Defense Institution Building PME Bi-Monthly Report Defense Education Enhancement Program (DEEP) Africa Military Education Program (AMEP) November-December 2018
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Defense Institution Building PME Bi-Monthly Report Defense Education Enhancement Program (DEEP) Africa Military Education Program (AMEP) November-December 2018 1. EXECUTIVE SUMMARY The annual review of the Kazakhstan program in early December indicates significant progress in three courses developed with DEEP support, courses that represent a wide range of subjects. This achievement reflects not only the hard work by and collaboration between the DEEP team and its Kazakhstan counterparts, but also serves as a model for the potential impact DEEP can make with a partner nation that is committed to making improvements across the full range of its military education system. • Civil-Military Relations Course: After having successfully delivered the 14-hour pilot course without external support from 3-5 December, the Kazakhstani NDU expressed a strong desire to conduct this course for the Presidential Guard and other non-MOD security elements such as the Border Guards. With DEEP support, the NDU intends to expand the course to 45 hours. • In mid-November Professor George Topic, Vice Director, U.S. NDU Center for Joint and Strategic Logistics, and DEEP Logistics Lead, observed instructors deliver the Logistics Course. According to Professor Topic, “They are actually teaching credible graduate level supply chain management and logistics operations planning that would be in place in almost any western Joint Professional Military Education (JPME) school.” The Kazakhstani NDU requested DEEP support to expand the current Logistics Course by a total of 9-12 in-class course hours by increasing focus on Supply Chain Management, External Transportation Logistics, and Informational Logistics. • Strategic Planning Course: Rather than create an entire new course, DEEP will facilitate the introduction of new planning subjects such as design, and integrate them into the current NDU curriculum. This new approach will begin sometime during February or March 2019. On a final matter related to the Kazakhstan review, the NDU and DEEP agreed to suspend Special Operations Course development after determining a U.S.-Kazakhstani intelligence information exchange agreement would not be signed in the foreseeable future. In Armenia, the MOD requested DEEP support for its NDU for Research (NDRU) in order to develop a new war college-equivalent strategic course. The course will address the strategic and operational levels of war for all colonels and, ultimately, senior personnel from other ministries. 1 DEEP made important advances in Master Instructor Programs (MIPs) during this period, delivering a second weeklong MIP workshop for the Macedonian Military Academy (MMA) in late November. DEEP also facilitated the third of four MIP workshops for the Ukraine Air Force Academy faculty, also in late November. Highlights for AMEP include Botswana conducting the initial Air Arm Squadron Officer School Basic Course for newly commissioned lieutenants. The BDF Chief of Defence Staff (CHOD) delivered the keynote speech for the class graduation, thanking AMEP and the U.S. Embassy for their support. In Burkina Faso, AMEP experts observed Military Academy faculty striving to ensure cadets applied critical thinking and clear communication skills in their decision-making during a December Leadership Curriculum Development workshop. In addition, the Military Academy Deputy Commandant and his staff demonstrated the capacity to make curriculum adaptations as part of an after action review. AMEP also initiated three new programs during this period with the completion of the following site surveys: • Cameroon Intelligence School (3-5 December) • Mozambique NCO Academy (28-30 November) • Senegal Air Force NCO Academy (5-7 December) The following summarizes the overall numbers of events executed during September and October 2018, as well as those planned over the next 4 months (January 2018-April 2019). Events Completed Number of Countries DEEP 16 8 AMEP 11 11 Events Planned Number of Countries DEEP 9 5 AMEP 17 12 2. DEEP: RECENT EVENTS, MILESTONES & SENIOR LEVEL MEETINGS – 16 events and 1 milestone in 8 countries Afghanistan Basic Faculty Development Workshop 10-14 December, Brasov, Romania A multinational team of DEEP experts delivered the second Basic Faculty Development workshop as part of a series of events to form a cadre of Afghan NDU instructors who will utilize modern teaching methodologies. The workshop emphasized aligning foundational concepts of learning outcomes (LOs), assessment of student achievement at specified 2 levels, and student-centered active learning instructional strategies. Students practiced creating, aligning and analyzing LOs and