New course enhances global maritime security.

How does one enhance maritime security around the world? Building international partnerships through the nation's Security Assistance Training Program is certainly a good place to start. With the successful launch this spring of the first-ever International Senior Officer Staff Course (ISOSC), the United States Coast Guard (USCG) has created an important new venue for sharing ideas and cultivating relationships with our international partners. This customized, allinternational senior officer course joins three other mid-grade officer courses now offered by Training Center Yorktown's International Maritime Officers School (IMOS). The new ISOSC serves as a logical follow-on to the prestigious ten-week International Maritime Officers Course that already boasts some 491 graduates from 98 different countries since 1995.

Teaming with representatives from the Naval War College, the Defense Institute for International Legal Studies, the National Defense University and Coast Guard headquarters program offices, the staff at Yorktown mapped out a course outline aimed at exploring the challenges modern day maritime services wrestle with every day. Adopting an over-arching theme of Maritime Security Transformation, a three-week curriculum was drafted with an eye toward gaining access to the very best possible speakers. The resulting course provides professional military education to senior international officers by examining a wide range of specific improvement initiatives the USCG has undertaken with a special effort to share implementation lessons learned. Participants consisted of twenty international officer and civilian equivalent students, all O5/O6 or above in grade, from the countries of Albania, Argentina, Bangladesh, Bulgaria, Cameroon, Germany, Guinea, Indonesia, Ireland, Lebanon, Malaysia, Netherlands Antilles, Portugal, Tunisia, Uganda and Yemen. To ensure the best possible access to and availability of key speakers, the course traveled to three different locations in three weeks. Representing seventeen countries, the twenty members of the inaugural International Senior Officer Staff Course students gather on the quarterdeck in Connelly Hall at the Naval War College.

Flying into Providence, RI, the class gathered at the Naval War College in Newport for the first week of the course. After a Sunday evening icebreaker event, the class kicked off a week that stimulated thinking about security in the international arena and then laid the course foundation by studying the legal and regulatory drivers that bound our maritime security efforts. Among the featured speakers were Don Phillips, author of Lincoln on Leadership and co-author of Character in Action with Admiral Loy; Dr. Thomas P.M. Barnett, professor in the Warfare Analysis and Research Department, Center for Naval Warfare Studies at the Naval War College and author of the much anticipated book, The Pentagon's New Map; Dr. Judith Youngman, Professor of Political Science at the USCG Academy; and RADM Crowley, the Judge Advocate General and Chief Counsel of the USCG. Stimulating vigorous and thoughtful discussion, special sessions explored advanced level discussions of Rule of Law situations, examined the differences between Homeland Security and Homeland Defense, reviewed the impact of the Patriot Act and considered the legal aspects of counter-terrorism related programs.

After a weekend stop to tour the Coast Guard Activities New York, which included a much appreciated harbor tour aboard USCGC Katherine Walker and a visit to ground zero, the next stop was Coast Guard Headquarters in Washington, DC. Week two started with a review of the U.S. Coast Guard's Maritime Security Strategy for Homeland Security. Using the maritime security risk reduction continuum as a framework, students got an up close look at a full range of Awareness, Prevention, Protection, and Response initiatives currently underway in support of the service's transformation efforts. High-level briefings on Maritime Security Operations, Maritime Domain Awareness, MTSA and ISPS requirements, International Programs, Deepwater, Common Operating Picture initiatives, National Incident Command System, Scenario Planning and the Evergreen Project were provided. The Vice Commandant, VADM Barrett, conducted a high-energy question and answer session with the class to wrap up the week. On Saturday, the class toured the White House as part of a scheduled Informational Program trip designed to introduce visiting international students to American society, institutions and ideals.

The final week of training required the class to fly to Savannah, Georgia to attend the 4th annual Coast Guard Innovation Expo. Having had the opportunity to hear about strategy and program priorities, the Expo allowed students to explore a wide range of tactical applications being used at operational units throughout the service, meet the innovators and ask questions. Panel discussions and hundreds of display booths provided ample opportunity to explore specific areas of interest for each class member. Special sessions were arranged for the class including a dynamic, give and take session with Dr. Steve Flynn of the Council for Foreign Relations and Dr. Phil Williams of the University of Pittsburgh. The class finished up the week with a working breakfast session with the Chief of Staff, VADM Allen. Shortly thereafter, Admiral Allen presided over the International Senior Officer Staff Course graduation ceremony, presenting each student with a hard-earned graduation certificate.

The senior international officer student reaction to this first ever course offering was both very positive and quite revealing. The International Maritime Officers School School Chief, LCDR Rob LeFevers, said it best,

   The international students were genuinely surprised at the amount of
   time, energy and resources the U.S. Coast Guard now dedicates to the
   maritime security mission.

Everyone clearly came away with a new appreciation for the different perspectives that were offered, considered, and understood. Students were particularly impressed with the caliber of the Coast Guard speakers and very much appreciated their willingness to share lessons learned and provide candid appraisals of our progress. The knowledge shared and relationships cultivated in this unique course are an important step forward in bringing the international maritime community together to work on the many security challenges that lay ahead.

Lee Romasco is the International Program Manager for Resident Training at the U.S. Coast Guard Training Center in Yorktown, Virginia. He is a veteran of over twenty years of active duty service in the U.S. Coast Guard. His private sector work includes serving as deputy project manager for the Florida Seaport Security Study team. He has a BS from the U.S. Coast Guard Academy and a MA in Education in Human Resource Development from George Washington University.