Willy Claes, Belgian conductor and politician, 8th Secretary General of NATO

Willem Werner Hubert "Willy" Claes is a Belgian politician who served as the eighth Secretary General of NATO, from 1994 to 1995. Claes was forced to resign from his NATO position after he was found guilty of corruption, which was uncovered during the investigation into André Cools' death. Claes was a member of the Flemish Socialist Party.

The secretary general of NATO is the chief civil servant of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO), an intergovernmental military alliance with 32 member states. The officeholder is an international diplomat responsible for coordinating the workings of the alliance, leading NATO's international staff, chairing the meetings of the North Atlantic Council and most major committees of the alliance, with the notable exception of the NATO Military Committee, as well as acting as NATO's spokesperson. The secretary general does not have a military command role; political, military and strategic decisions ultimately rest with the member states. Together with the chair of the NATO Military Committee and the supreme allied commander, the officeholder is one of the foremost officials of NATO.