Crisis management

 

 

• NATO’s role in crisis prevention and management
  • Crisis response in Article 5 scenarios
  • Non-Article 5 operations
  • Disaster relief operations
  • NATO’s Strategic Concepts

• The tools to tackle crises
  • Crisis decision-making at NATO
  • The NATO Response System
  • Ensuring interoperability among crisis responders
  • Coordinating with other international players
  • Resilience and civil preparedness of member countries

 

NATO’s role in crisis prevention and management

Since the early 1950s, NATO has ensured it would have the capacity to conduct crisis prevention and management activities Throughout the Cold War, the Alliance developed its crisis response capabilities to cover collective defence and disaster relief operations. At a later stage, during the 1990s, it became involved in crisis response operations conducted in non-NATO countries. Now, NATO maintains flexible capabilities to address a wide range of crises, both within and beyond Allied territory.

The manner of dealing with a crisis depends on its nature, scale and seriousness. In some cases, crises can be prevented through diplomacy, while other situations may require more robust measures, including the use of military force. NATO has a holistic approach to crisis prevention and management: analysing and preparing for various levels of involvement at all stages of a crisis, and maintaining a broad range of tools to ensure an effective and timely response. These instruments are continuously adapted in line with the evolving security context, and tested through regular exercises and training.

Crisis response in Article 5 scenarios

Since its creation in 1949, the primary role and the greatest responsibility of the Alliance has been to protect and defend Allied territory and populations against attack. Collective defence is enshrined in Article 5 of NATO’s founding treaty, which states that if a NATO Ally is the victim of an armed attack, every other member of the Alliance will consider this as an armed attack against all members and will take the actions it deems necessary to assist the attacked Ally.

Although the Alliance conducted many crisis response exercises focused on Article 5 scenarios throughout its first four decades, NATO did not conduct any operations – Article 5 or otherwise – during the Cold War. The Alliance’s focus during this time was to deter the Warsaw Pact’s potential aggression, and to ensure the effective defence of NATO’s territory if deterrence failed.

NATO invoked Article 5 for the first and only time in its history in September 2001 following the 9/11 terrorist attacks against the United States. Once it had been proven that the attack had come from abroad, the North Atlantic Council (NAC) considered it to be an act covered by Article 5. Several measures were put in place by NATO to help prevent further attacks, including Article 5 operations Eagle Assist (which consisted of seven NATO AWACS radar aircraft patrolling the skies over the United States) and Operation Active Endeavour (a counter-terrorism operation in the Eastern Mediterranean involving NATO’s Standing Naval Forces).

Non-Article 5 operations

A non-Article 5 crisis response operation or peace support operation may address a number of different scenarios, such as conflict prevention, peacekeeping, peacemaking, peacebuilding, peace enforcement or humanitarian operations. These are generally multi-functional operations, which may be conducted in support of a UN or OSCE mandate, or at the invitation of a sovereign government, involving military forces and diplomatic and humanitarian agencies. They are designed to achieve long-term political settlements or other strategic objectives and conditions specified in the mandate.

• Conflict prevention activities range from diplomatic initiatives to preventive deployments of forces with sufficient deterrent capabilities to prevent disputes from escalating into armed conflicts or from spreading. Conflict prevention can also include fact-finding missions, consultations, warnings, inspections and monitoring. NATO makes full use of partnership, cooperation and dialogue and its links to other organisations to contribute to preventing crises and, should they arise, defusing and deescalating them at an early stage. Conflict prevention activities are normally conducted under Chapter VI of the UN Charter.
• Peacekeeping operations generally monitor and facilitate the implementation of a peace agreement, deterring renewed hostility following the end of a conflict. They are normally conducted with the consent of all parties to a conflict and are generally undertaken under Chapter VI of the UN Charter. 
• Peacemaking covers diplomatic activities conducted after the beginning of a conflict aimed at establishing a cease-fire or a rapid peaceful settlement. They can include the provision of good offices (that is, when a third party provides a neutral space for two conflicting parties to negotiate), mediation, conciliation and actions such as diplomatic pressure or sanctions.    
• Peacebuilding covers a wide range of political, economic, social and military measures that aim to strengthen and solidify political settlements, addressing the root causes of a conflict.
• Peace enforcement operations are undertaken under Chapter VII of the UN Charter. They are coercive in nature and are conducted when the consent of all parties to a conflict has not been achieved or might be uncertain. They are designed to maintain or re-establish peace or enforce the terms specified in the mandate. 
• Humanitarian operations are conducted to alleviate human suffering. Such operations may precede or accompany humanitarian activities provided by specialised civilian organisations.

NATO has conducted many of these activities in crisis response operations since the end of the Cold War.

One of the first major conflicts following the end of the Cold War broke out in the Western Balkans in 1992, following the collapse of Yugoslavia. NATO initially provided air- and sea-based support to the United Nations (UN), enforcing economic sanctions, an arms embargo and a no-fly zone in Bosnia and Herzegovina; it also provided detailed military contingency planning concerning safe areas.

