 NATO is a political and military organization which has evolved over time since the Alliance's establishment in 1949. Some of the Alliance's military structure was set in place in 1949, such as the military committee, with other elements created later, such as the nuclear planning group in 1966. The military committee sits at the top of NATO's military structure. The military committee is NATO's senior military authority and primary source of military advice to NATO's civilian decision-making bodies, notably the North Atlantic Council. Based at NATO headquarters in Brussels, the military committee provides a link between political decision-making and the military structures of NATO. The military committee is supported by the international military staff, which comprises both civilian and military personnel. Its role is to provide strategic military advice and staff support to the military committee. It is organized into several divisions, including the Plans and Policy Division, the Operations Division, the NATO Situation Center, amongst others. NATO has two top military commanders. The Supreme Allied Commander Europe, or SOCURE, is an American general selected by the US President and approved by the North Atlantic Council. The Supreme Allied Commander Transformation is nominated by Member States and selected by the North Atlantic Council. The Supreme Allied Commander Europe has overall command of operations at the strategic level and is based at Supreme Headquarters, Allied Powers Europe, and Mons, Belgium. The Supreme Allied Commander Europe commands Allied Command Operations, which plans and executes Alliance military operations. Its overall aim is to contribute to Allied defense and security by maintaining the integrity of Alliance territory, safeguarding freedom of the seas and economic lifelines, and to preserve or restore the security of its members. Allied Command Operations comprises a small number of permanently established headquarters operating at the strategic, operational, and tactical levels. They are augmented by national forces assigned to NATO for specific standing and, or, crisis-oriented roles and tasks. When the North Atlantic Council agrees to launch an operation, member countries contribute military forces voluntarily, which then return home once their mission is complete. Supreme Allied Commander Transformation commands Allied Command Transformation based in Norfolk, Virginia, in the US. Allied Command Transformation focuses on ensuring NATO's military structure and capabilities remain relevant, capable and credible in a rapidly changing world. It evaluates trends and future threats, capability development, education, exercises, and the implementation of lessons learned. Throughout NATO's history, the command structure has adapted, and when our leaders last met in 2018, they took further decisions to adapt our command structure, creating a new cyber operation center, a military mobility command, and an North Atlantic command. So today we have 10,000 multinational military officers planning operations, conducting operations, and preparing forces for the future. Allied Command Transformation also contributes to allowing the NATO command structure to efficiently command, control, and support current and future operations. Beyond Allied Command Operations and Allied Command Transformation, there are various specific military components of NATO. The Joint Force Air Component, or JFAC, is a specialized quick-response unit equipped for crisis-response operations. JFAC can be supplemented from all Air Command entities, or augmented from other NATO Air Forces, or National Joint Force Air Components, as required for NATO missions. In 2016, as part of its Enhanced Forward Presence, NATO agreed to deploy four multinational battalion battle groups—Twistonia, Latvia, Lithuania, and Poland. Simultaneously, NATO developed a tailored forward presence in the southeastern part of the Alliance territory. As part of NATO's adaptation to security challenges from the east and the south, in 2016, the Alliance established eight force integration units in Bulgaria, Estonia, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Romania, and Slovakia. These small headquarters facilitate the rapid deployment of forces to the eastern part of the Alliance, support collective defense planning, and assist in coordinating training and exercises. The NATO Response Force was established in 2002 as a high readiness force capable of rapid deployment. It is designed to perform a wide variety of tasks, including immediate collective defense response, crisis management, peace support operations, disaster relief, and the protection of critical infrastructure. At the 2014 Wales Summit, the Alliance decided to enhance the NATO Response Force by restructuring it into seven components, numbering 40,000 troops in total. The newest and most significant component is the very high readiness Joint Task Force, which consists of about 20,000 troops and includes land, air, maritime, and special operations components. Leading elements of the very high readiness Joint Task Force are ready to move within two to three days. NATO's standing naval forces provide the Alliance with a continuous naval presence. These forces can be deployed rapidly in times of crisis or tension. The standing naval forces consist of four groups. They are multinational integrated maritime forces made up of vessels from various allied countries. These vessels are permanently available to NATO to perform different tasks ranging from exercises to operational missions. NATO currently owns 15 Boeing E3 Sentry, commonly known as AWACS, Airborne Early Warning and Control aircraft. These provide all-weather surveillance, command, control, and communications. A group of NATO allies are requiring five Global Hawk, remotely piloted aircraft, and the associated ground command and control stations that make up the Alliance Ground Surveillance System.