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Chapter 12: The Military Command Structure The Military Structure   Allied Command Europe (ACE) Allied Command Europe (ACE) changed to Allied Command Operations (ACO) since 1 September 2003 NATO's Civil and Military Structure SACEUR is the senior military commander for NATO's Strategic Command (SC) Europe. He is a United States (US) Flag or General officer. His command is exercised from the Supreme Headquarters Allied Powers Europe (SHAPE) at Casteau, Mons, Belgium. The task of Allied Command Europe is to safeguard the area extending from the northern tip of Norway to Southern Europe, including the whole of the Mediterranean, and from the Atlantic coastline to the eastern border of Turkey, and includes an area around the Canary Islands and its associated airspace. This equates to 3 243 532 square kilometres of land, more than three million square kilometres of sea, and a population of 408 364 867 million people. In the event of crisis, the Supreme Allied Commander Europe becomes responsible for implementing military measures to defend, preserve the security, or restore the integrity, of Allied Command Europe's Area of Responsibility within the framework of the authority given to him by the Alliance's political authorities. Within Allied Command Europe, there are two Regional Commands responsible to the Supreme Allied Commander Europe: Allied Forces North Europe (AFNORTH): Brunssum, the Netherlands. Allied Forces South Europe (AFSOUTH): Naples, Italy.