U.S. Department of State
95/11/22 Fact Sheet: NATO
Bureau of Public Affairs
Fact Sheet
The North Atlantic Treaty Organization
NATO Today
NATO remains the core of American engagement in Europe and at the heart
of European security. It is the member nations' most effective
instrument for coordinating defense and arms control and maintaining
stability throughout Europe. The collapse of the Soviet Union, the
dissolution of the Warsaw Pact, and the progress of European integration
have not ended the need for NATO's essential commitment to safeguard the
freedom and security of all its members by political and military means
in accordance with UN principles. The London Declaration on a
Transformed North Atlantic Alliance, issued after the summit meeting of
the North Atlantic Council (NAC) in July 1990, signaled the vitality of
the alliance in adapting to security needs in a post-Cold War world. At
that meeting, NATO allies announced a fundamental review of strategy and
invited the Soviet Union and the countries of Central Europe to
establish regular diplomatic liaison and to develop a new partnership.
The November 1991 Rome Declaration on Peace and Cooperation further
underlined NATO's intention to redefine its objectives in light of
changed circumstances. The declaration took into account the broader
challenges to alliance security interests, such as the proliferation of
weapons of mass destruction, regional instability, and terrorism. It
outlined its future tasks in the context of a framework of interlocking
and mutually reinforcing institutions, including the Conference on
Security and Cooperation in Europe (CSCE)_now the Organization for
Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE), the Western European Union
(WEU), the European Community (now the European Union), and the Council
of Europe, working together to build a new European security system.
The "New Strategic Concept" announced at the meeting stressed the
alliance's mission in crisis management and mandated a more flexible
force structure and reduced reliance on nuclear weapons. The Rome
meeting also created the North Atlantic Cooperation Council (NACC) to
develop an institutional relationship of consultation and cooperation on
political and security issues between NATO and its former adversaries.
This initiative culminated in the participation of Foreign Ministers and
representatives from the 16 NATO countries, six Central European
countries, and the three Baltic states at the inaugural meeting of the
NACC in December 1991. At the second NACC meeting in March 1992, the
new independent states of the former Soviet Union became members, except
Georgia, which was admitted the following month. Albania joined the
NACC in June 1992.
NATO Foreign Ministers affirmed their readiness to support peacekeeping
activities under the auspices of the CSCE on a case-by-case basis in
June 1992. The following month, the North Atlantic Council agreed on a
NATO maritime operation in the Adriatic, in coordination with the WEU,
to monitor compliance with the UN embargo against Serbia and Montenegro
(upgraded to enforcement in November 1992 following UN Security Council
resolutions to tighten economic sanctions). On June 8, 1993, agreement
was reached to place the NATO/WEU Adriatic task force under the
operational command of the Supreme Allied Commander Europe.
NATO began enforcing UN economic sanctions against Serbia-Montenegro and
the arms embargo against former Yugoslav states (Operation Sharp Guard)
on November 18, 1992. Similarly, NATO has been enforcing a UN Security
Council resolution banning military flights (the "No-Fly Zone") over
Bosnia-Herzegovina since April 12, 1993.
Following its August 1, 1995 declaration that direct threats or attacks
on UN-designated "safe areas" would prompt a decisive response, NATO
initiated an extensive two-week-long air and artillery campaign in the
wake of an August 28 mortar attack on Sarajevo's central market which
killed dozens of civilians. Subsequent to September and October
agreements on a Bosnian cease-fire and other measures, NATO is now
completing preparations to implement the military aspects of a peace
agreement.
In June 1993, the U.S. proposed a NATO summit to discuss the Clinton
initiative, which set an agenda for NATO's future work. The initiative
included strengthening cooperation among the allies, developing
relations with the former Warsaw Pact states, improving NATO's links
with other institutions, and addressing threats to security that arise
from outside the North Atlantic Treaty area. The January 1994 NATO
summit endorsed several of the President's proposals that advance NATO's
adaptation to the post-Cold War European security environment.
The summit launched the Partnership for Peace (PfP), which expands and
intensifies practical political and military cooperation between NATO
and the former Soviet bloc, as well as some of Europe's traditionally
neutral countries, and allows them to consult with NATO in the event of
a direct threat to their security. PfP does not extend NATO security
guarantees.
