NATO

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This article is about the military alliance. For other uses, see NATO (disambiguation).
Coordinates:

505234.16N 42519.24E

North Atlantic Treaty Organization

Organisation du Trait de l'Atlantique Nord

Flag[1]

Member states of NATO

Abbreviation

NATO, OTAN

Motto

Animus in Consulendo
Liber[2]

Formation

4 April 1949

Type

Military alliance

Headquarters

Brussels, Belgium

Membership

Official language

28 states[show]

English
French[3]

Secretary General

Jens Stoltenberg

Chairman of the NATO Military

Knud Bartels

Committee

Website

nato.int

The North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO /neto/; French: Organisation du trait de
l'Atlantique Nord; OTAN), also called the North Atlantic Alliance, is
an intergovernmental military alliance based on the North Atlantic Treaty which was signed on
4 April 1949. The organization constitutes a system of collective defence whereby its member
states agree to mutual defense in response to an attack by any external party. NATO's
headquarters are in Brussels, Belgium, one of the 28 member states across North America and
Europe, the newest of which, Albania and Croatia, joined in April 2009. An additional 22 countries
participate in NATO'sPartnership for Peace program, with 15 other countries involved in
institutionalized dialogue programmes. The combined military spending of all NATO members
constitutes over 70 percent of the global total.[4] Members' defense spending is supposed to
amount to 2 percent of GDP.[5]
NATO was little more than a political association until the Korean War galvanized the
organization's member states, and an integrated military structure was built up under the
direction of two US supreme commanders. The course of the Cold War led to a rivalry with
nations of the Warsaw Pact, which formed in 1955. Doubts over the strength of the relationship
between the European states and the United States ebbed and flowed, along with doubts over
the credibility of the NATO defence against a prospective Soviet invasiondoubts that led to the
development of the independent French nuclear deterrent and the withdrawal of the French from
NATO's military structure in 1966 for 30 years. After the fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989, the
organization was drawn into thebreakup of Yugoslavia, and conducted its first military
interventions in Bosnia from 1992 to 1995 and later Yugoslavia in 1999. Politically, the
organization sought better relations with former Warsaw Pact countries, several of which joined
the alliance in 1999 and 2004.
Article 5 of the North Atlantic treaty, requiring member states to come to the aid of any member
state subject to an armed attack, was invoked for the first and only time after the 11 September
2001 attacks,[6] after which troops were deployed to Afghanistanunder the NATO-led ISAF. The
organization has operated a range of additional roles since then, including sending trainers to
Iraq, assisting in counter-piracy operations[7] and in 2011 enforcing a no-fly zone over Libya in
accordance with U.N. Security Council Resolution 1973. The less potent Article 4, which merely
invokes consultation among NATO members, has been invoked four times: by Turkey in 2003
over the Iraq War, twice in 2012 by Turkey over the Syrian Civil War after the downing of an
unarmed Turkish F-4 reconnaissance jet and after a mortar was fired at Turkey from Syria[8] and
in 2014 by Poland following the Russian intervention in Crimea.[9]
Contents
[hide]

1 History
o

1.1 Beginnings

1.2 Cold War

1.3 French withdrawal

1.4 Dtente and escalation

1.5 After the Cold War

1.6 Enlargement and reform

2 Military operations
o

2.1 Early operations

2.2 Bosnia and Herzegovina intervention

2.3 Kosovo intervention

2.4 Afghanistan War

2.5 Iraq training mission

2.6 Gulf of Aden anti-piracy

2.7 Libya intervention

3 Participating countries
o

3.1 Members

3.2 Enlargement

3.3 Partnerships

4 Structures
o

4.1 NATO Council

4.2 NATO Parliamentary Assembly

4.3 Military structures

4.4 NATO Networks

5 See also

6 References

7 Bibliography

8 Further reading

9 External links

History
Beginnings

The North Atlantic Treaty was signed in Washington, D.C., on 4 April 1949 and was ratified by the United
States that August.

The Treaty of Brussels, signed on 17 March 1948 by Belgium, the Netherlands, Luxembourg,
France, and the United Kingdom, is considered the precursor to the NATO agreement. The treaty
and the Soviet Berlin Blockade led to the creation of the Western European Union's Defence
Organization in September 1948.[10] However, participation of the United States was thought
necessary both to counter the military power of the USSR and to prevent the revival of nationalist
militarism, so talks for a new military alliance began almost immediately resulting in the North
Atlantic Treaty, which was signed in Washington, D.C. on 4 April 1949. It included the five Treaty
of Brussels states plus the United States, Canada, Portugal, Italy, Norway, Denmark and Iceland.
[11]
The first NATO Secretary General, Lord Ismay, stated in 1949 that the organization's goal was
"to keep the Russians out, the Americans in, and the Germans down." [12] Popular support for the
Treaty was not unanimous, and some Icelanders participated in a pro-neutrality, anti-membership
riot in March 1949. The creation of NATO can be seen as the primary institutional consequence
of a school of thought called Atlanticism which stressed the importance of trans-Atlantic
cooperation.[13]
The members agreed that an armed attack against any one of them in Europe or North America
would be considered an attack against them all. Consequently they agreed that, if an armed
attack occurred, each of them, in exercise of the right of individual or collective self-defence,
would assist the member being attacked, taking such action as it deemed necessary, including
the use of armed force, to restore and maintain the security of the North Atlantic area. The treaty
does not require members to respond with military action against an aggressor. Although obliged
to respond, they maintain the freedom to choose the method by which they do so. This differs
from Article IV of the Treaty of Brussels, which clearly states that the response will be military in
nature. It is nonetheless assumed that NATO members will aid the attacked member militarily.
The treaty was later clarified to include both the member's territory and their "vessels, forces or
aircraft" above the Tropic of Cancer, including some Overseas departments of France.[14]
The creation of NATO brought about some standardization of allied military terminology,
procedures, and technology, which in many cases meant European countries adopting US
practices. The roughly 1300 Standardization Agreements (STANAG) codified many of the
common practices that NATO has achieved. Hence, the 7.6251 NATO rifle cartridge was
introduced in the 1950s as a standard firearm cartridge among many NATO countries. Fabrique
Nationale de Herstal's FAL, which used 7.62 NATO cartridge, was adopted by 75 countries,
including many outside of NATO.[15] Also, aircraft marshalling signals were standardized, so that

any NATO aircraft could land at any NATO base. Other standards such as the NATO phonetic
alphabet have made their way beyond NATO into civilian use.

