[ '45-'49 | '50-'59 | '60-'69 | '70-'79 | '80-'89 | '90-'99 | '00- ] [ 1960 | 1961 | 1962 | 1963 | 1964 | 1965 | 1966 | 1967 | 1968 | 1969 ] 1969

	Summary Over the years, the Alliance had learned how to bring cooperative and pragmatic solutions to seemingly intractable problems, whether in the political or defence fields. In 1969, the year of the Alliance's 20th anniversary, American President Richard Nixon proposes that this expertise should be brought to bear on environmental concerns. The Council adopts this idea and, building on NATO's existing programme of scientific cooperation, creates a Committee on the Challenges of Modern Society which will launch joint projects for the study of such issues as air and water pollution, disaster assistance, alternative sources of energy, noise control and the conservation of historic monuments.
28 May	Establishment of the naval on-call force in the Mediterranean (NAVOCFORMED). Additional information: NATO Ministerial Communiqués: Final Communiqué of the Defence Planning Committee
8-10 Dec	First meeting of the Committee on the Challenges of Modern Society (CCMS), established by the North Atlantic Council on 6 November, on the basis of a proposal by recently-elected US President Nixon. Additional information: NATO Handbook: Chapter 8 - Programmes and Activities - CCMS - Challenges of Modern Society High resolution photos of the first meeting of the Committee on the Challenges of Modern Society