Deputy JFC Brunssum Commander Attends ABCD Conference

29 September, Lieutenant General Fernando Alejandre, Deputy Commander Allied Command Joint Force Command Brunssum, attended the 9th Annual Baltic Conference on Defense (ABCD) in Tallinn, Estonia. 23 NATO member nations and 7 non-NATO nations were in attendance.

Main speakers were:

   - HE Toomas Ilves: Estonian President
   - HE Hannes Hanso: Estonian Minister of Defense
   - AMB Douglas E. Lute: US Permanent Representative to NATO
   - General Sir Gordon Messenger: Vice Chief of Defense Staff of the British Armed Forces
   - Lieutenant General Michel Yakovleff: Vice Chief of Staff SHAPE

Commenting on the role/responsibilities of JFC Brunssum and the security situation in northern Europe Lieutenant General Alejandre stated:

'Our headquarters at Brunssum in the Netherlands has the lead for what we call the 'northern implementation area'. That means we are responsible to Supreme Allied Commander Europe (SACEUR) for the detailed planning and coordination of NATO military activity from Norway, through the Baltics and Poland, to Hungary. I think an escalation of hostility in the so-called 'war of narratives' is almost certain. Countries to the East will seek to exploit, or engineer, events to suit their narratives; to justify their actions; and, potentially, to distract us from their activity elsewhere'.

He continued: 'at the operational level, we have to be agile, coordinated and innovative enough to make the most of our military activity in communicating a message of deterrence. This necessitates an operational mind-set among communicators, which is not easily established, but is nonetheless demanded in the current security environment'.