Home - NATO Military Command Structure - NATO LibGuides at NATO Multimedia Library

Keywords

When searching for information on this topic, potentially useful keywords to use include :

NATO military command structure
NATO integrated military command structure
NATO reform
NATO command structure review
Allied Command Transformation (ACT)
Allied Command Operations (ACO)
command and control (C2)

Notes

This LibGuide includes links to content found on the web (e.g. websites, news & blogs, reports, etc.) as well as a select number of articles and books available from the NATO Multimedia Library.

Please note that this is not a comprehensive collection of material on NATO's military command structure. The selection criteria for the websites and documents included was based on each item's currency and relevancy to this topic.

Furthermore, quick search boxes for online databases subscribed by the Library (available to staff working at NATO HQ) as well as links to the library catalog are available for you to locate additional resources.

Welcome!

From the NATO news story, "Reshaping NATO’s Command Structure" (28 June 2011):

NATO’s Command Structure has been reviewed, as part of a major reform process, to make it more efficient, flexible and responsive. While the Alliance’s level of ambition remains the same, the changes will make its Command Structure more affordable, reducing the overall number of staff from 13,00 to 8,800 posts.

The reform will also create a more deployable, streamlined command configuration. Keeping its two Strategic Commands – Operations and Transformation – the new structure will have two Joint Force Headquarters (JFHQs). For the first time, each JFHQ will be able to deploy into theatre to exercise Command and Control up to the level of a major joint operation.

The reforms “will make NATO more effective – focusing on the capabilities and command systems we need,” said Secretary General Anders Fogh Rasmussen in a statement on 8 June 2011.

The review process took into account the Command Structure’s core functions such as planning of operations, conduct of operations, development and transformation, military cooperation, and support activities. It also considered a number of new tasks stemming from the 2010 Strategic Concept and key principles such as the ability to conduct Article 5 operations, deployability and sustainability, as well as Alliance cohesion. Greater interaction between NATO headquarters and national headquarters will also be developed as a result of this reform.

Brigadier General Patrick Wouters, Deputy Director Plans and Policy Division, International Military Staff, gave a technical briefing on the reforms on 9 June 2011.
He said the reform aims to make the command structure “more fit for purpose”.

“It will be able to meet the current and the future challenges and it is designed in a forward-looking way.”

This LibGuide is intended to provide a few starting points to assist you with your research on issues related to NATO's military command structure.

Good places to start your research include :

Background on NATO Command Structure Review (June 2011)
the NATO Topic pages on Military organization and structures, NATO Reform, as well as the Topic pages about the two strategic commands: Allied Command Transformation (ACT) and Allied Command Operations (ACO)
ACT's Structure page as well as ACO's Organization page
although the report "NATO Command Structure : Considerations for the Future" (September 2010) by W. Bruce Weinrod & Charles L. Barry was written prior to the reforms announced in June 2011, it provides a good overview of the history of the NATO command structure and how it has evolved
the publication, "The beginnings of NATO’s military structure: birth of the Alliance to the fall of the Berlin Wall" (2006) by the NATO International Military Staff
the page NATO organization, which provides links to NATO's administrative bodies that have a website; however, it does not reflect the organization's structure in its entirety