"Evidence Based Support to Decision Makers" was the focus of the 6th annual NATO Operational Analysis (OA) conference organised by Allied Command Transformation (ACT). The annual conference aims to coordinate and improve the contributions of operational analysis within operations and capability development to NATO.

The NATO OA conference was hosted by NATO Consultation, Command and Control Agency (NC3A), and convened on 13-14 June 2012 in The Hague, Netherlands. Attendees included operational research analysts from academia, industry, NATO, NATO nations, and NATO accredited Centre's of Excellence (COE).

Notable speakers at the conference included ACT's Brigadier General Giovannie Fungo, Assistant Chief Of Staff (ACOS) Capability Engineering ; Brigadier General Peter Sonneby, Commander of NATO's Joint Analysis and Lessons Learned Centre (JALLC); and Mr. Paul Comeau, Chief Scientist of the Centre for Operational Research and Analysis (CORA), Defence Research and Development Canada (DRDC).

The conference encouraged dialogue among participants in an effort to share new ideas and best practices. A pre-conference workshop titled "Operational Analysis in a Restructured NATO" was held on 12 June and focused on developing a vision for implementing OA across NATO. Results from the workshop will be included in a study on requirements for operational research and analysis in NATO; a study that is tasked by NATO Nations and to be led by the new NATO Chief Scientist.