General Defence Staff (Kingdom of Italy)

War flag of the Italian Armed Forces

The General Defence Staff (Italian: Stato Maggiore Generale della Difesa) is the military staff of the Italian Armed Forces, of all armed organizations of the Party and of the Italian State, for what concerns their military roles and aspects. The General Defence Staff is the central body of the Armed Forces administration and oversees operational management of the forces, being the organ of strategy or generalship. The Italian Armed Forces has both a General Defence Staff and and a separate staff for each formation.

The staff is organized by functions, with each directorate and operating agency overseeing an area. The General Staff Academy is responsible for training officers for the General Staff. The Chief of the General Defence Staff is appointed by the Duce, who is the commander-in-chief of the armed forces. The current Chief of the General Defence Staff is General Orlando Moschini. The General Defence Staff is always a relatively small, but elite body. Only few officers are permanently assigned to the General Defence Staff, described in official returns as "of the General Staff" at any time; most were attached to the General Staff from their parent units, although usually for several years at a time, and are listed as "on the General Staff".

When the General Defence Staff is required to take the field during major campaigns, it remains a small but effective body: in such occasions, the General Defence Staff is divided between the central General Staff and the general staff reinforcements to formations staffs. The Chief of the General Defence Staff and is also the technical superior of all general staff officers. A very important feature of the General Staff system is the periodical return of all general staff officers to field duty, both as staff officers and as commanders. The circulation of staff officers made it possible to educate the regimental officer in the approved doctrines of strategy and tactics.

The General Defence Staff is located in Rome, Italy.

Concept of staff

Coat of arms of the General Defence Staff

In every formation provided of its own staff, from the lowest unit to the Italian Armed Forces, the Commander must be supported by obedient, independent and critical advising Staff officers. They provide him with information and advice, prepare decisions, turn them into orders and measures and supervise their execution. If necessary, they urge the commander to decide and act. Their thinking and actions must be guided by his will and intentions and must be determined by his decisions and orders.

Corps and Service of General Staff

All officers belonging to the various Staffs are part of the Corps of General Staff and of the Service of General Staff of the various Italian Armed Forces. The Corps of General Staff are real Corps, headed by the Chief of Staff of the relevant Armed Force himself, with differentiating characteristics from the other corps and branches of the Armed Forces, while the Service of Staff is open to the officers of all branches demonstrating the necessary and duly established attitudes. Staff officers serve primarily on staff posts and usually not as military commanders.

The Corps of General Staff is made up of only Colonels, Lieutenant Colonels and Majors (and corresponding ranks) and their number is set by law; Majors, Captains, and Lieutenants (whose suitability to the Service of General Staff was duly verified) belong to the Service of General Staff and their number is indeterminate. Typical of senior officers of the Corps of General Staff are senior management roles such as department heads, (sub) department heads in command authorities, offices, or department heads in the ministry. The other staff officers support them there as their referees or adjutants.

Selection

The value of the institution of the General Staff lies into the composition of its Corps, and into the thorough examination by which officers are selected.

The officer who thinks to be worth to enter the Corps of General Staff must be not only blameless in his military capacity, but must als possess a large store of positive knowledge. Moreover, he has to learn by degrees every branch of the science of war in these various offices, and to show distinct activity in all of them before he would be promoted of a single step.

Between courses and assignment to the Service of General Staff, the officer candidate is ordered on active service to give proof of his capacity in commanding a Battalion or a Regiment. Throughout the Armed Forces the most capable men are sent to this General Staff School, while the least valuable are weeded out again and transferred to ordinary military service.

Chief of staff

The chief of staff of a formation or a command is a member of the Corps of the General Staff who is assigned to manage and command the individual formation's staff (in turn consisting of Corps and Service of General Staff officers).
The chief of staff of a major unit or command has an especially elevated position. He actively participates in all stages of command and control. Together with his commander, he evaluates the mission, estimates the situation and develops the decision. After this process it is no longer possible to say who made the individual contributions. The commander alone, however, has the authority to make decisions on his own. Once a decision has been made, the chief of staff loyally carries out his orders.
Such a chief of staff in the field has the right to disagree, in writing, with the plans or orders of the commander of the formation, and appeal to the commander of the next highest formation, which might ultimately be the Emperor, who is assisted by the Chief of the General Staff. This serves as a check on incompetence and also serves for the objecting officer to officially disassociate himself with a plan which is perceived as being flawed. Only the most stubborn commanders do not give way after this warning. This considered, the staff system bears the inherent potential for strong chiefs of staff to dominate weak superiors, as it was the case when untrained Vor officers led military units; however, the danger persisted also after the complete opening of ranks. In order to prevent this, and to preserve the commander's prestige, often the commander of a formation is himself a former member of the General Staff. A significant part of the chiefs of staff of the various commands or of major formations (Field Armies and above) carry some form of General's rank: such general officers are assigned to the position of chief of staff of very large formations and commands but are not part, technically, of the Corps of General Staff of the various Armed Forces.

