In order to check the information on the qualifications of those admitted to VUT-II and MMS, in the autumn of 2017 OLFI asked the Armed Forces how many officers from the Army have been admitted to these two educations in the period 2007-2017 without having experience from a deployment in a international mission. In a written response, the Armed Forces states that "it is not possible with a few simple commands to withdraw an overview from 2007". But since 2014, only one Army officer with no experience of a mission in an international mission has been admitted to the Master of Military Studies. The army officer is Army Chief Hans-Christian Mathiesen's girlfriend, LGV.
OLFI has asked Sten Bønsing whether he believes that Major General Hans-Christian Mathiesen, in the case of LGV's admission to the Master in Military Studies, is practicing nepotism. According to the definition in Gyldendal's "Store Danske", this means that "a person accommodates and prefers relatives and friends over others, especially when filling positions in the public sector". But nepotism is not a legal concept, and therefore the professor can not say anything about it. Anders Drejer, who is a professor of economics and management in the public administration, can do this. He does not hesitate to call Hans-Christian Mathiesen's action nepotism. But Anders Drejer is neither surprised nor shaken.
»I have experienced too many top managers who can not control themselves, and Hans-Christian Mathiesen clearly can not either. Based on your material, it is indisputable that LGV can not be recorded on MMS without someone helping her. He was obviously involved in the process for a very long time, until he declared himself incompetent at the last minute. It smells far away. If there was a good explanation, one should probably have reported it with documentation of why she was qualified. You choose not to do that. If it goes, then it goes, and it obviously did, by the way. The fact that LGV can be admitted to MMS without international experience is enormously negative and demotivating for all army officers who could run for office. "
Did not re-advertise the position - it got the girlfriend
Half a year after LGV's surprising admission to the Master in Military Studies, the Army's Operational Command was abolished on 1 October 2014 and replaced by the Army Staff. In this connection, Hans-Christian Mathiesen was appointed Major General and new Chief of Staff. As one of the first, he decided to set up the project office "Army Soldiers 2025", which aimed "to develop, implement and coordinate initiatives to ensure broad recruitment to as well as retention and development of personnel in the Army until 2025".
As part of the project, the Army Staff decided to create a caseworker position in pay group 5 corresponding to majors and war captains. In
December 2015 ,
you could read from the job advertisement that “we expect you to have completed Continuing Education Step II (staff course) or another similar course. If you are a student at the Defense Academy with a view to completing a Master's degree in Military Studies, you can be hired against the conclusion of an education agreement. We expect you to have a good and broad knowledge of the Army's organization, operations and future task solution, just as you have a good insight into the Armed Forces' HR strategy. It will be an advantage if you have experience in personnel management '.
According to a large number of sources that OLFI has spoken to, many gave up shaking their heads when the position was posted.
‘It was obvious that that position was designed for HC’s girlfriend. You could therefore just as well refrain from seeking it, "says an officer in the Army.
At the end of the application deadline on 15 January 2016, the project office "Army Soldiers 2025" was able to gather the applications together and begin the work of assessing the candidates. Or that is to say the candidate, because according to an official response from the Army Staff, there was only one applicant in the pile. It was Hans-Christian Mathiesen's girlfriend, LGV. OLFI has therefore asked the Army Staff whether the position was re-advertised due to the low number of applicants.
“No, the position was not re-posted. Major LGV was given the position after a concrete assessment of the major's competencies in relation to the functional requirements, which i.a. is described in the job posting. The assessment was made by the recruitment committee on the basis of a recruitment interview. When the major was assessed to be able to meet the requirements for the function, no need was found to re-advertise the position, «writes the Army Staff in an email to OLFI on 1 February 2018.
Does not comment on private conversations
Now it could be interesting to hear Hans-Christian Mathiesen, whether in connection with the establishment of the project office "Army Soldiers 2025" talked with his girlfriend LGV about the position and the opportunity to apply for it. Maybe he just talked to her about what she should write in her application, so that the recruitment committee under Hans-Christian Mathiesen would hire LGV in the position?
Did you ever talk to LGV about this position before the application deadline expired?
"I do not remember that, and otherwise I refer to the answers we have given," says Hans-Christian Mathiesen.
So you have not given her any good advice on what she should write in her application?
"Again, I refer to the answers I have given."
Has LGV at any time talked to you privately about applying for the position in the project office "Army Soldiers 2025"?
“I do not comment at all on what is going on in our private lives. It is not at all relevant to what is going on in this conversation. "
Can you deny that you have at any time talked privately about LGV having that position?
"I will not go into what we are talking about at home."
Were you at any point in doubt that she would get the position?
"I just think I have the answer to that question."
