Jorge Saramago is an Army Major General in reserve status, qualified with the General Staff Course and the General Officer Promotion Course, and has a License and master's degree in Military Sciences, both from the Military Academy.

In the various roles he held throughout his career, his vast and diverse professional experience stands out, particularly in various aspects of training, as well as teaching in university higher education, as a professor of strategy and geopolitics in Portugal, at the Instituto Universitário Militar, and in Angola, at the Instituto Superior de Ensino Militar, within the scope of Portuguese technical-military cooperation.

His technical and management experience is highlighted in the areas of human resources administration, strategic planning, planning of forces and capabilities in the Army General Staff and also in high-level consultancy, as adviser to the Minister of National Defense, twice, and of the Chief of Staff of the Army.

He served in NATO in three different situations. At the NATO Rapid Deployable Corps Italy Headquarters, in Milan, as Head of the Plans and Projects Division (2003); at the International Security Assistance Force Headquarters, in Kabul, Afghanistan, as Chief of the Plans Division (2006) and at the Joint Analysis and Lessons Learned Center, in Lisbon, as Chief of Staff (2016).

As a General Officer, from 2019 onwards, he divided his activity between intelligence as Head of the Military Information and Security Center and Human Resources, in two distinct areas, as Director of Personnel Services and Director of Human Resources Administration.

He has published several books as well as articles that appear in various specialty magazines.

Joaquim Santana is a retired Infantry Colonel, holding a License in Military Sciences by the Military Academy. He's qualified with the Commandos and Airborne courses, and holds a Postgraduate Degree in Strategic and Security Studies, from the Faculty of Social and Human Sciences of Universidade Nova de Lisboa and the Institute of National Defense.

Of the various roles he has held throughout his career, his vast and diverse international experience stands out, namely through participation in four peacekeeping missions within the scope of the United Nations and NATO, in the Former Yugoslavia and in Timor-Leste (UNPROFOR, IFOR, SFOR, UNTAET), and two service commissions with the United Nations Department of Peacekeeping Operations, in New York, for a total of four and five years, respectively.

Already in reserve, he served for two years as a delegate for the armed and security forces with the International Committee of the Red Cross, in the Central African Republic, Gabon and Congo Brazzaville. Over the next six years, until October 2023, he joined the European Union's Regional Advisory and Coordination Cell for the Sahel (RACC), initially as defense advisor for Mauritania and then as regional advisor and defense coordinator for RACC, based in the European Union Delegation in Nouakchott and with experts deployed in the delegations of the five founding countries of the G5 Sahel (Burkina Faso, Chad, Mali, Mauritania and Niger).

Lieutenant-General Marco António Mendes Paulino Serronha was born in Alcácer do Sal, is 63 years old and has 45 years of service. He was promoted to his current position on December 6, 2018. He is in reserve status.

He holds a License and Master's degree in Military Sciences from the Military Academy, has a General Staff course and a General Officer Promotion Course. It also has the Commandos and Special Operations Courses, the Senior Course from the NATO Defense College, the Course leading to the Master's in Strategy from the Higher Institute of Social and Political Sciences of the University of Lisbon and the Course on International Humanitarian Law in Armed Conflicts from the Institute International Humanitarian Law, in San Remo, Italy.

Throughout his career, he served in various Units, Establishments and Bodies of the Army and the Armed Forces, including commander of the Commando Troops Center, Operational Commander of Madeira and Coordinating Director of the Army General Staff and 2nd Commander of the Land Forces.

While performing international duties, he was Head of the advisory team for the Commands project in Military Technical Cooperation/Angola in 1995, Commanding officer of the National Force deployed in Bosnia Herzegovina in 2000, and Army Adviser in the National Military Representation in NATO. As a General officer, he was Deputy Commander of the Kosovo Force, from August 2010 to September 2011 and, more recently, from Sep 2018 to Nov 2019, he was Deputy Force Commander of the UN Military Force in the Central African Republic.

From December 2019 to July 2022, he served as Chief of Staff of the Joint Command for Military Operations in the General Staff of the Armed Forces and subsquently until October 2023, he served as Adviser to the Chief of the General Staff of the Armed Forces on cooperation issues with Africa and CPLP.

He is Vice-President of the Portuguese Red Cross, responsible for the Emergency area.

He is a founding partner of the Lusitano Institute of Consultancy and Training for the Areas of Defense and Security – ILCADS

He is a member of the Board of Directors of Fundação Casa Carvalho Cerqueirahttps://www.fundacao-casacarvalhocerqueira.com/pt/.

He is a member of the Strategic Council of the Oeiras Valley Investment Agency, for the areas of Defense Technologies and Industries https://ovia.pt/pt/inicio/

He is a member of the Advisory Board of Europe’s War Institute https://opewi.com/ .

He is a member of the Strategic Reflection Group for Africa and the Middle East, of the National Defense Institute https://www.idn.gov.pt/pt/investigacao/reflexao .

He is a CNN commentator on military, strategic and defense issues.

He is a columnist for Opinião in Diário de Notícias, on military, security and defense topics.

He is a speaker and visiting professor on topics of Leadership, Defense, Security and International Relations. He has several articles published in specialized magazines and books.

He is married to Madalena Rosa Alves