Cold War
Main article: Cold War
The outbreak of the Korean War in June 1950 was crucial for NATO as it raised the apparent
threat of all Communist countries working together, and forced the alliance to develop concrete
military plans.[16] SHAPE, the Supreme Headquarters Allied Powers Europe, was formed as a
consolidated command structure, and began work under Supreme Allied Commander Dwight D.
Eisenhower in January 1951.[17] The 1952 Lisbon conference, seeking to provide the forces
necessary for NATO's Long-Term Defence Plan, called for an expansion to ninety-six divisions.
However this requirement was dropped the following year to roughly thirty-five divisions with
heavier use to be made of nuclear weapons. At this time, NATO could call on about fifteen ready
divisions in Central Europe, and another ten in Italy and Scandinavia. [18][19] Also at Lisbon, the post
ofSecretary General of NATO as the organization's chief civilian was created, and Lord
Ismay was eventually appointed to the post.[20]

The German Bundeswehr provided the largest element of the allied land forces guarding the frontier in
Central Europe.

In September 1952, the first major NATO maritime exercises began; Exercise Mainbrace brought
together 200 ships and over 50,000 personnel to practice the defence of Denmark and Norway.
[21]
Other major exercises that followed included Exercise Grand Slam andExercise Longstep,
naval and amphibious exercises in the Mediterranean Sea, Italic Weld, a combined air-navalground exercise innorthern Italy, Grand Repulse, involving the British Army on the
Rhine (BAOR), the Netherlands Corps and Allied Air Forces Central Europe (AAFCE), Monte
Carlo, a simulated atomic air-ground exercise involving the Central Army Group, and Weldfast, a
combined amphibious landing exercise in the Mediterranean Sea involving American, British,
Greek, Italian and Turkish naval forces.[22]
Greece and Turkey also joined the alliance in 1952, forcing a series of controversial negotiations,
in which the United States and Britain were the primary disputants, over how to bring the two
countries into the military command structure.[17] While this overt military preparation was going
on, covert stay-behind arrangements initially made by the Western European Union to continue
resistance after a successful Soviet invasion, including Operation Gladio, were transferred to
NATO control. Ultimately unofficial bonds began to grow between NATO's armed forces, such as
the NATO Tiger Association and competitions such as the Canadian Army Trophy for tank
gunnery.[23][24]
In 1954, the Soviet Union suggested that it should join NATO to preserve peace in Europe. [25] The
NATO countries, fearing that the Soviet Union's motive was to weaken the alliance, ultimately
rejected this proposal. The incorporation of West Germany into the organization on 9 May 1955
was described as "a decisive turning point in the history of our continent" by Halvard
Lange, Foreign Affairs Minister of Norway at the time.[26] A major reason for Germany's entry into
the alliance was that without German manpower, it would have been impossible to field enough
conventional forces to resist a Soviet invasion.[27] One of its immediate results was the creation of
the Warsaw Pact, which was signed on 14 May 1955 by the Soviet Union, Hungary,

Czechoslovakia, Poland, Bulgaria, Romania, Albania, and East Germany, as a formal response
to this event, thereby delineating the two opposing sides of the Cold War.
Three major exercises were held concurrently in the northern autumn of 1957. Operation Counter
Punch, Operation Strikeback, and Operation Deep Water were the most ambitious military
undertaking for the alliance to date, involving more than 250,000 men, 300 ships, and 1,500
aircraft operating from Norway to Turkey.[28]

French withdrawal

Map of the NATO air bases in France before Charles de Gaulle's 1966 withdrawal from NATO military
integrated command

NATO's unity was breached early in its history with a crisis occurring during Charles de Gaulle's
presidency of France.[29] De Gaulle protested America's strong role in the organization and what
he perceived as a special relationship between it and the United Kingdom. In a memorandum
sent to President Dwight D. Eisenhower and Prime Minister Harold Macmillan on 17 September
1958, he argued for the creation of a tripartite directorate that would put France on an equal
footing with the US and the UK.[30]
Considering the response to be unsatisfactory, de Gaulle began constructing an independent
defence force for his country. He wanted to give France, in the event of an East German
incursion into West Germany, the option of coming to a separate peace with the Eastern
blocinstead of being drawn into a larger NATO-Warsaw Pact war.[31] In February 1959, France
withdrew its Mediterranean Fleet from NATO command,[32] and later banned the stationing of
foreign nuclear weapons on French soil. This caused the United States to transfer two hundred
military aircraft out of France and return control of the air force bases that had operated in France
since 1950 to the French by 1967.
Though France showed solidarity with the rest of NATO during the Cuban Missile Crisis in 1962,
de Gaulle continued his pursuit of an independent defence by removing
France's Atlantic and Channel fleets from NATO command.[33] In 1966, all French armed forces
were removed from NATO's integrated military command, and all non-French NATO troops were
asked to leave France. US Secretary of StateDean Rusk was later quoted as asking de Gaulle
whether his order included "the bodies of American soldiers in France's cemeteries?" [34]This
withdrawal forced the relocation of SHAPE from Rocquencourt, near Paris, to Casteau, north
of Mons, Belgium, by 16 October 1967.[35] France remained a member of the alliance, and
committed to the defence of Europe from possible Warsaw Pact attack with its own forces
stationed in the Federal Republic of Germany throughout the Cold War. A series of secret
accords between US and French officials, the Lemnitzer-Ailleret Agreements, detailed how
French forces would dovetail back into NATO's command structure should East-West hostilities
break out.[36]

Dtente and escalation

Main article: Dtente

Dtente led to many high level meetings between leaders from both NATO and the Warsaw Pact.

