CMX 12 – Planning and Decision-Making

On behalf of the directing staff (DISTAFF) of the annual NATO crisis management exercise, Lajos Fodor, the Administrative State Secretary of the Ministry of Defence, the national director of the exercise said among others that this year’s event taking place between November 12 and 16, involves 27 NATO member states and two PfP countries which participate with a total of 2,500 personnel working in the ministries of the member states, the staff of the NATO Headquarters and those of the strategic commands.

He added that CMX 12 was an internal command post exercise focusing on planning and decision making. Its objective is to enable the participants to practice the NATO crisis management procedures on the strategic political level. The participants are the civil and military experts of the member states, the NATO HQ and the strategic commands.

At the press conference it was said that in contrast with a “live" exercise, this exercise does not involve any “movement" of military forces. The participants in Hungary include the DISTAFF of the exercise, the executing and the support staffs, a total of 120 personnel. The exercise scenario is fully based on fictitious events played out in an imaginary geographical environment. It portrays an escalating threat from chemical, biological and nuclear attacks, the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction (WMDs), and a large-scale cyber attack against NATO’s strategic institutions. The working groups are tasked with preparing the government’s decision as to what kind of professional and decision-making activities are needed to tackle the fictitious crisis situation, in view of the available conditions and equipment.

The CMX was first conducted in 1992, so this year it is taking place for the 18th time. Except for Iceland, all 27 member states are participating in the planning and decision-making process, and Finland and Sweden are also invited within the NATO Partnership for Peace (PfP) program. Further participants are the representatives of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) and for the first time this year, the European External Affairs Service (EEAS). Hungary has been participating in the exercise since its accession to NATO in 1999.

Photos: Mária Krasznai-Nehrebeczky