As of December 1995, 27 countries have joined PfP: Albania, Armenia,
Austria, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Bulgaria, Czech Republic, Estonia,
Finland, Georgia, Hungary, Kazakstan, Kyrgyz Republic, Latvia,
Lithuania, The Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia, Malta, Moldova,
Poland, Romania, Russia, Slovakia, Slovenia, Sweden, Turkmenistan,
Ukraine, and Uzbekistan. The central organs of the Partnership are the
Steering Committee at NATO Headquarters and a planning organ, the
Partnership Coordination Cell, at Mons, Belgium (at the same location as
Supreme Headquarters Allied Powers Europe).
PfP has thus become a permanent and central feature of the transatlantic
security system. PfP military exercises began in fall 1994: Poland
hosted the first PfP field exercise in a former communist state, and a
PfP maritime exercise took place in the North Sea. The Netherlands
hosted a PfP field exercise in late October 1994. NATO held 10 major
PfP exercises in 1995, including a peacekeeping training exercise at Ft.
Polk, Louisiana involving forces from 14 partner and three allied
states.
At the January 1994 summit, NATO leaders welcomed an evolutionary
expansion of NATO membership to include new democracies in the region.
Participation in PfP does not guarantee entry into NATO, but it is the
best preparation for states interested in becoming NATO members. For
those countries that do not aspire to NATO membership, PfP will remain
as a primary link to the alliance.
The summit also endorsed a concept of "Combined Joint Task Forces"
designed to make NATO military structures more flexible and to encourage
the development of "separable but not separate" European military
capabilities that could undertake operations under the auspices of the
WEU when an alliance response was not required. NATO and the WEU are
working to develop this concept.
Finally, the summit directed immediate work to intensify and expand
NATO's political and defense efforts against the spread of weapons of
mass destruction. This led to agreement on a political framework for
NATO actions which was approved at the North Atlantic Council
ministerial meeting in June 1994. Consultations proceed on specific
allied political and defense steps to combat and defend against the
proliferation of such weapons.
Following on the summit's commitment to NATO expansion, the foreign
ministers established a process in December 1994 to study NATO
enlargement and to brief PfP partners on the conclusions of the study.
NATO completed this study and presented its conclusions to interested
partners in fall 1995. Allies plan to review the results of the study
and discuss next steps at the December 1995 NAC. NATO's role as a forum
for political consultation and an association of nations committed to
collective defense remains unchanged, even as its new responsibilities
in the areas of peacekeeping and crisis management continue to evolve.
U.S.-NATO Relations: The Transatlantic Partnership
The decision of the United States after World War II to participate in a
regional peacetime, defensive alliance represented a fundamental change
in American foreign policy. The United States recognized that its
interests no longer could be confined to the limits of the Western
Hemisphere: U.S. security was linked inextricably to the future of the
West European democracies. Concepts of individual liberty and the rule
of law, coupled with those of a common heritage and shared values,
provided the foundation for the NATO alliance. These ideals, as well as
the ongoing goal of each member country to achieve a just and lasting
peaceful order in Europe, continue to link the fate of America to that
of its NATO allies.
The history of U.S. engagement in NATO has been one of commitment by
America and its allies to reduce tensions in Europe and to improve East-
West relations. They have pursued a series of initiatives designed to
lower levels of personnel and equipment and increase mutual confidence,
while adhering to a policy of political cohesion and military strength.
Arms control measures aimed at enhancing stability have included the
Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces (INF) Treaty in 1987 and the Treaty on
Conventional Armed Forces in Europe (CFE) in 1990.
The CFE Treaty between the allies and the nations and successor states
of the former Warsaw Pact provides for an unprecedented level of
transparency in the security field through an information exchange and
obligatory inspections. Most importantly, it mandates a sharp reduction
in conventional weapons throughout Europe. The NATO allies coordinate
closely to meet their own obligations under the treaty and to ensure
full compliance in its information, verification, and reduction
provisions.
NATO also has played a leading role in developing far-reaching proposals
for OSCE's Forum for Security Cooperation (FSC).
