in der to procure the f35. The governme put in threst. The numbers we needed from the militaryry spec spective, we got without crereating gaps we could not accept. Vavago are you confident your f16 force will be good enough to maintain the e frontline presents until it is replaced by the jsf . Admiral we are working h vago norways chief of defense has spent the bulk of his 35 year ceer serving on or under the arctic. I asked how the arctic was changing and what it means for norways security. Admiral the way we have observed the cngesn the arctic over the last decade or two is a conant increase in temperature. In the air temperature and the water temperature. As a result of tt, we are seeing the ice in the arctic reon melting. Theres still a lot of ice. It is still very cold in the winter time. But in the summertime, we are seeing far higher t temperature levels than we have ever witnesessed before. The ice level in summertime has been reduced by more than 50 during the last 20 years. This opens up new areas for commmmercial activity. We s the fish are migring differently. It is not a huge difference, but they are moving closer to the new ice. Vago caught and strength as well. Admiral caught, shrimp, a number of macro. That means the fishing activity follows them. The less ice we have had in the last 20 years has committed us for drilling for oil and gas in the weern parts the sea and the norwegian economic zone. 20 years ago, you might fa ice in thosese areas. We dont see that anymore. The opening of the northea passe is crting possibilities to transport goods between east and west t over the polar basin. That is one of thehe interesting parts. The arctic is not ice. If you look underneath it, it is actually a an oce. The way into the arctic ocean is between greenland andorway in the western hemisphere d between the United States and russia in the eastern hemisphere. T thinkheres also an interesting fact. Itas commercial interest. Theyrobably also will have Strategic Military interest on who controls the entrance to thehe arctic ocean. Vago from an i investment standpoioint, do youave a clear idea on what kind of investment in military systems or surveillance or infraructure necessary . Russians are investing a huge amount omoney bringing back old airbases and other facilities. Admil there will definitely be a need for investments. One of the issues in the arctic region is communications is extremely difficu. It is predominantly an unininhabid area. You doot have the search and rescue, the Natural Systems around theolar basinhat can support incidents when they occur. You need to esestablish thihis. As you point out, the russians are doing this at the moment i establishing 10 stations along the Northeast Passage to ensure in these areas you can find search and rescue capabilities, Medication Systems and Ice Communications systems andce warning g and predediction systems. They are doing a l of work to make the passage navigable and more easily accessle for commercial use. Vago the last Arctic Strategy norway proced was in 2006. It is a very different time now. I know this a gernmentwide effo that yields an Arctic Strategy. Talk a about the military aspect of thihis. Is it timeo revisit the Arctic Strategy . As a militarary leader,hat are some of the elements you think would be in it if t were reconsidered at this point . Admiral i think if you have a strategy for specific regions like the arctic, i it is always sensible to revisit it to make sure it is updated. I do not think the military change we have seen necessarily means we have to revisit the Arctic Strategy. The Arctic Strategy in norway is a national strategy. It contains all the varioious interests we have in our country in the a arctic region. Commercial interests, oil and gas, fishery the population in the area,a, providing Sustainable Growth for them and forth. Of course, the military is part of it. The real military issues are not put forward and open in a national strategy. The changes will have to consider based on the changes we have seen in russia are probably not something wewe wil describe in an open strategegy. Vago speaking about the russians, one of the points you justade was about the strategi waterways that exit the arctic to the rest ofhe world. One of the more important territories,s, sovereign pieces off terroryou have, is locate in the highh north, the hiest human hahabitation, permanent sesettlement. Is there dger as any place has increased resources increased accesso resources increased traffic, there are guys that want to control strategic cho points. The russians have said any place where there are russians, we will go andefend them and that gis us Carte Blanche to protect them. It is community that works well but also has a Large Russian population of the 2500 or so th live e theryear round. Do you he a concern t that there could be russian aggggression . What are the prospects as you look at this for conflict in at region, forreventing nflict in the rion, and also for defending g norways intererests if thehere is a deliliberate or inadvertent incident . Admiral the norwegian perception othose challenges or risks are probably less than for a lot of other parts of the world that study it. We have ways been nextdoor neighbors to rusa. Ssia has been our neighbor for centuries. We have established a fairly Good Relationship with the russians, even though we have had aong time with antagonism against each other. Our relationship has state maintained through this periods. It is a relationship based on tual understanding, mutual reect. Have never been to war with russia. The only country the soviet union pulled its rces out after war two is the way. Yes, we do have a number of disagreements. Weont see eye to eye on all issues. But that is part of sovevereig norway. I think the russns understand the challenge there is challenging norway which is challenging me to nato. I dont think there is anything there that has such a high value that it is worth the risk. But it is something we always need to watch. It i is somethinwe always need to reevaluate when thchanges inhe security environment occur like they have now. But i see no immediate threats of concern. Vago for much more of our ininterview with the admiral, go to tv. Defensenews. Com. This week, jeanette macells us how invisible expenses can impact your budget. Even with military bonuses and stipends, it can still be easy to find yourself with less disposable income or cash for savings. Invisible expenses may be the culprit. Those are small things that drain your wallet in big way. Check your account statement ever m month. Isolate those expenses and buy a cheaper alternative or elimite it a altogether. One of the biggest is coffee. Itay sm like a reasonable four dollars, but youre are gulping down almost 100 a month. It takes less time to make it at home. Sing cerberus singleserve brewer are fast and convenient and quickly pay for themsees. Another one is gym memberships, eating out too often, or paying too much for cable television. Exercise at home. Make large meals to ve later and do you reading online. Many online t. V. Options can elinate cable costs. These are a few examples of invisible expenses. They come in many other forms like cosmetics and golf clubs. Keep a close eye on your budget and you will be surprised at how much cash you can free up. Vagogo thanks very much. We will see you xt week. If you have fifinancial questions, please eml us. Vago it is not just moscows ukraine invasion that worries european and american leaders but so its military dernization. Despite a faltering economy rush is modernizg its nuclear force, getting precision weapons, as s well as land andir sysystems and increasisingly sadistic sophisticated exercise like china, russia is developing area denial capabilities to keep other nations from interfering with i ability to project power from its borde. It could develop with another capability to get away with another major gble, this time perhaps with nato territory. Nato has stepped up its game but must do more to counter this persistent threat. Washington must play a Stronger Leadership role and increase its perment forces in europe, which is as important as asia and the middle east with global securi interests. Only by livering better capabilities and real presence can nato deter future russian mimiscalculationons. As we commemorate the 70th anniveary of the end of world war iiii in europe, it i is worth remembering an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure. Anks for watching. Im vago muradian. Sit us for continuing coverage of national and international defense. I will be e back next week at the same te. Untithen, have great week. K. [music] dr. Charles stanley jesus, through the holy spirit is the comforter. Hes the one, listen, who has the power to change your circumstance. Has the power to enable you to endure difficulty, hardship, pain and suffering. Male announcer next in touch, a cry for comfort. [music] male church, were here to bless the lord today. Would you agree . Sing. Bless the lord. O my soul, o my soul. Male worship his holy name. Worship his holy name. Male now sing like never before. Sinlike never before. O my soul. I worship youholy name