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NATO is also an acronym for the National Association of Theatre Owners.
The NATO flag
NATO 2002 Summit in Prague

The North Atlantic Treaty Organisation (NATO), also called the North Atlantic Alliance, the Atlantic Alliance or the Western Alliance, is an international organisationTemplate:Fn for collective security established in 1949, in support of the North Atlantic Treaty signed in Washington, DC, on 4 April 1949. Its headquarters are located in Brussels[1], Belgium. Its other official name is the French equivalent, l'Organisation du Traité de l'Atlantique Nord (OTAN).

Purpose

The core of NATO is Article V of the NATO Treaty, which states:

The Parties agree that an armed attack against one or more of them in Europe or North America shall be considered an attack against them all. Consequently they agree that, if such an armed attack occurs, each of them, in exercise of the right of individual or collective self-defence recognised by Article 51 of the Charter of the United Nations, will assist the Party or Parties so attacked by taking forthwith, individually and in concert with the other Parties, such action as it deems necessary, including the use of armed force, to restore and maintain the security of the North Atlantic area.

The Treaty cautiously avoids reference both to the identification of an enemy and to any concrete measures of common defence. Nevertheless, it was intended so that if the USSR and its allies launched an attack against any of the NATO members, it would be treated as if it was an attack on all member states. This marked a significant change for the United States, which traditionally harboured strong isolationists groups across parties in Congress. However, the feared invasion of Western Europe never came. Instead, the provision was invoked for the first time in the treaty's history on 12 September 2001, in response to the 11 September attacks on the United States the day before.

NATO Summit 2006 will take place in Latvia.

History

The US President, NATO Secretary General, and the Prime Ministers of Latvia, Slovenia, Lithuania, Slovakia, Romania, Bulgaria, and Estonia after a South Lawn ceremony welcoming them into NATO on 29 March 2004.
  • 1966: Charles de Gaulle removes French armed forces from NATO’s integrated military command to pursue its own nuclear defence programme. All non-French NATO troops are forced to leave France. This precipitates the relocation of the NATO Headquarters from Paris to Brussels by October 16, 1967. While the political headquarters are located in Brussels the military headquarters, the Supreme Headquarters Allied Powers Europe (SHAPE), are located just south of Brussels, in the town of Mons.
  • 1 July 1968: The Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty opened for signature. NATO argued its nuclear weapons sharing arrangements did not breach the treaty as US forces controlled the weapons until a decision is 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.
  • 30 May 1978: NATO countries define two complementary aims of the Alliance, to maintain security and pursue détente. This is supposed to mean matching defences at the level rendered necessary by the Warsaw Pact's offensive capabilities without spurring a further arms race.
  • 12 December 1979: In light of a build-up of Warsaw Pact nuclear capabilities in Europe, ministers approved the deployment of US Cruise and Pershing II theatre nuclear weapons in Europe. The new warheads are also meant to strengthen the western negotiating position in regard to nuclear disarmament.
  • 1983–84: Responding to the stationing of Warsaw Pact SS-20 medium-range missiles in Europe, NATO deploys modern Pershing II missiles able to reach Moscow within minutes. This action leads to bitter peace movement protests throughout Western Europe.
  • November 1983: A NATO manoeuvre code-named Able Archer 83, which simulates a NATO nuclear release, causes panic in the Kremlin. Soviet leadership, led by ailing General Secretary Yuri Andropov becomes concerned that US President Ronald Reagan may intend to launch a genuine first strike. In response, Soviet nuclear forces were readied and air units in Eastern Germany and Poland were placed on alert. Though at the time written off by US intelligence as a propaganda effort, many historians now believe Soviet fear of a NATO first strike was genuine.
  • 31 March 1991: The Warsaw Pact comes to an end. It is officially dissolved on 1 July 1991. The Soviet Union collapses in December of the same year.
  • 8 July 1997: Three former communist countries, Hungary, the Czech Republic, and Poland, are invited to join NATO. They join in 1999.
  • 24 March 1999: NATO sees its first broad-scale military engagement in the Kosovo War, where it wages an 11-week bombing campaign against what was then the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia. The United States has opposed efforts to require the UN Security Council to approve NATO military strikes, such as the ongoing action against Yugoslavia. France and some other NATO countries have said the alliance needs UN approval. American officials say that would undermine the authority of the alliance, and they note that Russia and China would have exercised their Security Council vetoes to block the strike on Yugoslavia. Conflict ends on 11 June 1999, when Yugoslavian leader Slobodan Milošević agrees to NATO’s demands. Currently, NATO operates the military peacekeeping mission in Kosovo as part of the 18,000 personnel KFOR force.
  • 12 September 2001: NATO provisionally invokes, for the first time in its history, the collective security clause of its charter. Article 5 states that any attack on a member state is considered an attack against the entire alliance. This comes in response to the September 11, 2001 Terrorist Attack against the United States.
  • 5 October 2001: NATO confirms the invocation of Article 5, having determined that the attacks of 11 September were eligible under the terms of the North Atlantic Treaty. [1]
  • 10 February 2003: NATO faces a crisis when France and Belgium veto the procedure of silent approval concerning the timing of protective measures for Turkey in case of a possible war with Iraq. Germany does not use its right to break the procedure but says it supports the veto.
File:NATO Defense Ministerial Conference in Nice 2005.jpg
NATO Defence Ministerial Conference in Nice 2005
  • 16 April 2003: NATO agrees to take command in August of the International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) in Afghanistan. The decision comes at the request of Germany and the Netherlands, the two nations leading ISAF at the time of the agreement. All 19 NATO ambassadors approve it unanimously. The handover of control to NATO takes place on 11 August, and marked the first time in NATO’s history that it takes charge of a mission outside the north Atlantic area. Canada had originally been slated to take over ISAF by itself on that date.
  • 19 June 2003: A major restructuring of the NATO military commands begins as the Headquarters of the Supreme Allied Commander, Atlantic was abolished and a new command, Allied Command Transformation (ACT), was established in Norfolk, Virginia, US 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.


