Military units and formations of NATO

The military units and formations of NATO are the operational side of the organization, as determined by treaty. Strategically, NATO is run by three bodies. The decision-making body is the Council of national NATO Permanent Representatives, and the decision-making and legislative process of which is converted into policy by the civilian International Staff that is divided into administrative divisions, offices and other organizations. These policies are produced on advice from the standing committees, of which only five are specifically military in nature.

The executive and operational process is overseen by the Military Committee which commands the forces and also oversees their integration, training and research support. The coordination role between the two is carried out by 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.

All agencies & organizations are immediately subordinate to the NATO headquarters, but are nominally 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.

Civilian structure

NATO has an extensive civilian structure, including:

Public Diplomacy Division
NATO Office of Security (NOS)
Executive Management
Division of Political Affairs and Security Policy
Division of Operations
Division of Defence Policy and Planning
Division of Defence Investment
NATO Office of Resources (NOR)
NATO Headquarters Consultation, Command and Control Staff (NHQC3S)
Office of the Financial Controller (FinCon)
Office of the Chairman of the Senior Resource Board (SRB)
Office of the Chairman of the Civil and Military Budget Committees (CBC/MBC))
International Board of Auditors for NATO (IBAN)
NATO Production and Logistics Organizations (NPLO)

Defence Planning Committee

The Defence Planning Committee (DPC) is normally composed of Permanent Representatives, but meets at the level of Defence Ministers at least twice a year. It deals with most defence matters and subjects related to collective defence planning. In this it serves as a coordinating body between the Civilian and Military organizational bureaucracies of NATO.

Military structures

The second pivotal member of each country's delegation is the Military Representative, a senior officer from each country's armed forces, supported by the International Military Staff. Together the Military Representatives form the Military Committee (MC), a body responsible for recommending to NATO’s political authorities those measures considered necessary for the common defence of the NATO area. Its principal role is to provide direction and advice on military policy and strategy. It provides guidance on military matters to the NATO Strategic Commanders, 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 current Chairman of the NATO Military Committee

Chairman of the NATO Military Committee

The Chairman of the NATO Military Committee's authority stems from the NATO Military Committee, to which he is responsible in the performance of his duties. He chairs all meetings of the Military Committee and acts in an international capacity. In his absence, the Deputy Chairman of the Military...

is Giampaolo Di Paola

Giampaolo Di Paola

Admiral Giampaolo di Paola is an Italian naval officer who has served in the government of Italy as Minister of Defense since November 2011...

of Italy (since 2008).

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. 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.
The operational work of the Committee is supported by the International Military Staff.

NATO's military operations are directed by the Chairman of the NATO Military Committee

Chairman of the NATO Military Committee

, and split into two Strategic Commands both commanded by a senior US officer assisted by a staff drawn from across NATO. The Strategic Commanders are responsible to the Military Committee

Chairman of the NATO Military Committee

for the overall direction and conduct of all Alliance military matters within their areas of command.

The Military Committee in turn directs two principal NATO organizations: the Allied Command Operations (ACO) responsible for the strategic, operational and tactical management of combat and combat support forces of the NATO members, and the Allied Command Transformation (ACT) organization responsible for the induction of the new member states' forces into NATO, and NATO forces' research and training capability.

Allied Command Operations

Before 2003 the Strategic Commanders were the Supreme Allied Commander Europe (SACEUR) and the Supreme Allied Commander Atlantic

Supreme Allied Commander Atlantic

The Supreme Allied Commander Atlantic was one of two supreme commanders of the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation , the other being the Supreme Allied Commander Europe . The SACLANT led Allied Command Atlantic, based at Norfolk, Virginia...

(SACLANT) but the current arrangement is to separate command responsibility

Command responsibility

Command responsibility, sometimes referred to as the Yamashita standard or the Medina standard, and also known as superior responsibility, is the doctrine of hierarchical accountability in cases of war crimes....

between Allied Command Transformation

Allied Command Transformation

Allied Command Transformation is a NATO military command, which was formed in 2003 after North Atlantic Treaty Organisation restructuring....

