Garmisch-Partenkirchen, Germany— The Marshall Center announces its resident course schedule for 2005 along with a new course called the Program in Advanced Security Studies (PASS) which begins January 2005. The PASS is a combination of the former 15-week Executive Program and the nine-week Leaders of the 21st Century program and replaces both programs. This rigorous, intellectually stimulating, 12-week course of study is for civilian government officials, military officers, diplomats, national law enforcement officers, and officials from all ministries that deal with domestic and international security matters. It provides graduate level education in security policy, defense affairs, international relations, and related topics such as international law and counter-terrorism.

The new PASS will be offered three times in 2005: Jan. 21 – April 15; May 20 – Aug. 12; and Sept. 23 – Dec. 16. The development of this course markedly shifts the focus of the Marshall Center experience from one of a general education towards a specialized education by offering a significantly expanded elective program. While a core curriculum consisting of six one-week modules will remain, the elective portion of the program is increased from 16 to 72 hours, allowing the participants to select three electives (from a menu of over 20) that they believe will best advance their professional development. Elective topics include Security Transformation and Defense Reform, the Future of NATO, International Law and the Use of Force, Terrorism, Negotiations, and Advanced Language Training for Security Officials. As a result, graduates will be significantly more prepared both for positions to which they are returning and those they can expect to assume in the future.

After a very successful introduction in 2004, the Program on Terrorism and Security Studies (PTSS) will be offered twice in 2005. The five-week course will be held Jan. 28 – March 4 and again Sept. 30 – Nov. 4. The PTSS is designed to help integrate the counter-terrorism community and enable individual nations to successfully cooperate in the on-going global war on terrorism. Participants include current and future national security officials working in counter-terrorist programs. The goal of the program is to help them appreciate both the nature and magnitude of today’s threat, and to improve their ability to counter terrorism’s regional implications by providing common grounds of knowledge, understanding and contacts.

The Senior Executive Seminar is a two-week, high-intensity program specifically designed to address a unique set of security issues of particular interest to senior executives responsible for those issues at the national level. The seminars, offered twice annually, are oriented toward practical problem solving in democratic defense management and transnational security concerns. Participants are high-level government officials, general officers, senior diplomats, ambassadors, ministers and parliamentarians. The first seminar of 2005 is April 25 – May 6 and features the topic “Challenges to NATO’s Transformation: A Look Across the Mediterranean.” This seminar addresses common security threats to include transnational crime and governance issues, regional cooperation and continued cooperation of regional defense leadership with NATO, EU and other European organizations. The second seminar is Aug. 29 - Sept. 9 examining “Trans-Atlantic Relations: A Community of Values? Including Russia and Ukraine?” This seminar will address questions of strategic importance for the future of the transatlantic security architecture.

Each Marshall Center program offers a unique opportunity to examine global and regional trends and contemporary foreign and security issues with participants from over 30 countries throughout Europe and Eurasia. Participants will have an opportunity to examine national security strategies, defense planning, and approaches to crises management, as well as to forge close personal ties with individuals with whom they can expect to work through the years. All programs combine lectures, seminar discussions, case studies and exercises.

For more information, contact Joseph Ferrare at 00-49-8821-750-543, mobile 00-49-160-907-32457, or email ferrarej@marshallcenter.org.

The Marshall Center is a renowned U.S. Department of Defense and German Ministry of Defense educational institution. More than 3,200 military and civilian officials from 61 nations have graduated from resident courses and over 12,300 have attended nearly 200 conferences discussing European and Central Asian security issues since the center was dedicated in 1993.