Thread by @ProfPaulPoast

1/ Day 6 of #NATO7for70 to commemorate 70 years of @NATO!

The sixth installment is "September 12: NATO Invokes Article 5"

2/ While Article 5 – The North Atlantic Treaty’s mutual defense clause – is the cornerstone of the alliance, by the year 2001 it had never been invoked.

3/ That changed when the United States was attacked by the Al Qaeda organization (led by Osama bin Laden) on September 11, 2001

4/ With the attacks taking place in North America (New York City, Washington D.C., and Pennsylvania), one key condition seemed to be met for Article 5

5/ By the morning of September 12, US National Security Advisor @CondoleezzaRice was making phone calls to her counterparts in the various @NATO capitals

6/ According to Daniel Fried, now of the @AtlanticCouncil but with the National Security Council at the time, Rice told a French official “We need this”

The "This" was @NATO agreeing that the attack met Article 5 conditions

7/ You see, here is how Article 5 works

- Step 1: A member calls for Article 5 to be invoked

- Step 2: @NATO members meet to determine if the attack does fall under Article 5

- Step 3: If "yes", then actions are chosen

- Step 4: Each member decides to take the action or not

8/ After Rice made those call, the North Atlantic Council -- the primary political decision body of @NATO -- met.

This body is comprised of the "Permanent Representatives to NATO" (i.e. the NATO ambassadors).

9/ On September 12, 2001, the 🇺🇸permanent representative to NATO was @RNicholasBurns

10/ The body unanimously agreed to *conditionally* say "yes, the attack did meet Article 5 conditions".

Following that vote, then @NATO Secretary General George Robertson informed United Nations Secretary-General Kofi Annan.

11/ But that was only the beginning of the "Article 5 process".

The invocation was "conditional" because it had to be determined that the attacks did, indeed, come from abroad.

Until then, the invocation, while meaningful, was largely symbolic.

12/ Specifically, the ambassadors voted on September 12 to approve the following statement (nato.int/cps/en/natoliv…):

13/ The official determination that the attack came from abroad was made on October 4.

Here is the statement by Robertson on that day:

14/ While the statement says 8 measures, the most meaningful was the authorization of operation "Eagle Assist"

15/ The mission lasted from mid-October 2001 to mid-May 2002.

It entailed seven @Nato AWACS radar aircraft patrolling 🇺🇸airspace.

13 of 19 @Nato countries participated, involving 830 crew members & 360 flights

16/ EVENTUALLY, this would pave the way for NATO’s involvement in Afghanistan, through the International Security Assistance Force (ISAF).

17/ But it should be made clear that ISAF was a @UN mission eventually led by @NATO, not a @NATO mission (and definitely not an Article 5 mission).

18/ So that’s the story of how @NATO invoked Article 5 for the only time

A final note: it is interesting that none of @NATO’s major military missions (Kosovo, Afghanistan, or Libya in 2011) were Article 5 missions. Makes one ponder the actual value of Article 5 🤔

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