Estado-Maior-General das Forças Armadas

Armed Forces General Staff Estado-Maior-General das Forças Armadas
Military Standard of Portugal
Active	1950–1974 (SGDN); 1974–present (EMGFA)
Country	Portugal
Branch	Armed forces
Type	Military staff
Part of	Portuguese Armed Forces
Headquarters	Lisbon
Motto(s)	Que quem quis sempre pôde ("Who wills aye finds a way", from The Lusiads, Canto IX, 95, v. 6)
Engagements	Invasion of Goa Portuguese Colonial War IFOR SFOR EUFOR KFOR Afghanistan War Peacekeaping missions Angola Bosnia Croatia Macedonia Western Sahara Georgia Lebanon
Commanders
Chief of Staff of the Armed Forces	General Artur Neves Pina Monteiro www.emgfa.pt

General Artur Neves Pina Monteiro

The Armed Forces General Staff (Portuguese: Estado-Maior-General das Forças Armadas), or EMGFA, is the supreme military body of Portugal. It is responsible for the planning, command and control of the Portuguese Armed Forces.

EMGFA is headed by the Chief of the General Staff of the Armed Forces (Portuguese: Chefe do Estado-Maior-General das Forças Armadas) or CEMGFA, the highest rank of general in the Portuguese Armed Forces.

The present Armed Forces General Staff was created in 1950, as the Secretariat-General of National Defence (Portuguese: Secretariado-Geral da Defesa Nacional) or SGDN. The SGDN was the central planning organization of the Defense, being headed by the Chief of the Armed Forces General Staff, under the dependency of the minister of National Defense (both roles also being created at the same time). Besides having the role of secretary-general of the SGDN, the CEMGFA also assumed most of the responsibilities until then assigned to the military heads of the Navy and of the Army (the then existing service branches, as the Air Force would only be created in 1952). The creation of the SGDN and of the roles of CEMGFA and minister of National Defense marked the integration of the several military service branches and so the creation of the Armed Forces of Portugal as a single organization.

In 1969, it was decreed that SGDN should be remodeled in order to be transformed into the EMGFA, as the organization for the joint administration of the Armed Forces. However, transformation of the SGDN into the EMGFA occurred in 1974.

The Armed Forces General Staff is integrated into the Portuguese Ministry of National Defence and includes:

Under the dependency of the CEMGFA are also:

The Chief of the General Staff of the Armed Forces is the operational commander of the Portuguese Armed Forces in times of peace. In times of war, he assumes the complete command of the Armed Forces. The CEMGFA is a general officer of one of the three branches of the Armed Forces (Navy, Army or Air Force), appointed by the President of the Portuguese Republic, by proposal of the Government of Portugal.