CIAO DATE: 03/2010
February 2010
When NATO’s founding members signed the North Atlantic Treaty on April 4, 1949, they declared themselves “resolved to unite their efforts for collective defense and for the preservation of peace and security.” The greatest threat to these objectives was a military attack by a hostile power—a prospect that led to the treaty’s most famous provision, Article V, which states, “The Parties agree that an armed attack against one or more of them in Europe or North America shall be considered an attack against them all.” Today, more than sixty years later, the threats facing the alliance’s members have changed considerably. An attack in North America or Europe by the regular army of an outside state is highly unlikely. Instead, the alliance must confront an array of more diffuse challenges, ranging from terrorism and nuclear proliferation to piracy, cyberattacks, and the disruption of energy supplies.
Resource link: The Future of NATO [PDF] - 1.2M