- Chief of Defence
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Three CHODs: U.S. Navy Adm. Mike Mullen, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, left, French Navy Adm. Edouard Guillaud, Chief of Defense Staff, center, and British Gen. Sir David Richards, Chief of Defense Staff, right, leave Lancaster House in London, June 10, 2011.
The Chief of Defence (CHOD) is the highest ranked commissioned officer of a nation's armed forces. The term 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 if 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, 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.
CHOD positions by country
Within NATO member states, the following national positions are the CHOD positions. Sometimes more than one form of translation into English is encountered.
Country Position Alternative translations[1] Term in national language used for the position Albania Chief of the General Staff Shefi i shtabit të përgjithshëm (Albanian) Belgium Chief of Defence Chief of the General Staff[2] Chef Defensie (Dutch), Chef de la Défense (French) Bulgaria Chief of the General Staff[3] Началник на Генералния щаб (Bulgarian) Canada Chief of the Defence Staff Chef d'état-major de la défense (French) Croatia Chief of the General Staff Načelnik Glavnog stožera (Croatian) Czech Republic Chief of the General Staff[4] Náčelník Generálního štábu (Czech) Denmark Chief of Defence Forsvarschefen (Danish) Estonia Chief of Defence[5] Kaitseväe juhataja (Estonian) France Chief of the Defence Staff Chef d'état-major des armées (French) Germany Inspector General of the Bundeswehr Chief of the General Staff, Chief of the Defence Staff[6] Generalinspekteur der Bundeswehr (German) Greece Chief of the National Defence General Staff[7] Αρχηγός του Γενικού Επιτελείου Εθνικής Άμυνας (Greek) Hungary Chief of the Defence Staff[8] Vezérkari főnök Iceland Director of the Defence Department[9][10] Italy Chief of the Defence Staff[11] Capo di Stato Maggiore della Difesa (Italian) Latvia Commander of the National Armed Forces[12] Bruņoto spēku komandieris (Latvian) Lithuania Chief of Defence[13] Kariuomenės vadas (Lithuanian) Luxembourg Chief of Staff[14] Chef d’Etat-Major (French) Netherlands Chief of Defence Staff[15] Commandant der Strijdkrachten (Dutch) Norway Chief of Defence of Norway Chief of the General Staff[16] Forsvarssjefen (Norwegian) Poland Chief of the General Staff[17] Szef Sztabu Generalnego (Polish) Portugal Chief of Defence[18] Chefe do Estado-Maior General das Forças Armadas (Portuguese) Romania Chief of Defence[19] Şef al Statului Major General (Romanian) Slovakia Chief of the General Staff[20] Náčelník generálneho štábu (Slovak) Slovenia Chief of the General Staff[21] Načelnik Generalštaba (Slovene) Spain Chief of the Defence Staff[22] Jefe del Estado Mayor de la Defensa (Spanish) Turkey Chief of the General Staff Commander of the Armed Forces[23] Genelkurmay Başkanıdır (Turkish) United Kingdom Chief of the Defence Staff United States Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Within the EU member states that are not members of NATO, the following national positions are the CHOD positions.
Country Position Alternative translations Term in national language used for the position Austria Chief of Staff Chef des Generalstabes (German) Cyprus Supreme Commander Αρχηγός (Greek) Finland Chief of Defence Puolustusvoimain komentaja (Finnish), Kommendören för Försvarsmakten (Swedish) Ireland Defence Forces Chief of Staff Malta ? Sweden Supreme Commander of the Swedish Armed Forces Överbefälhavare (Swedish) References and footnotes
- ^ This is provided when the term given on NATO's homepage is different than the one used in the Wikipedia entry for the position.
- ^ NATO: Chief of the General Staff of Belgium, accessed on October 30, 2008
- ^ NATO: Chief of General Staff of the Bulgarian Armed Forces, accessed on October 30, 2008
- ^ NATO: Chief of the General Staff Armed Forces of the Czech Republic, accessed on October 30, 2008
- ^ NATO: Chief of Defence of Estonia, accessed on October 30, 2008
- ^ NATO: Chief of the General Staff, Federal Armed Forces of Germany, accessed on October 30, 2008
- ^ NATO: Chief of the Hellenic National Defence General Staff, accessed on October 30, 2008
- ^ NATO: Chief of Defence Staff Hungarian Army, accessed on October 30, 2008
- ^ NATO: Director of the Defence Department and Chief of Defence of Iceland, accessed on October 30, 2008
- ^ 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.
- ^ NATO: Chief of Defense Staff of Italy, accessed on October 30, 2008
- ^ NATO: Commander of the Latvian National Armed Forces, accessed on October 30, 2008
- ^ NATO: Chief of Defence of the Lithuanian Armed Forces, accessed on October 30, 2008
- ^ NATO: Chief of Staff of the Luxembourg Army, accessed on October 30, 2008
- ^ NATO: Chief of the Netherlands Defence Staff, accessed on October 30, 2008
- ^ NATO: Chief of the General Staff of Norway, accessed on October 30, 2008
- ^ NATO: Chief of General Staff of the Polish Armed Forces, accessed on October 30, 2008
- ^ NATO: Chief of Defence of Portugal, accessed on October 30, 2008
- ^ NATO: Chief of Defence of Romania, accessed on October 30, 2008
- ^ NATO: Chief of the General Staff of the Armed Forces of the Slovak Republic, accessed on October 30, 2008
- ^ NATO: Chief of General Staff of the Slovenian Armed Forces, accessed on October 30, 2008
- ^ NATO: Chief of Defence Staff of Spain, accessed on October 30, 2008
- ^ NATO: Commander of the Turkish Armed Forces, accessed on October 30, 2008
External links
Categories:- Military organization
- Military ranks of NATO
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