The second day of the 12th annual NATO Lessons Learned Conference took place yesterday with four in-depth panels on the day’s schedule. These panels covered a broad range of topics focussing on this year’s conference theme; Closing the loop: The lessons learned capability in support of NATO Transformation.
The first panel of the day presented Lessons from Exercises that are essential to NATO transformation, from the Trainers’ Perspective. Major General Reinhard Wolski, led the panel and addressed key lessons from directing last year’s TRIDENT series (JUNCTURE, LANCE, JEWEL, JAGUAR) exercises and recent NATO Exercises from the Bi-SC Directive 075-003 perspective. Information Management, Strategic Communication, and Battlespace Management were identified as providing challenges for future Joint Headquarters. Brigadier General Dzintars Roga followed this presentation with a review of key Lessons from the same exercise series but this time from the Officer Scheduling the Exercise’s (OSE) point of view. BG Wojciech Grabowski finally addressed the audience on key lessons from recent Joint Force Training Centre exercises and training events. He highlighted their Proven Progressive Training Concept Model that has successfully trained 3,933 participants and has supported 300,000 CWIX (Coalition Warrior Interoperability eXploration, eXperimentation, eXamination eXercise) technical tests since 2011.
The second panel looked at how the Lessons Learned process supports NATO transformation. Brigadier General Henrik Sommer kicked off the panel with a presentation on how Allied Command Transformation intends to capture Lessons in order to support NATO transformation. He noted that NATO is on track to achieve a more effective lessons learned capability, but it relies on everyone’s commitment. He further advocated that full sharing and availability of lessons should be reinforced through use of the NATO Lessons Learned Portal. Mr Dieter Schmaglowski, the Deputy Director of the NATO Standardization Office, followed up with a presentation on how Lessons Identified feed development of operational standards. He noted the importance of obtaining feedback from operations, exercises, and evaluations and provided examples of effective application of the Lessons Learned process in Operational Standardization. Captain Mark Cooper then briefed the audience on how Lessons Learned feed the NATO Defence Planning Process (NDPP) and what could be improved in that respect. He expressed how the NDPP has embraced Lessons identified and Lessons Learned in order to enhance and improve their processes in support of the Alliance. Colonel Francois-Regis Boulvert finished the panel’s presentations with a discussion on how lessons from the Afghan Mission Network fed the development of the Federated Mission Networking (FMN) concept. Sharing with the audience that the FMN is the cornerstone for federated interoperability and information sharing across all future missions.
The third panel of the day reviewed how NATO can better interact with Non-NATO entities (NNE). This panel looked at how the international security environment and recent crises on the international stage have shown that close cooperation between NATO and Non-NATO actors is a prerequisite for the successful management of such crises. Ms Loredana Alemanno Testa, the Head of the Operations Division Protection of Civilians Section at the NATO International Staff, led the panel and highlighted examples of positive NATO and NNE collaboration. She further noted that continued mutual communication and collaboration will ensure the overall safety and protection of civilian populations. Mr Gilles Hansoul of the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) reviewed lessons the ICRC drew from its cooperation with NATO. He noted that the ICRC is an invaluable source of local knowledge and will inevitably have a long-established presence anywhere a NATO-led operation would deploy. Mrs Teresa Encarnação form the Emergency Services Branch of the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (UNOCHA) followed this presentation with a review of lessons UNOCHA drew from its interaction with NATO in Pakistan, Afghanistan, and Libya. Lieutenant Colonel Lars Cramer-Larsen rounded off the panel with an interesting discussion on how NATO is actively improving its cooperation with NNEs through Civil-Military Cooperation Centre of Excellence’s, Vision 2020 process; a focused effort toward becoming the focal point with regard to NATO Civil-Military Interaction and Civil-Military Co-operation.
The final panel of the day addressed what lessons NNEs drew from their interaction/cooperation with NATO in Afghanistan and focussed on how NATO interacted and cooperated with NNEs present in Afghanistan and what lessons were drawn by NNEs in that respect. Key speaker, Ms Danielle Bell, the Director of Human Rights at the United Nations Assistance Mission in Afghanistan (UNAMA) addressed the lessons UNAMA drew from its cooperation with ISAF. She noted that effective engagement through dialogue and exchange of information between UNAMA and ISAF directly led to a reduction in civilian casualties and to the protection of civilians. Mr Gene Aloise, representing the Special Inspector General for Afghanistan Reconstruction (SIGAR), then presented lessons the Inspector General drew from interaction with NATO in Afghanistan and discussed their Lessons Learned programme. To conclude the panel and the second day of the conference, Mr Alan Van Egmond addressed the lessons the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) drew from its experience in ISAF.
photos by Ana Viotti