Secretary of the Council
and Director of the NATO Ministerial Task Force

Bernd A. Goetze

COM, OMM, KStJ, CD, Ph.D

2002 -

Dr. Goetze was born in Vienna, Austria and emigrated to Canada in 1955. In 1975 he graduated (Magna cum Laude) from Queens’ University, Kingston, Ontario, Canada in Political Studies. He obtained an MA from the same institution in 1977 and completed the requirements for his PhD in the United States in 1983. He is the author of Security in Europe: A Crisis of Confidence, published in 1985. He continues to write and lecture on Euro-Atlantic foreign and security policy issues.

Dr. Goetze entered the Canadian Armed Forces 1959 and was commissioned as a 2nd Lieutenant in 1964. He served in a variety of command and staff appointments, rising to the rank of Brigadier-General on 1 May 1991. He is a 1973 graduate of the Canadian Land Forces Command and General Staff College and attended the NATO Defence College in 1975-76.

From 1979 to 1981 he served with the Plans and Policy Division of the International Military Staff at NATO Headquarters dealing principally with East-West arms control and OSCE issues. From 1986 to 1989 he was seconded to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and served as the Counsellor for Nuclear and Strategic Affairs with the Canadian Delegation to the North Atlantic Council. In this capacity he was a member of the Nuclear Planning Group, the High Level Group and the Special Consultative Group responsible for developing the Alliance ’s Nuclear and Conventional Force posture as well as multilateral arms control negotiations in Europe .

From 1989 to 1993 he was with the Ministry of Defence in Ottawa . Initially, as Director of International Policy and finally, from 1991 to 1993, as Director-General responsible for the security policy aspects of Canada’s bilateral and multilateral defence relations programmes; UN peacekeeping commitments and engagements with NATO and the OSCE.

He returned to NATO HQ as Deputy Executive Secretary and Director of Information Systems in September 1993. He has also played a major role in developing the Alliance ’s Crisis Management arrangements during his tenure as Director of Council Operations.

Dr. Goetze assumed the appointment of Executive Secretary of the North Atlantic Council at NATO Headquarters in Brussels on 16 January, 2003 and following the restructuring of the International Staff he became the Secretary of the North Atlantic Council, the NATO-Russia Council, the NATO-Ukraine Commission and the Euro-Atlantic Partnership Council. In his capacity as the Director of the NATO Ministerial and Summit Task Forces Dr. Goetze is also responsible to the Secretary General for the planning and conduct of Ministerial and Summit meetings of these bodies at NATO HQ and abroad.