Part 2
Chapter 6

by Lord Ismay

Secretary General
of NATO

(1952-1957)

1. the terms of reference of the North Atlantic Council should continue to be the North Atlantic Treaty;
   
2. the Council should continue to be a Council of governments, represented by Ministers for Foreign Affairs and/or Ministers of Defence and/or other competent Ministers, especially those responsible for financial and economic affairs, as required by the agenda of each meeting. When appropriate, member countries, could be represented by heads of governments;
   
3. Ministerial Meetings should be held at least three times a year;
   
4. the Chairmanship of the Council should continue to rotate annually, as has been done hitherto. The Secretary General (see 6 below) should serve as Vice-Chairman of the Council and preside in the absence of the Chairman;
   
5. in order to enable the Council to function in permanent session with effective powers of decision, each government should appoint a Permanent Representative to represent his government on the Council when Ministers were not present. Permanent Representatives could be of Ministerial rank or senior officials, according to the practice of the state concerned. In any case, they should be sufficiently close to their governments and entrusted with adequate authority to enable the Council to discharge their collective tasks and to reach prompt decisions. Each Permanent Representative should head a national delegation, comprising the advisers and experts necessary to assist him in all phases of the Council's work;
   
6. 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 (see 7 below). He should initiate and prepare matters for Council action and ensure that appropriate steps are taken to follow up Council decisions. He should have direct access to all NATO agencies and to governments;
   
7. the International Staff/Secretariat 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 are responsible. They should perform analytical and planning functions at the request of the Council, including preparatory work for the annual TCC-type review;
   
8. the Council 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;
   
9. the Permanent Headquarters of the Council should be located in the general area of Paris;
   
10. the position of the North Atlantic Council in relation to the military agencies of NATO should continue unchanged. Liaison arrangements between the Council and those agencies should be strengthened;
    
11. 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 Defence Production Board, and the Financial and Economic Board should cease to exist.
    

The Council Deputies, on their return to London, hastened to give effect to the Lisbon decisions and to wind up their affairs. On the 12th March, 1952, they appointed Lord Ismay, then a Cabinet Minister of the United Kingdom Government, to be Vice-Chairman of the Council and Secretary General of NATO. On the 4th April - the third anniversary of the signing of the Treaty - they held their final meeting.

In his concluding speech, their Chairman, Ambassador Spofford, said: 'As we have progressed from planning to performance, we have reached agreement on changes in the organization which will be adapted to the increasing tempo, scope and nature of NATO activities... Today the North Atlantic Council goes into permanent session... It is now my privilege to turn over this Chair, this gavel, this microphone to Lord Ismay, and... to declare him Vice-Chairman of the North Atlantic Council and Secretary General of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization'. With those words, the Council Deputies, and with them the Defence Production Board and the Financial and Economic Board came to an end.

The move to Paris

The move of office equipment, records, etc., from 13 Belgrave Square, London, to the new temporary Headquarters in the Palais de Chaillot (1) , was begun forthwith. Within the next fortnight the members of the former central staff and of the Defence Production Board who were to be employed in the new Staff/Secretariat moved to this Headquarters, where they were joined by those members of the Financial and Economic Board in Paris who were to continue to serve in NATO. Simultaneously, the Permanent Representatives - of which eight had been Council Deputies - together with their delegations were assembling in Paris. Within a space of three weeks, the new Organization was ready to start work:

and on the 28th April, 1952, the reconstituted Council held its first meeting. In a speech of welcome, the French Foreign Minister, M. Robert Schuman, defined the main task of the new International Secretariat as the 'day-to-day assistance to member governments to harmonise their resources and means with the demands of defence'. He told the Council: 'Our unity must be apparent in every aspect of our undertaking. That is the task of our governments and parliaments, a task in which you, Gentlemen, will participate both as our counsellors and as our spokesmen'.

It was at this very first meeting that the Council were called upon to decide a question of the highest importance. General Eisenhower had asked to be released from his Command in order to interest himself actively in United States politics. His replacement was a matter of urgency. The Council decided that the Supreme Command in Europe should continue to be held by an officer of the United States Armed Forces: and on the nomination of President Truman, they appointed General Matthew B. Ridgway to this vital position. General Gruenther remained as Chief-of-Staff.