  • 29 March 2004: Bulgaria, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Romania, Slovakia, and Slovenia join NATO.

Membership

File:Map of NATO countries2.png
Map of NATO countries

Greece and Turkey joined the initial 12 members of the organisation in February 1952. The Federal Republic of Germany (West Germany) joined NATO in 1955. German reunification on 3 October 1990 extended Germany's membership to the areas of the former German Democratic Republic. Spain was admitted on 30 May 1982, and the former Warsaw Pact countries of Poland, Hungary and the Czech Republic made history by becoming members on 12 March 1999.

France is a member of NATO, but it withdrew from the integrated military command in 1966. Following this decision, the NATO headquarters was moved from Paris to Brussels. Iceland, the sole member of NATO which does not have its own military force (the Icelandic Defense Force being the United States Military contingent permanently stationed in Iceland), joined on the condition that they would not be expected to establish one.

Greece withdrew its forces from NATO’s military command structure from 1974 to 1980 as a result of Greco-Turkish tensions following the 1974 Cyprus dispute.

The former Warsaw Pact countries of Slovakia, Slovenia (was never a member of Warsaw Pact), Bulgaria, Romania, Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania officially acceded to NATO on 29 March 2004. They attended their first NATO meeting in April 2004.

Albania, Croatia, and the F.Y.R. of Macedonia are the three countries currently in the NATO MAP (Membership Action Programme); they are likely to join NATO in the future.

Membership of NATO in Europe

Founding members (4 April 1949)

States that joined during the Cold War

Former Eastern Bloc states that joined after the Cold War

12 March 1999:

29 March 2004:

Cooperation with non-member states

  NATO member states
  Partnership for Peace countries
  Mediterranean Dialogue countries

Partner countries

Main article: Euro-Atlantic Partnership Council

The Euro-Atlantic Partnership Council consists of 46 member countries: the 26 NATO members and 20 partner countries:

  • 5 countries that (though militarily neutral) possessed capitalist economies during the Cold War:
  • 3 Balkan nations also on the Eastern side of the Iron Curtain during the Cold War:

NATO-Russia Council

Main article: NATO-Russia Council

NATO and Russia made a reciprocal commitment in 1997 "to work together to build a stable, secure and undivided continent on the basis of partnership and common interest."