(ACT), responsible for transformation and training of NATO forces, and Allied Command Operations

Supreme Headquarters Allied Powers Europe

Supreme Headquarters Allied Powers Europe is the central command of NATO military forces. It is located at Casteau, north of the Belgian city of Mons...

(ACO), responsible for NATO operations world wide. As a result of post–Cold War restructuring of national forces, intervention in the Balkan conflicts, and subsequent participation in Afghanistan, starting in late 2003 NATO has restructured how it commands and deploys its troops by creating several NATO Rapid Deployable Corps and naval High Readiness Forces (HRFs), which all report to Allied Command Operations.

The commander of Allied Command Operations retained the title "Supreme Allied Commander Europe (SACEUR)", and is based in the Supreme Headquarters Allied Powers Europe

Supreme Headquarters Allied Powers Europe

Supreme Headquarters Allied Powers Europe is the central command of NATO military forces. It is located at Casteau, north of the Belgian city of Mons...

(SHAPE) located at Casteau

Casteau

Casteau is a village of Belgium in the French-speaking region. With the others villages Chaussée-Notre-Dame-Louvignies, Horrues, Naast, Neufvilles, Soignies , and Thieusies, they compose the municipality of Soignies....

, north of the Belgian city of Mons

Mons

Mons is a Walloon city and municipality located in the Belgian province of Hainaut, of which it is the capital. The Mons municipality includes the old communes of Cuesmes, Flénu, Ghlin, Hyon, Nimy, Obourg, Baudour , Jemappes, Ciply, Harmignies, Harveng, Havré, Maisières, Mesvin, Nouvelles,...

. This is about 80 km (49.7 mi) south of NATO’s political headquarters in Brussels. ACO is headed by SACEUR, a US four-star general or admiral with the dual-hatted role of heading US European Command

United States European Command

The United States European Command is one of ten Unified Combatant Commands of the United States military, headquartered in Stuttgart, Germany. Its area of focus covers and 51 countries and territories, including Europe, Russia, Iceland, Greenland, and Israel...

, which is headquartered in Stuttgart

Stuttgart

Stuttgart is the capital of the state of Baden-Württemberg in southern Germany. The sixth-largest city in Germany, Stuttgart has a population of 600,038 while the metropolitan area has a population of 5.3 million ....

, Germany. SHAPE was in Rocquencourt

Rocquencourt

Rocquencourt is a commune in the Yvelines department in the Île-de-France in north-central France.It is mostly known for:* hosting a research unit of INRIA ;...

, west of Paris, until 1966, when French president Charles de Gaulle

Charles de Gaulle

Charles André Joseph Marie de Gaulle was a French general and statesman who led the Free French Forces during World War II. He later founded the French Fifth Republic in 1958 and served as its first President from 1959 to 1969....

withdrew French forces from the Atlantic Alliance. NATO's headquarters were then forced to move to Belgium, while many military units had to move.

ACO includes Joint Force Command Brunssum in the Netherlands, Joint Force Command Naples

Allied Joint Force Command Naples

Allied Joint Force Command Naples is a NATO military command. It was activated on 15 March 2004, after what was effectively a redesignation of its predecessor command, Allied Forces Southern Europe , originally formed in 1951...

in Italy, and Joint Command Lisbon

Joint Command Lisbon

Allied Joint Force Command Lisbon or JFC Lisbon is one of the three main subdivisions of NATO's Allied Command Operations. It is based in Oeiras, near Lisbon, Portugal...

in Portugal, all multi-national headquarters with many nations represented. JFC Brunssum has its land component, Allied Land Component Command Headquarters Heidelberg at Heidelberg

Heidelberg

-Early history:Between 600,000 and 200,000 years ago, "Heidelberg Man" died at nearby Mauer. His jaw bone was discovered in 1907; with scientific dating, his remains were determined to be the earliest evidence of human life in Europe. In the 5th century BC, a Celtic fortress of refuge and place of...

