In Iceland's Defence

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1:28Welcome to the documentary from the BBC World Service. This week, on assignment in Iceland. How does this work? You should take this first. On a windy afternoon in mid-March, I got invited to take a trip I hadn't planned for. Strapped in, ready to go. with an Icelandic Coast Guard helicopter search and rescue team. I was meant to see one of the Coast Guard's ships in Reykjavik Harbour, but it got diverted to another part of the island due to avalanche warnings. So instead, they asked if I would like to join this five-man crew on a training flight. I'm kitted up with a Coast Guard jacket, which they lent me, because I was completely unprepared for the cold.

2:17it seemed rude to say no. What we're looking at here is a communications console and also a navigational one. So here you can see a map and you can see where the helicopter is in relation to the ground and terrain. Also you can see ships as well, other aircraft traffic. What's your name? Reynir. I'm a rescue swimmer in training. Fishing and tourism are among Iceland's biggest industries, but nature in the North Atlantic is frequently brutal. So this service of approximately 300 people can be a vital lifeline. As the flight nears its intended destination, Rhaenysh gets up from the console, wearing his rescue harness.

3:07A hoist operator hands him a winch hook, which he attaches to that harness. and when the door opens he takes a seat at the edge, legs hanging out and after getting the thumbs up launches himself into the open air which is now blowing hail horizontally. A steel cable lowers him onto the rocky volcanic terrain below which seems a long way down to me. Another rescue man follows to observe Ranish as it's only his fifth week of training and then an empty metal stretcher, which is used to transport accident victims. When the crew on the ground give the signal, each is pulled back up by the hoist operator, who guides them back safely inside the helicopter door.

3:55The crew practiced this maneuver three times on our flight, and it was no less impressive each time.

4:06Iceland is one of the few countries in the world without its own military. No army, no navy or air force. Its defence and security relies on its international alliances and its highly effective civilian coast guard and police services. I'm Sandra Canthal, and in this edition of Assignment, I've come to this remote island nation to find out if a rapidly changing world is forcing Iceland to think about taking more responsibility for its own defence and security, and how they might make that happen. The Icelandic Coast Guard is the closest thing the nation has to a military service and has played a crucial role in its civil defence for decades.

4:52The public has enormous faith in their skills. It's repeatedly voted the nation's most trusted institution. I have been on a mission that we had to fly backwards, actually, into a fjord because the weather was that bad. Anthony, a Coast Guard helicopter pilot, vividly describes some of the unique challenges of flying in Icelandic weather conditions. So we had to face the wind. We had to go into a narrow fjord, so the safest way to complete that mission was to fly backwards. So we did that for about three miles. I mean, that's a long way. Yeah, it is. I don't even like reversing the car. But we put the hoist operator in the...

5:33He was sitting in the door, guiding us backwards. OK, I'm going to think about that the next time I'm reversing around a corner.

5:46The Icelandic Coast Guard is a civilian agency, and it works alongside the nation's police force. They're both instrumental to the country's defence and security. Combined with the umbrella of protection, Iceland derives from being a founding member of NATO, the security alliance established in 1949, and the bilateral defence agreement signed with the United States in 1951. But faith in these bonds is being tested. President Trump has made repeated threats to annex Iceland's nearest neighbour, Greenland, and he's strongly hinted at the possibility of withdrawing the US, NATO's largest member, from the alliance.

6:28Iceland has a population of fewer than 400 ,000 people. As the country adjusts to these new and volatile political realities, would creating its own national military be a possibility the public might want to consider? Do you think Iceland should have an army? No, I don't think so. I think with NATO, I think that's enough. and we have the Consumer Härtnar, like the bilateral agreement with the United States. Maria is a 20-year-old law student at the University of Iceland. We're a small country. We can't have an army, I think. Why not? We're so small. It doesn't make sense. We don't have enough people that want to be in the army.

