RS21510 -- NATO's Decision-Making Procedure Updated March 8, 2004 In February 2003, the United States asked that NATO begin planning to provide Turkey with defensive systems in the event of an attack by Iraq during theimpending war with Saddam Hussein's regime. The request also asked that NATO members backfill for some U.S.forces in the Balkans, needed for thepossible conflict with Iraq. France, Germany, and Belgium objected in the North Atlantic Council (NAC), NATO'ssupreme political body. They contendedthat granting the request would be the equivalent of acknowledging that Iraq had impeded U.N. weaponsinspections, as yet unproven in the view of the threegovernments, and be a pretext for war. NATO Secretary General Robertson at that point invoked the "silenceprocedure," under which any membergovernment objecting to the request must send him a formal letter stating its opposition. The three governmentssent such a letter in the stated time frame,stymieing the U.S. request. Turkey itself then asked for consultations concerning its defense needs under ArticleIV of the North Atlantic Treaty. The United States asked that Turkey's request for assistance be discussed in the Defense Planning Committee (DPC), where France is not a member. TheGerman government was willing to grant the request for assistance to Turkey, and dropped its opposition. TheBelgian government, now isolated, dropped itsobjection. The DPC then granted the request for defense planning, which resulted in the deployment of AWACS,Patriot missiles, and other defensive systemsto protect Turkey. Consensus in the NAC is generally sought when allied governments must formulate policy on an important strategic issue. Examples include approval ofNATO's Strategic Concept (NATO's document that serves as a strategic guideline), relations with Partnership forPeace countries, the NATO budget,deployment of forces for peace operations, and invocation of Article V. Consensus is clearly differentiated from"unanimity," which NATO does not seek. Unanimity would require an actively stated vote in favor of a measure. Structure and Process. NATO has a civil and a military structure. The supreme political decision-makingbody, the North Atlantic Council (NAC), sits in Brussels, and is chaired by the Secretary General. Each of the 19member states has a representative on theNAC. Key proposals for military decisions are made by the Military Committee (MC). A senior European military officer chairs the Military Committee. The MChas 18 members because France withdrew from the alliance's integrated military structure in 1966. France sendsan observer, without a vote, to the MC. France has full representation on the NAC, however, as Paris did not withdraw from NATO's politicaldecision-making structure. The NAC has the authorityto approve all key MC documents. Normally, any government may have two opportunities to influence a major NATO decision. For example, the MC established a working group at the level ofcolonel to work out the deployment and responsibilities of NATO member state forces to be sent to Bosnia for peaceoperations in the 1990s. The 18representatives on the working group met for eight months, and eventually drafted a document that was approvedby the MC. The MC then sent the documentto the NAC's international staff. Ultimately, all 19 representatives on the NAC refined the document's language,and approved it. Reaching consensus is therefore a process in which member governments have ample opportunity to provide language to NATO documents and decisions thatreflect national governments' individual views. The North Atlantic Council (NAC). The NAC achieves consensus through a process in which nogovernment states its objection. A formal vote in which governments state their position is not taken. During theKosovo conflict, for example, it was clear toall governments that Greece was uncomfortable with a decision to go to war. NATO does not require a governmentto vote in favor of a conflict, but rather toobject explicitly if it opposes such a decision. Athens chose not to object, knowing its allies wished to take militaryaction against Serbia. In contrast toNATO, the EU seeks unanimity on key issues. Unanimity characterizes EU decision-making when, for example,new members are invited to join, or revisionsto the Union's governing treaties must be adopted. At NATO, the "silence procedure" may be used for any decision requiring a consensus. At times, the procedure allows governments in opposition to a measureto avoid confronting other allies around the table during a session of the NAC. The procedure can also providecover for a government from unwanted pressreporting that might characterize its policy as out of step with other allies. By not sending a letter to the SecretaryGeneral within a specified time period, agovernment can avoid the step of stating its explicit objection to a policy if it believes other allies are set on a courseof action. This procedure failed in theeffort to begin defense planning for Turkey when three governments were in opposition. The procedure can be moresuccessful if only one government