Dates: Sept. 21–Nov. 6, 2026 (7 weeks)

Emerging Security Issues is a seven-week resident course designed for junior level up to mid-level security and defense professionals ready to operate at the intersection of strategy, space, technology, and geopolitics. Participants will develop and apply analytical frameworks and practical skills to analyze how space systems, emerging technologies (AI, quantum computing, autonomous systems), and defense industrial dynamics are reshaping national and collective security, and design strategies that translate these insights into action.

The course combines plenary lectures, expert-led seminar discussions allowing professional exchanges, and an integrated strategy exercise. The course culminates with a capstone accelerator in which participants justify their strategic recommendations to a senior security panel.

Recognizing that many professionals cannot step away from their responsibilities for the full duration of the course, Emerging Security Issues is offered in a modular format. Participants may apply for individual weeks or the full seven-week program, depending on their professional requirements and interests.

Week 1 introduces the foundations of strategic thinking and strategy development. Drawing on the core elements of strategic logic and design—from ends-ways-means analysis to lines of effort—participants apply core strategic logic and design frameworks as they begin constructing a strategy paper. The module further evaluates the impact of emerging AI tools on strategic decision-making and incorporates advanced strategic foresight approaches. This module serves as the analytical anchor for the entire course, guiding students through a phased exercise to develop a comprehensive strategy paper.

Week 2 analyzes outer space as a contested domain in the context of strategic competition. Participants evaluate space as an enabler of warfighting and hybrid warfare, and as a competitive domain shaped by a variety of strategic actors. Through case studies and crisis simulation, participants develop national and collective strategies for space resilience and deterrence in a rapidly evolving technological environment.

Week 3 analyzes the landscape of emerging technologies and how they are fundamentally reshaping the character of warfare, competition, and hybrid conflict. Participants examine both the opportunities and challenges associated with these technologies, including human-machine teaming and ethical governance. The week includes an interactive exercise in which teams research, attack, defend, and debate real-world scenarios involving emerging and disruptive technologies.

Week 4 moves beyond theoretical frameworks to address the practicalities of industrial readiness, supply chain resilience, innovation, and transatlantic burden-sharing. The curriculum analyzes efforts to strengthen Europe’s Defense Technology and Industry Base through policy-to-practice sessions on EU instruments (including the European Defence Industrial Strategy, European Defence Fund, and European Defence Industry Reinforcement through Common Procurement Act), innovation ecosystems, and readiness planning. Participants develop the skills and understanding to generate capability and implement actionable policy options that strengthen European defense readiness and resilience.

Weeks 5-6 offer participants the opportunity to deepen their expertise in a selected area of strategic relevance. Elective sessions analyze and provide deep insights into topics ​related to building capabilities through space, technology, and industry to advance the strategic transformation of European defense. Small-group discussions and exercises will help participants to move beyond theory, develop competencies in strategic thinking and communicate with focus on implementation.

• Cyber-Sapien: Digital Technologies and Human Capability. Move beyond traditional hardware and cyber discussions to master the newest, most volatile domain of global competition – the human mind, AI, and capability itself.
• Geopolitics of AI Stack: DIB and Illicit Markets. Gain a rare, systemic understanding of how global tech supply chains are compromised, giving you the strategic foresight to protect critical industrial assets.
• Shaping the Western Balkans: Strategic Competition and Europe’s Response. Move beyond standard diplomatic talking points to dissect the actual hardware, digital, and aerospace domains for the future stability of a critical region for Europe.
• Emerging Technologies and the Future of National Defense. This hands-on wargame will sharpen your crisis decision-making skills and prepare you to lead national defense planning in a tech-driven world.
• NATO: European-led Deterrence and Defence. Get an insider's look into the operational mechanics of the world’s most powerful military alliance as it adapts to safeguard European stability.
• Defense Technology, Innovation, and Adaptation in Modern Warfare: Insights from Ukraine. Learn directly from the most technologically transformative conflict of our time to understand what the future character of warfare will look like for allied nations.
• The EU and Digital Sovereignty. Understand the "Brussels Effect" – how regional European regulations dictate global tech operations, compliance, and corporate strategies worldwide.
• Understanding Russian Strategic Behavior and Technology. Demystify Russian decision-making frameworks across land, air, cyber, and space domains to accurately predict, deter, and counter hostile maneuvers targeting the global defense infrastructure.

Week 7 serves as the capstone of the course, transforming participants from analysts to practitioners capable of designing and implementing impactful security strategies. Having examined the strategic landscape across space, emerging technologies, and the Defense Industrial Base through the lens of the Marshall Center's Transatlantic Industrial Readiness Program (TIRP), participants converge domain-specific insights into a unified strategic product and implementation plan. A central feature of the week is the strategy accelerator on Day 4, during which each seminar delivers a decision-quality brief to a high-level security panel.

The Marshall Center’s resident courses are designed to build strategic competencies through lectures, seminars, workshops, simulations, and individual consultations. By the end of each course, participants will be able to:

• Apply strategic thinking to frame problems, align Ends–Ways–Means, and assess risk and uncertainty.
• Analyze the impact of emerging technologies (AI, autonomy, cyber, quantum) on deterrence, competition, and defense planning. 
• Evaluate space as a contested domain, including actors, capabilities, vulnerabilities, and strategic risks. 
• Understand the defense industrial base (DIB) and its role in readiness, innovation, supply chains, and capability development. 
• Use key planning frameworks (DIMEFIL, DOTMLPF‑P, risk/assumption analysis etc.) to design feasible capability pathways. 
• Integrate insights across modules to develop coherent, future‑ready security strategies.
• Produce an implementable strategy, including a written plan and professional brief (course capstone).
• Communicate effectively through concise briefs, seminar discussions, and multinational teamwork.
• Build professional networks that strengthen cooperation and institutional resilience.

The ideal candidate for this in-resident course is a junior-level security professional with the following characteristics:

• Approximately five to 10 years of experience in security-related fields, including offices of heads of state and government; ministries of defense, interior, foreign affairs, technology, and economic development; justice and law enforcement; finance; aerospace authorities; industry; academia; international and regional organizations; and non-governmental organizations
• A basic understanding of security and defense matters and related processes
• A professional or personal interest in strategy and policy development
• A general need for applying course skills to adapt to emerging security issues and technologies for national and collective defense, as well as strengthening resilience and the Defense Industrial Base through the lens of the Marshall Center's Transatlantic Industrial Readiness Program (TIRP)
• Military candidates should hold the ranks of major to lieutenant colonel (NATO OF-3 to OF-4); candidates with less experience (two to three years, NATO OF-2) may be considered

The course is offered in English only. A minimum score of 80 on the English Comprehension Level (ECL) test, or an equivalent score on the ALCPT, NATO STANAG, TOEFL, CEFR, or university-level English courses, is required.