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| Updated: 08-Sep-2009 | NATO Publications |
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At the Washington Summit meeting in April 1999, the NATO Allies approved a strategy to equip the Alliance for the security challenges and opportunities of the 21st century and to guide its future political and military development. The updated Strategic Concept provides overall guidance for the development of detailed policies and military plans. It describes the Purpose and Tasks of the Alliance and examines its Strategic Perspectives in the light of the evolving strategic environment and security challenges and risks. The Concept sets out the Alliance’s Approach to Security in the 21st Century, reaffirming the importance of the transatlantic link and of maintaining the Alliance’s military capabilities. It examines the role of other key elements in the Alliance’s broad approach to stability and security, namely the European Security and Defence Identity; conflict prevention and crisis management; partnership, cooperation and dialogue; enlargement; and arms control, disarmament and non-proliferation. The Concept also gives Guidelines for the Alliance’s Forces based on the principles of Alliance strategy and the characteristics of the Alliance’s force posture. This includes sections addressing the missions of Alliance military forces and guidelines for the Alliance’s force posture, as well as the characteristics of conventional and nuclear forces. The Strategic Concept was first published in 1991. The 1999 version, like its predecessor, is the authoritative statement of the Alliance’s objectives and provides the highest level guidance on the political and military means to be used in achieving them. The initial formulation of NATO strategy was known as “The Strategic Concept for the Defence of the North Atlantic Area”. Developed between October 1949 and April 1950, it set out a strategy of large-scale operations for territorial defence. In the mid-1950s the strategy of “massive retaliation” was developed. It emphasised deterrence based on the threat that NATO would respond to any aggression against its member countries by every means at its disposal, specifically including nuclear weapons. Discussions of possible changes in this strategic approach began later in the 1950s and continued until 1967 when, following intensive debate within the Alliance, “massive retaliation” was replaced by the strategy of “flexible response”. This concentrated on giving NATO the advantages of flexibility and of creating uncertainty in the minds of any potential aggressor about NATO’s response in the case of a threat to the sovereignty or independence of any single member country. The concept was designed to ensure that aggression of any kind would be perceived as involving unacceptable risks. The above strategies were enshrined in classified documents, which provided guidance to national governments and points of reference for military planning activities. They were not addressed to the general public. Although the underlying concepts were well known, little public discussion about their details was possible because their effectiveness depended greatly on secrecy. They reflected the realities of the Cold War, the political division of Europe and the confrontational ideological and military situation that characterised East-West relations for many years. As the Cold War continued, however, the Alliance also sought to reduce its dangers and to lay the grounds for progress towards a more positive relationship with the Soviet Union and other member countries of the Warsaw Pact. The Harmel Report, published in 1967, thus established defence and dialogue, including arms control, as the dual pillars of the Alliance’s approach to security. With the end of the Cold War era, the political situation in Europe and the overall military situation were transformed. A new Strategic Concept evolved during the two years following the fall of the Berlin Wall. This was debated and discussed within the Alliance and was completed in November 1991. Bearing little relation to previous concepts, it emphasised cooperation with former adversaries as opposed to confrontation. It maintained the security of its member nations as NATO’s fundamental purpose but combined this with the specific obligation to work towards improved and expanded security for Europe as a whole. In other respects, too, the 1991 Strategic Concept differed dramatically from its predecessors. It was issued as a public document, open for discussion and comment by parliaments, security specialists, journalists and the wider public. In 1997, NATO leaders agreed that the Concept should be re-examined
and updated to reflect the changes that had taken place in Europe
since its adoption, while confirming the Allies’ commitment
to collective defence and the transatlantic link and ensuring
that NATO strategy is fully adapted to the challenges of the
21st century. Intensive work was undertaken throughout the Alliance,
to conclude the revision by the time of the Washington Summit. The 1999 Concept confirms that the Alliance’s essential and enduring purpose is to safeguard the freedom and security of its members by political and military means. It affirms the values of democracy, human rights, and the rule of law and expresses the commitment of the Allies not only to common defence but to the peace and stability of the wider Euro-Atlantic area. The strategy also defines the Alliance’s fundamental security tasks, both in terms of collective defence, which has been at the centre of Alliance preoccupations since its establishment, and in terms of new activities in the fields of crisis management and partnership that the Alliance is undertaking in order to enhance the security and stability of the Euro-Atlantic area. The Concept describes the strategic environment and assesses foreseeable security challenges and risks. It notes that in recent years the environment has been marked by continuing and generally positive change and that the Alliance has played an essential part in strengthening Euro-Atlantic security since the end of the Cold War. With respect to risks, the document reaffirms the conclusion in the 1991 Strategic Concept that the threat of general war in Europe has virtually disappeared but that there are other risks and uncertainties facing the members of the Alliance and other states in the Euro-Atlantic region, such as ethnic conflict, the abuse of human rights, political instability, economic fragility, terrorism and the spread of nuclear, biological, and chemical weapons and their means of delivery. One of the distinguishing features of the Alliance’s 1991 strategy was its delineation of a broad approach to security, encompassing complementary political and military means and emphasising cooperation with other states that share the Alliance’s objectives. This comprehensive approach remains a central feature of the new Strategic Concept and comprises the following essential elements:
The Concept affirms that this process will enable all European Allies to make a more coherent and effective contribution to the missions and activities of the Alliance; it will reinforce the transatlantic partnership; and it will assist the European Allies to act by themselves as required through the readiness of the Alliance, on a case-by-case basis and by consensus, to make its assets and capabilities available for European-led operations in which NATO is not engaged militarily, taking into account the full participation of all European Allies if they were so to choose.
The final part of the Strategic Concept establishes guidelines for the Alliance’s forces, translating the purposes and tasks of the preceding sections into practical - albeit necessarily general - instructions for NATO force and operational planners. The strategy calls for the continued development of the military capabilities needed for the full range of the Alliance’s missions, from collective defence to peace support and other crisis response operations. Among the capabilities highlighted as particularly important are the ability to engage opposing forces effectively; deployability and mobility; survivability of forces and infrastructure; sustainability, and interoperability - including interoperability with the forces of Partner countries. In addition, the strategy underlines the indispensable part that Alliance forces play in addressing the risks associated with the proliferation of nuclear, biological and chemical weapons and their means of delivery. The Strategic Concept also stipulates that the Alliance will maintain for the foreseeable future an appropriate mix of nuclear and conventional forces based in Europe, kept up to date where necessary, at the minimum sufficient level. The 1999 Strategic Concept remains the principal formal statement of the Alliance's objectives and of the various political and military means that constitute its strategy for achieving them. It provides the conceptual context for decisions subsequently taken by the member countries in response to new challenges such as terrorism and in continuing the process of adaptation and transformation of the Alliance required to enable it to undertake its full range of commitments and responsibilities.
NATO Strategic Concept - Why? How? 
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