The Chief of the Joint Staff is appointed and removed by the Cabinet of Ministers on the proposal of the Minister of Defense.
Dilāns will be dismissed on July 3. Brigadier Kerlins will take up the post on August 1.
Kerlins has been serving in the NBS since 1992 and is currently serving as the National Military Representative at the Military Mission of the NATO Allied Command Operations in Mons, Belgium.
The NBS Joint Staff is the institution of the NBS Commander, which provides the Commander with the ability to exercise continuous command, information, documents, and proposals necessary for decision-making, control over the execution of his orders and instructions, as well as the organization of cooperation in combat operations.
The current NBS Commander, 67-year-old Leonīds Kalniņš, is due to leave office in January 2025. The law stipulates that the maximum age for senior officers in professional service is 65 years, while in the NBS reserve - 70 years.
