“One for all, and all for one”
NATO’s take on youth engagement
Reading time: 7 min
🖊️Paola Testa
Jun 2025
So, what exactly are we talking about?
On 25 April, I had the pleasure to represent the Young Ambassadors Society at the NATO Youth Summit 2025. Set in the storybook town of Budva (Montenegro) on the Adriatic Sea, this year’s edition of the NATO Youth Summit exhaustively covered today’s most pressing security issues. In terms of countries, the Summit explored the Montenegrin stance and ambition within NATO, the Russian full-scale invasion against Ukraine, and the strategic importance of the Western Balkans and of partnerships outside of NATO. In regards to youth specifically, NATO invited young speakers to share their perspectives on defence, security, spending, innovation, and on youth-led off and online security initiatives. Finally, new and emerging threats were extensively discussed: information, hybrid and cyber threats, the malicious use of AI, and the new frontiers of security defined in space.
YAS has historically aligned with NATO’s policy to “advocate bravely and boldly” for high-level youth engagement. That’s why I reached out to four speakers from the NATO Youth Summit 2025 and a young NATO officer: this article is a collection of their personal experiences and insights on NATO and youth participation in defence. Our five featured interviewees for this piece are Beaudine Verhoek (Strategic Communications Officer at NATO’s Data Insights and Information Threats Section, Public Diplomacy Division), Ioana Andrada Tudorie (Outreach and Communication Officer at NATO’s Talent Acquisition Service), Alexia Gelé (Officer at NATO’s Current Operations Service), Eoghan Gately (Rebuild Ukraine Ambassador with the European Youth Parliament), and Selin Yilmaz (Former President of YATA International). Alongside their expertise, you will get to find out more about the role of NATO and youth-led associations like the Youth Atlantic Treaty Association (YATA) and the Rebuild Ukraine project, as well as the latest security developments in Ukraine and in the Western Balkans.
First of all, what is NATO?
The North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) came to be as a military and political alliance on 4 April 1949, through the signing of the Washington Treaty during the Cold War. Today, it is composed of 32 Member Countries, or Allies1, from North America and Europe. NATO stands as the one-of-a-kind link between these two continents, enabling transatlantic defence and security. Ms Ioana Andrada Tudorie, who works as a Communication Officer at NATO’s Talent Acquisition Service, thoroughly explained this in our interview: “At the political level, NATO promotes democratic values and enables members to consult and cooperate on defence and security-related issues to solve problems, build trust and in the long run, prevent conflict. Militarily, NATO is committed to the peaceful resolution of disputes. If diplomatic efforts fail, it has the military power to undertake crisis management operations. These are carried out under the collective defence clause of NATO’s founding treaty – Article 5 of the Washington Treaty – or under a United Nations mandate, alone or in cooperation with other countries and international organizations.”
Figure 1 shows NATO’s working structure, where Allies are represented both through NATO delegations (North Atlantic Council, Nuclear Planning Group, and Subordinate Committees) and military representatives. These comprise a Military Committee – made up of international military staff – and an integrated military command structure – made up of Allied Command Operations and Allied Command Transformation –, and international staff serving under the Secretary General. As an Officer at NATO’s Current Operations Section, Ms Alexia Gelé shared key insights of what this looks like in practice. “The Current Operations Section within NATO supports the North Atlantic Council and the Operations Policy Committee in all political-military aspects related to NATO-led operations, missions, and activities. It focuses on the planning, execution, and oversight of these operations, ensuring that they align with NATO’s strategic objectives and policies,” she said. “My portfolio as a Current Operations Officer includes NATO’s operations in the Western Balkans, mainly in Kosovo and Bosnia Herzegovina. In a sense, my role is to act as a bridge between the political and the military worlds by making sure information and guidance flow seamlessly. My work focuses on translating what the politicians agree on at the highest level into actionable guidance to our military on the ground. This means that I am interacting daily with all political stakeholders in Brussels, but also with the numerous military components of the NATO chain of command. I also travel often to the Western Balkans to meet with our deployed troops and with local key interlocutors.”
