Defense Institute of Security Assistance Management Mobile Education Team travels to Bosnia and Herzegovina. (Education and Training).

Since 1995 and the proximity peace discussions at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base in Dayton, Ohio, the personnel at the Defense Institute of Security Assistance Management (DISAM) have closely followed the application of the objectives of the resulting Dayton Accords. Since DISAM is located on the U.S. Air Force Base that hosted this historic diplomatic event, the Institute's attentive interest is quite understandable. In July 2002, a team of instructors from DISAM traveled to Sarajevo, Bosnia and Herzegovina, and had the opportunity to view the implementation of the Accords first hand and become part of the evolving process.

Dr. Ronald Reynolds, DISAM Commandant; Ms. Virginia Caudill, Director of Management Studies; and Dr. Larry Mortsolf, Professor Emeritus (retired) comprised the Mobile Education Team (MET). The team conducted a Security Assistance Management Planning and Resource Management (SAM-P) Course in Sarajevo from July 22 through July 26, 2002, under the auspices of the International Military Education and Training (IMET) Program.

The honorable Clifford G. Bond, the U.S. Ambassador to Bosnia and Herzegovina, welcomed the students and provided formal remarks for the introduction of the course. He began his statement with the following:

In this room are the future military leaders of Bosnia and Herzegovina. It will be your responsibility to work together to prepare your country for entry into the Euro-Atlantic military institutions.

This seminar represents a significant milestone in US relations with Bosnia and Herzegovina because it is the first time that the U.S. Government organized an event together with a State-level institution, The Standing Committee on Military Matters (SCMM). We want to use the SCMM as our channel for cooperation with both military entities in Bosnia and Herzegovina.

Another important priority for Bosnia and Herzegovina is creating a strong state-level dimension for defense to accomplish the important goals of fostering inter-ethnic stability through mutual understanding and cooperation and improving the tactical and technical proficiency need to participate in the Partnership for Peace initiative.

Strengthening the SCMM also raises the issue of what sort of institution is envisioned either a General Staff type of institution or a Ministry of Defense. The latter is preferable because it underscores the concept of civilian control of the military.

Ambassador Bond continued his remarks by reminding the class participants that the United States is prepared to continue to provide assistance to Bosnia and Herzegovina through a variety of security cooperation programs, including IMET and Foreign Military Financing (FMF). He concluded his comments with the statement that the DISAM seminar is a step in the right direction to educate the participants for continued cooperation.

Dr. Reynolds described the curriculum of the Planning and Resource Management course and, explained how the course was designed to facilitate the vision laid out in Ambassador Bond's remarks. In this regard, the SAM-P course's primary objective is to address the planning and resource processes of requirements generation, budgeting, acquisition and sustainment within a United States-host country security cooperation relationship. Together with the aforementioned resource management functional areas, a key curriculum topic is the role of the Security Assistance Organization in managing the security cooperation programs. Major Steve Ayres, U.S. Army, Chief of the Office of Defense Cooperation in Bosnia and Herzegovina, assisted in the presentation by providing direct information regarding the ODC activities.

The successful outcome of the course depended highly on the advance administrative preparation of Ms Amra Ljubovic of the ODC, and her diligent support throughout the SAM-P educational process. Twenty-eight students completed the full course of study and were awarded diplomas on the final day of class.