The aims of the NATO PA should be seen within the context of the role of members of parliament in the field of defence and security, particularly in today's environment.

The changing nature of security and NATO's transformation have given a new salience to the role of parliaments in defence and security. The traditional parliamentary tasks - oversight of defence and the armed forces, including authorising expenditure and deployments "overseas", building consensus, ensuring transparency, and generating and sustaining public support - are well established in member countries, albeit with different degrees of application and emphasis. Today, these tasks are carried out in a more demanding environment. The new roles and missions for armed forces, the widespread need for defence reform and restructuring, and the pervasive influence of the revolution in information technology, particularly with regard to the media, all suggest a higher profile for parliamentary involvement.

Furthermore, the commitment of candidate and partner countries to establish the mechanisms and priorities for democratic control of armed forces has also meant greater attention be given to parliamentary practices.

Against this background, the aims of the NATO PA can be defined as including the following:

· to foster dialogue among parliamentarians on major security issues;

· to facilitate parliamentary awareness and understanding of key security issues and Alliance policies;

· to provide NATO and its member governments with an indication of collective parliamentary opinion;

· to provide greater transparency of NATO policies, and thereby a degree of collective accountability;

· to strengthen the transatlantic relationship.

These have been longstanding goals of the Assembly. Since 1989, the following have been added:

· to assist in the development of parliamentary democracy throughout the Euro-Atlantic area by integrating parliamentarians from non-member nations into the Assembly's work;

· to assist directly those parliaments actively seeking Alliance membership;

· to increase co-operation with countries who seek co-operation rather than membership, including those of the Caucasus and the Mediterranean regions;

· to assist in the development of parliamentary mechanisms, practices and 'know how' essential for the effective democratic control of armed forces.

In fulfilling these goals, the Assembly provides a central source of information and point of contact for member legislators and their respective national parliaments. The Assembly's activities also enable the Assembly to contribute to making the workings and policies of the Alliance more transparent and comprehensible to parliaments and their publics.

This website provides information about the Assembly's five Committees, special working groups, seminars, and biannual sessions held throughout Europe and North America. It also provides key speeches and articles by the Assembly's officers.