Meet Chris Bennett, who helped shape NATO’s communications efforts

Representing two Allies

“I’m a good representative of both old (founding) and new (post-Cold War) NATO Allies,” explains Chris, referencing his dual British and Slovenian origins. Born in the United States to a British father and a Slovenian mother, he went to school and university in the United Kingdom, also studied partly in Slovenia and Croatia and later travelled throughout the former Yugoslavia to improve his knowledge of the region. 

This became an asset in his early career in journalism when he reported on the Yugoslav Wars. In 1991 and 1992, Chris worked as a foreign correspondent for UK and US media, covering the wars in Slovenia and Croatia, as well as the early period of the Bosnian War. 

Chris’s correspondent pass for the Daily Telegraph – Former Yugoslavia, 1991.

“Having witnessed the war firsthand, I feel strongly that NATO’s peacekeeping deployments paved the way for the Dayton Peace Agreement in 1995, which ended three-and-a-half years of war in Bosnia and Herzegovina. Former NATO Secretary General Manfred Wörner was committed to NATO intervening and halting the conflict, which eventually happened in 1995.” 

Chris’ role as editor at NATO

After the Bosnian War, Chris worked as a university professor and think-tanker. In 2000, Chris made a shift both professionally and geographically when he applied for a job at NATO Headquarters in Brussels, Belgium as an editor in the Office of Information and Press (which would become the Public Diplomacy Division in 2003). During the next six years, he wrote and edited NATO publications and served as lead editor for ”NATO Review”, a publication launched in 1952 (formerly called “NATO Letter”). 

“NATO Review is quite a unique publication. It was created to be really a forum for discussion and debate of issues of importance to the Alliance,” Chris explains. 

The magazine has provided a platform for diverse perspectives and also encouraged conversations between Allies. It has contributed to the culture of analysis and debate within the Organization.  “Much of the work at NATO is about consensus-building and ’NATO Review’ represents an element of that process. […] Policy evolves through exchanging ideas.“ Chris gradually enriched the magazine with new formats such as debates on topical issues via the exchange of letters between security analysts. 

In 2001, Chris was responsible for bringing the magazine online and digitalising other NATO publications. “NATO Review has taken different forms over the years. I oversaw the publication of both a printed and an electronic edition. The Internet was just starting to gain popularity and was transforming the media,” he says. 

Witnessing 9/11 from NATO Headquarters 

The terrorist attacks of 11 September 2001 on the United States led to the first and only ever invocation of Article 5 of the North Atlantic Treaty by NATO. The principle of collective defence is enshrined in this article and binds its members together in solidarity – under this principle, an attack against one Ally is considered an attack against all. 

Chris clearly remembers where he was that day: at NATO Headquarters where, in the afternoon, there was a small celebration for the birthday of Jamie Shea, NATO Director of Information and Press at the time. “We were assembling in his office to wish him a happy birthday when a member of staff came in and told us that a plane had crashed into the World Trade Center’s North Tower in New York. We switched on the television and watched the events unfold. As NATO Headquarters is located very close to Brussels International Airport, leadership decided to evacuate the building.”

Chris returned to NATO Headquarters later that night to take the first emergency shift with the NATO Press & Media team, as staff members were organised into shifts to ensure round-the-clock response to media-related issues. His background in journalism and his experience in war reporting proved extremely valuable during this intense period, as NATO was called upon to issue statements and coordinate its response to the terrorist attacks. Chris still recalls how Allies galvanised their support for the United States and showed unity during this major security crisis. “Allies were offering to support the United States in any way possible,” he says.

A moment of pride

Following the first post-Cold war enlargement of the Alliance in 1999, seven partner countries – Bulgaria, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Romania, Slovakia and Slovenia – were invited to begin accession talks to join the Alliance at the 2002 NATO Prague Summit. All seven countries became members of the Alliance in 2004, and Chris played an active role in Slovenia’s accession to NATO. He conveyed Allied messages to Slovene audiences and spoke in favour of NATO accession at public debates in Maribor, Koper and Novo Mesto leading up to the 2003 public referendum on NATO membership in Slovenia. “The debates were dynamic and important for increasing the appreciation for NATO’s role in security and the related benefits for Slovenia,” Chris says.

The accession of seven new Allies was marked by a flag-raising ceremony at NATO Headquarters in Brussels on 2 April 2004. Chris was there to see the flag of Slovenia wave alongside its NATO Allies for the first time. “Thirteen years before Slovenia’s accession to NATO, I covered the Slovenian Declaration of Independence ceremony. The Slovene flag, agreed a few hours earlier, was then raised for the first time. I was very proud when Slovenia joined NATO and I saw that same flag flying for the first time above NATO Headquarters.”

Life after NATO

Following his time at NATO, Chris has worked as Communications Director and Deputy High Representative in the Office of the High Representative in Bosnia and Herzegovina – an ad-hoc international institution responsible for overseeing the implementation of the Dayton Peace Agreement – and as a Special Adviser in the Specialist Prosecutor’s Office, a internationalised prosecutor’s office addressing crimes committed and/or commenced in Kosovo during and after the Kosovo War, in The Hague, the Netherlands. He has also written a number of books and other academic publications on the former Yugoslavia, including most recently “Bosnia’s Paralysed Peace”.

Until today, Chris’s experience at NATO Headquarters has proved to be immensely valuable. “I worked with superb colleagues and Allied diplomats, and forged enduring relations with a large number of people. I also learned a lot about diplomacy at NATO and respecting the consensus-building processes,” he says.

Chris Bennett’s message for the Alliance’s 75th anniversary

“The populations of NATO countries genuinely appreciate the work of the Allies and their armed forces. NATO has preserved peace and security on Allied territory for 75 years and I hope the Alliance will continue to do it indefinitely. It is important to look back at the past to understand how we got where we are today and develop long-term, successful strategies moving forward.”