NATO Defense College at the Munich Security Conference
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For 61 years, the Munich Security Conference has served as a platform for high-level dialogue between heads of state, ministers, and key figures from international organizations, industry, media, academia and civil society on pressing security and defence matters affecting the global order and transatlantic relations. In this pivotal year, Commandant Lieutenant General Max A.L.T. Nielsen, Research Division Director Dr Florence Gaub, Researcher Dr Olesya Vinhas de Souza represented the NATO Defense College (NDC) in Munich.
From 13 to 16 February , they attended bilateral engagements, roundtable discussions, main-stage addresses and townhall debates. This year, the NDC jointly with the IE Center for the Governance of Change co-hosted the “Defence in Depth (Tech)” roundtable. This initiative reinforced the NDC’s role in promoting transatlantic unity and NATO-EU cooperation by bringing together senior NATO officials, including James Appathurai, Deputy Assistant Secretary General for Innovation, Hybrid, and Cyber; Dennis Gyllensporre, Chair of the NATO DIANA Board; and Patrick Schneider-Sikorsky, NATO Innovation Fund Partner. EU representatives included Ambassador of the European Union to the United States, Jovita Neliupšienė, and Ambassador Delphine Pronk, Chair of the EU’s Political and Security Committee. The roundtable was co-organized and moderated by Dr Olesya Vinhas de Souza, NDC Researcher, and Dr Irene Blázquez Navarro, Director of the IE Center for the Governance of Change. Discussions centred on strengthening NATO-EU cooperation to address security challenges posed by deep tech.
Dr Manuel Muñiz, Provost of IE University in Madrid, and LGEN Nielsen opened the discussions. In his remarks, LGEN Nielsen emphasized the importance of NATO-EU-private sector collaboration to maintain NATO’s and the EU’s technological edge. He highlighted the need to understand how emerging technologies impact NATO’s strategic environment, as well as the importance of these debates for the NDC when it comes to ensuring that its Course Members develop a firm grasp of the defence-technology nexus, given the College’s mission to train NATO’s future leaders.
Dr Vinhas de Souza and Dr Blázquez Navarro moderated a thought-stimulating discussion between leading technology investors and developers and NATO and EU officials on accelerating innovation, de-risking investments, shortening adoption cycles and mapping the pathways for deepening future NATO-EU-private sector collaboration on deepTech.
Dr Florence Gaub, NDC’s leading expert on foresight and the Middle East, moderated a conversation on the future of maritime warfare with Chief of the German Navy Vice Admiral Jan Christian Kaack and Chief of the Norwegian Navy Rear Admiral Oliver Berdal. The speakers reflected on the vulnerability of critical underwater infrastructure and on hybrid actions and acts of sabotage against Western maritime infrastructure, which have coincided with Russia's naval buildup, raising concerns about escalation. Discussions explored how NATO navies can prevent open conflict on the waters and deter adversaries from further escalation, and how maritime warfare will adapt to future challenges.
On the sidelines, the NDC Commandant held bilateral meetings with General Frederik Vansina, Chief of Defence of Belgium; Javier Colomina, Deputy Assistant Secretary, PASP and NATO’s Special Representative for the Southern Neighbourhood; and Lieutenant General Kai Ronald Rohrschneider, Commander of Joint Support and Enabling Command (JSEC) and Multinational Joint Headquarters (MN JHQ).
In the spirit of strengthening NATO-EU cooperation, Dr Vinhas de Souza had a bilateral meeting with Dr Teija Tiilikainen, Director of the Helsinki-based European Centre of Excellence for Countering Hybrid Threats.
The overall programme was highly insightful and stimulated fresh perspectives and new ideas that will contribute to both the NDC’s research agenda and its Course curriculum.