Jukka Matti Juusti (born 16 May 1955) is a Finnish Engineer Major General (special officer), retired, and he holds a Master of Science degree in technology. When appointed as Permanent Secretary of the Ministry of Defence as of 1 January 2016, he followed Arto Räty in this post. Prior to the appointment, he acted as the Director of the Resource Policy Department in 2012–2015.
Juusti was born in Oulu. He took his matriculation examination at the upper secondary school of Riihimäki in 1974 and went on to study at Helsinki University of Technology where, in 1979, he completed his master's degree in the department of electrical engineering. He also completed the master's degree in Defence Administration in Great Britain in 1989. Jukka Juusti has a long career in the defence administration and he has also held various international positions. His career in the defence administration includes the positions as Deputy Chief of Staff, Logistics and Armaments (2011-2012); Chief Engineer of the Finnish Defence Forces (2006); and Chief of Armaments of the Finnish Defence Forces. He has also worked as a defence adviser at the Mission of Finland to Nato in Brussels from 1999 to 2003 and as Armaments Director in the European Defence Agency from 2008 to 2010.
There was a political debate on the proposal to appoint Juusti as Permanent Secretary; this also raised a lot of public discussion as the National Coalition Party and a number of experts wished that Arto Räty would continue in the position. The then Minister of Finance Alexander Stubb (National Coalition Party) requested referral of the matter. According to expert public servants, both generals were equally qualified for the task. The Government made a decision in line with the proposal of Minister of Defence Jussi Niinistö (True Finns) and Juusti was appointed. According to Niinistö, Juusti combines military and civilian competences, technical expertise and financial skills.
References
- "CV of Jukka Juusti" (PDF). Finnish Ministry of Defence. Retrieved 2013-02-02.
- ^ Pöyry, Sirkka (ed.) (1991). Diplomi-insinöörit ja arkkitehdit 1991 [‘Masters of Science (Technology) and Architects’]. Helsinki: Suomen teknillinen seura STS ry — Tekniska föreningen i Finland TFiF rf. p. 370.
{{cite book}}:|first=has generic name (help) - Kauhanen, Anna-Liina (2015-09-01). "Vallassa käytetään valtaaVääntö kansliapäälliköstä on osa sitä, miten perussuomalaiset muovautuu hallituspuolueeksi" [‘Power is about using power. The dispute about the chief of staff is part of the True Finns becoming a party of power in the government’]. Helsingin Sanomat (in Finnish). Sanoma. Retrieved 2016-02-02.
- ^ Toivonen, Terhi (2015-09-10). "Kiista sai päätöksen — Juusti nousee puolustusministeriön kansliapäälliköksi" [‘An end to the dispute — Juusti to become the chief of staff of the Ministry of Defence’]. YLE. Retrieved 2016-02-02.
- "Jukka Juusti puolustusministeriön kansliapäälliköksi" [‘Jukka Juusti to become the chief of staff of the Finnish Ministry of Defence’]. News release (in Finnish). Finnish Ministry of Defence. 2015-09-10. Retrieved 2016-02-02.
- Knuuti, Jukka (2015-09-03). "Älämölöä ja faktoja kansliapäällikkövalinnasta" [‘Lots of fuss and facts about the Permanent Secretary of the Ministry of Defence appointment’]. Suomen Sotilas (in Finnish). Archived from the original on 2016-10-11. Retrieved 2016-10-20.
- "Verkkouutiset: Upseeriliitto ihmettelee puolustusministeriön aikeita vaihtaa kansliapäällikköä" [‘Verkkouutiset news: The Union of Officers puzzled about the plans in the Ministry of Defence to change the Chief of Staff’] (in Finnish). YLE. 2015-09-06. Retrieved 2016-02-02.
- Koskinen, Mika (2015-09-10). "Jukka Juusti nimityskohusta: "Eihän tämä nyt kovin miellyttävää ole"" [‘Jukka Juusti about the appointment controversy: "Well, that wasn´t very pleasant"’]. Ilta-Sanomat (in Finnish). Retrieved 2016-10-20.