In May 2002, this commitment was strengthened with the establishment of the NATO-Russia Council, which brings together the NATO members and Russia. The purpose of this council is to identify and pursue opportunities for joint action with the 27 participants as equal partners.

Structures

Political structure

Organisational structure

Like any alliance, NATO is ultimately governed by its 26 member states. However, the North Atlantic Treaty, and other agreements, outline how decisions are to be made within NATO. Each of the 26 members sends a delegation or mission to NATO’s headquarters in Brussels, Belgium. 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).

Together the Permanent Members form the North Atlantic Council (NAC), a body which meets together at least once a week and has effective political authority and powers of decision in NATO. From time to time the Council also meets at higher levels involving Foreign Ministers, Defence Ministers or Heads of Government 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.

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.

  • The second pivotal member of each country's delegation is the Military Representative, a senior officer from each country's armed forces. 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.

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.

  • In addition to this strictly internal structure, there are a number of institutionalised cooperations and consultations in a spirit of partnership.

The NATO Parliamentary Assembly is made up of legislators from the member countries of the North Atlantic Alliance as well as 13 associate members[2].

Secretaries General [3]

  1. General Lord Ismay (United Kingdom): 4 April 1952 – 16 May 1957
  2. Paul-Henri Spaak (Belgium): 16 May 1957 – 21 April 1961
  3. Dirk Stikker (Netherlands): 21 April 1961 – 1 August 1964
  4. Manlio Brosio (Italy): 1 August 1964 – 1 October 1971
  5. Joseph Luns (Netherlands): 1 October 1971 – 25 June 1984
  6. Lord Carrington (United Kingdom): 25 June 1984 – 1 July 1988
  7. Manfred Wörner (Germany): 1 July 1988 – 13 August 1994
  8. Sergio Balanzino (Italy, acting): 13 August 1994 – 17 October 1994
  9. Willy Claes (Belgium): 17 October 1994 – 20 October 1995
  10. Sergio Balanzino (Italy, acting): 20 October 1995 – 5 December 1995
  11. Javier Solana (Spain): 5 December 1995 – 6 October 1999
  12. Lord Robertson of Port Ellen (United Kingdom): 14 October 1999 – 1 January 2004
  13. Jaap de Hoop Scheffer (Netherlands): 1 January 2004–present

Deputy Secretary General of NATO [3]

  1. Sergio Balanzino (1994–2001)
  2. Alessandro Minuto Rizzo (2001–present)

Military structure

NATO’s military operations are directed by two Strategic Commanders, both senior American Officers 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.

NATO E-3A flying with American F-16s

Before 2003 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, responsible for NATO operations world wide.

The commander of Allied Command Operations retained the title "Supreme Allied Commander Europe (SACEUR)", and is based in the Supreme Headquarters Allied Powers Europe (SHAPE) located at Casteau, north of the Belgian city of Mons. This is about 80 km (50 miles) south of NATO’s political headquarters in Brussels. Allied Command Transformation (ACT) is based in the former Allied Command Atlantic headquarters in Norfolk, Virginia, USA.

NATO operates a fleet of E-3A Sentry AWACS airborne radar aircraft based out of Geilenkirchen Air Base in Germany.

Research and Technology (R&T) at NATO

NATO currently possesses three Research and Technology (R&T) organisations:

  • NATO Undersea Research Centre (NURC) ([4]), reporting directly to the Supreme Allied Command Transformation;
  • Research and Technology Agency (RTA) ([5]), reporting to the Research and Technology Organisation (RTO);
  • NATO Consultation, Command and Control Agency (NC3A) ([6]), reporting to the NATO Consultation, Command and Control Organisation (NC3O).

