News Posts - Defense Security Cooperation University

In the 2022 Autumn issue of The U.S. Army War College Quarterly, Parameters, ISG Africa Regional Program Lead Dr. Whitney Grespin reviews Benedict Wilkinson's Scripts of Terror: The Stories Terrorists Tell Themselves (Oxford University Press, 2020). In the review, she notes that, "the work reads primarily as academic. Wilkinson’s (admirable) observation of the central problem lacks a 'step further' approach." Nevertheless, Dr. Grespin goes on to say that, "Even with areas in need of improvement, Scripts of Terror could serve as a useful primer for VEO case studies. It could prepare practitioners as pre-deployment reading for a better understanding of the foundations and evolutions of potential adversaries." 

Read the full review here.

ISG's International Defense Acquisition Resource Management team recently executed a 2-week Advanced Defense Logistics and Life Cycle Cost Management course in Miami, Florida for a group of Partner Nation participants affiliated with the U.S. Department of State's Central America Maritime Regional Initiative (CAMRI). ISG Course Director Brooke Adame joined students, the instructional team, and the SOUTHCOM J5 CAMRI Integrator on a tour of Coast Guard Sector Miami to reinforce practical application of maritime maintenance and logistics considerations.

Over the past year, an Institute for Security Governance’s (ISG) Resident Advisor has been deployed to Qatar and working with the Qatar Armed Forces (QAF) on an ongoing safety and security mission. Encompassed in this line of effort is the development of a security operations plan for the International Federation of Football Association’s (FIFA) 2022 World Cup, scheduled to begin in November.

ISG was honored to host DSCA Director Mr. James Hursch along with DSCU President Dr. Celeste Gventer at in Monterey this week. In addition to learning more from faculty and staff about the growth and impact of ISG’s work in areas such as Cyber and Resilience, Dr. Hursch shared an overview of DSCA’s strategic priorities, including the expanding role that Institutional Capacity Building will play in U.S. defense strategy. Director Hursch was generous with his time at the well-attended ISG Town Hall event, providing insightful responses to questions from ISG colleagues.

We look forward to continuing to contribute to the important work that happens throughout the Security Cooperation Enterprise.

ISG recently supported The Indonesian National Armed Forces (TNI), U.S. Indo-Pacific Command, and service members from dozens of partner nations in Exercise Garuda Canti Dharma 2022, Indonesia. This regionally rotating exercise is the largest annual international peacekeeping field training exercise in the world. ISG's Peacekeeping and Exercises Program trained and mentored multinational teams of instructors to execute a Staff Training Event and a Field Training Event for over 750 Indonesian and International Peacekeepers.

ISG's International Defense Acquisition Resource Management team executed a successful mobile education team event focused on fundamental concepts and challenges associated with national and global defense contracting for the South African National Defense Force. Participants from across the services were engaged and are working to identify and implement procurement applications within across the defense environment.

Mr. Nicholas (Nick) Tomb – a Functional Lead for Security Governance and Civil-Military Relations at the Institute for Security Governance (ISG) – recently returned from Washington D.C., where he presented on the successful completion of a two-year (2020-2022), in-country Educating-the-Educators Seminar Series for the Ghana Armed Forces (GAF) to the Bureau for Political-Military Affairs and the Africa Bureau for Regional Security Affairs. As Mr. Tomb reported in his presentation, the goals of the seminar series were to enable the GAF to conduct Civil-Military Operations (CMO) education on its own and to develop a program of instruction tailored to the specific needs of its military. 

ISG's International Defense Acquisition Resource Management team recently completed a 3-day intensive "Principles of Defense Acquisition Management" virtual workshop. This workshop provided 16 international military students from Argentina, Ecuador, El Salvador, Colombia, Costa Rica, and Guatemala an examination of fundamental defense acquisition, logistics. and life cycle cost management considerations. Students were engaged in identifying challenges and opportunities to improve current acquisition management systems within Latin America & the Caribbean defense and security forces in the context of a real world scenario. Students highlighted the enriching experience of participating in a multilateral courses as it enabled a sharing of different perspectives, similar challenges, and practical opportunities for improving decision making.

The Institute for Security Governance recently conducted engagements with the Philippine Army, Air Force, and Special Operations Command with support from the Defense Institute of International Legal Studies (DIILS). The engagements focused on Civilian Harm Mitigation in accordance with the Philippines’ new defense posture towards territorial defense.

