NATO’s Forward Land Forces in Finland: Defending the northeastern frontline

Iro Särkkä is a Senior Research Fellow at the Finnish Institute of International Affairs and the Principal Investigator of the research project on Finland as NATO’s frontline state. Her main research interests include deterrence and defence of Northern Europe, NATO and the transatlantic link, French foreign and security policy, and questions of political behaviour

Särkkä has previously worked as a Senior Advisor at the University of Helsinki and as a Researcher and Special Advisor in the Finnish Defence Forces. She holds both a PhD and master’s degrees in political science from the University of Helsinki and is also a graduate of Science Po Lille and University College London, UK.

Jakob Gustafsson is an Analyst in FOI’s Department for Euro-Atlantic Security Policy. His main research areas are Northern European and transatlantic security and defence policy, with a particular focus on NATO and the Nordics. In recent years, he has analysed NATO’s evolving strategy for deterrence and defence, the Forward Land Forces in the Baltic states, NATO’s strategic concept, and how the countries of the Baltic Sea region reacted to the first Trump administration.

Petteri Kajanmaa is a retired Finnish Army Colonel, senior researcher of the Finnish National Defence University and strategic defense professional with more than 40 years of military service and leadership experience in national defense, international military cooperation, and NATO operations.

Troughout his career, Kajanmaa has held numerous senior leadership, advisory, and academic positions within the Finnish Defence Forces, focusing on military strategy, operational planning, security policy, and leadership development. Among his international assignments, he served as a very first Finland’s National Military Representative to NATO’s Allied Command Operations at Supreme Headquarters Allied Powers Europe (SHAPE) when Finland received its membership in NATO. Previously, he has been deployed to KFOR (Kosovo), ISAF (Afghanistan), UNIFIL (Lebanon), UNTSO (Israel), USAWC (the United States), and SHAPE (Belgium) gaining extensive experience in multinational operations, crisis management, and international defense cooperation.

Joel Linnainmäki is a Research Fellow in the Finland and Northern European security research programme at the Finnish Institute of International Affairs.

His recent research explores NATO’s alliance policy, defense cooperation in the Nordics, foreign policy schools of thought in Finland, and the impact of geoeconomic risks on security and supply in Finland and the European Union.

Linnainmäki is particularly well-read in Finnish foreign policy, security policy and defense policy. During the 2019–2023 government, he worked as the Special Advisor to Minister for Foreign Affairs Pekka Haavisto and oversaw preparations for Ministerial Committee on Foreign and Security Policy, the Government Report on Finnish Foreign Policy, and the Report on Finland’s Accession to NATO. He has also worked at the Parliament of Finland and several non-governmental organizations.

Linnainmäki is currently a Doctoral Researcher in global golitics at the University of Helsinki, focusing on European security order and NATO expansion. He completed his Master’s degree in global politics at the University of Helsinki, where his thesis focused on the debate around Finnish NATO membership.

In 2024, Linnainmäki was selected to participate in the prestigious Munich Young Leaders 2024 programme which is a joint project of the Munich Security Conference and Körber-Stiftung.