Hans-Christian Mathiesen therefore believes that he has already answered these questions. OLFI can hereby refute this, as OLFI has never asked the above questions to the Army Staff. According to an official response from the Joint Defense Command on 17 September 2017, the recruitment committee in connection with the caseworker position in "Army Soldiers 2025" consisted of three people. It was Lieutenant Colonel Bjarne Møller, who was head of the command element in the Army Staff, Lieutenant Colonel Anders B. Olesen, who was appointed head of the project, and Colonel Keld Robert Christensen, who is Deputy Chief of the Army Staff. But the interesting thing is whether Army Chief and Major General Hans-Christian Mathiesen had an influence on the employment of his own girlfriend in a position below himself.
I would like to ask you about the recruitment committee when she was hired. As the head of the Army Staff, did you have any influence on who was hired for the position?
"We have already answered that, and the answer is no. I can not be involved in anything that pertains to my own private relationship with anyone who enters into a private relationship with me. Then I'm incompetent. "
Do you think that Bjarne Møller, Anders B. Olesen and Keld Christensen may in some way have experienced pressure to hire LGV, who was your girlfriend and lived privately with their own boss?
»How should I know that from? Now we move on in questions and I have just indicated that my time has passed. So unfortunately we have to quit now. "
Have you ever considered whether hiring LGV in a position below yourself could be considered a problem?
"You do not agree that we say goodbye? I have to point out that I have another program that I must prioritize now, "says Major General Hans-Christian Mathiesen.
Raised the joint household income by almost DKK 90,000.
As in the case of LGV's admission to the Master in Military Studies, law professor Sten Bønsing does not believe that there is any doubt about Hans-Christian Mathiesen's incapacity in relation to the employment of LGV in the project office that the army chief himself had set up.
“If there was only one applicant and it was the army chief's girlfriend, the army chief, due to his incapacity, has a duty to orient upwards in the system. I must think that in this case the army chief must inform the defense chief that there was only one applicant and that it was the army chief's girlfriend. He has that duty because there is a widespread suspicion that the organization is making the decision that was most favorable to the army chief. "
And if he has not sent such an orientation?
"Then it is in violation of the current rules for incapacity, and it is in itself in principle a misdemeanor," says Sten Bønsing.
Based on Sten Bønsing's information, OLFI has sought access to documents in Hans-Christian Mathiesen's possible notification to the Chief of Defense of his incapacity. But "The Joint Defense Command has not identified documents covered by the request," the command wrote in a response to OLFI on October 18 this year.
Professor Anders Drejer also does not believe that there is any doubt about Hans-Christian Mathiesen's incompetence in hiring LGV in a position under the army chief. And not only that.
“I do not know how many others have the completely unique profile like her. But there are not many majors for a position in Karup, which requires insight into the Armed Forces' HR strategy and experience in personnel management. Especially not among those who have been at war and been on the same MMS training as LGV. For me to see, there is no doubt that this is nepotism. That notice was written for her, and then of course she also gets the job, "he says.
Thus, LGV got the position as caseworker in the project office "Army Soldiers 2025", and on 1 July 2016 she was able to take up her new job in the Army Staff at Karup Air Base about 30 km from her and Hans-Christian Mathiesen's joint home in Viborg. Upon his appointment, Army Chief and Major General Hans-Christian Mathiesen stepped up and said a few heartfelt, laudatory words to his new employee, newly appointed major - and cohabiting girlfriend.
The new working conditions had a number of advantages, which in addition to the purely practical ones were also economic. Typically, an officer is not appointed major until he or she has completed a Master's degree in Military Studies. However, in special cases, an officer may be appointed on a training agreement, even if the study has not yet been completed. LGV got such an agreement and thus overtook all its "peers" colleagues within not just in rank, but to a large extent also in salary.
According to the Ministry of Defence's Personnel Agency, a serving captain (M321) in April 2016 received a basic salary of DKK 28,121.36 per month. In addition, there was a military supplement of DKK 1,836.62 and an education supplement of DKK 2,034.02. This gave a monthly salary before tax of DKK 31,992. At the same time, a serving major (M331) received a basic salary of DKK 32,958.20 per month. In addition, there was a military supplement of DKK 1,836.62 and an education supplement of DKK 4,608.72. This gave a monthly salary before tax of DKK 39,403.54 - ie DKK 7,411.54 more per month. With the employment of his cohabiting girlfriend LGV in the caseworker position under himself, LGV and Hans-Christian Mathiesen's total private household income in the detached house in Viborg thus grew by DKK 88,938.48 per year.
Professor Anders Drejer does not hesitate to give his assessment of what the economy has meant for LGV's colleagues in the Army Staff and around the Army.
