Supreme Allied Commander Europe

The Supreme Allied Commander Europe is the commander of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization's Allied Command Operations and head of ACO's headquarters, Supreme Headquarters Allied Powers Europe. The commander is based at SHAPE in Casteau, Belgium. In effect, SACEUR is the second-highest military position within NATO, below only the Chair of the NATO Military Committee in terms of precedence. There is another Supreme Allied Commander in NATO, Supreme Allied Commander Transformation, titularly equal, but whose duties are less operational. SACT, in Norfolk, Virginia, has responsibility for capability development rather than operations.
SACEUR has always been held by a U.S. military officer, and the position is dual-hatted with that of Commander of United States European Command.
The current SACEUR is General Alexus G. Grynkewich of the US Air Force.

WWW Official Site

List of holders

Since 2003 the Supreme Allied Commander Europe has also served as the head of Allied Command Europe and the head of Allied Command Operations.
The officeholders have been:

Deputy

The position of Deputy Supreme Allied Command Europe has been known as Deputy Head of Allied Command Operations since 2003. From January 1978 until June 1993 there were two DSACEURs, one British and one German. From July 1993 this reverted to a single DSACEUR. With a small number of exceptions who were German military officers, DSACEUR is normally a British military officer. The officeholders have been as follows:
Single DSACEUR

No.	Portrait	Deputy Supreme Allied Commander	Start of term	End of term	Branch	Unit of Commission
1.		Field Marshal The Viscount Montgomery of Alamein,	2 April 1951	23 September 1958		Royal Warwickshire Regiment
2.		General Sir Richard Gale,	23 September 1958	22 September 1960		Worcestershire Regiment
3.		General Sir Hugh Stockwell,	22 September 1960	1 January 1964		Royal Welch Fusiliers
4.		Marshal of the Royal Air Force Sir Thomas Pike,	1 January 1964	1 March 1967		N/A
5.		General Sir Robert Bray,	1 March 1967	1 December 1970		Duke of Wellington's (West Riding) Regiment
6.		General Sir Desmond Fitzpatrick,	1 December 1970	12 November 1973		1st The Royal Dragoons
7.		General Sir John Mogg,	12 November 1973	12 March 1976		Oxfordshire and Buckinghamshire Light Infantry
8.		General Sir Harry Tuzo,	12 March 1976	3 January 1978 '		Royal Artillery

Two DSACEURs'''

Role in intra-European defence integration

DSACEUR's role in European Union missions

Under the 2002 Berlin Plus agreement, SHAPE may take part in the European Union's command and control structure as an operational headquarters for EU missions. In such an instance, the Deputy Supreme Allied Commander Europe, who is always a European, would serve as Operation Commander. This use of SHAPE by the EU is subject to a "right of first refusal", i.e. NATO must first decline to intervene in a given crisis, and is contingent upon unanimous approval among NATO states, including those outside of the EU.