7:14Would you ever want to? Not a chance. No way. I'm only highlighting one person's response to this question because everyone I spoke with in Reykjavik gave me an almost identical answer. And while I realise this is a very small sample size from within a whole nation, the consistency of the response was notable. In fact, a poll taken last year showed 72 % of the population oppose creating a national military. And that may have a lot to do with the faith the nation has in its Coast Guard. And here we have the situational picture of our waters. You're moving this big screen with your fingers. And are these all the ships that are around the area at the moment?

7:57Those are the ships which are operating in our region. And you see the lines and the areas with some restrictions. We have the call sign of each ship so we can check them. We have the underwater cables, the fiber optic cables connecting Iceland to Europe and to US. Those are little lines on the map as well, yeah. Yep, so we are monitoring them as well. So I'm Captain Öðun Kristinsson, Director of Maritime Division, and also involved in strategic planning and development of Icelandic Coast Guard and operation. This is the Joint Rescue Coordination Centre for Iceland. This is actually, you can say, heart of Icelandic Coast Guard.

8:35The Coast Guard is responsible for search and rescue, maritime safety and security surveillance in the waters surrounding the country. It's also responsible for running the Keflavik Air Base in the southwest of the island. Iceland is located in what's known as the Greenland-Iceland-UK gap that connects the Arctic and Atlantic oceans. This makes the work of the Coast Guard vital to European security. The Coast Guard is operating defense infrastructure in Iceland on behalf of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. So we have our air surveillance radar, our air defense system. We have a small unmanned underwater vehicle.

9:14We are operating drones from our ships. We are looking into the field of unmanned surface vessels as well. So we are trying to develop a modern Coast Guard using all the technology which is available today. All this expertise goes some way to explaining why Icelanders haven't had to think much about creating a separate military force. In the past, Iceland has spent significantly less than its neighbours on defence, because it has no standing military to support. If the country is going to rely on the capabilities of its civilian services, will it need to invest more money in the Coast Guard to make sure it can keep playing its part in both national and international security?

9:58You can always spend more on security. People in my line of business actually always see the need for more. The government is increasing the spending for the Coast Guard, and we have actually been using the increased budget to increase our helicopter availability, our vessel availability, our surveillance capability, but there is a space for improvement, that's for sure. And we hear the pressure from our allied countries and NATO members that we have to do our things. We have to be capable to support NATO assets in our region. And we can do better there. And our government is aware of that and is increasing our budget actually for that.

10:43So where are we? We're in Arakata, which is a very nice street in Reykjavik because it actually is also home to our former president, who was the first elected female president of the democratic republic in the world in 1980. So she lives here right out on the corner. Pia Hansen is director of the Institute of International Affairs at the University of Iceland. Its remit is to examine foreign affairs issues from the perspective of a small state. And she pointed out that this small isolated country does have some relatively recent experience of being invaded by foreign forces. During World War II, when the Brits came here, we were extremely relieved that it wasn't the Germans.

11:31When you read about how it happened, it was almost like a friendly thing. I mean, I think one person got knocked on the head and that was about it. The Americans took over and this was actually the first country that they came to in World War II. So yeah, we have an experience of actually having foreign military in our country. we do not have the experience of having our own military. I mean, that would be a new thing for us to think about. But in such a politically unpredictable world, is that a thought weaving its way into the national conversation? It used to be very much a taboo thing to even talk about defence in Iceland.

12:08You know, for people that actually voiced their opinion that we might have a military here, I'd almost say that they were ridiculed. Why? Because it's so foreign to us that we actually should have a military. We've never had it, and it's just very difficult to kind of wrap your head around it, I think, in many ways. And when you look at the way we've handled it so far, I think that most people would agree that we feel fairly secure, although the world is looking quite different and more difficult right now. How different became clear earlier this year, when Donald Trump intensified his rhetoric insisting America should be allowed to acquire Greenland, a self-governing territory of fellow NATO ally Denmark.

12:54Though Trump pulled back from his various threats at the World Economic Forum at Davos in January, it didn't escape notice when he seemed to confuse Greenland and Iceland in part of his speech referring to NATO. I don't know that they'd be there for us. They're not there for us on Iceland, that I can tell you. I mean, our stock market took the first dip yesterday because of Iceland. So Iceland's already cost us a lot of money. A White House spokesperson insisted he was referring to Greenland as a land of ice. And Greenland has come back into the president's sights, with recent comments returning to his ambition to annex the territory.

