Change at NATO military leadership. The 32 Chiefs of Defense Staff of Allied Countries have elected German General Carsten Breuer as the next president of the NATO Military Committee, the Alliance's highest military authority.

Breuer will take office in the summer of 2027 and will succeed Italian Admiral Giuseppe Cavo Dragone, the current Chair of the NATO Military Committee.

The election took place during the Military Committee Conference held in Copenhagen on September 18 and 19, attended by the military leaders of the 32 member countries, along with the Supreme Allied Commander Europe, General Alexus G. Grynkewich, and the Supreme Allied Commander Transformation, Admiral Pierre Vandier.

Breuer will assume office in summer 2027

NATO has confirmed that Breuer will formally take the lead of the Military Committee in the summer of 2027 for a mandate of three years.

Until then, Admiral Cavo Dragone will remain in office, leading the Military Committee and serving as the principal point of contact between the Alliance's military leadership and NATO's political leadership.

The president of the Military Committee plays a central role in the Alliance's architecture: he presides over meetings of military representatives and Chiefs of Defense Staff and contributes to formulating military advice for the North Atlantic Council and other NATO political bodies.

The Military Committee is formally defined by NATO as its highest military authority.

Who is Carsten Breuer

Breuer is currently Chief of Defence of Germany, the highest military position in the Bundeswehr.

A career officer since 1984, he has gained experience in national and NATO positions and has also served in Alliance operations in Kabul.

During the pandemic, he was also chosen by then Chancellor Olaf Scholz to coordinate Germany's military response to the health crisis.

His election comes as Berlin is significantly increasing its military and industrial weight within NATO, with new rearmament programs, increased defense spending, and strengthening of land, air, and missile capabilities.

The handover with Cavo Dragone

Italy is thus approaching the conclusion of an important phase at the Alliance's military leadership.

Admiral Giuseppe Cavo Dragone will continue to hold the position until the summer of 2027, when the handover with Breuer will take place.

During the Copenhagen conference, Cavo Dragone emphasized that NATO is moving from the phase of financial commitments to that of concrete availability of military capabilities, with particular attention to deterrence and collective defense, technological innovation, and support for Ukraine.

The conference also addressed the implementation of decisions taken at the NATO summit in Ankara and the strengthening of the Allies' capacity to operate in a multi-domain environment.

A NATO increasingly focused on capabilities

The election of the new chairman of the Military Committee comes at a phase of profound transformation of the Alliance.

In Copenhagen, military leaders discussed deterrence and collective defense, operational readiness, innovation, new technologies and acceleration in the acquisition of military capabilities.

One of the messages addressed to the defense industry was particularly clear: the Allies intend to purchase systems in larger quantities and ask the industrial sector for production capabilities with greater speed, scale and predictability.

The issue directly concerns NATO's ability to simultaneously sustain its own deterrence on allied territory and military support to Ukraine.

The strategic role of the Military Committee

The Military Committee represents the apex of NATO's military structure and is composed of the Chiefs of Defence Staff of the member countries.

It normally meets at the level of Chiefs of Defence Staff twice a year at NATO headquarters in Brussels and a third time on the occasion of the annual conference hosted by one of the allied countries.

Daily activity is instead conducted by permanent military representatives at the Alliance headquarters.

The chairman does not directly exercise operational command of NATO forces—a responsibility that belongs to the Alliance's command structure and in particular to strategic commanders—but performs the role of principal collective military reference point to political leadership.

Breuer's arrival in the summer of 2027 will therefore mark the transfer of the presidency of the Alliance's highest collective military body from Italy to Germany.