Jamie Shea

Jamie Patrick Shea (born 11 September 1953 in London) is a retired official of NATO. He was Deputy Assistant Secretary General for Emerging Security Challenges at NATO Headquarters in Brussels, Belgium until his retirement in late September 2018. He received worldwide attention during the 1999 Kosovo War, when he served as the spokesperson for NATO. He described the children and adult civilians killed by the NATO bombing of Serbia in the effort to prevent the Serbs from retaining Kosovo as the "cost to defeat an evil".

He attended Sir George Monoux Grammar School in Walthamstow, London and received his B.A. (Hons.) in Modern History and French from the University of Sussex (1977) and his D.Phil. in Modern History from Lincoln College, Oxford (1981).

Shea was appointed Companion of the Order of St Michael and St George (CMG) in the 2020 New Year Honours for services to diplomacy and public service.

Shea is married and has two children, Chiara and Alexander.

Positions within NATO

 * October 2010 – September 2018
 * Deputy Assistant Secretary General for Emerging Security Challenges


 * August 2005 – October 2010
 * Director of Policy Planning


 * April 2003 – August 2005
 * Deputy Assistant Secretary General for External Relations, Public Diplomacy Division


 * October 2000 – March 2003
 * Director of Information and Press


 * 1993–2000
 * Spokesman of NATO and Deputy Director of Information and Press.


 * 1991–1993
 * Deputy Head and Senior Planning Officer, Policy Planning Unit and Multilateral Affairs Section of the Political Directorate, NATO.
 * Speechwriter to the Secretary General of NATO.


 * 1988–1991
 * Assistant to the Secretary General of NATO for Special Projects.


 * 1985–1988
 * Head of External Relations Conferences and Seminars.


 * 1982–1985
 * Head of Youth Programmes.


 * 1980–1982
 * Administrator in Council Operations Section of Executive Secretariat.

Academic positions

 * As of 2006 (start dates unknown)
 * Professor, College of Europe, Brugge
 * Lecturer, Brussels School of International Studies, University of Kent.


 * 1993 onward
 * Lecturer in the European Studies Program of the University of Antwerp.


 * 1991 onward
 * Course instructor, Boston University, Massachusetts.


 * 1988 onward
 * Member of the Advisory Council, International Relations Studies and Programme of Université Libre de Bruxelles.


 * 1987–1990
 * Lecturer in Defence Studies, University of Lille.


 * 1987 onward
 * Adjunct Associate Professor of International Relations, James Madison College, Michigan State University.
 * Director of the Michigan State University Summer School in Brussels.


 * 1985 onward
 * Associate Professor of International Relations, American University, Washington, D.C.


 * 2014 onward
 * Honorary Fellow of the Security and Strategy Institute, University of Exeter, United Kingdom.


 * 2020 onward
 * President of the Center for War Studies, University of Southern Denmark.