Chief_of_Defence

Chief of defence

Chief of defence

Add article description

A chief of defence (or head of defence) is the highest ranked commissioned officer of a nation's armed forces. The acronym CHOD is in common use within NATO and the European Union as a generic term for the highest national military position within the NATO and EU member states, rather than the actual term used for individual positions. Thus, irrespective of the formal national designation of that position is some variation on Commander-in-Chief, Chief of Staff, Supreme Commander, or something else, they can all be referred to unambiguously as CHODs in NATO and EU terminology, although other terms are sometimes also seen within NATO. Thus, the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff is the CHOD of the United States, the Chief of the Defence Staff is the CHOD of the United Kingdom, the Inspector General of the Bundeswehr is the CHOD of Germany, and the Chief of Defence (Forsvarssjefen) is the CHOD of Norway.

The CHODs of from 29 countries gathered at the Pentagon on March 11, 2002. The Chiefs of Defence in the picture include US Air Force Gen. Richard B. Myers, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff; French Army Gen. Jean-Pierre Kelche, Chief of the Defence Staff; Dutch Navy Adm. Luuk Kroon, Chief of Defence; German Air Force Gen. Harald Kujat, Inspector General of the Bundeswehr; British Navy Adm. Sir Michael Boyce, Chief of the Defence Staff

Both NATO and the EU occasionally hold CHODs meetings of the NATO Military Committee and the European Union Military Committee respectively.

Chief of defence positions by NATO country

Three CHODs leaving Lancaster House in London, 10 June 2011. L-R: US Navy Adm. Michael Mullen, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff; French Navy Adm. Édouard Guillaud, Chief of Defence Staff; British Gen. Sir David Richards, Chief of Defence Staff.

Within member states of NATO, the following national positions are the CHOD positions. Sometimes more than one form of translation into English is encountered.

More information Country, Position ...

In 2018 Slovenia appointed the first female Major General Alenka Ermenc to hold such a position in the history of NATO and Slovenia.[23][24][25]

CHOD positions by non-NATO EU country

Within the EU member states that are not members of NATO, the following national positions are the CHOD positions.

More information Country, Position ...

Other Chief of Defence positions by (non-NATO and non-EU) country

Note that in many countries outside of NATO and EU, the concept of civilian control of the military is inapplicable. In some countries the minister of defence is often a senior military officer. However, the list below only lists CHOD equivalents and not defense ministers.

More information Country, Position ...

Notes

  1. This is provided when the term given on NATO's homepage is different from the one used in the Wikipedia entry for the position.

References

  1. [1]
    NATO: Chief of the General Staff of Belgium, accessed on October 30, 2008
  2. [2]
    NATO: Chief of General Staff of the Bulgarian Armed Forces, accessed on October 30, 2008
  3. [3]
    NATO: Chief of the General Staff Armed Forces of the Czech Republic, accessed on October 30, 2008
  4. [4]
    Estonian Defence Forces: Commander, accessed on November 12, 2014
  5. [5]
    "NATO: Chief of Defence – Germany". NATO. 15 May 2018. Retrieved 29 November 2018.
  6. [6]
    "The Chief of Defence". bmvg.de. The German Government. Retrieved 14 September 2017.
  7. [7]
    NATO: Chief of the Hellenic National Defence General Staff, accessed on October 30, 2008
  8. [8]
    NATO: Chief of Defence Staff Hungarian Army, accessed on October 30, 2008
  9. [9]
    NATO: Director General of the Directorate for Degfence, accessed on December 15, 2022
  10. [10]
    Iceland presents a special case since the country does not have its own armed forces as such. Thus, a civilian at the Icelandic Ministry of Foreign Affairs fulfills the role of CHOD in relation to NATO.
  11. [11]
    NATO: Chief of Defense Staff of Italy, accessed on October 30, 2008
  12. [12]
    NATO: Commander of the Latvian National Armed Forces, accessed on October 30, 2008
  13. [13]
    NATO: Chief of Defence of the Lithuanian Armed Forces, accessed on October 30, 2008
  14. [14]
    NATO: Chief of Staff of the Luxembourg Army, accessed on October 30, 2008
  15. [15]
    "Chief of Defence | Ministry of Defence". Archived from the original on 2013-04-01. Retrieved 2012-11-21., accessed on November 20, 2012
  16. [16]
    NATO: Chief of General Staff of the Polish Armed Forces, accessed on October 30, 2008
  17. [17]
    NATO: Chief of Defence of Portugal, accessed on October 30, 2008
  18. [18]
    NATO: Chief of Defence of Romania, accessed on October 30, 2008
  19. [19]
    NATO: Chief of the General Staff of the Armed Forces of the Slovak Republic, accessed on October 30, 2008
  20. [20]
    NATO: Chief of General Staff of the Slovenian Armed Forces, accessed on October 30, 2008
  21. [21]
    NATO: Chief of Defence Staff of Spain, accessed on October 30, 2008
  22. [22]
    NATO: Commander of the Turkish Armed Forces, accessed on October 30, 2008
  23. [23]
    "Nato state appoints first female head of armed forces". BBC News. 27 November 2018. Retrieved 28 November 2018.
  24. [24]
    "Slovenia Appoints First Female Army Chief". VOA news. Reuters. 27 November 2018. Retrieved 28 November 2018.
  25. [25]
    "Slovenia Appoints First Female Head of Armed Forces". Sentinelassam.com. 29 November 2018. Retrieved 2018-11-29.
  26. [26]
    "Website unavailable". www.afm.gov.mt. Retrieved February 16, 2014.
Share this article:

This article uses material from the Wikipedia article Chief_of_Defence, and is written by contributors. Text is available under a CC BY-SA 4.0 International License; additional terms may apply. Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.