The structure of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) is complex and multi-faceted. The decision-making body is the North Atlantic Council (NAC), and the member state representatives also sit on the Defence Policy and Planning Committee (DPPC) and the Nuclear Planning Group (NPG). Below that the Secretary General of NATO directs the civilian International Staff, that is divided into administrative divisions, offices and other organizations. Also responsible to the NAC, DPPC, and NPG are a host of committees that supervise the various NATO logistics and standardisation agencies.
The NATO Military Committee advises and assists the NAC on military matters. The Defence Planning Committee which directs its output to the Division of Defence Policy and Planning, a nominally civilian department that works closely with the Military Committee's International Military Staff.NATO's Military Committee: focused on operations, capabilities and cooperation
All agencies and organizations 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.
History
The DPC was a former senior decision-making body on matters relating to the integrated military structure of the Alliance. It was dissolved following a major committee review in June 2010 under Secretary-General Anders Fogh Rasmussen. Its responsibilities absorbed by the North Atlantic Council and the Defence Policy and Planning Committee (DPPC).
Civilian structure In NATO: The First Five Years, Lord Ismay described the civilian structure as follows: The ..Office of the Secretary General [is] directed by an Executive Secretary, Captain R.D. Coleridge (UK), who is also Secretary to the Council. He is responsible for supervising the general processing of the work of the Council and their committees, including provision of all secretarial assistance, as well as supervision of the administrative services of the Staff/Secretariat itself. Thus the Secretariat provides secretaries to all the Council's principal committees and working groups - apart from those of a strictly technical nature - and ensures co-ordination between them. .. On the Staff side there are three main divisions corresponding to the three principal aspects of NATO's work, each under an Assistant Secretary General. Ambassador Sergio Fenoaltea (Italy) heads the Political Affairs Division, M. Rene Sergent (France) the Economics and Finance Division, and Mr. Lowell P. Weicker (USA) the Production and Logistics Division. The Divisions' tasks are to prepare, in close touch with delegations, proposed action in their respective fields for consideration by the appropriate committee or by the Council. In addition to the main divisions there are three other offices working directly to the Secretary General. These are the Office of Statistics (Mr. Loring Wood of the USA), the Financial Comptroller's Office (M. A. J. Bastin of Belgium), and the Division of Information (Mr. Geoffrey Parsons, Jr. of the USA). The Information Division, besides providing material about NATO for the use of member governments, (it does not engage in independent operations), is also the press and public relations branch of the civilian authority.
Military structure The Strategic Commanders are the former 'Major NATO Commanders', who sat atop a command hierarchy consisting of Major Subordinate Commanders (MSCs), Principal Subordinate Commanders (PSCs) and Sub-PSCs.T.D. Young, Reforming NATO's Military Structures, 7. The Military Committee had an executive body, the Standing Group, made up of representatives from France, the United States, and the United Kingdom. The Standing Group was abolished during the major reform of 1967 that resulted from France's departure from the NATO Military Command Structure.Dr Gregory W. Pedlow, Evolution of NATO's Command Structure 1951-2009 .
Beginnings
A key step in establishing the NATO Command Structure was the North Atlantic Council's selection of General Dwight D. Eisenhower as the first Supreme Allied Commander Europe (SACEUR) in December 1950. After Eisenhower arrived in Paris in January 1951, he and the other members of the multinational Supreme Headquarters Allied Powers Europe (SHAPE) Planning Group immediately began to devise a structure for the new Allied Command Europe. NATO official documents say '..The corner stone of the NATO Military Command Structure was laid.. when the North Atlantic Council approved D.C. 24/3 on 18 December 1951.' They quickly decided to divide Allied Command Europe into three regions: Allied Forces Northern Europe, containing Scandinavia, the North Sea and the Baltic; Allied Forces Central Europe, and Allied Forces Southern Europe (AFSOUTH), covering Italy and the Mediterranean. SHAPE was established at Rocquencourt, west of Paris.
The British post of Commander in Chief Mediterranean Fleet was given a dual-hatted role as NATO Commander in Chief of Allied Forces Mediterranean in charge of all forces assigned to NATO in the Mediterranean Area. The British made strong representations in discussions regarding the Mediterranean NATO command structure, wishing to retain their direction of NATO naval command in the Mediterranean to protect their sea lines of communication running through the Mediterranean to the Middle East and Far East.Sean Maloney, 'To Secure Command of the Sea,' University of New Brunswick thesis, 1991, p.258-261
In 1952, after Greece and Turkey joined the Alliance, Allied Land Forces South-Eastern Europe (LANDSOUTHEAST) was created in Izmir, Turkey, under a U.S. Army General. This was due to the two states' geographic distance from the LANDSOUTH headquarters, as well as disagreements over which nation should be the overall commander for their ground forces.
With the establishment of Allied Command Atlantic (ACLANT) on 30 January 1952, the Supreme Allied Commander Atlantic joined the previously created Supreme Allied Commander Europe as one of the alliance's two Major NATO Commanders. A third was added when Allied Command Channel was established on 21 February 1952 to control the English Channel and North Sea area and deny it to the enemy, and protect the sea lanes of communication. The establishment of this post, and the agreement that it was to be filled by the British Commander-in-Chief, Portsmouth, was part of the compromise that allowed an American officer to take up the SACLANT post. Previously Commander-in-Chief Portsmouth had controlled multinational naval operations in the area under WUDO auspices. In due course the CINCHAN role was assumed by the British Commander-in-Chief Fleet.
In 1966, when French president Charles de Gaulle withdrew French forces from the military command structure, NATO's headquarters was forced to move to Belgium. SHAPE was moved to Casteau, north of the Belgian city of Mons. Headquarters Allied Forces Central Europe was moved from the Chateau de Fontainebleau outside Paris to Brunssum, in the Netherlands.
