Latest News - Defense Security Cooperation University

The Institute for Security Governance (ISG) is humbled and proud to accept the Secretary of Defense Award for Excellence in Maintenance Training, Advice, and Assistance of Foreign Security Forces in the Ministerial Category, for a second year in a row. The 2020 award recognizes ISG’s efforts with partners in the Jordanian Armed Forces (JAF) to build capacity to conduct Capability Based Assessments (CBAs) to strengthen the effectiveness of one our important Middle Eastern partners.

We are proud to bring you the latest issue of The ISG Heron. In addition to featuring compelling goings-on around the Institute, The ISG Heron highlights our work in the world of Security Cooperation and our Institutional Capacity Building activities.

In April 2019, the Institute for Security Governance (ISG) was established by the Defense Security Cooperation Agency (DSCA) as the Department of Defense's Center of Excellence for Institutional Capacity Building (ICB). Despite the global pandemic, which hit just eight months into its transition from the Center for Civil-Military Relations (CCMR), ISG forecasted 413 Advising engagements and 98 Education events with 75 Partner Nations in FY21 alone.

ISG's Emergency Management and Resilience (EM&R) team conducted a virtual workshop in support of partnership with the Republic of Serbia from 10-11 March 2021. This workshop was the first in a series of two this year with the focus on emergency management arrangements and cooperation mechanisms between various ministries, agencies, and organizations for the receipt and/or delivery of international disaster assistance.

An ISG team led by Bob Tomasovic successfully supported the 16th iteration of Yudh Abhyas 2020 (YA20) (a bilateral exercise between the armies of India and the US) from 8-20 February 2021 in Rajasthan, India. The Command Post Exercise (CPX), built on the mutual, strategic objective to strengthen the alliance between the US and India, sought to enhance the level of defense cooperation among both armies, enable security cooperation efforts, foster bilateral relations, and reiterate India’s critical role as a key partner in the Indo-Pacific region.

Thomas-Durell Young, Senior Lecturer in European civil-military relations with the Education and Professional Practice (EPP) Division of the Institute for Security Governance (ISG), recently published an article titled "Capabilities-Based 'Confusion': Why Capabilities-Based Planning Systems Struggle" in The Korean Journal of Defense Analysis on the complexities of defining, implementing, and measuring the success of capabilities-based planning systems.