[NL-UK-US] Defence Summit

[Dutchy]

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Ministry of Defence
Kingdom of the Netherlands​

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Recipient: Jason Green, Secretary of State for Defence of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland (@Jamie)
William Perry, Secretary of Defence for the United States of America (@John)
Cc: -
Subject: 1995 Defence Summit Invitation
Classification: Secure

Secretaries,

After having contacted both your governments it is with great pleasure that I wish to invite you both to the Netherlands for a summit to increase defence cooperation between our nations. The dissolution of the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation has, in my governments opinion, come at a cost to our national security. We hope that this summit can turn the tide and allow us to support each other's efforts in keeping our borders and people safe.

The summit will be held in the Hague, I eagerly await your arrival.

Yours Sincerely,

Max Holst
Minister of Defence

 

[Jamie]

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Jason Green, the Secretary of State for Defence of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland would accept the invitation to the Summit. Understanding concerns raised by the British Prime Minister, he'd depart on a commercial flight to the Netherlands with his laptop and a few aides.
The Dutch Government would be made aware of his departure.

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@Dutchy

 

[John]

The US Secretary of Defence would depart for the Netherlands using a United States Air Force Boeing 747-100 and the Dutch Government would be informed of the impending arrival of him and his staff.

@Dutchy

 

[Dutchy]

The United States Air Force Boeing 747-100, upon entering Dutch airspace would be contacted by the DutchMil which would safely guide them through Dutch airspace prior to handing the aircraft off to the airport tower. Upon safely landing the aircraft would be guided to a stand which had been secured by the 1st BSB Peleton of the Royal Netherlands Marechaussee. Preparations would be made for the arrival of both delegations, customs and immigration would be ready to take down the details of those arriving on diplomatic passports in order to allow them to enterr the Netherlands.

Two convoys would be waiting to seperatly escort the delegations from Rotterdam The Hague Airport to the Ministry of Defence where the meeting would be held. After an uneventful journey they would be guided to the private conference room which had been prepared for the meeting, with refreshments available. The Minister would be present to great the arriving delegations.

@Jamie @John

 

[John]

Upon arrival at the Ministry of Defence building, Secretary Perry would leave his convoy with his Secret Service detail and greet the person who was guiding them. Upon arrival at the conference room, William Perry would enter and smile at the Minister who was waiting there. "Minister Holst, it's a pleasure to meet you!" the Secretary would say as he goes to shake the Minister's hand.

@Dutchy

 

[Jamie]

The Commercial Aircraft carrying the British Secretary of Defence and some aides eventually arrived in Dutch Airspace. Abiding all air traffic regulation as per the commercial flight and coming to land. Once landed, the British Cabinet Member boarded the convoy designated for him to allow his journey to the Ministry of Defence to commence.
Upon his arrival, he'd exit the convoy, greeting the Dutch officials he met along the way. His eyes gazed between the Dutch and American Ministers before introducing himself, offering each a handshake.

@Dutchy @John

 

[Dutchy]

Upon the arrival of one of the invited officials, Minister Max Holst would personally greet them with the shaking of hands and welcome them to the Netherlands. Once all parties had arrived and taken their place the doors of the conference room would be closed to allow them to proceed with the meeting in private.

As the host the Minister would begin the summit, "Secretary Green, Secretary Perry. Once again I wish to welcome you for coming on such a short notice. My government has called this meeting, after confirmation that both your governments would be interested in partaking in these discussions, in the interest of seeking ways to increase our cooperation in terms of defence. Since the dissolution of the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation the Netherlands has felt a drastic decrease in its national security. NATO has been the foundation upon which Europe has prospered for the last fifty years, it's dissolution makes the threat of instability and conflict a real possibility."

"In response to the dissolution, the Netherlands is interested in seeking closer defence ties with its closest partners. We'd like to bring up topics such as a re-establishment of the North Atlantic Treaty, the establishment of a new organisation and the holding of annual large-scale exercises. I have come to understand their are differing views on the afore mentioned topics and I am interested in giving you both the chance to put forward your governments position, please also feel free to bring up any other topic of discussion if you feel it would benefit this meeting."

@Jamie
@John

 

[Jamie]

There was a short silence from the British Secretary of Defence, he knew his governments position on an alliance such as the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation and it was frowned upon. Irrespective of the benefits, the NATO was an alliance of old. One that had collapsed, could a rebirth be worth it? The relations between the UK, Netherlands and the USA weren't exactly one of best friend yet. That may change, but for the moment, the Secretary held himself intrigued enough to get a better understanding before giving any form of position away. He spoke, simply to add on topics he was keen to instill.