is put inthe position of having to take the formal step of sending a letter of opposition to the Secretary General, and mayrefrain from doing so to avoid being isolated. NATO uses the same principle of consensus in the DPC, where 18 members make proposals on such matters as force structure. Normally, the DPC's proposalsare sent to the Military Committee or to the NAC for approval. When France withdrew from the MilitaryCommittee in 1966, it also surrendered its seat on theDPC. NATO in the past has made important preliminary decisions on military operations in the DPC. However,in 1992, when NATO decided to enforce thearms embargo in the Adriatic Sea against the countries of the disintegrating Yugoslavia, France wished to participatein the decision and to send forces as partof the operation. For this reason, NATO transferred the decision to the NAC, where France could play a role. Thispractice set a precedent for subsequentNATO military operations. The NAC made the decisions to establish SFOR, approve the plan for OperationAllied Force in Kosovo, and establish KFOR inthe conflict's aftermath, each time because France wished to participate in these operations. When France (andBelgium and Germany) objected in February2003 to military assistance to Turkey, however, the United States was instrumental in the maneuver to move outof the NAC and back to the DPC to approveAnkara's request for assistance under Article IV. The maneuver raised the question of whether the United States,and other allies, were attempting to avoid orweaken the principle of consensus. Within the U.S. government and in allied governments, there is varied support for preserving decision-making by consensus. Most senior U.S. officialsassociated with NATO affairs contend that they support the principle of consensus, although some acknowledgethat forging consensus in an era when NATOmay go out-of-area is likely to be difficult. Support for preserving the principle of consensus centers upon a desire to maintain political solidarity for controversial measures. In this view, the consent of19 sovereign governments, each taking an independent decision to work with other governments, is a formidableexpression of solidarity. At the same time,there can be political costs due to the sparring and the time involved in reaching consensus. NATO's decision togo to war against Serbia in 1999 was anexample of such an instance. Military action against Serbia had been postponed for a number of days, whilecivilians were losing their lives in Kosovo. Theallies first made an effort to achieve legitimization for the operation in the U.N., but did not submit the requisiteresolution when Russia signalled that it wouldcast a veto. The allies decided to debate in the NAC the issue of going to war without such a resolution, in the enddeciding that 19 governments consenting tothe use of military force supplied a measure of political legitimacy. Officials involved in that NAC debate say thatthe need for obtaining consensus outweighedthe need for acting quickly. The Kosovo conflict illustrated some of the difficulties involved in maintaining consensus. Some critics of management of the conflict, including someMembers of Congress, criticized the target-selection process. Press reports indicated that all governments in theNAC had to approve NATO's individualtargets for Serbia. France, in particular, was singled out in press reports for criticism for objecting to specifictargets. In fact, NATO was following a verydifferent procedure for target selection. Member governments, including the United States, wished to be carefulto avoid civilian casualties, particularly in theabsence of a U.N. resolution that might be cited to legitimize the ends used to compel the Milosevic governmentto cease ethnic cleansing. They made adecision before the conflict began, after an initial operational plan produced by the MC, to attack targets in threephases. Each phase marked an escalation overthe previous one; stepping up to the next phase - and not individual targets - required consent from the NAC. PhaseI targets were indisputably militarytargets, such as air defense systems, airfields, and troop concentrations, and there was strong agreement that thesemust be struck. Phase II targets wereinfrastructure, such as bridges and petroleum depots, that might serve both civilian and military usage, and weretherefore more controversial. Phase III targetswere "the more significant targets associated with Serb repression," such as police headquarters involved in ethniccleansing, often located in urban centers suchas Belgrade. According to then SACEUR General Wesley Clark, and to sources interviewed, it was the Pentagonand the White House, as well as the Britishgovernment, that above all raised barriers and sought delays before attacking Phase II and III targets, with Franceand other governments raising occasionalobjections. (2) The Kosovo conflict underscores the political pressure placed on the NAC in maintaining consensus when military action comes into play, and the fact that theFrench government has often been singled out when disagreements arise.