Eirik Kristoffersen

Eirik Johan Kristoffersen (born 3 April 1969) is a Norwegian Army General who serves as the head of the Norwegian Armed Forces. He is a former Chief of the Norwegian Army and Norwegian Home Guard, and Chief of the Armed Forces' Special Command (FSK). Kristoffersen is the first Norwegian Chief of Defence since World War II with battle experience. He was awarded the War Cross with Sword in 2011 for his service in Afghanistan.

He spent 12 years in FSK between 2000 and 2014, rising in the ranks from patrol member to commander. In 2014, he was appointed deputy Commander Norwegian Special Operations Command, before heading to Norwegian Joint Headquarters.

Later in 2017, he was appointed Commander Norwegian Home Guard, Commander Norwegian Army in 2019 and finally Chief of Defence in August 2020.

Embellishment of his war record (of 2007)

On 30 October 2022, Norwegian media said that Kristoffersen's narrative regarding the one operation (of two) for which he received the War Cross with Sword - is wrong; a September 2007 operation (in Tagab Valley) of which Kristoffersen was its operations officer, did not capture a Taliban leader; the intended goal of the operation was Qari Nejat (a Taliban leader) but instead the wrong man was arrested. The Norwegian Foreign Service including its embassy in Kabul,

Other reactions include the leader of Norwegian Officers' and Specialists' Union saying that there should be openness about the justification, when someone is given a war medal.

Reactions from members of Standing Committee on Foreign Affairs and Defence: In November, Ingrid Fiskaa said that it is quite odd and disturbing that central information about arresting the wrong person, does not reach the forces who performed the operation - and the Norwegian Armed Forces in general. Bjørnar Moxnes said that for 15 years, Norwegian authorities have celebrated this operation as a great victory, while our closest allies all along have known that this was a whopping failure in which considerable military resources were used to imprison an impoverished Afghan; furthermore, Norway's official Afghanistan-investigation made a success-story out of the operation in which Norwegian special forces with American support, exploded their way into a house with women and children and abducted an Afghan bricklayer in the belief that he was a Taliban leader.

An editorial in Klassekampen in November 2022, said that American soldiers knew within hours of the operation, that the wrong person had been arrested; furthermore, information about that was swiftly shared with Norwegian forces and Norway's embassy; furthermore, there were more details about the operation: plastic handcuffs were used on all the people living in the house from which the bricklayer was removed. Furthermore, VG (newspaper) leaned heavily Furthermore he said about the prisoner: "I don't know why he later moved or why he finally was killed". had the classification [secret or] hemmelig. However, some time after Kristoffersen's article (of 2022), Forsvarets Spesialkommando told media that the post operations report instead had the classification NATO SECRET; furthermore, the report has to stay classified because of the slide film presentation in the report; furthermore, for NATO to declassify the report - all 30 NATO member countries have to approve; furthermore, what is written in the report, the Norwegian Armed Forces does not want to reveal (as of January 2023). one of the latter added a disclaimer (or reservation) to the support: "however",

In January 2024, the media reported information from the Norwegian base within Camp Warehouse, staffed by soldiers from Forsvarets Spesialkommando and Norwegian Intelligence Service. Three soldiers confirmed that information had arrived at the base that the wrong person was arrested, while a fourth said there was conversation that they had taken the wrong person.

Kristoffersen does not want to tell media, if the name of Qari Nejat, was removed from Joint Prioritized Effects List by Norwegian soldiers (after a different person (the bricklayer) was arrested in 2007); persons on that list, had their name removed from there when they got captured or killed; in January 2024, a retired U.S. Lieutenant Colonel (Shawn Dalrymple) said that Nejat's name was not removed from the Joint Prioritized Effects List.

As of February 2024, the Minister of Defence has declined being interviewed about the controversy. Three political parties are demanding (as of February), answers from the defence minister: the Socialist Left Party, Venstre, and KrF. The leader of parliament's Standing Committee on Foreign Affairs and Defence said that the Conservative Party's view is that the Ministry of Defence, should be as open about the matter, as possible. However, Kristoffersen said (March 2024) that the name used (regarding the arrestee), in the report to headquarters in Norway, was Mohammad Naseem.

The Defence University College's chief instructor (hovedlærer) of Leadership, Jostein Mattingsdal, said in March 2024, that the news articles are "a sad chapter of the Armed Forces".

Military education 1988–1989 Non-commissioned officers' training school, 1992–1995 Military Academy, Army, 2008–2009 USMC Command and Staff College, 2014–2015 United States Army War College.

Authorship Kristoffersen wrote the book Jegerånden – Å lede i fred, krise og krig [The Jäger spirit – to lead in peace, crisis and war] (2020) , and along with his brother, general major Frode Kristoffersen, he wrote Beredt – Forsvarsevne og motstandskraft [Prepared – Defense capability and resilience] (2025).

Awards and decorations Kristoffersen is one of Norway's most highly decorated soldiers still on active duty. He has received the following awards: Order of Merit (Ukraine) United Nations Medal UN Interim Forces Lebanon (UNIFIL) NATO Medal ISAF 2 (two deployments) Danish Home Guard Medal of Merit Swedish Home Guard Royal Medal of Merit in gold Gold Cross of Honour of the German Army Latvian Special Forces Medal of Honour, third degree Macedonian Army's badge for Partnership, Coordination and Cooperation, in gold Special Merits Cross (Ukraine) Cross of Merit (Ukraine) Cross for the Four Day Marches US Navy Presidential Unit Citation

Other awards Order of Saint Maurice – Chief of Infantry of US Army U.S. Army War College International Fellows Hall of Fame The Norwegian Defence Gender Equality Award

Personal life Kristoffersen lives with his wife Linn-Therece Johansen Kristoffersen and has four children from two former marriages. His interests include hunting and football.