NATO Military Committee

NATO Military Committee
NATO Military Committee
Location	Brussels, Belgium
Website	NATO.int
Commanders
Secretary General	Jens Stoltenberg
Chair	Lieutenant Admiral Rob Bauer
Deputy Chair	Vacant
Director General of the International Military Staff	Lieutenant General Janusz Adamczak
Insignia
Chair's arms
Deputy Chair's arms
International Military Staff's arms
International Military Staff's flag

The North Atlantic Treaty Organisation (NATO)'s Military Committee (MC) is the body that is composed of member states' Chiefs of Defence (CHOD). These national CHODs are regularly represented in the MC by their permanent Military Representatives (MilRep), who often are officers of the rank of general and admiral. Like the Council, from time to time the Military Committee also meets at a higher level, namely at the level of Chiefs of Defence, the most senior military officer in each nation's armed forces.

Role

The MC assists and advises the North Atlantic Council (NAC), Defence Planning Committee (DPC), and Nuclear Planning Group (NPG) on military matters including policy and strategy.^[1] Its principal role is to provide direction and advice on military policy and strategy. It provides guidance on military matters to the Supreme Allied Commanders of Allied Command Operations and Allied Command Transformation, whose representatives attend its meetings, and is responsible for the overall conduct of the military affairs of the Alliance under the authority of the Council. The executive body of the MC is the International Military Staff (IMS).^[2]

Current NATO Chiefs of Defence

Member	CHOD	Member	CHOD	Member	CHOD
Chief of the General Staff of Albania Member since 1 April 2009	Major General Arben Kingji of the Albanian Land Force	Chief of Defence of Belgium Member since 24 August 1949	Admiral Michel Hofman of the Belgian Navy	Chief of Defence of Bulgaria Member since 29 March 2004	Admiral Emil Eftimov of the Bulgarian Navy
Chief of the Defence Staff of Canada Member since 24 August 1949	General Wayne Eyre of the Canadian Army	Chief of the General Staff of Croatia Member since 1 April 2009	Admiral Robert Hranj of the Croatian Navy	Chief of the General Staff of the Czech Republic Member since 12 March 1999	Lieutenant General Karel Řehka of the Czech Special Forces
Chief of Defence of Denmark Member since 24 August 1949	General Flemming Lentfer of the Royal Danish Air Force	Commander of the Defence Forces of Estonia Member since 29 March 2004	General Martin Herem of the Estonian Land Forces	Chief of Defence of Finland Member since 4 April 2023	General Timo Kivinen of the Finnish Army
Chief of the Defence Staff of France Member since 24 August 1949^[a]	General Thierry Burkhard of the French Army	Inspector General of the Bundeswehr of Germany Member since 6 May 1955^[b]	General Carsten Breuer of the German Army	Chief of the General Staff of Greece Member since 18 February 1952	General Dimitrios Choupis of the Hellenic Army
Chief of the General Staff of Hungary Member since 12 March 1999	Colonel General Gábor Böröndi of the Hungarian Ground Forces	Director of the Security and Defence Department of Iceland Member since 24 August 1949	Jónas G. Allansson	Chief of the Defence Staff of Italy Member since 24 August 1949	Admiral Giuseppe Cavo Dragone of the Italian Navy
Commander of the Armed Forces of Latvia Member since 29 March 2004	Lieutenant General Leonīds Kalniņš of the Latvian National Guard	Chief of Defence of Lithuania Member since 29 March 2004	General Valdemaras Rupšys of the Lithuanian Land Force	Chief of Defence of Luxembourg Member since 24 August 1949	General Steve Thull of the Luxembourg Army
Chief of the General Staff of Montenegro Member since 5 June 2017	Brigadier General Milutin Đurović of the Montenegrin Ground Army	Chief of Defence of the Netherlands Member since 24 August 1949	General Onno Eichelsheim of the Royal Netherlands Air Force	Chief of the General Staff of North Macedonia Member since 27 March 2020	Major General Vasko Gjurchinovski of the North Macedonian Special Forces
Chief of Defence of Norway Member since 24 August 1949	General Eirik Kristoffersen of the Norwegian Army	Chief of the General Staff of Poland Member since 12 March 1999	General Wiesław Kukuła of the Polish Territorial Defence Forces	Chief of the General Staff of Portugal Member since 24 August 1949	General José Nunes da Fonseca of the Portuguese Army
Chief of the General Staff of Romania Member since 29 March 2004	General Gheorghiță Vlad of the Romanian Land Forces	Chief of the General Staff of Slovakia Member since 29 March 2004	Lieutenant General Daniel Zmeko of the Slovak Ground Forces	Chief of the General Staff of Slovenia Member since 29 March 2004	Major General Robert Glavaš of the Slovenian Ground Force
Chief of the Defence Staff of Spain Member since 30 May 1982	Admiral General Teodoro Esteban López Calderón of the Spanish Navy	Supreme Commander of Sweden Member since 7 March 2024	General Micael Bydén of the Swedish Air Force	Chief of the General Staff of Turkey Member since 18 February 1952	General Metin Gürak of the Turkish Land Forces
Chief of the Defence Staff of the United Kingdom Member since 24 August 1949	Admiral Tony Radakin of the Royal Navy	Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff of the United States Member since 24 August 1949	General Charles Q. Brown Jr. of the United States Air Force

^ Excluded from the Committee in 1966–2008.
^ As West Germany. East Germany became part of NATO after German reunification on 3 October 1990

History

Until 2008 the Military Committee excluded France, due to that country's 1966 decision to remove itself from NATO's integrated military structure, which it rejoined in 1995. Until France rejoined NATO, it was not represented on the Defence Planning Committee, and this led to conflicts between it and NATO members. Such was the case in the lead up to Operation Iraqi Freedom.^[3]

Established in 1949 during the first Council session in Washington, the Military Committee is NATO's highest military authority and advises the NAC and NATO's strategic commanders, the Supreme Allied Commander Transformation and the Supreme Allied Commander Europe.^[4]

Arms of historical NATO commands
Allied Command Atlantic
Allied Command Channel
Allied Command Europe (Supreme Headquarters)

References

^ NATO Handbook, 50th Anniversary Edition, 1998-99, 234.
^ International Military Staff, Jun 15, 2017, retrieved Feb 20, 2018.
^ Fuller, Thomas (18 February 2003). "Reaching accord, EU warns Saddam of his 'last chance'". International Herald Tribune. Archived from the original on 12 October 2007. Retrieved 15 July 2007.
^ https://www.nato.int/cps/en/natolive/topics_49633.htm, NATO Military Committee, Dec 7, 2017, retrieved Feb 15, 2018.

External links

Official website

[France-3] Excluded from the Committee in 1966–2008.

[Germany-4] As West Germany. East Germany became part of NATO after German reunification on 3 October 1990

[1] NATO Handbook, 50th Anniversary Edition, 1998-99, 234.

[2] International Military Staff, Jun 15, 2017, retrieved Feb 20, 2018.

[5] Fuller, Thomas (18 February 2003). "Reaching accord, EU warns Saddam of his 'last chance'". International Herald Tribune. Archived from the original on 12 October 2007. Retrieved 15 July 2007.

[6] ttps://www.nato.int/cps/en/natolive/topics_49633.htm, NATO Military Committee, Dec 7, 2017, retrieved Feb 15, 2018.

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See also	Baghdad Pact (METO/CENTO) Balkan Pact Southeast Asia Treaty Organization (SEATO) Suwałki Gap