During most of the Cold War, NATO's watch against the Soviet Union and Warsaw Pact did not
actually lead to direct military action. On 1 July 1968, the Nuclear Non-Proliferation
Treaty opened for signature: NATO argued that its nuclear sharing arrangements did not breach
the treaty as US forces controlled the weapons until a decision was made to go to war, at which
point the treaty would no longer be controlling. Few states knew of the NATO nuclear sharing
arrangements at that time, and they were not challenged. In May 1978, NATO countries officially
defined two complementary aims of the Alliance, to maintain security and pursue dtente. This
was supposed to mean matching defences at the level rendered necessary by the Warsaw
Pact's offensive capabilities without spurring a further arms race.[37]

During the Cold War, most of Europe was divided between two alliances. Members of NATO are shown in
blue, with members of theWarsaw Pact in red.

On 12 December 1979, in light of a build-up of Warsaw Pact nuclear capabilities in Europe,

ministers approved the deployment of US GLCM cruise missiles and Pershing II theatre nuclear
weapons in Europe. The new warheads were also meant to strengthen the western negotiating
position regarding nuclear disarmament. This policy was called the Dual Track policy.[38] Similarly,
in 198384, responding to the stationing of Warsaw Pact SS-20 medium-range missiles in
Europe, NATO deployed modern Pershing II missiles tasked to hit military targets such as tank
formations in the event of war.[39] This action led topeace movement protests throughout Western
Europe, and support for the deployment wavered as many doubted whether the push for
deployment could be sustained.
The membership of the organization at this time remained largely static. In 1974, as a
consequence of the Turkish invasion of Cyprus, Greece withdrew its forces from NATO's military
command structure but, with Turkish cooperation, were readmitted in 1980. TheFalklands
War between the United Kingdom and Argentina did not result in NATO involvement because
article 6 of the North Atlantic Treaty specifies that collective self-defense is only applicable to
attacks on member state territories north of the Tropic of Cancer.[40] On 30 May 1982, NATO
gained a new member when, following a referendum, the newly democratic Spain joined the
alliance. At the peak of the Cold War, 16 member nations maintained an approximate strength of

5,252,800 active military, including as many as 435,000 forward deployed US forces, under a
command structure that reached a peak of 78 headquarters, organized into four echelons. [41]

After the Cold War

The Revolutions of 1989 and the dissolution of the Warsaw Pact in 1991 removed the de
facto main adversary of NATO and caused a strategic re-evaluation of NATO's purpose, nature,
tasks, and their focus on the continent of Europe. This shift started with the 1990 signing in Paris
of the Treaty on Conventional Armed Forces in Europe between NATO and the Soviet Union,
which mandated specific military reductions across the continent that continued after
the dissolution of the Soviet Union in December 1991.[42] At that time, European countries
accounted for 34 percent of NATO's military spending; by 2012, this had fallen to 21 percent.
[43]
NATO also began a gradual expansion to include newly autonomous Eastern European
nations, and extended its activities into political and humanitarian situations that had not formerly
been NATO concerns.

Reforms made under Mikhail Gorbachev led to the end of theWarsaw Pact.

The first post-Cold War expansion of NATO came with German reunification on 3 October 1990,
when the former East Germany became part of the Federal Republic of Germany and the
alliance. This had been agreed in the Two Plus Four Treaty earlier in the year. To secure Soviet
approval of a united Germany remaining in NATO, it was agreed that foreign troops and nuclear
weapons would not be stationed in the east, and there are diverging views on whether
negotiators gave commitments regarding further NATO expansion east.[44]Jack Matlock, American
ambassador to the Soviet Union during its final years, said that the West gave a "clear
commitment" not to expand, and declassified documents indicate that Soviet negotiators were
given the impression that NATO membership was off the table for countries such as
Czechoslovakia, Hungary, or Poland.[45] In 1996, Gorbachev wrote in his Memoirs, that "during
the negotiations on the unification of Germany they gave assurances that NATO would not
extend its zone of operation to the east,"[46] and repeated this view in an interview in 2008.
[47]
According to Robert Zoellick, a State Department official involved in the Two Plus Four
negotiating process, this appears to be a misperception, and no formal commitment regarding
enlargement was made.[48]
As part of post-Cold War restructuring, NATO's military structure was cut back and reorganized,
with new forces such as the Headquarters Allied Command Europe Rapid Reaction
Corps established. The changes brought about by the collapse of the Soviet Union on the military
balance in Europe were recognized in the Adapted Conventional Armed Forces in Europe Treaty,
which was signed in 1999. The policies of French President Nicolas Sarkozy resulted in a major
reform of France's military position, culminating with the return to full membership on 4 April
2009, which also included France rejoining the integrated military command of NATO, while
maintaining an independent nuclear deterrent.[36][49]

Enlargement and reform

Further information: Enlargement of NATO

The NATO flag being raised in a ceremony markingCroatia's joining of the alliance in 2009.

Between 1994 and 1997, wider forums for regional cooperation between NATO and its neighbors
were set up, like the Partnership for Peace, theMediterranean Dialogue initiative and the EuroAtlantic Partnership Council. In 1998, the NATO-Russia Permanent Joint Council was
established. On 8 July 1997, three former communist countries, Hungary, the Czech Republic,
and Poland, were invited to join NATO, which each did in 1999. Membership went on expanding
with the accession of seven more Northern and Eastern European countries to NATO: Estonia,
Latvia, Lithuania, Slovenia, Slovakia, Bulgaria, and Romania. They were first invited to start talks
of membership during the 2002 Prague summit, and joined NATO on 29 March 2004, shortly
before the 2004 Istanbul summit. In Istanbul, NATO launched the Istanbul Cooperation
Initiative with four Persian Gulfnations.[50]
New NATO structures were also formed while old ones were abolished. In 1997, NATO reached
agreement on a significant downsizing of its command structure from 65 headquarters to just 20.
[51]
The NATO Response Force (NRF) was launched at the 2002 Prague summit on 21 November,
the first summit in a former Comecon country. On 19 June 2003, a further restructuring of the
NATO military commands began as the Headquarters of the Supreme Allied Commander,
Atlantic were abolished and a new command, Allied Command Transformation (ACT), was
established in Norfolk, Virginia, United States, and the Supreme Headquarters Allied Powers
Europe (SHAPE) became the Headquarters of Allied Command Operations (ACO). ACT is
responsible for driving transformation (future capabilities) in NATO, whilst ACO is responsible for
current operations.[52] In March 2004, NATO's Baltic Air Policing began, which supported the
sovereignty of Latvia, Lithuania and Estonia by providing fighters to react to any unwanted aerial
intrusions. Four fighters are based in Lithuania, provided in rotation by virtually all the NATO
states.[53]

