Exclusive Interview: Ambassador Juliette Gundy, Ambassador of NATO Mission in Iraq

Ambassador Gundy: No. I would say it is much more integrated than that. Also, NMI has civilian advisors who have never worn a uniform but are experts in their areas. We have many civilians like me who have served in Defense Ministries and various institutions of their respective countries. And we work very closely with our interlocutors from the Iraqi Security Sector for planning.  

Ambassador Gundy: We primarily work with the Ministry of Defense and Iraqi Armed Forces. And as of last August, our mandate expanded to also provide advisory services to the Iraqi Federal Police, and elements of the Ministry of Interior (MoI).  

Ambassador Gundy: We have very good relationships with the various Iraqi Security Institutions and Forces that we advise. NMI staff undergo a battery of training before arriving at the Mission in order to ensure seamless transition when there is a change in personnel. Obviously, handover from one advisor, or a team of advisors, to another, is a natural process in the Mission. However, no advisor arrives at this Mission without training, historical background, and a thorough introduction to the Mission. Having been here for a number of years and being able to provide that support to the staff and having a good working relationship with Iraqi-partners, are some of the strengths that NMI has. And because we have been working closely with the MoD for years, I don’t think navigating the nature of our work is difficult.  

We have a wonderful team of interpreters who also help provide continuity. It is equally important to us to provide that sort of continuity, because without it, it would be hard for our colleagues to deal with someone new every six months, or every year, who is not familiar with navigating the system. So, arriving here prepared for the mission in every way is part of our responsibility as well.  

Ambassador Gundy: It is not part of our mandate and not part of our advisory and capacity building role. NMI is a non-combatant advisory mission, and our mandate has been clearly set up in terms of what we are doing. Our mandate relates to the MoD and MoI as well as the Federal Police in the Greater Baghdad Area. In terms of our work, we are geographically located in Baghdad.  

Ambassador Gundy: We have a good framework that is very well defined, and based on that we only have relationships with specific Iraqi institutions, particularly the MoD and Iraqi Armed Forces. It is a well-defined concerted effort in order to provide advisory support for these institutions.  

Our work might not be as broad as one might expect, but what we have is a close relationship with the Iraqi Ministry of Defense since 2018.  

Ambassador Gundy: I believe that NMI has been here for so many years that who we are is very well understood by Iraqis. NATO works strictly within a framework and can have staff from 32 NATO members and operational partner countries, such as Australia and Austria. We are multinational, and I think at this point we have staff from 29 of 32 NATO Allies, plus Australia and Austria, here in Baghdad. So, I think we are very well known, and our partners know exactly who we are. Additionally, our mandate is also very well understood and well established. These are long-standing relationships that have been ongoing for years. So, I don’t think there is any confusion about NMI and its mandate. 

Ambassador Gundy: Our mandate is very separate. What we are working on is long-term security sector reform, and we have Long Term Objectives (LTO) that include advising, training and education programs. As I mentioned earlier, we are working in the Greater Baghdad Area. All the work that we are doing is focused on supporting long-term security sector reform; things like defense planning and budgeting, Human Rights and International Humanitarian Law, Ministerial advising, professional security education. They are the building blocks of our mission.  

Ambassador Gundy: This would be a difficult question for me to answer. What I would say is that we have different advisory areas that we agree on together. There is very much continued discussion about what our interlocutors’ responsibilities are, what is it that they are thinking of, examining, or perhaps even looking at changing, and then that actually spurs us to look at what can be done, what are our options in those areas. What may be some of the things that can help joint planning in certain areas and find objectives and areas of cooperation.  

Ambassador Gundy: We are here at the invitation of the Government of Iraq. Everything that we are trying to do is driven by their demands and their needs. We are not dictating things and absolutely that partnership is very important for what we want to do in the long term, and for the partnership to be sustainable as well. If the plans were ours rather than those of our interlocuters, it would not be sustainable and would not make sense. It needs to be defined by them for us to be able to support them and enable them to achieve their goals. This is what we are here to do.  

