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Chapter 10: Civilian Organisation and Structures The Secretary General The Secretary General is a senior international statesman nominated by the member governments as Chairman of the North Atlantic Council, the Defence Planning Committee, and the Nuclear Planning Group; as titular Chairman of other senior NATO committees; and as Secretary General and chief executive of NATO. He is also Chairman of the Euro-Atlantic Partnership Council and of the Mediterranean Cooperation Group, and Joint Chairman (together with the representative of Russia and the representative of the NATO country acting as Honorary President) of the NATO-Russia Permanent Joint Council. He is also Joint Chairman, together with the Ukrainian representative, of the NATO-Ukraine Commission. The Secretary General is responsible for promoting and directing the process of consultation and decision-making throughout the Alliance. He may propose items for discussion and decision and has the authority to use his good offices in cases of dispute between member countries. He is responsible for directing the International Staff and is the principal spokesman for the Alliance, both in its external relations and in communications and contacts with member governments and with the media. The Deputy Secretary General assists the Secretary General in the exercise of his functions and replaces him in his absence. He is Chairman of the High Level Task Force on Conventional Arms Control, the Executive Working Group, the NATO Air Defence Committee, the Joint Consultative Board, the Joint Committee on Proliferation and a number of other Ad Hoc and Working Groups. The Secretary General is responsible for the direction of the International Staff as a whole and has under his direct authority a Private Office and the Office of the Secretary General. The International Staff is drawn from the member countries and serves the Council and the Committees and Working Groups subordinate to it as well as the Euro-Atlantic Partnership Council, the NATO-Russia Permanent Joint Council, the NATO-Ukraine Commission and the Mediterranean Cooperation Group. It acts as a secretariat as well an advisory political and operational staff and works on a continuous basis on a wide variety of issues relevant to the Alliance and to its Partner countries.