Two months after the inauguration of the government chaired by Mario Draghi, the prime minister has appointed his military adviser. Francesco De Leverano, general of the army corps, until yesterday Deputy Chief of Defense Staff, arrives in a few days at Palazzo Verospi in via dell’Impresa behind Palazzo Chigi. De Leverano joins the ambassador Luigi Mattiolo, diplomatic adviser appointed a few days after the birth of the government. The general replaces Carlo Massagli, team admiral now deputy director of the Aise (information and external security agency).
A soldier all in one piece
Married to a son, from Lecce, born in 1959, after the Academy of Modena specialty Arma delle Trasmissioni, as a colonel he proudly tells of having been in command of the 235 ° Rav (volunteer training regiment) “Piceno”, a military school with him in welcome the volunteers in uniform: the first female soldiers. As a brigadier general he was deputy commander of the Italian contingent in Iraq, following the leadership of the “Sassari” brigade, then he reached the top of the Defense cabinet. Since 2015 with the three stars, rank of army corps, he has hired between the helm of the Southern Interregional Defense Forces in Naples, number one in the Southern Operational Forces Command and the Army Logistics Commander. Since 8 November 2018 he has been deputy head of Smd. A self-confident, rigorous and apparently gruff character, De Leverano is military in form and substance.
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The passions: fencing and beneficial activities
In reality, behind his uniformed armor, Draghi’s new military adviser has a marked affability from Salento, a sly look and a smile always ready to joke. A great fan of Inter, a lover of Neapolitan roasting coffee, supporter of many social charitable activities, De Leverano talks continuously with emotion about the “Fensing for change” project: an agreement between Defense and the Vatican “to promote sport as a vehicle for coexistence civilian and element of integration and social inclusion »reads the Army website. As commander of the Southern Forces in Naples, De Leverano organizes it with the Federico II University, the FIS-Italian fencing federation, the other institutional actors. Then it extends to young people between the ages of eight and 15 from all over the South: thousands of children, often from the neighborhoods most at risk, have learned to shoot with foil and saber. In February the general was awarded the “Badge of honor”, the highest honor of the FIS.
Challenges to the office of military adviser
In addition to handling the military and geostrategic dossiers for the Prime Minister, the new councilor will have to keep relations between Palazzo Chigi and the Ministry of Defense led by Lorenzo Guerini. After all, Guerini himself made the proposal to Draghi di De Leverano. At Palazzo Chigi he will have to reopen files already known to Smd: the protection of critical infrastructures, military import-export, the scenarios of migratory flows, the national defense industry, threats to national security up to the development of the so-called space sector and aerospace where Admiral Massagli had given a strong impulse.The office of the military adviser is responsible for supporting the Comint, the inter-ministerial committee for policies relating to space and aerospace, introduced with law 7 of 2018 to give homogeneity and coordination of national space policy. On this profile De Leverano should be joined by a deputy councilor, general of the Air Force.