Text File

NATO handbook01 uploaded March 25, 1993

PART I

HOW NATO WORKS

5. MACHINERY OF COOPERATION

The basic machinery of Alliance cooperation is as fol- lows:

(a) The North Atlantic Council has effective political authority and powers of decision and consists of Permanent Representatives of all member countries meet- ing together at least once a week. The Council also meets at higher levels involving Foreign Ministers or Heads of Government but it has the same authority and powers of decision-making, and its decisions have the same status and validity, at whatever level it meets. The Council has an important public profile and issues declarations and communiques explaining its policies and decisions to the general public and to governments of countries which are not members of the Alliance.

The Council is the only body within the Alliance which derives its authority explicitly from the North Atlantic Treaty. The Council itself was given responsibility under the Treaty for setting up subsidiary bodies. A large number of committees and planning groups have since been created to support the work of the Council or to assume responsibility in specific fields such as defence planning, nuclear planning and military matters.

The Council thus provides a unique forum for wide- ranging consultation between member governments on all issues affecting their security and is the most important decision-making body in NATO. All sixteen member coun- tries of NATO have an equal right to express their views round the Council table. Decisions are the expression of the collective will of member governments arrived at by common consent. All member governments are party to the policies formulated and to the consensus on which decisions are based.

Each government is represented on the Council by a Permanent Representative with ambassadorial rank. Each Permanent Representative is supported by a political and military staff or delegation to NATO, varying in size.

Twice each year, and sometimes more frequently, the Council meets at Ministerial level, when each nation is represented by its Minister of Foreign Affairs. Summit Meetings, attended by Heads of State or Government, are held whenever particularly important issues confront- ing the whole Alliance have to be addressed.

While the permanent Council normally meets at least once a week, it can be convened at short notice whenever necessary. All its meetings are chaired by the Secretary General of NATO or his Deputy. At Ministerial Meetings, one of the Foreign Ministers assumes the role of Honorary President. The position rotates annually among the nations, in the order of the English alphabet.

Items discussed and decisions taken at meetings of the Council cover all aspects of the Organisation's activities and are frequently based on reports and recommend- ations prepared by subordinate committees at the Coun- cil's request. Equally, subjects may be raised by any one of the national representatives or by the Secretary General. Permanent Representatives act on instructions from their capitals, informing and explaining the views and policy decisions of their governments to their col- leagues round the table. Conversely they report back to their national authorities on the views expressed and positions taken by other governments, informing them of new developments and keeping them abreast of move- ment towards consensus on important issues or areas where national positions diverge.

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 repre- sented at the Council table or on any of its subordinate committees retains complete sovereignty and responsiblity for its own decisions.

(b) The Defence Planning Committee is normally com- posed of Permanent Representatives but meets at the level of Defence Ministers at least twice a year, and deals with most defence matters and subjects related to collective defence planning. With the exception of France, all member countries are represented in this forum. The Defence Planning Committee provides guidance to NATO's military authorities and within the area of its responsibilities, has the same functions and attributes and the same authority as the Council.

(c) The Nuclear Planning Group meets at the same level and with the same status as the Defence Planning Committee. This is the principal forum for consultation on all matters relating to the role of nuclear forces in NATO's security policy. The Nuclear Planning Group fol- lows a similar pattern of meetings at ambassadorial level and at the level of Ministers of Defence and has the same functions and authority for decisions on nuclear matters as the Council and Defence Planning Committee have in their own spheres. All member countries except France participate. Iceland participates as an observer.

(d) The Secretary General is a senior international statesman nominated by the member nations both as Chairman of the North Atlantic Council, Defence Plan- ning Committee, Nuclear Planning Group and of other senior committees, and as Secretary General of NATO. He also acts as principal spokesman of the Organis- ation, both in its external relations and in communi- cations and contacts between member governments. The role of the Secretary General is described in more detail in Part III.

(e) The International Staff is drawn from the member countries, serves the Council and the many Committees and Working Groups subordinate to it and works on a continuous basis on a wide variety of issues relevant to the Alliance. In addition there are a number of civil agencies and organisations located in different member countries, working in specific fields such as communica- tions and logistic support. The organisation and struc- tures of the International Staff and the principal civil agencies established by NATO to perform specific tasks are described in Part III.

(f) The Military Committee is responsible for recom- mending to NATO's political authorities those measures considered necessary for the common defence of the NATO area and for providing guidance on military matters to the Major NATO Commanders, whose functions are described in Part III. At meetings of the North Atlantic Council, Defence Planning Committee and Nuclear Plan- ning Group, the Military Committee is represented by its Chairman or his Deputy.

