The NATO Headquarters, in Brussels, Belgium, is the political headquarters of the Alliance and the permanent home of the North Atlantic Council, NATO’s senior political decision-making body.
At the strategic level, the NATO Command Structure (NCS) encompasses two Commands – Allied Command Operations (ACO) responsible for planning and execution of all NATO operations and Allied Command Transformation (ACT) responsible for NATO’s transformation (warfare development of military structures, forces, capabilities and doctrines).
Supreme Headquarters Allied Powers Europe (SHAPE) located in Mons, Belgium, is the strategic level headquarters of ACO and commanded by Supreme Allied Commander Europe (SACEUR). SACEUR assumes the overall command of operations at the strategic level and exercises his responsibilities from SHAPE. He issues strategic military direction to the subordinate commanders. SACEUR is responsible for the preparation and conduct of all Alliance military operations, including routine operational activities and other non-operational tasks in accordance with the division of responsibilities between both SCs.