Subfonds MRC - Military Representatives Committee

The Military Representatives Committee (MRC) was created during a joint session of the North Atlantic Council and the Defense Committee on 18 December 1950. The MRC was composed of Military Representatives (Mil Reps) of the national Chiefs of Staff. It was in permanent session in Washington, D.C. to enable a close working relationship with the Standing Group (SG). The Chairman of the Standing Group also served as the Chairman of the MRC. The MRC was very closely tied to the Standing Group, serving to represent all nations to the more exclusive group. The SG served as the steering and executive agent of the MRC, and consulted it on all matters that concerned national forces, or where national action would be required. The SG Planners also includes the MRC in any of the studies they conducted that required MRC approval, Council or national action or were of national interest. The Mil Reps received regular briefings from the SG’s International Planning Teams on topics such as the Annual Review, Intelligence Estimates and Review of Emergency Defense Plans. Additionally, the Mil Reps or their staffs were invited to give presentations relating to their own countries and of general interest to NATO.Another aspect of the MRC was that, as representatives of their Chiefs of Staff, the Mil Reps were authorized to deal with all military matters which arose while the Military Committee (MC) was not in session. At the time the MC only met twice a year, therefore the MRC dealt with the majority of matters which arose for the MC. In 1957, the MC agreed the MRC should move beyond collaboration with the SG, by expanding the national composition of the planning teams. The MRC was invited to submit candidates whom were to be fully included in the day to day work of the planning teams, which functioned multinationally. The change and internationalization of the Standing Group’s planning teams also coincided with the change of the Military Representatives Committee to the Military Committee in Permanent Session (MC/PS).