NATO - North Atlantic Treaty Organization

Supreme Allied Commander Transformation (SACT)

Supreme Allied Commander Transformation (SACT) was created in 2002, in the overall process of reform of NATO’s command structure. He is one of NATO’s two strategic commanders and the commanding officer of Allied Command Transformation.

• Role and responsibilities

  SACT has the lead role at the strategic level for the transformation of NATO’s military structures, forces, capabilities and doctrines in order to improve the military effectiveness of the Alliance.

  He makes recommendations to NATO's political and military authorities on transformation issues. For day-to-day business, he reports to the Military Committee, composed of Military Representatives for Chiefs of Defence of NATO member countries. He also has direct access to the Chiefs of Defence and may communicate with appropriate national authorities, as necessary, to facilitate the accomplishment of his tasks.

  In cooperation with Allied Command Operations, he analyses NATO’s operational needs, in order to identify and prioritize the type and scale of future capability and interoperability requirements and to channel the results into NATO’s overall defence planning process.

  He also leads efforts to explore new concepts and doctrines by conducting experiments and supporting the research, development and acquisition of new technologies and capabilities.

  The SACT is responsible for NATO’s training and education programmes, which are designed to ensure that the Alliance has at its disposal staffs trained to common NATO standards and capable of operating effectively in a combined and joint force military environment.

  Other tasks that come under the responsibility of the Supreme Allied Commander Transformation include:

  • managing commonly funded resources allocated for NATO’s transformation programmes in order to provide timely, cost-effective solutions for operational requirements;
  • supporting the exercise requirements of Allied Command Operations throughout their planning, execution and assessment phases.

• Selection process

  The SACT is proposed by a NATO member country and approved by the North Atlantic Council of NATO. There is no assigned term for the SACT.

• Evolution of the function

  From 2002 to 2009, SACT has been a United States Flag or General officer, and dual-hatted as Commander of the U.S. Joint Forces Command, the post responsible for maximizing future and present military capabilities of the United States. His command is exercised from the Headquarters of Alliance Command Transformation in Norfolk, Virginia, United States, which is also where U.S. Joint Forces Command has its Headquarters.

  Since 2009, the year France decided to fully participate in NATO structures following its withdrawal from the integrated military structure in 1966, a French General officer has held the position: General Stéphane Abrial from 2009 to 2012 and, currently, General Jean-Paul Paloméros. The first SACT was Admiral Edmund P. Giambastiani Jr. from 2002 to 2005, followed by General Lance L. Smith from 2005 to 2007, and then General James Mattis from 2007 to 2009.

  Prior to 2002, before the reform, the then Supreme Allied Commander Atlantic (SACLANT), was responsible for safeguarding the Allies’ sea lines of communication, supporting land and amphibious operations, and protecting the deployment of the Alliance’s sea-based nuclear deterrent.

  Allied Command Atlantic extended from the North Pole to the Tropic of Cancer and from the coastal waters of North America to those of Europe and Africa, including Portugal, but not including the Channel and British Isles, which were part of what was Allied Command Europe at the time (now Allied Command Operations).