13:35This rattles nerves in Reykjavik. For one thing, if he spotted Greenland, when is he going to spot Iceland? But that brings up a particular dilemma for Iceland, because if President Trump is both threatening your nearest neighbor, Greenland, and getting angry at NATO quite often, where does that leave Iceland? Because it feels to me like it's sort of in a pincer movement. It is, but I don't think the solution would be to start our own little army. That's not going to make any difference in this scenario. So obviously we have to look at where are our friends and how can we strengthen that relationship.

14:15The Icelandic government doesn't have a specific Ministry of Defence as you'd find in many other countries. International defence and security matters are the remit of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Hi, good to see you. Hi, I'm Sandra Cantal, nice to meet you. The Minister for Foreign Affairs has at least four hats. She is the Minister for Foreign Affairs, she is the Minister for Foreign Trade, she is the Minister for Development, but she is also the Minister for Defence. And Minister Gunisdottir was juggling all those hats during the time I was in Iceland. So I met with Jonas Alundsen, the Director General for the Directorate of Defence.

14:56He's represented Iceland at both NATO and the United Nations, and had recently returned from meetings in the United States, which made me wonder, what do the Americans, with their huge armed forces, think about Iceland not having a military of its own? I think there's a general understanding this has always been the case with Iceland since the establishment of the Republic. You're listening to the documentary from the BBC World Service. It is Ryan Seacrest here. There was a recent social media trend which consisted of flying on a plane with no music, no movies, no entertainment. But a better trend would be going to ChumbaCasino.com.

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17:01Iceland gained its independence from Denmark in 1944. During World War II, Winston Churchill was well aware of Iceland's strategic significance and is said to have considered the island an unsinkable aircraft carrier. Though, like many of Churchill's reported aphorisms, this is more of an approximation than a direct quote. But the thesis is correct. And with renewed security tensions in the waters of the North Atlantic, that strategic significance is as valid today as it was more than 80 years ago. We act a little bit like a force multiplayer. You mentioned the idea of the aircraft carrier. We are sort of running the aircraft carrier, making sure that everything functions when and if our allies need it.

17:47America has maintained a military presence on this island since the Second World War. But in 2006, they withdrew their permanent forces and turned the base over to the Icelandic government. And since that time, we have been actively taking care of business, running the Icelandic air defense system, which is sort of the eyes and the ears of NATO in the north, monitoring the air traffic, but also, you know, running all the defense infrastructure that now has proven itself very useful for allies' activities in the Arctic and the North Atlantic. What are the major security concerns in the high north right now?

18:26What is Iceland guarding most against? I think the overall perception of the alliance is that Russia is the main threat, and we, of course, see it the same way. They are bogged down in Ukraine now, but many of their capabilities, especially in the maritime domain, are actually located in the north. That's why we need to keep an eye on what they are doing. For Icelanders, we are also very concerned about increasing hybrid activities. You see that in, I think, all European countries. In Iceland, we are mostly concerned about cyber attacks and surveillance. That's something that we are strengthening our defence against.

19:01Hybrid threats are actions intent on harming or destabilising societies, such as disinformation campaigns, hacking government systems, or disrupting critical infrastructure. These are challenges facing countries throughout Europe. In recent years, the Icelandic government spent approximately 0.2 % of GDP on defence, well below the NATO average, because it has no standing military to maintain. But that figure has been steadily rising. And late last year, the government published a new policy outlining 13 defence priorities and plans to target a goal of 1.5 % of GDP on defence-related spending. The Icelandic Parliament just recently approved the first defence strategy that sort of frames the priorities that we have going forward when it comes to our cooperation with allies.

19:58Also, what should be the priorities when it comes to our own homework? How can we strengthen the resilience of Iceland? We're used to dealing with natural disasters, but we also have to be able and prepared to deal with war and crisis. and that's one of the tasks that we have in front of us that we need to solve.

