Yesterday, the NATO Energy Security Centre of Excellence bid farewell to two highly respected Subject Matter Experts, Lieutenant Colonel Karol Heldt and Aigars Liepiņs, who have completed their rotational assignments at the Centre.
Over more than three years of dedicated service, both experts made significant contributions to strengthening NATO’s expertise in energy security, resilience, education, training, exercises, and strategic analysis.
As a Subject Matter Expert in the Education, Training and Exercise Division, Lieutenant Colonel Karol Heldt served as Project Lead for the Coherent Resilience 2025 – Arctic (CORE 25-A) tabletop exercise, overseeing its planning and successful execution. Throughout his assignment, he also contributed to the development and delivery of education and training activities, while bringing extensive military logistics expertise, particularly in liquid fuels and lubricants. During his time at the Centre, he further expanded his knowledge in civil-military cooperation, energy security, and defence energy efficiency. Reflecting on his experience, LTC Heldt said:
“As a military logistician, I have always reminded my manoeuvre colleagues that logistics is not everything, but everything without logistics is nothing. After three years at ENSEC COE, I am convinced that the same applies to energy: energy is not everything, but without energy, even logistics is nothing.”
As a Subject Matter Expert in the Strategic Analysis Division, Aigars Liepiņs made valuable contributions to the Centre’s analytical work. His efforts included preparing the Energy Monograph on sustainable energy challenges, developing lessons learned on the role of the energy sector in military conflicts, and producing analyses focused on energy resilience, energy independence, and innovation. Sharing his perspective, Aigars Liepiņs noted:
“Energy shall be regarded as the sixth domain of military operations.”
The NATO ENSEC COE team sincerely thanks LTC Karol Heldt and Aigars Liepiņs for their outstanding service and valuable contributions to advancing NATO’s energy security and resilience. We wish them every success in their future assignments and are confident that their expertise will continue to benefit the Alliance wherever they serve.
