Maj General (ret) Mats Engman

Maj Gen Mats Engman has more than forty years of active military service. Before retiring at the end of 2017, his last assignment was as Head of the Swedish Delegation to the Neutral Nations Supervisory Commission, in South Korea between 2015-2017. He was commissioned in the Swedish Air Force in 1976 and has predominantly served in joint and international positions. Among those are, two times as a UN military observer in the Middle East, three years as the Swedish Defence attaché to the United Kingdom and the Republic of Ireland, Head of the Intelligence Division and Deputy Director of the Military and Security Directorate and Head of the International Department at the Defence Staff. Before deploying to South Korea, he served as acting Head of the Policy and Plans department at the Defence Staff, responsible for operational planning, force planning, research and development as well as NORDEFCO and all other international defence relations including UN, EU, Nato and Arctic policies.

Maj Gen Engman is a graduate from the Swedish Command and Staff College, as well as post graduate studies at the Geneva Centre for Security Policy. He has also attended the US International Intelligence Fellows program at Bolling AFB, the US Senior International Defence Management Course in Monterey and the United Nations Senior Mission Leaders Course in Amman, Jordan.

After retirement, he joined ISDP – Institute for Security and Development Policy as a Distinguished Military Fellow, where his main working areas are East Asia and in particular China and the security situation on the Korean peninsula. He is also working part-time as a reserve-officer in the Swedish Armed Forces, focusing on joint and international exercises. Maj Gen Engman is also conducting his own business as a founder and senior consultant at Independent Views, focusing on analysis and training within the fields of security policy, crisis management and exercise management and evaluation.    

Amongst his many accolades, he has been awarded the US Legion of Merit and the Republic of Korea’s Order of National Security Merit, Cheonsu Medal.