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Allied Command Transformation (ACT) said a fond farewell to Chief of Staff Vice Admiral Robert Cooling at the change of responsibility ceremony today, welcoming in his place Royal Navy Vice Admiral Tony Johnstone-Burt.

In his final speech as Chief of Staff, Vice Admiral Cooling, who has held the post since July 2009, paid tribute to his colleagues at ACT, his family and host nation.

“My first reflection is to thank all of my colleagues for a most exciting, invigorating and rewarding twenty eight months as Chief of Staff,”

“I have simply loved the interaction with all of you, I have marvelled at your capacity for new challenges and I’ve taken enormous pride in your many successes. You and your immediate predecessors have put ACT firmly in the vanguard of Alliance transformation and I can see nothing other than continued success in the future” Cooling said.

Following the signing over, newly appointed Chief of Staff Vice Admiral Tony Johnstone-Burt told the headquarters it was “an enormous honour and a privilege to succeed such an outstanding officer as Admiral Cooling and to take on the challenge of being the driving force behind the Transformation of NATO, making it fit to face the myriad of challenges that we face today and undoubtedly face throughout the rest of the century.”

“I’m thrilled at the prospect of being part of such a gifted team and such an exciting programme of challenges ahead” he added.

Photo: General Abrial (middle), Vice Admiral Cooling (left) and Vice Admiral Johnstone-Burt (right)
during the Chief of Staff Change of Responsibility ceremony

Engaging on 'Smart Security', Supreme Allied Commander Transformation, French Air Force General Stephane Abrial attended the Halifax International Security Forum in Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada on the 18 and 19 November 2011.

Abrial participated in a panel entitled “But can we afford it? Smart security in the age of less”.

“The [economic crisis] means that we have to address the challenges and the risks, and we need to take into account the level of resources. Doing better with less means doing more together.” said Abrial, presenting his on-going work on Smart Defence.

He also took part in an evening dinner session about “Today’s technologies, tomorrow’s battles, and the laws that govern them” where he discussed legal issues concerning current and emerging challenges.

This annual meeting is a forum and  network for decision-makers providing government, militaries, business, academia, and the media the opportunity to discuss future collaboration in the face of emerging threats in a changing world.

Fifteen delegates from the French-USA Vergennes Institute recently visited Allied Command Transformation (ACT) to learn more about the command and its role in the NATO alliance.

Following a welcome by ACT’s Chief of Staff, UK Royal Navy Vice Admiral Robert Cooling they were briefed on ACT’s function.  The delegation then participated in discussions focused on lessons learned from recent operations and the future challenges facing ACT and NATO overall.

The Vergennes Institute is the French counterpart to the United States’ Federalist Society. Both organisations consist primarily of attorneys and judges and seek to provide discussion and debate on legal and political policy issues.

The Concept Development and Experimentation Conference, co-sponsored by HQ SACT and the US Joint Staff J7 and supported by The Joint Analysis Lessons Learned Centre (JALLC), took place at the Lisbon Marriott Hotel November 14-17, 2011.

Allied Command Transformation’s (ACT) Capability Engineering Division supported the Balkan regional energy security exercise ‘Energy Flame 2011’, hosted at Bulgaria’s National Military Training Centre 14-18 November.

Building on previous regional collaborative work that began in early 2009, the exercise was based on a terrorist threat to a regional gas pipeline that affects the national security of an imaginary nation in the region, triggering a United Nations Security Council Resolution.

In the scenario, the UN Security Council asks NATO to provide humanitarian, military and police support and a Balkan Multinational Brigade (BMN BDE) deploys to the region to support the request.

ACT conducted two experiments alongside Bulgaria’s national experimentation; the Comprehensive Legal Overview Virtual Information System (CLOVIS) and Strategic Communications (StratCom).

CLOVIS seeks to allow more effective management of legal information, enabling better legal advice to be prepared by the sharing of information within and between NATO Legal offices, Nations and their respective communities of interest.

StratCom is the coordinated and appropriate use of NATO communications activities and capabilities in support of Alliance policies, operations and activities to advance NATO’s aims.

Each are designed as discovery-type experiments, in which ACT seeks to introduce innovative systems, concepts, organisational structures and technologies to a setting where their use can be observed and catalogued.

For more information about ENERGY FLAME 2011 or Operational Experimentation, e-mail LTC Eddie White (US Army): eddie.white@act.nato.int.

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NATO ACT was the scene for this year’s Community Leaders Reception hosted by General Stephane Abrial, Commander of NATO Allied Command Transformation. The annual event  presents an opportunity for Senior leaders from around the Hampton Roads community and Senior staff members from NATO ACT to come together to celebrate their historical friendship.

