Giampaolo Di Paola

Giampaolo Di Paola (born August 15, 1944 in Torre Annunziata near Naples ) is a retired Italian admiral . From November 2011 to April 2013 he was Minister of Defense in the professional Monti government . Prior to that, Di Paola was Chief of Staff of the Italian Armed Forces from March 2004 to February 2008 and Chairman of the NATO Military Committee from June 2008 to November 2011 .

Military background

Giampaolo Di Paola (2006)

Di Paola graduated from high school at the Francesco Morosini Naval School in Venice . He was then trained from 1963 to 1967 at the Accademia Navale and then at a submarine school. From 1968 he served on various submarines and frigates , from 1974 each as a commander . In 1981 he attended the NATO Defense College in Rome , after which he served until 1984 as the Anti Submarine Warfare and Undersea Warfare Program Officer at the NATO command SACLANT in Norfolk (Virginia) (now the NATO Undersea Research Center in La Spezia ). After his return to Italy, Di Paola took command of the frigate Grecale for two years . From 1986 to 1989 he worked on the Admiralty's staff in Rome, before taking command of the aircraft carrier Giuseppe Garibaldi until 1990 . Until 1994 he worked again in the admiralty staff, most recently as head of the operations department (A3). From 1994 to 1998 Di Paola served with the General Staff of the Armed Forces and experienced its profound reform there under the then Chief of Staff Guido Venturoni .

As Vice Admiral , Di Paola was the Secretary of Defense until 2001 . He then took over the post of Secretary General of the Ministry of Defense until 2004 . As such, he became head of the ministry's office, leading its administrative and, as the “national armaments director”, also its procurement departments.

On March 9, 2004 Di Paola succeeded General Rolando Mosca Moschini on the post of Chief of Staff of the Italian Armed Forces . Admiral Di Paola developed a new strategic concept for this, the focus of which is on Network Centric Warfare . At the same time, due to ongoing savings in the defense budget, he was forced to prepare to downsize the army.

In November 2007, Admiral Di Paola was elected chairman of the NATO military committee. He took over this post on June 27, 2008. His successor to the post of Chief of Staff of the Italian Armed Forces was Air Force General Vincenzo Camporini .

minister

On November 16, 2011, Giampaolo Di Paola was appointed Defense Minister in the interim cabinet of Prime Minister Mario Monti . It was the second time in the history of the Republic of Italy that a former chief of staff has become minister of defense in a government ( governo tecnico ) made up of experts .

On February 14 and 15, 2012, Di Paola presented his austerity and reform plans for the armed forces in the cabinet and in parliament. The reforms included a reduction in the number of armed forces from around 180,000 in 2012 to 150,000 soldiers in 2024. The cuts also affected various armaments projects, including the Joint Strike Fighter .

Individual evidence

1. ↑ difesa.it
2. ↑ derstandard.at
3. ↑ General Domenico Corcione belonged to the Dini government in 1995/96 as Minister of Defense. senato.it
4. ^ Difesa: Di Paola in commissione

predecessor	Office	successor
Ray Henault	Chairman of the NATO Military Committee 2008–2011	Knud Bartels