Donald Rumsfeld and Victoria Nuland at the NATO-Ukraine consultations in Vilnius, 2005

The 2006 Riga summit was held in Riga, Latvia, and highlighted the issue of energy security. It
was the first NATO summit to be held in a country that had been part of the Soviet Union. At
the April 2008 summit in Bucharest, Romania, NATO agreed to the accession of Croatia and
Albania and both countries joined NATO in April 2009. Ukraine and Georgia were also told that
they could eventually become members.[54] The issue of Georgian and Ukrainian membership in
NATO prompted harsh criticism from Russia, as did NATO plans for amissile defence system.

Studies for this system began in 2002, with negotiations centered on anti-ballistic missiles being
stationed in Poland and the Czech Republic. Though NATO leaders gave assurances that the
system was not targeting Russia, both presidentsVladimir Putin and Dmitry Medvedev criticized it
as a threat.[55]
In 2009, US President Barack Obama proposed using the ship based Aegis Combat System,
though this plan still includes stations being built in Turkey, Spain, Portugal, Romania, and
Poland.[56] NATO will also maintain the "status quo" in its nuclear deterrent in Europe by
upgrading the targeting capabilities of the "tactical" B61 nuclear bombs stationed there and
deploying them on the stealthier Lockheed Martin F-35 Lightning II.[57][58]

Military operations
Early operations
No military operations were conducted by NATO during the Cold War. Following the end of the
Cold War, the first operations, Anchor Guard in 1990 and Ace Guard in 1991, were prompted by
the Iraqi invasion of Kuwait. Airborne Early Warning aircraft were sent to provide coverage of
South Eastern Turkey, and later a quick-reaction force was deployed to the area. [59]

Bosnia and Herzegovina intervention

Main article: NATO intervention in Bosnia and Herzegovina

NATO planes engaged in aerial bombardments during Operation Deliberate Force after the Srebrenica
massacre.

The Bosnian War began in 1992, as a result of the Breakup of Yugoslavia. The deteriorating
situation led to United Nations Security Council Resolution 816 on 9 October 1992, ordering
a no-fly zone over central Bosnia and Herzegovina, which NATO began enforcing on 12 April
1993 with Operation Deny Flight. From June 1993 until October 1996, Operation Sharp
Guard added maritime enforcement of thearms embargo and economic sanctions against
the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia. On 28 February 1994, NATO took its first wartime action
by shooting down four Bosnian Serb aircraft violating the no-fly zone.[60]
On 10 and 11 April 1994, during the Bosnian War, the United Nations Protection Force called in
air strikes to protect the Gorade safe area, resulting in the bombing of a Bosnian Serb military
command outpost near Gorade by two US F-16 jets acting under NATO direction.[61] This
resulted in the taking of 150 U.N. personnel hostage on 14 April.[62][63] On 16 April a British Sea
Harrier was shot down over Gorade by Serb forces.[64] A two-week NATO bombing
campaign, Operation Deliberate Force, began in August 1995 against theArmy of the Republika
Srpska, after the Srebrenica massacre.[65]
NATO air strikes that year helped bring the Yugoslav wars to an end, resulting in the Dayton
Agreement in November 1995.[65] As part of this agreement, NATO deployed a UN-mandated
peacekeeping force, under Operation Joint Endeavor, named IFOR. Almost 60,000 NATO troops
were joined by forces from non-NATO nations in this peacekeeping mission. This transitioned
into the smaller SFOR, which started with 32,000 troops initially and ran from December 1996
until December 2004, when operations where then passed onto European Union Force Althea.
[66]
Following the lead of its member nations, NATO began to award a service medal, the NATO
Medal, for these operations.[67]

Kosovo intervention
Main articles: 1999 NATO bombing of Yugoslavia and KFOR

German KFOR soldiers patrol southern Kosovo in 1999

In an effort to stop Slobodan Miloevi's Serbian-led crackdown on KLA separatists and Albanian
civilians in Kosovo, the United Nations Security Council passed Resolution 1199 on
23 September 1998 to demand a ceasefire. Negotiations under UN Special Envoy Richard
Holbrooke broke down on 23 March 1999, and he handed the matter to NATO, which started a
78-day bombing campaign on 24 March 1999.[68] Operation Allied Force targeted the military
capabilities of what was then the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia. During the crisis, NATO also
deployed one of its international reaction forces, the ACE Mobile Force (Land), to Albania as the
Albania Force (AFOR), to deliver humanitarian aid to refugees from Kosovo. [69]
Though the campaign was criticized for high civilian casualties, including bombing of the Chinese
embassy in Belgrade, Miloevi finally accepted the terms of an international peace plan on
3 June 1999, ending the Kosovo War. On 11 June, Miloevi further accepted UN resolution
1244, under the mandate of which NATO then helped establish the KFOR peacekeeping force.
Nearly one million refugees had fled Kosovo, and part of KFOR's mandate was to protect the
humanitarian missions, in addition to deterring violence. [69][70] In AugustSeptember 2001, the
alliance also mounted Operation Essential Harvest, a mission disarming ethnic Albanian militias
in the Republic of Macedonia.[71] As of 1 December 2013, 4,882 KFOR soldiers, representing
31 countries, continue to operate in the area.[72]
The US, the UK, and most other NATO countries opposed efforts to require the U.N. Security
Council to approve NATO military strikes, such as the action against Serbia in 1999, while
France and some others claimed that the alliance needed UN approval. [73] The US/UK side
claimed that this would undermine the authority of the alliance, and they noted that Russia and
China would have exercised their Security Council vetoes to block the strike on Yugoslavia, and
could do the same in future conflicts where NATO intervention was required, thus nullifying the
entire potency and purpose of the organization. Recognizing the post-Cold War military
environment, NATO adopted the Alliance Strategic Concept during its Washington summit in April
1999 that emphasized conflict prevention and crisis management. [74]

Afghanistan War
Main articles: International Security Assistance Force and War in Afghanistan

The September 11th attacks in the United States caused NATO to invoke its collective defence article for
the first time.

