Operation Gladio by the dissolution of the French stay-behind paramilitary movements. Historian Daniele Ganser claims that: Next to the CPC, a second secret army command center, labeled Allied Clandestine Committee (ACC), was set up in 1957 on the orders of NATO's Supreme Allied Commander in Europe (SACEUR). This military structure provided for significant US leverage over the secret stay-behind networks in Western Europe as the SACEUR, throughout NATO's history, has traditionally been a US General who reports to the Pentagon in Washington and is based in NATO's Supreme Headquarters Allied Powers Europe (SHAPE) in Mons, Belgium. The ACC's duties included elaborating on
Exercise Longstep on a renewed urgency following the outbreak of the Korean War, prompting NATO to establish Supreme Headquarters Allied Powers Europe (SHAPE) under the command of General of the Army Dwight D. Eisenhower, U.S. Army, on 2 April 1951. Exercise Longstep was an early naval exercise for SHAPE's southern regional command, Allied Forces Southern Europe (AFSOUTH). The overall exercise commander for Grand Slam was Admiral Robert B. Carney USN, NATO's Commander-in-Chief Allied Forces Southern Europe (CINCSOUTH). AFSOUTH component commanders during Longstep were: The objective of the Allied ("Blue") forces was to dislodge enemy ("Green") invasion forces from their occupying positions in