This morning, we departed the Hotel Leopold to go to the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) for a visit.  We arrived by bus and promptly went through security.  We had to surrender all cameras - including cell phones with cameras - because photography is not allowed in the building. 

Background on NATO:  NATO is an alliance of 26 countries from North America and Europe committed to fulfilling the goals of the North Atlantic Treaty of 1949. 

We were given a welcome and overview by Ambassador Henne Schuwer, Director of the Private Office.  He emphasized that NATO is an "old-fashioned" group that uses consensus as the way of decision making.  As a result, NATO is slow in making changes.  He described the current NATO operations:  1) Afghanistan (training of Afghan army and police), 2) Kosovo (security provider), 3) Iraq (police training), 4) Darfur (training and transport of African union troops), and 5) a Mediterranean maritime mission.  He discussed current issues at NATO:  financing, NATO reserve force (NRF), and relations with the European Union.  NATO has a well institutionalized relationship with Russia, with meetings every month.  The NRF has been used twice - Pakistan earthquake and Katrina. 

All current operations (except Mediterranean) are UN mandates.  The United States pays for 25% of NATO budget.   

Our second briefing was given by Jonathan Parish, Senior Planning Officer and Speechwriter, Private Officer of the Secretary General.  He said that after 9/11, NATO developed a military concept to fight against terrorism.  NATO, in his opinion, reacted quickly to 9/11.  Article 5 of the Treaty was declared, providing the following to the United States:
      Intelligence sharing among allies
      Help in protecting US facilities in Europe
      Overflight clearances
      Replacement of US troops that pulled out of the Balkan states
      Others...

The military concept developed included 4 pillars:
      Anti-terrorism
      Consequence management
      Cooperation of countries
      Counterterrorism

Our last briefing at NATO was given by Mr. Gordon Brett of the Operations Section at NATO.  He said there are 3 things to remember about NATO:  It needs America to operate (designed for American leadership), NATO has changed and evolved, and Operations will make or break the Alliance.  He went on to discuss all of the operations in detail.