Peter Verga, Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense for Homeland Defense and America’s Security Affairs,
addresses the first class of the Marshall Center’s new Seminar on Trans-Atlantic Civil Security at the graduation ceremony July 30.
(Photo by Karlheinz Wedhorn)
Forty-two military and civilian emergency management officials from 25 countries completed the George C. Marshall European
Center for Security Studies’ new three-week course, which addresses how nations prevent, prepare for and respond to
catastrophic events.
STACS takes an all-hazards approach to the developing field of civil security, which includes civil defense, homeland security,
civil emergency planning, and crisis and consequence management.
Through lectures, case studies and practical exercises, participants examined the security implications of natural disasters,
industrial accidents and pandemic disease, as well as terrorist attacks.
“For years many nations lacked a formal framework for the concept of civil security,” said Peter Verga, principal deputy
assistant secretary of defense for Homeland Defense and America’s Security Affairs, in remarks at the graduation ceremony.
“The increased threat of terrorism and regularly occurring natural disasters in the U.S. and around the world have given a renewed
sense of urgency to this topic.”
The efforts to fight the wildfires burning in California this month as STACS participants attended the course give a vivid
example of the civil-military cooperation and international cooperation necessary to deal with catastrophic events, according to Verga.
The Department of Defense provided eight aircraft with firefighting capabilities, 12 helicopters and about 3000 National Guardsmen
to combat the fires, Verga said, and more than 25,000 firefighters from 41 states and Canada, Greece, Australia, New Zealand and
Mexico joined the effort.
“[It is] a historic effort not only in magnitude but also in terms of international support to the United States during wildfires,”
Verga said.
Forums such as STACS are critical to making such international cooperation possible, according to course participants.
“In my country for example we have a different approach to crisis management and consequence management.
We have a different perception about these things and also about how to implement and manage these issues,” said Lt. Rafig Gurbanzada,
chief officer of the International Activities Department of Azerbaijan’s Ministry of Emergency Situations.
“But I came here to learn about western perspectives, to hear from western scholars and what they think about specific issues.
It was very useful for me.”
With each country approaching civil security differently, emergency management officials need to be able to understand the
perspectives of their international partners, according to Marine Lt. Col. Kevin Killea, who coordinates Defense Department resources
that can be provided to civil authorities in a crisis.
“It can’t be an instance where the loudest voice in the room wins, because that is not the integration that you are looking for,
that will not facilitate the partnership needed during a catastrophe,” Killea said.
Course director Dr. John L. Clarke said that he has received overwhelmingly positive feedback from participants in the
inaugural class, but expects to make changes for the second class based on their suggestions.
“We want to focus the course even more on some of the key mission areas of the civil security concept and the lessons
learned from specific case studies,” Clarke said.
“We have already received a lot of input from our course participants on case studies that they think we ought to consider
for future iterations of the program.”
The second STACS class will take place in February 2009. STACS is one of five resident courses offered by the Marshall Center,
a German-American defense and security studies institute. Since the center’s dedication in 1993, more than 6,100 military and civilian
officials from more than 100 nations have graduated from resident courses.
