Foreign Relations of the United States, 1952–1954, Western European Security, Volume V, Part 1

Conference files, lot 59 D 95, CF 105

Paper Adopted by the North Atlantic Council¹

secret
C9–D/4 (Revise)

London, 29th February, 1952.

Reorganization of NATO

i. introduction

1. At its meeting in Rome the North Atlantic Council directed the Council Deputies to undertake a study of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization and the coordination of its activities with the activities of other international organizations, taking into account any conclusions that might be reached by the Temporary Council Committee.

2. The Temporary Council Committee in its interim report dated 17th December, 1951² expressed the view that changes in the organization of NATO appeared advisable in the light of the new and more operational phase confronting the Treaty members, and recommended that the organizational problems outlined in Part V of its report be considered by NATO and by governments in order that decisions might be reached at the Council meeting in Lisbon.

ii. general principles

3. The experience of the last two years in developing collective strength for the maintenance of peace and the increasingly broad scope of the activities of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization have demonstrated the need for improved means of obtaining prompt coordination of governmental decisions and for strengthened and unified international machinery to lay the basis for such decisions and to follow up and assist in carrying them into effect. The activities of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization have been progressively changing from planning to implementation; thus the organization must become more operational in character. The Report of the Temporary Council Committee points up the urgent need for staff action, on a continuing basis, in the direction of current reconciliation of screened military programmes and politico-economic capabilities and calls for measures to ensure effective action along those lines.

4. Accordingly, two basic organizational steps are now recommended. The first is that the North Atlantic Council, while continuing to hold periodic Ministerial meetings, should hereafter function in permanent session through the appointment of Permanent Representatives and that it should assume responsibility for the tasks hitherto performed by the Council Deputies, the Defence Production Board and the Financial and Economic Board, as well as for those initiated by the Temporary Council Committee. The second is that a Secretary General should be appointed and that a single integrated and strengthened international staff/secretariat should be established to assume responsibility for the functions hitherto performed by the international staffs of the various civilian agencies of the Treaty, and to provide the Council with the necessary assistance in its broadening fields of activity.

5. These two measures will require the concentration of all North Atlantic Treaty Organization civilian activities at a single headquarters.

6. The Council Deputies are well aware that organizational changes alone cannot be relied upon to provide solutions for the many pressing problems confronting the North Atlantic Treaty Governments. Nor do they feel that the changes now recommended should necessarily be final. However, they do believe that the measures recommended herein represent an essential and timely step in the development of North Atlantic Treaty Organization machinery more nearly adequate to provide effective collective action for the attainment of the objectives of the Treaty.

7. The following recommendations are designed to establish the broad outline of proposed changes in the structure of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization. If these recommendations are approved, action to complete the structure in detail will have to be taken. The procedure by which this may be accomplished is recommended in paragraph 22 below.

iii. the north atlantic council

Composition and Functions

8. The terms of reference of the North Atlantic Council should continue to be the North Atlantic Treaty. As at present it should be a Council of Governments who should be represented by Ministers for Foreign Affairs and/or Ministers of Defence or by other competent Ministers, especially by Ministers responsible for financial and economic affairs, as required by the Agenda of each meeting. When they consider it appropriate Governments may be represented by Heads of Government. Ministerial meetings should be held at least three times a year. In order to enable the Council to function in permanent session with effective powers of decision, each member Government should appoint a Permanent Representative who should represent his Government on the Council when its Ministerial representatives are not present.

Meetings of the Council

9. Only in special circumstances should Council meetings be held at a place other than the permanent headquarters.

Chairmanship

10. The Chairmanship of Ministerial meetings of the Council should continue to rotate annually by countries as at present.

[The Secretary-General should serve as Vice Chairman of the Council and should preside in the absence of the Chairman.]³

Permanent Representatives

11. The Permanent Representative of each country should represent his government as a whole. He may be of Ministerial rank or a senior official according to the practice of the State concerned. In any case he should be sufficiently close to his government and entrusted with adequate authority to enable the Council to discharge its collective tasks as a body and to reach prompt decisions.

12. Each Permanent Representative should be at the head of a national delegation comprising such advisers and experts as may be necessary to assist him in all phases of the work of the Council.

Committees

13. The Council should retain maximum flexibility in regard to the organization of its work. It should, whenever necessary and in order to relieve itself of matters of detail, set up on a permanent or temporary basis committees to assist it in arriving at necessary governmental agreements.

14. Specialized functions, such as those now assigned to the Planning Board for Ocean Shipping and the Petroleum Planning Committee, should continue to be directed by the Council under such organizational arrangements as may be deemed most appropriate in the light of experience.

