As the last stage of the curriculum of Senior Course 114, the Senior Course Members received lectures on the NATO Crisis Management System and on International Negotiation. These lectures were followed by a Crisis Management Exercise/ Negotiation, Mediation and Decision-Making Exercise (CMX/NMDX).
Firstly, Mr Ilay Ferrier, from the Planning Directorate of the Operations Division at NATO HQ, explained how NATO Crisis Management works, including the roles of the different bodies involved and the NATO Crisis Response System. He also stressed the importance of NATO’s contribution to an emerging Comprehensive Approach.
He was followed by Dr Bernd Goetze, former Secretary of the North Atlantic Council (NAC), and by Gen (ret.) Harald Kujat, former Chairman of the Military Committee (MC). They provided direct support to the Course Members by explaining the roles of the North Atlantic Council and the Military Committee in Crisis Management. Course Members, who role-played NAC and MC meetings during the exercise, benefited greatly from their informative insights.
Mr Anthony Cragg, former Assistant Secretary General for Defence Planning and Policy, then talked about practical approaches to conducting and participating in multilateral, international negotiations, and outlined some of the options available to NATO in seeking to influence the development of a crisis.
During the afternoon, Course Members formulated their Working Groups for the rest of the week. As a last phase of their preparation, they discussed some of the key terms of the exercise, e.g. political end state for operations, with the lecturers, and with Mr. Ted Whiteside, the Secretary of the North Atlantic Council, all of whom acted as Senior Mentors during the exercise.
During the exercise, the Course Members represented members of several senior NATO committees, including the Political Committee, the Military Committee, the Policy Coordination Group and the North Atlantic Council. Individual Course Members were assigned to act either in official positions on those committees, including taking the role of the Secretary General and the Chairman of the Military Committee, or as Representatives of individual NATO Nations, including as Permanent Representatives in the NAC.
The exercise scenario was a generic one, set in the fictitious Island State of Raleigh, whose government had asked NATO for support and assistance in dealing with an emerging threat from an international terrorist organization based on the island. The Course Members participated in a simulation of the various stages of the NATO Crisis Response System and practised negotiation, mediation and decision-making techniques.
They learned about group dynamics in a multinational negotiation process and were subjected to a complex process of multilateral consensus building in finding a common course of action. The senior committees of NATO and the North Atlantic Council provided the ideal framework for this exercise, reflecting the strategic political-military level at which the Senior Course is focused. Course Members in the role of NATO Secretary General and NATO Spokesman also experienced what it is like to be “grilled” by the media and saw the results in the form of video clips and press articles. Throughout the exercise, the Senior Mentors gave valuable advice and feedback to the Course Members.
The CMX/NMDX proved to be an academically challenging and enjoyable conclusion to the academic programme of Senior Course 114.
Prepared by Col Ferenc MOLNAR (HUN A)
Collège de Défense de l'OTAN