Pentagon Skipping Canadian Security Forum makes us look weak, says Summit President
President of the Halifax International Security Forum Peter Van Paagh says that American officials have played a key role in the event since the beginning in 2009.Andrew Vaughan/The Canadian Press
A decision by the Trump administration to suspend the participation of American defense officials in events organized by think tanks, including the annual Halifax International Security Forum, represents a retreat of American leadership that the country looks weak, says the President of the Canadian top.
Peter van Paagh says that American officials have confirmed that a recent ban on the Pentagon about attending national security events will include the three -day top in Atlantic Canada.
Every November this meeting brings more than 300 security and foreign policy politicians, analysts and experts from Canada, the United States, Europe and beyond. It is called the “Davos of International Security” and gets around 50 percent of his budget from the Canadian government.
The Pentagon would not give a direct comment on the ban, but said that the screening events are to ensure that they do not contradict the leading principles of the White House of Donald Trump. Top American generals and their staff normally participate in the Halifax Forum every year, as well as other events, including the Security Conference of Munich and the Shangri-la Dialogue of Singapore.
Eric Reguly: The USMCA agreement can circle in the drain. Time to fill the commercial gutter elsewhere
“To ensure that the Ministry of Defense does not spend its name and credibility to organizations, forums and events that are contrary to the values of this administration, the Office of Public Affairs of the Department will perform a thorough check of each event where Defense officials are invited to participate,” said main spokesman of the Chief with an e-mail.
The suspension of participation takes place if the relationships between the United States and its allies, including Canada, are eroding under the Trump government. Mr. Trump has launched a trade war against Canada and threatened many allies and trading partners with considerable rates to extract trade concessions from them.
Peter Mackay, who, as Minister of Defense, set up the Halifax Forum under Stephen Harper, said that the decision “Out of resort and another sign seems that the American foreign policy is drifting.”
Mr Van Paagh said that American officials have played a key role in the Halifax forum since it started in 2009. “Since the forum was founded, the United States, including the US Army, have not been present alone – it has led,” he said. “And that leadership has been both meaningful and essential.”
“Skipping Halifax does not make the US look strong. It doesn’t make it certain of its own ideas – afraid to be questioned, to be seen,” he said. “You can’t form the world by staying at home.”
Mr Van Paagh, a founder of the Halifax Forum, said that the Pentagon did not explain his reason. He noted that Halifax, unlike some other events, is limited to democracies.
“We don’t invite authoritarian regimes. We don’t invite China. We don’t invite Russia. We don’t invite Iran or Noord -Korea,” he said, “because we do a lot of care to create an atmosphere where credible ideas will be openly and respectfully communicated.”
Ottawa to invest $ 2 billion in armed forces for wage increases, improved benefits
Mr Van Paagh said that the action of the event is strategically reckless and such regimes benefit, which would prefer less cooperation between democracies.
Mr Van Padh said remarkable visitors to Halifax forums from the past and said it is a mystery how an annual meeting of partner countries in Canada, one of the close allies of America, could clash with the principles of the Trump Witte Huis.
“If Halifax is hosted for Ukrainian war heroes, Taiwanese Democrats, Iranian dissidents and dual American leaders – is contrary to those values, then something is very wrong,” he said.
“Skipping Halifax is not only to skip a conference. It is a decision to step away from decades of American leadership, tradition and strategic thinking. It is a retreat in a silence of silence at the time that the leadership of America is most needed.”
Richard Fadden, who served as a national security adviser of Mr. Harper and former Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, said that the new Pentagon policy suggests a “fear of ideas and a lack of trust” in American military officers.
“All soldiers of nature are usually rather insular and contact with ideas – including those who do not reflect the current views of their governments or command structure – can only benefit the professional development of serving members.”
Mr. Mackay called the Pentagon ban ‘bizarre on many levels’. He noted that European, Asian and NATO officials came to Halifax in the hope of bilateral meetings with American officials and pointed out that many former American Defense Minister attended the forum as part of an American military delegation. Mr. Mackay said that the decision seems to have a “vengeful bent or at pretty indifference for Canada.”
Advice: Great Defense Expending Plan, Carney. It would be a shame if Ottawa was in the way
The US Senator Jeanne Shaheen, the ranking democrat in the Senate Committee for Foreign Relations that led a dual congress delegation to the Halifax Forum in 2024, said that it seems to be her that Minister of Defense Pete Hegseth “is so concerned that his policy in CANADA will not limit the participation of participation.” She said that “Pentagon’s walls of top officials” of Halifax will restrict their ability to test theories and assumptions with allies.
“For years, the presence of American military leadership has shown that our continuous dedication to promoting solutions for our most challenging global safety problems. It is necessary that the United States remain a place at the table to form, to lead and make progress in our shared priorities,” said Mrs Shaheen.
Mr Van Paagh said that the event offers a stage for senior civil and military leaders to communicate their priorities to allies and to test these ideas among partners. It offers a location for Americans to make private contact with partners on the sidelines.
He noted that the forum was created after the war in Iraq “to arouse debate that would lead to better future decision -making and fewer mistakes that lead directly to unnecessary tragedies and lost lives.” Halifax “offers serious opportunities for American policy makers to hear new thinking and to learn new ideas outside the DC bubble,” he said.
Mr Van Paagh said that the forum will nevertheless send invitations for thorough leadership in the US Army.
