Foreign Minister Ingibjörg Sólrún Gísladóttir has established an interdisciplinary committee to undertake a detailed danger estimate to determine how to organize safety measures and defense issues for Iceland.
Iceland’s defenses are at an historic turning point, according to a press release from the Foreign Ministry, with the closing of the US Naval Air Station in Keflavík last year and a changed international defense environment, ruv.is reports.
Safety and defense issues do not only concern military operations, but also terrorism threats, environmental emergencies, natural disasters, pollution and epidemics.
The committee is comprised of 11 public officials and experts and it will be headed by Professor Valur Ingimundarson. Alyson Bailes will serve as special advisor, the former leader of the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI).
The danger estimate is scheduled to finish before fall 2008.