The Council: how they work

It was also at this meeting that the Council agreed upon the general lines on which they would conduct their business. Among other things it was decided to hold meetings of the Council every Wednesday. This has been the established practice ever since: but the pressure of day-to-day business has often necessitated more than one meeting a week, while emergency business has occasionally required the Council to be assembled on any day of the week, or at any hour of the day, at half-an-hour's notice.

There are three different types of Council meetings. First, the normal sessions, to which the members can bring four advisers, or more if business so requires. Secondly, there are restricted sessions for the consideration of particularly confidential business. These are attended by one or, at the most, two advisers from each delegation. Thirdly, there are informal sessions, which are strictly private and, as a general rule, attended only by the Permanent Representatives themselves. These informal meetings, at which there is no agenda, no record, no commitments - and therefore no formal decisions - are characterised by the utmost frankness. They enable Permanent Representatives to inform their governments of the climate of opinion in the Council, and in particular to report the preliminary views of their colleagues on important questions which are destined to come up later for Council decision. Governments are thus able to take those views into account in their own instructions to their Permanent Representatives.

Since the move to Paris, on the 28th April, 1952, up to the 1st July, 1954, the Council held 185 meetings, (2) of which 57 were informal.

Experience has shown that, now that the Council are in permanent session with effective powers of decision, it is not normally necessary for Ministers to meet as frequently as was decided at the Lisbon session, namely three times a year. Nevertheless, periodical Ministerial Meetings are, of course, essential.

They provide an opportunity for the Ministers principally concerned with NATO affairs in all the member states, to keep in touch with each other, to discuss general political developments which affect the North Atlantic Alliance, either directly or indirectly, to make a common assessment of problems of common interest, and to learn at first hand how the manifold activities of NATO are progressing. It is, in any case, most important that Foreign, Defence and Finance Ministers should meet to take stock of the military situation as set out in the report on the Annual Review, and to take decisions regarding the military build-up.

Of the four Ministerial Meetings held in Paris, the first three were attended by the Foreign, Defence and Finance Ministers of most of the member countries. The fourth was attended by Foreign Ministers only. The results of the discussions at these meetings are to be found in the communiqués issued at the time (3). It was agreed at the Ministerial Meeting held on the 26th April, 1953, that in future there should be normally two Ministerial Meetings a year.

The Council have no written rules of procedure; nor has the need for such rules ever been felt. As agreed at the very first session in Washington on the 17th September, 1949, business is conducted in the two official languages, English and French. Decisions are unanimous; there is no voting. When governments hold divergent views, negotiation continues until unanimous agreement has been attained. There is no question of, say, ten nations forcing four to do what they do not want to do. The Council are no supranational body; their members are representatives of sovereign states. It is true that unanimity is not always achieved without considerable patience and a good deal of give and take; but it has always been reached in the end. That is because the interests and objectives of all NATO countries are fundamentally the same, and because the habit of thinking alike and acting alike for the common good is growing daily.

Council Committees

It was agreed at Lisbon that the Council 'should, whenever necessary... set up, on a permanent or temporary basis, committees to assist it'. It was also agreed that 'specialised functions, such as those now assigned to the Planning Board for Ocean Shipping... should continue to be directed by the Council'. Accordingly, the Council have set up a number of standing committees. In addition, it is their practice to set up working groups as required.

Standing committees are permanent bodies, whereas working groups are set up on an ad hoc basis and dissolved when they have completed the tasks for which they were established. Membership of committees and working groups is open to all member countries. The Chairman of each is appointed by the Council. He may be a Permanent Representative, a member of one of the delegations or a senior member of the International Staff. The general character and scope of the work of the various boards, committees and working groups which are directed by the Council may be judged from the chart on page 59: while there are more detailed references to the problems and progress of many of them in other chapters of this survey.

The Council: what they do

The work of the military authorities of NATO can be roughly explained in a sentence - the creation of integrated international forces out of the various national contingents of member countries, and the preparation of defence plans. It is much more difficult to explain the work of the civil authorities. Their terms of reference are perfectly simple, namely the North Atlantic Treaty: but this obviously requires amplification.

