Anne-Grete Strøm-Erichsen

In February 2013, she moderated her standing on whether or not Sweden could receive military assistance if they were attacked. She expressed that it was something she could not promise. Prior to that, she had attended a NATO summit with fellow ministers of defence, and later visited Stockholm.

In the summer of 2013, under her leadership, the Storting decided to introduce gender-neutral conscription in the Norwegian Armed Forces, which was introduced in 2015 under her successor, Ine Eriksen Søreide's leadership.

Following a cabinet reshuffle on 21 September 2012, she was reappointed as minister of defence succeeding Espen Barth Eide, who had been appointed minister of foreign affairs.

In February 2009, Strøm-Erichsen stated that Norway had participated strongly with special forces in Afghanistan, notably with 600 soldiers and 750 NOK a year, in response to the US's indication to pressure NATO allies to send more soldiers.

After the 2009 election, she was appointed Minister of Health and Care Services.

In April 2008, Strøm-Erichsen received tenders from the aircraft manufacturers Saab and Lockheed Martin to deliver the new fighter jets to the Norwegian Air Force. The respective manufacturers' aircraft were presented by the U.S Ambassador to Norway Benson K. Whitney and Swedish Defence Minister Sten Tolgfors respectively. Strøm-Erichsen described it as a difficult decision to make, as the two aircraft represent different military operational qualities with different industrial agreements at the bottom.

In September 2007, Strøm-Erichsen expressed that Norwegian special forces in Afghanistan could have killed hostile elements, further adding that there was reason to believe that they had, and it was "not something we hide".

She was elected to the Storting from Hordaland in the 2005 election. On 17 October 2005, she was appointed Minister of Defence in the Red-Green Coalition government headed by Jens Stoltenberg. Her seat in parliament was taken by Dag Ole Teigen.

Strøm-Erichsen was mayor of Bergen from 1999 to 2000 and chaired its city council from 2000 to 2003. Being mayor, she was the president of the Organization of World Heritage Cities from 1999 to 2001. She also chaired the county party chapter from 1997 to 1999, and was a member of the Labour Party central committee from 2002 to 2007.

Strøm-Erichsen was educated in EDB engineering at Bergen University College in 1974. She then studied at the South Dakota School of Mines & Technology in the United States until 1981 and worked with the EDB systems at the University of Bergen until 1984. She was later senior consultant in Siemens Nixdorf from 1988 to 1991 and BDC AS from 1991 to 1995.

Anne-Grete Hjelle Strøm-Erichsen (born 21 October 1949 in Bergen) is a Norwegian politician for the Labour Party. She served as Minister of Defence from 2005 to 2009 and again from 2012 to 2013. She also served as Minister of Health and Care Services from 2009 to 2012. In local politics, she served as the Mayor of Bergen from 1999 to 2000 and its first Chief Commissioner from 2000 to 2003.