NATO/Defense College

NATO/Defense College   (College, Deep state milieu)
Motto	Unitatem alentes
Formation	19 November 1951
Headquarters	Rome, Italy
Interest of	Staffan de Mistura
Meeting place for policy makers and military officers.

NATO Defense College (NDC) is the international military college for North Atlantic Treaty Organization countries. It is located in Rome, Italy.

Mission

In response to Strategic Guidance issued to the NDC by the North Atlantic Council and the NATO Military Committee (MC123/8), the NDC Mission is:

• Contribute to effectiveness and cohesion of Alliance
• Foster strategic level thinking on pol-mil matters
• Develop major center of education, study, and research:
  • Prepare selected officers and officials for important NATO and NATO-related multinational appointments
  • Conduct academic studies and research in support of the Alliance's wider goals
  • Support an active outreach programme with other educational institutions

“There is a high priority requirement to develop individuals, both on the military and on the civilian side, who will have a thorough grasp of the many complicated factors which are involved in the problem of creating an adequate defense posture for the North Atlantic Treaty area. These considerations have brought me to the conclusion that it is highly desirable to establish in the near future a NATO Defense College for the training of individuals who will be needed to serve in key capacities in NATO Organizations.”
Dwight D. Eisenhower (1951) 

Staff

Included Julian Lindley-French, later of the Institute for Statecraft.

Core business

Education

Six regular courses are held at the college:

• Senior Executive Regional Conference (SERC): This week-long conference is dedicated to a select, high-profile group of diplomats, senior officials, high-ranking officers, policy planners and researchers, from NATO member states as well as from the Alliance's partner countries in the Gulf and Mediterranean area. Participants successfully engaged in an intensive week of study, dialogue and open discussion on the strategic issues which are currently of particular relevance to the security of the countries represented.
• The Senior Course: The most important course at the NDC. It lasts 5½ months and runs twice a year. Some 15 weeks are spent in the college, with the rest of the time on Field Studies. There is a 2-3 day crisis management exercise at the end of the Course. The Course is open to officers (Colonels, Lieutenant Colonels) and civilian officials and diplomats (of equivalent rank). Over 200 attend each year (approximately 25% civilian). The Senior Course is open not only to NATO nations but also to Partnership for Peace-Mediterranean Dialogue-Istanbul Cooperation Initiative nations, Contact Countries and Iraq.
• Generals, Flag Officers & Ambassadors' Course (GFOAC): This high-level course seeks to enhance mutual understanding of security concerns and of NATO's interests and capabilities among Generals and Flag Officers and high-ranking civilians including ambassadors from NATO, PfP, Med Dialogue and ICI nations, Contact Countries & Iraq. It also provides opportunities for networking among one- to three-star officers and civilians of equivalent rank.
• NATO Regional Cooperation Course (NRCC): Commissioned by the North Atlantic Council at the Riga summit in 2006, after two years of preparation the NRCC was inaugurated at the College in 2009 to link issues of concern to both MD and ICI Nations and NATO, and to develop mutual understanding and networking among participants. It shares lecturers with the Senior Course (40% of the time), and also has its own separate facilities and lecturers, mostly from the ME region, and its own Faculty Advisors and staff. The NRCC offers a ten-week academic programme twice each year.
• Modular Short Courses (MSCs): The NDC offers five MSCs during every Senior Course for the duration 5 days. This is an opportunity for military officers and civilian officials who may not be able to attend the NDC for a six-month period. Each MSC is designed to both inform and stimulate the participants by providing the opportunity to improve their knowledge and develop their understanding of some of the key political, economic, socio-cultural, defence and security related issues which may have worldwide implications for global and Alliance security.
• Integrated Partner Orientation Course (IPOC): The aim of the Integrated Partner Orientation Course (IPOC) is to improve participants' knowledge of the NATO Alliance; its missions, roles and priorities; its internal structures and organisation; and its external relations with partner nations and international institutions. The course examines the way in which each of these elements is evolving to reflect changes in the international security environment, which is similar to the structure of the NDC Senior Course.

Research

Research at the NATO Defense College, carried out by the Research Division (RD), provides the NATO's senior leaders with timely analyses and recommendations on current issues concerning the Alliance. The activities of the RD can help to convey NATO's positions to the wider audience of the international strategic community. The RD performs its tasks mainly through research papers – short academic essays and academic reports, and forum papers – in-depth studies, analyses and reports.

Over the last year, the Research Division published about 20 studies and analyses, about 30 articles in journals (International Herald Tribune, International Affairs, Defense News, Politique Étrangère, Washington Times, etc.), was regularly quoted in the New York Times, Newsweek, Le Figaro and news agencies, etc. The RD also organized 8 conferences and workshops and co-facilitated Reykjavik Conferences on Arctic Security and a Military Committee workshop on the Strategic Concept.

Outreach activities

The NDC has four main outreach activities:

The Conference of Commandants (of Defence Colleges)

Which has a dual purpose.

• firstly, to facilitate the exchange of information between those responsible for higher defence education with a view to improving curricula and teaching methods;
• secondly, to promote cooperation in higher defence education between colleges in NATO countries and their counterparts in central and east European and Mediterranean Dialogue countries.

Kyiv Week

NATO's support for senior military education in Ukraine started with the first "International Week", held in February 2001. Since then a similar course has been running every year involving more than 500 participants at a time. The formal aims of the International Week are:

• to improve knowledge of NATO, its organization and working methods;
• to discuss the challenges facing the Atlantic Alliance and its partners in today's security environment;
• to address key, current issues in the field of international security; *to demonstrate the importance of a strong partnership between Ukraine and NATO.

The Partnership for Peace Consortium of Defense Academies and Security Studies Institutes

Was established in 1999 at the Washington Summit as a Consortium of the Willing and founded in the spirit of Partnership for Peace (PfP). By Military Committee direction, the NATO Defense College "is the focal military point of contact within NATO" for the consortium, composed of 300 organizations in 46 countries. The NDC is actively involved in 6 of the 10 working groups.

Advanced Distributed Learning

ADL's goal is to provide learning systems that are both more effective and more cost-effective. Course members must follow at least one of the three different ADL courses, to ensure that they have all attained the same level of knowledge before embarking on the Senior Course.

The Introduction to NATO (the NATO Defense College is the content provider for this course); European Security and Defence Policy, and RMA - the Revolution in Military Affairs.

 

Employee on Wikispooks

Employee	Job	Appointed	End
Jan Techau	Worked in the Research Division	February 2010	February 2011

 

Alumni on Wikispooks

Person	Born	Died	Nationality	Summary	Description
Ian Andrews			UK		UK military bureaucrat who resigned as chairman of the Serious Organised Crime Agency because of a failure to declare a conflict of interest.
Alf Roar Berg	17 April 1933	2022	Norway	Spook Soldier	Leader of the Military Intelligence Service in the period 1988–1993.
Çevik Bir	1939		Turkey	Military Deep state functionary	Turkish general who organized 1997 'soft' coup.
Marcel Cadieux	17 June 1915	19 March 1981	Canada	Diplomat	Canadian Cold Warrior diplomat and also "one of the most pro-American under-secretaries ever to hold the office." Bilderberg/1966 and Bilderberg/1969. Ambassador to the United States 1970-75.
Nikolai Kamov	11 April 1956		Bulgaria	Politician	Bulgarian politician. 2002 Bilderberg
Jānis Sārts	28 July 1972		Latvia	Spook Propagandist	Latvian propagandist with some deep state connections.

Many thanks to our Patrons who cover ~2/3 of our hosting bill. Please join them if you can.