Hybrid Threat Support Teams (Operational Priorities)

“Hybrid Threat Support Teams” represent a dedicated operational line of effort aimed at helping allied nations counter the subtle and multidimensional campaigns known as hybrid threats. In recent years NATO and the EU have identified hybrid warfare – the coordinated use of non-military and military means below the threshold of open armed attack – as a core challenge to collective security. The 2022 NATO Strategic Concept explicitly highlights the need to counter hybrid threats as a vital part of Allied defense and resilience.

This priority falls under the broader strategic objective of achieving information superiority and protecting societies against sub-threshold aggression. The rationale for fielding Hybrid Threat Support Teams is to translate high-level intent on countering such threats into an actionable capability: deployable expert teams that can assist an Ally confronted with coordinated political, informational, or cyber aggression. These teams serve as a tangible expression of Alliance solidarity and a practical mechanism to shore up a nation’s defenses during a hybrid crisis.

By providing on-the-ground support in analyzing and responding to malign influence, cyber attacks, disinformation or sabotage, the teams help bridge the gap between strategic pledges and concrete assistance. In essence, they embody NATO’s pledge that “NATO is prepared to assist any Ally against hybrid threats as part of collective defence”. While the primary responsibility to respond remains with the targeted country, Allies recognized after 2014 that some hybrid assaults could overwhelm a nation’s capacity or fall into gray areas of ambiguity.

Hybrid Threat Support Teams thus emerged to reinforce national efforts, bolster deterrence by denial, and ensure that no Ally is left alone to face sustained sub-threshold campaigns. This operational priority is strongly anchored in NATO summit decisions and EU security strategies of the past decade. At the NATO Brussels Summit in 2018, leaders agreed to establish Counter-Hybrid Support Teams (CHST), reflecting a consensus that hybrid attacks demanded a dedicated Alliance response capability.