The NATO phonetic alphabet is named after the North Atlantic Treaty Organization, which is a military alliance of 30 countries that uses the alphabet for interoperability and standardization.
The International Civil Aviation Organization, which is a specialized agency of the United Nations that oversees civil aviation safety and security, adopted the NATO phonetic alphabet as the official international radiotelephony spelling alphabet in 1956.
The International Telecommunication Union, which is a specialized agency of the United Nations that coordinates the global use of the radio spectrum, telecommunications and information and communication technologies, developed its own phonetic alphabet and figure code, which is similar but not identical to the NATO phonetic alphabet.
The Federal Aviation Administration, which is the national aviation authority of the United States that regulates and oversees all aspects of civil aviation, uses the NATO phonetic alphabet for air traffic control and communication with aircraft.
The American National Standards Institute, which is a private non-profit organization that oversees the development of voluntary consensus standards for products, services, processes, systems and personnel in the United States, adopted the NATO phonetic alphabet as the American standard in 1962.