The Military Committee is the highest military auth- ority in the Alliance under the political authority of the North Atlantic Council and Defence Planning Commit- tee, or, where nuclear matters are concerned, the Nuclear Planning Group. It is composed of the Chiefs-of-Staff of each member country except France, which is represented by a military mission to the Military Committee. Iceland has no military forces but may be represented by a civilian. The Chiefs-of-Staff meet at least twice a year. At other times member countries are represented by national Military Representatives appointed by the Chiefs-of- Staff.

The Presidency of the Military Committee rotates annu- ally among the nations in the order of the English alpha- bet. The Chairman of the Military Committee represents the committee in other forums and is its spokesman, as well as directing its day-to-day activities.

(g) The integrated military structure remains under political control and guidance at the highest level. The role of the integrated military structure is to provide the organisational framework for defending the territory of the member countries against threats to their security or stability. It includes a network of major and subordinate military commands covering the whole of the North Atlantic area. It provides the basis for the joint exercising of military forces and collaboration in fields such as communications and information systems, air defence, logistic support for military forces and the standard- ization or interoperability of procedures and equipment.

The role of the Alliance's integrated military forces is to guarantee the security and territorial integrity of member states, contribute to the maintenance of stability and balance in Europe and to crisis management, and, ultimately, to provide the defence of the strategic area covered by the NATO Treaty.

The integrated military structure is being adapted to take account of the changed strategic environment. It is described in more detail in Part III.

(h) The International Military Staff supports the work of NATO's Military Committee. There are also a number of Military Agencies which oversee specific aspects of the work of the Military Committee. The organisation and structure of the International Military Staff and Military Agencies are described in Part III.

The structure provided by these various components of the Organisation is underpinned by procedures for politi- cal and other forms of consultation and by a system of common civil and military funding provided by member nations on a cost-sharing basis. The principle of common- funding applies equally to the provision of the basic facilities needed by the defence forces of member coun- tries in order to fulfill their NATO commitments; and to the budgetary requirements of the political headquarters of the Alliance in Brussels and of NATO civil and military agencies elsewhere. It is extended to every aspect of cooperation within NATO.

The management of these financial resources is under- taken through separate civil and military budgets estab- lished on the basis of agreed cost-sharing formulae and a self-critical screening process. This embodies the principles of openness, flexibility and fairness and ensures that maximum benefit is obtained both for the Organisation as a whole and for its individual members by seeking cost-effective solutions to common problems. Political control and mutual accountability, including the accept- ance by each member country of a rigorous, multilateral, budgetary screening process, are fundamental elements. Fair competition among national suppliers of equipment and services for contracts relating to common-funded activities is an important feature of the system.

In addition to the above elements, which constitute the practical basis for cooperation and consultation among the sixteen members of the North Atlantic Alliance, the North Atlantic Cooperation Council or ``NACC'', was established in December 1991 to oversee the further development of the dialogue, cooperation and consult- ation between NATO and its cooperation partners in Central and Eastern Europe and on the territory of the former Soviet Union. The development and role of the NACC is described in Part II.

When it met in March 1992, the NACC published a Work Plan for Dialogue, Partnership and Cooperation, setting out the basis for initial steps to develop the relationship between the participating countries and detail- ing the principal topics and activities on which the NACC has agreed to concentrate for the time being.

In addition to meetings of the NACC itself, meetings with representatives of cooperation countries also take place on a regular basis under the auspices of the North Atlantic Council in permanent session and of its subordi- nate NATO bodies.

While the North Atlantic Council derives its authority from the contractual relationship between NATO member countries established on the basis of the North Atlantic Treaty, the North Atlantic Cooperation Council is the forum created for consultation and cooperation on politi- cal and security issues between NATO and its cooperation partners, proposed in the Rome Declaration of November 1991.

6. FUNDAMENTAL OPERATING PRINCIPLES

The fundamental operating principles of the Alliance involve both a common political commitment and a commitment to practical cooperation among sovereign states. The member countries consider their joint security to be indivisible. No individual member country therefore has to rely on its own national efforts and economic resources alone to deal with basic security challenges. However, no nation surrenders the right to fulfil its national obligations towards its people and each continues to assume sovereign responsibility for its own defence. The Alliance enables member countries to enhance their ability to realise essential national security objectives through collective effort. The resulting sense of equal security amongst them, regardless of differences in their circumstances or in their relative national military capabilities, contributes to their overall stability.

