Having concluded its visits to US-based institutions with a very successful day in Washington DC, SC 123 arrived in Brussels for the concluding leg of its Transatlantic Link Field Study. Here, on 13 November, Course Members combined a morning visit to NATO Headquarters with afternoon briefings from the Belgian national authorities.
In the morning, the group was welcomed to NATO HQ by MGen Neeme VALI, acting Director of the International Military Staff and Director of the Plans and Policy Division. He briefed Course Members on new NATO policy initiatives which are being developed in preparation for the 2014 NATO Summit.
The second speaker was Dr Jamie SHEA, Deputy Assistant Secretary General and Director of the Emerging Security Challenges Division in the International Staff. His briefing was about current security challenges, and the priorities to be highlighted accordingly – clear definitions and rigorous standards in education and training, the ultimate goal being to ensure a sound basis for strategic capacity planning.
Mr Ian STALLION, from the Nuclear Policy Directorate in the Political Affairs and Security Policy Division of the International Staff, then took the floor to speak about the Alliance’s nuclear policy. The speaker highlighted the dynamic nature of NATO’s vision in this field, which he described as “live and active, not stuck in the Cold War”.
NATO standardization was the focus of the following talk. This topic was addressed by Mr Cesare BALDUCCI, Deputy Director of the NATO Standardization Agency, who explained the value of standardization – not only for purposes of interoperability, but also with a view to optimizing the use of scarce resources.
Ms Burçu SAN, Head of the Civil-Military Planning & Support Section in the Operations Division of the International Staff, concluded the morning session with a briefing on civil-military coordination in NATO.
Each briefing was followed by a Q&A session, allowing Course Members to focus on specific points arising from the morning’s presentations.
In the afternoon, the College delegation was received by the Belgian authorities, who provided a global overview of Belgian security and defence policy.
The session was introduced by LtGen Guido ANDRIES, Assistant Chief of Staff for Strategic Affairs. He was followed by Ambassador Paul HUYNEN, Director of Security Policy at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, who briefed Course Members on Belgian foreign and security policy.
LtCol Geert SCHOUWAERTS, a staff officer in the Strategic Affairs Division, then addressed the NDC group on national security and defence priorities.
Following this, there were two presentations on Belgium’s firm commitment to the concept of multinational cooperation in defence and security. After an overview of the topic by LtCol Geert LEEMAN, Chief Strategic Planning and an Ancien of SC 118, Cdr Renaud FLAMANT of the Strategic Planning Office spoke about Belgian-Netherlands Naval Cooperation (BENESAM).
A very full afternoon was brought to a close by a challenging Q&A session with all five speakers.
SC 123 will now visit SHAPE and the headquarters of the European Union, before travelling back to Rome at the end of the week.
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