Anne-Grete Hjelle Strøm-Erichsen (born 21 October 1949 in

Bergen Bergen (), historically Bjørgvin, is a city and municipality in Vestland county on the west coast of Norway. , its population is roughly 285,900. Bergen is the second-largest city in Norway. The municipality covers and is on the peninsula o ...

) is 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 ...

politician for the Labour Party. She served as Minister of Defence from 2005 to 2009 and again from 2012 to 2013. She also served as Minister of Health and Care Services from 2009 to 2012. In local politics, she served as the Mayor of Bergen from 1999 to 2000 and its first Chief Commissioner from 2000 to 2003.

Education and career outside politics

Strøm-Erichsen was educated in EDB engineering at

Bergen University College Western Norway University of Applied Sciences () or HVL is a Norwegian public institution of higher education, established in January 2017 through the merging of formerly independent colleges across five campuses: Bergen, Førde, Haugesund, Sog ...

in 1974. She then studied at the

South Dakota School of Mines & Technology The South Dakota School of Mines & Technology (South Dakota Mines, SD Mines, or SDSM&T) is a public university in Rapid City, South Dakota. It is governed by the South Dakota Board of Regents and was founded in 1885. South Dakota Mines offers ba ...

in the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territori ...

until 1981 and worked with the EDB systems at the University of Bergen until 1984. She was later senior consultant in

Siemens Nixdorf Siemens Nixdorf Informationssysteme, AG (SNI) was formed in 1990 by the merger of Nixdorf Computer and the Data Information Services (DIS) division of Siemens. It functioned as a separate company within Siemens. It was the largest informatio ...

from 1988 to 1991 and BDC AS from 1991 to 1995.

Political career

Local politics

Strøm-Erichsen was

mayor In many countries, a mayor is the highest-ranking official in a municipal government such as that of a city or a town. Worldwide, there is a wide variance in local laws and customs regarding the powers and responsibilities of a mayor as well ...

from 1999 to 2000 and chaired its city council from 2000 to 2003. Being mayor, she was the president of the Organization of World Heritage Cities from 1999 to 2001. She also chaired the county party chapter from 1997 to 1999, and was a member of the Labour Party central committee from 2002 to 2007.

First term as Minister of Defence

She was elected to the Storting from Hordaland in the 2005 election. On 17 October 2005, she was appointed Minister of Defence in the Red-Green Coalition

government A government is the system or group of people governing an organized community, generally a state. In the case of its broad associative definition, government normally consists of legislature, executive, and judiciary. Government is ...

headed by

Jens Stoltenberg Jens Stoltenberg (born 16 March 1959) is a Norwegian politician who has been serving as the 13th secretary general of NATO since 2014. A member of the Norwegian Labour Party, he previously served as the 34th prime minister of Norway from 2000 to ...

. Her seat in parliament was taken by Dag Ole Teigen. In September 2007, Strøm-Erichsen expressed that Norwegian special forces in

Afghanistan Afghanistan, officially the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan,; prs, امارت اسلامی افغانستان is a landlocked country located at the crossroads of Central Asia and South Asia. Referred to as the Heart of Asia, it is bordere ...

could have killed ''hostile elements'', further adding that there was reason to believe that they had, and it was "not something we hide". In April 2008, Strøm-Erichsen received tenders from the aircraft manufacturers

Saab Saab or SAAB may refer to: Brands and enterprises * Saab Group, a Swedish aerospace and defence company, formerly known as SAAB, and later as Saab AB ** Datasaab, a former computer company, started as spin off from Saab AB * Saab Automobile, a fo ...

and Lockheed Martin to deliver the new fighter jets to the

Norwegian Air Force The Royal Norwegian Air Force (RNoAF) ( no, Luftforsvaret, , The Air Defence) is the air force of Norway. It was established as a separate arm of the Norwegian Armed Forces on 10 November 1944. The RNoAF's peacetime establishment is approximatel ...

. The respective manufacturers' aircraft were presented by the U.S Ambassador to Norway Benson K. Whitney and Swedish Defence Minister Sten Tolgfors respectively. Strøm-Erichsen described it as a difficult decision to make, as the two aircraft represent different military operational qualities with different industrial agreements at the bottom. In February 2009, Strøm-Erichsen stated that Norway had participated strongly with special forces in

, notably with 600 soldiers and 750 NOK a year, in response to the US's indication to pressure

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 ...

allies to send more soldiers.

Minister of Health and Care Services

After the 2009 election, she was appointed Minister of Health and Care Services.

Second term as Minister of Defence

Following a cabinet reshuffle on 21 September 2012, she was reappointed as minister of defence succeeding

Espen Barth Eide Espen Barth Eide (born 1 May 1964, in Oslo) is a Norwegian politician and political scientist. He is currently serving as the Minister of Climate and the Environment in Jonas Gahr Støre's government. He has been a been a member of the Norwegian ...

, who had been appointed minister of foreign affairs. In February 2013, she moderated her standing on whether or not Sweden could receive military assistance if they were attacked. She expressed that it was something she could not promise. Prior to that, she had attended a NATO summit with fellow ministers of defence, and later visited Stockholm. Following the Ministry of Defence's evaluation that Chief of Defence Harald Sunde was not incompetent when he appointed Karl Egil Hanevik as chief of the special forces, Strøm-Erichsen said she would take note of the ministry's legal assessment. The case had been revealed by VG the day before, that Sunde had a personal connection to Hanevik by being his fiancé at his wedding and the two also were sponsors of each other's children. In June, she presented new responses to the Storting Standing Committee on Scrutiny and Constitutional Affairs regarding critical emails from the Navy Command. She took this action after being criticised for not taking claims of lying, manipulation and threats of surveillance from the

Norwegian Army The Norwegian Army ( no, Hæren) is the land warfare service branch of the Norwegian Armed Forces. The Army is the oldest of the Norwegian service branches, established as a modern military organization under the command of the King of Norway ...

's top level in connection with the proposal to move the Marine Hunter Command from Ramsund and

to Rena. In the summer of 2013, under her leadership, the Storting decided to introduce gender-neutral conscription in the Norwegian Armed Forces, which was introduced in 2015 under her successor,

Ine Eriksen Søreide Ine Marie Eriksen Søreide (born 2 May 1976) is a Norwegian politician who served as Minister of Foreign Affairs from 2017 to 2021, the first woman to hold the position. Previously, she was the Minister of Defence from 2013 to 2017. A member of th ...

's leadership. She did not seek reelection in the 2013 election.Kjetil Løset
Sp-topp trekker seg fra Stortinget
(in Norwegian) TV2, June 25, 2012. Retrieved December 9, 2012.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Strom-Erichsen, Anne-Grete 1949 births Living people Members of the Storting Ministers of Health and Care Services of Norway Labour Party (Norway) politicians Mayors of Bergen Female defence ministers Bergen University College alumni Women mayors of places in Norway Norwegian Christians Women members of the Storting 20th-century Norwegian women politicians 20th-century Norwegian politicians 21st-century Norwegian politicians 21st-century Norwegian women politicians Women government ministers of Norway People educated at Langhaugen Upper Secondary School Defence ministers of Norway