Twenty-eight Marshall Center alumni who are elected representatives in their nations attended a conference on parliament’s role in security and defense Feb. 7-8 in Freising, Germany, near Munich. The two-day event, entitled “Parliament’s Role in Security and Defense,” brought together alumni from 13 European, Eurasian and Central Asian nations.

Christian Schmidt, Parliamentary State Secretary, German Ministry of Defense, delivered the keynote address, speaking on the German Parliament’s role in the use of the armed forces in foreign deployments. The Honorable Powell Moore, the U.S. Secretary of Defense Representative to the OSCE, was also in attendance.

The conference included lectures by Marshall Center professors Dr. Andrew Michta, Dr. Ralf Roloff and Fritz Rademacher, who spoke on parliamentary security sector oversight, the constraints of coalition government, and international parliamentary cooperation. Hans-Dieter Nissler, Office of the Ombudsman, presented a briefing on the ombudsman of the armed forces in the German Bundestag.

The event also provided alumni an opportunity to hear about recent changes and updates at the Marshall Center from Dr. John Rose, Marshall Center Director, and Rick Steinke, Chief of the Graduate Support Outreach Team. The event met with a positive response from participants, with all 24 of the participants who took the post-conference survey declaring that the event was “very worthwhile” and “should be held again in the future.”

Click to enlarge (l-r) German State Secretary Christian Schmidt shares a few words with Dr. John Rose, Director; MG (Ret) Justus Graebner, German Deputy Director; and Professor Detlef Puhl of the Marshall Center before State Secretary Schmidt’s keynote address.	Click to enlarge Dr. Rose welcomes Mr. Gedimnas Jakavonis, SES 2003-3 and 2003-4, MP, Lithuania, while (l-r) Mr. Irakli Kentchoshvili, SES 2005-5, MP, Georgia; Mr. Mukhtar B. Tinikeyev, MP, Kazakhstan; and Ms. Jadyga Zinkveciute, SES 2007-3, MP, Lithuania, look on.	Click to enlarge MG (Ret) Graebner greets Mr. Jaak Salumets, SES 2007-6, MP, Estonia, while his fellow parliamentarians (l-r) Ms. Nelli Privalova, SES 2004-3, and Toivo Tootsen, SES 2001-2, look on.
Click to enlarge State Secretary Schmidt delivers the keynote address to the conference participants.	Click to enlarge Colonel (Ret) Dainis Turlais, SES 2003, MP Latvia, poses a question to Mr. Hans-Dieter Nissler, Parliamentary Commissioner for the Armed Forces in the German Bundestag.	Click to enlarge Parliamentarians from Estonia, Lithuania and Kazakhstan review Marshall Center recognition books and other materials during the conference.
Click to enlarge Professor Andrew Michta, Marshall Center, addresses the conference on the topic of parliamentary oversight and security sector control.	Click to enlarge l-r) COL (Ret) Rick Steinke, COL Gerhard Blaesing, Marshall Center Outreach Programs Director, and MG (Ret) Justus Graebner focus on the speaker.	Click to enlarge Dr. Rose discusses the Marshall Center Distinguished Alumni booklet with participants. The booklet features ministers, deputy ministers, chiefs of defense, parliamentarians and ambassadors who have graduated from a Marshall Center resident course.
Click to enlarge Mr. Akmuhammet Shamuhammedov (foreground), SES 2002-5, MP Turkmenistan, along with other delegates from Turkmenistan, Moldova and Lithuania survey the Distinguished Alumni Booklet.	Click to enlarge Dr. Rose greets Ms. Gjylnaze Syla, LP 2004-4, MP, Kosovo. Seated (l-r) are Mr. Arian Starova, SES 2005-5, MP, Albania, and Mr. Halid Genjac, SES 2007-3, MP, Bosnia and Herzegovina.	Click to enlarge Parliamentarians (l-r) from Latvia and Macedonia during a break in the conference.