Mr. Nicola De Santis
Head Engagements Section, NATO PDD

Head of the Engagements Section, NATO Public Diplomacy Division (PDD), International Italy (appointed in 2019).  This Division aims at promoting security cooperation through a variety of programmes in NATO member nations and in partner countries, contributing to a continuous process of international security debate and policy creation. Mr. de Santis is responsible for leading and managing the Alliance’s public diplomacy activities and programmes, and a diverse multinational staff at the NATO Headquarters in Brussels, as well as at the NATO offices in Moscow and in Kiev. He was the Head of the Middle East and North Africa Section in the Political Affairs and Security Policy Division of the NATO Headquarters in Brussels (2010-2019), where he was responsible for developing and promoting NATO policy, political relations, individual practical cooperation programmes and public diplomacy activities, with Middle Eastern and North African countries.

He also ensured coordination with all other Divisions of NATO’s International Staff, International Military Staff and relevant NATO Military Authorities. During his three-decade career at the Brussels NATO Headquarters, which he joined in November 1991, Mr. de Santis served under seven NATO Secretary Generals, in different senior executive policy and communications positions. He has a deep knowledge of NATO and many years of extensive international experience, establishing and managing high level cooperative relations and projects between NATO and its member countries, advising NATO Secretary Generals and Deputy Secretary Generals on high level political relations with these countries and conducting high level negotiations for international agreements with them. Mr. de Santis has as well a thorough experience of working in concert with other NATO Divisions and Military Authorities, including during the NATO crisis management arrangements of the military crises of Bosnia, Kosovo and particularly of Libya. Mr. de Santis joined the Office of the Secretary General of NATO (OSG), Office of Information and Press (OIP), in 1991, as Head of the NATO Countries’ Academic Affairs, in the External Relations Section. In 1994, he was dual hatted as Officer for Southern and Eastern Mediterranean Countries, External Relations Section, OSG, OIP, in charge of outreach activities to the seven Middle Eastern and North African countries members of the Mediterranean Dialogue, since its establishment in December 1994. In 2001, Mr. de Santis was appointed to the post of Information Officer for Mediterranean Dialogue and Partner Countries, in the Outreach and Partner Relations Section, OSG, OIP, in charge of NATO’s relations and projects with governments, political leaders, parliamentarians, academics and the media of the seven Mediterranean Dialogue countries. In 2004, he became the NATO Public Diplomacy Division Coordinator for the Mediterranean Dialogue and for the Istanbul Cooperation Initiative. In 2006,
Mr. de Santis was appointed to the position of Head of Mediterranean Dialogue and Istanbul Cooperation Initiative Countries Section, in the NATO Public Diplomacy Division, reporting to the Assistant Secretary General for Public Diplomacy and to the Secretary General of NATO. In 2011 he was appointed by NATO Secretary General Anders Fogh Rasmussen as the Head of the Mediterranean Dialogue and the Istanbul Cooperation Initiative Countries Section in the Political Affairs and Security Policy Division and in July 2012 as Head of the Middle East and North Africa Section in the Political Affairs and Security Policy Division.

He was awarded the Cross of Grand Officer of the Order of the Merit of the Star, the Cross of Commander of the Order of the Merit of the Star by the President of the Republic of Italy and the Cross of Knight of the Order of the Civil Merit by the King of Spain. Mr. de Santis lectures regularly at high level international conferences, workshops and symposia representing NATO. His previous positions before joining NATO included: Special Programs Officer at the NATO Defense College; Research Fellow on Middle Eastern conflicts and terrorism at the Italian Society for International Organizations (S.I.O.I.) in Rome, Secretary General of the Four Freedoms Club of Rome; Parliamentary Assistant to the Chairman of the Defense Committee and Secretary of the Intelligence Committee of the Italian House of Deputies; Director of the Italian Atlantic Council of Young Political Leaders (CIAG) and member of the international Executive Committee of the Atlantic Association of Young Political Leaders (A.A.Y.P.L).