Chief of the General Defence Staff

Chief of the General Defence Staff
Flag of the Chief of the General Defence Staff
Incumbent Generale di Corpo d'Armata Orlando Moschini since 17 March 2016
Ministry of National Defence
Reports to	Duce of Italy
Nominator	Minister of National Defence
Appointer	Duce of Italy
Formation	4 May 1925
First holder	Pietro Badoglio

The Chief of the General Defence Staff (Italian: Capo di Stato Maggiore Generale della Difesa, C.S.M.G.D.) is the most senior member of the Italian Armed Forces, having primary responsibility for command, control, and administration of the forces, as well as military strategy, plans, and requirements. The position is held by a senior active duty officer of one of the Italian Armed Forces.

The Chief of the General Defence Staff is chosen among the officers in permanent service of a rank not inferior to that of General of the Army Corps of the Italian National Royal Army and the Royal Carabinieri, of Squadron Admiral of the Navy and of Air Squadron General of the Air Force, and is appointed by decree of the Duce, on the proposal of the Minister of National Defence.

The Chief of the General Defence Staff follows in rank only the Duce as Commander-in-Chief, who appoints him and is the person from whom the C.S.M.G.D. receives his orders. The C.S.M.G.D. is charged with four main priorities, each having multiple sub-priorities: the first is to conduct operations; secondly, the CGS is expected to expand the regular and reserve forces to meet requirements. The third task is to implement the national defence strategy as outlined by the Duce. Lastly, the C.S.M.G.D. must enhance the Service's programme delivery while optimising the use of resources. These requirements are dealt with in different ways, according to the three fields: the internal military field, the external military field and the technical military field.

The Chief of the General Defence Staff is directly dependent on the Duce, of which he is the senior military-technical adviser and to whom he answers the execution of orders received, and is hierarchically superordinate: to the Chiefs of Staff of the of Armed Forces and to the Commandant General of the Royal Carabinieri, as well as to the Commander of the Imperial Ethiopian National Defence Force (via Higher Command Italian East Africa). Limitedly to military tasks entrusted to the Royal Police Corps, to the militarized police forces of the Italian Empire, and to the Italian National Royal Guard, the Chief of Defense General Staff is hierarchically superordinate to the General-Inspector of the Militarized Police Corps and to the Commandant General of the Italian National Royal Guard, as well as to the individual Commanders of the militarized police forces of the Italian Empire and of the local branches of the National Royal Guard.
The Chief of the General Defence Staff is also superordinate to the Secretary General of Defence for the latter's technical-operational attributions.

Internal powers

Internally, the Chief of the General Staff of the Defence exerts a role of guidance and management of the Italian Armed Forces; his own responsibilities are mainly related to the planning of the general matters, general management of the financial instruments and enforcing of military intelligence research and military security.

The Chief of the General Defence Staff implements the guidelines on the preparation of the Italian Armed Forces and of the Italian military tool, proposing to the Minister of National Defence the general lines of the organization of the Italian Armed Forces; he defines the basic programmatic long-term criteria to maintain the Italian Armed Forces always responsive to operational needs and issues related directives.

In order to pursue the responsiveness, the Chief of General Defence Staff issues directives for the implementation of the programs approved by the Minister of National Defence, and for this purpose exercises direct operational control of the funds for investment to the sector and prioritizes operational needs. However, he exercises only indirect operational control over funding for the area of operation and defines the criteria for the use of financial resources in the budget. In an emergency, the Chief of the General Defence Staff may divert funds from ordinary operation to increase the efficiency of the Italian Armed Forces and its Special Forces. In a yearly formal audit before the Council of Ministers, the Chief of the General Defence Staff formally describes to the Minister the strategic and operational situations and the predictable evolution, as well as the operational condition of the Italian Armed Forces.

The general financial and operational planning also fall within his remit. Therefore, he sets the operational targets of the Armed Forces and deals with information search and study of the issues related to the recruitment and mobilization. The Chief of the General Defence Staff, together with the military intelligence research, directs the activities of the protection of the military secret and of military police, through the appropriate services and corps, and prepares the operational plans of general emergencies. In this regard, he also exudes general orders concerning the deployment and operational planning and readiness of the Italian military. A subordinate level, the Regional Command and the commanders of the major commands detailing further.