ISG recently completed a two-week “Fundamentals of Maritime Security” course with 26 international participants from 13 countries. 

In addition to presentations and exercises, highlights of the course included visits to USCG Station Monterey and tour of their 47-foot Motor Life Boats and their 87-foor Cutter HAWKSBILL as well as an all-day visit to San Francisco’s Japanese-American Historical Society’s Military Intelligence School, the Civil War-era Fort Point, and the USS Pampanito, a World War II submarine.

The Institute for Security Governance recently completed an Institutional Capacity Building (ICB) workshop in Somalia on Human Resource Management and Logistics to facilitate integration between the Danab Brigade, the Somalia National Army (SNA) personnel, and logistics headquarter staffs. These specific capacity building efforts support the Danab Brigade in performing its critical counter-terrorism role in Somalia – a key shared bilateral security goal as well as one of AFRICOM’s top priorities.

ISG supported U.S. Army Pacific (USARPAC) in the initial planning and design of the 2023 "Pacific Resilience" Disaster Exercise and Exchange (DREE) in Tumon, Guam. National delegates from Republic of Korea, India, Nepal, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, and the Maldives attended the event, which was hosted at the Guam National Guard Headquarters. The Pacific Resilience multinational exercise series aims to increase unity of effort, interoperability, and disaster response capacity within the regional Indo-Pacific disaster management community of practice.

The Institute for Security Governance’s Peacekeeping and Exercises (PKX) Team recently returned from the Khaan Quest 2022 Command Post Exercise (CPX) in Mongolia. A long-term implementation partner with U.S. Army Pacific Peacekeeping Exercise in Mongolia, ISG has developed and executed the CPX for Khaan Quest for over 10 years. The ISG Team is solely responsible for the design, planning, and facilitation of the CPX using an ISG-developed peacekeeping scenario that is annually tailored to meet the guidelines agreed upon by the U.S. and Mongolian Armies each year.

In this issue of The ISG Heron, the Institute shares the fruits of its first On-Site in Monterey since the start of the Pandemic, reflects on the DSCU President's successful visit, highlights ICB work around the world, gives a Standing Ovation to an outstanding Program Analysis Support Team Lead, spotlights a New Primer focused on ISG’s Work with Women, Peace, and Security , and many more newsworthy developments.

ISG’s work with Partners and Allies is rooted in the imperative to enhance the effectiveness of their defense and security processes to meet shared security objectives. Women, Peace, and Security (WPS) is a policy framework that recognizes women must be critical actors and provide meaningful participation in major national security and defense priorities at home and abroad. Learn more about how ISG is working to integrate WPS into all facets of its work. Click here to view the Women, Peace, and Security Primer.

Over the past three years, ISG has strategically worked to align Institutional Capacity Building development, execution, and education within DSCA and DSCU. Today we celebrate this milestone with this brief snapshot of ISG’s FY21 accomplishments in the pursuit of advancing Security Cooperation. Click here to view the ISG Turns Three Infographic.

Brigadier General Geraldine Janet George – the current Deputy Chief of Staff of the Armed Forces of Liberia (AFL) – is a female career soldier with extensive military leadership skills. To further hone those skills, she recently completed two Resident Courses at ISG headquarters in Monterey, CA: Executive Program in Defense Decision-making (January 2022) and Women In Strategic Defense & Security Decision-Making  (February 2022).

In this issue of The ISG Heron: Institute Resident Advisors are congratulated for receiving the Joint Meritorious Unit Award, ISG welcomes new, key team members, ICB work around the world is highlighted, a Standing Ovation for an outstanding Advising Principal is given, and many more newsworthy developments.

This past month, the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff awarded the Joint Meritorious Unit Award for exceptionally meritorious service to Headquarters, United States Central Command and select subordinate units. We are proud to announce that included among the ranks of those awarded were eight Institute for Security Governance Resident Advisors, who were deployed in region at the time and contributed to the mission. Bravo Zulu!

In 2019, the Institute for Security Governance first deployed Resident Advisors to Romania in support of its efforts to reform its human resource management systems.  Romania seeks to fully retire its communist-legacy practices and implement a modern system consistent with an all-volunteer force that is operationally integrated with its capability development process.

The partnership between the United States and Qatar is rooted in “the common goal of a stable, secure, and prosperous Middle East.” The U.S. has been working with Qatar – as well as with other members of the Gulf Cooperation Council – “to increase cooperation on border security, maritime security, military preparedness, cybersecurity, and counterterrorism.”