Ambassador Gundy: Our mandate has been set for us by the North Atlantic Council, and I know Lt. Gen. Aguero described in his interview how NATO’s decision-making process works. NMI’s mandate has been set. There isn’t discussion about changing the mandate again. To reiterate, we are here doing security sector reform. Our mission is a very different type of work, and a very different mandate. The Government of Iraq understands the difference between our mandate and the mandate of other entities very thoroughly and clearly. The message we are getting is that they want us to continue with the work that we are doing, and we intend to keep playing that role. We will keep working with our Iraqi counterparts towards their success in the areas that we define together through our long-term capacity building, and that is the plan for now.  

Ambassador Gundy: We saw an announcement about the opening of a NATO Liaison Office in Jordan. NATO has partnerships across the globe, and sometimes there are Liaison Offices in order to support the work of these partnerships. However, NMI is quite different from that of a Liaison Office. NATO Liaison Offices are there to support NATO and the country to work together. Certainly, once they (the Liaison Office in Amman) opens, I would be interested in knowing what they do.  

Ambassador Gundy: One of the most important things for us is staffing, the ability to have the right advisors here in the mission that have the right expertise so that the needs of the Government of Iraq are met. Being able to offer support in the defined areas of work with our partners is the priority for us. And I am happy to say that we can have high quality advisors who can work together with our partners effectively. That is the most important building block for us. I think NATO sees NMI is an important component and cornerstone of the partnership with Iraq. I am not able to speak to the details of NATO’s focus on other places.  

Ambassador Gundy: We have working relationships with diplomatic missions of EU members states, and we specifically have contact with European Union Advisory Mission (EUAM) in Iraq. We work very closely with them. Sometimes we support each other by delivering courses and collaborating on various programs. Over the past few months, we delivered two joint workshops to the MoI, on transparency and accountability, and on forensics in counter terrorism.  

Ambassador Gundy: One of our long-term objectives is on Women, Peace and Security, specifically with the MoD. There we are working with the Women’s Affairs Department. For this long-term objective, there are a few things that we look at; one of them being Iraq’s own National Action Plan on Women, Peace and Security. There is also the UN Security Council Resolutions on Women, Peace and Security (WPS) that started 24 years ago, and it is now part of the UN Agenda. Countries can create their own National Action Plans as well. Iraq is in the process of drafting its third National Action Plan (NAP). They intend to apply this NAP from 2025 onward. So, we certainly see elements around women’s participation in the Iraqi Security Forces. It is very interesting that the Iraqi Security Sector Reform Strategy also calls for empowering women to work in security sector institutions. So those are the goals that the Government of Iraq has set out for itself to address women in the security sector, which then aligns with one of our LTOs. We offer workshops on Women, Peace and Security and the purpose is developing awareness about the WPS Agenda, and the cornerstone of that is recognizing the impact of conflict on women and girls. Furthermore, it is critical to understand the impact of conflict on all segments of society and allow people to reflect on what that means for their roles.  

And in terms of women more broadly in civilian roles, anything we do there would be driven by the MoD, knowing what the Security Sector Reform Strategy says about women in security institutions. Anything we do is driven by our interlocutors.  

Ambassador Gundy: I don’t know if I can answer that question. But I can say that there are women in civilian roles and there are also women in uniform already, and that is significant. In terms of how Iraqi forces feel about women in the military, you will have to ask them about it.  

Ambassador Gundy: I think the biggest change since the last interview with the previous Commander is the work we are doing with the Iraqi Federal Police. We have four long-term objectives in that regard. This area of work will not be as big as what we are doing with the Iraqi Armed Forces. However, we are working on defining those four areas to work on. That means that in addition to military and civilian advisors we also have police advisors in the Mission. 

NMI’s focus right now is to keep doing what we have been doing, and what we have been asked to do.  

Ambassador Gundy: Absolutely. This is part of the long-term objectives. The advisory work is taking place here in Baghdad, and we are really proud of that. And of course, we do bring in experts from outside our Mission from time to time to provide more concentrated advice, maybe to deliver a workshop for example. However, our center of gravity in terms of our advisory role is here in Baghdad.  

We are using every tool that we have to deliver the best support that we can. But the core of it is the mission that is here, and the work we are doing in Baghdad. We have a team of very dedicated advisors who are working hand in hand with their partners and interlocutors, and we take this very seriously. This is important work; this is an important responsibility.