Baron Robertson of Port Ellen was the tenth secretary-general of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO), 1999–2003, who oversaw the first invocation of Article 5 (the collective security clause of NATO) in response to the September 11 terrorist attacks. George Islay MacNeill Robertson was born in Port Ellen, Scotland, and received a master’s degree in economics from the University of Dundee in 1968. He became a union official. In 1978, Robertson was elected to the House of Commons as a member of the Labour Party. He was appointed to several senior posts within the party, including Labour chair for Scotland and opposition spokesman on defense. When Labour won the 1997 general election, Robertson was chosen as defense minister. He proposed a new long-range plan for the British military, including deep cuts in expenditure and the development of more flexible, rapid reaction forces. Robertson also strengthened defense-industrial cooperation with Great Britain’s European allies and oversaw the continuing deployment of British troops in the NATO-led peacekeeping mission during the Bosnian Conflict.

Robertson was a vocal critic of the Serbian regime of Slobodan Milosevic and was a proponent of the use of force to counter Serb aggression in the Kosovo War. Robertson worked with his NATO counterparts to coordinate allied operations in the 77-day bombing campaign. His public role in the Kosovo crisis made him a natural replacement for NATO secretary-general Javier Solana when the latter resigned to become the first coordinator for foreign policy in the European Union. Robertson was elevated to the peerage in August 1999, prior to his appointment as the alliance’s leader on 14 October.

As NATO’s senior civilian official, Lord Robertson worked diligently to improve relations with Russia, especially in light of the tensions that arose during the Kosovo campaign and the desire for Moscow’s compliance in any future NATO enlargement. Robertson initiated the planning for a second post–Cold War round of NATO expansion.

The 11 September 2001 terrorist attacks forced Lord Robertson to make terrorism the alliance’s immediate priority. Article 5 was invoked for the first time in alliance history, and all NATO members were therefore required to come to the aid of the United States. NATO deployed airborne early warning craft to the United States and stationed naval forces in the Mediterranean to interdict potential terrorists. NATO forces did not participate in Operation Enduring Freedom, but individual alliance countries contributed troops and aircraft to the U.S.-led Afghanistan intervention. Meanwhile, NATO developed a new comprehensive counterterrorism strategy. Following the fall of the Taliban, NATO also agreed to lead the peace enforcement mission in Afghanistan.

In May 2002, Robertson signed a new agreement with Russia to enhance cooperation between the alliance and Moscow. In addition, in November 2002, at the Prague Summit, NATO invited Bulgaria, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Romania, Slovakia, and Slovenia to become members. The seven former members of the Warsaw Pact formally acceded to NATO in 2004 in the alliance’s largest-ever expansion.

Lord Robertson oversaw one of the more contentious periods in alliance history during the 2003 Iraq War. The U.S.-led invasion of Iraq divided NATO. Some allies, including Belgium, France, and Germany, bitterly opposed American efforts to develop an anti-Iraqi coalition and took steps to prevent the use of NATO resources prior to the invasion. They also initially refused to allow overflight rights to aircraft involved in the invasion. Matters were further complicated in February 2003 when Turkey asked the alliance to invoke Article 4, which called upon the allies to take steps whenever the territorial integrity of a member was threatened. The anti-invasion bloc also initially obstructed efforts to provide aid to Turkey, but a compromise was reached that allowed the deployment of NATO assets, including aircraft and missile defense systems. Robertson managed to craft a series of compromises that maintained the integrity of NATO. For instance, the alliance did not deploy troops to Iraq, but NATO forces were rearranged to allow members to send troops to Iraq if they chose to do so. In addition, NATO agreed to train Iraqi security forces.

Lord Robertson announced his decision to resign as NATO chief in late 2003. In January 2004, he was replaced by Jaap de Hoop Scheffer of the Netherlands.

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