In the process of appointment and assignment of tasks, the Chief of the General Staff provides support and non-binding advice to the Minister of National Defence for the appointment of General officers and for the most important tasks.

External powers

External powers are related essentially to the need to provide a military counterpart of the foreign power. Being the Italian foreign policy strictly hostile to any military lasting alliance where Italy itself is not the leading partner , external roles, functions and powers of the Chief of the General Defence Staff are mainly those of technical advisor and channel for the implementation of commonly-agreed military standards and procedures. Generally speaking, the Chief of the General Defence Staff maintains, in accordance with the directives issued by the Minister of National Defence, with the corresponding military authorities of other countries, reports relating to military problems of the common defence. He is also the national address at the high international military fora.

In case of participation in military alliances, the Chief of the General Defence Staff takes part, in accordance with directions from the Minister of National Defence, to the formulation of rules for the common defence planning, employment and training multinational, and establishes the sale media and military material in favour of countries with which there are agreements. Finally, the Chief of the General Defence Staff expresses technical evaluations relating to trafficking in high-tech weaponry.

Technical powers

As part of the directives issued by the Minister, the Chief of the General Defence Staff sets objectives, guidelines and priorities of the studies and technical-scientific experiments of interest of the Italian Armed Forces and provides guidance for the development and use of the results.

Deputy Chief of General Defence Staff

The General Defence Staff is led by a Deputy Chief of General Defence Staff appointed by decree of the Minister of National Defence, on the proposal of the Chief of General Defence Staff, chosen among officers with the rank of General of the Army Corps, Squadron Admiral or Air Squadron General in actual permanent service, belonging to an Armed Force other than that of the Chief of General Defence Staff.

Units of the General Defence Staff

The General Staff of Defence is divided into six Departments dependent on the Deputy Chief of General Defence Staff:

• Department I - Personnel
• Department II - Information and security
• Department III - Military policy and planning
• Department IV - Logistics and infrastructure
• Department V - General affairs
• Department VI - C4I systems and transformations

Department I - Personnel

The Department I - Personnel is the staff element of the SMGD responsible for dealing with issues related to the defence system, the use of military and civilian personnel in the joint, international and inter-ministerial fields, the interforce training of military personnel, the management of the defence personnel, to legal-administrative matters, and to relations with the Duce.
The Department is commanded by a Division General - or equivalent rank, which depends on the Deputy Chief of Staff. The Head of Department is assisted by three Deputy Heads of Department (Brigadier Generals or equivalent ranks of an Armed Force other than that of the Head of Department) to whom he can delegate the coordination and control of specific sectors.
The Department I - Personnel is divided into eight Offices, a Section and a Secretariat

• Department Secretariat;
• Organization Office;
• Personnel employment Office;
• Personnel economic treatment Office;
• Recruitment, State and Career Office;
• Military condition Office;
• Civil personnel Office
• Military personnel training Office;
• Management Office of the Pension Fund of the Armed Forces;
• Programming coordination Section.

Department II - Information and security

Department II - Information and security is an unit of the Italian military intelligence, dependent on and part of the Defence General Staff and, therefore, directly under the Deputy-Chief of Defence General Staff. Department II was established in 1998 and it employs the Armed Force Information and Situational Information Services.
The Unit is divided into a Unit Head, the Unit Secretariat, the Administrative Section and two Deputy Unit Head (Information and Security). The Deputy Unit Head (security sector) directs the Military Attachées Office, the High-tech materials and weaponry Office, the Defence Security Office and Asymmetric threat analysis Office; the Deputy Unit Head (information sector) controls the Information Policy Office, the Electronic Warfare Office, the Military Police Office, the Joint Information Centre and the Joint Electronic Warfare Centre.

