Colonel Ben F. Klappe took up his current appointment as Chief of Staff of the NATO Rule of Law Field Support Mission in Afghanistan in October 2011. After his commission in 1981, Colonel Klappe commanded logistic and training units and served in staff positions during the first half of his career, including a tour as company commander with UNPROFOR in Bosnia-Herzegovina in 1993. From 1999 to 2002, Colonel Klappe was acting Director at the International Institute of Humanitarian Law in San Remo, Italy where he was responsible for the organization, development and management of courses and seminars on the Law of Armed Conflict. Thereafter, he served at the United Nations’ Headquarters in New York as the Special Assistant to the UN Military Adviser from December 2002 to July 2006.
On returning from the U.S. in August 2006, he was appointed as a Criminal Court Judge and Military Judge in the Criminal Law Department of the District Court Arnhem. He also served as a visiting senior lecturer on international law, criminal law and criminal procedure law at the Netherlands Defence Academy. Colonel Klappe is a member of the International Society for Military Law and the Law of War, the International Institute of Humanitarian Law and the editorial board of the Journal of International Peacekeeping.