A political-military alliance with Lt Gen Hans-Werner Wiermann

NATO Through Time

How do the political and military sides of NATO work together?
What lessons are NATO militaries learning from Russia’s war against Ukraine?
How does an alliance of 32 countries combine their armed forces into one integrated military force – and how would this change in the event of war?
In this episode, Lieutenant General Hans-Werner Wiermann, who served as Director General of NATO's International Military Staff from 2019 until 2022, explains how NATO’s command structure unites diverse militaries under one banner. He clarifies how NATO military leaders give advice to – and receive guidance from – NATO political leaders, ensuring democratic civilian oversight of Allied armed forces.
He also speaks about his experience serving in the Bundeswehr (the German Armed Forces), before and after the fall of the Berlin Wall and the reunification of Germany. And he reflects on the future of the Alliance, including the development of new military capabilities based on lessons learned in Ukraine and the importance of critical undersea infrastructure.

Chapters

1. Introduction (00:00:00)

2. How are NATO's militaries integrated into one force? (00:03:11)

3. When did you start working at NATO? (00:08:33)

4. Who leads NATO's combined military forces? (00:11:05)

5. How do NATO's military and political sides interact? (00:13:31)

6. Why did Germany join NATO in 1955? (00:17:14)

7. Why did you join the Bundeswehr in 1976? (00:20:02)

8. What was it like to see the Berlin Wall fall in 1989? (00:22:19)

9. What is NATO learning from the war in Ukraine? (00:25:14)

10. Are we depleting our weapons stores too much? (00:27:29)

11. Is NATO preparing for war with Russia? (00:29:14)

12. How are the Bundeswehr and NATO modernising? (00:31:29)

13. Why is critical undersea infrastructure so important? (00:34:34)

14. Outro + co-host discussion (00:37:32)