Italian soldiers move as a team through a molotov cocktail during fire phobia training at Camp Slim Lines July 25, 2013.

Italian soldiers move as a team through a molotov cocktail during fire phobia training at Camp Slim Lines July 25, 2013. U.S. Army photo by Sgt. Samantha Parks, 4th Public Affairs Detachment

How Corruption Undermines NATO Operations

Members and partners must do better at spotting and stopping corruption in the field.

Western policymakers rarely mention “corruption,” “defense,” and “military operations” in the same sentence. Inclined to view state-level corruption as a distinctly third-world phenomenon, they underestimate the risks that it poses both to their defense institutions and their expeditionary operations. But corruption — abuse of entrusted power for private gain — is real, expensive, and dangerous for NATO partner and member states.

Not only does defense corruption cost, on average, $20 billion annually worldwide; it undermines operational preparedness and performance on the ground, as when armed forces find themselves with sub-standard equipment and personnel hierarchy — distorted by a lack of robust hiring and promotion procedures.

Over the past year and a half, we at the Defence and Security program at Transparency International ranked NATO member and partner states’ vulnerability to corruption on a scale from A (low risk) to F (critical risk). We found surprisingly high vulnerability across the 32 governments’ military operations, which received, on average, a grade of D.

Read more: Methodology of the 2015 Government Defence Anti-Corruption Index

In Afghanistan, for example, corruption had a corrosive impact on military operations. It undermined the legitimacy of the Afghan government, aided insurgent recruitment, and hollowed out the national military and police forces slated to take over from NATO troops. The International Security Assistance Force, mandated to create sustainable security in the country, undermined its own objectives through its initial inattention to the problem.

Now, a year after the end of the ISAF mission in Afghanistan, NATO nations are only marginally better prepared to tackle corruption — and their own contribution to it — during expeditionary operations. Out of the 22 NATO member states, only four – the UK, U.S., Norway, and Greece – address corruption in their military doctrines. France, which currently deploys over 10,000 troops on operations and trains peacekeeping troops in African countries, has no anti-corruption doctrine. The country received an E grade (“very high risk”) for its vulnerabilities in operations, placing it among NATO’s worst-performing members.

Only five countries – Denmark, Belgium, Greece, Germany and the U.S. – systematically deploy monitors to make sure their own troops and officials are (first) not themselves corrupt, and that they are aware of the possibility of local corruption. Most countries do not have specific guidance for operational contracting; the United States is only country to have carried out a comprehensive review. Generic contracting guidelines, which may or may not take into account the ways in which missions can foster corruption when procuring supplies in theatre, are unlikely to meet troops’ needs during actual deployments.

Lack of awareness and preparation for mitigating corruption risks make it likely that mistakes from Afghanistan will be repeated. In order to counteract corruption, armed forces first need to know how to recognise, identify, and report it.

The alliance also faces domestic challenges in accountability and transparency. In line with NATO members’ commitment to democracy and human rights, most member states have instituted strong parliamentary accountability systems. Nine member states have overall low corruption risks (a B grade) in their military and defense agencies; the UK was graded as having very low risks (A grade). Significant gaps in oversight do exist, though. In seven countries, parliamentary oversight is impeded by only aggregated information being made available to parliaments; in only five countries do parliamentarians receive full information on classified spending, including that on intelligence agencies.

However, given NATO members’ commitment to increase defense spending to 2% of GDP, perhaps most surprising are gaps in oversight of procurement and protection of whistle-blowers. Such gaps make it harder to attain disciplined, effective spending of defense budgets. While all NATO countries have passed public procurement laws, 17 apparently perform little to no independent oversight of contracts exempted from these procedures under national-security concerns. Only four countries – the U.S., Bulgaria, Greece and Norway – require that companies bidding for significant contracts institute their own anti-corruption compliance programs and no member state has a comprehensive, robust system of whistle-blower protection. Two countries, Greece and Spain, have applied disciplinary sanctions to whistle-blowers. Even in the UK, which has overall very low corruption risks, only 40% of Ministry of Defence staff trust that the system will protect them if they make disclosures.

The North Atlantic Treaty Organisation is the world’s most powerful military and political alliance: six of its members were among the top-15 defense spenders last year, and 10 among the top 20 arms exporters. Its collective military power is peerless and its influence on other countries — through an extensive networks of partnerships and though expeditionary operations — is unmatched. But NATO’s credibility and effectiveness depends, in part, on whether its members are prepared to hold themselves to the highest defense accountability standards and to address corruption in the countries where they are engaged.

X
This website uses cookies to enhance user experience and to analyze performance and traffic on our website. We also share information about your use of our site with our social media, advertising and analytics partners. Learn More / Do Not Sell My Personal Information
Accept Cookies
X
Cookie Preferences Cookie List

Do Not Sell My Personal Information

When you visit our website, we store cookies on your browser to collect information. The information collected might relate to you, your preferences or your device, and is mostly used to make the site work as you expect it to and to provide a more personalized web experience. However, you can choose not to allow certain types of cookies, which may impact your experience of the site and the services we are able to offer. Click on the different category headings to find out more and change our default settings according to your preference. You cannot opt-out of our First Party Strictly Necessary Cookies as they are deployed in order to ensure the proper functioning of our website (such as prompting the cookie banner and remembering your settings, to log into your account, to redirect you when you log out, etc.). For more information about the First and Third Party Cookies used please follow this link.

