Given the task definition and input, reply with output. In this task, you're given a question, along with a context passage. The passage will not have a direct answer to the question, but can include some information and a clue for the answer. Assuming you can only obtain information about one entity in the passage, your job is to determine whether information from the passage can be used to answer the question. Indicate your choice as 'a' for Yes or 'b' for No.

Question: Who preceded the NATO Secretary General that awarded the NATO Meritorious Service Medal to Ian Forbes? Passage:After promotion to rear admiral in 1996, Forbes was appointed Military Advisor to Carl Bildt at the Office of the High Representative for Bosnia and Herzegovina in Sarajevo charged with reconstructing Bosnia and Herzegovina following the Bosnian War. He also acted as the Chief of Staff in the Office of the High Representative during this period. Appointed as the Commander United Kingdom Task Group, he led the Battle Group's contribution during the Gulf Crisis of 1998, and during the NATO led Kosovo War in the Adriatic Sea in 1999. This appointment carried with it the NATO post of Commander Anti-Submarine Warfare Striking Force. He went on to become the Flag Officer, Surface Flotilla in 2000, and was then sent, in the rank of admiral, in 2002 to the Supreme Allied Command Atlantic (SACLANT) in Norfolk, Virginia, United States, as the Deputy Supreme Allied Commander. In this post, he filled the role of Supreme Commander as the last SACLANT. While doing so, he was the architect of the new NATO Allied Command Transformation in Norfolk with responsibilities for the delivery of a transformation process across the Alliance mandated at the Prague Summit in 2003. Appointed as a Knight Commander of the Order of the Bath in 2003, he retired as the Deputy Supreme Allied Commander Transformation in 2004. For his work in Norfolk, he was awarded the inaugural NATO Meritorious Service Medal by the NATO Secretary General, George Robertson, at the NATO Defence Ministerial Meeting in Colorado Springs in 2003. In the following year, the United States government awarded him the Legion of Merit.
a