Colonel (ret.) Dieter Schmaglowski joined the Federal Armed Forces in June 1974 and was subsequently trained as an engineer officer. Following the basic officers’ training and the completion of his studies in Business Administration at the Federal Armed Forces’ University in Hamburg in 1978, he served as a platoon leader and subsequently as a company commander in different German Army engineer units.
From October 1986 to September 1988 he attended the General Staff Officer Course at the Command and General Staff College (Führungsakademie) in Hamburg, Germany.
Follow on assignments included:
G2 Staff Officer German Territorial Southern Command; G3 Operations Staff Officer, Operations and Plans Branch, NATO HQ CENTAG; Battalion Commander Engineer Battalion 330; Plans Officer and Assistant Branch Chief, Plans Branch German Army Staff; Branch Chief Constructed Simulation Branch, National Simulation Center (NSC), Ft. Leavenworth, USA; Branch Chief Modeling and Simulation Branch, German Army Training, Doctrine and Development Command (Heeresamt); Director of Staff 1 (GE/NL) Corps; Branch Head, Planning Coordination and Support & Deputy Director Operational Preparation Directorate (OPD), Oeiras, Portugal; Branch Head Joint Branch, NATO Standardization Agency, NATO HQ Brussels.
In October 2014 he assumed the position of Branch Head Policy & Coordination Branch and Deputy Director NATO Standardization Agency (in 2015 transformed into the NATO Standardization Office).
During his military career, Colonel (ret.) Schmaglowski served in two NATO lead operations, in 2004 as Chief Joint Engineer Branch and Senior National Representative for the German contingent within HQ KFOR and in 2010 as Executive Officer (XO) to the Chief of Staff HQ ISAF.
Colonel (ret.) Schmaglowski is a graduate of the Operational Art Studies Fellowship (AOASF) program of the School of Advanced Military Studies (SAMS), Ft; Leavenworth, USA and served during this time also as a seminar leader and instructor in the Advanced Military Studies Program (AMSP) of the United States Army.
Besides his University Degree in Business Administration, he holds a Master’s Degree in Military Arts and Sciences with a concentration in Theatre Operations.
Colonel (ret.) Dieter Schmaglowski is an expert in military standardization. In his role as Head Joint Branch, NATO Standardization Agency (NSA) he was the principal advisor to the Director NSA on joint standardization matters and was responsible for management and coordination of all joint operational standardization activities within the NSA. Particular responsibilities included chairing the Military Committee (MC) Joint Standardization Board, co-chairing the MC Medical Standardization Board, representing the NSA in the NATO Training Group (NTG), and co-chairing the NATO Defence Planning Process (NDPP) Task Force on Interoperability which developed concrete proposals for the reintegration of interoperability and standardization into NDPP.
As Branch Head Policy & Coordination Branch and Deputy Director NSA/NSO his responsibilities included preparing the meetings of the NATO Committee for standardization, maintaining the NATO Terminology Program, conducting the overall external coordination for the Agency/Office, and directing and supervising the work of all Branches of the organization. He successfully led the transformation of the Agency into a new organization and several initiatives improving education and training on standardization, the implementation of standardization by Allies, and the integration of standardization in the various steps of the NATO Defence Planning Process. He also took ownership of the revision of NATO’s Directive for the Production, Maintenance, and Management of NATO Standardization Documents Allied Administrative Publication.
Since his retirement from the position as Deputy Director NSO, at the end of 2020, he is an independent consultant and advisor for defense standardization with a focus on education and training of leadership, national standardization managers, and subject matter experts developing and maintaining NATO standardization documents.