Jul 22 2021

INTERVIEW WITH BRIGADIER GENERAL HANS FOLMER

MONS, Belgium – Brigadier General, Hans FOLMER, gave an interesting interview before leaving the NATO Communications and Information Systems Group (NCISG) on June 3, 2021.

Brigadier General, Hans FOLMER, thank you for accepting my invitation for this interview before you leave the NCISG.

I would like to ask what has proved to be the most challenging for you as Commander NCISG and DCOS Cyberspace?

I think there are three things: the first thing is that a twin head post is challenging, because you are both a Commander and you are a staff member at the higher level, which means that you have to solve your own problems or challenges. The second thing is the fact that there is always a discussion what is urgent and what is important. And certain things take a lot of time which then have effects on important things which, in turn, may not get the right attention. So, setting priorities is key. The third thing is that because we have these challenges setting priorities, we tend to mitigate instead of solve the challenges; and mitigation usually means that you create a new challenges and do not get the things off the table. That is the real problem.