On 25 May, the JALLC’s Commander, Brigadier General Bogdan Cernat, provided a lecture on NATO, the JALLC, and Lessons Learned in the Alliance to the Portuguese General Officer Promotion Course at the Portuguese Military University Institute (IUM) in Lisbon.

COVID-19 travel restrictions meant that course participants could not visit NATO institutions outside of Portugal during the course. The JALLC commander’s lecture provided participants with an opportunity to learn more about NATO and the JALLC.

Brigadier General Cernat, NATO’s representative in Portugal, first presented the course participants with an overview of the JALLC and its activities, explaining its mission, key activities, and how it contributes to Alliance transformation as NATO’s lead agent for Lessons Learned. He also presented the JALLC’s vision and plans for the future of the NATO Lessons Learned Capability, referencing key Lessons Learned documents, ranging from NATO policy to interoperability standards, and touched upon NATO’s Lessons Learned management structure.

The JALLC’s commander went on to highlight the position the JALLC holds within NATO and the special relationship it has with the two strategic commands. The JALLC is part of Allied Command Transformation (ACT, one of the two strategic commands) and subordinate to HQ Supreme Allied Command Transformation. But the JALLC also works closely with and for Allied Command Operations (ACO, the other strategic command) and ACO’s HQ: SHAPE. The JALLC contributes both to ACT’s warfare development activities and ACO’s warfighting activities as NATO’s Lead Agent for Lessons Learned and through its analysis and outreach activities.

Brigadier General Cernat also spoke about the role of leadership in Lessons Learned and that it is critical to the future of the Alliance for future leaders to lay the foundations for, and preserve the pillars of, a robust learning organization as well as to assess the implementation of the lessons learned capability of the units they will lead.

The course, close to its conclusion, is attended by more than 30 participants from the Portuguese army, navy, air force, and the National Republican Guard (Guarda Nacional Republicana).  IUM Commander, Lieutenant General José Barros Ferreira thanked Brigadier General for his lecture, underscoring the good relationship with NATO and the importance of NATO’s cooperation and contribution to the course for the participants and their future careers.