Major General Schnitger

Biography

Major-General A. (Alexander) Schnitger, born in Rotterdam, 3 November 1958, started his military career in 1979 as an officer cadet at the Royal Military Academy at Breda, NL. On graduation, he began his military flying training in 1983 at Sheppard Air Force Base in Texas, U.S.A., subsequently receiving his Pilot Wings in March 1984.

On his return to the Netherlands, he was posted as an operational fighter pilot with 314 squadron. In 1988 he was the formation leader of the NF-5 formation team “ Double Dutch”. His conversion to the F-16 took place in 1990 after which he was posted to 312 squadron at Volkel airbase.

In 1992 Major-General Schnitger was transferred to 306 (recce)-squadron at Volkel airbase as a flight commander. He attended Junior Staff Officer's Course in 1993 and was subsequently promoted to major. In 1994 he was deployed for 6 months to Italy, Villa-Franca as the ops-officer for the Volkel F-16 detachment during Operation Deny Flight. Upon return he became the ops-officer for 312 squadron until the end of 1995.

Major-General Schnitger was transferred to the Airstaff/ Ops Directorate in December 1995. Here he was involved in writing the first white papers on the replacement of the F-16. From August 1998 to July 1999 he attended the Senior Staff Officers' School.

In September 1999 Major-General Schnitger was appointed the Commanding Officer of 315 Squadron at Twenthe Air Base, in the rank of Lieutenant Colonel. During this posting he was deployed to Amendola Air Base in Italy for 6 months as the Detachment Commander of a Dutch/Belgian F-16 unit taking part in the NATO operations over Balkans.

In 2001, Major-General Schnitger was posted to the defence staff as a planner. In this capacity he was involved in a major restructuring operation of the NL Armed Forces. Subsequently, in 2004 he became Director of Operations at a NATO CAOC in Germany in the rank of Colonel.

Major-General Schnitger became the Commanding Officer of Volkel Air Base in April 2005. In April 2008 he became Director of Operations at the RNLAF Headquarters Command in the rank of Air Commodore. In December 2009 Major-General Schnitger became Director of Operational Plans and Policy for the NL CHOD.

Major-General Schnitger is married to Marjan, they have two sons: Tom and Max.

Presentation: Cyber Operations: a comprehensive approach

Cyber is an operational capability. The first priority for the MOD is to secure its own networks. Cyber is not only a threat to static networks, but also to military communications, weapon systems, sensors and command and control systems. Cyber is not just a threat, it’s also an opportunity, our opponents are as vulnerable to cyber threats as we are. Therefore the armed forces need to be able to collect intel, and be able to maneuver defensively and offensively in cyberspace. Also MOD has a responsibility to support the civilian authorities in case of a cyber incident. NL MOD will therefore collaborate with other ministries and third parties in the fight against the cyber threat.