News

On February 13th the command of the CIMIC (Civil Military Cooperation) Centre of Excellence (COE) was handed over from German Army Colonel Hans-Jürgen Kasselmann to The Netherlands Colonel Wiebe Baron.

The centre is multinational sponsored and NATO accredited. Its goal is to provide added value, innovative and timely advice, and subject matter expertise on CIMIC for both civilian and military customers. The primary focuses of the organisation's efforts are in enhanced education and training along with conceptual and doctrinal development.

The Change of Command ceremony took place in Enschede, The Netherlands and was conducted by two Flag officers of the framework nations, German Lieutenant General Engelhardt and The Netherlands Rear-Admiral Bauer as well as Denmark Lieutenant-Colonel Primdahl , who is the Chairman of the CCOE's Coordinating Committee.

After more than 40 years of service in various multinational functions that culminated in the position as director of the CCOE, Colonel Kasselmann will be retiring from active duty by the end of the month. Lieutenant-General Engelhardt commended Colonel Kasselmann for his never-ending engagement and his multiple career achievements before fulfilling the official retirement act.

Honoring his achievements for the CCOE, Rear-Admiral Bauer awarded Colonel Kasselmann with the Dutch Order of Merit in Silver. Colonel Baron, the new front man of the CCOE, also looks back on a distinguished career, characterised by several multinational positions. Furthermore, he served on prominent position as aide-de-camp to Her Majesty the Queen of The Netherlands.

With the change of command ceremony the CCOE followed its sequence of sharing the director's position between the two framework nations Germany and The Netherlands on a rotational basis.

Supreme Allied Commander Transformation (SACT) General Jean-Paul Paloméros speaks to Hampton Roads community leaders during a reception at Headquarters SACT in Norfolk, Virginia, February 12th, 2013. General Paloméros hosted the reception to honor local, civic, political and business  leaders to show his appreciation for the hospitality shown by Hampton Roads citizens. ACT has 750 active duty military and civilian staff members from most of the NATO countries. Those, along with nearly 2,000 family members, now call Hampton Roads home.

SACT leads NATO's military Transformation and development of capabilities to address defence and security challenges by proactively providing future military assessments, perspectives and advice.

Students from Tiffin University in Tiffin, Ohio, pose for a photo during a visit to Headquarters Supreme Allied Commander Transformation (HQ SACT) 13 February 2013. The Tiffin students will be playing the role of the Iceland and Estonia delegation at International Model NATO 2013 held in Washington, D.C. 14-17 February.  The Model NATO event is a simulation of the proceedings of NATO, augmented by a pre-conference study and briefings at embassies of NATO member states in Washington, DC. It provides a unique opportunity for university and college students to study the role, structure and activities of NATO, as well as the military, political-security, economic, and social issues facing the Alliance.

SACT leads NATO's military "Transformation" and development capabilities to address defence and security challenges by proactively providing future military estimates, perspectives and advice. During their visit to HQ SACT, the students talked with several staff members about the inner workings of NATO to help prepare them for Model NATO 2013.

On 7 February, a team from Allied Command Transformation (ACT) Future Solutions Branch (FUSOL) participated in the Sociology course of Professor Sam Richards at Penn State University, Pennsylvania.

General Paloméros visited Great Britain Feb. 5 – Feb. 6 meeting with several military leaders and policy makers to discuss Great Britain's contribution with NATO and strengthening the Alliance.

The Coalition Warrior Interoperability eXploration, eXperimentation and eXamination, eXercise (CWIX) concluded the 2013 Main Planning Conference (MPC) on February 1. This year's four-day conference was hosted by Denmark in the city of Slagelse.

CWIX is an annual NATO Military Committee-approved event aimed at improving interoperability for the Alliance.  Allied Command Transformation (ACT) provides guidelines and management to the programme, while NATO and Partner Nations sponsor interoperability capabilities with specific objectives.

"The MPC is the time to make decisions," said CWIX Deputy Director, Kell Hvolbol. "Engineers will now have to agree on the complexity of the testing for this year and will have to make commitments on their participation."

"One unique testing opportunity this year is to test the draft NATO Future Mission Network (FMN) Profile," said Lieutenant Colonel Viorel Pletea, staff officer at NATO Consultation, Command and Control (C3). "The US is very eager to test their US Mission Partner Environment (MPE) Profile against the draft NATO FMN Profile."

Overall, ten NATO organizations and eighteen nations attended this year's MPC.

The next scheduled events for CWIX are the final planning conference for CWIX 2013 scheduled for March 12-15, then the CWIX Execution Visitors Day and VIP Day. The Visitors Day will take place on June 11-12 and VIP day will follow on June 13. All events are hosted at Joint Force Training Centre (JFTC), Bydgoszcz, Poland.

For more information contact CDR Knut Behrends, CWIX Director, knut.behrends@act.nato.int, 1-757-747-4133 or Kell Hvolbol, CWIX Deputy Director, kell.hvolbol@act.nato.int, 1-757-747-3652

Among world leaders and security policy decision-makers from around the world, General Paloméros outlined his proposed vision for the security of Europe at this year's Munich Security Conference (MSC).

Deputy, Supreme Allied Commander Transformation (DSACT) Polish General Mieczyslaw Bieniek met with Finnish military leaders during a recent visit to Finland to discuss ways to enhance regional security, improve interoperability and their strengthen partnership.

Norfolk – In this era of ever more complex joint operations, US and NATO leaders are looking for new ways to further integrate their reservists into training and operational support since reserve forces have been and continue to be a significant part of the NATO force structure.

The 2013 NATO Training Synchronisation Conference concluded Thursday 24 January after nearly 180 participants from over 36 countries had gathered for the event in Riga, Latvia. After 3 days of extensive discussions and collaboration, participants should walk away feeling that the time and effort was well worth it.

