This facilitates cooperation between NATO and its Partner countries. Moreover, the new structure also incorporates a framework for commanding operations involving rapidly deployable, multi-national, multi-service units adapted to the requirements of the Alliance’s Combined Joint Task Force (CJTF) concept.

The transition to the new command structure is a complex process, calling for new headquarters to be activated and former headquarters to be deactivated in a coordinated way, while ensuring that there is no overall reduction in the operational effectiveness of the Alliance. The whole process has to be managed within existing resource limitations and will not be fully implemented before the year 2003.

At the April 1999 Summit Meeting in Washington, Alliance leaders also addressed the second objective which has guided the process of adaptation. Reaffirming the importance of the transatlantic dimension of the Alliance, they took further initiatives to strengthen NATO's overall role as the principal forum for political consultation and military cooperation among Alliance member and Partner countries. In particular, they launched a new Defence Capabilities Initiative (DCI) to ensure the effectiveness of future multinational operations across the full spectrum of Alliance missions in the present and foreseeable security environment. The DCI places special focus on improving interoperability among Alliance forces and, where applicable, between Alliance forces and those of Alliance Partner countries.

The fulfilment of the third objective of the Alliance's adaptation process has called for changes to enable European nations to take increased responsibility for regional security; and to enable Partner nations to participate in NATO operations. The concept of Combined Joint Task Forces (CJTFs) was one of the means developed to meet these needs.

At the January 1994 NATO Summit meeting in Brussels, approval was given to the idea of creating Combined Joint Task Force headquarters as part of NATO’s integrated command structure. The concept is less complex than it sounds.

A force is any grouping of military capabilities, manpower and equipment in organised units. A task force is a grouping that has been organised to achieve a specific mission or task. A task force is usually disbanded as soon as that mission is accomplished and the units return to their parent commands. The term joint means that two or more military services (army, navy, air force or marines) are part of the task force.