BRUSSELS: US Army General Christopher Cavoli is Nato's new supreme allied commander in Europe (SACEUR), after assuming command from US General Tod Wolters on Monday in a ceremony in Mons, Belgium.
Cavoli enters the top alliance role amid "the return of brutal conflict to Europe'', Nato Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg said in his ceremony speech.
The handover comes after the alliance agreed last week on a major reinforcement of Eastern European members during a Nato leaders' summit in Madrid, against the backdrop of the Russian war on Ukraine.
Stoltenberg also highlighted Cavoli's role in overseeing the United State's recent increased troop deployments to Europe — numbering more than 100,000 soldiers — in reaction to that invasion.
Cavoli is to be primarily responsible for planning and executing military measures to defend the alliance and deter Russia.
For example, a new Nato force model is to be implemented in the coming months. This envisages, among other things, placing more than 300,000 soldiers on high readiness for crises.
Born in Würzburg, Germany, in 1964, to an Italian-American family, Cavoli joined the US Army in 1987, going on to serve in Bosnia-Herzegovina, Iraq, Afghanistan and Washington DC.
In this time, Cavoli received a masters degree in Eastern European studies from Yale. He is also commander of US forces in Europe and speaks French, Italian and Russian.
Wolters, formerly the US's top air force commander in Europe, served just more than three years as SACEUR and was "the right leader, at the right post, at the right time'', Stoltenberg said.
Nato's first SACEUR was Dwight Eisenhower, appointed in 1950, before he became US president. — dpa
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