Department III - Military policy and planning

Department III - Military policy and planning is the staff element responsible for contributing to the formation of national defence and security policy, identifying and submitting to the Chief of Defence General Staff the technical-military problems, and related solutions, in the matter of national security and defence, translating the political directives into military directives, enacting the strategic concept of the C.S.M.G.D. and managing the general defence planning cycle.
The Department also coordinates, with regard to its areas of competence, relations with bodies external to the Defense Administration, ensuring technical-military consultancy in international negotiations of military interest, taking care of the elaboration, revision, updating and dissemination of high-level doctrinal publications. strategic and elaborate the general guidelines on civil defense and civil-military cooperation in the national defence.
Department III is commanded by a Division General - or equivalent rank . The Head of the III Department is the "Military Political Counsellor" of the CSMGD; outside the consulting activity, the Head of the III Department depends on the Deputy Chief of SMGD. The Head of Department is assisted by three Deputy Heads of Department (Brigadier Generals or equivalent ranks of an Armed Force other than that of the Head of Department) to whom he can delegate the coordination and control of specific sectors.
The III Department is divided into:

• Department Secretariat;
• Financial Centre;
• International Relations Office;
• General Planning Office;
• Office for Strategic Management and Operations Policy.

Department IV - Logistics and Infrastructures

Department IV - Logistics and Infrastructures is a staff element of the SMGD in charge of dealing with issues related to the technological, scientific and spatial field, to environmental protection and accident prevention, to national cooperation, to military standardization, to the transport sector and to the field of infrastructures.
The Department is commanded by a Division General, or equivalent rank, which depends on the Deputy Chief of SMGD. The Head of Department is assisted by three Deputy Heads of Department (Brigadier Generals or equivalent ranks of an Armed Force other than that of the Head of Department) to whom he can delegate the coordination and control of specific sectors.
Department IV - Logistics and Infrastructures is divided into:

• Department Secretary;
• Financial Center;
• Research and Development Office;
• Logistics Organization Office;
• Infrastructure Office;
• Accident and Environment Office.

Department V - General Affairs

Department V - General Affairs is the staff element of the SMGD responsible for dealing with the social policies of the National Defence, with particular reference to the housing of personnel outside the barracks, to the Military Associations and the agreements with the Corporations.
Alongside the military welfare, the Department deals with the service regulation and the direction of the military-historical sector, as well as issues related to military propaganda and relations with Administrations without specific liasion organs with the National Defence. The Department also manages sports policy, ceremonial activity for the General Staff and in general the various business of personnel and activities necessary for the functioning of the Defence General Staff.
The Department is headed by a Major General - or equivalent rank - who depends on the Deputy Chief of SMGD. The Head of Department is assisted by two Deputy Heads of Department.
The V Department is divided into:

• Department Secretariat;
• Financial Section;
• General Affairs Office;
• General Services Office;
• Sports Office;
• External Relations Office;
• Historical Office.

General Office of the Chief of General Defence Staff

The General Office of the C.S.M.G.D. is the element of staff that assists the Chief of General Defence Staff in the exercise of his powers. In particular, the Head of the General Office provides direct assistance to the Chief of General Defence Staff and commands the activities of the personnel assigned to the General Office. The Office is led by a General of Division - or equivalent rank - in rotation of the Army, Navy, Air Force and Carabinieri.
The Head of the General Office directly depends on the Chief of the General Defence Staff.
The General Office is divided into:

• General Staff Office;
• Communication and Public Information Office;
• Office secretariat.

General Staff Office

The General Staff Office is the gatekeeper of the General Defence Staff. The General Staff Office looks at the notes to be brought to the attention of the C.S.M.G.D., prepares the documentation to be submitted to the approval of the C.S.M.G.D., takes care of the preparation of official visits and work of the C.S.M.G.D., preparing and keeping updated the annual plan, coordinates all the correspondence of the SMGD that must be shown, assigning the priorities based on the needs proposed by the Departments, organizes the meetings of the Committee of Chiefs of Staff of the Armed Forces, manages administrative acts connected with the management of the quota assigned to the General Office, provides administrative advice to the General Office and develops and draws up the minutes of the meetings of the Committee of Chiefs of Staff.
The General Staff Office is led by a Brigadier General, rotating between the Army, the Navy, the Air Force and the Carabinieri, which depends on the Chief General Office.
The General Staff Office is divided into:

• Section of General Staff
• Coordination Section
• Financial Section
• Section for the Committee of Chiefs of Staff;
• Joint relationships Section
• Secretariat

Public Information Office

The Public Information Office coordinates the activities that affect one or more Armed Force, which have an international involvement or that have, however, high media value, develops the guidelines for the use of the Internet and document events, activities, initiatives of defense interest. The Office coordinates with the Ministry of Popular Culture.
The Office is led by a Brigadier General (or equivalent rank), which is dependent on the Chief General Office. The Chief Public Information Office is also the "Press Officer" of the C.S.M.G.D.
The Public Information Office is divided into:

• Media Review Section;
• Public Information Section;
• Media Information Section;
• Internet section;
• Office secretariat.