General Abrial also took the opportunity to once again highlight the warm welcome always extended to NATO by the Hampton Roads community “My first message is one of thanks which is appropriate as we approach Thanksgiving!  I’m grateful to call Virginia and Hampton Roads home and for the opportunity to live and work fully integrated in such a great and welcoming community.” said Abrial.

The turnout at the event was strong even amidst local and state elections. Top leaders present included Virginia Congressman Bobby Scott, Norfolk City Mayor Paul Fraim and the Commonwealth Secretary of Veteran’s affairs & Homeland Security Terri Suit.

Photo 1: General Stephane Abrial, Commander of NATO Allied Command Transformation
addresses the Hampton Roads community leaders.

Photo 2: General Stephane Abrial, Commander of NATO Allied Command Transformation (center)
with Virginia Congressman Bobby Scott (left), Norfolk City Mayor Paul Fraim (right)

Estonian Minister of Defence, Mart Laar, visited Headquarters, Supreme Allied Commander Transformation (HQ SACT) 8 November for office calls with command leadership and roundtable discussions.

While at the headquarters, Laar met with Supreme Allied Commander Transformation, French Air Force General Stephane Abrial, to discuss the Cooperative Cyber Defense Center of Excellence in Tallinn.

Laar also attended a roundtable discussion hosted by Chief of Staff Royal Navy Vice Admiral Robert Cooling, on the lead-up to the NATO Summit in Chicago in May 2012. Additional discussion topics included the Estonia-ACT partnership and the resource sharing in support of smart defence.

Sixty six NATO personnel attended the week-long NATO Orientation Course held at Joint Expeditionary Base Little Creek in Virginia Beach, VA last week.

The course, which had previously been held at the NATO school in Oberammergau in Germany, is delivered by three members of the Mobile Education and Training Team (METT) from the NATO school.

It is the third time the course has been held in the United States.

“There are cost-savings involved,” said Course Director Lt Col Roland Iffert.

“Previously newcomers at headquarters would have had to travel to Oberammergau in Germany to receive this training. We have sixty six students on this course so you can get a good idea of the travel costs saved for the headquarters, it’s really cost-effective.”

The course equips personnel with a comprehensive understanding of NATO history, the strategic concepts, crisis management and on-going NATO operations. It is based on the resident NATO staff officer orientation course but tailored to fulfil the needs of the HQ.

Attendee Commander David Stoffell of the UK Royal Navy said the course had broadened his perspective and gave him a greater understanding of the role of Allied Command Transformation (ACT).

“I’ve seen this as an opportunity to convert from being a national officer to being a NATO officer. It has broadened my perspective from taking a single service, national perspective and putting that into a NATO context.

“It's given me insight into what is going on operationally, what other departments are up to and with that a broader understanding of what ACT is doing” he said.

The Mobile Education and Training Team (METT) Courses supplement the resident NATO School Staff Officer Course, and they are created to meet specific needs within NATO and  partner nations.

To learn more about the role of the NATO School please visit https://www.natoschool.nato.int/

Photo: Cdr Renaud Annibal of the French Navy addresses students
during the NATO Orientation Course held at JEB Little Creek

The 18th Technology for Information, Decision and Execution Superiority (TIDE) Sprint was held at the Virginia Beach Resort Hotel, Virginia Beach, Virginia USA October 24-28.

TIDE Sprints are “sandbox” events that bring together the TIDE Community to discuss and rapidly solve C4ISR issues through a set of collaborative and educational think-tank sessions. TIDE Sprints use a combination of show & tell brainstorming, collaboration, education, demonstration, coding and testing to further select issues.

A total of 149 staff members from eight NATO commands and agencies attended the event as well as representatives from Austria, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, Poland, Portugal, Spain, Sweden, United Kingdom, United States, academia and industry provided for some very beneficial discussions.

The event was hosted by the Command, Control, Communications, Computers, Intelligence, Surveillance and Reconnaissance (C4ISR) & NATO Network Enabled Capability (NNEC) Division.

To see highlights from the tracks discussed during this “Sprint”, visit http://www.act.nato.int/component/content/article/790.

The 2012 NATO summit in Chicago was one of the main areas of discussion as ‘Permanent Representatives’ (PermReps) to NATO from seven member nations came to Allied Command Transformation (ACT) November 1 to participate in a series of high-level briefings and discussions.

Supreme Allied Commander Transformation, French Air Force General Stephane Abrial, visited Portugal October 26.

