North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO)

North Atlantic Treaty Organization

Organisation du Traité de l'Atlantique Nord
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Member states of NATO
Abbreviation	NATO, OTAN
Motto	Animus in consulendo liber  (Latin)
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Formation	4 April 1949; 67 years ago (1949-04-04)
Type	Military alliance
Headquarters	Brussels, Belgium
Membership	28 states Albania Belgium Bulgaria Canada Croatia Czech Republic Denmark Estonia France Germany Greece Hungary Iceland Italy Latvia Lithuania Luxembourg Netherlands Norway Poland Portugal Romania Slovakia Slovenia Spain Turkey United Kingdom United States
Official language	English French
Secretary General	Jens Stoltenberg
Chairman of the NATO Military Committee	Petr Pavel
Supreme Allied Commander Europe	Curtis Scaparrotti
Supreme Allied Commander Transformation	Denis Mercier
Expenses (2015)	$866,971 million
Website	nato.int

Coordinates: 50°52′34″N 4°25′19″E / 50.87611°N 4.42194°E / 50.87611; 4.42194

The North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO /ˈneɪtoʊ/; French: Organisation du Traité de l'Atlantique Nord; OTAN), also called the North Atlantic Alliance, is an intergovernmental military alliance based on the North Atlantic Treaty which was signed on 4 April 1949. The organization constitutes a system of collective defence whereby its member states agree to mutual defence in response to an attack by any external party. Three NATO members (the United States, France and the United Kingdom) are permanent members of the United Nations Security Council with the power to veto and are officially nuclear-weapon states. NATO's headquarters are located in Haren, Brussels, Belgium, while the headquarters of Allied Command Operations is near Mons.