How does the work you do now compare to your first job at NATO?
So much has changed since I joined NATO, especially in the working environment, where a lot can now be done remotely and virtually. More dramatically, the security landscape in Europe is almost unimaginably different than it was a few years ago, and I think we are only just beginning to see how this will impact the Agency and the Alliance in the years ahead.
However, the fundamentals of our role in the operational analysis area are largely unchanged, even if some of the tools and techniques available to us are more advanced. While I now have better access to powerful analytical tools than I did when I began in 2009, the problems our stakeholders face are perennial. They find themselves in complex and time sensitive situations with incomplete data and our job is to support their understanding of the situation, help them prioritise and focus on key issues, and ultimately facilitate their decision-making.
What has been your biggest contribution to the NATO mission?
I have been involved in various projects that I'm proud of during my time at the Agency. I was deployed to Kabul in 2011 and 2013 with the Theatre Assessments Branch, in support of the NATO Mission in Afghanistan. I was also deployed in 2012 to support the fielding and maintenance of Functional Area Services across Afghanistan, such as the Joint Operations Centre Watch (JOCWatch) and the Joint Tactical Chat (JChat). This led to supporting deployment training events in Poland and the United States for a number of troop contributing nations, familiarizing them with NATO functional services and procedures.
These experiences broadened my appreciation of the in-theatre challenges faced by NATO and partner forces. They also helped in my main role as Task Lead and Project Manager for the SHAPE Strategic Assessment Capability project. To date, the Strategic Assessment Capability is one of the projects that I'm most proud of. It was commended by Chief of Staff SHAPE in 2021 as having changed the culture in their headquarters by exposing senior leadership to expert independent evidence-based challenge. Changing a small part of the working culture of such a large organization is a contribution I am proud to have been responsible for.
What advice would you give to someone working on such sensitive topics that affect the view of the Alliance and the future operational capacity of NATO?
As many of my colleagues would tell you, I am never shy on offering advice! I am a great believer that the more sensitive the work, the more important it is to keep focus on the end goal, and robustly challenge any underlying assumptions that have been made.
In my experience, there is very often an aura around new concepts or sensitive topics which inhibits anyone asking the difficult questions. But it is very important to do so, because it can help us understand whether the proposed approach is actually going to deliver the intended result, or whether there is too much focus on planning instead of implementation, or too much on activity and not enough on outcomes.
What do you enjoy most about working at the Agency?
The Hague is a great place to live and work, which is a good start. More importantly though, I have been immensely lucky to have worked with some of the smartest, most committed colleagues across the Agency and the wider Alliance on several fascinating topics. Sometimes these topics put us in interesting situations, and other times they are incredibly challenging. I have also unfailingly enjoyed the compassionate support of management at all levels throughout the last decade. Overall, every part of it has been a joy and a privilege!