7. JOINT DECISION-MAKING

In making their joint decision-making process dependent on consensus and common consent, the members of the Alliance safeguard the role of each country's individual experience and outlook while at the same time availing themselves of the machinery and procedures which allow them jointly to act rapidly and decisively if circumstances require them to do so. The practice of exchanging inform- ation and consulting together on a daily basis ensures that governments can come together at short notice whenever necessary, often with prior knowledge of their respective preoccupations, in order to agree on common policies. If need be, efforts to reconcile differences between them will be made in order that joint actions may be backed by the full force of decisions to which all the member govern- ments subscribe. Once taken, such decisions represent the common determination of all the countries involved to implement them in full. Decisions which may be politic- ally difficult or which face competing demands on re- sources thus acquire added force and credibility.

All member countries participate fully at the political level of cooperation within the Alliance and are equally committed to the terms of the North Atlantic Treaty, not least to the reciprocal undertaking made in Article 5 which symbolises the indivisibility of their security - namely to consider an attack against one or more of them as an attack upon them all.

The manner in which the Alliance has evolved neverthe- less ensures that variations in the requirements and poli- cies of member countries can be taken into account in their positions within the Alliance. This flexibility mani- fests itself in a number of different ways. In some cases differences may be largely procedural and are accommo- dated without difficulty. Iceland for example, has no military forces and is therefore represented in NATO military forums by a civilian if it so wishes. In other cases the distinctions may be of a substantive nature. France, which remains a full member of the North Atlantic Alliance and of its political structures, withdrew from the Alliance's integrated military structure in 1966. It does not participate in NATO's Defence Planning Committee, Nuclear Planning Group or Military Committee. Regular contacts with NATO's military structure take place through a French Military Mission to the Military Committee and France participates in a number of practical areas of cooperation in the communications, armaments, logistics and infrastructure spheres.

Spain, which joined the Alliance in 1982, participates in NATO's Defence Planning Committee and Nuclear Planning Group as well as in its Military Committee. In accordance with the terms of a national referendum held in 1984, Spain does not take part in NATO's integrated military structure but does participate in collective de- fence planning. Military coordination agreements enable Spanish forces to cooperate with other allied forces in specific roles and missions and to contribute to allied collective security as a whole while remaining outside the integrated military structure.

Other distinctions may also exist as a result of the geographical, political, military or constitutional situa- tions of member countries. The participation of Norway and Denmark in NATO's military dispositions, for exam- ple, must comply with national legislation which does not allow nuclear weapons or foreign forces to be stationed on their national territory in peace-time. In another con- text, military arrangements organised on a regional basis may involve only the forces of those countries directly concerned or equipped to participate in the specific area in which the activity takes place. This applies, for exam- ple, to the forces contributed by nations to the ACE Mobile Force and to the standing naval forces described in Part III.

8. POLITICAL CONSULTATION

Policy formulation and implementation in an Alliance of sixteen independent sovereign countries depends on all member governments being fully informed of each other's overall policies and intentions and of the underlying considerations which give rise to them. This calls for regular political consultation, wherever possible during the policy-making stage of deliberations before national decisions have been taken.

Political consultation in NATO began as a systematic exercise when the Council first met in September 1949, shortly after the North Atlantic Treaty came into force.

Since that time it has been strengthened and adapted to suit new developments. The principal forum for political consultation remains the Council. Its meetings take place with a minimum of formality and discussion is frank and direct. The Secretary General, by virtue of his Chairman- ship, plays an essential part in its deliberations and acts as its principal representative and spokesman both in contacts with individual governments and in public affairs.

Consultation also takes place on a regular basis in other forums, all of which derive their authority from the Council: the Political Committee at senior and other levels, Regional Expert Groups, Ad Hoc Political Work- ing Groups, an Atlantic Policy Advisory Group and other special committees all have a direct role to play in facilitating political consultation between member govern- ments. Like the Council, they are assisted by an Inter- national Staff responsible to the Secretary General of NATO and an International Military Staff responsible to its Director, and through him, responsible for supporting the activities of the Military Committee.

Political consultation is not limited to events taking place within the NATO Treaty area. Events outside the geographical area covered by the Treaty may have implica- tions for the Alliance and consultations on such events therefore take place as a matter of course. The consult- ative machinery of NATO is readily available and exten- sively used by the member nations in such circumstances.

In such situations, NATO as an Alliance may not be directly involved. However the long practice of consulting together and developing collective responses to political events affecting their common interests enables member countries to draw upon common procedures, cooperative arrangements for defence and shared infrastructure, if they need to do so. By consulting together they are able to identify at an early stage areas where, in the interests of security and stability, coordinated action may be taken.

The need for consultation is not limited to political subjects. Wide-ranging consultation takes place in many other fields. The process is continuous and takes place on an informal as well as a formal basis with a minimum of delay or inconvenience, as a result of the collocation of national delegations to NATO within the same head- quarters. Where necessary, it enables intensive work to be carried out at short notice on matters of particular import- ance or urgency with the full participation of represent- atives from all member governments concerned.

