The new military (oops! in original title) naval man at the top of the ISAF command chain

A surprise (not least since he's a sea dog) and late pick for NATO SACEUR, made apparently without consultation:

Obama Choice Surprises Europeans

US Admiral James Stavridis is expected to take command of NATO forces soon. Obama's decision to appoint him has astounded many in Europe, but the nominee brings important experience to the Afghanistan mission.

For Europeans at least, President Barack Obama's choice for the new NATO commander comes as a surprise.

On Wednesday afternoon, e-mails circulating between Brussels and Berlin suggesting that, within the course of the day, Washington would name General James N. Mattis as the Supreme Allied Commander in Europe. The commander is in charge of all US troops in Europe as well as NATO deployments, including the ISAF security force in Afghanistan [emphasis added--the hat as head of US European Command is separate from the SACEUR hat--sort of like the double-hatting of US General David McKiernan in Afstan].

Admiral James Stavridis is expected to be approved by Congress as the next commander of NATO troops.

Traditionally, the United States appoints the supreme commander and the Europeans pick the NATO secretary general. The decision to appoint Mattis appeared to be a logical one. He has long carried the title "Supreme Allied Commander Transformation."

In the end, though, Mattis didn't get the appointment. Instead, Defense Minister Robert Gates announced that Admiral James Stavridis would be nominated for the highly prestigious position. The US Senate and the NATO Council must approve his nomination, but it appears likely he will get through. Gates said Stavridis was "probably one of the best senior military officers" in the US.

In Brussels, though, many felt bluffed. "America treats this like it's purely an American matter -- and they didn't even give any hints about the appointment," one NATO employee said. "The conspiratorial manner of the personnel search was almost reminiscent of the way the pope is selected," Stefani Weiss, a NATO expert at the Bertelsmann Stiftung foundation in Brussels, told SPIEGEL ONLINE.

It appears Obama was swayed towards Stavridis because the admiral, during his work as the head of the US Military Command in Latin America [officially US Southern Command], promoted cooperation between the military and civilian institutions. Washington now wants to adopt this approach as its new maxim in Afghanistan...

Stavridis is the first representative of the Navy to be nominated to command [emphasis added] the NATO forces. Because the mission in landlocked Afghanistan is largely focused on ground troops, the move surprised some in Washington. Nevertheless, military observers note that Stavridis is already working with all arms of the US armed forces in his current role.

Stavridis comes from Florida and he is a highly decorated graduate of the US Naval Academy. He has served in Haiti, Bosnia, the Persian Gulf and in the Iraq war. He is also the author of a number of books...

By the way, the story is dated March 19; no coverage in Canadian media--nor in the major US papers--that I could find.