Recently, NATO innovated its security policy by undertaking a 360-degree approach to ensure collective defence, especially in light of the rise in information, hybrid, and cyber threats. NATO’s 2022 Strategic Concept outlines three core tasks to fully pursue this approach: deterrence and defence, crisis prevention and management, and cooperative security. “Global threats are creating a more dangerous world. We are in an era of growing hybrid threats and challenges from state and non-state actors. Strategic competitors test our resilience and seek to exploit the openness, interconnectedness and digitalisation of our nations. They interfere in our democratic processes and institutions, challenge our values and target the security of our citizens through hybrid tactics, both directly and through proxies,” stated Ms Beaudine Verhoek, who works as a Strategic Communications Officer at NATO’s Data Insights and Information Threats Section (Public Diplomacy Division). According to her, “Protecting one billion citizens from these threats is therefore a national security priority. NATO, Allies and NATO partners have an essential role to play to counter information threats – but we also need industry, civil society, academia, and you. We need a whole-of-society approach as we can’t do it alone”.
Youth engagement 101: a guide to getting involved in defence and security
One way that NATO spreads its story is by engaging youth. Both Ms Verhoek and Mr Eoghan Gately, Rebuild Ukraine Ambassador with the European Youth Parliament, conveyed that young people constitute the “next generation of leaders” in defence and security. In this context, as shared by the Former President of YATA International, Ms Selin Yilmaz, the Youth Atlantic Treaty Association (YATA) “creates a bridge of understanding between the future decision-makers of NATO member countries but also partner countries” for youth aged 18 – 35. Created in 1996 as the youth branch of the Atlantic Treaty Association (ATA), YATA promotes NATO values to the younger generations and in turn, it provides a platform for “the voices of young people to reach NATO’s Public Diplomacy Division, in order to guide them forth in making tailored approaches when it comes to explaining what NATO is and why we need NATO for the younger generations”.
During our chat, Ms Yilmaz told me that YATA has expanded its numbers to 7,000 people this year and serves in 35 countries (the 32 NATO Allies and external partners such as Ukraine) through national memberships. “Basically, let’s say you’re Italian and you live in Italy: so, that means you can be part of YATA Italy. But let’s say as an Italian, if you were living in Oslo, you could be part of YATA Norway. We don’t have a citizenship-based membership in our association. What matters is which country you can possibly contribute more to,” This is the perspective that Ms Yilmaz shared. “Again, we only offer national memberships, so if you want to be a part of YATA, you have to apply to your local YATA Chapter to find out about what are the criteria to be a member, because all countries have different criteria, all of them have different approaches when it comes to recruiting people to their community. Finally, we pick the international board through an annual general assembly. So, we don’t offer international memberships to anyone.”
Ms Yilmaz mentioned that young people should contribute to think tanks and youth-led associations such as the European Defence Network (EDN) and the European Democracy Youth Network (EDYN) too, in order to start shaping the security landscape. “Democracy is a luxury sadly, in today’s world,” she commented “and in order to protect that, you have to be in security”. Both Ms Yilmaz, Ms Verhoek, and Ms Tudorie suggested that youth should keep an eye on the NATO Youth Advisory Board (a 10-month programme offering ten selected young people the chance to engage with NATO stakeholders, shape NATO’s public diplomacy initiatives and contribute to key events), as well as on NATO internships.
“We welcome approximately 120 young interns yearly at NATO HQ: they are motivated, bright minds who are eager to contribute to our meaningful work. In 80% of the cases, they continue their career at NATO,” explained Ms Tudorie. “Additionally, we are currently working on onboarding the third cycle of NATO’s Young Professionals – a programme that offers the experience of three NATO institutions in three years.”
I asked Ms Tudorie for tips on how young people can actually stand out during the different NATO application processes. This is what she wanted the YAS audience to know: “Do your research – read everything you can about the role, the section, the division, the organisation. Try to understand how it works, what the dynamics are, what the challenges and the priorities are, and how you would fit in the team. This will make you stand out in the process and even if you are not successful, you’ll have gained very useful knowledge. Be structured and concise throughout the process, either in the written parts (pre-screening questions or tests) or in the video interviews or panels. It is important to provide structured and on-point answers, without going into unnecessary details that will make your interlocutors lose focus. Last, but not least – be yourself: when you act naturally, just the way you are, it shows. And we always appreciate genuine people, as we are interested in getting to know you – through your experience and achievements, true, but our aim is to be able to grasp who you really are as a person and how you would integrate with our multicultural environment.”