Consultation within the Alliance takes many forms. At its most basic level it involves simply the exchange of information and opinions. At another level it covers the communication of actions or decisions which govern- ments have already taken or may be about to take and which have a direct or indirect bearing on the interests of their allies. It may also involve providing advance warn- ing of actions or decisions to be taken by governments in the future, in order to provide an opportunity for them to be endorsed or commented upon by others. It can encompass discussion with the aim of reaching a consensus on policies to be adopted or actions to be taken in parallel. And ultimately it is designed to enable member countries to arrive at mutually acceptable agreements on collective decisions or on action by the Alliance as a whole.

9. CRISIS MANAGEMENT

Consultation naturally takes on particular significance in times of tension and crisis. In such circumstances, rapid decision-making based on consensus on measures to be taken in the political, military and civil emergency fields depends on immediate and continuous consultation between member governments.

The principal forums for the intensive consultation required are the Council and the Defence Planning Com- mittee, supported by the Military Committee, the Political Committee and other civilian committees as may be needed. The practices and procedures involved form the Alliance crisis management arrangements. Facilities including communications in support of the process are provided by a NATO Situation Centre, which operates on a permanent 24-hour basis. Exercises to test and develop crisis management procedures are held at regular intervals in conjunction with national capitals and Major NATO Commanders. Crisis management arrangements, procedures and facilities as well as the preparation and conduct of crisis management exercises are coordinated by the Council Operations and Exercise Committee.

10. THE DEFENCE DIMENSION

The framework for NATO's defence planning process is provided by the underlying principles which are the basis for collective security as a whole - political solidarity among member countries; the promotion of collaboration and strong ties between them in all fields where this serves their common and individual interests; the sharing of roles and responsibilities and recognition of mutual commitments; and a joint undertaking to maintain adequate military forces to support Alliance strategy.

In the new political and strategic environment in Europe, the success of the Alliance's role in preserving peace and preventing war depends even more than in the past on the effectiveness of preventive diplomacy and successful management of crises affecting security. The political, economic, social and environmental elements of security and stability are thus becoming increasingly important. Nonetheless, the defence dimension remains indispensable. The role of the military forces of the Alliance is described in more detail in Part III. It includes contributing to the maintenance of stability and balance in Europe as well as to crisis management. The maintenance of an adequate military capability and clear preparedness to act collectively in the common defence therefore remain central to the Alliance's security objectives. Ultimately this capability, combined with political solidarity, is designed to prevent any attempt at coercion or intimi- dation, and to guarantee that military aggression directed against the Alliance can never be perceived as an option with any prospect of success, thus guaranteeing the security and territorial integrity of member states.

In determining the size and nature of their contribution to collective defence, member countries of NATO retain full sovereignty and independence of action. Nevertheless, the nature of NATO's defence structure requires that in reaching their individual decisions, member countries take into account the overall needs of the Alliance. They therefore follow agreed defence planning procedures which provide the methodology and machinery for deter- mining the forces required to implement Alliance policies, for coordinating national defence plans and for establish- ing force planning goals which are in the interests of the Alliance as a whole. The planning process takes many quantitative and qualitative factors into account, includ- ing changing political circumstances, assessments pro- vided by NATO's Military Commanders of the forces they require to fulfill their tasks, scientific advances, technol- ogical developments, the importance of an equitable divi- sion of roles, risks and responsibilities within the Alliance, and the individual economic and financial capabilities of member countries. The process thus ensures that all relevant considerations are jointly examined to enable the best use to be made of the national resources which are available for defence.

Close coordination between international civil and mili- tary staffs, NATO's military authorities, and NATO governments is maintained through an annual exchange of information on national plans. This exchange of inform- ation enables each nation's intentions to be compared with NATO's overall requirements and, if necessary, recon- sidered in the light of new Ministerial political directives, modernisation requirements and changes in the roles and responsibilities of the forces themselves. All these aspects are kept under continuous review and are scrutinised at each stage of the defence planning cycle.

The starting point for defence planning is an agreed Strategic Concept or ``strategy'' which sets out in broad terms Alliance objectives and the means for achieving them. More detailed guidance is given every two years by Defence Ministers. Specific planning targets for the armed forces of member nations are developed on the basis of this guidance. These targets, known as ``Force Goals'', generally cover a six-year period, but in certain cases look further into the future. Like the guidance provided by Defence Ministers, they are updated every two years. The above steps culminate in the compilation of a common NATO Force Plan which provides the basis for NATO defence planning over a five-year time frame. In addition, allied defence planning is reviewed annually and given direction by Ministers of Defence. This annual defence review is designed to assess the contribution of member countries to the common defence in relation to their respective capabilities and constraints and against the Force Goals addressed to them.