Debate about its future

The future of NATO is currently under debate. The main issues are:

  • The necessity. The crumbling of the main "enemy of the west" in Eastern Europe removed for many observers the necessity of a collective defence organisation. The debate about the necessity of NATO has increased due to dissension between members about the American led invasion of Iraq, makes some wonder (largely in North America) whether NATO has not become obsolete. The presumed threat of terrorism could give the institution a new life, but some think also that fighting terrorists needs a completely different political and military organisation, as well as completely different weapon systems to those on which NATO was built. However, when objectively looking at the current NATO, it is seen to be a continuously evolving institution, aware of the challenges of the new millennium. NATO's Allied Command Transformation (ACT) drives that evolution. In fact, as it is clear in ACT's mission statement, they "are NATO’s forcing agent for change, leading the continuous improvement of Alliance capabilities to uphold NATO’s global security interests". For that purpose, NATO benefits from world-class scientific research and development, both within its own research centres and in partnering with other internationally renowned scientific institutions.
  • The benefits for the US. In the US, some voices emphasise the discrepancy in military spending between the USA and European members. While the USA has the largest total military budget in the world, European nations have decreased their budgets significantly after the end of the Cold War. The gap in military capabilities is thus increasing, which raises questions about what the USA gains from membership. The lack of European capabilities was highlighted during the Kosovo crisis. Former NATO-secretary Lord Robertson criticised the European members in 1999, pointing out European nations must commit substantially more funds to defence just to meet their existing commitments to NATO. [2] However, this commitment has not been fulfilled in the following years, and it is expected that this will remain to be the case for the foreseeable future. That the US wants to continue to benefit from military ties with Europe (though not necessarily through NATO) can be seen by the fact that the US has had talks with Poland and other European countries over the possibility of setting up a European base to intercept long-range missiles, as part of the American NMD programme. This programme is designed to shoot down long-range missiles fired at North America. A European base would also protect some European nations (as well as the US). [7]
  • An obstacle to European integration. Many argue that NATO is in conflict with the prospects of deeper European integration in the fields of foreign policy and security within the framework of the EU institutions. Some advocates for a strong EU Common Foreign and Security Policy (CFSP) would like to see NATO dismantled and a common defence and foreign policy created within the existing EU institutions. In November 2004, after the re-election of United States President George W. Bush, the Norwegian Prime Minister Kjell Magne Bondevik publicly discussed whether Norway would benefit from strengthening her defence relations with the EU. Some Norwegian political analysts consider NATO to be a "politically dead organisation".[citation needed] So do several pundits and political leaders in other member nations. These attitudes will of necessity be reflected in future discussions of NATO expansion.
  • Further Enlargement The admission of further PFP-nations is very likely. PFP often is considered a route to full scale NATO-membership. As a corollary NATO would become even more divergent in many respects, and harder to stir institutionally, which might further dilute the commitment of the traditionally strong member states to their partners. At the same time, there are advocates for Israeli membership or for a full scale membership of Russia. A membership of any of the two would have fundamental implications on the nature of NATO, e.g. in the case of Russia a common NATO border with China.

Notes

Template:Fnb NATO uses British English spelling as its standard. This convention is discussed in its online frequently asked questions: "Q: Why do you spell 'organisation' with an 's' and not a 'z'? A: By tradition, NATO uses European English spellings in all public information documents...". NATO has two official languages, English and French, defined in Article 14 of the North Atlantic Treaty.

References

  1. ^ Boulevard Léopold III, B-1110 BRUSSELS, which is in Haren, part of the City of Brussels, "NATO homepage". Retrieved 2006-03-07.
  2. ^ http://www.nato-pa.int/Default.asp?SHORTCUT=1
  3. ^ a b http://www.nato.int/cv/secgen.htm
  4. ^ http://www.nurc.nato.int
  5. ^ http://www.rta.nato.int
  6. ^ http://www.nc3a.nato.int
  7. ^ http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/europe/4445284.stm

See also

Wikimedia Commons has media related to North Atlantic Treaty Organisation.

References

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