As a former NATO intern herself, I also asked Ms Verhoek to share some first-hand experience for prospective interns. “When I started in 2017 as an intern in the Political Affairs and Security Policy working on NATO partnerships, the last thing I did was getting coffee for my supervisor. I was actively involved in the policy work and I supported the visits of incoming delegations of NATO partners,” she said. “At NATO, you will be an expert in the field you choose to work in, whether this will be defence investment, climate, resilience, political affairs or even tech. My advice is work smart, listen and don’t be afraid to speak up. An internship at NATO is a unique experience where you will be able to build your network at international level and learn from your peers. The coffee you will have, is the one you are drinking together with them.” Finally, Ms Verhoek suggested to turn to the annual NATO Youth Summits and the NATO Student Challenges for further opportunities to engage with the organization.
As a young NATO officer, I prompted Ms Gelé to share her own experience within NATO in terms of youth engagement. “When I travel back to the village I am from for the holidays in southern France, I meet up with former high school friends who are now in their late twenties and most of them have never heard of what NATO is. And the few that actually know what NATO is perceive it as some unattainable concept, as something untouchable, which also discourages a lot of people from even thinking of applying to NATO,” she recounted. “I think NATO’s work has become significantly more visible in the past years, and we will continue to adapt our outreach. One example of that is the new Champions for Talent Diversity program, which I am part of. This program is an outreach initiative started by NATO in 2025 aimed at tailoring NATO’s engagement with specific audiences from our nations that NATO usually can’t reach. I think it’s that type of creative initiative that will help make a difference in the involvement of young generations in NATO.”
Lastly, I had the pleasure to also interview Mr Gately on youth engagement in defence and security, outside of the traditional NATO bubble. “The Rebuild Ukraine project was set up in conjunction with the European Youth Parliament to get a diverse collection of young advocates from all over Europe who wanted to put forward our vision for the future of Ukraine post-war era and how we should approach its rebuilding, both in line with the United Nations Sustainability Goals and also with a view towards EU integration for Ukraine,” he said. “In terms of its alignment with NATO’s broader goals, NATO puts a lot of emphasis on protection, freedom, and security. Obviously, there’s a political element to both of those things as well. And I feel like the Rebuild Ukraine project definitely aligns on a number of those goals, primarily from the political and the freedom angles.”
Mr Gately particularly highlighted the role played by Ukrainian youth in this process. “There are a number of Ukrainians who are involved in the Rebuild Ukraine project from the Ambassador level to the higher-ranking Programme Coordinators,” he shared. “I can’t even begin to explain how important it is to have Ukrainian voices as part of the discussion, because you don’t want me from Dublin saying: “This is how it should look” and “This is what they need”. It’s about getting the input from the people on the ground – people who have grown up with conflict – to rank this war and give them the tools, the voice, the means, and the support from the international community to say: “This is how we want the country we inherit to look like”.
NATO Youth Summit 2025: Ukraine and the Western Balkans
The NATO Youth Summit has been hosted annually in a different NATO Member State for five years now. It helps to build momentum for the yearly NATO Public Forums by giving young people from NATO Member and Partner Countries the opportunity to concretely shape and influence NATO’s policy and decision-making. “This year it was in Montenegro because it was the twentieth anniversary of the Dayton peace accords. What I observed is they pick the place according to history and importance,” commented Ms Yilmaz on this year’s location, Budva.
Ms Yilmaz was the talented moderator of the first panel of the NATO Youth Summit 2025, “Setting the Scene”. It just felt natural to ask her how it is to be face to face and hold a conversation with NATO Deputy Secretary General, Ms Radmila Shekerinska. “She was the one guiding North Macedonia into NATO. I was there: NATO London Summit 2019. That means she’s experienced in NATO. She is the first female Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Defence of North Macedonia. She knows the accession process. She knows how to be out, how to be in, and how to be in-between,” Ms Yilmaz told me in our heart-to-heart talk. “And being able to have this kind of new important conversation in front of all the young people that you feel like you are representing on stage, it was very meaningful to me. I saw a role model and a very strong woman who has already done a lot for her country and now contributes to the security of 32 countries, all at the same time.”
