The highest authority within nato is the

 The Secretary General of NATO has the chief civil service of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization, represented by an international diplomat. He is responsable for several important tasks, such as: chairing meetings with committees and spokesperson of NATO, but military, strategy and political decisions are responsabilty of member states.

The highest authority (even above the Secretary General of NATO) is the North Atlantic Council (NAC), made up of a Secretary General, a Secretary General Deputy and representatives of 29 country members.  In this organization, authority is held by a collegial body and not one single individual.

the answer is solomon northrup. he was a free-born african american, abolitionist and professional violinist that was drugged, kidnapped and sold as slave in 1841 and remained in captivity until 1853 where he regained his freedom with the of the then-governor of new york, washington hunt. he wrote and published his memoirs "twelve years a slave" in 1853, and in this text, he tells the story of his escape thru one of louisiana's swamps (the great pacoudrie swamp) in which he ended up covered in green slime from crossing the surface of the dead water.