List of NATO Secretaries General

The 11th Secretary General Jaap de Hoop Scheffer meets President George W. Bush on March 20, 2006.^[1]

The Secretary General of the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation (NATO) is the chairman of the North Atlantic Council, the supreme decision-making organisation of the defence alliance. The Secretary General also serves as the leader of the organisation's staff and as its chief spokesman.^[2] In addition to these official responsibilities, the Secretary General must maintain close relations with the head of state of each NATO country, and work both formally and informally with other diplomats to deal with issues facing the alliance.^[3]

As a matter of tradition, the post of Secretary General is held by a European. This structure is intended to balance the influence of the United States, which appoints the Supreme Allied Commander Europe, NATO's most senior military officer.^[4] The Secretary General is selected by consensus among the NATO member states. There is no formal process for the selection; instead, diplomats from the NATO states informally discuss the matter until a candidate is selected. The Secretary General typically serves for a four-year term, but he or she may be asked to serve for a fifth year or longer, with the consensus of the member states.^[5]

The current Secretary General is Jens Stoltenberg, which took office on 1 October 2014.^[6]

Secretaries General

Paul-Henri Spaak, the second Secretary General

Manfred Wörner, the seventh Secretary General

The NATO countries selected the first Secretary General on April 4, 1952. Since that time, twelve different diplomats have served officially as Secretary General. The position has also been occupied temporarily on three occasions by an acting Secretary General in between appointments.

#	Secretary General	Photo	Nationality	Took office	Left office	Length of term
1	Ismay, HastingsHastings Ismay		United Kingdom	March 24, 1952	May 16, 1957	5 years
2	Spaak, Paul-HenriPaul-Henri Spaak		Belgium	May 16, 1957	April 21, 1961	4 years
3	Stikker, DirkDirk Stikker		Netherlands	April 21, 1961	August 1, 1964	3 years [N 1]
4	Brosio, ManlioManlio Brosio		Italy	August 1, 1964	October 1, 1971	7 years
5	Luns, JosephJoseph Luns		Netherlands	October 1, 1971	June 25, 1984	13 years
6	Carrington, PeterPeter Carrington		United Kingdom	June 25, 1984	July 1, 1988	4 years
7	Wörner, ManfredManfred Wörner		Germany	July 1, 1988	August 13, 1994	6 years [N 2]
—	Balanzino, SergioSergio Balanzino (acting)		Italy	August 13, 1994	October 17, 1994	2 months [N 2]
8	Claes, WillyWilly Claes		Belgium	October 17, 1994	October 20, 1995	1 year [N 3]
—	Balanzino, SergioSergio Balanzino (acting)		Italy	October 20, 1995	December 5, 1995	6 weeks [N 3]
9	Solana, JavierJavier Solana		Spain	December 5, 1995	October 6, 1999	4 years
10	Robertson, GeorgeGeorge Robertson		United Kingdom	October 14, 1999	December 17, 2003	4 years
—	Minuto-Rizzo, AlessandroAlessandro Minuto-Rizzo (acting)		Italy	December 17, 2003	January 1, 2004	3 weeks[N 4]
11	de Hoop Scheffer, JaapJaap de Hoop Scheffer		Netherlands	January 1, 2004[N 5]	August 1, 2009	5 years
12	Fogh Rasmussen, AndersAnders Fogh Rasmussen		Denmark	August 1, 2009	October 1, 2014[15]	5 years
13	Stoltenberg, JensJens Stoltenberg		Norway	October 1, 2014	incumbent

Notes

1. Stikker resigned from his position a year early due to poor health.^[7]
2. Wörner died in office on August 13, 1994 of cancer. The Deputy Secretary General, Sergio Balanzino, took over his daily responsibilities for the last several months on his life and then became acting Secretary General upon his death until the appointment of Willy Claes.^[8]
3. Claes resigned as Secretary General after a bribery scandal, centering on his actions in the Belgian cabinet in the 1980s. After his resignation, Deputy Secretary General Sergio Balanzino served as acting Secretary General until the appointment of Javier Solana.^[9]
4. George Robertson announced in January 2003 that he would be stepping down in December.^[10] Jaap de Hoop Scheffer was selected as his successor, but could not assume the office until January 2004 because of his commitment in the Dutch Parliament.^[11] Robertson was asked to extend his term until Scheffer was ready, but declined, so Minuto-Rizzo, the Deputy Secretary General, took over in the interim.^[12]
5. Scheffer was named Secretary General of NATO effective January 1, 2004,^[13] but he did not take office until January 5, 2004.^[12][14]

References

1. "President Welcomes NATO Secretary General to the White House". The White House. 2006-03-20. Retrieved 2008-04-13.
2. NATO. "The NATO Secretary General". Retrieved 2009-03-29.
3. NATO. "NATO Secretary General: What is his or her authority, tasks and responsibility?". Retrieved 2009-03-29.
4. Joyner, James (February 6, 2009). "Canada's MacKay Unlikely NATO Secretary General". The New Atlanticist. Retrieved 200-03-29. Check date values in: |access-date= (help)
5. NATO. "NATO Secretary General:How is he or she selected and for how long?". Retrieved 2009-03-29.
6. "Nato names Stoltenberg next chief". BBC. 28 March 2014. Retrieved 28 March 2014.
7. Cook, Don (April 3, 1964). "Resignation announced by Stikker". The Washington Post.
8. Marshall, Andrew (15 August 1994). "Hunt is on to find new Nato chief". The Independent (London). Retrieved 2009-03-29.
9. Whitney, Craig (21 October 1995). "Facing Charges, NATO Head Steps Down". The New York Times. Retrieved 2009-03-29.
10. Smith, Craig (January 23, 2003). "NATO Secretary General to Leave His Post in December After 4 Years". The New York Times. Retrieved 2009-03-29.
11. "Jaap de Hoop Scheffer". Newsmakers (1) (Thomson Gale). January 1, 2005.
12. "NATO Chief Steps Down". The New York Times. December 18, 2003. Retrieved 2009-03-29.
13. Crouch, Gregory (23 September 2003). "NATO Names a Dutchman To Be Its Secretary General". The New York Times. Retrieved 2009-03-29.
14. Crouch, Gregory (January 6, 2004). "New NATO Chief Takes Over". The New York Times. Retrieved 2009-03-29.
15. "The extension of the Secretary General's mandate". NATO. October 3, 2012. Retrieved 2013-08-27.