configuring, sizing, training, and procurement for the Romanian Armed Forces and the transformation of the military structures. Proportionate response is based on compliance with the laws of war by correlating the means and procedures used to attain military objectives with the end results. Strategic and operational concepts, in the definition of the present strategy, describe the way in which the armed forces engage in order to attain established objectives and are ranked as follows: a) Institutional concepts – result from the National Defense Strategy and the White Paper on Defense and describe the way in which the Romanian Armed Forces contribute to ensuring national security in the context of implementation of the concept of extended national security; b) Operational concepts – define the implementation of the Military Art and Science and emphasize the way in which the armed forces take action in order to implement institutional concepts at the strategic, operational, and tactical level; c) Functional concepts – describe the way in which the armed forces act in specific/specialized areas. In order to justify the measures and actions undertaken to accomplish military objectives and missions the Romanian Armed Forces define, use, and implement – in principal and without limiting themselves to these, the following institutional concepts: - strategic credibility results from the National Defense Strategy and represents the full range of perceptions of third parties regarding the intentions, determination, and capability of the military to undertake and accomplish national defense objectives based on assumed commitments. Strategic credibility depends on: continuity in promoting principles and values; medium and long-term predictability in implementing decisions; transparence in planning resources necessary to accomplish objectives; development of military capabilities at the national level or within a multination framework; - interagency approach and planning is the fundamental operational concept through which the Romanian Armed Forces develop relations with all national institutions and structures with responsibilities in the areas of defense, law enforcement, and national security, as well as with international actors; - resilience requires the ability of NSS to withstand an attack and recover from an attack by developing sufficient capabilities to anticipate and deter a threat, to ensure conditions for victory and the optimal response solutions. The main measures which lead to strengthened resilience, with applicability not restricted to the military, are: identification of associated vulnerabilities and risks; development of an interagency decision-making process; civilian preparation and military sustenance of decisions made; available resources/reserves. The operational and functional concepts used in planning military actions are: - integrated crisis management – ensures the configuration of an integrated national system for: timely elaboration of national plans; timely and simultaneous achievement of intervention actions; integrated implementation of response measures; interoperability with the NATO Crisis Response System (NCRS), the EU crisis management system, and with other existing similar international systems; - integrated protection – ensures the elaboration and implementation of active and passive protection measures, on several levels, in air, land, naval, and cyber spaces of operations in order to deter risks and threats, preparation of capabilities for intervention, and of preventive engagement procedures; - integrated logistics – ensure the necessary framework and capabilities which will allow for the rapid deployment and sustenance of Romanian and allied forces on the national territory, in cooperation with the logistic systems of allied countries and the logistic systems of NATO’s command structure, to include freedom of movement, rapid crossing of state borders, strategic and in-theater transportation. 18