General Sir Richard Shirreff, visited the Joint Analysis and Lessons Learned Centre in Lisbon, Portugal on Monday, 24 October.

After an initial office call, General Shirreff was provided a short tailored briefing on JALLC’s activities, internal structure and processes. This was followed by focussed briefings on projects and activities of particular interest to SHAPE. The Programme of Work was discussed which allowed us to emphasize the need for well defined analysis requirements as well as the need for engaged and dedicated “customers” at the right level.The development of Analysis Requirements in support of SHAPE, related to the new Command Structure, was also discussed. Finally, General Sonneby took the opportunity to mention some of the challenges the JALLC is facing related to the cooperation with the European Union and also mentioned that there might be areas where General Shirreff, in his double-hatted function as DSACEUR as well as the EU Operational Commander, would find JALLC support beneficial.

It was a very productive visit that allowed us to highlight how we support SHAPE/ACO as well as what challenges we see for the future and where we can benefit from DSACEUR support. Before leaving, General Shirreff expressed very strong support to the JALLC.