Model to Transform Nato's Operational Level Military Capabilities

The North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO), formed in 1949, provided security and defense as an organization against the threat perceived through the ideology and military power of the Soviet Union and its expansionist politics. With the paradigm change in 1991, the Alliance shifted mission focus from defending its member nations against a main threat perceived from the Soviet Union and the Warsaw Pact to an Alliance that provides collective defense and security to its members through power projection. The purpose of this monograph is to present a model for transforming the military operational level of NATO from a twentieth century Cold War alliance into an effective twenty-first century alliance that provides security for its member nations. NATO has rephrased its mission based on a new threat assessment. This assessment is coherent with the evaluation of a possible future environment and includes current topics such as terrorism and WMD whilst continuously providing security and defense for its members. Therefore, NATO has defined its "ends" within the geostrategic setting called "context". Thus, the challenge is to define and build the supportive "ways" and "means" within an effective alliance. Continuously, doctrine, organization, training, civil military relationship and unity of command and effort are mentioned as strengths and opportunities. Nevertheless, these areas hold within themselves a distinct weakness if not achieved by the Alliance as a whole. That is where a concept or model is required to link those elements "into a coherent whole" and present a holistic and coherent approach. In order to achieve this holistic approach, NATO produced a comprehensive political guidance in 2006 in order to develop capabilities in the fields of military forces, C2, planning and standardization. The purpose of that guidance is to guarantee the continuous usability of NATO military forces to sustain deployment and achieve operational effectiveness. It is coherent w