Chairman of the NATO Military Committee


The Chairman of the NATO Military Committee is the head of the NATO Military Committee, which advises the North Atlantic Council on military policy and strategy. He is the senior military spokesman of the 30-nation alliance and principal advisor to the Secretary General. The Chairman is one of the foremost officials of NATO, next to the Secretary General and the Supreme Allied Commander Europe. He is assisted by the Deputy Chairman, who advises the Deputy Secretary General and serves as the principal agent for coordination of nuclear, biological, and chemical matters for the Military Committee.
The current Chairman of the NATO Military Committee is Air Chief Marshal Sir Stuart Peach, former Chief of the Defence Staff of the British Armed Forces, who took office on 29 June 2018.

Origins

In accordance with Article 9 of the North Atlantic Treaty and the guidance given by the Working Group on the North Atlantic Treaty Organization during the first Council session in Washington in 1949, the Defence Committee rapidly established the Military Committee. During its few sessions held behind closed doors in Washington, the Military Committee gave policy guidance on military matters to the Standing Group, and advice on military questions to the Defence Committee and other bodies, and it recommended military measures for the unified defence of the North Atlantic region to the Defence Committee. The Military Committee was directly subordinate to the Defence Committee, and each member nation was represented by its chief of staff or a deputy. Iceland, which had no military forces, was represented by a civilian. Each member state in turn held the Chair of the Military Committee for one year.
in 2014
Two other groups which also sat in Washington came directly under the Military Committee:
The Chairman of the Military Committee is elected from among the NATO Chiefs of Defence and appointed for a three-year term of office. He must have served as Chief of defence – or an equivalent capacity – in his own country and is traditionally a non-US officer of four-star rank or national equivalent.
The Chairman of the Military Committee chairs all meetings and acts in an international capacity. In his absence, the Deputy Chairman of the Military Committee takes the chair. The current Chairman is United Kingdom Air Chief Marshal Stuart Peach.

List

Since the formation of NATO, its Military Chairmen have been:

NATO Military Committee in Chiefs-of-Staff Session (1949-1963)

NATO Military Committee in Permanent Session (1958-1963)

NATO Military Committee (1963-present)