First, the Council are a forum where all questions of policy directly and indirectly affecting NATO can be discussed. For example, the three members who are representatives of the Occupying Powers in Germany - France, the United Kingdom and the United States - exchanged views with their eleven colleagues on the Council before the Four Power Conference of Foreign Ministers was held in Berlin early in 1954. Moreover, throughout the course of the Conference those three governments made it their business to see that their partners in NATO were kept informed of what was happening. Similarly, the Council as a whole had discussions on the Soviet Note of the 31st March, 1954, to the three Occupying Powers, which included inter alia the astonishing suggestion that the Soviet Government were ready 'to consider jointly with the interested governments the question of the participation of the USSR in the North Atlantic Treaty'. The views put forward by the other NATO governments were taken fully into account by those of France, the United Kingdom and the United States in drafting their reply.

Secondly, the Council have continuing administrative and financial responsibilities. They control the budgets of both the military and civilian agencies of NATO. They decide upon the proportionate expenditure which should be borne by each member country, not only to finance NATO headquarters, but also for common infrastructure, and so forth.

Thirdly, the Council have considerable responsibility towards the military authorities. In each country there is a government whose military advisers are the Chiefs-of-Staff, and these in turn direct the commands. On that analogy the Council are an international cabinet. Their military advisers are the Military Committee, which in turn gives directions to the Supreme Commanders. Thus the Council are responsible for giving political guidance to the military authorities and for providing them, so far as economic capabilities permit, with the men, equipment and the infrastructure which they require for the discharge of their responsibilities to defend the NATO area. They do this through the medium of the Annual Review (4).

As was decided at Lisbon in 1952, liaison between the military agencies and the Council has been strengthened. The permanent link is provided by the Standing Group Liaison Officer and a staff drawn from many member countries (5). But in addition, the civil and military authorities do their utmost to keep in personal touch with each other's affairs. For example, the Standing Group which is resident in Washington makes a practice of periodical visits to Paris for consultation with the Council. In addition, the Council have paid visits to the Headquarters of the Supreme Allied Commander Europe, and of the Commanders-in-Chief Channel, in order to learn about their work at first hand. Finally, they pay occasional visits to international manoeuvres, e.g., in September 1952 they went to Oslo for a big naval exercise, in November 1952 to the Eastern Mediterranean to witness amphibious landings and other naval operations, and in the autumn of 1953 to Western Germany and to Channel Command.

Fourthly, the Council do what they can to ensure that the 'home fronts' will stand the strain of war, if unhappily it should be forced upon them. Thus, the Council encourage proper civil defence arrangements and action in order that the morale of all the peoples may be sustained by knowledge of the aims and purposes of the Alliance. Further, it is their duty to see that emergency plans are prepared in the non-military fields, such as the allocation of food, of raw materials, of shipping, and of inland transport. Clearly the direct responsibility for all these matters must rest with national governments, but it is the business of the Council to initiate, stimulate and co-ordinate, and to ensure that all the experience is pooled (6).

The Secretary General and the international staff/secretariat

The organization of the staff is shown in the diagram on page 63. At its head is the Secretary General, whose terms of reference have been quoted earlier in this Chapter. His office gives him unique opportunities to make proposals not only about the technical aspects of NATO but also about the current and future affairs of the Alliance. The terms of reference also say that he should have direct access to all NATO agencies and to governments. Accordingly, since his appointment the Secretary General has made official visits to all member governments (except that of France to which naturally he has constant access). In each country he enjoyed the privilege of consultations with the Ministers primarily concerned with NATO affairs and of addressing the press as well as various unofficial groups and institutes. These personal contacts have proved of the greatest value.

Assisting the Secretary General in all the aspects of his work is the Deputy Secretary General, Mr. H. van Vredenburch (Netherlands). In the absence of the Secretary General he presides over Council meetings. There are also three Assistant Secretaries General, whose duties are mentioned below.

The International Staff/Secretariat is drawn from the nationals of all fourteen member countries. There is no hard and fast rule as to the proportion of appointments to be held by each country, but every effort is made to ensure an equitable distribution. This principle to some extent restricts the choice of candidates for any particular post, but there is no question of any one country having a permanent claim on any particular appointment. It is generally recognised as undesirable that an international organization should be frozen into a rigid pattern.

