Chief of defence

The 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 United Kingdom, the Inspector General of the Bundeswehr is the CHOD of Germany and the Chief of Defence (Forsvarssjefen) is the CHOD of Norway.

Both NATO and 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: U.S. 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.

CountryPositionAlternative translations[lower-alpha 1]Term in national language used for the position
 AlbaniaAlbanian: Shefi i shtabit të përgjithshëm
 BelgiumChief of the General Staff[1]Dutch: Chef Defensie
French: Chef de la Défense
 BulgariaBulgarian: Началник на отбраната
 CanadaFrench: Chef d'État-Major de la défense
 CroatiaCroatian: Načelnik Glavnog stožera
 Czech RepublicCzech: Náčelník Generálního štábu
 DenmarkDanish: Forsvarschefen
 EstoniaEstonian: Kaitseväe juhataja
 FinlandFinnish: Puolustusvoimain komentaja
Swedish: Kommendören för Försvarsmakten
 FranceFrench: Chef d'État-Major des armées
 GermanyChief of Defence[5][6]German: Generalinspekteur der Bundeswehr
 GreeceGreek: Αρχηγός του Γενικού Επιτελείου Εθνικής Άμυνας
 HungaryHungarian: Vezérkari főnök
 Iceland
Director of the Security and Defence Department[9][10]
Icelandic: Deildarstjóri öryggis- og varnarmálaskrifstofu
 ItalyItalian: Capo di Stato Maggiore della Difesa
 LatviaLatvian: Bruņoto spēku komandieris
 LithuaniaLithuanian: Kariuomenės vadas
 LuxembourgChief of DefenceFrench: Chef d'état-major
German: Chef des Generalstabs
 MontenegroMontenegrin: Начелник Генералштаба / Načelnik Generalštaba
 NetherlandsDutch: Commandant der Strijdkrachten
 North MacedoniaMacedonian: Началник на Генералштабот
 NorwayNorwegian: Forsvarssjefen
 PolandPolish: Szef Sztabu Generalnego
 PortugalPortuguese: Chefe do Estado-Maior-General das Forças Armadas
 RomaniaChief of the General StaffRomanian: Șeful Statului Major General
 SlovakiaSlovak: Náčelník generálneho štábu
 SloveniaSlovene: Načelnik Generalštaba
 SpainSpanish: Jefe del Estado Mayor de la Defensa
 TurkeyCommander of the Armed Forces[22]Turkish: Genelkurmay Başkanı
 United Kingdom
 United States

In 2018 Slovenia appointed the first woman 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.

CountryPositionAlternative translationsTerm in national language used for the position
 AustriaGerman: Chef des Generalstabes
 CyprusGreek: Αρχηγοί Εθνικής Φρουράς
 IrelandIrish: Ceann Foirne na bhFórsaí Cosanta
 MaltaMaltese: Kmandant tal-Forzi Armati ta’ Malta
 SwedenSwedish: Överbefälhavaren

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.