, Germany, its air component at Ramstein

Allied Air Forces Central Europe

Allied Air Forces Central Europe was the headquarters for NATO air forces in Central Europe from 1951 to 1967 and from 1974 to 1993.-History:It was first based at Fontainebleau , and originally activated in April 1951...

in Germany, and its naval component at the Northwood Headquarters

Northwood Headquarters

Northwood Headquarters is a military headquarters facility of the British Armed Forces in Eastbury, Hertfordshire, England, adjacent to the London suburb of Northwood...

in the northwest suburbs of London. JFC Naples

Naples

Naples is a city in Southern Italy, situated on the country's west coast by the Gulf of Naples. Lying between two notable volcanic regions, Mount Vesuvius and the Phlegraean Fields, it is the capital of the region of Campania and of the province of Naples...

has its land component in Madrid

Madrid

Madrid is the capital and largest city of Spain. The population of the city is roughly 3.3 million and the entire population of the Madrid metropolitan area is calculated to be 6.271 million. It is the third largest city in the European Union, after London and Berlin, and its metropolitan...

, air component at İzmir

Izmir

Izmir is a large metropolis in the western extremity of Anatolia. The metropolitan area in the entire Izmir Province had a population of 3.35 million as of 2010, making the city third most populous in Turkey...

, Turkey, and naval component in Naples

Naples

, Italy. It also directs KFOR in Kosovo

Kosovo

Kosovo is a region in southeastern Europe. Part of the Ottoman Empire for more than five centuries, later the Autonomous Province of Kosovo and Metohija within Serbia...

. JC Lisbon

Lisbon

Lisbon is the capital city and largest city of Portugal with a population of 545,245 within its administrative limits on a land area of . The urban area of Lisbon extends beyond the administrative city limits with a population of 3 million on an area of , making it the 9th most populous urban...

is a smaller HQ with no subordinate commands. Lajes Field

Lajes Field

Lajes Field or Lajes Air Base , officially designated Air Base No. 4 , is a multi-use air field, home to the Portuguese Air Force Base Aérea Nº4 and Azores Air Zone Command , a United States Air Force detachment , and a regional air passenger terminal located near Lajes...

, in the Portuguese Azores

Azores

The Archipelago of the Azores is composed of nine volcanic islands situated in the middle of the North Atlantic Ocean, and is located about west from Lisbon and about east from the east coast of North America. The islands, and their economic exclusion zone, form the Autonomous Region of the...

, is an important transatlantic staging post. A number of NATO Force Structure formations, such as the NATO Rapid Deployable Corps are answerable ultimately to SACEUR either directly or through the component commands. Directly responsible to SACEUR is the NATO Airborne Early Warning Force at NATO Air Base Geilenkirchen

NATO Air Base Geilenkirchen

NATO Air Base Geilenkirchen is located near Geilenkirchen, Germany. It is the Main Operating Base of the NATO E-3A Component, one of two operational elements of the NATO Airborne Early Warning & Control Force.- Location and history :...

in Germany where a jointly funded fleet of E-3 Sentry

E-3 Sentry

The Boeing E-3 Sentry is an airborne warning and control system developed by Boeing as the prime contractor. Derived from the Boeing 707, it provides all-weather surveillance, command, control and communications, and is used by the United States Air Force , NATO, Royal Air Force , French Air Force...

AWACS airborne radar aircraft is located. The C-17

C-17 Globemaster III

The Boeing C-17 Globemaster III is a large military transport aircraft. Developed for the United States Air Force from the 1980s to the early 1990s by McDonnell Douglas, the C-17 is used for rapid strategic airlift of troops and cargo to main operating bases or forward operating bases throughout...

s of the NATO Strategic Airlift Capability

NATO Strategic Airlift Capability

The Strategic Airlift Capability is a consortium of 12 nations, 10 of which are member states of NATO and two of which are Partners For Peace, to pool together resources to purchase and operate Boeing C-17 Globemaster III aircraft for joint strategic airlift purposes.The SAC concept was...