Supreme Allied Commander Transformation, French Air Force General Stephane Abrial hosted NATO’s Military Committee (MC) in Lisbon October 27.

Supreme Allied Commander Transformation, French Air Force General Stephane Abrial, visited Germany and met with members of the German Defence Committee and the Committee on Foreign Affairs October 25 in Berlin.

“This is not serious gaming, this is serious training.” This apropos statement started the workshop on Commercial Technology and Games for Use in NATO, a cooperative effort led by Allied Command Transformation and Great Britain within the framework of the NATO Modelling and Simulation Group (NMSG).

Seventeen Political Science undergraduate students from the College of William and Mary in Williamsburg, Virginia visited Allied Command Transformation (ACT) on Friday for presentations and discussion.

Eleven students from seven different nations, including Allied Command Transformation’s Senior Enlisted Leader, Regimental Sergeant Major Marc Wicks, attended the pilot Command Senior Enlisted Leader Course (CSEL) at the NATO School Oberammergau September 12-23.

The purpose of the course was to familiarise CSEL candidates with the required knowledge to function at the higher CSEL level. The course included a variety of current topics and issues facing the Alliance, helping prepare them for their role as advisors to their commanders and subordinates in the international setting.

There were four main themes in the course including Non Commissioned Officer (NCO) Professional Development, directing international ceremonies, communicating on NCO issues, and providing advice to superior officers.

The course was the culmination of a year’s study from working groups at ACT and ACO and on-going NCO education developments. NATO School’s NCO Programmes Department were tasked with designing and developing the course which is aimed at preparing senior NCOs to serve as a Command Senior Enlisted Leader in an international setting.

The next two iterations of the course will run January 30 to February 11, 2012 and September 17-28, 2012.

For more information on the NATO School Oberammergau visit https://www.natoschool.nato.int/.

Allied Command Transformation’s (ACT) Joint Warfare Centre in Stavanger, Norway, recently concluded the 15th and last Iraqi Key Leader Training (IKLT) course.

The course, which began in 2004, has provided bi-annual Iraqi Key Leader Training in order to assist Iraqi Security Forces in the development of sustainable security institutions and processes in order to establish, lead and maintain security in Iraq.

“This course has helped Iraqi Key Leaders operate more jointly and has given them an inspirational insight into international relations,” said Norwegian Army Brigadier General Gunnar E. Gustavsen, IKLT Director and Special Advisor to JWC’s Commander. “We must remember that Iraq has been isolated from the outside world for many years. Here, we teach an extremely relevant multi-disciplinary training programme with top-notch security specialists from both within and outside NATO providing first-hand knowledge in the operational context and leadership disciplines.”

As directed by Supreme Allied Commander Transformation (SACT), Joint Warfare Centre promotes and conducts NATO’s joint and combined experimentation, analysis and doctrine development to maximise transformational synergy and to improve NATO’s capabilities and interoperability.

Photo: Brigadier General Gunnar E. Gustavsen speaks at
the Iraqi Key Leader Training conclusion ceremony
October 19 at the Joint Warfare Centre in Stavanger, Norway.

The Chief of Defence of France, Admiral Edouard Guillaud, visited Allied Command Transformation (ACT) headquarters today while the death of Colonel Qadhafi was confirmed by Libya’s National Transitional Council (NTC).

Guillaud stressed the death of Colonel Qadhafi has marked a milestone in operation Unified Protector and therefore a milestone for lessons learned for ACT.

The Admiral had been on a visit to ACT to meet with Supreme Allied Commander General Stephane Abrial (SACT) to discuss Smart Defence and the latest developments in Cyber and Missile Defence.

He said Cyber Defence is a domain that goes far beyond the strict protection of military networks.

He also went on to praise the contribution of French service personnel, both military and civilian at ACT HQ and the shared benefit both NATO and France draw from the membership.

ACT interaction with France has been strong and this visit is the latest in a series of meetings with senior French military over the past two years. France was one of 24 nations to sign the formalised collaboration agreement between ACT and the nation’s transformation entities at the recent Chiefs of Transformation Roundtable in December, 2010.

On invitation by the Commonwealth Club, Supreme Allied Commander Transformation, French Air Force General Stephane Abrial gave a speech on “Defence in an Age of Austerity” in San Francisco October 17.

Supreme Allied Commander Transformation, French Air Force General Stephane Abrial was 17 October guest at the “7Live” talk show in San Francisco.

Among other things, host Brian Copeland asked Abrial about NATO’s operations in Afghanistan and Cyber Security… See interview here.