Location of Permanent Headquarters

15. The Permanent Headquarters of the Council should be located in the general area of Paris.

[iv.] the secretary-general

16. A Secretary-General should be appointed by and be responsible to the Council. He should not be a member of any national delegation. He should be responsible for organizing the work of the Council and directing the work of the International/Staff Secretariat.

17. He should initiate and prepare matters for Council action and ensure that appropriate steps are taken to follow up Council decisions and to coordinate the actions of member Governments in the implementation of such decisions, particularly in carrying out the responsibilities referred to in paragraph 18 of this report. He should submit to the Council every six months a report on progress in carrying programmes into effect. He should submit recommendations to the Council and should have direct access to all NATO agencies and to Governments. Relations between the members of the international staff and the national agencies shall be organized in consultation with each permanent representative concerned. His contacts with major NATO commands should not interfere with the existing chain of authority, and the Military Committee and the Standing Group should be kept fully informed.

v. international staff/secretariat

18. The International Staff/Secretariat, under the direction of the Secretary-General and composed of nations of North Atlantic Treaty countries, should be unified and strengthened so as to play an effective role in the initial preparation and follow-up of action in all matters for which the Council is responsible. It should perform analytical and planning functions at the request of the Council, including preparatory work for the annual TCC-type review. It should be so organized as to support the Council in its various fields of activity. The criterion to be used in appointing the staff should be one of quality rather than quantity. Close liaison and coordination with the military agencies should be ensured.

Measures necessary for continuing Reconciliation of Requirements with Politico-Economic Capabilities

19. The Council and the International Staff/Secretariat should in particular be so organized as to perform the functions of reconciling the NATO programmes with politico-economic capabilities. The precise method by which the Council and the International Staff/Secretariat should be organized to carry forward this task on a continuing basis will be determined by the Council in the light of the TCC recommendations and with the advice of the Secretary-General. However, the following steps appear to be required:

(a) Continued screening and costing of military plans. This may require a section of the International Staff/Secretariat organized and technically equipped for the purpose. This section should work closely with the military agencies of NATO;

(b) Annual review of economic capabilities. For their work in connection with this review the International Staff/Secretariat may require to be temporarily augmented by analysts and experts in the economic, military and other fields, as appropriate;

(c) Final determination by the Council of annual programmes, including force targets and programmes required for the supporting build-up.

vi. relationship between nat civilian and military agencies

20. The position of the North Atlantic Council in relation to the military agencies of NATO should continue unchanged.

21. Liaison arrangements between the appropriate military agencies and the Council should be strengthened. These and other arrangements designed to ensure closer cooperation between the civil and military sides of NATO should be worked out by the Council with the advice of the Military Committee and the Standing Group.

vii. procedure for carrying recommendations into effect

22. The Council Deputies believe it important that such changes as the Council may decide upon in the organization of NATO should be made effective at the earliest possible date, not only in order that the benefits of the changes proposed may be realized as soon as practicable, but to preserve continuity and the ability of the Treaty Organization to deal with its many pending problems.

23. To this end the Council Deputies recommend the following procedure:

(a) The Council should approve this report;

(b) The Council should designate the Secretary General at the earliest opportunity, preferably at Lisbon;

(c) The Council should request the Council Deputies, with the advice of the Secretary General designate, to prepare the necessary detailed action to establish the new organization;

(d) The new arrangements should become effective and the new Treaty agencies should assume their functions at a date to be fixed by the Council Deputies. On that date the Council Deputies, the FEB and the DPB shall cease to exist.

1. The earlier version of this report was approved by the North Atlantic Council Deputies on Feb. 9, 1952 in London as document D–D (52) 41 and was subsequently circulated as document C9–D/4 to the North Atlantic Council. As D–D (52) 41, the report was apparently considered at the Joint meeting of the Council Deputies and the NATO Military Committee in Lisbon on Feb. 19. C9–D/4 was first considered by the North Atlantic Council at its fourth meeting on Feb. 23 (see telegram Secto 59, Feb. 23, p. 150). The report was considered further and approved, subject to some drafting changes, at the Council’s fifth and final meeting on Feb. 25. The final approved version printed here was obviously not completed by the NATO Secretariat in London until several days after completion of the Council session in Lisbon. Differences between the text printed here and the earlier version, C9–D/4, can be discerned from the report of the transactions of the Council’s fifth meeting reported upon in telegram Secto 79, Feb. 25, p. 157.
2. For a summary of the Temporary Council Committee report of Dec. 17, 1951, see document LIS D–4/1a, Feb. 6, p. 203.
3. Brackets in the source text.