Kajsa Ollongren

Kajsa (Karin Hildur) Ollongren (1967) served as Minister of Defence of the Netherlands (2022-2024), Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of the Interior and Kingdom Relations (2017-2022), Deputy Mayor and Alderman of Amsterdam (2014-2017), and Secretary General of the Prime Minister Office and Cabinet Office (2010-2014). During her tenure as Defence Minister defence spending was significantly increased to reach the 2% NATO goal. Also she spearheaded international military support to Ukraine, exemplified by the F16-coalition, training and equipping the Ukrainian air force with this capability, and the establishment of the first European F16 training center in Rumania. She has long standing experience and expertise in the field of intelligence and security, having held political responsibility for both the general and military intelligence services and being the coordinator of both services at the Dutch Prime Minister office. During her time as secretary general, she chaired the weekly meetings of the secretary generals, the standing committee on security and intelligence and the steering committee on the abdication of Queen Beatrix and the succession by King Willem Alexander. Mrs Ollongren had previous responsibilities at the prime minister’s office (deputy secretary general and counsellor to the prime minister on financial and economic affairs) and the ministry of Economic Affairs (general economics, EU-relations and internal market, trade policy and economic cooperation). Kajsa Ollongren studied history at the University of Amsterdam and graduated in 1991 in contemporary history, specialized in international relations in the Cold War era. She is also an alumnus from the Dutch institute on international relations Clingendeal (1992) and the French Ecole Nationale d’Administration ENA (1996-1998, Promotion Valmy). She took part in the International Visitors Leadership Program on invitation by the US State Department in 2006. During her professional career she has been a frequent guest lecturer at various universities, lately at the Kyiv School of Economics (Kyiv, September 2024), the Royal College of Defence Studies (London, September 2024) of and Leiden University (The Hague, September and June 2024). Mrs Ollongren is currently a member of the YES-board, of the international advisory boards of GLOBSEC and of the Democratic Strategy Initiative and of the Task Force on Building a European Pillar within the Transatlantic relationship. Kajsa Ollongren is a Dutch national by birth and holds dual Swedish citizenship. She is married and has two sons.