, which became fully operational in July 2009, is based at Pápa

Pápa

Pápa is a historical city in Veszprém county, Hungary, located close to the northern edge of the Bakony Hills, and noted for its baroque architecture. With its 33,000 inhabitants, it is the cultural, economic and tourism centre of the region....

airfield in Hungary.

Allied Command Transformation

Allied Command Transformation is a NATO military command, which was formed in 2003 after North Atlantic Treaty Organisation restructuring....

(ACT) is based in the former Allied Command Atlantic headquarters in Norfolk, Virginia

Norfolk, Virginia

Norfolk is an independent city in the Commonwealth of Virginia in the United States. With a population of 242,803 as of the 2010 Census, it is Virginia's second-largest city behind neighboring Virginia Beach....

, United States. Allied Command Atlantic, usually known as Supreme Allied Commander Atlantic

Supreme Allied Commander Atlantic

(SACLANT), after its commander, became ACT in 2003. It is headed by the Supreme Allied Commander Transformation (SACT), a US four-star general or admiral with the dual-hatted role as commander US Joint Forces Command

United States Joint Forces Command

United States Joint Forces Command was a former Unified Combatant Command of the United States Armed Forces. USJFCOM was a functional command that provided specific services to the military. The last commander was Army Gen. Raymond T. Odierno...

(COMUSJFCOM). There is also an ACT command element located at SHAPE in Mons, Belgium.

Subordinate ACT organizations include the Joint Warfare Centre

Joint Warfare Center

The Joint Warfare Centre is a NATO establishment headquartered in Stavanger, Norway.It was established at Jåttå the 23 of October 2003. The purpose of this was to have a command with responsibility for training and exercise of the NATO headquarters...

(JWC) located in Stavanger

Stavanger

Stavanger is a city and municipality in the county of Rogaland, Norway.Stavanger municipality has a population of 126,469. There are 197,852 people living in the Stavanger conurbation, making Stavanger the fourth largest city, but the third largest urban area, in Norway...

, Norway (in the same site as the Norwegian NJHQ

Norwegian Armed Forces

The Norwegian Armed Forces numbers about 23,000 personnel, including civilian employees. According to mobilisation plans , the strength during full mobilisation would be approximately 83,000 combatant personnel. Norway has mandatory military service for men and voluntary service for women...

); the Joint Force Training Centre

Joint Force Training Centre

The Joint Force Training Centre is a NATO headquarters located in Bydgoszcz, Poland, responsible to Allied Command Transformation at Norfolk, Virginia, in the United States. The Joint Force Training Centre, started on March 31, 2004, focuses on joint and combined training at the tactical level...

(JFTC) in Bydgoszcz, Poland; the Joint Analysis and Lessons Learned Centre

Joint Analysis and Lessons Learned Centre

The Joint Analysis and Lessons Learned Centre is a NATO body located in Monsanto, Lisbon, Portugal.The Joint Analysis and Lessons Learned Centre was commissioned on 2 September 2002...

(JALLC) in Monsanto

Monsanto (Idanha-a-Nova)

Monsanto is a Portuguese freguesia in Idanha-a-Nova, with 131.76 km² and 1,160 inhabitants . Density: 8.8 hab/km². It was the principal town of the concelho between 1174 and the beginning of the 19th century.-Places:*Castelo de Monsanto...

, Portugal; and the NATO Undersea Research Centre (NURC), La Spezia

La Spezia

La Spezia , at the head of the Gulf of La Spezia in the Liguria region of northern Italy, is the capital city of the province of La Spezia. Located between Genoa and Pisa on the Ligurian Sea, it is one of the main Italian military and commercial harbours and hosts one of Italy's biggest military...

