What is NATO? The North Atlantic Treaty Organization, which safeguards the freedom and security of its members through political and military means. Politically, it promotes democratic values and encourages consultation and cooperation on defensive matters. Militarily, NATO is committed to peaceful resolutions of disputes, but has the military capacity to take on threats if need be.

Who is in NATO? There are 28 member countries of NATO: Albania, Belgium, Bulgaria, Canada, Croatia, Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Iceland, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Turkey, The United Kingdom, and The United States. NATO also works with 40 non-member countries.

What is Article 5? Article 5 says that an attack against one or several of its members is to be considered as an attack on all. this is known as collective defense. Article 5 has only ever been invoked once, in response to the 9/11 terrorists attacks.

What is the Transatlantic Link? NATO is a link between North America and Europe that provides consultation and cooperation in the field of defense and security, and the conduct of multinational crisis-management operations.

2010 Strategic Concepts: The Strategic Concepts define NATO’s core tasks as: collective defense, crisis-management and cooperative security.

NATO Decisions come through a consensus, so all 28 member countries must come to an agreement. Hundreds of civilian and military experts and officials come to NATO Headquarters to exchange information, share ideas and help prepare decisions when needed.

NPG (Nuclear Planning Group): is the principal political decision-making body at NATO. Each member country has a seat at the NAC (North Atlantic Council): has the same authority as the NAC with regard to nuclear policy issues.