These measures proved inadequate to bring an end to the war in the region. In the summer of 1995, after violations of exclusion zones, the shelling of UN-designated safe areas and the taking of UN hostages, NATO member countries agreed to take military action in support of UN efforts to bring an end to the war in Bosnia and Herzegovina. NATO launched a two-week air campaign against Bosnian Serb forces and, over the following months, a series of other military measures at the request of the UN force commanders. This helped pave the way for the signing of the Dayton Peace Accord on 14 December 1995. The Alliance immediately proceeded to deploy peacekeeping forces to the country, in accordance with the terms of a UN mandate, giving NATO responsibility for the implementation of the military aspects of the peace accord.

This was the first time that NATO became involved in a major non-Article 5 crisis management operation. Other non-Article 5 crisis management operations followed, including:

• Kosovo Air Campaign - Operation Allied Force (1999)
• Peace support operations in North Macedonia (2001-2003)
• ISAF's mission in Afghanistan (2001-2014)
• Pakistan earthquake relief operation (2005-2006)
• Counter-piracy operations (2008-2016)
• NATO and Libya - Operation Unified Protector (2011)

Disaster relief operations

Crisis prevention and management is a broad concept that goes beyond military operations to include, for instance, the protection of populations from a wide variety of threats. NATO began developing civil protection measures in the event of a nuclear attack as early as the 1950s. NATO member countries soon realised that these capabilities could be used effectively to address natural disasters like floods or earthquakes, technological incidents like power failures or other industrial incidents, and other humanitarian disasters.

In 1953, the first disaster assistance scheme was implemented following devastating flooding in northern Europe. In 1958, NATO established detailed procedures for the coordination of assistance between NATO member countries in case of disasters. These procedures remained in place for several decades, providing the basis for NATO to conduct disaster response work on NATO territory. They were comprehensively reviewed in 1995, when they became applicable to partner countries in addition to NATO member countries.

In 1998, NATO established the Euro-Atlantic Disaster Response Coordination Centre (EADRCC). The EADRCC is NATO’s principal civil emergency response mechanism. In an emergency, it can coordinate assistance to the affected NATO member or partner country provided by other members and partners. The EADRCC has supported international responses to floods, earthquakes, wildfires, hurricanes, mining incidents, public health emergencies and refugee crises. The Centre has also been part of NATO’s response to the COVID-19 pandemic as well as to Russia’s war of aggression against Ukraine, helping coordinate urgently needed, non-lethal military assistance based on Ukraine’s immediate needs. In an emergency, the EADRCC works closely with other international support mechanisms, including the United Nations and the European Union. Supporting not only crisis response but also preparedness, the EADRCC conducts regular civil protection field exercises where civil and military first responders train together to increase interoperability, preparedness, and national and collective resilience.

NATO’s Strategic Concepts

Since the end of the Cold War, crisis prevention and management has been a core feature of NATO’s Strategic Concepts – the Alliance’s overarching policy documents, which define key challenges facing NATO and outline how it will address them.

The Alliance's 1991 Strategic Concept included provisions for “the management of crises affecting the security of its members”. The 1999 Strategic Concept stated that NATO would stand ready to contribute to effective conflict prevention and to engage actively in crisis management. In addition, the 1999 document stated that these crisis management operations would include non-Article 5 operations.

The 2010 Strategic Concept broadened NATO’s thinking on crisis management, envisaging NATO’s involvement at all stages of a crisis: “NATO will therefore engage, where possible and when necessary, to prevent crises, manage crises, stabilise post-conflict situations and support reconstruction.” It also recognised the imperative for a greater number of actors to participate and coordinate their efforts and considered a broader range of tools to be used. More generally, it adopted a comprehensive approach to crisis management that goes hand-in-hand with greater emphasis on training, developing local forces, enhancing civil-military planning and interaction, and greater interoperability between NATO and partner forces.

It is in this spirit that the most recent 2022 Strategic Concept refers to crisis management, with an emphasis on crisis prevention. It adopts an all-encompassing approach and states that the Alliance will continue to work to prevent and respond to crises, and to build on lessons learned over the past three decades to improve readiness, military and civilian capabilities, and civil-military planning and coordination. It also states that the Alliance will continue to prepare for the effects of climate change, food insecurity and public health emergencies on Allied security, adding that human security is central to NATO’s approach to crisis prevention and management. 

 

The tools to tackle crises

Crisis decision-making at NATO

When a crisis occurs, no decisions on the use of military forces are taken without political authorisation. Decisions are taken by the governments of each NATO member country collectively and may include political, military or civil preparedness measures, depending on the nature of the crisis.

In addition to the regular consultations that take place to move ongoing activities forward, Article 4 of the North Atlantic Treaty gives each Ally the right to bring issues to the table for consultation and discussion with fellow members at any time: “The Parties will consult together whenever, in the opinion of any of them, the territorial integrity, political independence or security of any of the Parties is threatened.” Article 4 is critical to NATO’s crisis prevention and management process, since consultation is the basis of collective action.

