A study of history shows us that at approximately every 50 years the world experiences a revolutionary change in the nature of armed conflict provoked by sociological, technological or other external factors (Donnelly 2004). In the past two centuries there was the development of mass conscript armies during the Napoleonic wars, rapid-firing rifled weapons in the mid-19^th century, industrialisation of military production before WWI, and nuclear weaponry and their delivery during WWII. Donnelly is of the view that we are in the middle of such a change ushered in by the events of 11 September 2001, the new global power balance after the welcome collapse of the Cold War and bipolar security, the advances in technology, and growing gap between rich and poor nations and the information revolution. As a result we have moved from a Cold War to a Hot Peace with a new threat to global security through the asymmetric conflict particularly in the ‘arc of instability’ stretching from North Africa to Central Asia. The North Atlantic Alliance (NAA) founded originally by 12 nations after the Second World War was preoccupied for some 40 years with the Cold War and the threat posed by the Soviet Union. In the 1990s, NATO reinvented itself by focussing on Partnership with the nations of the Commonwealth of Independent States. It has now expanded to 26 member states and 46 Partner nations and faces a new challenge of defining its role in the 21^st century. It currently sees itself as ensuring the joint security through political and military cooperation and collective defence of its member states. In this paper I wish to argue that such a view needs to be transformed. First, ‘security’ means much more than just military might; it includes non-military threats such as incompetent governance, corruption, organised crime, insecure borders, smuggling, illegal migration, ethnic and religious conflict, proliferation of WMDs, shortage of natural resources and of course terrorism. Second, a unique opportunity exists to contribute to world peace through the leadership role that can be exerted by the Ambassadors of NATO in Brussels. The background to my argument emerges from a scientific rather than a purely military perspective based on my experience as UK Representative on the NATO Science Committee.