A new task for Major General Thomas Starlinger: The Upper Austrian is taking over the management of the military representation in Brussels as the successor to Lieutenant General Franz Leitgeb, who is retiring.
Major General Starlinger has served as security policy advisor (1st adjutant) to the Federal President since 2017 and was appointed Minister of Defense as part of the government of experts from June 2019 to January 2020. Starlinger was born on January 27, 1963 in Gmunden, Upper Austria. He graduated from the Military Academy in 1985, completed the General Staff Course from 1997 to 2000 and has held many positions in Austria and abroad during his military career. https://militaeraktuell.at/uebung-recon-summit-23-gestartet/ These include Head of Operations at the Carinthia Military Command, Brigade Commander of the 7th Jäger Brigade, Secretary General of the Planning Group for the Restructuring of the Austrian Land Forces and several positions in Syria, Iran, Kosovo, Cyprus and Tajikistan. From 2003 to 2007, he was already responsible for medium to long-term armed forces planning in Brussels. His function as Head of the Military Representation and as Military Representative in Brussels entails the management of the Military Representation, the independent preparation and initiation of analyses and the representation of Austrian defence policy interests in cooperation with the relevant international organizations. The appointment to this function is limited to a period of five years.
