Caspar Stephansen (23 July 1923 – 11 April 1996) was a

Norwegian Norwegian, Norwayan, or Norsk may refer to: *Something of, from, or related to Norway, a country in northwestern Europe *Norwegians, both a nation and an ethnic group native to Norway *Demographics of Norway *The Norwegian language, including the ...

civil servant. He was born in

Kragerø Kragerø () is a List of cities in Norway, town and Municipalities of Norway, municipality in Vestfold og Telemark Counties of Norway, county, Norway. It is part of the Districts of Norway, traditional regions of Grenland and the smaller Vestmar. ...

. During the

occupation of Norway by Nazi Germany The occupation of Norway by Nazi Germany during the Second World War began on 9 April 1940 after Operation Weserübung. Conventional armed resistance to the German invasion ended on 10 June 1940, and Nazi Germany controlled Norway until the ...

he fled to Sweden and took part in the exiled police corps Rikspolitikorpset. He studied law between 1945 and 1950, when he graduated with the

cand.jur. Candidate of Law (Latin: ''candidatus/candidata juris/iuris'') is both a graduate law degree awarded to law students in the Nordic region as well as an academic status designation for advanced Law School students in German-speaking countries. ...

degree. He was hired in the Directorate of Rationalisation, then in the

Ministry of Defence {{unsourced, date=February 2021 A ministry of defence or defense (see spelling differences), also known as a department of defence or defense, is an often-used name for the part of a government responsible for matters of defence, found in states ...

in 1952. He was an assisting counsellor at the Norwegian

NATO The North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO, ; french: Organisation du traité de l'Atlantique nord, ), also called the North Atlantic Alliance, is an intergovernmental military alliance between 30 member states – 28 European and two No ...

delegation in Paris from 1959 to 1962, took the

NATO Defence College NATO Defense College (NDC) is the international military college for North Atlantic Treaty Organization countries. It is located in Rome, Italy. History The idea of a NATO Defense College originated with General Dwight D. Eisenhower, the f ...

in 1965 and was a counsellor in the NATO delegation in Brussels from 1970 to 1972. In 1972 he was promoted from assistant secretary to deputy under-secretary of state in the Ministry of Defence. From 1974 to 1989 he was the permanent under-secretary of state, the highest-ranking bureaucratic position. From 1989 to his retirement in 1993 he was a special adviser. He died in 1996.

References

1923 births 1996 deaths People from Kragerø Norwegian expatriates in Sweden Norwegian expatriates in France Norwegian expatriates in Belgium NATO Defense College alumni Norwegian civil servants {{Norway-gov-bio-stub