IMPLEMENTATION OF NATO EBAO1 DOCTRINE AND ITS EFFECTS ON OPERATIONAL STAFFS’ STRUCTURE AND FUNCTIONS
IMPLEMENTATION OF NATO EBAO1 DOCTRINE AND ITS EFFECTS ON OPERATIONAL STAFFS’ STRUCTURE AND FUNCTIONS

Summary/Abstract: Throughout the transformation process, NATO strived to integrate the most recent and effective reflections on the operational and overall strategy. In this context, when the permanent command structures have been transformed subsequent to the Cold War, starting with 1994, the Allied Command Transformation (ACT2 ) was established and headquartered in Norfolk (USA). ACT’s most important goals are the development and implementation of NATO new doctrine3 . Among the most significant reflections issued by ACT is the EBAO doctrine which is an offspring of the American EBO doctrine that was used mainly by the USJFCOM4 at the beginning of 1990s but which has been updated and enriched constantly in the years5 that came. On the basis of this doctrine, the three operational6 commands had been tasked to develop an internal structure and a package of procedures for joint functions and this process is still underway. The future stage consists of the implementation of the structure and the use of EBAO for operation management. From this perspective, for instance, JFC Brunssum ended its transformation process in early September 2009. The other two operational staffs Naples and Lisbon encounter such a transformation in 2009. The purpose of this paper is not to accurately describe NATO EBAO doctrine or the EBO development from its inception, but to summarize the tenets that are essential for the understanding of a doctrine which implementation will have very significant effects not only on Alliance’s operation conducting but also on its structures and functions. Indeed, it will have radical effects and it will make the staffs leave the offi ce-based structure established by the Prussian Staff in 1860s for a two-tier structure (three directorates subdivide into more offices) and this is indeed a tangible revolution. The author’s intent is to explain as comprehensible as possible a doctrine that is typically reserved for the connoisseurs, in order to allow the inexperienced reader an easier understanding of the fundamentals and effects in terms of structure and functions, as well as of the risks.

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