It was laid down by the Council at Lisbon that the staff should be recruited on the basis of quality rather than quantity. This principle has been strictly enforced, and no new appointment is made unless the need for it has been clearly demonstrated. As a result, very few additions have been made during the past two years and at the 1st July, 1954, the officer strength, including interpreters and translators, was 189. On the same date, the total strength of the civilian Headquarters, including messengers, security guards and general service grades, was 596. AH members of the staff are international servants who take their orders from the Secretary General and not from their own governments. They are paid out of international funds provided on a cost-sharing basis. The total annual budget, including current and capital expenditure, is approximately 3.6 million dollars.

The term 'Staff/Secretariat' emphasises the dual role of the civilian organization.
The Secretariat consists of the Office of the Secretary General. It is directed by an Executive Secretary, Captain R.D. Coleridge (UK), who is also Secretary to the Council. He is responsible for supervising the general processing of the work of the Council and their committees, including provision of all secretarial assistance, as well as supervision of the administrative services of the Staff/Secretariat itself. Thus the Secretariat provides secretaries to all the Council's principal committees and working groups - apart from those of a strictly technical nature - and ensures co-ordination between them. This arrangement, sometimes known as the 'Cabinet System', was introduced into NATO by Mr. Spofford when the international central staff was formed in London during 1951.

On the Staff side there are three main divisions corresponding to the three principal aspects of NATO's work, each under an Assistant Secretary General. Ambassador Sergio Fenoaltea (Italy) heads the Political Affairs Division, M. Rene Sergent (France) the Economics and Finance Division, and Mr. Lowell P. Weicker (USA) the Production and Logistics Division. The Divisions' tasks are to prepare, in close touch with delegations, proposed action in their respective fields for consideration by the appropriate committee or by the Council.
In addition to the main divisions there are three other offices working directly to the Secretary General. These are the Office of Statistics (Mr. Loring Wood of the USA), the Financial Comptroller's Office (M. A. J. Bastin of Belgium), and the Division of Information (Mr. Geoffrey Parsons, Jr. of the USA). The Information Division, besides providing material about NATO for the use of member governments, (it does not engage in independent operations), is also the press and public relations branch of the civilian authority.

Administrative questions

In view of the fact that NATO has to handle much secret and confidential material, great care has to be exercised in the recruitment of staff. Only nationals of the member countries are eligible and before appointment their records have to be checked and approved by national authorities.

Many of the officers of the International Staff are government servants of the various member countries who are seconded for a period of service with NATO of, say, two or three years. This has the disadvantage of lack of continuity; on the other hand, it ensures that member governments have in their service an increasing number of officers with special knowledge of NATO affairs. The remaining officers of the staff, especially technical experts, are recruited outside government circles, but generally on the nomination of their own governments. Some of them intend to devote their careers to NATO. Thus there will, in course of time, be built up a permanent body of international NATO civil servants. A start has been made.

It was always intended that NATO should remain in the temporary Headquarters at the Palais de Chaillot only until permanent Headquarters could be built. In November 1952, the French Government offered a site at Le Chesnay (Seine-et-Oise), which was provisionally accepted by the Council. It subsequently transpired, however, that practically none of the delegations was prepared to move so far from their embassies, on which they are dependent for communication with their governments and other facilities. The French Government therefore, at the Council's request, sought another solution. In April 1954, they were able to offer a site near the Porte Dauphine in Paris. The Council have gratefully accepted it and it is proposed to start building as soon as possible.

Shortly before he returned to the United States, General Eisenhower told the International Staff in a farewell talk that he believed they were 'the only body in the whole free world meeting day by day and studying objectively the real issues and problems that are of concern to all of us'. They are certainly conscious of being, in a very real sense, the trustees of the Atlantic Community. They know that their "work, their constancy, and perhaps above all their team-spirit are verv necessary elements in the pursuit of the great tasks entrusted to NATO.

• NATO Civil and Military Organization - July 1954
• Committees of the Council - July 1954
• NATO International Staff/Secretariat - July 1954

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