Armed Forces General Staff (Portugal)

Armed Forces General Staff
Estado-Maior-General das Forças Armadas

Military Standard of Portugal
Active 1950–1974 (SGDN);
1974–present (EMGFA)
Country Portugal
Branch Armed forces
Type Military staff
Part of Portuguese Armed Forces
Headquarters Lisbon
Motto Que quem quis sempre pôde
(That anyone who wanted always could)
Engagements Invasion of Goa
Portuguese Colonial War
IFOR
SFOR
EUFOR
KFOR
Afghanistan War
Peacekeaping Missions
-Angola
-Bosnia
-Croatia
-Macedonia
-Western Sahara
-Georgia
-Lebanon
Commanders
Chief of Staff of the Armed Forces

General Artur Neves Pina Monteiro

www.emgfa.pt

The Armed Forces General Staff (Portuguese: Estado-Maior-General das Forças Armadas) or EMGFA, is the supreme military body of Portugal. It is responsible for the planning, the command and the control of the Portuguese Armed Forces.

EMGFA is headed by the Chief of the General Staff of the Armed Forces (Portuguese: Chefe do Estado-Maior-General das Forças Armadas) or CEMGFA, the highest rank general in the Portuguese Armed Forces.

History

The present Armed Forces General Staff was created in 1950, as the Secretariat-General of National Defence (Portuguese: Secretariado-Geral da Defesa Nacional) or SGDN. The SGDN was the central planning organization of the Defense, being headed by the Chief of the Armed Forces General Staff, under the dependency of the minister of National Defense (both roles also being created at the same time). Besides having the role of secretary-general of the SGDN, the CEMGFA also assumed most of the responsibilities until then assigned to the military heads of the Navy and of the Army (the then existing service branches, as the Air Force would only be created in 1952). The creation of the SGDN and of the roles of CEMGFA and minister of National Defense marked the integration of the several military service branches and so the creation of the Armed Forces of Portugal as single organization

In 1969, it was decreed that SGDN should be remodeled in order to be transformed in the EMGFA, as the organization for the joint administration of the Armed Forces. However, transformation of the SGDN in to the EMGFA eventually occurred only in 1974.

Organization

The Armed Forces General Staff is integrated in the Portuguese Ministry of National Defence and includes:

Under the dependency of the CEMGFA are also:

The Chief of the General Staff

The Chief of the General Staff of the Armed Forces is the operacional commander of the Portuguese Armed Forces in times of peace. In times of war, he assumes the complete command of the Armed Forces. The CEMGFA is a general officer of one of the three branches of the Armed Forces (Navy, Army or Air Force), appointed by the President of the Portuguese Republic, by proposal of the Government of Portugal.

List of chiefs of the General Staff of the Armed Forces

References

See also

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