French General to Take Post in NATO Command
French General to Take Post in NATO Command
NORFOLK, Va. - France takes over a top NATO post Sept. 9, the first time in the military alliance's 60-year history that one of its supreme commanders is from a country other than the United States.
French Air Force Gen. Stephane Abrial takes over from Gen. James Mattis of the U.S. Marine Corps, who is the current commander of U.S. Joint Forces Command (USJFCOM) and Supreme Allied Commander Transformation for NATO.
"It's the first time in NATO history that one of its supreme commands is entrusted to a non-American," said Abrial, who takes over the post during a ceremony in Norfolk.
His naming, Abrial said, has "enormous symbolic value" as he acknowledged "the importance of France within the alliance," along with the appreciation among it allies of Paris's "military know-how and experience."
Abrial takes up his duties following a change of command ceremony to be held at Headquarters Supreme Allied Command Transformation here.
Mattis, who held the post for a little less than two years, previously served as commanding general of the I Marine Expeditionary Force and Commander, U.S. Marine Forces Central Command. He assumed the NATO supreme command assignment in November 2007.
Abrial's appointment follows the naming of another Frenchman, Gen. Philippe Stolz, to Commander of the Allied Joint Command Lisbon, and affirms Paris's place back in the center of the alliance's command structure.
The historic change in NATO command comes with the alliance at a crossroads. Rather than focusing on Cold War security, as it did at its founding, troops from the 26-nation coalition now focus largely on counter-terrorism and peacekeeping.
In Afghanistan they are fighting a Taliban insurgency, as well as protecting U.N. food ships from pirates operating off the Somalia and training police in Iraq.
Last year, NATO forces helped train and airlift African Union troops into Darfur, while in 2007 they flew relief supplies to earthquake victims in Pakistan.
The growth of the alliance has created one of its greatest challenges and areas of greatest internal division - especially plans to incorporate Ukraine and Georgia against the wishes of Russia.
Abrial, who turned 55 this week, was born in the village of Condom, France.
He graduated from France's Air Force Academy in 1973 and earned his fighter pilot wings in 1976. He also did a year-long stint as an exchange cadet with the U.S. Air Force Academy in Colorado.
Much of his career has been spent overseas including as a flight commander north of Munich, Germany, and as a detachment commander in Greece during the 1980s.
He spent time at NATO headquarters in Brussels during the 1990s among his other appointments before ascending to become the chief of staff of the French Air Force in July 2006.
He will be based in the southern U.S. city of Norfolk, home to the world's largest naval station, the Norfolk Naval Base directly northwest of the city, home port to 78 ships and 133 aircraft.
His ascension to the post is a historic milestone, especially given the country's contentious relations with the alliance over the years.
In March 1966, President Charles de Gaulle in a handwritten note to then-U.S. President Lyndon Johnson announced that France would no longer participate in NATO's integrated command and that NATO military headquarters and U.S. personnel could no longer be based on French territory.
De Gaulle pulled out of NATO out of a sense of displeasure over the perceived reliance by major European powers on American military power in the post-World War II era.
Some 43 years later, French President Nicolas Sarkozy moved to reintegrate France into the North Atlantic alliance, but he also sought a role for his country and for Europe as a whole in the NATO command structure.
French General to Take Post in NATO Command - Defense News