NATO Defense College Mission

• The mission of the NDC is to contribute to the effectiveness and cohesion of the Alliance by developing its role as a major centre of education, outreach and research on transatlantic security issues.


• To foster forward and creative strategic thinking on the key issues facing the Alliance, the NDC:
  1. Provides senior-level education and brings together senior-level military and civilian officials to interact on NATO issues in a unique, diverse and multicultural setting while cultivating multi-national consensus-building and providing opportunities for multinational networking;
  2. Engages in comprehensive outreach in support of Alliance strategic objectives;
  3. Conducts strategic security studies and research in support of the Alliance's wider goals.


• The scope of activities is to include:
  1. The Alliance's shared values and interests, current and prospective missions, politico-military concepts, policies, organization and working methods;
  2. The potential risks to the security of the Alliance and its members;
  3. NATO's transformation, including defence planning and resource management;
  4. The political, security, defence and socio-economic systems and interests of the Allies and their co-operation partners; their capabilities, limitations and prospects in international relations, particularly in the fields of defence and security; and their cultural diversity;
  5. The role of, and interaction with, other key security-related international organizations;
  6. Cooperation and regional security efforts of the Alliance;
  7. Academic research, policy support and discussions on security issues;
  8. Practice in the English and French languages;
  9. The involvement of Partnership for Peace (PfP), Istanbul Cooperation Initiative (ICI), and Mediterranean Dialogue (MD) countries, as well as those partners across the Globe (PatG)¹ with a partnership programme with NATO;
  10. Cooperation with other similar NATO and NATO nations' national military and civilian education and research institutions and think-tanks, as well as with institutions from partners, Non-NATO entities (NNEs)², private companies, universities, think-tanks and other academic bodies.

¹ Within this document, “partners” refers to Partnership for Peace (PfP), Mediterranean Dialogue (MD), Istanbul Cooperation Initiative (ICI) countries, as well as those partners across the globe (PatG) with a partnership programme with NATO, unless otherwise stated.

² In accordance with MC 0458/3, NNEs include International Organizations (IO), Governmental Organizations (GO) of non-NATO nations, Non-Governmental Organizations (NGO), Non-NATO Multinational forces, Host Nations (when the host nation is not a NATO nation), Contractors on operations, exercises and transformational activities, and Non-NATO countries that do not meet the “partners” criteria as defined in footnote 1.