Security Forum on Critical Undersea Infrastructure held in Iceland

Representatives from all the Joint Expeditionary Force (JEF) participant nations and partners came together at Keflavik Air Base, Iceland, this week for a Security Forum on Critical Undersea Infrastructure. The forum brought together more than 70 experts for a structured facilitator-led discussions on hybrid threats to critical undersea infrastructure. 

Threats to undersea infrastructure are a growing concern for the JEF nations. At their meeting earlier this month, JEF Defence Ministers decided to accelerate cooperation in the JEF in order to detect, deter and respond to threats against critical undersea and offshore infrastructure. This includes the sharing of best practices, seeking ways to cooperate on the subject and include aspects of critical undersea infrastructure protection in future JEF activities, all while ensuring coordination, complementarity, and alignment with NATO’s ongoing work. The Forum is a way for Iceland to contribute to the ongoing conversation by bringing allies and partners together to discuss, share best practices and cooperate on critical undersea infrastructure protection.

The forum was co-hosted by the Defence Directorate of the Ministry for Foreign Affairs of Iceland and the British Embassy in Reykjavík and was enabled by the deployment of the Standing Joint Force Headquarters (SJFHQ) to Iceland for the month of June, in its capacity as a JEF headquarters. Discussions were led by experts from the Clingendael Institute, The European Centre of Excellence for Countering Hybrid Threats (Hybrid CoE) and the StratCom Academy.