Chairman of the NATO Military Committee

Chairman of the NATO Military Committee
CMC shield
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 (CMC) is the head of the NATO Military Committee, which advises the North Atlantic Council on military policy and strategy. The Chairman is one of the foremost officials of NATO, next to the Secretary General and the Supreme Allied Commander.

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	United States	000000001949-01-01-00001949	000000001951-01-01-00001951	2 years
2		Baele, EtienneEtienne Baele	Lt. General	Belgium	000000001951-01-01-00001951	000000001952-01-01-00001952	1 year
3		Foulkes, CharlesCharles Foulkes	Lt. General	Canada	000000001952-01-01-00001952	000000001953-01-01-00001953	1 year
4		Qvistgaard, Erhard J.C.Erhard J.C. Qvistgaard	Admiral	Denmark	000000001953-01-01-00001953	000000001954-01-01-00001954	1 year
5		Guillaume, AugustinAugustin Guillaume	General	France	000000001954-01-01-00001954	000000001955-01-01-00001955	1 year
6		Pallis, StylianosStylianos Pallis	Lt. General	Greece	000000001955-01-01-00001955	000000001956-01-01-00001956	1 year
7		Mancinelli, GiuseppeGiuseppe Mancinelli	General	Italy	000000001956-01-01-00001956	000000001957-01-01-0000January 1, 1957	1 year
8		Hasselman, BenBen Hasselman	General	Netherlands	000000001957-01-01-0000January 1, 1957	000000001958-02-01-0000February 1, 1958	7002396000000000000♠1 year, 31 days
9		Øen, BjarneBjarne Øen	Lt. General	Norway	000000001958-01-01-00001958	000000001959-01-01-00001959	1 year
10		Ferraz, J.A. BelezaJ.A. Beleza Ferraz	General	Portugal	000000001959-01-01-00001959	000000001960-01-01-00001960	1 year
11		Erdelhun, RuştüRuştü Erdelhun	General	Turkey	000000001960-01-01-00001960	000000001960-06-03-0000June 3, 1960	<1 year
12		Mountbatten of Burma, EarlEarl Mountbatten of Burma	Admiral of the Fleet	United Kingdom	000000001960-01-01-00001960	000000001961-01-01-00001961	1 year
13		Lemnitzer, Lyman L.Lyman L. Lemnitzer	General	United States	000000001961-01-01-00001961	000000001962-01-01-00001962	1 year
14		de Cumont, C.P.C.P. de Cumont	Lt. General	Belgium	000000001962-01-01-00001962	000000001963-01-01-00001963	1 year
15		Heusinger, AdolfAdolf Heusinger	General	West Germany	000000001963-01-01-00001963	000000001964-01-01-00001964	1 year
(14)		de Cumont, C.P.C.P. de Cumont	Lt. General	Belgium	000000001964-01-01-00001964	000000001968-01-01-00001968	4 years
16		Henderson, Sir NigelSir Nigel Henderson	Admiral	United Kingdom	000000001968-01-01-00001968	000000001971-01-01-00001971	3 years
17		Steinhoff, JohannesJohannes Steinhoff	General	West Germany	000000001971-01-01-00001971	000000001974-01-01-00001974	3 years
18		Hill-Norton, Sir PeterSir Peter Hill-Norton	Admiral of the Fleet	United Kingdom	000000001974-01-01-00001974	000000001977-01-01-00001977	3 years
19		Zeiner-Gundersen, Herman FredrikHerman Fredrik Zeiner-Gundersen	General	Norway	000000001977-03-20-0000March 20, 1977	000000001980-01-01-00001980	3 years
20		Falls, Robert H.Robert H. Falls	Admiral	Canada	000000001980-01-01-00001980	000000001983-01-01-00001983	3 years
21		de Jager, CorCor de Jager	General	Netherlands	000000001983-11-01-0000November 1983	000000001986-09-30-0000September 30, 1986	7003106400000000000♠2 years, 333 days
22		Altenburg, WolfgangWolfgang Altenburg	General	West Germany	000000001986-09-30-0000September 30, 1986	000000001989-09-05-0000September 5, 1989	7003107100000000000♠2 years, 340 days
23		Eide, VigleikVigleik Eide	General	Norway	000000001989-09-05-0000September 5, 1989	000000001993-10-01-0000October 1993	7003148700000000000♠4 years, 26 days
24		Vincent, Sir RichardSir Richard Vincent	Field Marshal	United Kingdom	000000001993-10-01-0000October 1993	000000001996-02-14-0000February 14, 1996	7002866000000000000♠2 years, 136 days
25		Naumann, KlausKlaus Naumann	General	Germany	000000001996-02-14-0000February 14, 1996	000000001999-05-06-0000May 6, 1999	7003117700000000000♠3 years, 81 days
26		Venturoni, GuidoGuido Venturoni	Admiral	Italy	000000001999-05-06-0000May 6, 1999	000000002002-07-01-0000July 2002	7003115200000000000♠3 years, 56 days
27		Kujat, HaraldHarald Kujat	General	Germany	000000002002-07-01-0000July 2002	000000002005-06-17-0000June 17, 2005	7003108200000000000♠2 years, 351 days
28		Henault, RaymondRaymond Henault	General	Canada	000000002005-06-17-0000June 17, 2005	000000002008-06-27-0000June 27, 2008	7003110600000000000♠3 years, 10 days
29		Di Paola, GiampaoloGiampaolo Di Paola	Admiral	Italy	000000002008-06-27-0000June 27, 2008	000000002011-11-18-0000November 18, 2011	7003123900000000000♠3 years, 144 days
–		Gaskin, Walter E.Walter E. Gaskin (Acting)	Lieutenant General	United States	000000002011-11-18-0000November 18, 2011	000000002012-01-02-0000January 2, 2012	7001450000000000000♠45 days
30		Bartels, KnudKnud Bartels	General	Denmark	000000002012-01-02-0000January 2, 2012	000000002015-06-26-0000June 26, 2015	7003127100000000000♠3 years, 175 days
31		Pavel, PetrPetr Pavel	General of the Army	Czech Republic	000000002015-06-26-0000June 26, 2015	Incumbent	7002781000000000000♠2 years, 50 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.

North Atlantic Treaty Organization
History	North Atlantic Treaty Summit Operations Enlargement
Structure	Council Supreme Headquarters Allied Powers Europe Air Command Land Command Maritime Command Allied Command Transformation Parliamentary Assembly Standardization Agreement
People	Secretary General Chairman of the Military Committee Supreme Allied Commander Europe Supreme Allied Commander Transformation
Members	Albania Belgium Bulgaria Canada Croatia Czech Republic Denmark Estonia France Germany Greece Hungary Iceland Italy Latvia Lithuania Luxembourg Montenegro Netherlands Norway Poland Portugal Romania Slovakia Slovenia Spain Turkey United Kingdom United States
Multilateral relations	Atlantic Treaty Association Euro-Atlantic Partnership Council Mediterranean Dialogue Istanbul Cooperation Initiative Partnership for Peace