Eurodéfense-Belgique

Amiral de division Jacques ROSIERS, Ir (Belgian Navy), born in Arlon on May 30 th , 1949, is now a retired Flag Officer since December 2009, as Honorary Aide to the King, the former assistant chief of Staff for Strategic Affairs (ACOS Strategy) at the Belgian Defence Staff, from 2003 onwards, as well as the Belgian National Armaments Director (NAD) from 2005.

He graduated in 1971 as Mechanical (civil) Engineer from the Royal Military Academy in Brussels and was subsequently trained as an “Officer of the Deck” (1972). During his naval officer’s career (1972-1991), educated first as a mine-warfare officer, later as a gunnery-missile officer, he held numerous operational & commanding positions on board all types of vessels of the Belgian Navy (Mine-Sweepers, Mine-Hunters and Frigates), both in the Belgian and NATO Naval Forces (i.e. the Standing Naval Force Channel & the Standing Naval Force Atlantic). His cumulated sea duty tour is more than 10 years at sea. During his shore based tours as a naval officer, he held staff and commanding positions in Brussels, Zeebrugge and Den Helder, mainly as system engineer, in education and training matters, in weapon systems management, and in operational matters, in particular as deputy chief of the Naval Staff in Brussels. 

In 1989–1990, he passed the Command & Staff Course in Canada – Toronto (Course 16) and subsequently in 1990–1991 in Belgium – Brussels (Course 105). During his naval career, he was further educated in Belgium (1972 & 1974), the Netherlands (1976), France (1975-1976 & 1977), the USA (1977), the United Kingdom (1978), and in 1996–1997 at the NATO Defense College in Italy – Rome (Senior Course 89). 

In 1998 he was promoted to Flag officer and became the chief of the Belgian Naval Operations and Training Command (COMOPSNAV), as well as the deputy Admiral Benelux (DABNL), the Belgian National Headquarters (HQs) being transformed in 1999 into the Belgian Maritime (Component) Command. 

From 2001 to 2003, Admiral ROSIERS served as the assistant chief of Staff for Plans and Policy (ACOS P&P) at the NATO Regional HQs East Atlantic / HQs Allied Naval Forces North, Northwood, UK. 

Promoted to Amiral de division at the end of 2002, he joined the Belgian Defence Staff in 2003, soon becoming the Defence Policy Director for NATO & the EU, and later in 2005, the assistant chief of Staff for Strategic Affairs as well as the National Armaments Director (NAD) and Belgian member of the Board of Supervisors of OCCAR . 

For more than 10 years, during his Staff career, he also held special positions in the Belgian Royal Household, as Equerry to King Baudouin (1985 – 1989), as Private Advisor to Crown Prince Philippe (1992 -1996) and as Aide to King Albert II (2006 – 2009. 

He holds numerous foreign and Belgian honorary distinctions, including those of Commander in the Order of Leopold (1989), Grand Officer in the Order of Leopold II (2008) and “Zeeman van het jaar” (1993).  He is married with Anne VANDER AUWERA (1971), has 3 children and 6 grandchildren. 

Since he is retired, he is a voluntary member of numerous Boards, as Senior Fellow at the Belgian Royal Higher Institute for Defence (Brussels), as member of the Editorial Board of the “Revue militaire belge”, as president of the Euro-Atlantic Association of Belgium and vice-president of Euro-Defence Belgium, as president of the Belgian National War Veterans’, War & Political Prisoners’ and Patriotic Movements’ Association – SERVIO, as vice-president of the Order of Leopold Society, as Board member of the Royal Belgian Marine Society and different Alumni Boards of the Royal Military Academy. 

Hobbies are travelling, reading (policy, history, societal evolution), conferences, writing and coaching.