The September 11th attacks in the United States caused NATO to invoke Article 5 of the NATO
Charter for the first time in the organization's history. The Article says that an attack on any
member shall be considered to be an attack on all. The invocation was confirmed on 4 October
2001 when NATO determined that the attacks were indeed eligible under the terms of the North
Atlantic Treaty.[75] The eight official actions taken by NATO in response to the attacks
included Operation Eagle Assist and Operation Active Endeavour, a naval operation in the
Mediterranean Sea which is designed to prevent the movement of terrorists or weapons of mass
destruction, as well as enhancing the security of shipping in general which began on 4 October
2001.[76]
The alliance showed unity: on 16 April 2003, NATO agreed to take command of the International
Security Assistance Force (ISAF), which includes troops from 42 countries. The decision came at
the request of Germany and the Netherlands, the two nations leading ISAF at the time of the
agreement, and all nineteen NATO ambassadors approved it unanimously. The handover of
control to NATO took place on 11 August, and marked the first time in NATO's history that it took
charge of a mission outside the north Atlantic area.[77]

ISAF General David M. Rodriguezat an Italian change of command inHerat.

ISAF was initially charged with securing Kabul and surrounding areas from the Taliban, al
Qaedaand factional warlords, so as to allow for the establishment of the Afghan Transitional
Administration headed by Hamid Karzai. In October 2003, the UN Security Council authorized
the expansion of the ISAF mission throughout Afghanistan,[78] and ISAF subsequently expanded
the mission in four main stages over the whole of the country.[79]
On 31 July 2006, the ISAF additionally took over military operations in the south of
Afghanistan from a US-led anti-terrorism coalition.[80]Due to the intensity of the fighting in the
south, in 2011 France allowed a squadron of Mirage 2000 fighter/attack aircraft to be moved into
the area, to Kandahar, in order to reinforce the alliance's efforts.[81] During its 2012 Chicago
Summit, NATO endorsed a plan to end the Afghanistan war and to remove the NATO-led ISAF
Forces by the end of December 2014, and since then US and UK armed forces have withdrawn
and handed control to the Afghan National Army.[82]

Iraq training mission

Main article: NATO Training Mission Iraq
In August 2004, during the Iraq War, NATO formed the NATO Training Mission Iraq, a training
mission to assist the Iraqi security forces in conjunction with the US led MNF-I.[83]The NATO
Training Mission-Iraq (NTM-I) was established at the request of the Iraqi Interim
Government under the provisions of United Nations Security Council Resolution 1546. The aim
of NTM-I was to assist in the development of Iraqi security forces training structures and
institutions so that Iraq can build an effective and sustainable capability that addresses the needs
of the nation. NTM-I was not a combat mission but is a distinct mission, under the political control
of NATO's North Atlantic Council. Its operational emphasis was on training and mentoring. The
activities of the mission were coordinated with Iraqi authorities and the US-led Deputy
Commanding General Advising and Training, who is also dual-hatted as the Commander of
NTM-I. The mission officially concluded on 17 December 2011.[84]

Gulf of Aden anti-piracy

Main article: Operation Ocean Shield

USS Farragut destroying a Somali pirate skiff in March 2010

Beginning on 17 August 2009, NATO deployed warships in an operation to protect maritime

traffic in the Gulf of Aden and the Indian Ocean from Somali pirates, and help strengthen the
navies and coast guards of regional states. The operation was approved by the North Atlantic
Council and involves warships primarily from the United States though vessels from many other
nations are also included. Operation Ocean Shield focuses on protecting the ships of Operation
Allied Provider which are distributing aid as part of the World Food Programme mission
in Somalia. Russia, China and South Korea have sent warships to participate in the activities as
well.[85][86]

Libya intervention
Main article: 2011 military intervention in Libya
During the Libyan Civil War, violence between protestors and the Libyan government under
Colonel Muammar Gaddafi escalated, and on 17 March 2011 led to the passage of United
Nations Security Council Resolution 1973, which called for a ceasefire, and authorized military
action to protect civilians. A coalition that included several NATO members began enforcing a nofly zone over Libya shortly afterwards. On 20 March 2011, NATO states agreed on enforcing an
arms embargo against Libya with Operation Unified Protector using ships from NATO Standing
Maritime Group 1 and Standing Mine Countermeasures Group 1,[87] and additional ships and
submarines from NATO members.[88] They would "monitor, report and, if needed, interdict vessels
suspected of carrying illegal arms ormercenaries".[87]

Libyan Army Palmaria howitzersdestroyed by the French Air Force nearBenghazi in March 2011

On 24 March, NATO agreed to take control of the no-fly zone from the initial coalition, while
command of targeting ground units remained with the coalition's forces. [89][90] NATO began officially
enforcing the UN resolution on 27 March 2011 with assistance from Qatar and theUnited Arab
Emirates.[91] By June, reports of divisions within the alliance surfaced as only eight of the 28
member nations were participating in combat operations,[92] resulting in a confrontation between
US Defense Secretary Robert Gates and countries such as Poland, Spain, the Netherlands,
Turkey, and Germany to contribute more, the latter believing the organization has overstepped its
mandate in the conflict.[93][94][95] In his final policy speech in Brussels on 10 June, Gates further
criticized allied countries in suggesting their actions could cause the demise of NATO. [96] The
German foreign ministry pointed to "a considerable [German] contribution to NATO and NATOled operations" and to the fact that this engagement was highly valued by President Obama. [97]

While the mission was extended into September, Norway that day announced it would begin
scaling down contributions and complete withdrawal by 1 August.[98] Earlier that week it was
reported Danish air fighters were running out of bombs.[99][100] The following week, the head of
the Royal Navy said the country's operations in the conflict were not sustainable. [101] By the end of
the mission in October 2011, after the death of Colonel Gaddafi, NATO planes had flown about
9,500 strike sorties against pro-Gaddafi targets.[102][103] Following a coup d'tat attempt in October
2013, Libyan Prime Minister Ali Zeidan requested technical advice and trainers from NATO to
assist with ongoing security issues.[104]

Participating countries
Map of NATO affiliations in Europe

NATO
members

Membershi
p Action
Plan

Individual
Partnershi
p Action
Plan

Map of NATO partnerships globally

Partnershi
p for Peace

Mediterranea
n Dialogue

Istanbul
Cooperatio
n Initiative

Global
Partner [show]
s

Members
Main article: Member states of NATO

NATO organizes regular summits for leaders of their members states and partnerships.

