Johann Frank (general)
Johann Frank (born 6 November 1969 in Leoben, Austria) is a Major General in the Austrian Armed Forces and the Austrian Military Representative to the EU and NATO. From 2022 to 2025 he was the Director of the Cabinet of the Chairman of the European Union Military Committee, supporting General Robert Brieger. His key achievements during this period include the EU training mission for Ukraine, the EU Naval Force ASPIDES in the Red Sea (the EU’s first maritime operation in a non-permissive environment), the full-operational capability of the EU Rapid Deployment Capacity, and expanding EU crisis planning to include territorial defence.
From 2020 to 2022 he directed the Institute for Peace Support and Conflict Management at the National Defence Academy in Vienna. Between 2014 and 2020 he served as Security Policy Director at Austria’s Federal Ministry of Defence and was a permanent member of the National Security Council and of the Council for Integration and Foreign Policy. Earlier in his career he worked at the CBRN Defence School, becoming head of the Security Policy Directorate and Defence Policy Director at the Ministry, and was promoted to Major General.
Frank helped shape Austrian security strategy documents and push regional defence cooperation, including the Central European Defence Cooperation (CEDC) with Austria, the Czech Republic, Slovakia, Hungary, Slovenia, and Croatia. He supported EU engagement with the Western Balkan states and with West Africa. In 2018 he coordinated the Ministry’s internal work during Austria’s EU Council Presidency. He has a strong focus on policy advisory work, China expertise, and intellectual defence (Geistige Landesverteidigung). He earned a PhD in political science from the University of Vienna (2002) and a Master of Advanced Studies in Security Policy and Crisis Management from ETH Zurich (2007–2009). He has taken courses at Harvard Kennedy School, RAND, and the European Security and Defence College, and has taught at the University of Graz in 2008 and 2013. He is married to Iris Frank and they have two children.
This page was last edited on 3 February 2026, at 14:14 (CET).