NATO - NORTH ATLANTIC TREATY ORGANIZATION

1. It is a military alliance established on 4 th April , 1949 to counter weight Soviet armies in

central and eastern Europe after World War II.
2. Article 5 gave the objective of NATO as:
“an armed attack against one or more of them in Europe or North America shall be
considered an attack against them all: and consequently they agree that if such an armed
attack occurs , each of them , in exercise of the right of individual or collective self-defence
recognised by Article 51 of UN Charter.
3. Article 6 defines the geographic scope of the treaty as covering Europe and North America.
4. Marshall Plan was launched by USA in 1948 to infuse economic aid to allies .
5. Governing body of NATO is North Atlantic Council .It is composed of ministerial
representatives of member states .
6. It has to meet at least two times a year. At other times, it remains in permanent session at
the ambassadorial level.
7. The NAC is chaired by the Secretary – general , who has always been an European.
8. Supreme Allied Commander Europe (SACEUR)was appointed in the wake of Korean crisis in
1950 for first time. President Eisenhower was appointed as first SACEUR. His successors
were always American generals.
9. NATO’s military organisation has two strategic commands: Allied Command Operations ,
with headquarter at Casteau, Belgium and Allied Command Transformation, with
headquarter at Virginia, USA.
10. After Cold War NATO has been seen as a cooperative –security organization to foster
dialogue and cooperation with former adversaries in the Warsaw Pact and to ‘manage’
conflicts in areas on the European periphery .
11. To foster dialogue North Atlantic Cooperation Council was established in 1991 and then
replaced by the Euro- Atlantic Partnership Council to provide a forum for the exchange of
views on political and security issues.
12. Partnership for Peace (PfP) Program was established in 1994 to enhance security and
stability through joint military training exercises with NATO and non-NATO states, including
the former Soviet republics and allies .Special cooperative links were set up with two PfP
countries, Russia and Ukraine