Der scheidende niederländische Ministerpräsident Mark Rutte gewinnt das Rennen um die Nato-Führung

1. The Secretary General is a political position whose primary job is to convince the NATO head of states/governments to do things. In that role, having a politician who have relationships and experience doing so is paramount. All the previous secretary generals for the most part are civilians.

2. NATO has platforms for military commanders. The NATO military committee composes of the Chief of Staffs of the various NATO countries and its chair is the highest-ranking military officer for NATO.

3. Civilian control over the military is a hallmark of liberal democracies. You explicitly don’t want ex-military men to run the defense ministry. While military officers should give consul and advice, it is ultimately the democratically elected (and accountable) politicians which should makes the final calls. The inverse is military dictatorships, coups, and other authoritarian regimes where the military have basically no accountability. In the US for example, by law it is prohibited for an ex-general to hold the office of defense secretary unless granted a special wavier by Congress.