Annex A.pdf

Annex A: Seminar Descriptions

EXECUTIVE AND SENIOR EXECUTIVE SEMINARS

These NESA Center programs provide the foundation to build and enhance the NESA Center mission.

NESA holds Executive Seminars (ES) for leaders in the grades of lieutenant colonel and colonel and their civilian equivalents, and Senior Executive Seminars (SES) for flag and general officers, ambassadors, ministers and other senior leaders. Topics include the American national security structure and process, the current and future regional strategic environment, counterterrorism, the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction, strategic communications and disaster management. These off-the-record, not-for-attribution seminars encourage a frank, candid, and open exchange of views under Chatham House Rules.

Seminars generally contain 35-40 participants from 19-23 countries, including the United States. Plenary sessions bring in outside speakers, including senior U.S. government officials, academics, specialists from think tanks, as well as NESA faculty and experts. These experts help frame broad issues and generate thinking and discussion. Faculty lead small breakout groups, prompting frank discussions, analysis and cooperation to reach solutions to current security issues. In addition, NESA introduced a series of themed Executive Seminars, some functionally based such as "Strategic Communications" and others regionally based such as "Eurasia Challenges and Issues", and have experimented with English Only and Arabic Only programs to better meet the needs of our growing regional partners.

COMBATING TRANSNATIONAL THREATS (CTT)

Designed for career practitioners dealing with a range of transnational threats, these workshops seek to build capacity and enhance regional partnerships. NESA sponsors three CTT seminars per year, including one for senior executives. Key themes include: defining regional terrorist threats; assessing regional, sub-regional, and national responses; tools, strategies and best practices for combating terrorism, criminal gangs, and other non-state actors; strategies for enhancing national and regional cooperation; and a case study/ capstone experience. Participants have the opportunity to present individual case studies and to meet with senior officials, Capitol Hill staffers, lobbyists, and others to learn how they formulate policy. A wide range of experts on regional affairs, transnational threats, U.S.

policy, and strategic issues share their thoughts and ideas within plenary sessions and focused breakout groups. In addition, we have expanded our programs to focus on a more targeted audience with themed

CTT programs such as "Good Governance, Social Justice, and Rule of Law "drawing from regional justice ministries, military protection of regime units and relevant rule of law ministries and "Central Asia and the NESA Region: Cooperation in Combating Transnational Threats" analyzing bilateral, regional, and international efforts to manage and deter transnational threats specifically in the region of South and

Annex A: Seminar Descriptions (Continuation)

Central Asia. This allows NESA to quickly respond to strategic changes and needs in our region with tailored programs.

U.S.-SOUTH ASIA LEADER ENGAGEMENT PROGRAM (NESA-HARVARD)

The NESA Center in cooperation with the John F. Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University (Harvard Kennedy School or HKS) launched a new program called the U.S.-South Asia Leader Engagement Program in the spring of 2011. The program brings approximately 15 senior officers each from India, Pakistan and Afghanistan, and approximately 7 senior officers from the U.S. together in an academic environment at Harvard Kennedy School and at NESA Center. The program builds around a one-week session at Harvard followed by a four-five day session in Washington, DC, culminating in a certificate ceremony. The focus is to facilitate discussions among participants on current regional/sub-regional security issues. The purpose of the program is to build trust and understanding between rising military and government leaders, as well as key academics and influencers, to create fora that can withstand the ups and downs of shifting political relationships.

STRATEGIC FORUM SERIES

The Strategic Forum series brings together a small, hand-selected group of NESA Alumni from across the spectrum of government, as well as from the "whole of society." The venues focus on issues sub-regionally based with a more active role for our regional partners as panelists and speakers throughout the program. Small working groups focus on creating/fine-tuning "Recommendations" for the U.S. and regional governments in a Track II-like style.

WASHINGTON SEMINAR SERIES

NESA hosts monthly Washington Seminars for an audience composed primarily of diplomats and military officers assigned to Washington, D.C. The seminar’s purpose is to encourage informal and constructive dialogue among these senior national security professionals of disparate backgrounds and perspectives. This event, open to all diplomats from countries with a strategic interest in the NESA region, attracts ambassadors, defense attachés, deputy chiefs of mission and political counselors representing NESA-region embassies in Washington.

Annex A: Seminar Descriptions (Continuation)

SENIOR NATIONAL REPRESENTATIVES SEMINAR

Working with USCENTCOM, NESA hosts a biannual seminar on strategic issues for the Senior National

Representatives from U.S. coalition partners, NATO, and other countries. These seminars deal with current issues, policy formation, as well as national and international perspectives. We have expanded the program to take advantage of the NESA Alumni created in this program and continuing their education back at CENTCOM. A NESA faculty assigned to CENTCOM will direct Graduate-level one day Senior National Representative Seminars to continue our active engagement with these Alumni.

US, PAKISTAN, AND AFGHANISTAN PROGRAMS

NESA Center holds a series of bilateral and trilateral seminars to foster relationships between Afghanistan, Pakistan and the United States. One-week bilateral seminars are co-hosted with the House Democratization Assistance Commission in the U.S. House of Representatives and are designed to introduce parliamentarians from the legislative branches of Afghanistan and Pakistan to U.S. democracy and to facilitate dialogue between the parliamentarians and their U.S. counterparts. Two-week trilateral seminars are conducted with participation from the Afghanistan National Army and Police forces and the Pakistan Army concentrating on border security issues. Two-week Pakistan military seminars introduce senior leaders of the Pakistan Armed Forces to the U.S. Government’s national security structure/apparatus and to overcome the “trust deficit” between the U.S. and Pakistan necessary to achieve mutually supportive regional and international security. Building on the success of these programs NESA is expanding the initiative to programs dealing bi-laterally and regionally with India, as well as Nepal.

EMBASSY ORIENTATION PROGRAM

In response to suggestions from local embassies, each year the NESA Center conducts a week-long orientation program specifically designed for those diplomats and military attachés who have been recently assigned to Washington, D.C. The overall theme of this program is “How Washington Really Works." Individual sessions introduce the structure and dynamics of the U.S. national security policy-making process and the interaction of various executive and legislative actors involved in day-to-day security decision-making. These sessions are presented by former senior U.S. Government officials and veteran observers of the Washington scene in a nonattribution setting. The program includes both sessions at the NESA Center and field trips within Washington.

REGIONAL NETWORK OF STRATEGIC CENTERS

The RNSSC brings together academic institutions from countries in the Near East and South Asia region several times a year to expand strategic dialogue on issues of critical common concern. It expands regional cooperation by promoting sustained strategic dialogue, conducting collaboratively developed research, and disseminating published analyses to assist policymakers and defense educators. Intended as a partnership with the countries of the NESA region, the RNSSC currently enjoys co-sponsorship from the Institute for Strategic Studies, Research and Analysis, National Defense College, Pakistan; the Center for Strategic Research (SAM) in Turkey; the Center for Strategic Studies, Royal Jordanian National Defense College, Jordan; and the Institute for Defense Studies and Analyses, India. Other Centers from around the region have taken a leading role in chairing the four standing working groups and other projects of the Network. The Network conducts business through traditional face -to-face meetings and working group activities and virtual activities, including information sharing, online publications/periodicals, online curricula, discussion/chat features, and a content/resource library. In addition, the Network fosters opportunities for horizontal collaboration on various research topics among its affiliated institutions.