2. Where is NATO Headquarter,
Political Center?
Who (which body) decides
matter?
Here are:
Secretary General
Permanent Representatives
National Delegation
3. The principal policy and decision-
making institutions of the Alliance are:
• The North Atlantic Council;
• The Defense Planning Committee
• The Nuclear Planning Group
4. The North Atlantic
Council
has effective political authority and powers of
decision, and consists of permanent
representatives of all member countries meeting
together at least once a week. The Council also
meets at higher levels involving foreign
ministers, defense ministers or heads of state
and government
Ministerial level decision or Permanent
Representative level decision?
What is “Permanent Council”?
5. While the Council normally meets at
least once a week, it can be
convened at short notice whenever
necessary. Its meetings are chaired
by the Secretary General of NATO
or, in his absence, by his Deputy.
The longest serving permanent
representative on the Council
assumes the title of Dean of the
Council. Primarily a ceremonial
function, the Dean may be called
upon to play a more specific
presiding role, for example in
convening meetings and chairing
discussions at the time of the
selection of a new secretary
general.
6. At ministerial meetings of
foreign ministers, one country’s
foreign minister assumes the
role of honorary president. The
position rotates annually
among the member countries
in the order of the English
alphabet. An order of
precedence in the Permanent
Council is established on the
basis of length of service, but
at meetings of the Council at
any level, permanent
representatives sit round the
table in order of nationality, in
English alphabetical order.
7. When decisions have to be
taken, action is agreed upon
on the basis of unanimity and
common accord.
Each member country
represented at the Council
table or on any of its
subordinate committees
retains complete sovereignty
and responsibility for its own
decisions.
8. The work of the Council is
prepared by subordinate
Committees with responsibility for
specific areas of policy. Much of
this work involves the Senior
Political Committee (SPC),
consisting of deputy permanent
representatives, sometimes
reinforced by appropriate national
experts, depending on the subject.
In such cases it is known as the
SPC(R). The Senior Political
Committee has particular
responsibility for preparing most
statements or communiqués to be
issued by the Council and meets
in advance of ministerial meetings
to draft such texts for Council
approval.
9. When the Council meets at the level of
defense ministers or is dealing with
defense matters and questions relating
to defense strategy, other senior
committees, such as the Executive
Working Group, may be involved as the
principal advisory bodies. If financial
matters are on the Council’s agenda,
the Senior Resource Board, or the Civil
or Military Budget Committees, or the
Infrastructure Committee, depending on
which body is appropriate, will be
responsible to the Council for preparing
its work. Depending on the topic under
discussion, the respective senior
committee with responsibility for the
subject area assumes the leading role
in preparing Council meetings and
following up on Council decisions.
10. The Council has an important
public profile and issues
declarations and
communiqués explaining the
Alliance’s policies and
decisions to the general
public and to governments of
countries which are not
members of NATO.
11. The Defense
Planning Committee
The Defense Planning Committee (DPC) is
normally composed of permanent
representatives but meets at the level of
defense ministers at least twice a year, and
deals with most defense matters and subjects
related to collective defense planning. All the
member countries are represented in this
forum.
12. Military Committee
The NAC originally tasked the
Defense Committee to
establish a military
organizational structure that
consisted of the Military
Committee, the Standing
Group, Military Representatives
(MilReps), and Regional
Planning Groups
13. The Military Committee consists of
each of the Allies’ Chief of Defense
Staff (CHODS), who normally are
their senior-most serving military
officer, usually in the general or
admiral ranks. The Standing Group
was a subcommittee of the Military
Committee, located in Washington
DC, and consisted of a British,
French, and U.S. member.
The CHODS select the Chairman of
the Military Committee for a three-
year term.
14. Ministerial level meetings currently occur twice
a year, once in the late fall and once in the
spring. The Military Committee meets first in
CHODS session to resolve any problems and
approve the proposals prepared by the
International Military Staff and reviewed by the
MilReps.
The Defense Planning Committee met second
so that it could conduct its own work as well as
review and approve any Military Committee
documents that required Defense Planning
Committee approval. The NAC ministerial is
last so that it can review and approve the work
of the Defense Planning Committee (through
June 2010) and Military Committee in addition
to performing its own work.
15. The Nuclear
Planning Group
The Defense Ministers of member countries which take
part in NATO’s Defense Planning Committee meet at
regular intervals in the Nuclear Planning Group (NPG),
where they discuss specific policy issues associated with
nuclear forces. These discussions cover a broad range
of nuclear policy matters including the safety, security
and survivability of nuclear weapons, communications
and information systems, deployment issues and wider
questions of common concern such as nuclear arms
control and nuclear proliferation
17. The NATO phonetic alphabet, more
accurately known as the International
Radiotelephony Spelling Alphabet
18. Assuming that the
transcriptions are not
intended to be precise,
only 11 of the 26—
Bravo, Echo, Hotel,
Juliet(t), Kilo, Mike,
Papa, Quebec,
Romeo, Whiskey, and
Zulu—are given
English pronunciations
by all these agencies,
though not always the
same English
pronunciations.