The United States supports the development of a greater European
security identity and defense role as a means of strengthening the
integrity and effectiveness of NATO. At the NATO summit in Rome, the
alliance welcomed the prospect of a European political union with a
greater security and defense dimension but underlined that this would
not diminish the need for NATO. The alliance's "New Strategic Concept"
also reaffirmed the essential nature of the transatlantic partnership,
recognizing as a basic principle the indivisibility of security of all
its members. The U.S. proposed, and the January 1994 NATO summit
agreed, that "separable but not separate" European capabilities be made
available to undertake independent European missions, drawing as
necessary on NATO collective assets when NATO-wide actions are not
necessary.
The North Atlantic alliance and the American presence in Europe have
helped keep peace for more than 40 years. Having helped to forge
successful policies toward the former Soviet Union and the Warsaw Pact
since the foundation of NATO, the U.S. with its European allies must
play a central role in building the framework of the new Euro-Atlantic
architecture.
NATO Strategy
NATO collective security strategy was mainly based on the principle of
deterrence. Defense capabilities were created to deter military
aggression or other forms of pressure. Parties to the treaty agreed to
consult whenever the territorial integrity, political independence, or
security of any party was threatened. They further pledged to maintain
their individual and collective capacity to resist armed attack and,
should such deterrence fail, to defend the territory of the alliance.
As a purely defensive alliance, NATO maintained only a level of military
strength sufficient to be credible. Given the marked inferiority of
allied conventional strength in Europe, the NATO guarantee rested
primarily on the nuclear superiority of the United States.
At the conclusion of a 1967 comprehensive review of NATO strategy, the
alliance adopted a revised approach to the common defense, based on a
balanced range of responses, conventional and nuclear, to all levels of
aggression or threats of aggression. This reassessment of the nature of
the potential threat to member countries prompted the realization that
the alliance must increasingly look to the dangers of more limited forms
of aggression beyond the possibility of a massive Soviet attack. The
basis of the new concept of "flexible response" was the belief that NATO
should be able to deter and counter military force with a range of
responses designed to defend directly against attack at an appropriate
level, or, if necessary, to escalate the attack to the level necessary
to persuade an aggressor to desist.
At the same time, the alliance accepted the recommendations of the
report written by former Belgium Foreign Minister Pierre Harmel and
titled "Future Tasks of the Alliance," which outlined the need to work
toward the achievement of disarmament and balanced force reductions.
The maintenance of adequate military forces would be coupled with
efforts at improving East-West relations.
Soviet deployment of new mobile theater nuclear missiles (SS-20s) called
into question the accepted NATO strategy of deterrence based on the
concepts of forward defense and flexible response and lead to a decision
in 1979 to modernize its defensive capability. The resulting "dual-
track" decision by the alliance combined pursuing arms control
negotiations with responding appropriately to the increased imbalance
created by the new Soviet systems. Alliance governments agreed to
deploy U.S. ground-launched cruise missiles in Western Europe.
The successful conclusion of the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces (INF)
Treaty in 1987, while eliminating all Soviet and U.S. land-based,
intermediate-range missiles, required a new appraisal of NATO policy.
In response, the alliance developed its "Comprehensive Concept of Arms
Control and Disarmament," which provided a framework for alliance policy
in nuclear, conventional, and chemical fields of arms control and tied
defense policies to progress in arms control.
In July 1990, the NAC issued the "London Declaration on a Transformed
North Atlantic Alliance" to adapt to the new realities in Europe. The
ministers pledged to intensify political and military contacts with
Moscow and with Central and East European capitals and to work not only
for the common defense but to build new partnerships with all the
nations of Europe. They underlined the need to undertake broader arms
control and confidence-building agreements to limit conventional armed
forces in Europe. In recognition of the radical political changes in
Europe and the improved security environment, the ministers mandated a
fundamental review of the alliance's political and military strategy.
The "New Strategic Concept" was outlined at the meeting of the North
Atlantic Council in November 1991. The threat of a massive full-scale
Soviet attack, which had provided the focus of NATO's strategy during
the Cold War, had disappeared after the end of the political division of
Europe. The alliance acknowledged that the risks to its security, such
as proliferation of weapons of mass destruction and acts of terrorism
and sabotage, were now less predictable and beyond the focus of
traditional concerns. The new strategy adopts a broader approach to
security, centered more on crisis management and conflict prevention.
