Raitis Tiliks, a retired colonel in Latvia’s State Border Guard and a current doctoral student at the University of Latvia’s Faculty of Law, presented his research at the Marshall Center on July 31, 2025. In doing so, he became Latvia’s first alumni scholar while offering insights into integrated border management.

Tiliks' research, “Integrated Border Management as a Potential Deterrence Measure at the Northeastern Flank of NATO and the Schengen Area,” examines contemporary dynamics, particularly malign aggression in the gray zone. His findings challenge the EU to rethink its role in non-linear warfare and develop approaches to complement NATO-led efforts for European security.

Tiliks advocates for an EU-specific model of integrated deterrence, grounded in genuine cooperation and trust, to better protect the EU and NATO’s Northeastern flank—Europe’s physical and psychological frontier between divergent systems of values.

An in-depth paper summarizing the research is currently under review at the Marshall Center.

Tiliks is the seventh alumni scholar of 2025 and the 116th individual scholar since 2004 to complete the five-week research program at the Marshall Center.

The Alumni Scholar Program prioritizes research that addresses the complex security challenges of our time and reflects topics of strategic relevance to the Marshall Center and its partners.