The System of NFIUs as NATO’s ‘Eyes and Ears’

Lt-Gen Slawomir Wojciechowski PhD, the last September appointed Commander of NATO’s Headquarters Multinational Corps Northeast – HQ MNC NE visited to Hungary in recent days. The Lieutenant General conducted talks in Budapest with Lt-Gen. Dr. Gábor Böröndi, the Deputy Commander of the Hungarian Defence Forces, and guided by Colonel István Topor he could get a first-hand glimpse into the activity of the Hungarian NATO Force Integration Unit stationing in Székesfehérvár.

The decision, to establish organisations operating as multinational headquarters in a total of eight Member States was taken at the 2014 NATO Summit in Wales in order to adapt to the changed and still developing security environment. Since the Cold War there has not been such a significant step, strengthening the collective defence in the life of the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation, as the establishment of the NFIUs in eight Member States. These military organisations however fit in within the organisation’s system not as fighting, but as command elements. The Hungarian unit achieved Initial Operational Capability (IOC) by the summer of 2016, which was followed by activating in autumn of the same year.

Lieutenant General emphasised that the NFIU of each nation plays a different part in the structure; however, together they perform a key function from the aspect of NATO’s presence. Each integration unit took his own place in the system, and although in some ways they need to better find their own identity, the co-operation can be further strengthened through new exercises and other joint activities.

With regard to the relationship of the Headquarters Multinational Corps Northeast and the national integration units, Lt-Gen Wojciechowski pointed out that since NATO is very active in the region, the NFIUs must concurrently comply with several expectations and requests, which – in the light of experiences so far – often causes minor difficulties for them. All these arises from the nature of NATO’s command structure, and the organisational culture related to this, and although the Corps Commander seeks to bring together the needs, requests coming from the different levels, the performance of the tasks still puts much work on the individual integration units. Besides, they must be in daily contact with several actors on national level, too.

Speaking of the 2019 year, the Lieutenant General said that the practical testing of the new structure and concept will continue this year as well. The new validation exercise of the Hungarian NFIU will take place in 2020. “I think there is no need for any particular message from me to the Hungarian experts. On one hand, we are in constant contact, on the other, the Hungarian national support element is one of the best among the NFIUs" – Slawomir Wojciechowski stated. In addition to this, the Lieutenant General underlined the importance of people-to-people contact in the daily operation process.

Photo of László Tóth