Allow All Cookies

Manage Consent Preferences

Strictly Necessary Cookies - Always Active

We do not allow you to opt-out of our certain cookies, as they are necessary to ensure the proper functioning of our website (such as prompting our cookie banner and remembering your privacy choices) and/or to monitor site performance. These cookies are not used in a way that constitutes a “sale” of your data under the CCPA. You can set your browser to block or alert you about these cookies, but some parts of the site will not work as intended if you do so. You can usually find these settings in the Options or Preferences menu of your browser. Visit www.allaboutcookies.org to learn more.

Sale of Personal Data, Targeting & Social Media Cookies

Under the California Consumer Privacy Act, you have the right to opt-out of the sale of your personal information to third parties. These cookies collect information for analytics and to personalize your experience with targeted ads. You may exercise your right to opt out of the sale of personal information by using this toggle switch. If you opt out we will not be able to offer you personalised ads and will not hand over your personal information to any third parties. Additionally, you may contact our legal department for further clarification about your rights as a California consumer by using this Exercise My Rights link

If you have enabled privacy controls on your browser (such as a plugin), we have to take that as a valid request to opt-out. Therefore we would not be able to track your activity through the web. This may affect our ability to personalize ads according to your preferences.

Targeting cookies may be set through our site by our advertising partners. They may be used by those companies to build a profile of your interests and show you relevant adverts on other sites. They do not store directly personal information, but are based on uniquely identifying your browser and internet device. If you do not allow these cookies, you will experience less targeted advertising.

Social media cookies are set by a range of social media services that we have added to the site to enable you to share our content with your friends and networks. They are capable of tracking your browser across other sites and building up a profile of your interests. This may impact the content and messages you see on other websites you visit. If you do not allow these cookies you may not be able to use or see these sharing tools.

If you want to opt out of all of our lead reports and lists, please submit a privacy request at our Do Not Sell page.

Save Settings
Cookie Preferences Cookie List

Cookie List

A cookie is a small piece of data (text file) that a website – when visited by a user – asks your browser to store on your device in order to remember information about you, such as your language preference or login information. Those cookies are set by us and called first-party cookies. We also use third-party cookies – which are cookies from a domain different than the domain of the website you are visiting – for our advertising and marketing efforts. More specifically, we use cookies and other tracking technologies for the following purposes:

Strictly Necessary Cookies

We do not allow you to opt-out of our certain cookies, as they are necessary to ensure the proper functioning of our website (such as prompting our cookie banner and remembering your privacy choices) and/or to monitor site performance. These cookies are not used in a way that constitutes a “sale” of your data under the CCPA. You can set your browser to block or alert you about these cookies, but some parts of the site will not work as intended if you do so. You can usually find these settings in the Options or Preferences menu of your browser. Visit www.allaboutcookies.org to learn more.

Functional Cookies

We do not allow you to opt-out of our certain cookies, as they are necessary to ensure the proper functioning of our website (such as prompting our cookie banner and remembering your privacy choices) and/or to monitor site performance. These cookies are not used in a way that constitutes a “sale” of your data under the CCPA. You can set your browser to block or alert you about these cookies, but some parts of the site will not work as intended if you do so. You can usually find these settings in the Options or Preferences menu of your browser. Visit www.allaboutcookies.org to learn more.

Performance Cookies

We do not allow you to opt-out of our certain cookies, as they are necessary to ensure the proper functioning of our website (such as prompting our cookie banner and remembering your privacy choices) and/or to monitor site performance. These cookies are not used in a way that constitutes a “sale” of your data under the CCPA. You can set your browser to block or alert you about these cookies, but some parts of the site will not work as intended if you do so. You can usually find these settings in the Options or Preferences menu of your browser. Visit www.allaboutcookies.org to learn more.

Sale of Personal Data

We also use cookies to personalize your experience on our websites, including by determining the most relevant content and advertisements to show you, and to monitor site traffic and performance, so that we may improve our websites and your experience. You may opt out of our use of such cookies (and the associated “sale” of your Personal Information) by using this toggle switch. You will still see some advertising, regardless of your selection. Because we do not track you across different devices, browsers and GEMG properties, your selection will take effect only on this browser, this device and this website.

Social Media Cookies

We also use cookies to personalize your experience on our websites, including by determining the most relevant content and advertisements to show you, and to monitor site traffic and performance, so that we may improve our websites and your experience. You may opt out of our use of such cookies (and the associated “sale” of your Personal Information) by using this toggle switch. You will still see some advertising, regardless of your selection. Because we do not track you across different devices, browsers and GEMG properties, your selection will take effect only on this browser, this device and this website.

Targeting Cookies

We also use cookies to personalize your experience on our websites, including by determining the most relevant content and advertisements to show you, and to monitor site traffic and performance, so that we may improve our websites and your experience. You may opt out of our use of such cookies (and the associated “sale” of your Personal Information) by using this toggle switch. You will still see some advertising, regardless of your selection. Because we do not track you across different devices, browsers and GEMG properties, your selection will take effect only on this browser, this device and this website.