The North Atlantic Treaty Organization, also called the North Atlantic Alliance, is an intergovernmental military alliance of 32 member states—30 European and 2 North American. Established in the aftermath of World War II, the organization implements the North Atlantic Treaty, signed in Washington, D.C., on 4 April 1949. NATO is a collective security system: its independent member states agree to defend each other against attacks by third parties. During the Cold War, NATO operated as a check on the threat posed by the Soviet Union. The alliance remained in place after the dissolution of the Soviet Union and the Warsaw Pact, and has been involved in military operations in the Balkans, the Middle East, South Asia, and Africa. The organization's motto is animus in consulendo liber. The organization's strategic concepts include deterrence.
The Central Military Commission (CMC) is the highest military leadership body of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) and the People's Republic of China (PRC), which heads the People's Liberation Army (PLA), the People's Armed Police (PAP), and the Militia of China.
The orders of precedence in China is the ranking of political leaders in China for the purposes of event protocol and to arrange the ordering of names in official news bulletins, both written and televised. It is also sometimes used to assess perceived level of political power. Although there is no formally published ranking, there is usually an established convention and protocol, and the relative positions of Chinese political figures can usually be deduced from the order in meetings and especially by the time and order in which figures are covered by the official media. Since 1982, the General Secretary of the Chinese Communist Party has been the highest-ranking official in the People's Republic of China (PRC).
The Supreme People's Assembly is the legislature of North Korea. It is ostensibly the highest organ of state power and the only branch of government in North Korea, with all state organs subservient to it under the principle of unified power. However, in practice it is a rubber stamp legislature which exists to approve decisions made by the ruling party as a formality, and which has little to no real power of its own.
Edmund Peter Giambastiani Jr. is a retired United States Navy admiral who served as the seventh vice chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff from 2005 to 2007. He retired in 2007, after 37 years of service.
Allied Command Transformation (ACT) is a military command of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO), formed in 2003 after restructuring.
The NATO Parliamentary Assembly serves as the consultative interparliamentary organisation for the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO). It consists of delegates from the parliaments of the 32 NATO member countries as well as from associate and partner countries. Its current President is Gerry Connolly from the United States, elected as Acting President in 2024 after former president Michał Szczerba was elected to European Parliament. Its current Secretary General is Ruxandra Popa, who has been in this position since January 2020.
The chairman of the Central Military Commission is the head of the Central Military Commission (CMC) and the commander-in-chief of the People's Liberation Army (PLA), the People's Armed Police (PAP) and the Militia. The officeholder is additionally vested with the command authority over China's nuclear arsenals.
The North Atlantic Treaty Organization (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.
The secretary general of NATO is the chief civil servant of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO), an intergovernmental military alliance with 32 member states. The officeholder is an international diplomat responsible for coordinating the workings of the alliance, leading NATO's international staff, chairing the meetings of the North Atlantic Council and most major committees of the alliance, with the notable exception of the NATO Military Committee, as well as acting as NATO's spokesperson. The secretary general does not have a military command role; political, military and strategic decisions ultimately rest with the member states. Together with the chair of the NATO Military Committee and the supreme allied commander, the officeholder is one of the foremost officials of NATO.
The Central Military Commission of the Workers' Party of Korea (CMC) is an organ of the Central Committee of the Workers' Party of Korea (WPK) which heads the Korean People's Army (KPA).
The structure of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) is complex and multi-faceted. The decision-making body is the North Atlantic Council (NAC), and the member state representatives also sit on the Defence Policy and Planning Committee (DPPC) and the Nuclear Planning Group (NPG). Below that the Secretary General of NATO directs the civilian International Staff, that is divided into administrative divisions, offices and other organizations. Also responsible to the NAC, DPPC, and NPG are a host of committees that supervise the various NATO logistics and standardisation agencies.
From April 1948, the member states of the Western Union (WU), decided to create a military agency under the name of the Western Union Defence Organisation (WUDO). WUDO was formally established on September 27–28, 1948.
The Allied Maritime Command (MARCOM) is the central command of all NATO maritime forces and the Commander MARCOM is the prime maritime advisor to the Alliance. When directed by the Supreme Allied Commander Europe (SACEUR), it provides the core of the headquarters responsible for the conduct of maritime operations. The command is based at the Northwood Headquarters in Eastbury, Hertfordshire.
The Committee of Chiefs of Military Medical Services in NATO (COMEDS) is the North Atlantic Alliance's senior medical body, reporting to the NATO Military Committee. It is headed by a chairman, is composed of the Surgeons General of the allied nations and the senior medical advisers within NATO's command structure, and meets twice annually in plenary session. Supported by NATO's integral medical staff and numerous specialized multi-national working groups and panels, COMEDS acts as the central point for the development and coordination of common standards and for providing medical advice to the Military Committee.
Robert Peter Bauer is a Dutch military officer of the Royal Netherlands Navy who has been serving as Chair of the NATO Military Committee since June 2021, succeeding Air Chief Marshal Sir Stuart Peach of the Royal Air Force of the United Kingdom. He previously served as the Chief of Defence from October 2017 to April 2021, and as the Vice Chief of Defence of the Netherlands of the from 1 September 2015 to 13 July 2017. Bauer was also involved in counter-terrorist and anti-piracy operations in the Mediterranean Sea, and in the Horn of Africa.
The relationship between Azerbaijan and NATO started in 1992 when Azerbaijan joined the newly created North Atlantic Cooperation Council. Considerable partnership between NATO and Azerbaijan dates back to 1994, when the latter joined Partnership for Peace program. Azerbaijan established a diplomatic Mission to NATO in 1997 by the Presidential Decree on 21 November.
The Deputy Chair of the NATO Military Committee (DCMC) is the deputy head of the NATO Military Committee. Originally titled as the Deputy Chairman, the post was redesignated in 2021 to reflect the gender-neutrality of the post.
Joint Force Command - Norfolk (JFC-NF) is a joint operational level command part of the NATO Military Command Structure under Allied Command Operations. Its headquarters is located in Norfolk, Virginia, United States.
Scott Andrew Kindsvater is a retired United States Air Force lieutenant general who last served as the 22nd Deputy Chair of the NATO Military Committee. He assists the Chair's role as principal adviser to the NATO Secretary General and senior military spokesman of the 30-nation alliance. He also advises the Deputy Secretary General, leads coordination of nuclear, biological and chemical matters and, in the Chair's absence, directs daily operations and the business of the Military Committee, NATO's highest military authority. Previously, he was the deputy chief of staff for operations and intelligence of the Supreme Headquarters Allied Powers Europe.
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