"I'd like to say thank you, dearly, for the invitation extended to the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland. To be included in such an important discussion is of great honour. The British Government mandate is heavily focused on prosperity, cooperation and humanitarian matters. Thus, I wouldn't like to dream of the possibility of conflict but of course, we must always be prepared for it. Before we move onto the topic put fourth already, I'd like to request an additional topic to converse in is added, more specifically, the subject of de-escalation techniques for such possibilities. We often talk about reactive decisions such as military action, but I'd like to hear and even input ideas to de-escalate situation before they get to that point."

@John
@Dutchy

 

[Jamie]

@John

 

[John]

"I would agree to the additional topic being added to the agenda. But, I would like to kick things off with the starting points of why we're here. Whilst I know the relations between the United Kingdom, the Netherlands and ourselves aren't at the highest they have ever been. I feel like some sort of defensive pact is needed between our three countries in order to provide to what Secretary Green said. That is, prosperity, cooperation and humanitarian. The United States has always prided itself on pushing for peace, and we believe that a pact between our three nations could provide the stepping stones for other countries to follow suite."

 

[Dutchy]

The Minister would jot down notes in regards to what his counterparts were suggesting, responding to the statement by the British Secretary of State, "I agree, it isn't a topic usually brought up, and of course focus in any conflict should be deescalation. I'll add the topic to the agenda to be discussed later on."

He looked towards the American, "A defensive pact? Would that be a trilateral agreement between our nations, in which matters such as mutual defence would be agreed upon? In that regards, the Netherlands believes that when it comes to defence, a military alliance created by means of an intergovernmental organisation should be our aim. Such an organisation would allow for more flexibility in terms of focus, membership, intelligence sharing, exercises, joint-operations and a joint-command structure for certain units, such as air defence or a regional quick reaction force."

@Jamie @John

 

[Jamie]

The British Delegate would wait for the American counterparts to further elaborate on the question posed by the Dutch.

@John @Dutchy

 

[John]

"Yes, a military alliance is what I was meaning. Such an alliance between our three countries would allow us to push for peace around the globe."

@Jamie @Dutchy

 

[Jamie]

"I'd like to see a treaty, as a draft of course, of what is been proposed. This will certainly help with any framework for us to make an invested decision."

@Dutchy @John

 

[Dutchy]

"Would the United States be willing to present a draft of their proposal, Mr Secretary?"

@John

 

[John]

"Yes, I actually had one drawn up before on the flight over. Any additions, removals or suggestions are welcome."

Redacted Treaty

@Dutchy @Jamie

 

[Jamie]

There maintained a short silence whilst the British Representative took to the documentation, beginning to review what was proposed. Nodding his head to certain points he agreed with, other points, he wasn't entirely sure. Nonetheless, the decision didn't fall down to him specifically. "Thank you for the draft." he spoke. "We will get to the finer details, I do just want to literate that any amendments we do here, and regardless of my agreement with the treaty, it will need to go through the House of Commons to get approval. But for the purpose of drafting up a treaty:

I believe Article XI, 10 years for a consult to review the treaty should be amended. Perhaps reduced to three years?
Article XII, 20 years is a huge commitment given we are unable to predict a climate. I would like to suggest that members of the treaty would require to be legally part of it for two years, and if they wish to withdraw, would be an exit policy to essentially reverse all that the treaty held.

Whilst no mention of it, would this be the equivalent of NATO? If so, I'd also like to request that the name NATO not be used and that a new organisation is considered. Although I'm not yet sure of a concept but I would prefer not to go to another incarnation of a once-failed alliance."

@Dutchy @John

 

[Dutchy]

"I have to agree with my British colleague on some aspects of this treaty that I cannot agree with, including Articles XI and XII. I prefer flexibility with contracting parties being allowed to propose amendments at any arranged meeting and a party should always be allowed to exit the treaty at any time, with a three-month wait between informing all parties of their exit and their actual exit."

"However, the biggest issue I have is what we are aiming to achieve. Is this meant to be a simple trilateral military alliance or the foundation of an inter-governmental military organisation. I believe we must agree on that prior to proceeding with writing any treaty."

"I believe my government has already made it clear that it seeks the return of an inter-governmental military alliance in order to restore our old alliances and partnerships in order to guarantee stability and peace for our citizens and that of our allies."

@John @Jamie

 

[Jamie]

With an awkward silence, the British Secretary of Defence pitched in. "We would need to see a draft with the amendments made before we can even look into agreeing on this. I must also point out that we would need to see consistency too in the involvement of all its members given we've not progressed much further on these talks other than a brief draft.
Please could you advise how you would both like to proceed going forward?"

@Dutchy
@John

 

[John]

"All amendments can be made in the final draft. However, I agree with Mister Holst. We would like to see an Inter-govermental military alliance. Once that focuses on not only building our military relationships, but our diplomatic friendships aswell. At the same time, I also agree with Mister Green, consistency is key. We need to communicate and understand each other.

Gentlemen, we have, at our hands, the ability to show the world that there are nations out there that are willing to help those who otherwise can't help themselves."

@Jamie
@Dutchy