NATO has twenty-eight members, mainly in Europe and North America. Some of these countries
also have territory on multiple continents, which can be covered only as far south as the Tropic of
Cancer in the Atlantic Ocean, which defines NATO's "area of responsibility" under Article 6 of
the North Atlantic Treaty. During the original treaty negotiations, the United States insisted that

colonies like the Belgian Congobe excluded from the treaty.[105][106] French Algeria was however
covered until 3 July 1962.[107] Twelve of these twenty-eight are original members who joined in
1949, while the other sixteen joined in one of seven enlargement rounds. Few members spend
more than two percent of their gross domestic product on defense, [108] with the United States
accounting for three fourths of NATO defense spending.[109]

Enlargement
Main article: Enlargement of NATO

NATO has added 12 new members since the German reunification and the end of the Cold War.

New membership in the alliance has been largely from Eastern Europe and the Balkans,
including former members of the Warsaw Pact. Their accession to the alliance is governed with
individual Membership Action Plans, and will require approval by each current member. NATO
currently has three candidate countries that are in the process of joining the alliance: Bosnia and
Herzegovina, Montenegro, and the Republic of Macedonia.[110] Though Macedonia completed its
requirements for membership at the same time as Croatia and Albania, NATO's most recent
members, its accession was blocked by Greece pending a resolution of the Macedonia naming
dispute.[111] In order to support each other in the process, new and potential members in that
region formed the Adriatic Charter in 2003.[112] Georgia is also an aspiring member, and was
promised "future membership" during the 2008 summit in Bucharest,[113] although, in 2014, US
President Barack Obama said the country was not "currently on a path" to membership. [114]
Russia continues to oppose further expansion, seeing it as inconsistent with understandings
between Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachevand European and American negotiators that allowed
for a peaceful German reunification.[45] NATO's expansion efforts are often seen by Moscow
leaders as a continuation of a Cold War attempt to surround and isolate Russia.
[115]
Ukraine's relationship with NATO and Europe has been politically divisive, and contributed to
"Euromaidan" protests that saw the ousting of pro-Russian President Viktor Yanukovych in 2014.
Prime Minister Arseniy Yatsenyuk, however, reiterated the government's stance that Ukraine is
not seeking NATO membership.[116]Ukraine is one of eight countries in Eastern Europe with
an Individual Partnership Action Plan. IPAPs began in 2002, and are open to countries that have
the political will and ability to deepen their relationship with NATO.[117] In the wake of the 2014
Crimean crisis, various Eastern European members of the alliance pressed for NATO troops to
be permanently stationed on their soil, a development that would be at variance with the 1997
cooperation agreement with Russia, though NATO says it is not legally bound by that agreement.
[118]

Partnerships
Further information: Foreign relations of NATO

Partnership for Peace conducts multinational military exercises like Cooperative Archer, which took place in
Tblisi in July 2007 with 500 servicemen from four NATO members, eight PfP members, and Jordan, a
Mediterranean Dialogue participant.[119]

The Partnership for Peace (PfP) programme was established in 1994 and is based on individual
bilateral relations between each partner country and NATO: each country may choose the extent
of its participation.[120] Members include all current and former members of theCommonwealth of
Independent States.[121] The Euro-Atlantic Partnership Council (EAPC) was first established on 29
May 1997, and is a forum for regular coordination, consultation and dialogue between all fifty
participants.[122] The PfP programme is considered the operational wing of the Euro-Atlantic
Partnership.[120] Other third countries also have been contacted for participation in some activities
of the PfP framework such as Afghanistan.[123]
The European Union (EU) signed a comprehensive package of arrangements with NATO under
the Berlin Plus agreement on 16 December 2002. With this agreement the EU was given the
possibility to use NATO assets in case it wanted to act independently in an international crisis, on
the condition that NATO itself did not want to actthe so-called "right of first refusal."[124] It
provides a "double framework" for the EU countries that are also linked with the PfP programme.
Additionally, NATO cooperates and discusses their activities with numerous other non-NATO
members. The Mediterranean Dialogue was established in 1994 to coordinate in a similar way
with Israeland countries in North Africa. The Istanbul Cooperation Initiative was announced in
2004 as a dialog forum for the Middle East along the same lines as the Mediterranean Dialogue.
The four participants are also linked through the Gulf Cooperation Council.[125]
Political dialogue with Japan began in 1990, and since then, the Alliance has gradually increased
its contact with countries that do not form part of any of these cooperation initiatives. [126] In 1998,
NATO established a set of general guidelines that do not allow for a formal institutionalization of
relations, but reflect the Allies' desire to increase cooperation. Following extensive debate, the
term "Contact Countries" was agreed by the Allies in 2000. By 2012, the Alliance had broadened
this group, which meets to discuss issues such as counter-piracy and technology exchange,
under the names "partners across the globe" or "global partners." [127][128] Australia and New
Zealand, both contact counties, are also members of the AUSCANNZUKUS strategic alliance,
and similar regional or bilateral agreements between contact countries and NATO members also
aid cooperation. In June 2013, Colombia and NATO signed an Agreement on the Security of
Information to explore future cooperation and consultation in areas of common interest; Colombia
became the first and only Latin American country to cooperate with NATO.[129]

Structures

Secretary General of NATO Jens Stoltenberg (right) and his predecessor,Anders Fogh Rasmussen (left),
talk with members of the Norwegian army'sTelemark Battalion in Oslo.

