Leif Michael Claesson is a Swedish Army officer. He is currently serving as the Chief of the Policy and Plans Department in the Joint Staff since 2018.
Career
Claesson was born on 1 March 1965 in Jönköping and grew up in Bankeryd where he lived until he commenced his military service in 1984. He did his military service as a company commander operating Stridsvagn 103 tanks in the Norrbotten Armoured Battalion in Boden from 4 June 1984 to 31 August 1985. He then attended the Officershögskolan pansar and the Swedish Armoured Troops Combat School in Skövde from 1985 to 1987 when he was promoted to fänrik. From 1 August 1986, Claesson served as an instructor, platoon leader and battalion staff member of a tank company and an armored battalion respectively in the Scanian Dragoon Regiment in Hässleholm. He also did two years as a teacher at the company management course at the Swedish Armoured Troops Combat School in Skövde. Claesson attended the Military Academy Karlberg's general course in Stockholm from 1988 to 1989 when he was promoted to lieutenant. He also attended the higher course from 1990 to 1991 when he was promoted to captain, and the Tactical Course for the Army at the Swedish National Defence College in Stockholm from 1994 to 1995. Promoted to major in 1995, Claesson served between 1 July 1995 to 31 January 1997 as company commander and deputy company commander of the 83rd Staff Company and the 86th Tank Company in the Scanian Dragoon Regiment in Hässleholm. He was then a student at the German Armed Forces Language Agency in Hürth, Germany from 1 February 1997 to 31 August 1997. He was then the first Swedish student in Germany's national general staff training at the Bundeswehr Command and Staff College in Hamburg, Germany from 1 September 1997 to 30 September 1999. Claesson served as a teacher of tactics and operational art at the Swedish National Defence College's Operational Institution from 1 October 1999 to 30 August 2000 and he was Deputy Section Chief at KFOR HQ Operations Department in Pristina, Kosovo from 1 September 2000 to 30 April 2001. Promoted to Lieutenant Colonelin 2001, he served as a staff officer in the Policy and Plans Department of the Strategic Plans and Policy Directorate at the Swedish Armed Forces Headquarters in Stockholm from 1 September 2001 to 31 October 2002. Claesson then served as a military expert at the Ministry of Defence's Unit for Security Policy and International Affairs from 1 November 2002 to 30 April 2003 and as commander and head of and training of Norrbotten Armoured Battalion in Norrbotten Regiment in Boden from 1 May 2003 to 28 February 2005. He was then back at the Ministry of Defence's Unit for Security Policy and International Affairs, serving from 1 March 2005 to 31 July 2005. Claesson served as a military adviser and assistant military representative to Sweden's delegation to NATO at the NATO headquarters in Brussels and was accredited to Sweden's Permanent Representation to the EU from 1 August 2005 to 31 August 2007, then from 1 September 2007 to 31 August 2009. He was promoted to colonel in 2008. Claesson served as Exercise Director with responsibility for the Army's final exercises in 2010 and the training series for Nordic Battlegroup 11 and as commanding officer of the Land Warfare Centre in Skövde from 1 September 2009 to 30 November 2010 and then from 1 December 2010 to 30 April 2012. He was commanding officer of the 24th Swedish contingent of the International Security Assistance Force as well as tactical commander of the multinational Task Force Northern Lights, Regional Command North of ISAF in Afghanistan from 1 May 2012 to 23 June 2013. Promoted to Brigadier General in 2013, he served as a military adviser to the Ministry for Foreign Affairs in Stockholm from 24 June 2013 to 28 February 2015. Claesson was then Deputy Chief of the Policy and Plans Department in the Joint Staff at the Swedish Armed Forces Headquarters from 1 March 2015 to 30 September 2018. He was promoted to major general and appointed Chief of the Policy and Plans Department in the Joint Staff on 1 October 2018. On 25 June 2020, Claesson was appointed Chief of Operations, succeeding Vice Admiral Jan Thörnqvist. Claesson is scheduled to assume the position on 10 September 2020. He will be promoted to Lieutenant General on the same date.
Personal life
In 1988, he married Åsa, a nurse, with whom he has three children.
