On the 14^th of December 2011, General Stephane Abrial, Supreme Allied Commander Transformation (SACT) visited Allied Command Operation (ACO) in Mons, Belgium.

In the first of a series of meetings, Abrial met with Admiral James Stavridis, Supreme Allied Commander in Europe, where they discussed the NATO initiative ‘Smart Defence’ and training cooperation between both commands.

He then visited the Military Cooperation Division (MCD) where he was welcomed by Assistant Deputy Chief of Staff, Romanian Rear Admiral Ion Dumitraşcu, who described the successes and challenges facing his division. The MCD is responsible for relationships with partners across both commands.

NATO partnerships provide valuable operational support to the Alliance and a framework to engage countries of the region, promoting understanding of NATO actions. Indeed the importance of partnerships was highlighted most recently in Operation Unified Protector.

SACT also visited Staff Element Europe, an extension of ACT that is performing Transformation functions in support of ACO operational missions.

In the final stage of his visit, he had a presentation of ‘Exercise Cyber Coalition’ where he emphasized the importance of effective training in what is a sensitive domain and priority for NATO, requiring skilled experts and strong coordination.

The exercise, involving 23 NATO nations and 7 non-NATO nations, aims to provide its participants with a better understanding of NATO’s Cyber Defence capabilities and identify areas of improvement. It also demonstrates how NATO is continuously developing and enhancing the protection of its communication and information systems against hacking and other forms of cyber-attack.