NATO has different structures in place to make swift decisions during a crisis. The principal political decision-making body is the North Atlantic Council (NAC). In the NAC, Allies exchange intelligence, information and other data; compare different perceptions and approaches; and ultimately harmonise their views in order to take decisions by consensus, as is the case in all subordinate NATO committees. It is the NAC that decides – on a case-by-case basis, and by consensus – whether or not to engage in a crisis response operation. In this role, it is principally supported by the Military Committee (MC), the Operations Policy Committee, the Political Committee, the Resilience Committee, the Resource Policy and Planning Board, and other committees as required. Other NATO bodies – including the NATO Situation Centre (SITCEN), which operates 24/7 – enable effective decision-making by receiving, exchanging and disseminating information from internal and external sources, providing situational awareness to the NAC and the MC around the clock

The NATO Response System

The NATO Response System (NRS) underpins the Organization’s ability to respond to crises, challenges and other contingencies across the full range of potential Alliance operations, missions and activities. It provides the Alliance with an agile and adaptable decision-making framework and supports the implementation of NATO’s three core tasks. It also helps to coordinate efforts between the national representatives at NATO Headquarters, in capitals, and in the Strategic Commands and NATO Command Structure by providing a comprehensive set of tools, functions, responses and other measures to prepare for, respond to and manage crises. Other established crisis prevention and management processes within the Organization – such as operations planning, strategic communications, and enablement, resilience and civil preparedness – complement the function of the NRS. The NRS is the successor of the NATO Crisis Response System (NCRS), which was first established in 2005. The NRS was introduced in 2024 and is revised on a regular basis.

NATO regularly exercises its decision-making structures and crisis response procedures through a wide range of exercise formats, including Crisis Management Exercises (CMX). All relevant stakeholders participate in these exercises, including military and civilian staff from NATO Headquarters, Allied delegations and capitals, the NATO Military Authorities, agencies, partners, and other bodies that may be involved in a real-life crisis.

Ensuring interoperability among crisis responders

Standardization and logistics also play a crucial role in the crisis prevention and management process. 

Standardization helps the forces of NATO Allies and partners to achieve interoperability, allowing for more efficient use of resources and enhancing the Alliance’s operational effectiveness. Through its standardization bodies, NATO develops and implements concepts, doctrines and procedures that give diverse countries a common set of shared standards, which is essential for carrying out multinational operations. For instance, in the field, standard procedures allow for the transfer of supplies between ships at sea and interoperable material such as fuel connections at airfields. It enables the many NATO and partner countries to work together, preventing duplication and promoting better use of economic resources.

Logistics is the bridge between deployed forces and the industrial base that produces the material and weapons that forces need to accomplish their mission. It comprises the identification of requirements, the building up of stocks and capabilities, and the sustainment of weapons and forces. As such, the scope of logistics is huge. Among the core functions conducted by NATO are: supply, maintenance, movement and transportation, petroleum support, infrastructure management and medical support. The Alliance’s overarching function is to coordinate national efforts and encourage the highest degree possible of multinational responses to operational needs, therefore reducing the number of individual supply chains. While NATO has this responsibility, each country is responsible for ensuring that – individually or through cooperative arrangements – its own forces receive the required logistics resources.

Coordinating with other international players

NATO contributes to efforts by the wider international community to preserve or restore peace and prevent conflict. It is committed to a comprehensive political, civilian and military approach to crisis prevention and management. As a consequence, it is building closer partnerships with civilian actors – including non-governmental organisations and local authorities – and is focusing on several key areas of work such as cooperation with external actors; planning and conduct of operations; lessons learned, training, education and exercises; and public messaging. In this context, the record of NATO’s sustained cooperation in the Western Balkans with the UN, the EU and the OSCE stands as a precedent.

NATO’s partnerships are and will continue to be essential to the way NATO works. Partners have served with NATO in Afghanistan, Kosovo and other operations, as well as in combatting terrorism and piracy. NATO has built a broad and cooperative security network that involves countries participating in the Partnership for Peace programme, the Mediterranean Dialogue and the Istanbul Cooperation Initiative, as well as with partners across the globe and troop-contributing countries that do not work with NATO through a formal partnership framework.

Resilience and civil preparedness of member countries

Military forces, and especially deployed troops in times of war, depend on the civilian sector for transport, communications or basic supplies such as food and water to fulfil their missions. However, these assets are vulnerable to external attack and internal disruption. 

Resilience and civil preparedness means that basic government functions can continue during emergencies or disasters in peacetime or in periods of crisis or conflict. It also means that the civilian sector in Allied countries would be ready to provide support to a NATO military operation. The combination of civil preparedness and military capacity constitutes resilience. Resilience is a society’s ability to resist and recover easily and quickly from shocks, combining civilian, economic, commercial and military factors. The individual commitment of each and every Ally to maintaining and strengthening its resilience reduces the vulnerability of the Alliance as a whole. Member countries can increase their resilience through the development of home defence capabilities and skills such as cyber defence or medical support. When Allies are well prepared, they are less likely to be attacked, making NATO as a whole stronger and better equipped to tackle crises.