On 22nd June SC 118 had an excellent day of high level briefings and discussion at the Swedish National Defence Academy of Stockholm.
Dr Romulo Enmark, Vice-Chancellor of the Swedish National Defence College opened the session with an historical overview of the Swedish National Defence College and how it was evolving to most effectively support the Swedish Armed Forces.
Lieutenant General Jan Salestrand, Director of the Joint Staff, Swedish Armed Forces provided a clear explanation of Swedish defence and security policy and of current security issues, highlighting the current significant operational commitments that the Swedish military are engaged in. He left much time for questions and the Course Members took full advantage of the opportunity to explore the issues that had been raised by the General. His briefing was followed by a detailed analysis by Mr Ola Hedin, Deputy Head of the Department for Strategy and Security Policy, at the Ministry of Defence of how Sweden was reforming its Armed Forces and how and why Sweden was positioning itself in the current evolving defence and security environment in which it was operating. The morning session was closed by Mr Johan Frisell, Deputy Head of the Security Policy Department of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, who briefed the Course on Swedish foreign policy and the rational that underpinned it. All the speakers were frank and open in their answers to the Course Members questions that were very effective in opening up the issues that had been raised.
The afternoon session was set up very well by a thought provoking presentation by Dr Tomas Ries, a senior lecturer at the Swedish National Defense College, that analysed the current geopolitical environment and how it could potentially evolve. This set the scene for a wide ranging discussion with a high level panel, comprising, Dr Tomas Ries, Dr Robert Dalsjo, Dr Karl Sorenson and Colonel Patrik Ahlgren, that helped the Course to understand Sweden’s approach to its current defence and security challenges and the reasons for the direction that it is taking.
The visit to Sweden concluded with a dinner hosted by the Vice-Chancellor of the Swedish National Defence College.
More about the Field Study:
First – Italian Day
Second part – Poland
Third Stop – Moscow
Fourth leg of the trip – Latvia
NATO Defense College