This issue of NATO Review focuses on the debate over the modernisation of NATO in the run-up to the Prague Summit. Entitled Transforming the Alliance, it considers how NATO should evolve to meet the security challenges of the 21st century. In the first of four articles devoted to this theme, Günther Altenburg, assistant secretary general in NATO's Political Affairs Division, examines how NATO has dealt with crises in its history and considers how this impacts the current debate. Marc Grossman, US under-secretary of state for political affairs, sets out Washington's vision for the Alliance. And two European analysts, General Klaus Naumann, a former chairman of NATO's Military Committee, and Guillaume Parmentier, head of the Paris-based Centre français sur les Etats-Unis, give their views on how the Alliance should reform itself.

Elsewhere, in the debate, Daniel S. Hamilton, director of the Center for Transatlantic Studies at Johns Hopkins University and Sir Timothy Garden of the Centre for Defence Studies at King's College London discuss whether NATO's new function should be counter-terrorism. In the wake of death of Joseph Luns, the Alliance's longest-serving secretary general, Jamie Shea, director of NATO's Office of Information and Press, reflects on his life and career. I review two recent publications on war crimes tribunals. Croatian Ambassador to NATO Anton Tus explains in an interview why his country has joined the Membership Action Plan. And features cover an innovative approach to teaching English to peacekeepers and a NATO Science project addressing the increasing vulnerability of interconnected society. In the wake of the creation of the new NATO-Russia Council, Paul Fritch of NATO's Political Affairs Division assesses its prospects. And Robert G. Bell, assistant secretary general in NATO's Defence Support Division, examines the challenges confronting the Alliance in armaments cooperation. Statistics on defence spending and military personnel round out the edition.

Christopher Bennett