Brussels Forum Session: NATO at 75: Past, Present, Future – Part II
Lord (George) Robertson of Port Ellen was NATO's tenth secretary general from 1999 to 2003 and UK secretary of state for defence from 1997 to 1999. During his time at NATO, he announced the invoking of Article 5, the self-defense guarantee, for the first time in the alliance’s history.
Robertson was a member of the British House of Commons for 21 years and a member of the UK shadow cabinet from 1993 to 1997. He was named joint parliamentarian of the year in 1992 and appointed to the House of Lords in 1999. He was chief opposition spokesman on Europe for nine years.
Robertson is now chancellor of the University of Dundee; a senior counsellor with the Washington, DC-based consultancy, The Cohen Group; vice patron of the Royal Edinburgh Military Tattoo; and a senior adviser with BP and 5654 & Company, a consultancy. He is also a special adviser to Chatham House and is on the boards of the Centre for European Reform, Trinity House, and the British Forces Foundation. He serves on the Atlantic Council’s international advisory board and is co-chair of the Responsible Energy Forum.
Robertson’s previous positions include deputy chairman of Cable and Wireless and, in Russia, TNK-BP. He was also chairman of Western Ferries and the FIA Foundation. He has held non-executive directorships with the Weir Group, Smiths Group, and Monaco Telecom.
Robertson’s international honors include being one of the 16 Knights of the Order of the Thistle and Knight Grand Cross of the Order of St. Michael and St. George. He is among the few non-Americans to have received the highest US civilian honor, the Presidential Medal of Freedom.