NATO aims at modernizing command structure: NATO chief

BRUSSELS, Feb. 14 (Xinhua) -- NATO defense ministers on Wednesday took decisions to modernize the Alliance's command structure, Jens Stoltenberg said at a press conference following a ministerial meeting.

Calling it "the backbone of our Alliance", Stoltenberg said the command structure "enables our twenty-nine nations to act as one".

"At the end of the Cold War, NATO had 22,000 staff working in 33 commands. Today, the command structure is reduced to fewer than 7,000 staff in 7 commands. But the security environment in Europe has changed, and so NATO is responding," NATO chief said.

Defense ministers decided to establish a new joint force command to help protect trans-Atlantic sea lines, and a new support command for logistics and military mobility within Europe.

The locations of new commands will be discussed at next meeting in June.

They also agreed that NATO will build land component commands in Europe to improve rapid response for forces and a new cyber operations center.

Defense ministers of the NATO allies meet on Wednesday and Thursday in Brussels, to discuss updates to the NATO command structure, increases in fair burden sharing, and NATO-EU cooperation, among other topics. Enditem