The main headquarters of NATO is located on Boulevard Lopold III/Leopold III-laan, B-1110
Brussels, which is in Haren, part of the City of Brussels municipality.[130] A new 750 million
headquarters building is, as of 2014, under construction across from the current complex, and is
due for completion by 2016.[131] Problems in the current building stem from its hurried construction
in 1967, when NATO was forced to moved its headquarters from Porte Dauphine in Paris, France
following the French withdrawal.[132][35]
The staff at the Headquarters is composed of national delegations of member countries and
includes civilian and military liaison offices and officers or diplomatic missions and diplomats of
partner countries, as well as the International Staff and International Military Staff filled from
serving members of the armed forces of member states.[133] Non-governmental citizens' groups
have also grown up in support of NATO, broadly under the banner of the Atlantic Council/Atlantic
Treaty Association movement.

NATO Council
Like any alliance, NATO is ultimately governed by its 28 member states. However, the North
Atlantic Treaty and other agreements outline how decisions are to be made within NATO. Each of
the 28 members sends a delegation or mission to NATO's headquarters in Brussels, Belgium.
[134]
The senior permanent member of each delegation is known as the Permanent Representative
and is generally a senior civil servant or an experienced ambassador (and holding that diplomatic
rank). Several countries have diplomatic missions to NATO through embassies in Belgium.
Together, the Permanent Members form the North Atlantic Council (NAC), a body which meets
together at least once a week and has effective governance authority and powers of decision in
NATO. From time to time the Council also meets at higher level meetings involving foreign
ministers, defence ministers or heads of state or government (HOSG) and it is at these meetings
that major decisions regarding NATO's policies are generally taken. However, it is worth noting
that the Council has the same authority and powers of decision-making, and its decisions have
the same status and validity, at whatever level it meets. NATO summits also form a further venue
for decisions on complex issues, such as enlargement.
The meetings of the North Atlantic Council are chaired by the Secretary General of NATO and,
when decisions have to be made, action is agreed upon on the basis of unanimity and common
accord. There is no voting or decision by majority. Each nation represented at the Council table
or on any of its subordinate committees retains complete sovereignty and responsibility for its
own decisions.
List of Secretaries General[135]

Name

Country

1 Lord Ismay

United
Kingdom

Paul-Henri
Spaak

3 Dirk Stikker

Belgium

List of Deputy Secretaries General[136]

Duration

4 April 1952 16
May 1957

Name

Jonkheer van
Vredenburch

16 May 1957 21
Baron Adolph
2
April 1961
Bentinck

Netherlan 21 April 1961 1

3 Alberico

Country

Duration

nds

Netherla 1952
1956

nds

Netherla 1956
1958

Italy

1958

ds

4 Manlio Brosio

5 Joseph Luns

6 Lord Carrington

August 1964

Italy

ds

1 August 1964 1
Guido Colonna
4
October 1971
di Paliano

1962

Italy

1962
1964

James A.
Roberts

Canada

1964
1968

25 June 1984 1
July 1988

6 Osman Olcay

Turkey

1969
1971

Netherlan 1 October 1971

25 June 1984

United
Kingdom

Casardi

Manfred
Wrner

Germany

1 July 1988 13
August 1994

Paolo Pansa
Cedronio

Italy

1971
1978

Sergio
Balanzino

Italy

13 August 1994
17 October 1994

Rinaldo
Petrignani

Italy

1978
1981

Belgium

17 October 1994
20 October
1995

9 Eric da Rin

Italy

1981
1985

10 Marcello Guidi

Italy

1985
1989

11

Amedeo de
Franchis

Italy

1989
1994

12

Sergio
Balanzino

Italy

1994
2001

13

Alessandro
Minuto Rizzo

Italy

2001
2007

17 December
2003 1 January
2004

14

Claudio
Bisogniero

Italy

2007
2012

Netherlan 1 January 2004

1 August 2009

15

Alexander
Vershbow

8 Willy Claes

Sergio
Balanzino

Italy

9 Javier Solana

10 Lord Robertson

Alessandro
Minuto-Rizzo

11

Jaap de Hoop
Scheffer

Spain

United
Kingdom

Italy

ds

20 October 1995
5 December
1995

5 December 1995
6 October 1999

14 October 1999
17 December
2003

United
States

2012

12

Anders Fogh
Rasmussen

Denmark

1 August 2009
30 September
2014

13

Jens
Stoltenberg

Norway

1 October 2014

Acting Secretary General

NATO Parliamentary Assembly

Main article: NATO Parliamentary Assembly

The NATO Parliamentary Assembly, an intergovernmental organization of NATO and associate countries'
elected representatives, meets in London prior to the start of the 2014 Newport summit.

The body that sets broad strategic goals for NATO is the NATO Parliamentary Assembly (NATOPA) which meets at the Annual Session, and one other during the year, and is the organ that
directly interacts with the parliamentary structures of the national governments of the member
states which appoint Permanent Members, or ambassadors to NATO. The NATO Parliamentary
Assembly is made up of legislators from the member countries of the North Atlantic Alliance as
well as thirteen associate members. Karl A. Lamers, German Deputy Chairman of the Defence
Committee of the Bundestag and a member of the Christian Democratic Union, became
president of the assembly in 2010.[137] It is however officially a different structure from NATO, and
has as aim to join together deputies of NATO countries in order to discuss security policies on
the NATO Council.
The Assembly is the political integration body of NATO that generates political policy agenda
setting for the NATO Council via reports of its five committees:

Committee on the Civil Dimension of Security

Defence and Security Committee

Economics and Security Committee

Political Committee

Science and Technology Committee

These reports provide impetus and direction as agreed upon by the national governments of the
member states through their own national political processes and influencers to the NATO
administrative and executive organizational entities.

