On 2 June 2022, the auditors of the High Studies for Security and Defence have visited the NATO Headquarters. Initially scheduled for 24 February, this visit had to be cancelled the very same day due to the Russian invasion of Ukraine and had to be postponed. Despite its busy schedule ahead of the NATO summit in June in Madrid, the Permanent Representation of Belgium to NATO organised a visit to the NATO Headquarters, enabling the auditors to discover this key organisation for security in Europe. Besides a briefing on the hot topics that will be on the summit agenda in Madrid and, obviously, against the backdrop of the Ukrainian crisis, we were given several presentations on delicate strategic issues, division of tasks and burden sharing of the defence of the NATO territory, budgetary resources and strategic communication. A guided tour of the buildings has given some notion of the level of logistic and technical management required for such a complex. Finally, the auditors had the opportunity to meet with officers and diplomats working at the civil and military representations to NATO for informal discussions, while having lunch offered by the Permanent Representative.

Session 2020-2021