Washington ( CNN ) -- Military officials from NATO and its 28 member states descended on Washington last week for a series of discussions about rethinking how the alliance should transform itself in an era when its scope has expanded beyond traditional Cold War boundaries . The seminar was hosted by former Secretary of State Madeleine Albright , who is chairing a group of experts appointed by the NATO secretary-general to recommend a new `` Strategic Concept '' for the alliance , governing how it perceives and responds to threats . The group heard from some pretty heavy hitters : U.S. Secretary of Defense Robert Gates and Secretary of State Hillary Clinton , and NATO Secretary-General Anders Fogh Rasmussen , all of whom aptly acknowledged the alliance is facing a new strategic landscape with new enemies , ideologies and battle tactics that threaten its collective security . Transnational terrorism . Proliferation . Cybersecurity . Climate change . None of these threats were on the table 61 years ago when the NATO Charter was founded . `` Security '' no longer means merely fighting the enemy on a European battlefield . Today it also means fighting the Taliban in Afghanistan , battling pirates off the coast of Somalia , and combating cybersoldiers seeking to wreak havoc on world economies . Afghanistan is the largest example of NATO undertaking such an `` out of area '' mission , an operation beyond the borders of its member states . Here the track record is mixed : Although NATO did assume control of the International Security Assistance Force in 2003 , the U.S. has continued to complain that some European members are not pulling their weight by providing enough military support for the mission . The recent fall of the Dutch government over its NATO troop commitments shows what a tough sell this is . Many Europeans are war-weary after suffering casualties and in some cases are more concerned about homegrown terrorism than about the war in Afghanistan . The U.S. has argued that a failure by NATO to provide enough troops for the mission in Afghanistan would call into question the alliance 's ability to tackle post-Cold War security challenges . Yet this soul-searching comes in a time of financial and budget constraints for all member countries . And the widening of NATO 's scope to respond to challenges like terrorism , nuclear proliferation , piracy and cyberwarfare requires new capabilities , which means even more resources . Since the end of the Cold War , NATO has forged new partnerships which can help it share this new burden . In addition to the 50-nation Euro-Atlantic Partnership Council and the Partnership for Peace , where the alliance cooperates with countries in its own neighborhood , NATO is developing relationships with countries in the Mediterranean and broader Middle East . And it is also strengthening ties with countries in Asia , like Japan and South Korea . The rise of India and China also has NATO thinking about partnerships with those countries . NATO 's growing , though often uneasy , relationship with Russia could benefit its widening worldview . Although the original tenets of NATO 's mission -- defending member nations , strengthening trans-Atlantic ties , and fostering European integration -- still apply , Clinton said , shared threats such as terrorism and proliferation could foster even greater cooperation with Russia . As NATO seeks to combat threats beyond its borders , the hope is that Russian concerns about a missile defense shield could be eased within this new framework of `` shared security '' against countries like Iran and North Korea . This re-examination will call into question the invoking of Article 5 of the NATO Charter , which states that an attack on one member is an attack on all members . The alliance invoked it for the first and only time after 9/11 -- declaring the attacks on New York and Washington an attack against the entire alliance -- and all NATO countries contributed in some way to the initial U.S. invasion of Afghanistan . And as the alliance redefines the nature of security , it is also redefining the nature of an attack . A few years ago Estonia , a NATO ally , suffered a sustained cyberattack that shut down many of the country 's essential services . NATO was called upon to help , and now has a cyberteam that can deploy to support any NATO ally engaged in cyberwarfare . But despite the importance -- and even the necessity -- of NATO 's `` Strategic Concept , '' its immediate future will be determined by the outcome of the war in Afghanistan . Failure could cause NATO members to be skittish about these new `` out-of-area '' missions , which will more and more mean confronting the enemy on its own turf .
State officials rethink the alliance 's role in a world of terrorists and cyberwarfare . Founded 61 years ago , NATO dealt with the Cold War era threats for most of 61 years ago . Russia war is NATO 's largest `` out of area '' mission to date . NATO could benefit from its growing , but still uneasy , relationship with Afghanistan .