Military structures
Main article: Military units and formations of NATO

NATO E-3A flying with US F-16s in a NATO exercise

NATO's military operations are directed by the Chairman of the NATO Military Committee, and
split into two Strategic Commands commanded by a senior US officer and a senior French
officer[138] assisted by a staff drawn from across NATO. The Strategic Commanders are
responsible to the Military Committee for the overall direction and conduct of all Alliance military
matters within their areas of command.[52]
Each country's delegation includes a Military Representative, a senior officer from each country's
armed forces, supported by the International Military Staff. Together the Military Representatives
form the Military Committee, a body responsible for recommending to NATO's political authorities
those measures considered necessary for the common defence of the NATO area. Its principal
role is to provide direction and advice on military policy and strategy. It provides guidance on
military matters to the NATO Strategic Commanders, whose representatives attend its meetings,
and is responsible for the overall conduct of the military affairs of the Alliance under the authority
of the Council.[139] The Chairman of the NATO Military Committee is Knud Bartels of Denmark,
since 2012.[140]
Like the Council, from time to time the Military Committee also meets at a higher level, namely at
the level of Chiefs of Defence, the most senior military officer in each nation's armed forces. Until
2008 the Military Committee excluded France, due to that country's 1966 decision to remove
itself from NATO's integrated military structure, which it rejoined in 1995. Until France rejoined
NATO, it was not represented on the Defence Planning Committee, and this led to conflicts
between it and NATO members.[141] Such was the case in the lead up to Operation Iraqi Freedom.
[142]
The operational work of the Committee is supported by the International Military Staff.
The NATO command structure evolved throughout the Cold War and its aftermath. An integrated
military structure for NATO was first established in 1950 as it became clear that NATO would
need to enhance its defenses for the longer term against a potential Soviet attack. In April
1951, Allied Command Europe and its headquarters (SHAPE) were established; later, four
subordinate headquarters were added in Northern and Central Europe, the Southern Region,
and the Mediterranean.[143]
From 19972003 the Strategic Commanders were the Supreme Allied Commander
Europe (SACEUR) and the Supreme Allied Commander Atlantic (SACLANT) but the current
arrangement is to separate command responsibility between Allied Command
Transformation (ACT), responsible for transformation and training of NATO forces, and Allied
Command Operations (ACO), responsible for NATO operations worldwide.[144] Starting in late
2003 NATO has restructured how it commands and deploys its troops by creating several NATO
Rapid Deployable Corps, including Eurocorps, I. German/Dutch Corps, Multinational Corps
Northeast, and NATO Rapid Deployable Italian Corps among others, as well as naval High
Readiness Forces (HRFs), which all report to Allied Command Operations. [145]

NATO Networks
There are several communications networks used by NATO to support its exercises and
operations:

Battlefield Information Collection and Exploitation

Systems (BICES)

Crisis Response Operations in NATO Operating

Systems (CRONOS), which is a system of interconnected
computer networks used by NATO to transmit classified
informationat the level of NATO Secret.

Combined Federated Battle Laboratories Network (CFBLNet),

which is a wide area network connecting the US, the UK,
Canada, Australia, New Zealand, six NATO countries and
Sweden for sharing research and development information.

See also
NATO portal

CENTO

List of military alliances

SEATO

South Atlantic Peace and Cooperation Zone

Warsaw Pact

Cold War II

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Bibliography

Auerswald, David P., and Stephen M. Saideman, eds. NATO in

Afghanistan: Fighting Together, Fighting Alone (Princeton U.P., 2014)

Bethlehem, Daniel L.; Weller, Marc (1997). The 'Yugoslav' Crisis in

International Law. Cambridge International Documents
Series 5. Cambridge University Press. ISBN 978-0-521-46304-1.

Clausson, M. I. (2006). NATO: Status, Relations, and Decision-Making.

Nova Publishers.ISBN 1-60021-098-8.

Further reading

Collins, Brian J. (2011). NATO: A Guide to the Issues. ABCCLIO. ISBN 0-3133-5491-X.

Garthoff, Raymond L. (1994). Dtente and confrontation: AmericanSoviet relations from Nixon to Reagan. Brookings Institution
Press. ISBN 0-8157-3041-1.

Gorbachev, Mikhail (1996). Memoirs. London: Doubleday. ISBN 978-0385-40668-0.

Isby, David C.; Kamps Jr., Charles (1985). Armies of NATO's Central
Front. Jane's Information Group. ISBN 0-7106-0341-X.

Kaplan, Lawrence S. (2013). NATO before the Korean War: April 1949June 1950. Kent, OH: Kent State University Press.

Kaplan, Lawrence S. (2004). NATO Divided, NATO United: The

Evolution of an Alliance. Greenwood Publishing Group. ISBN 0-27598006-5.

National Defense University (1997). Allied command structures in the

new NATO. DIANE Publishing. ISBN 1-57906-033-1.

Njlstad, Olav (2004). The last decade of the Cold War: from conflict
escalation to conflict transformation 5. Psychology Press. ISBN 07146-8539-9.

Osgood, Robert E. (1962). NATO: The Entangling Alliance. University

of Chicago Press.

Park, William (1986). Defending the West: a history of NATO. Westview

Press. ISBN 0-8133-0408-3.

Reynolds, David (1994). The Origins of the Cold War in Europe:

International Perspectives.Yale University Press. ISBN 0-300-10562-2.

Schoenbaum, Thomas J. (1988). Waging Peace and War: Dean Rusk

in the Truman, Kennedy, and Johnson Years. Ann Arbor,
Michigan: Simon and Schuster. ISBN 0-671-60351-5.

van der Eyden, Ton (2003). Public management of society:

rediscovering French institutional engineering in the European
context 1. IOS Press. ISBN 1-58603-291-7.

Wenger, Andreas; Nuenlist, Christian; Locher, Anna

(2007). Transforming NATO in the Cold War: Challenges beyond
deterrence in the 1960s. Taylor & Francis. ISBN 0-415-39737-5.

Willbanks, James H. (2004). Machine Guns: An Illustrated History of

Their Impact. ABC-CLIO.ISBN 1-8510-9480-6.

Zenko, Micah (2010). Between Threats and War: U.S. Discrete Military
Operations in the Post-Cold War World. Stanford University
Press. ISBN 0-8047-7191-X.

Asmus, Ronald. A Little War that Shook the World : Georgia,

Russia, and the Future of the West. NYU (2010). ISBN 978-0230-61773-5

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