Senior Course 121 Field Study: Prague

After an extremely fruitful visit to Germany, Senior Course 121 (SC 121) travelled on October 3 to Prague. There, Course Members were welcomed by the Czech Deputy Minister of Defence, Mr Michael
Hrbata, who highlighted the value of the Senior Course as a proven catalyst for mutual understanding, confidence-building and firm friendship.

Mr Hrbata also reminded the group that next month in Prague the Czech Republic will be hosting the NATO Parliamentary Assembly, a very important opportunity for representatives of member states’ parliaments to discuss a number of the priorities which feature on the Senior Course syllabus.

The first briefing of the day was given by Mr Jiří Schneider, First Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs. He explained the political underpinnings of Czech foreign policy and of the newly revised National Security Strategy. The second speaker, Mr Josef Opuštil, Director of Defence Policy at the Ministry of Defence, introduced Course Members to national defence policy. The information provided was completely up-to-date, since the Czech Government validated its new Defence Strategy just last week. Mr Opuštil described the key elements that inform the Czech perception of current threats and challenges to Europe, and concluded his speech with a summary of the results of the Visegrád Group (or V4) cooperation in Central Europe.

The session ended with a presentation by a panel which included three representatives of the Force Planning Division of the Czech Armed Forces: Brigadier General František Mičánek , Director (Former NDC Faculty Adviser); Colonel Jaroslav
Sejpka , Deputy Director (NDC Ancien); and Colonel Petr Pargač, Head of the Force Development and Planning Department. They explained how the Czech Army is structured, the changes it is set to undergo, and how it operates in NATO, EU and UN missions in various theatres around the world.

NDC Public Affairs Office