George C. Marshall European Center for Security Studies Professors Lt. Col. Falk Tettweiler and Dr. Heather S. Gregg spoke at a conference on irregular warfare in Dhaka, Bangladesh, June 4 - 5. The two-day event was facilitated by a Marshall Center alum, Col. Malique Shams, who attended the 2023 Seminar on Irregular Warfare/Hybrid Threats and was a participant in a session co-led by Tettweiler and Gregg. 

After completing the seminar at the Marshall Center, Shams built on the content and discussions in the SIWHT program to develop the conference, which was sponsored by the Bangladeshi Training Directorate, Armed Forces Division, Prime Minister’s Office. He reached back to the Marshall Center for guidance and invited both Tettweiler and Gregg to give presentations. 

“I was so excited when I received the note from Col. Shams, that he was planning a conference on the challenges from the grey zone for his home country Bangladesh,” said Tettweiler. “This is exactly what GCMC is about. We raise awareness of our participants for specific challenges and ask them about the implications for their countries. Thus we build a strong and trusted network of practitioners to foster collaborative solutions to those challenges.” 

“The conference Col. Shams organized is a textbook example of the GCMC mission. So, I did not think twice when Col. Shams asked me for support,” Tettweiler said.

Gregg provided the keynote address on defining grey zone and related activities around the world, and Tettweiler explored the importance of strategic narratives to help counter disinformation in the grey zone. 

The event drew over 200 participants from the Bangladeshi military, government, academia, non-governmental organizations and the business sector.