Joint Operations Command

The Joint Operations Command (Italian: Comando Operativo Interforze, C.O.I.) is a Staff element of the Chief of Defence General Staff for the planning, coordination and management of military operations outside the national territory, joint exercises and related activities. The C.O.I. provides a contribution to the elaboration of the Italian military doctrine, develops the methodologies for the simulation of the strategic and operational scenarios and analyzes the activities by drawing up lessons and elaborating corrective measures. The C.O.I., moreover, represents the entry point for all requests for operational contributions provided by the Armed Forces to the other authorities in Italy, on the occasion of natural disasters and in cases of necessity and urgency. For these operations he is responsible for the direction, coordination and control of the activities.

Strategic Theatre Commands

The Strategic Theatre Commands (Italian: Comandi Strategici di Teatro) are subdivisions of the Interforces Operational Command responsible for the defense and Italian control of an area straddling national (metropolitan) borders. Unlike the Joint General Commands (such as the Joint General Command Italian East Africa), the Strategic Theatre Commands are less autonomous and depend on the Joint Operations Command and not directly from the Chief of the Defence General Staff.

MEDCENT Strategic Command

The defence of the Central Mediterranean Sea is a fundamental element for the strategic security of Italy and its Empire. The aim is to create Anti-access/Area-Denial bubbles that manage to channel maritime and air traffic in pre-established and easily blocked positions.
The defence is entrusted to a joint military deployment: surveillance is carried out by the satellite network (mainly centered on the area) and by radar networks managed by the Air Force and the Navy; the actual defence is entrusted to air and naval surveillance and the Army positions on the strip that goes from the southern coast of Sicily to the coastal strip of the United Kingdom of Libya and which includes all the intermediate islands. The Army postions are, in turn, integrated by the other Armed Forces, and are equipped with the weapon systems necessary to ensure the impossibility of penetration.
The joint command responsible for the defense of the Central Mediterranean Sea theatre is the MEDCENT Strategic Command (Italian: Comando Strategico MEDCENT). The Command is part of the Joint Operations Command.

Relationships between top organisations

The Joint Operations Command has command of military operations abroad (relying on the Joint General Command Italian East Africa for operations in that region); there are limited exceptions in which the C.O.I. relies on the operational command of an Armed Force, but even in that case all the Genral Staffs (including the General Defence Staff) leave the command line.
The Land Operational Forces Command, The Naval Squadron Command and the Air Fleet Command prepare the operational forces, command them at home, in some cases (limited operations) they act as an intermediate command under the C.O.I., which commands the missions abroad. The Chiefs of Staff of the individual Armed Forces are similarly out of the operational command line: they command the operational commands of the relevant Armed Force, which in turn prepare the operational forces and command them at home, but when they go out of area the C.O.I. commands them.
In fact, the General Staff takes care only of the bureaucratic and training part directly, while the General Secretariat of Defense takes care of the procurement. However, for the "daily life" of each armed force, the General Staff remains the most important organ.

Social and political implications

From a broader point of view, the General Defence Staff it is the bastion of Italian militarism and its officers form a unique military fraternity: their exhaustive training was designed not only to weed out the less motivated or less able candidates, but also to produce a body of professional military experts with common methods and outlook, and an almost monastic dedication to their profession. General Staff–qualified officers alternate between line and staff duties but would remain lifelong members of the central organization.

General Staff Corps

The General Staff Corps (Corpo di Stato Maggiore, Co.S.M.) is an inter-service organisation of the Italian Armed Forces, composed only of officers. Considered very elitist, the Co.S.M. is the hearth of the military influence.

The General Staff Corps is subdivided into Armed Force-specific Staff Corps with similar functions: Army Staff Corps (Corpo di Stato Maggiore), Navy Staff Officers Corps (Corpo Ufficiali di Stato Maggiore), Air Force Staff Corps (Corpo di Stato Maggiore). The Royal Carabinieri and the Royal Police Corps do not have separated Staff corps.

Co.S.M. officers mainly serve in the various General Staffs, other central Armed Forces units and Staffs of military formations and commands. Among other functions, they are responsible for the preparation of military operations and exercises of combined arms, the study of organization and mobilization of armies, of national defence, of the use of fortifications, of transport and military history, and of the coadjuvation of command with headquarters.

The General Staff Corps is made up of a Superior Office, a Final Committee, and the War School. The General Staff is structured in a Corps of General Staff which includes the staff officers and officers in service of the General Staff.

See also

• Military of the Kingdom of Italy
• M.V.S.N. (Kingdom of Italy)