Structure in 1989 NATO Military Committee, led by the Chairman of the NATO Military Committee, in Brussels, Belgium Allied Command Europe (ACE), led by Supreme Allied Commander Europe (SACEUR), in Mons, Belgium ACE Mobile Force, in Seckenheim, Germany United Kingdom Air Forces, in High Wycombe, United Kingdom NATO Airborne Early Warning Force, in Maisieres, Belgium Allied Forces Northern Europe (AFNORTH), in Kolsås, Norway Allied Forces North Norway (NON), in Bodø, Norway Allied Forces South Norway (SONOR), in Stavanger, Norway Allied Forces Baltic Approaches (BALTAP), in Karup, Denmark Allied Land Forces Schleswig-Holstein and Jutland (LANDJUT), in Rendsburg, Germany Allied Land Forces in Zealand (LANDZEALAND), in Ringsted, Denmark Allied Air Forces Baltic Approaches (AIRBALTAP), in Karup, Denmark Allied Naval Forces Baltic Approaches (NAVBALTAP), in Karup, Denmark Allied Forces Central Europe (AFCENT), in Brunssum, Netherlands Northern Army Group (NORTHAG), in Rheindahlen, West Germany Central Army Group (CENTAG), in Heidelberg, West Germany Allied Air Forces Central Europe (AAFCE), in Ramstein, West Germany Second Allied Tactical Air Force (2 ATAF), in Rheindahlen, West Germany Fourth Allied Tactical Air Force (4 ATAF), in Ramstein, West Germany Allied Forces Southern Europe (AFSOUTH), in Naples, Italy Allied Land Forces Southern Europe (LANDSOUTH), in Verona, Italy Allied Land Forces South-Eastern Europe (LANDSOUTHEAST), in İzmir, Turkey Allied Air Forces Southern Europe (AIRSOUTH), in Naples, Italy Fifth Allied Tactical Air Force (5 ATAF), in Vicenza, Italy Sixth Allied Tactical Air Force (6 ATAF), in İzmir, Turkey Allied Naval Forces Southern Europe (NAVSOUTH), in Naples, Italy Naval Striking and Support Forces Southern Europe (STRIKFORSOUTH), afloat, centered around US Sixth Fleet Allied Command Atlantic (ACLANT), led by Supreme Allied Commander Atlantic (SACLANT), in Norfolk, United States Eastern Atlantic Area (EASTLANT), in Northwood, United Kingdom Northern Sub-Area (NORLANT), in Rosyth, United Kingdom Central Sub-Area (CENTLANT), in Plymouth, United Kingdom Submarine Force Eastern Atlantic (SUBEASTLANT), in Gosport, United Kingdom Maritime Air Eastern Atlantic (MAIREASTLANT), in Northwood, United Kingdom Maritime Air Northern Sub-Area (MAIRNORLANT), in Rosyth, United Kingdom Maritime Air Central Sub-Area (MAIRCENTLANT), in Plymouth, United Kingdom Island Command Iceland (ISCOMICELAND), in Keflavík, Iceland Island Command Faroes (ISCOMFAROES), in Tórshavn, Faroe Islands Western Atlantic Area (WESTLANT), in Norfolk, United States Ocean Sub-Area (OCEANLANT), in Norfolk, United States Canadian Atlantic Sub-Area (CANLANT), in Halifax, Canada Island Command Bermuda (ISCOMBERMUDA), in Hamilton, Bermuda Island Command Azores (ISCOMAZORES), in Ponta Delgada, Azores Island Command Greenland (ISCOMGREENLAND), in Grønnedal, Greenland Submarine Force Western Atlantic (SUBWESTLANT), in Norfolk, United States Iberian Atlantic Area (IBERLANT), in Oeiras, Portugal Island Command Madeira (ISCOMADEIRA), in Funchal, Madeira Striking Fleet Atlantic (STRIKFLTLANT), in Norfolk, United States Carrier Striking Force (CARSTRIKFOR), in Norfolk, United States Carrier Striking Group One (CARSTRIKGRUONE), in Norfolk, United States Carrier Striking Group Two (CARSTRIKGRUTWO), in Plymouth, United Kingdom Submarines Allied Command Atlantic (SUBACLANT), in Norfolk, United States Allied Command Channel (ACCHAN), in Northwood, United Kingdom Nore Sub-Area Channel Command (NORECHAN), in Rosyth, United Kingdom Plymouth Sub-Area Channel Command (PLYMCHAN), in Plymouth, United Kingdom Benelux Sub-Area Channel Command (BENECHAN), in Den Helder, Netherlands Allied Maritime Air Force Channel (MAIRCHAN), in Northwood, United Kingdom Maritime Air Nore Sub-Area Channel Command (MAIRNORECHAN), in Rosyth, United Kingdom Maritime Air Plymouth Sub-Area Channel Command (MAIRPLYMCHAN), in Plymouth, United Kingdom Standing Naval Force Channel (STANAVFORCHAN), afloat
After the Cold War By June 1991, it was clear that Allied Forces Central Europe (a Major Subordinate Command) could be reduced, with the Soviet threat disappearing. Six multinational corps were to replace the previous eight.Barbara Starr, 'Cold War Battle Orders Make Way for a New NATO Era,' Jane's Defence Weekly, 8 June 1991. Announcements in June 1991 presaged main defensive forces consisting of six multinational corps. Two were to be under German command, one with a U.S. division, one under Belgian command with a pending offer of a U.S. brigade, one under U.S. command with a German division, one under joint German-Danish command (LANDJUT), and one under Dutch command. The new German IV Corps was to be stationed in Eastern Germany, and was not to be associated with the NATO structure.