Chairman of the NATO Military Committee

Chairman of the NATO Military Committee
Incumbent General Petr Pavel since 26 June 2015
NAC
Member of	Czech Republic
Reports to	Secretary General of NATO
Formation	1949
First holder	General Omar Bradley
Website	NATO

The Chairman of the NATO Military Committee's (CMC) authority stems from the NATO Military Committee, to which he is responsible in the performance of his duties. The current Chairman of the NATO Military Committee is Petr Pavel, former Chief of the General Staff of the Army of the Czech Republic, who took office on June 26, 2015.

Origins

In accordance with Article 9 of the North Atlantic Treaty and the guidance given by the Working Group on the North Atlantic Treaty Organization during the first Council session in Washington in 1949, the Defence Committee rapidly established the Military Committee.^[1] During its few sessions held behind closed doors in Washington, the Military Committee gave policy guidance on military matters to the Standing Group, and advice on military questions to the Defence Committee and other bodies, and it recommended military measures for the unified defence of the North Atlantic region to the Defence Committee. The Military Committee was directly subordinate to the Defence Committee, and each member nation was represented by its chief of staff or a deputy. Iceland, which had no military forces, was represented by a civilian. Each member state in turn held the Chair of the Military Committee for one year (C1 D-1/2,^[2] DC 1/2^[3]).

Two other groups which also sat in Washington came directly under the Military Committee:

• the Standing Group, the executive body, set up at the beginning, responsible for Military Committee everyday business;
• the Military Representatives Committee (MRC), created at the end of 1950, to ensure communication of information and points of view between the Standing Group and Alliance member states not represented on it.

Representatives

The principal military member of each NATO 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 assisting and advising the North Atlantic Council, Defence Planning Committee, and Nuclear Planning Group on military matters.^[4] 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.

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.^[5]

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

The Chairman of the Military Committee chairs all meetings and acts in an international capacity. In his absence, the Deputy Chairman of the Military Committee takes the chair. The current Chairman is Czech General Petr Pavel.

Since the formation of NATO, its Military Chairmen have been:^[6]

