Source References

• Swedish Armed Forces’ website: http://www.forsvarsmakten.se/en/ and https://www.forsvarsmakten.se/en/news/focus-on-the-swedish-nato-debate/ • Swedish Government: https://www.government.se/ • Wikipedia Top of page

NATO - North Atlantic Treaty Organization

NATO

The North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO), also called the North Atlantic Alliance, is an intergovernmental military alliance of 32 member states (2024) – 30 European and two North American. NATO's purpose is to promote and ensure peace and security in its member states. Cooperation is governed by the North Atlantic Treaty, which was signed on 4 April 1949 and entered into force on 24 August 1949. The alliance consisted of the 12 countries that signed and ratified the treaty: the United States, Belgium, Denmark, France, Iceland, Italy, Canada, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Norway, Portugal, and the United Kingdom. In 1951, the military organization NATO was established. NATO's first Secretary-General is Lord Ismay. NATO’s main headquarters are located in Brussels, Belgium. The image above shows the NATO flag. The basis of the military alliance is governed by the preamble and 14 articles of the North Atlantic Treaty. The core of the Treaty is the collective defense clause in Article 5, which provides that an armed attack on any of the Member States in Europe or North America shall be considered an attack on all of them and that an attacked Member State shall consequently be assisted by the other members. The Treaty also describes the principles of ratification, accession, withdrawal, the establishment of the North Atlantic Council and assistance in the event of other threats to the security of Member States. In 1952, Greece and Turkey joined the alliance. West Germany was recognized as a sovereign state and joined NATO in 1955. Spain joined NATO in 1982. Poland, the Czech Republic and Hungary became the first Eastern European NATO members in March 1999. In 2004, Bulgaria, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Romania, Slovakia, and Slovenia joined NATO. So, in 1999 and 2004 respectively, ten new members were welcomed, three of which had been part of the Soviet Union and another six had been part of the Warsaw Pact. Albania and Croatia joined in 2009, Montenegro in 2017 and the North Macedonia in 2020. In 2023, Finland became the 31st member of NATO and Sweden the 32nd in 2024.

The Alliance’s Names and Official Languages

NATO has two official languages, English and French. NATO (North Atlantic Treaty Organization) is the alliance's English name while OTAN (Organisation du traité de l'Atlantique nord) is its French name.

Structure of NATO

All agencies and organizations of NATO are integrated into either the civilian administrative or military executive roles. For the most part they perform roles and functions that directly or indirectly support the security role of the alliance as a whole. Its military assets consist almost exclusively of the member states' own armed forces, with only a small number of AWACS aircraft belonging to the NATO organization itself. The Alliance comprises about 4 000 civilian officials and more than 8 000 staff officers.

The Civilian Structure

The North Atlantic Council (NAC) is the body which has effective governance authority and powers of decision in NATO, consisting of member states' permanent representatives or representatives at higher level (ministers of foreign affairs or defence, or heads of state or government). The NAC convenes at least once a week and takes decisions on key policy issues and overall defense planning. Decisions require unanimity, which gives all members the right of veto. The work of the North Atlantic Council is led by the Secretary General of NATO who is supported by a staff. Two other important civilian bodies are directly linked to the Council. The image shows NATO's current (2024) Secretary General, Jens Stoltenberg. The Defense Planning Committee (DPC) has a specific responsibility for joint defense planning. The Nuclear Planning Group (NPG) was established in 1967 to give member states greater influence over nuclear weapons management and deployment. NATO has no nuclear weapons of its own, with the majority of the Alliance's warheads belonging to the United States, and a smaller proportion belonging to France and the United Kingdom. The NATO Parliamentary Assembly (NATO PA) is a body that sets broad strategic goals for NATO, which meets at two session per year. NATO PA interacts directly with the parliamentary structures of the national governments of the member states which appoint Permanent Members, or ambassadors to NATO.

The Military Structure

The Military Committee (MC) is NATO's highest military body, but is subordinate to and advisory to the North Atlantic Council (NAC). Member countries are regularly represented by senior military officers and, more rarely, by their commanders-in-chief (CHODs). Instead, the national Chiefs of Defence (CHOD) are regularly represented in the MC by their permanent Military Representatives (MilRep), who often are two- or three-star flag officers. The MC is led by its chairman, who directs NATO's military operations. The Committee and its Chairman are assisted by the International Military Staff (IMS), which consists of personnel from all Member States. In addition to its advisory role, the Military Committee is responsible for NATO's two strategic commands: Allied Command Operations (ACO) and Allied Command Transformation (ACT). The operational command of ACO is held by the Supreme Allied Commander Europe (SACEUR), who, by custom, is always an American general or admiral who, outside NATO, commands the United States European Command. In his role as SACEUR, his headquarters for Allied Command Operations (ACO) is located at Supreme Headquarters Allied Powers Europe (SHAPE) outside Mons, Belgium.