Hungary Successfully Completes NATO Crisis Management Exercise
Szöveg: honvedelem.hu | 2017. október 15. 14:31Besides practicing the political decision-making process in crisis management and the planning of military operations, the Hungarian organs also simulated responses to natural and man-made disasters during NATO’s annual strategic-level political-military Crisis Management Exercise 2017 (CMX 17) between 4 and 11 October. Held for the 21st time, the exercise focused on defence against cyber attacks, which are among the greatest challenges of the modern age.
Hungary sent more than 100 personnel to participate in the eight-day exercise designed to simulate realistic situations that may easily occur in everyday life too, so in addition to all the ministries, experts were also involved from the Hungarian Defence Forces, the police, the national security services, the Disaster Management Directorate, the National Media and Infocommunications Authority, the Media Service Support and Asset Management Fund as well as the foreign representations delegated to NATO.
The significance of the exercise is well attested by the fact that it was led by NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg himself. This year, the national director in Hungary was Dr. László Firicz, Administrative State Secretary of the Ministry of Defence, who was joined by co-director administrative state secretaries from the Ministry of the Interior and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade. In his opening speech, Mr. Firicz emphasized, among others, the security risks of our age, the threat of terrorism and the dangers of hybrid warfare.
The exercise was running simultaneously in the 29 NATO member states, Sweden and Finland, in the capital cities and at the NATO commands. All participants were working in a coordinated way to perform crisis response activities in fictitious crisis scenarios requiring a comprehensive approach, for example, earthquakes, terrorist attacks and cyberattacks. The central crisis management organizations of the European Union also joined the exercise.
Photo: Mária Krasznai-Nehrebeczky