, Italy. NURC was the former SACLANT ASW Research Centre

SACLANT ASW Research Centre

The SACLANT ASW Research Centre was the predecessor to the NATO Undersea Research Centre. It was known as The SACLANT ASW Research Centre from 1959 through 1986 and the SACLANT Undersea Research Centre from 1987 through 2003...

.

In June 2009 Le Figaro

Le Figaro

Le Figaro is a French daily newspaper founded in 1826 and published in Paris. It is one of three French newspapers of record, with Le Monde and Libération, and is the oldest newspaper in France. It is also the second-largest national newspaper in France after Le Parisien and before Le Monde, but...

named the two French officers who will, following France's return to the military command structure, take command of Allied Command Transformation and Joint Command Lisbon.

Canada-US Regional Planning Group

The Canada-US Regional Planning Group (CUSRPG) is the only survivor of the originally five regional planning groups of the late 1940s and early 1950s. All the others were subsumed into Allied Command Europe and Allied Command Atlantic

Supreme Allied Commander Atlantic

. The NATO Handbook stated in 1990s editions that it was responsible for the defence of the US-Canada area and meets alternatively in Washington

Washington, D.C.

Washington, D.C., formally the District of Columbia and commonly referred to as Washington, "the District", or simply D.C., is the capital of the United States. On July 16, 1790, the United States Congress approved the creation of a permanent national capital as permitted by the U.S. Constitution....

and Ottawa

Ottawa

Ottawa is the capital of Canada, the second largest city in the Province of Ontario, and the fourth largest city in the country. The city is located on the south bank of the Ottawa River in the eastern portion of Southern Ontario...

. (As such it appears to duplicate, in part, the work of the Permanent Joint Board on Defence.)

New structure for Agencies

A major reorganization of the NATO Agencies was agreed at a meeting of the defence ministers from NATO's 28 member states on 8 June 2011. The new Agencies' structure will build upon the existing one:

Headquarters for the NATO Support Agency will be in Capellen Luxembourg (site of the current NATO Maintenance and Supply Agency – NAMSA).
The NATO Communications and Information Agency Headquarters will be in Brussels, as will the very small staff which will design the new NATO Procurement Agency.
A new NATO Science and Technology (S&T) Organization will be created before July 2012, consisting of Chief Scientist, a Programme Office for Collaborative S&T, and the NATO Undersea Research Centre (NURC).
The current NATO Standardization Agency will continue and be subject to review by Spring 2014.

Former structure

Prior to the reorganization, the NATO website listed 43 different agencies and organizations and five project committees/offices as of 15 May 2008. They included:

Logistics committees, organisations and agencies, including:
- NATO Maintenance and Supply Agency
  NATO Maintenance and Supply Agency
  The NATO Maintenance and Supply Agency , abbreviated to NAMSA, is the main logistics agency of the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation...
- Central Europe Pipeline System
  Central Europe Pipeline System
  The Central Europe Pipeline System , or CEPS for short, is one of several NATO Pipeline Systems and is used to deliver fuel for air and ground vehicles around Europe. Originally conceived for military purposes, it was to aid in safe and quick distribution of fuel for military purposes around Europe...
- NATO Pipeline System
Production Logistics organisations, agencies and offices including the NATO Eurofighter and Tornado Management Agency
NETMA
The NATO Eurofighter and Tornado Management Agency is the prime customer and management body for the four-nation Eurofighter Typhoon Weapon System programme. Its offices are located on the outskirts of Munich, Germany and it is staffed by civilian and military secondees from the participating...
Standardisation organisation, committee, office and agency including the NATO Standardization Agency which also plays an important role in the global arena of standards determination.
Civil Emergency Planning committees and centre
Air Traffic Management and Air Defence committees, working groups organisation and centre including the:
- NATO ACCS Management Agency
  NACMA
  NACMA is the NATO ACCS Management Agency. It is responsible for the management of the NATO Air Command and Control System programme, which is a $500M project to provide the NATO commands with a new air command and control system from 2009 onwards....
  