CountryPositionAlternative translationsTerm in national language used for the position
 AlgeriaChief of the Defence StaffArabic: رئيس أركان الجيش الوطني الشعبي
 ArgentinaSpanish: Jefe del Estado Mayor Conjunto
 ArmeniaArmenian: Գլխավոր շտաբի պետ
 Australia
 AzerbaijanAzerbaijani: Silahlı Qüvvələri Baş Qərargah rəisi
 BelarusBelarusian: Начальнік Генеральнага штаба Узброеных Сіл
Russian: Начальник Генерального штаба Вооружённых Сил
 Botswana
 BrazilPortuguese: Chefe do Estado Maior Conjunto das Forças Armadas
 ChileSpanish: Jefe del Estado Mayor Conjunto de la Defensa
 ChinaChief of General Staff
Commanding General of the People's Liberation Army General Staff Department
Chinese: 中央军事委员会联合参谋部参谋长
 ColombiaSpanish: Comandante General de las Fuerzas Militares
 Ecuador
Chief of the Joint Command of the Armed Forces
Spanish: Jefe del Comando Conjunto de las Fuerzas Armadas
 EthiopiaAmharic: ጦር ኃይሎች ጠቅላይ ሹም
 Gambia
 GeorgiaGeorgian: თავდაცვის ძალების გენერალური შტაბის უფროსი
 Ghana
 GuatemalaSpanish: Jefe del Estado Mayor
 IndiaHindi: रक्षा प्रमुख
 IndonesiaIndonesian: Panglima Tentara Nasional Indonesia
 IranPersian: ستاد کل نیروهای مسلح
 Iraq Arabic: رئاسة اركان الجيش
 IsraelHebrew: ראש המטה הכללי
 Jamaica
 JapanJapanese: 統合幕僚長
 KazakhstanKazakh: Бас штабының бастығы / Bas ştabynyñ bastyğy
Russian: Начальник Генерального штаба
 MalaysiaMalay: Panglima Angkatan Tentera
 MoldovaRomanian: Șef al Marelui Stat Major
 MyanmarBurmese: တပ်မတော်ကာကွယ်ရေးဦးစီးချုပ်
 New Zealand
 Nigeria
   NepalNepali: प्रधानसेनापति
 North KoreaKorean: 조선인민군 총참모장
 PakistanUrdu: صدرنشین مجلسِ مشترکہَ رؤسائے افواجِ پاکستان
 PeruSpanish: Jefe del Comando Conjunto de las Fuerzas Armadas
 PhilippinesTagalog: Hepe ng Sandatahang Lakas
 RussiaRussian: Начальник Генерального штаба
 SerbiaSerbian: Начелник Генералштаба
 SingaporeChinese: 三军总长
 SomaliaSomali: Taliyaha Xooga Qalabka
 South Africa
 South KoreaKorean: 합동참모의장
 Sri Lanka
  SwitzerlandFrench: Chef de l'Armée
German: Chef der Armee
Italian: Capo dell'Esercito
Romansh: Schef da l'Armada
 SyriaArabic: رئيس هيئة الأركان العامة للجيش والقوات المسلحة
 TaiwanChinese: 參謀總長
 TajikistanTajik: Сардори Ситоди генералии
Russian: Начальник Генерального штаба
 ThailandCommander of the Royal Thai Armed Forces HeadquartersThai: ผู้บัญชาการทหารสูงสุด
 UkraineUkrainian: Головнокомандувач Збройних сил України
 Uruguay
Chief of the Defence Staff
Spanish: Jefe del Estado Mayor de la Defensa
 VietnamChief of the General Staff of the People's Army of VietnamVietnamese: Tổng Tham mưu trưởng Quân đội Nhân dân

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. NATO: Chief of the General Staff of Belgium, accessed on October 30, 2008
  2. NATO: Chief of General Staff of the Bulgarian Armed Forces, accessed on October 30, 2008
  3. NATO: Chief of the General Staff Armed Forces of the Czech Republic, accessed on October 30, 2008
  4. Estonian Defence Forces: Commander, accessed on November 12, 2014
  5. "NATO: Chief of Defence – Germany". NATO. 15 May 2018. Retrieved 29 November 2018.
  6. "The Chief of Defence". bmvg.de. The German Government. Retrieved 14 September 2017.
  7. NATO: Chief of the Hellenic National Defence General Staff, accessed on October 30, 2008
  8. NATO: Chief of Defence Staff Hungarian Army, accessed on October 30, 2008
  9. NATO: Director General of the Directorate for Degfence, accessed on December 15, 2022
  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. NATO: Chief of Defense Staff of Italy, accessed on October 30, 2008
  12. NATO: Commander of the Latvian National Armed Forces, accessed on October 30, 2008
  13. NATO: Chief of Defence of the Lithuanian Armed Forces, accessed on October 30, 2008
  14. NATO: Chief of Staff of the Luxembourg Army, accessed on October 30, 2008
  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. NATO: Chief of General Staff of the Polish Armed Forces, accessed on October 30, 2008
  17. NATO: Chief of Defence of Portugal, accessed on October 30, 2008
  18. NATO: Chief of Defence of Romania, accessed on October 30, 2008
  19. NATO: Chief of the General Staff of the Armed Forces of the Slovak Republic, accessed on October 30, 2008
  20. NATO: Chief of General Staff of the Slovenian Armed Forces, accessed on October 30, 2008
  21. NATO: Chief of Defence Staff of Spain, accessed on October 30, 2008
  22. NATO: Commander of the Turkish Armed Forces, accessed on October 30, 2008
  23. "Nato state appoints first female head of armed forces". BBC News. 27 November 2018. Retrieved 28 November 2018.
  24. "Slovenia Appoints First Female Army Chief". VOA news. Reuters. 27 November 2018. Retrieved 28 November 2018.
  25. "Slovenia Appoints First Female Head of Armed Forces". Sentinelassam.com. 29 November 2018. Retrieved 2018-11-29.
  26. "Website unavailable". www.afm.gov.mt. Retrieved February 16, 2014.
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