The North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) is an intergovernmental military alliance based on the North Atlantic Treaty signed on 4 April 1949. NATO constitutes a system of collective defense in response to an attack by any external party. This is NOT the official NATO website. For that site, please visit http://www.natochannel.tv.

NATO’s essential purpose is to safeguard the freedom and security of its member countries through political and military means.

The NATO headquarters are in Brussels, Belgium.

DISCLAIMER: No material produced by NATO is to be sold, used for outside advertising or promotional purposes of any kind. All content taken from NATO and republished must be clearly credited or sourced to NATO. Photos, videos and articles are released under the legally recognized terms of "Fair Use" to members of the press, academia, non-profits and the general public. No material is to be used in programs, articles or online publications of any kind that defame NATO or its member countries. Material is provided, free of charge, for use in objective and balanced content, even if at times the end products may be critical of NATO. In instances where a member country is criticized, NATO wishes it to be made known that it does not associate itself with the contents of the article, publication or broadcast. NATO reserves the right to request the removal of NATO copyrighted material from any externally created content.