The NATO ENSEC COE was visited by Lieutenant General (Retired) Ben Hodges from Centre for European Policy Analysis

Lieutenant General (Retired) Ben Hodges, visited the NATO ENSEC COE on the 28^th of March to consult on the current risk factors of NATO members' Energy Security. The LTG (Retired) Hodges, who currently holds the Pershing Chair in Security Studies of the Centre for European Policy Analysis together with a colleague from CEPA was welcomed by the Deputy Director of the NATO ENSEC COE, Colonel Jean-Marc Bouillet and several SMEs of the Strategic Analysis Division of the ENSEC COE.

The COE's representatives introduced the main objectives and current projects of the Centre. Furthermore, the experts elaborated on the main risk factors of the current Energy Security state of the region - security of supply and protection of Critical Energy Infrastructure. The guests were especially interested in the developments of the Baltic States electricity network synchronization. This issue especially gained relevance in the previously reported summit of state heads of the Baltic States, Poland and the President of the European Commission. Thus, to discuss these geopolitical developments the COE's experts acquainted the guests with the recently published report by the International Centre for Defence and Security called "The Geopolitics of Power Grids: Political and Security Aspects of Baltic".

The ICDS report, written in collaboration with experts from the ENSEC COE, is the first publication that has a geopolitical and strategic approach to the question of Baltic State's energy networks. It includes several chapters regarding conceptual, political and physical risk factors of the Baltic electricity grid synchronization and forms a comprehensive approach to the subject.

You can find the report here.