assessment plans. Armenia (2 events) NCO Development Workshop 5-9 November 2018, Yerevan A multinational NCO team delivered a development workshop for the NCO Academy. Annual DEEP Program Review 5-9 November 2018, Yerevan A multinational expert team conducted the annual review of the Armenian DEEP country program. The review determined that the National Defense Research University (NDRU) displays a strong Western orientation. The country program has produced a variety of positive effects: • New faculty hiring reflects a new generation more Western in their orientation and thinking • There is a clear willingness to engage regionally • A proposed cyber security course reflects commitment to engage the broader national security community beyond the MOD • The Minister of Defense decided to expand the mission of the NDRU beyond research to include education. With DEEP support, the NDRU has been directed to develop a war college-equivalent strategic course that addresses both the strategic and operational levels of war, and that issues mater’s degrees in accordance with Bologna Process standards for colonels and senior personnel from other ministries. In addition, the pre-commissioning Military Institute and the Aviation Military Institute have been transformed into universities. They have also initiated efforts with the Ministry of Education to ensure bachelor’s and master’s degree credits will be recognized in accordance with Bologna Process standards. Kazakhstan (3 events) Review of the NDU Logistics Course 13-15 November, Astana U.S. DEEP Logistics Lead Professor George Topic, Vice Director, Center for Joint and Strategic Logistics, U.S. NDU, observed and assessed the delivery of the DEEP-supported Kazakh NDU Logistics course. He commented: “They are actually teaching credible graduate level supply chain management and logistics operations planning that would be in place in almost any western JPME school. I am not kidding--it is just short of spectacular, and the students are excellent. The product is really good. I would also be remiss if I did not mention the pedagogy: They had a fifteen-minute animated discussion of the relative utility of throughput distribution and centralized accountability versus decentralized execution of logistics functions. Every one of the fifteen students participated substantially in the discussions.” 3 Observation/Assessment of the Pilot NDU Civil-Military Relations Course 4-6 December, Astana Dr. Marybeth Ulrich, US Army War College, observed and assessed the pilot for the 14- hour Civil-Military Relations course at the NDU. NDU faculty delivered this inaugural course as a core requirement to students in the two-year State Governance course (war college-equivalent). The NDU also published a 96-page course textbook, entitled “Civil- Military Relations,” which contains a detailed curriculum. The course focuses on the theory and framework of civil-military relations, military professionalism, and the armed forces and society—all with an emphasis on the subordination of the military to civilian control. The NDU considers this Part 1 of what will ultimately be a three-part course. Annual DEEP Program Review 10 December 2018, Astana The DEEP program lead for Kazakhstan conducted the annual program review. Review highlights include: Civil-Military Relations Course: There is now a strong Kazakhstani desire to conduct this course for the Presidential Guard and other non-MOD security elements (e.g., Border Guards). The NDU requested DEEP support to expand the current 14-hour course to a 45-hour course, with a goal of delivering the expanded course by 2021. Logistics Course: The NDU requested DEEP support to expand the current Logistics Course by a total of 9-12 in-class course hours by increasing the depth in three separate subjects: 1. Supply Chain Management, 2. External Transportation Logistics, and 3. Informational Logistics Special Operations Course: The NDU originally planned to develop the course after the signing of the U.S.-KAZ intelligence exchange agreement. Because that signing will not happen in the foreseeable future, the NDU requested that the development of the Special Operations Course be placed on hold until a finalization of the JSOPA takes place. Accordingly, DEEP support for the course has been suspended. Strategic Planning Course: Experts from the Joint Forces Staff College (JFSC) in Norfolk, VA, have made progress over the last year with facilitating development of a Strategic Planning Course. As a result of those efforts, the NDU and JFSC have agreed that instead of creating an entire new course, they will simply integrate new planning subjects into the current NDU Planning Course curriculum. The new approach will begin in February- March 2019. Macedonia (2 events) Master Instructor Program (MIP) Workshop 26-30 November 2018, Skopje Two experts traveled to Macedonia to deliver