Thomas Starlinger

Thomas Starlinger (2019)

Thomas Starlinger (born January 27, 1963 in Gmunden ) is an Austrian officer and politician. From June 3, 2019 to January 7, 2020 he was Federal Minister for National Defense .

Military career

Training and first uses

Starlinger joined the Austrian Armed Forces in 1981 and completed his training as an officer at the Theresian Military Academy in Wiener Neustadt. From 1985 to 1993 he was a training officer, company commander and head of human resources and public relations in what was then the 43rd Landwehr Trunk Regiment in Upper Austria.

His first assignment abroad was in 1987 as a telecommunications officer in the UNDOF Austrian battalion in Syria. Further assignments abroad took him to Iran in 1991 as construction manager and liaison officer of the Austrian field hospital within the framework of UNIIMOG, in 1993 as a UN observer officer for the British contingent to Cyprus (UNFICYP) and in 1994 as a UN observer officer to Tajikistan (UNMOT) .

From 1995 to 1997 he was head of public relations and chief teaching officer for political education at the Army NCOs in Enns .

Service as general staff officer

After completing the 15th general staff course from 1997 to 2000, Starlinger was initially responsible for training and operational management at the Carinthian military command for almost half a year . Then he was employed as chief of staff and deputy brigade commander in the 7th Jägerbrigade in Klagenfurt.

From 2003 to 2005 Starlinger was senior project officer in the military staff of the European Union and then until 2007 in the newly established European Defense Agency .

Service as a brigadier

In December 2007, Starlinger was appointed commander of the 7th Jäger Brigade with six battalions and a total of 3,200 soldiers by the Austrian Federal Minister for National Defense.

From November 2008 to May 2009 Starlinger took over the command of the Multinational Task Force South (MNTF S) of the Kosovo protection force KFOR with 3500 soldiers from Bulgaria, Germany, Austria, Switzerland and Turkey. During this time, together with the German contingent leader, Brigadier General Harald Fugger , he intensified the cooperation between state and non-state organizations in the reconstruction of Kosovo.

In December 2012, Starlinger took over the duties as deputy chief of staff support of the Command Operations Command (since July 2013 Multinational Forces Operations Command ) in Ulm, succeeding Brigadier Karl Pronhagl to in July 2013, the position of deputy chief of staff operations to take over .

In 2017, Starlinger, who is considered a proponent of a professional army, became adjutant to the newly elected Federal President Alexander Van der Bellen .

minister

Thomas Starlinger (left) at the inauguration with Federal President Alexander Van der Bellen (2019)

On June 3, 2019, Starlinger was appointed Federal Minister for National Defense in the Bierlein Federal Government . During his time as minister, the status report “Our Army 2030” was written. On January 7, 2020, he handed over his office to his successor Klaudia Tanner .

Awards and decorations

Great badge of honor for services to the Republic of Austria
German medal for the Balkans
Mission medals for UNDOF, UNFICYP, UNMOT, KFOR
Austrian military service mark 1st class
Austrian military service medal in bronze
Merit of the Austrian Red Cross (IRAN service)
Merit mark of the province of Upper Austria

Publications

Thomas Starlinger: Operationalization of the Comprehensive Approach in Responsibility to Protect (R2P) , Innsbrucker Universitätsverlag, 2012, ISBN 978-3-902719-77-5