20:21Much of the work that we are doing is of course through civilian agencies, be it the Coast Guard, the National Commission of Police, but when it comes to hard defence, our main contribution is to support the allies that have the true capabilities to operate in a military conflict. But not everyone in Iceland thinks this country is too small to support its own military force. My name is Arnur Sigrunsson. I used to be Director General of the Defence Directorate at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. That's the same job Jonas Alinson from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs has now. Arnur is trying to build a movement, from a start of three people at the moment, to advocate for the creation of an Icelandic army.

21:07We call it the guardians of Iceland in English, Vármán Íslands in Icelandic. And the purpose is to influence and persuade the Icelandic authorities that our present government policy of total reliance on foreign allies for the defence and security of Iceland is not sustainable and a poor policy. And he's been making this argument for many years, even wrote a book about it called Icelandic Army, New Challenges in a Changed World, which he dedicated to the future generations of Iceland. But it's a position he acknowledges falls outside the mainstream. We are on the fringes today because Icelanders don't want to think about the security defence of Iceland.

21:58It's best to leave that to other nations, and besides, it's much less expensive. His group is proposing a national defence force of 2 ,000 people to defend the country during unforeseen security crises and a plan to pay for it. We would reprioritise the government spending to allow for Iceland to participate in the NATO objective of spending 2 % of GDP on defence and security. But that means money is going to have to come from somewhere else, from schools, from hospitals, from roads. Is the public going to approve of this? It is something that will be extremely unpopular. Have you made these proposals to the politicians of Iceland?

22:48Repeatedly. And what was the response? Total silence. Does it feel lonely from where you're standing? It does, but it is a fight we are engaged in and hopefully we will have some success. If not, we will go down fighting.

23:12Iceland is home to some notable political landmarks. The world's oldest parliament is a compact stone building in the middle of the city. In 1986, at a house on the harbour, the Reykjavik summit between Russia's Mikhail Gorbachev and President Ronald Reagan marked the beginning of the end of the Cold War. And a few streets away, another American president left his mark on the local culture. In a square not far from the harbour, on a lamppost, there's a big sign that says POLSA in red and white letters, referring to the national dish, the Icelandic sausage. And this is a very particular sausage stand.

23:53because in 2004, former President Bill Clinton came here and ordered a hot dog, but controversially with just mustard. This goes against the national grain of having it with everything. That particular order now is known as the Clinton. And just overlooking this tourist attraction are the offices where I'm going next. Hi, I'm Sandy. Nice to meet you and welcome to Reykjavik. And welcome to the offices of the Reykjavik Grapevine. It's an English-language magazine published in Reykjavik since 2003. It's on the third floor. It's one of the last un-gentrified buildings here in the downtown. And it's not going to look like maybe it should for a publication in its third decade because we figured it was kind of looking like a squat, so we emptied it and painted it.

24:41But it's missing sort of all of the memorabilia it should probably have. I'm sure it's very charming. At least it's out of the wind. I am Jon Trusty Sigurarsson I'm the publisher of the Reykjavik Grapevine Hello, my name is Bart Cameron I'm the editor of the Reykjavik Grapevine They showed me around the office which wasn't nearly as bad as advertised Then we went into a separate room which was kitted out for the paper's other media offerings So you have your own podcast studio Yeah, it's really bare bones We're a low budget operation Bart is sitting in a chair that he donated to the studio Yeah, yeah, yeah.

25:19These tiny chairs are fitting the tiny apartments we live in. Before I came to Iceland, I didn't know much about the country, other than it was beautiful, had the occasional volcanic eruption, challenging weather conditions, and, of course, Bjork. So Jan Tristi and Bart were kind enough to give me some insights into the Icelandic psyche and how the public views its national defence. I would say there's a different approach to it, because things that can cause mortality here at a pretty high level and that one observes on a constant basis. You're dealing with the cold and the wind. We're covering Rennesviere Beach, which is nearby, where if you step on the beach and what's called a sneaker wave gets you, you'll be pulled out to the ocean and you will drown horrifically.