In 2012 Allied Command Transformation assumed overall responsibility for the management of NATO military education, training and exercises.

During his first visit to the NATO School on the occasion of the Defence Planning Symposium 15 January, General Jean-Paul Paloméros also celebrated the NATO School's 60th anniversary and took part in the opening of the anniversary exhibition.

Supreme Allied Commander Transformation (SACT), French Air Force General Jean-Paul Paloméros, visited The Netherlands January 10, 2013.

During the visit hosted by The Netherlands' Chief of Defence General Tom Middendorp, SACT met the Dutch Minister of Defence, Jeanine Hennis Plasschaert.

General Paloméros also took part in roundtable discussions with senior military and government staff members, regarding the transformation of The Netherlands' Armed Forces and topics related to international cooperation in this domain. Paloméros expressed his appreciation for The Netherlands' support to the NATO Secretary General's Smart Defence and Connected Forces Initiatives and highlighted the maritime cooperation with Belgium through Benelux as an excellent example of multinational cooperation.

General Palomeros also visit the Hague Centre of Strategic Studies (HCSS) and was briefed on the Enschede Civil-Military Co-operation Centre of Excellence (COE). He encouraged the COE director, Colonel Wibe Baron to continue the Centre's engagement and training efforts – which is acknowledged to have provided invaluable, innovative and timely advice and expertise to NATO in what is regarded an important and rapidly evolving field.

General Paloméros lauded the commitment and contributions from The Netherlands' armed forces to NATO operations in Afghanistan, at the Horn of Africa ["Ocean Shield"]. He also hailed the decision to deploy Patriot missiles to augment Turkey's air defences, as a great demonstration of solidarity between NATO Allies.

General Palomeros expressed satisfaction with what he regarded as very productive meetings.

General Jean-Paul Paloméros said on 14 January that his top three priorities as Supreme Allied Commander Transformation were to foster Allied interoperability and capabilities and bolstering cooperation with partners.

unWINEd. What a special name for such a special innovation event! As written in the last Transformer, Innovation Research Park of Old Dominion University has been hosting these monthly events for approximately two years. This month had a special twist as the event acted as a catalyst for HQ SACT staff to meet with focused local businesses.

Supreme Allied Commander Transformation, French Air Force General Jean-Paul Paloméros captured the importance of transformation as a key element that Alliance Nations and its partners need to work together on to be successful.

Supreme Allied Commander Transformation, French Air Force General Jean-Paul Paloméros, made his first visit to Belgium December 3, 2012.

During his visit, General Paloméros met with the Belgian Minister of Defence, Mr Pieter De Crem, with the Belgian Chief of Defence, Air Force General Gerard Van Caelenberge and with high-ranking staff members of the Belgian Ministry of Defence.

It was a great opportunity for discussing the most important topics of mutual interest. The high-value meeting triggered a constructive discussion on how to improve interoperability by the implementation of the Connected Forces Initiative and cooperation between members through the Smart Defence and regional cooperation. They also discussed the Belgian Armed Forces transformation and how ACT can assist in this process.

General Paloméros said, "I was very pleased to make my first official visit in Belgium, one of the NATO co-founders with many longstanding success stories in multinational cooperation."

He expressed full satisfaction for the productive talks and looks forward to continuing the fruitful cooperation between Belgium and ACT.

Generally speaking, people love the idea of 'Innovation'. As Allied Command Transformation (ACT) again renovates its organisaton and functions to provide better performance to NATO, one division has been assigned the responsibility to stimulate innovation in the Command and ultimately the Alliance.

With over 6,500 NATO International Civilians (NICs) dispersed across more than 50 locations and 22 NATO bodies one can be forgiven for thinking that NICs are a cohesive group with shared training and management experiences. However, although NICs are collectively governed by the provisions of the Civilian Personnel Regulations and have standard terms and conditions of service, the very different locations, nationality mixes, organisational structures and functions of the various bodies make it difficult to define a common "corporate" culture.

In 2009, the NATO Assistant Secretary General for Executive Management started a program to help define a corporate culture. Called the NATO-Wide Executive Development Program and outsourced to a prestigious business management school, the course runs from September to May and allows only 24 students per year. The subjects covered are diverse and meant to ensure that the NIC has the skills and understanding needed to have a fruitful career while contributing to NATO's goals.

The period 19-23 November, sees the students at their second one-week residential module of five. The second module is hosted at the NATO Defense College (NDC) in Rome, Italy with the other four being in London, United Kingdom - the provider's site; the NATO School in Oberammergau, Germany; Headquarters Supreme Allied Command Transformation (HQ SACT) in Norfolk, United States; and NATO Headquarters in Brussels, Belgium. The residential portions are interspersed with distance learning modules.

Ms Will De Wissel of HQ SACT thinks that the global security challenges being discussed at NDC are one of the highlights of the program. "I am particularly intrigued to be given the opportunity, together with my fellow NEDP students, to analyse the specific security challenges and NATO's possible role in mitigation strategies," she said during a break in a lecture. "Being able to recognise global security challenges and have possible solutions influence my everyday work is my goal," stated Wayne Buck, also a member of HQ SACT.

The NDC Commandant, Lieutenant General Arne Bård Dalhaug, welcomed the group, which was led by the NEDP Program Director, Mr Marc Wulfrath. The module at NDC enabled the group to conduct team presentations on relevant NATO topics and to leverage the Senior Course curriculum by attending several informative lectures during the week.

Nestled in Città Militare della Cecchignola (The Military City) in the Laurentina District of Rome, Italy between the Italian C4ISR General Staff and the NATO Defense College is the NATO Modelling and Simulation (M&S) Centre of Excellence (COE).