It assumes completion of the planned withdrawal of military forces from
Central Europe and the Baltics and the full implementation of arms
control agreements limiting conventional forces in Europe.
In the context of changed circumstances, the alliance will maintain a
mix of nuclear and conventional forces based in Europe, although at
significantly lower levels. To ensure effectiveness, alliance forces
will be increasingly mobile to respond to a range of contingencies.
Forces will be organized for flexible buildup to react to regional
instability and crises. Collective defense arrangements will rely
increasingly on multinational forces within the integrated military
structure. Nuclear forces will continue to play an essential role in
allied strategy but will be maintained at the minimum level sufficient
to preserve stability.
The new strategy reaffirms the principle of common commitment and mutual
cooperation in support of the indivisibility of security for all
alliance members and underscores the essential political and military
link between European and North American members provided by the
presence of nuclear forces in Europe.
NATO Background
The North Atlantic Treaty Organization was formed against the backdrop
of emerging post-war tensions engendered by the threat of Soviet
expansionism and concern over political and economic instability in
Western Europe. On April 4, 1949, in Washington, DC, the Foreign
Ministers of Belgium, Canada, Denmark, France, Iceland, Italy,
Luxembourg, Netherlands, Norway, Portugal, United Kingdom, and United
States signed the North Atlantic Treaty, the political framework for an
international alliance designed to prevent aggression, or, if necessary,
to resist attack against any alliance member. In 1952, Greece and
Turkey acceded to the treaty, followed by the Federal Republic of
Germany in 1955 and by Spain in 1982.
This alliance of sovereign states pledges, through a combination of
political solidarity and military force, to preserve its mutual
security. Reaffirming faith in the principles of individual and
collective self-defense embodied in the UN Charter, the parties to the
treaty pledge to defend the common heritage and civilization of their
peoples and to promote stability and well-being in the North Atlantic
area. While recognizing the need to maintain adequate military strength
to safeguard the security of its members, the alliance also resolves to
work toward the establishment of a just and lasting peaceful order in
Europe.
NATO Structure
North Atlantic Council
The NAC is the principal forum for consultation and cooperation between
NATO member governments on all issues affecting their common security.
Its decisions are based on consensus, with each member having an equal
right to express its views. The NATO Secretary General is chair. The
NAC meets at least twice a year in ministerial session. It also meets
weekly at the level of Permanent Representatives, who hold ambassadorial
rank.
Defense Planning Committee (DPC)
The DPC deals with overall issues of defense and is composed of
representatives of all countries except France (which withdrew from
NATO's integrated military structure in 1966). Like the NAC, it meets
regularly at ambassadorial level and twice yearly, when member countries
are represented by their defense ministers.
Nuclear Planning Group
This group has authority for nuclear matters. All countries except
France participate. Iceland participates as an observer.
Military Committee
The highest military authority in the alliance; is composed of the
chiefs of staff of each country except France, which is represented by a
military mission. Iceland, which has no military forces, is represented
by a civilian member. The Military Committee advises the NAC and the
DPC on military measures necessary for the common defense and provides
guidance to the NATO commanders.
Regional Commands
The strategic area covered by the North Atlantic Treaty is divided into
two regional commands: Allied Command Europe and Allied Command
Atlantic, with a regional planning group for North America. With the
exception of France and Iceland, all countries assign forces to the
integrated military command structure. The NATO Defense area covers the
territories of member nations in North America, in the Atlantic area
north of the Tropic of Cancer, and in Europe, including Turkey.
However, events occurring outside the area which affect the preservation
of peace and security in the treaty area also may be considered by the
NAC.
North Atlantic Cooperation Council
The North Atlantic Cooperation Council (NACC) was established in
November 1991 to conduct NATO's outreach program to the former Warsaw
Pact states. Current members include the 16 NATO allies, seven Central
European states (Albania, Bulgaria, Czech Republic, Hungary, Poland,
Romania, and Slovakia), the 12 former Soviet republics, and the three
Baltic states. It meets in ministerial session at least once a year.
Finland, Slovenia, and Sweden attend as observers.
November 22, 1995
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