#	Photo	Chairman of the NATO Military Committee	Rank	Nationality	Took office	Left office	Length of term
1		Bradley, Omar N.Omar N. Bradley	General of the Army	USA	000000001949-01-01-00001949	000000001951-01-01-00001951	j2 years
2		Baele, EtienneEtienne Baele	Lt. General	Belgium	000000001951-01-01-00001951	000000001952-01-01-00001952	j1 year
3		Foulkes, CharlesCharles Foulkes	Lt. General	Canada	000000001952-01-01-00001952	000000001953-01-01-00001953	j1 year
4		Qvistgaard, Erhard J.C.Erhard J.C. Qvistgaard	Admiral	Denmark	000000001953-01-01-00001953	000000001954-01-01-00001954	j1 year
5		Guillaume, AugustinAugustin Guillaume	General	France	000000001954-01-01-00001954	000000001955-01-01-00001955	j1 year
6		Pallis, StylianosStylianos Pallis	Lt. General	Greece	000000001955-01-01-00001955	000000001956-01-01-00001956	j1 year
7		Mancinelli, GiuseppeGiuseppe Mancinelli	General	Italy	000000001956-01-01-00001956	000000001957-01-01-00001957	j1 year
8		Hasselman, B.R.P.F.B.R.P.F. Hasselman	General	Netherlands	000000001957-01-01-00001957	000000001958-01-01-00001958	j1 year
9		Øen, BjarneBjarne Øen	Lt. General	Norway	000000001958-01-01-00001958	000000001959-01-01-00001959	j1 year
10		Ferras, J.A. BelezaJ.A. Beleza Ferras	General	Portugal	000000001959-01-01-00001959	000000001960-01-01-00001960	j1 year
11		Erdelhun, RuştüRuştü Erdelhun	General	Turkey	000000001960-01-01-00001960	000000001960-01-01-00001960	j >1 year
12		Mountbatten, 1st Earl Mountbatten of Burma, LouisLouis Mountbatten, 1st Earl Mountbatten of Burma	Admiral of the Fleet	UK	000000001960-01-01-00001960	000000001961-01-01-00001961	j 1 year
13		Lemnitzer, Lyman L.Lyman L. Lemnitzer	General	USA	000000001961-01-01-00001961	000000001962-01-01-00001962	j 1 year
14		de Cumont, C.P.C.P. de Cumont	Lt. General	Belgium	000000001962-01-01-00001962	000000001963-01-01-00001963	j 1 year
15		Heusinger, AdolfAdolf Heusinger	General	West Germany	000000001963-01-01-00001963	000000001964-01-01-00001964	j 1 year
16		de Cumont, C.P.C.P. de Cumont	Lt. General	Belgium	000000001964-01-01-00001964	000000001968-01-01-00001968	j 4 years
17		Henderson, NigelNigel Henderson	Admiral	UK	000000001968-01-01-00001968	000000001971-01-01-00001971	j 3 years
18		Steinhoff, JohannesJohannes Steinhoff	General	West Germany	000000001971-01-01-00001971	000000001974-01-01-00001974	j 3 years
19		Hill-Norton, Admiral of the Fleet Sir PeterAdmiral of the Fleet Sir Peter Hill-Norton	Admiral of the Fleet	UK	000000001974-01-01-00001974	000000001977-01-01-00001977	j 3 years
20		Zeiner-Gundersen, Herman FredrikHerman Fredrik Zeiner-Gundersen	General	Norway	000000001977-01-01-00001977	000000001980-01-01-00001980	j 3 years
21		Falls, Robert H.Robert H. Falls	Admiral	Canada	000000001980-01-01-00001980	000000001983-01-01-00001983	j 3 years
22		De Jager, CornelisCornelis De Jager	General	Netherlands	000000001983-01-01-00001983	000000001986-01-01-00001986	j 3 years
23		Altenburg, WolfgangWolfgang Altenburg	General	West Germany	000000001986-01-01-00001986	000000001989-01-01-00001989	j 3 years
24		Eide, VigleikVigleik Eide	General	Norway	000000001989-01-01-00001989	000000001993-01-01-00001993	j 4 years
25		Vincent, Baron Vincent of Coleshill, RichardRichard Vincent, Baron Vincent of Coleshill	Field Marshal	UK	000000001993-10-01-0000October 1993	000000001996-01-01-00001996	j 3 years
26		Naumann, KlausKlaus Naumann	General	Germany	000000001996-02-14-0000February 14, 1996	000000001999-05-06-0000May 6, 1999	j7008101671200000000♠3 years, 81 days
27		Venturoni, GuidoGuido Venturoni	Admiral	Italy	000000001999-05-06-0000May 6, 1999	000000002002-07-01-0000July 2002	j7007994248000000000♠3 years, 55 days
26		Kujat, HaraldHarald Kujat	General	Germany	000000002002-07-01-0000July 2002	000000002005-06-17-0000June 17, 2005	j7007935280000000000♠2 years, 352 days
27		Henault, RaymondRaymond Henault	General	Canada	000000002005-06-17-0000June 17, 2005	000000002008-06-27-0000June 27, 2008	j7007955368000000000♠3 years, 10 days
28		Di Paola, GiampaoloGiampaolo Di Paola	Admiral	Italy	000000002008-06-27-0000June 27, 2008	000000002011-11-18-0000November 18, 2011	j7008107114400000000♠3 years, 144 days
29		Bartels, KnudKnud Bartels	General	Denmark	000000002012-01-02-0000January 2, 2012	000000002015-06-26-0000June 26, 2015	j 7008109792800000000♠3 years, 175 days
30		Pavel, PetrPetr Pavel	General	Czech Republic	000000002015-06-26-0000June 26, 2015	Incumbent	j 7007195264000000000♠226 days

References

Further reading

• Douglas S. Bland, 'The Military Committee of the North Atlantic Alliance: A Study of Structure and Strategy,' New York, Praeger, 1991.

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