The 46th meeting of the NDC Academic Advisory Board (AAB) took place on 30th June and 1st July. The AAB this year was chaired by the Chairman of the NATO Military Committee (CMC), General Petr Pavel.
The main purpose of the AAB is to advise the NDC and the Commandant on ways to continue improving the academic, research, and outreach activities of the College; to provide close links with similar organizations; to offer practical links with NATO HQ and Allied Command Transformation so that the College’s educational, research, and outreach strategies contribute to those of the Alliance as a whole; and in particular, to discuss the development of the Courses of Actions recommended in the Final Report on the Review of the NDC (MCM-0133-2014).
The Board was composed of distinguished experts: General Petr Pavel (CZE A), Chairman of the NATO Military Committee (CMC): Vice Admiral Javier Gonzalez-Huix (ESP A), Deputy Chief of Staff Joint Force Trainer; MGen Vitalijus Vaikšnoras (LTU A), Commandant of the Baltic Defence College, Senior Research Associate at the Centre for International Studies at the University of Oxford and Councilor of the World Future Council; Professor Dr Carlo Masala (DEU C), Dean of the Faculty of “Staats- und Sozialwissenschaften” of the University of the German Armed forces in Munich; Professor Dr Peter V. Jakobsen (DNK C), Associate Professor from the Institute for Strategy of the Royal Danish Defence College; Dr Jean-Baptiste Jeangène Vilmer (FRA C), policy advisor on security issues at the French Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Participants from the NDC were: MGen Janusz Bojarski (POL F), NDC Commandant; Dr Daniels Skodnik (SVN C), NDCDean; MGen Pascal Valentin (FRA F), Division Head Academic Operations; BGen Salvatore Carta (ITA A), Director of Management; BGen Heinz Feldmann (DEU A), Division Head Academic Planning and Policy and AAB Executive Secretary; Dr Jeffrey Larsen (USA C), Research Division Head; Col Giuseppe Morabito (ITA A), Head Middle East Faculty; Mr Vincenzo Distefano (ITA C), Branch Head Budget and Finance; Col Kees Marselis (NLD F), MA to the Commandant; Col Frank Mathiassen (DNK F), HAPB; and Ms Karin Schillinger (NLD C), AAB Executive Assistant.
Other participants in attendance were: BGen (ret.) Frantisek Micanek (CZE), scheduled to take over as Dean of NDC; Cdr Jose Henriques (POR N), IMS-OPS NATO HQ; Cdr Francisco Martinez (ESP A), accompanying Vice Admiral Javier Gonzalez-Huix; Col Dirk Verhaeghe (BEL A), MA to CMC; and Maj Lukas Kolibal – ADC1 to CMC.
The CMC himself took time from his busy schedule to chair the meeting in order to discuss and update the curricula and other NDC activities and keep the educational content compatible with the ongoing challenges that the Alliance is facing today and will face in the future.
NDC Public Affairs Office
(Prepared by Mr Ali Eren Guven, TUR C)
Collège de Défense de l'OTAN