"I can not imagine that LGV has had quite a few people to talk to other than 'HC', because it undoubtedly creates envy, dissatisfaction and anger."
Appears devoid of humility and respect for office
Now, one would think that a loving couple, who share both home and workplace, walk quietly through the doors about their private relationship when they work. But this has at no time been the case for Major General Hans-Christian Mathiesen and Major LGV.
»I have experienced colleagues who hold meetings in the toilet to avoid information coming to" HC "or his girlfriend. The trust in the army chief and his girlfriend (now wife, ed.) Does not exist, and you make sure to walk quietly through the doors, "says a source in the Army Staff.
Other sources tell of meetings at a lower level in the Army Staff, where the girlfriend - now the wife - has interrupted meeting participants with the message that "this is not what" HC "wants". Still others tell of orders from the army chief, which according to the sources can only be based on information that the army chief has received through his girlfriend. OLFI is aware of concrete examples, which, however, due to confidentiality and wishes for anonymity, it is not possible to describe in detail.
The sources speak of a widespread bad mood and awkward situations in which both the army chief and his girlfriend and now wife appear completely devoid of humility, situational awareness and respect for the office. As an anonymous reader of OLFI writes in a physical letter addressed to the editors.
"The situation in the Army Staff is critical - and thus critical in the entire Army. The Chief of the Army Staff - Major General Hans-Christian Mathiesen - leads the Army with unprecedented arrogance. As a consequence, the mood and atmosphere of the Army Staff is unbearable. The frustrations of the personnel permeate everyday life, and this affects the efficiency of the Army. "
In the autumn of 2017, the Ministry of Defence's Personnel Agency committed a serious foot error regarding some legal matters in connection with the employment of a number of officers widely throughout the Armed Forces. The officers' association HOD went into the matter, which meant that the personnel board, against its will, had to mass-appoint more than half a hundred officers from the management group in all three armies to a higher rank on the so-called training agreements. About half of them were first lieutenants and captains of the Army. Shortly afterwards, 15-18 of the Army Staff's leading officers were sitting in the cafeteria in Karup, when Army Chief Hans-Christian Mathiesen came in and complained loudly.
"When the hell did we start naming 331s in the Army who are not fully trained?!," He said, according to OLFI's source - referring to the personnel code for a military major - M331.
The episode underlined for many what LGV's employment on a training agreement under Army Chief Hans-Christian Mathiesen exhibits. That there
is a discrimination that the army chief apparently cannot see for himself. That he could hire and appoint his own girlfriend as Major M331 on an education contract, but others should not enjoy the same benefits.
“Internally in the Army Staff, there is no longer any respect for the office, and that is because of that boyfriend relationship and now marriage. We allow loving couples and married couples around the units. But we only do that for so long that it is unproblematic. This is not the case. But no one dares to do anything about it. No one dares to go against HC, because they are all afraid of him, and so am I. If I appeared by name in this article, I might as well go out and shoot myself in the yard, "says a source in the Army Staff to OLFI.
Completely loses confidence in that man and in the system
If you as an officer in the Army have first been admitted to the very theoretical Master in Military Studies, many will often also apply for admission to the Operations and Leadership Training (OFU). It is aimed directly at officers, who in practice must lead large army forces at battalion level and up, and together with MMS, it is the entry requirement for the highest positions in the Armed Forces. Or as a former teacher at the program says:
»The operational leadership training or an equivalent foreign course is the prerequisite for becoming a battalion commander in the Army. So there is no doubt that the big elimination race among captains in the Army is whether you can get to OFU or not. "
LGV also had this wish, and in 2016 she therefore applied for admission in parallel with her position in the Army Staff and the studies at the Master in Military Studies. For an applicant like LGV, however, the challenge with admission to the Operations and Leadership program is that it requires operational experience as a commander to an even greater degree than the Master in Military Studies. It appears i.a. of the form used by the Armed Forces to assess the candidates, which is confusingly similar to the form for assessing candidates for the Master of Military Studies. Under the item "overall assessment of previous service", the candidates are assessed on the basis of their "managerial work", deployment in international operations called "INTOPS" and "other functions".
The article continues below the graphic…
![[] -FSVDK_NMI1-2021- [ARTICLE] .jpg](/proxy.php?image=https%3A%2F%2Fforsvaret.dk%2Fglobalassets%2Ffko---forsvaret%2Fbilleder%2Fbilleder-til-nyheder%2Fartikel%2F2021%2F10_oktober%2F-fsvdk_nmi1-2021-artikel.jpg&hash=8b63506ad9516115a88216a5a5df1afc "[] -FSVDK_NMI1-2021- [ARTICLE] .jpg")
