The Chairman of the Military Committee is the principal military advisor to the Secretary General, and the conduit through which consensus-based advice from NATO’s Chiefs of Defence is presented to the political body of NATO, the North Atlantic Council.
The Chairman of the Military Committee is elected for a 3 year period. Since 1963, when the position was permanently installed, the chairmanship has been held by 16 officers from the following NATO member nations : Germany (five times), the United Kingdom (three times), Canada , Italy and Norway (two times each ), Belgium and the Netherlands (once each).
