US Navy Rear Admiral Shoshana S Chatfield is to be the future representative of the US armed forces on the NATO Military Committee. The appointment, announced by US Defence Secretary Lloyd J Austin on 14 February 2023, comes with a promotion of Adm Chatfield to Vice Admiral.
Adm Chatfield, a helicopter pilot, is currently president of the US Naval War College in Newport, Rhode Island. She studied International Relations, French and Literature at Boston University. Since 2009 she has held a doctorate in education from the University of San Diego.
Adm Chatfield is no stranger to the NATO Military Committee. From October 2015 to January 2017, she was the Deputy Military Representative of the United States to the NATO Military Committee. Before that, from January 2014 to October 2015, she was Senior Military Assistant to the Supreme Allied Commander Europe (SACEUR).
In her operational career Adm Chatfield flew SH-3, CH-46D and MH-60S helicopters in support of aircraft carrier activities and amphibious groups in the Western Pacific and Persian Gulf. At the Pentagon she served in the Plans and Policy Directorate (J-5), Central and Eastern Europe Division, and as Personal Assistant to the Chief of Naval Operations (2006-2007). In Brussels she succeeds Lieutenant General E John Deedrick Jr.
With Adm Chatfield a connoisseur of the European environment seems to be coming to Brussels. At the same time her nomination could also signal that Washington’s focus goes further than Europe and is certainly not limited to it.
The dates of the upcoming change have not been made public.
Hans Uwe Mergener