  (NACMA), based in Brussels, manages around a hundred persons in charge of the Air Control and Command System (ACCS
  ACCS
  ACCS is the $500M NATO Air Command and Control System programme, which is intended to replace the existing air command and control systems in Europe from 2009 onwards. At the highest level it comprises the Combined Air Operations Centre from which the air battle is run...
  
  ) due for 2009.
- NATO Programming Centre
  NATO Programming Centre
  NPC is the NATO Programming Centre. It is responsible for system support and maintenance of NATO's Air Command and Control Systems. Amongst these systems is also the NATO Air Command and Control System ACCS....
The NATO Airborne Early Warning and Control Programme Management Organisation (NAPMO)
NATO Consultation, Command and Control Organisation (NC3O
NC3O
The NATO Consultation, Command and Control Organization was formed in 1996. Its main objective is to provide a coherent, secure and interoperable C3 capability to the NATO....

)
- NATO Consultation, Command and Control Agency
  NATO Consultation, Command and Control Agency
  The NATO Consultation, Command and Control Agency was formed in 1996 by merging the SHAPE Technical Centre in The Hague, Netherlands; and the NATO Communications and Information Systems Agency in Brussels, Belgium...
  
  (NC3A), reporting to the NATO Consultation, Command and Control Organization (NC3O). This agency was formed when the SHAPE Technical Centre
  SHAPE Technical Centre
  The SHAPE Technical Centre or Supreme Headquarters Allied Powers Europe Technical Centre was formerly known as the SHAPE Air Defence Technical Centre . It was formed in 1955 and located in The Hague, Netherlands. It conducted research and development for NATO in the area of air defence, in...
  
  (STC) in The Hague
  The Hague
  The Hague is the capital city of the province of South Holland in the Netherlands. With a population of 500,000 inhabitants , it is the third largest city of the Netherlands, after Amsterdam and Rotterdam...
  
  (Netherlands) merged in 1996 with the NATO Communications and Information Systems Operating and Support Agency (NACISA) based in Brussels (Belgium). The agency comprises around 650 staff, of which around 400 are located in The Hague and 250 in Brussels.
- NATO Communications and Information Systems Services Agency (NCSA), based in Mons
  Mons
  Mons is a Walloon city and municipality located in the Belgian province of Hainaut, of which it is the capital. The Mons municipality includes the old communes of Cuesmes, Flénu, Ghlin, Hyon, Nimy, Obourg, Baudour , Jemappes, Ciply, Harmignies, Harveng, Havré, Maisières, Mesvin, Nouvelles,...
  
  (BEL), was established in August 2004 from the former NATO Communications and Information Systems Operating and Support Agency (NACISA).
- NATO Headquarters C3 Staff (NHQC3S), which supports the North Atlantic Council, Military Committee, International Staff, and the International Military Staff.
NATO Electronic Warfare Advisory Committee (NEWAC)
Military Committee Meteorological Group (MCMG)
The Military Oceanography Group (MILOC)
NATO Research and Technology Organisation
NATO Research and Technology Organisation
The NATO Research and Technology Organisation promotes and conducts co-operative scientific research and exchange of technical information amongst 26 NATO nations and 38 NATO partners...

(RTO),
Education and Training college, schools and group
Project Steering Committees and Project Offices, including:
- Alliance Ground Surveillance Capability Provisional Project Office (AGS/PPO)
- Battlefield Information Collection and Exploitation System (BICES)
- NATO Continuous Acquisition and Life Cycle Support Office (CALS)
- NATO FORACS Office
- Munitions Safety Information Analysis Center
  Munitions Safety Information Analysis Center
  - Introduction :Munitions Safety Information Analysis Center, also referred to as MSIAC, is a NATO project funded directly by its member nations, not all of which are NATO members...
  
  (MSIAC)

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