Page Updated: 16-Oct-2006

Historical Context

The Science for Peace and Security Committee (SPS) is the result of the merger of the NATO Science Committee (SCOM) and the Committee on the Challenges of Modern Society (CCMS) in June 2006. The need for restructuring was driven by the rapidly changing global security environment, and the resulting emergence of common priorities in the two programmes. The original two programmes developed as follows:

The NATO Security through Science Programme(STS): the origins of the Programme go back to 1956, when a report on non-military cooperation in NATO by "Three Wise Men" - the foreign ministers of Canada, Italy and Norway - asserted that progress in the fields of science and technology can be decisive in determining the security of nations and their positions in world affairs, and stated that science and technology was an area of special importance to the Atlantic community.

The NATO Science Programme was therefore established to promote scientific collaboration, and for the next 40 years collaboration between scientists in NATO countries was supported, setting high standards of scientific excellence. From the early 1990s, after the end of the Cold War, the Programme was gradually opened up to participation from non-NATO countries, until in 1999 it was almost completely converted to provide support for collaboration between scientists in NATO countries and those in Partner countries or countries participating in the Mediterranean Dialogue.

The clear focus was on promoting progress and peace by creating links between scientists in formerly separated communities. A further fundamental change, to concentrate support on security related collaborative projects, was introduced from 2004, in response to the new threat of international terrorism and other threats to the security of the modern world. At the same time the name of the NATO Science Programme was changed to the NATO Programme for Security Through Science, to better reflect the new mission.

The Committee on the Challenges of Modern Society (CCMS): The NATO Committee on the Challenges of Modern Society (CCMS) was created in 1969 by the North Atlantic Council with the initial aim of addressing problems affecting the environment of the nations and the quality of life of their peoples. Its activities were expanded over the years to include Partner countries in the Euro-Atlantic Partnership Council (EAPC) and were later adapted to take into account emerging issues to security. The North Atlantic Council in Ministerial Session decided that CCMS activities should also include experts from Mediterranean Dialogue countries.

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