Ambassador Matthew Whitaker Visits NMIOTC

On Thursday, 19 March 2026, the Permanent Representative of the United States to NATO, H.E. Ambassador Matthew G. Whitaker visited the NATO Maritime Interdiction Operational Training Centre (NMIOTC), in the context of his official visit to Greece.

He was accompanied by Ambassador a.h. Michel Spinellis, Director- General of National Defence Policy & International Relations (GDNDPIR), Hellenic Ministry of National Defence, H.E. Ambassador Vasiliki Gounari, Permanent Representative of Greece to NATO, the U.S. Defence Attaché to Greece and Senior Defense Official at the U.S. Embassy Athens, Captain Mark Imblum USA-N, and Mr. Christopher Dostal, Deputy Political Counsellor.

Ambassador Whitaker was briefed by the Commander of the NATO Missile Firing Installation (NAMFI), Major General Nikolaos Dimitrakos GRC-A, the Chief of Staff of the NATO-accredited Integrated Air and Missile Defence Centre of Excellence (IAMD CoE), Colonel Nikolaos Sidiropoulos GRC-AF, and the NMIOTC Chief of Staff, Captain Georgios Chaidemenakis GRC-N, about the respective international military organizations’ mission, role and activities. He was also briefed about Cyber Coalition 2026, NATO’s flagship annual collective cyber defence exercise, by Commander Brian Caplan USA-N, the Exercise Director, in the context of the Exercise’s Initial Planning & Story Development Conferences (IPC/SDC) that were being hosted at NMIOTC.