Supreme Allied Commander Europe

The Supreme Allied Commander Europe (SACEUR) is the commander of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization's (NATO) Allied Command Operations (ACO) and head of ACO's headquarters, Supreme Headquarters Allied Powers Europe (SHAPE). The commander is based at SHAPE in Casteau, Belgium. SACEUR is the second-highest military position within NATO, below only the Chairman of the NATO Military Committee in terms of precedence.

Supreme Allied Commander Europe
Standard
Incumbent General Tod D. Wolters since May 3, 2019
North Atlantic Treaty Organization Supreme Headquarters Allied Powers Europe
Abbreviation	SACEUR
Reports to	North Atlantic Council, through NATO Military Committee
Seat	Casteau, Mons, Belgium
Nominator	President of the United States, with Senate advice and consent
Appointer	North Atlantic Council
Formation	2 April 1951
First holder	General of the Army Dwight D. Eisenhower
Website	shape.nato.int

SACEUR has always been held by a U.S. military officer, and the position is dual-hatted with that of Commander of United States European Command.

The current SACEUR is General Tod D. Wolters of the United States Air Force.

Role

The NATO Military Command Structure consists of two strategic commands and is directed by the International Military Staff:[1]

The commands under SACEUR - Allied Joint Force Command Brunssum, Allied Joint Force Command Naples and Joint Force Command Norfolk are Operational Level Commands, while Headquarters Allied Air Command, Headquarters Allied Maritime Command and Headquarters Allied Land Command are Tactical Level Commands.[2] SACEUR also has operational command of the Joint Support and Enabling Command.[3]

Liaison:       Provides advice and support to the NAC

Political strategic level:

NA Council

NATO SG Brussels, BE

IS Brussels, BE

Military strategic level:

CMC (NATO MC)  DGIMS (IMS) Brussels, BE

SACEUR (ACO, SHAPE) Mons, BE

SACT (ACT, HQ SACT) Norfolk, US

Operational level:

JFCBS Brunssum, NL

JWC Stavanger, NO

AIRCOM Ramstein, DE

JALLC Lisbon, PT

MARCOM Northwood, GB

JFTC Bydgoszcz, PL

LANDCOM İzmir, TR

CIS GP Mons, BE

JFCNP Naples, IT

JFC-NF Norfolk, Virginia, US

List of holders

2013 SACEUR change of command at SHAPE

Since 2003 the Supreme Allied Commander Europe (SACEUR) has also served as the head of Allied Command Europe and the head of Allied Command Operations. The officeholders have been:[4]

No.	Portrait	Supreme Allied Commander	Took office	Left office	Time in office	Defence branch
1		General of the Army Dwight D. Eisenhower (1890–1969)	April 2, 1951	May 30, 1952	1 year, 58 days	United States Army
2		General Matthew Ridgway (1895–1993)	May 30, 1952	July 11, 1953	1 year, 42 days	United States Army
3		General Alfred Gruenther (1899–1983)	July 11, 1953	November 20, 1956	3 years, 132 days	United States Army
4		General Lauris Norstad (1907–1988)	November 20, 1956	January 1, 1963	6 years, 42 days	United States Air Force
5		General Lyman Lemnitzer (1899–1988)	January 1, 1963	July 1, 1969	6 years, 181 days	United States Army
6		General Andrew Goodpaster (1915–2005)	July 1, 1969	December 15, 1974	5 years, 167 days	United States Army
7		General Alexander M. Haig, Jr. (1924–2010)	December 15, 1974	July 1, 1979	4 years, 198 days	United States Army
8		General Bernard W. Rogers (1921–2008)	July 1, 1979	June 26, 1987	7 years, 360 days	United States Army
9		General John Galvin (1929–2015)	June 26, 1987	June 23, 1992	4 years, 363 days	United States Army
10		General John Shalikashvili (1936–2011)	June 23, 1992	October 22, 1993	1 year, 121 days	United States Army
11		General George Joulwan (born 1939)	October 22, 1993	July 11, 1997	3 years, 262 days	United States Army
12		General Wesley Clark (born 1944)	July 11, 1997	May 3, 2000	2 years, 297 days	United States Army
13		General Joseph Ralston (born 1943)	May 3, 2000	January 17, 2003	2 years, 259 days	United States Air Force
14		General James L. Jones (born 1943)	January 17, 2003	December 7, 2006	3 years, 324 days	United States Marine Corps
15		General Bantz J. Craddock (born 1949)	December 7, 2006	July 2, 2009	2 years, 207 days	United States Army
16		Admiral James G. Stavridis (born 1955)	July 2, 2009	May 13, 2013	3 years, 315 days	United States Navy
17		General Philip M. Breedlove (born 1955)	May 13, 2013	May 4, 2016	2 years, 357 days	United States Air Force
18		General Curtis Scaparrotti (born 1956)	May 4, 2016	May 3, 2019	2 years, 364 days	United States Army
19		General Tod D. Wolters (born 1960)	May 3, 2019	Incumbent	1 year, 282 days	United States Air Force

