Português
National Professional Career
Fernando Bessa joined the Portuguese army, in 1985, at the Centre for Special Operations, in Lamego. Between 1986 and 1988 he attended the officer course of the former Fiscal Guard and joined the permanent staff of this force where held several command/leadership and trainer positions, highlighting the role of platoon training commander; section head of physical education and sports (also responsible for the participation of the athletics teams in the military world championships) and commander of a group operating in the fiscal, customs and tax area in the Lisbon area.
In 1993, he joined the National Republican Guard (Portuguese acronym GNR for Guarda Nacional Republicana) and was placed at the Training School where he held various positions, among which section head responsible for planning and coordinating all training provided within the GNR; section head of physical education and sports; the activity of trainer for tax and customs legislation and the Commander of a Driving Training Company (responsible for training drivers of all categories in the GNR) where he was responsible for the management of human, material, administrative and logistic resources.
Between 2005 and 2010 he was transferred to the territorial service where he also held various positions, including Deputy Commander of the Territorial Group of Sintra where he was responsible for personnel management and logistics; Chief of Logistics of the 2ndTerritorial Brigade; Liaison Officer for Safety and Rescue Operations in Lisbon; section chief of operations/intelligence and public relations of the Territorial Command of Lisbon.
In 2010, Col. Fernando Bessa was placed, by choice, at the Military Academy where he served until 2012 as the Director of Training Courses for GNR officers, responsible for all aspects related to the training and support of these cadets and in 2013 he was placed in the Coastal Control Unit where he was appointed Chief of Logistics and Financial Resources and in 2014 he was appointed as Chief of the GNR Operational Centre of Command and Control.
The cited officer successfully attended several training and specialization courses nationwide, among which: Special Forces Operations Course (1985); Mountaineering Course (1985); Military Physical Education Course (1989), Parachuting Course (1990); Specialized Training Course of Military Physical Education (1991-92); Captain's Promotion Course (1993); Senior Officer Promotion Course (2000); Journalism Technics Course (2002), Advanced Course in SPSS (2009) and National Defence Course (2010-11).
International career path
He began his international career in 1996-1998 with his participation in the United Nations peacekeeping missions in Angola (UNAVEM III and MONUA). In 1999 he attended the Motorcycle Course and in 2000 the Staff Officer Course both within the French National Gendarmerie. In 2003/04 he served as Staff Officer to the area of intelligence and operations in Iraq Freedom/Anticua Babiloniamission in the Multinational Specialized Unit in An Nasiriyah- Iraq. In 2004 he was appointed GNR liaison officer at the CarabinieriGeneral Headquarters (Rome) to coordinate all matters relating to the participation of this force in Iraq. During 2008/09 he served in the EU missions in Kosovo (EULEX and EUPT) as an advisor to different community matters and finally, in 2012, he served in the UN mission in East Timor (UNMIT) as adviser to the Police Commissioner and Commander of the National Police of Timor-Leste (PNTL) in all matters of security and connection between CIVPOL and PNTL forces.
In the context of peace operations, he attended the Non Military Crisis Management Course of the European Police College (Spain, 2001) and the Civil Crisis Management Course at the Institute of National Defence (Portugal, 2010), and has successfully completed several courses online: Hostile Environment Security Course (European Union); UN Prevention of Harassment, Sexual Abuse of Authority and Harassment in the Workplace; Integrity Awareness Initiative online learning program (UN); Basic Security in the Field II (UN); In the Advanced Security Field (UN); Common Security and Defence Policy (PfP LMS); Introduction to NATO (PfP LMS); United Nations Peacekeeping Operations: An Introduction (2014).
Academic achievements
Throughout his academic career, he completed his Ph.D. in Sociology (2012) and presented a thesis under the Internal Security (GNR officers - A sociological analysis), a Masters in Sociology of Labour, Enterprises and Work (2006) with a dissertation subject also to a security theme (Young people and the Portuguese Security Forces - comparative study) and a degree in Sociology and Planning (2002), at the Higher Institute of Business and Labour Sciences (ISCTE) of Lisbon.
He participated in several conferences and workshops on the police and armed forces. He coordinated an investigation project at the Centro de Investigação e Desenvolvimento do Instituto Universitário Militar, which analyzed the cadets of the military academies in different dimensions and it was proposed to continue the project due to its pertinency and first achievement as the first project to do such analysis. He is also an investigator at Centro de Investigação e Estudos de Sociologia where he is developing a project about the cadets of the police forces.
He is a member of the International Sociological Association, European Research Group on Military and Society, Portuguese Association of Sociology and National Defence Course Association.
He speaks and writes fluent English, French and Italian and can also communicate in Spanish.
On his tour of duty, he was praised 11 times and was awarded national and foreign medals, highlighting the degree of Commander of the Order of Aviz, the Medal of Military Merit (2ndClass) and medals for Distinguished Service to Public Safety (Gold and Silver).
