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Possible concerns to be addressed by the 2005 Quadrennial Defense Review:
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Countering Islamic Extremism |
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Dealing with a failed nuclear-armed state |
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Redefining the military's role in Homeland Security |
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Readiness to deal with the conventional military of an emerging power |
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The Naval Postgraduate School‘s contributions to these challenges
Countering Islamic Extremism, which includes ensuring the demise of terrorist networks
For years, NPS provided military leaders access to a vast knowledge base through teaching a wide variety of courses dealing with the history, politics, and government of the Middle East and the faculty who teach them. More recently, we have offered courses on terrorism which provide an in-depth examination of the origins, nature, and political/military roles of contemporary international terrorism. They examine the early history of terrorism, the contending theories that purport to explain the sources of terrorist behavior, the different types of terrorism and terrorist actions, and the challenge international terrorism poses for American interests and foreign policy. Functional topics, such as the special problems posed by state-sponsored terror are also covered.
NPS faculty also go the extra mile to deliver this knowledge to the war fighter. The Regional Security Education Program (RSEP) sends teams of NPS faculty to all Navy and Expeditionary Strike Groups to enhance their understanding of the history, culture and politics of the regions in which they operate. Faculty also work with deploying National Guard Units (Leader Development and Education for Sustained Peace) (LDESP) and Marine Units (Tactical Culture for Marine Expeditionary Forces) (TCMEF) deploying to OIF to improve their situational and cultural awareness.
In addition to teaching courses covering Islamic Extremism, NPS has been performing research that has proven critical to defeating the threat of terrorism. Research sponsored by SOCOM and DOD has fielded new technologies for self-forming/self-healing mesh networks as well as new capabilities for persistent surveillance, reconnaissance, and targeting.
We have developed significant partnerships to meet this goal, as well. For example, the Center for Intelligence research has been collaborating with the intelligence community in support of our national security objectives which include support for classified research initiatives.
We have already received accolades for our work in this area. Since information operations are so vital in a low-intensity conflict, the Deputy Secretary of Defense has designated NPS as the Informational Operations Center of Excellence to support DOD initiatives to better integrate information operations, including psychological operations and computer-network attacks, into battle plans.
Dealing with a failed nuclear-armed state
NPS faculty are recognized as experts when it comes to the threat posed by the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction to state and non-state actors. They are currently undertaking a major research initiative for DoE on Strategic Stability in South Asia, and are undertaking a study of the interaction of WMD proliferation and Globalization for the Threat Reduction Agency. They are also completing studies of regional differences among terrorist financing networks, the nexus of terrorist organizations and clandestine WMD networks. In the Fall, they will host several major conferences that place these threats in a larger strategic context.
The military’s role in Homeland Security
The U.S. Department of Homeland Security Office for Domestic Preparedness and the Naval Postgraduate School Center for Homeland defense and Security have partnered to offer the first Homeland Security Masters Degree in the United States. This degree is fully accredited and provides leaders with the knowledge and skills to:
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Develop strategies, plans and programs to prevent terrorist attacks within the United States and reduce America's vulnerability to terrorism; |
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Build the organizational arrangements needed to strengthen Homeland Security, including local/state/federal, civil-military and interagency cooperation; and |
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Help mayors and governors make improvements in Homeland Security preparedness, by conducting "real world," actionable policy development work. |
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Recently, we have welcomed the fourth consecutive Homeland Security program class which included over 30 federal, state, and local officials from a wide variety of critical disciplines. In addition, we have helped sponsor both an Executive Education Seminar on intelligence and fusion centers as well as the joint interagency training exercise entitled “Pacific Cloud.”
The conventional military of an emerging power
The key to dealing with a failed state is through successful civil-military relations. In this regard, the Naval Postgraduate School has led the way. The Center for Civil-Military relations at NPS performs 20-30 events each quarter in over 20 nations, thereby reaching over 8000 civilian and military personnel each year.
The Leader Development and Education for Sustained Peace program has aided in this effort by serving to educate professionals from a variety of fields as they prepare to deploy and perform stability operations in Central Europe, Central Asia, the Middle East, and Africa. More recently, the program has been preparing senior leaders and U.S. units for their deployment missions in Iraq, Afghanistan, and Kosovo.
We have also developed unrivalled partnerships to meet this challenge. For example, since failed nuclear-armed states are an emerging threat to our national security, NPS and the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory have developed a relationship which provides the strength of a premier applied-science institution with core capabilities in nuclear weapons stewardship and non-proliferation.
Finally, new methods of instruction have been developed to educate leaders about the art and science of nation building. The new master’s program called “Security Building in Post Conflict Environments” is designed to provide post-conflict countries with the necessary “tools” to assist in defense restructuring efforts. In many cases, officers from different countries have the opportunity to share their experiences with civil-military relations in an open forum.
On October 26, 2004 NPS was formally recognized by NATO as the U.S. NATO Partnership for Peace (PFP) Education and Training Center. |
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