Deputy

The position of Deputy Supreme Allied Command Europe (DSACEUR) – since 2003 known as deputy head of Allied Command Operations – has been held by the following officers. From January 1978 until June 1993 there were two DSACEURs, one British and one German, but from July 1993 this reverted to a single DSACEUR.

	Name	Photo	Branch	Term began	Term ended
1.	Field Marshal the Viscount Montgomery		British Army	April 2, 1951	September 23, 1958
2.	General Sir Richard Gale		British Army	September 23, 1958	September 22, 1960
3.	General Sir Hugh Stockwell		British Army	September 22, 1960	January 1, 1964
4.	Marshal of the RAF Sir Thomas Pike		Royal Air Force	January 1, 1964	March 1, 1967
5.	General Sir Robert Bray		British Army	March 1, 1967	December 1, 1970
6.	General Sir Desmond Fitzpatrick		British Army	December 1, 1970	November 12, 1973
7.	General Sir John Mogg		British Army	November 12, 1973	March 12, 1976
8.	General Sir Harry Tuzo		British Army	March 12, 1976	November 2, 1978
9.	General Gerd Schmückle		German Army	January 3, 1978	April 1, 1980
10.	General Sir Jack Harman		British Army	November 2, 1978	April 9, 1981
11.	Admiral Günter Luther		German Navy	April 1, 1980	April 1, 1982
12.	Air Chief Marshal Sir Peter Terry		Royal Air Force	April 9, 1981	July 16, 1984
13.	General Günter Kießling		German Army	April 1, 1982	April 2, 1984
14.	General Hans-Joachim Mack		German Army	April 2, 1984	October 1, 1987
15.	General Sir Edward Burgess		British Army	July 16, 1984	June 26, 1987
16.	General Sir John Akehurst		British Army	June 26, 1987	January 17, 1990
17.	General Eberhard Eimler		German Air Force	October 1, 1987	October 2, 1990
18.	General Sir Brian Kenny		British Army	January 17, 1990	April 5, 1993
19.	General Dieter Clauss		German Army	October 2, 1990	July 1, 1993
20.	General Sir John Waters		British Army	April 5, 1993	December 12, 1994
21.	General Sir Jeremy Mackenzie		British Army	December 12, 1994	November 30, 1998
22.	General Sir Rupert Smith		British Army	November 30, 1998	September 17, 2001
23.	General Dieter Stöckmann		German Army	September 17, 2001	September 18, 2002
24.	Admiral Rainer Feist		German Navy	September 18, 2002	October 1, 2004
25.	General Sir John Reith		British Army	October 1, 2004	October 22, 2007
26.	General Sir John McColl		British Army	October 22, 2007	March 2011
27.	General Sir Richard Shirreff		British Army	March 2011	March 2014
28.	General Sir Adrian Bradshaw		British Army	March 2014	March 2017
29.	General Sir James Everard		British Army	March 2017	April 2020
30.	General Tim Radford		British Army	April 2020	Incumbent

See also

• Supreme Allied Commander Transformation
• Supreme Commander for the Allied Powers
• Supreme Allied Commander
• Secretary General of NATO
• Chairman of the NATO Military Committee

References

1. "Command Structure" (PDF). NATO. Retrieved 19 October 2019. and "Military Command Structure". shape.nato.int. Supreme Head Allied Powers Europe. 12 February 2020. Retrieved 12 February 2020.
2. "MILITARY COMMAND STRUCTURE". shape.nato.int. NATO. 7 October 2020. Retrieved 7 October 2020.
3. Boeke, Sergei (13 January 2020). "Creating a secure and functional rear area : NATO's new JSEC Headquarters". nato.int. NATO. Retrieved 9 October 2020. JSEC is part of the NATO Force Structure and under the operational command of the Supreme Allied Commander Europe (SACEUR).
4. List of Former SACEURs

External links

Official website