07 Aug 06. ComDef 2006 “Towards Interoperability”, Sept. 6th 2006, leads us further into important enabling programs FCS, JSF, NCW, Logistics, etc. that will help achieve national objectives. Meet program directors of these and other programs. This is the earliest opportunity for the DC defense community to meet incoming Defense and Defense Cooperation Attaches in an environment where policy makers, legislators, and officials can engage in substantial discussions. The Defense Attaches’ reception, which brings ComDef to a conclusion, is open to all delegates to the event. Please sign up at http://www.ideea.com/comdef06 The program can be found at http://www.ideea.com/comdef06/program.htm
07 Aug 06. Managing Defence Diplomacy: Comparative Perspectives. 13 September 2006, RUSI, Whitehall, London. Defence Diplomacy emerged during the late 1990s as an increasingly important tool for enhancing regional security, building confidence amongst allies and advancing broader national and multilateral strategic and foreign policy objectives. As well as such traditional Defence Diplomacy activities as ship visits and military personnel exchanges, national defence ministries have been called upon to play an enhanced role in conflict prevention and resolution, counter-proliferation, political outreach and defence and security sector reform. Since the Strategic Defence Review (SDR) of 1998, the UK has treated Defence Diplomacy as a specific Ministry of Defence mission, creating a permanent office through which to co-ordinate and lead cross-government efforts in this area. At NATO, a sustained effort in multilateral defence diplomacy has been pursued through the Partnership for Peace and Mediterranean Dialogue programmes. The United States has pursued prominent defence diplomacy efforts in Latin America. The People’s Republic of China has led a multilateral Asian defence diplomacy initiative through the Shanghai Cooperative Organisation. Defence diplomacy continues to be given a relatively low profile in mainstream defence and security discourse, despite the increasing importance attached to it by national governments and international organisations. Given that nearly a decade has past since the UK initiated a formal programme of Defence Diplomacy, RUSI believes the time is right for an international discussion on the role of Defence Diplomacy in aiding the achievement of foreign policy goals.
08 Aug 06. NATO, the Mediterranean and the Broader Middle East: The Future
11-12 September, 2006 RUSI, Whitehall, London. NATO has shown every intention of adapting to the new strategic environment of the twenty-first century, as it continues to secure a future for NATO in the post Cold War world. Today’s key threats – terrorism, the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction, failed states, and organised crime – transcend the traditional confines of borders and, very often, of continents as well. In an effort to meet these challenges, NATO is forging new security partnerships with countries across the Mediterranean and the broader Middle East based on practical cooperation. Representing a major shift in Alliance priorities, this new direction has come about following the decision made at the June 2004 Istanbul Summit to enhance NATO’s Mediterranean Dialogue and to expand the initiative to the broader region through the Istanbul Cooperation Initiative. Focusing on cooperation in the priority areas of counter-terrorism, counter-proliferation, military-to-military interoperability, defence reform, and civil emergency planning; NATO’s success depends on developing with the countries concerned a joint sense of “ownership” for both its objectives and activities. This two-day event, the fourth annual NATO-Mediterranean conference to be held at RUSI in co-operation with the NATO Public Diplomacy Division, will explore these issues, and the responses of NATO members, as well as the reactions of the countries included in the Mediterranean Dialogue