North Atlantic Treaty

Organization (NATO)

Corey Koppel and Tiffany Soohoo

What is NATO?

A political and military alliance

The fundamentals of NATO are to “Walk around freely in a safe and secure environment”

Goals for:

Political

• Uphold Democratic values

• Build trust with cooperation on defense and security issues.

• Prevent conflict

Military

• Peaceful resolutions for disputes

• Military to undertake crisis management operations

• Operations carried out under Article 5 of the Washington Treaty and/or under a U.N. mandate alone or with help

“Any attack on one member nation is an attack on all”

Washington Treaty (Article 5):

History of NATO:

Started on April 4, 1949 (62 years old)

Since it’s starting NATO has allowed more than North Atlantic countries

No longer tries to counter Soviet power

Lost it’s competitor Warsaw Pact

Purpose of NATO

Guarantees the freedom and security of all it’s members

Protects against:

Threats, terrorism, failed states, and weapons of mass destruction

Membership:

1949: Belgium, Canada, Denmark, France, Iceland, Italy, Luxembourg, Netherlands, Norway, Portugal, United Kingdom, and the United States

1952:Greece, Turkey

1955:West Germany (Germany)

1982: Spain

1999:Czech Republic, Hungary and Poland

2004: Bulgaria, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Romania, Slovakia and Slovenia

2009: Albania and Croatia

Leadership:

International Staff:

NATO Secretary General- Andres Fogh Rassmussen (Denmark)

Deputy Secretary General- Ambassador Alexander Vershbow (United States)

NATO spokesperson- Oana Lungescu (Romania)

Leadership:

Military Committee:

Chairman of the Military Committee: General Knud Bartels (Denmark)

Deputy Chairman of the Military Committee: Lieutenant General Walter Gaskin (United States)

Advantages:

Provide structure and stability in the Euro-Atlantic area based on democracy and peaceful resolutions.

A Place where Canada, Europe and the U.S. can freely discuss security issues and fix it.

Defend and prevent members from conflicts such as aggression.

Increase transparency by promoting partnership.

Disadvantages:

Weakens individual countries military force

Smaller nations do not benefit as much as bigger nations

Sometimes military goes into unwanted nations

International Impact

Military Operations:

Bosnia and Herzegovina

Kosovo

Afghanistan

Iraq Training Mission

Missile Defense

Gulf of Aden Piracy

Operations in Libya

The United Kingdom

One of the largest contributors (150 million pounds) into the Civil and Military budget.

17% of UK Armed Forces are deployed on military and operational task fro NATO.

UK contributes to the following missions and operational: NATO Training Assistance Implementation Mission (Iraq), International Security Assistance Force and Operation Active Endeavour (Eastern Mediterranean)

Provides support for African Union’s Peacekeeping in Sudan (2005).

Russia

Originally used to counter Russian power growth and prevent future wars.

Created Warsaw Pact to counter NATO

After Dissolution of Soviet Union Russia did not join NATO

Has open communication through the NATO-Russian Council (NRC)

Russia

Disagrees on certain issues:

Relating to Georgia

Russia’s suspended implementation of the treaty on conventional Armed Forces in Europe (CFE)

By Tiffany Soohoo and Corey Koppel

Any Questions?