Role
The Allied Maritime
Command Headquarters Northwood (MC Northwood) plays an
important role in the day-to-day business of NATO. It is responsible for
the production of the Recognised Maritime Picture, a strategic picture
of the position of all naval ships and Task Forces in the Atlantic. In
addition, it is responsible for the administration and programming of
two of NATO's four standing naval forces, namely:
Standing
NATO Response Force Maritime Group 1 (SNMG1) and
Standing NATO Response Force
Mine
Countermeasures Group1 (SNMCMG1), on behalf of
Supreme Headquarters Allied Power Europe (SHAPE) as delegated
through Commander Joint Force Command Brunssum. These Immediate Reaction
Forces (IRFs) are on constant standby for real world operations, such as
Operation ACTIVE ENDEAVOUR.
Under the scope of new Alliance
initiatives, the unique position of the Headquarters in both NATO
Strategic Commander (SC) chains of command, has made it a natural focus
for maritime Partnership for Peace (PfP) activities at the operational
level. As part of the 'PfP Enhancement' measures introduced at the NATO
Summit in Madrid, a PfP Staff Element (PSE) was established at RHQ
EASTLANT/ HQ NAVNORTH.
The PSE comprised 3 NATO and 4 Partner
officers and was fully integrated into the Headquarters staff. This
involved the planning of exercises and the development of a structured
approach to achieving interoperability with partner nations. Of course,
this can only be achieved in unison with other headquarters. All of this
generates a co-operative environment in which peace and stability can be
more readily maintained.
Following the historic decision made at
the NATO summit in Prague in November 2002 to invite seven new countries
to join NATO: Bulgaria, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Romania, Slovakia
and Slovenia were formally welcomed as full member nations of the
Alliance at an accession ceremony at the NATO Headquarters, Atlantic
Building on Friday 2 April 2004.