The Security & Defence Agenda (SDA) is Brussels

Brussels

Brussels , officially the Brussels Region or Brussels-Capital Region , is the capital of Belgium and the de facto capital of the European Union...

' only dedicated security

Security

Security is the degree of protection against danger, damage, loss, and crime. Security as a form of protection are structures and processes that provide or improve security as a condition. The Institute for Security and Open Methodologies in the OSSTMM 3 defines security as "a form of protection...

 and defence

Military

A military is an organization authorized by its greater society to use lethal force, usually including use of weapons, in defending its country by combating actual or perceived threats. The military may have additional functions of use to its greater society, such as advancing a political agenda e.g...

 think-tank. Its activities include roundtables, lunch and evening debate

Debate

Debate or debating is a method of interactive and representational argument. Debate is a broader form of argument than logical argument, which only examines consistency from axiom, and factual argument, which only examines what is or isn't the case or rhetoric which is a technique of persuasion...

s, policymakers’ dinners, international conferences and a range of publications.

History

Formed in 2002 under the patronage of Javier Solana

Javier Solana

Francisco Javier Solana de Madariaga, KOGF is a Spanish physicist and Socialist politician. After serving in the Spanish government under Felipe González and Secretary General of NATO , he was appointed the European Union's High Representative for Common Foreign and Security Policy, Secretary...

, Chris Patten

Chris Patten

Christopher Francis Patten, Baron Patten of Barnes, CH, PC , is the last Governor of British Hong Kong, a former British Conservative politician, and the current chairman of the BBC Trust....

 and George Robertson

George Robertson

George Robertson may refer to:*George Robertson, Baron Robertson of Port Ellen , UK Defence Secretary, NATO Secretary-General*George Croom Robertson , Scottish philosopher*George R. Robertson , American actor*George S...

, the Security & Defence Agenda (SDA) was launched as a neutral meeting point for defence and security specialists from NATO and the EU. The SDA has since developed into an important forum for the discussion of defence and security policies. With the rapidly evolving nature of the security environment, the SDA aims to champion dynamic new ways of consulting global opinion on security issues, including the world's first mass-participation online

ONLINE

ONLINE is a magazine for information systems first published in 1977. The publisher Online, Inc. was founded the year before. In May 2002, Information Today, Inc. acquired the assets of Online Inc....

 security policy event, the Security Jam.

Advisory Board

The SDA's Co-Presidents are Jaap De Hoop Scheffer

Jaap de Hoop Scheffer

Jakob Gijsbert "Jaap" de Hoop Scheffer is a retired Dutch politician of the Christian Democratic Appeal . He served as the 11th Secretary General of NATO from January 5, 2004 until August 1, 2009....

 and Javier Solana

Javier Solana

Francisco Javier Solana de Madariaga, KOGF is a Spanish physicist and Socialist politician. After serving in the Spanish government under Felipe González and Secretary General of NATO , he was appointed the European Union's High Representative for Common Foreign and Security Policy, Secretary...

.

The SDA receives guidance from its Advisory Board, whose members include:

• Gen. Stéphane Abrial
  Stéphane Abrial
  Stéphane Abrial , born on 7 September 1954 in the South-Western French region of Armagnac, is a French General who is the Commander of Allied Command Transformation based in Norfolk, VA, one of the two NATO strategic commands...
  
  
• Alyson Bailes
  Alyson Bailes
  Alyson Bailes is a former English diplomat who lives in Iceland.She was born in Manchester in the United Kingdom. She graduated from Somerville College, University of Oxford in 1969 with a Bachelor of Arts degree in Modern History and a Master of Arts in 1971.She joined the London Foreign and...
  
  
• Gilles de Kerchove
  Gilles de Kerchove
  - Biography :He obtained his law degree at the Catholic University of Louvain-la-Neuve in 1979 and later followed a Masters in Law at Yale Law School in 1984.He joined the European Commission in 1985 as an administrator in Directorate General IV for Competition...
  
  
• Admiral Giampaolo Di Paola
  Giampaolo Di Paola
  Admiral Giampaolo di Paola is an Italian naval officer who has served in the government of Italy as Minister of Defense since November 2011...
  
  
• Christian Ehler
  Christian Ehler
  Jan Christian Ehler is a German politician and Member of the European Parliament for Brandenburg. He is a member of the conservative Christian Democratic Union, part of the European People's Party...
  
  
• Ģirts Kristovskis
• Lt. Gen. David Leakey
  David Leakey
  Lieutenant-General Arundell David Leakey CMG, CBE is a former British military commander. He was Director General of the European Union Military Staff in the Council of the European Union, Brussels...
  
  
• Gen. Sir Rupert Smith
  Rupert Smith
  General Sir Rupert Smith KCB, DSO & Bar, OBE, QGM was an officer in the British Army until his retirement in 2002. He was educated at the Haileybury and Imperial Service College and later at the Royal Military Academy Sandhurst.- Military career :...
  
  
• Geoffrey Van Orden
  Geoffrey van Orden
  Geoffrey Charles Van Orden MBE is a British politician and former soldier. He is currently Member of the European Parliament for the East of England region for the Conservative Party. He was first elected to the European Parliament in 1999....
  
  
• Lt.Gen. Ton van Osch
  Ton van Osch
  Lieutenant General A.G.D. van Osch is an officer and commander in the Royal Netherlands Army. He currently serves with the EU's European Council in Brussels as the Director General of the European Union Military Staff. He has a wife and two daughters.-Military career:Van Osch enrolled in the...
  
  

The Director of the SDA is Giles Merritt, who is also Secretary-General of the SDA's sister think-tank Friends of Europe

Friends of Europe

Friends of Europe is a Brussels-based, not-for-profit think tank for European Union policy analysis and debate.-History:The organisation, established in 1999, has no political or national allegiance and is independent of the EU institutions...

 and Editor of the policy journal Europe's World

Europe's World

Europe's World is an independent policy journal. It was launched on 4 October 2005 by the Brussels-based think tank Friends of Europe, together with some 50 leading European think tanks...

.