TRANSNATIONAL SECURITY COOPERATION (SENIOR EXECUTIVE COURSE)

COURSE DESCRIPTION

 

General:

1. Purpose: Provide senior security practitioners from the Asia-Pacific region an opportunity to share perspectives and identify and develop collaborative and cooperative approaches to transnational security issues of common concern. 

 

2. Description.  An intensive program for current leaders on the upward track for positions of significant national (and possibly international) responsibility.  Designed for senior security practitioners from the Asia-Pacific region now serving in positions that require experience and rank at the one- to four-star military and civilian-equivalent level (intent is to replicate a forum consisting of practitioners who influence security cooperation).  Curriculum emphasizes the impact of change in the region, as well as capacities - - leader and institutional - - to manage change. The course integrates a challenging program of guest speakers, along with interactive seminar workshop dialogues and action-planning.

 

Course attendees join an expanded network of contacts among regional security practitioners that include their fellow classmates and APCSS faculty, as well as a regional “community of expertise” via a dedicated web portal used by APCSS alumni and others.

 

3.  Length: 1 week

 

4.  Frequency: 2 to 3 times a year

 

5.  Fellows: Uniformed O-7 to O-10 and civilian equivalents (from all ministries and organizations within governments a well as NGOs, IOs, and media people with security-interface portfolios); 20-25 nations/organizations represented, with one or two from the U.S.

 

Who would benefit by attending this course:

·         Senior security practitioners whose current/future responsibilities require influencing and/or making strategic and operational decisions within multilateral, multinational, and whole-of-government forums. 

·         Current and future senior leaders who influence security analyses and decision-making and who are on the upward track for career progression, leaders of obvious potential for national and international positions of very significant responsibility.

 

Educational Objectives:  To achieve the course purpose stated above, the SEC has specific educational objectives in three areas: 1) enhance Senior Fellow knowledge, 2) improve Senior Fellow leader and collaborative skills, and 3) expand Senior Fellow security-practitioner networks.  (Primary venue is moderated discussions following short topical presentations and security issues updates.  A table-top exercise during the course encourages consideration of practical application of concepts presented during plenary lectures.)

 

1.  Enhance Senior Fellow knowledge in following areas:

• Understanding the complexity of the varied dimensions of comprehensive security (military to economic to environmental to human, and beyond), less war-fighting.
• Understanding current and anticipated transnational security issues/threats that impact the Asia-Pacific Region.
• Understanding of bilateral and multilateral approaches to international relationships, including economic, social, cultural, demographic, military, diplomatic, and environmental conditions; further, reviewing trends affecting and shaping perceptions of security in the A-P region and the world.
• Understanding the major actors (e.g., capabilities/capacities/roles), including non-governmental, international, and private-volunteer organizations, as well as whole-of-government today and during the coming decade.
• Understanding current best practices, as well as opportunities for increased security-cooperation/collaboration in the region.
• Understanding diverse regional perspectives on security challenges today and during the next decade.
• Understanding, approaches to countering ideological support for, and defeating man-made terrorist threats.
• Better understanding collaborative preparations required for natural and/or man-made disasters and related humanitarian assistance.

 

2.  Improve Senior Fellow leader and collaborative skills in the following areas:

• Collaborate effectively on accurately identifying man-made and natural threats and security challenges, regional and transnational.
• Frame a security assessment at the strategic level.
• Analyze risk and balance risk management.
• Evaluate precisely alternative security-cooperation and stability operations options.
• Clearly identify and present recommended action steps related to a decision on the best alternatives available.
• Outline information prefaces related to planned action steps [strategic communications role playing, specifically theme/message framing and delivery through media interface].
• Articulately persuade security-policy formulators and decision-makers to act.
• Outline a whole-of-government initiative for sub-region security-cooperation related to a current real-world threat.
• Team effectively, as well as demonstrate careful listening, articulation, analytical, and negotiation skills, all designed to provide senior officials confidence in recommendations presented.
• Understand strategic communications; employ same effectively.
• Practice time management during crisis-action planning.

 

3.  Expand Senior Fellow security-practitioner networks in the following areas:

• Among SEC Fellows.
• Among APCSS faculty and guest lecturers.
• Through the APCSC portal and APCSS website. 
• Through alumni contacts at home and regionally.

• Identify, link, and exploit team-member expertise, perspectives.
• Leverage unique contributions possible from other security practitioner sources, real and virtual. 
• Exploit dialogue agreement/disagreement/inter-dependencies:

o   Establish team and mission/task goals/objectives.

o   Establish team rules, roles, and responsibilities.

• Identify requirements to act (terms of reference, procedures, authorities, subject knowledge needed, and methods of operating)

 

Educational Approach:

• Beginning with stage-setting, Senior Fellows are provided security challenges as context prefaces to small-group discussions.
• Senior Fellows are then placed into small, diverse groups to maximize group interaction and role playing, given likely/possible security issue/threat scenarios.  Scenarios are challenging and realistic.
• APCSS faculty focuses group discussions with regional and functional area information, as needed.
• Case studies maximize Senior Fellows’ shared opportunity to practice operational- and strategic-level skills that apply knowledge gained.
• APCSS emphasizes factual analyses and clear conclusions and recommendations based on collaborative discussions.