VZCZCXRO2360
PP RUEHAG RUEHAST RUEHDA RUEHDBU RUEHDF RUEHFL RUEHIK RUEHKW RUEHLA
RUEHLN RUEHLZ RUEHNP RUEHPOD RUEHROV RUEHSK RUEHSR RUEHVK RUEHYG
DE RUEHSM #0162 0651556
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
P 061556Z MAR 09
FM AMEMBASSY STOCKHOLM
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC PRIORITY 4199
INFO RUEHZL/EUROPEAN POLITICAL COLLECTIVE

UNCLAS STOCKHOLM 000162 
 
SIPDIS 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: MARR PGOV PINR PREL SW
SUBJECT:  SWEDEN APPOINTS U.S.-FRIENDLY SUPREME COMMANDER 
 
¶1.  On March 6, Lieutenant General Sverker Goranson was appointed 
the next Supreme Commander of the Swedish Armed Forces.  Currently, 
the 54-year-old Goranson is Director of the Joint Staff, making him 
in principle the chief aide of current Supreme Commander Hakan 
Syrn.  Goranson will take over March 25.  Syrn leaves his post to 
be the new chair of the European Union Military Committee (EUMC) in 
December 2009.  Goranson's experience serving abroad was an 
important factor for his appointment.  He was head of the Swedish 
force in Bosnia in the 90's, and Deputy Defense Attach at the 
Swedish Embassy in Washington D.C. 2000-2003.  Goranson has a degree 
in engineering and a BA in psychology and sociology.  He studied at 
the Military Academy in Karlberg, at the Armed Forces Staff and War 
College, and the National Defense College.  He also studied at the 
U.S. Army Command and General Staff College and took the UN Staff 
Officer Course. 
 
¶2.  The government's final choice stood between Goranson and 
Lieutenant General Mats Nilsson, who has served in the Ministry of 
Defense since 2007 as head of military affairs.  The post has 
previously been seen as the last step on the road to becoming 
Supreme Commander, and was the position held by Syrn before he 
became Sweden's highest ranking military official.  But unlike 
Nilsson, Goranson had experience serving abroad, something which has 
grown in importance as the Swedish military has taken on more 
foreign missions. 
 
SILVERMAN