The North Atlantic Treaty Organization, also called the North Atlantic Alliance, is an intergovernmental military alliance between 31 member states – 29 European and two North American. Established in the aftermath of World War II, the organization implemented 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 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 Common Security and Defence Policy (CSDP) is the European Union's (EU) course of action in the fields of defence and crisis management, and a main component of the EU's Common Foreign and Security Policy (CFSP).
The North Atlantic Council (NAC) is the principal political decision-making body of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO), consisting of permanent representatives of its member countries. It was established by Article 9 of the North Atlantic Treaty, and it is the only body in NATO that derives its authority explicitly from the treaty.
Operation Deny Flight was a North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) operation that began on 12 April 1993 as the enforcement of a United Nations (UN) no-fly zone over Bosnia and Herzegovina. The United Nations and NATO later expanded the mission of the operation to include providing close air support for UN troops in Bosnia and carrying out coercive air strikes against targets in Bosnia. Twelve NATO members contributed forces to the operation and, by its end on 20 December 1995, NATO pilots had flown 100,420 sorties.
Naval Air Station Keflavik (NASKEF) is a United States Navy station at Keflavík International Airport, Iceland, located on the Reykjanes peninsula on the south-west portion of the island. NASKEF was closed on 8 September 2006, and its facilities were taken over by the Icelandic Defence Agency as their primary base until 1 January 2011, when the Agency was abolished and the base handed over to the Icelandic Coast Guard, which has since then operated the base. US forces would return to Keflavik starting from 2016.
Caroline Millar is an Australian diplomat and public servant who is currently Ambassador to Belgium, Luxembourg, the European Union and NATO. She has previously served as the Deputy Secretary for National Security of the Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet, Deputy Head of Mission of the Australian Embassy in Washington, D.C., the Permanent Representative to the United Nations in Geneva, and was briefly the acting-Head of Mission of the Australian Permanent Mission to the United Nations in New York.
A permanent representative is a diplomat who is the head of a country’s diplomatic mission to an international organisation.
The United Kingdom is a founding member of the United Nations and one of five permanent members of the UN Security Council.
Ivo H. Daalder, is President of the Chicago Council on Global Affairs and has served since July, 2013. He was the U.S. Permanent Representative on the Council of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) from May 2009 to July 2013. He is a specialist in European security. He was a member of the staff of United States National Security Council (NSC) during the administration of President Bill Clinton, and was one of the foreign policy advisers to President Barack Obama during his 2008 presidential campaign.
Richard Banks "Rich" Landolt is a retired Rear Admiral of the United States Navy. He currently serves as the Senior Civilian Representative of the Secretary of Defense in Europe and the Defense Advisor to the U.S. Ambassador to NATO.
Dr. Alton Gold Keel Jr. is an American engineer, government official, diplomat, and businessman.
The United States Mission to the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe represents the United States government in the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE). Currently, Michael R. Carpenter represents the United States at the OSCE and holds the title of ambassador.
In the United States, the Assistant Secretary of Defense for International Security Affairs or ASD (ISA) is the principal advisor to the Under Secretary of Defense for Policy (USD (P)) and the United States Secretary of Defense on international security strategy and policy on issues of Department of Defense (DoD) interest related to the governments and defense establishments of the nations and international organizations of Europe (including the North Atlantic Treaty Organization), the Middle East, Africa, and the Western Hemisphere. The ASD (ISA) also oversees security cooperation programs and foreign military sales programs in these regions. Despite the broad title of the office, the ASD (ISA) does not develop policy related to Asia, the Pacific region, Latin America, or South America.
The Embassy of Barbados in Washington, D.C. is the primary diplomatic mission of Barbados to the United States of America, and the Organisation of American States (OAS). It is maintained by Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Foreign Trade Barbados. The present Ambassador is Noel Anderson Lynch, appointed on October 1, 2018, who replaced Selwin Charles Hart.
Resolute Support Mission (RSM) or Operation Resolute Support was a NATO-led multinational mission in Afghanistan. It began on 1 January 2015 as the successor to the International Security Assistance Force (ISAF), which was completed on 28 December 2014. Pursuant to United Nations Security Council Resolution 2189 of 2014, RSM was a noncombat mission aimed at advising and training Afghan security forces to provide long-term security to the country, under the aegis of the Security and Defence Cooperation Agreement BSA between the United States and Afghanistan, which was originally supposed to run from 1 January 2015 and "shall remain in force until the end of 2024 and beyond" unless terminated with two years' advance notice.
The United States Mission to the European Union (USEU) is the diplomatic mission of the United States to the European Union; it is based in Brussels, Belgium. The US has maintained diplomatic relations with the EU and its predecessors since 1953. The first predecessor of the current mission was the US diplomatic mission to the European Coal and Steel Community in Luxembourg, which opened in 1956. In 1961, the US Mission to the European Communities was established in Brussels, which later became the United States Mission to the European Union, upon the latter's establishment in 1993.
A G visa is a category of official visas issued to diplomats, government officials, and international organization employees who are visiting the United States temporarily for a governmental purpose.
Julianne Smith is an American foreign policy advisor and diplomat who serves as the United States Permanent Representative to NATO in the Biden administration. She previously served as deputy national security advisor to then-Vice President Biden in the Obama administration.