During her speech, Ms Shekerinska stressed the need for “a stronger and more lethal Alliance”. I followed up on what this may mean for strategic communications and data insights with Ms Verhoek, co-moderator of “Workshop 2: Tech Savvy and Safe: Navigating the Digital World”. “It means resilience, it means stronger cooperation on this topic and that is exactly what we have been doing: we have stepped up our game,” she said. “Investing in StratCom capabilities is a great deterrent and much cheaper than nukes and missiles. NATO has a new approach to counter information threats; it was adopted by the Ministers of Defence in October last year,” she said. “The approach focuses on ‘information threats’ as the umbrella term for all hostile information activities conducted by our adversaries by including responses that are based on understanding the information environment, preventing the effectiveness of information threats, containing and mitigating specific information incidents, and recovering stronger by lessons learned from information threats. Ahead of the Washington Summit last year, we established the NATO Rapid Response Group. This group includes NATO Staff and experts from 32 Allies, including Montenegro. Together we detect, flag and respond to information threats. Why is this important? Because it gives us greater situational awareness and rapid response capability. It also enables all of us to share best practices and lessons learned.”
Finally, the NATO Youth Summit 2025 thoroughly explored the current war of aggression against Ukraine. Mr Gately was invited to the NATO Youth Summit 2025 as a speaker for the panel “Beyond the Battlefield: Securing Peace, Rebuilding Ukraine”. When prompted with the question of what he thinks is truly needed from NATO to ensure a lasting peace and to help with the rebuilding process of Ukraine, he commented: “NATO has so many different instruments that it can rely on as a bloc, as a group. NATO’s commitment to Ukraine has been evident since from outside of the war, and that commitment hasn’t just been on the traditional front. NATO needs to be steadfast, committed to leveraging the political instruments that are available in order to support Ukraine in its pursuit of freedom, in its pursuit of liberty, in the pursuit of responding to attacks to its territorial integrity.” Mr Gately also shared the latest developments of the conflict as of early June. “Through the Operation Spider Web, Ukrainians were able to successfully target and damage 34% of Russia’s strategic bombing capabilities. It really does show not only how effective, but also how creative and ingenuous the Ukrainians are. They were able to take comparatively cheap things such as drones and cause billions of dollars of damage. This had an effect all over the entire country of Russia.”
This year’s edition of the NATO Youth Summit also heavily focused on the dire need for stability in the Western Balkans. I asked Ms Gelé which security challenges she deems most pressing in the region and how youth can contribute to its security. “NATO has been committed to the security of the Western Balkans for over thirty years and we continue to play an active role in the region today to face the many security challenges. Unfortunately, we see long-lasting progress hampered by a lot of divisive rhetoric, reckless actions, and secessionist threats which can lead to violence and deepen hatred between communities. I would highlight that those are the most pressing challenges that the region faces in such a way as to open wounds from the past instead of focusing on the benefits to be reaped for the future,” she said. “I think that the young generation is specifically best placed to address those challenges by speaking up about expecting responsible behaviour from political leaders, but also by infusing a new energy into society to conduct dialogue and nurture cooperation. I specifically believe that young professionals bring a unique perspective to the table by looking at ‘old problems’ with new eyes. And that is a strength that is very much valued in international affairs that we should not miss out on.”
Key takeaways from the NATO Public Forum
The Netherlands hosted the NATO Public Forum this year. From 24 to 25 June, NATO’s Secretary General Mark Rutte, leaders, chiefs of state and of government from the 32 Allies met in The Hague. Youth participation was also fostered: YATA, the NATO Youth Advisory Board members and the NATO Youth Summit Challenge winners were all invited to attend. NATO leaders agreed on The Hague Defence Investment Plan, aiming to invest 5% of GDP in defence: 3.5% of GDP will be invested in core defence requirements such as military equipment and the remaining 1.5% in investments to further support security. Finally, €35 billion were allocated to support Ukraine in the current war of aggression.
Ms Verhoek superbly framed NATO’s perspective and what is needed next – both from senior and younger generations: “We are at the frontline, so we all need to play our part – from large organisations like NATO, down to you and me. Strengthening individual preparedness contributes to the overall strength of the Alliance. So be part of our defenders’ community, get involved and share your ideas. We are stronger together.”
