Executive Seminar on Strategic Communication
"Strategic Communication: A Strategy for Today's Security Challenges"

The Near East South Asia Center for Strategic Studies will host its second three week Strategic Communications oriented towards civilian officials and military officers who have responsibilities related to developing strategic communications plans and official publications and broadcasts in Ministry of Defense Directorate of Morale and Guidance or equivalent offices of government (e.g. Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Ministry of Interior).

Who:
Thirty-six (36) civilian officials and military officers of grades equivalent to lieutenant colonel and higher from the NESA region will participate. The audience for this seminar should be drawn primarily from military and national security communications/public affairs professionals whose primary responsibility includes overseeing publications and broadcasts dealing with strategic issues of concern to their country and the NESA region.

Why:
The “war of ideas” is a crucial front in countering extremism and terrorism worldwide. The recent revolution in information technology, from mobile phones to the internet, means that the exchange of ideas and the control of information have a major impact on national security. Strategic communication, properly understood and utilized, is a tool by which modern governments can effective engage key constituencies, to include their publics, about strategic issues and concerns. This seminar will foster dialogue among regional communication leaders on the issues and challenges related to strategic communications in the coming months and years and about the importance and critical sensitivity of their work.

How:
About twenty (20) U.S. Government officials and experts from the NESA region and the U.S. will speak to the participants in plenary sessions. An experienced group of facilitators, made up of NESA Center faculty, will help guide the numerous breakout discussion groups. Simultaneous interpretation into Arabic, and, if necessary, French and Dari, will provide assistance at all plenary sessions and consecutive interpretation will be available in breakout discussion groups.

Apart from subjects related to the media and broadcasting in an age of global communications and multiple outlets, the seminar will explore current strategic challenges, such as terrorism, weapons of mass destruction proliferation, demographic changes, environmental security, responses to natural disasters, corruption, humanitarian intervention, etc. The seminar should furthermore inform on the evolving communication efforts undertaken by the US as part of the campaign in the Global War on Terrorism. It will educate participants on the many tools that they can use in their own work as strategic communicators. The program will conclude with a table top exercise where students will apply the information they have learned to develop a strategic communications plan.

Content:
The first week of the seminar will expose participants to a broad discussion of strategic communications and its use as a tool of war and diplomacy; examine the inner workings of US agencies and the relationships between those agencies and various media outlets. It will take a macro-view of global information transmission while examining the context in which events are reported in both the U.S. and the region. Discussions will cover U.S. efforts post 9-11 and the changing nature of war and diplomacy as tools of statehood. The highlights of this week will include visits to the Defense Information School at Ft Meade, State Department Public Diplomacy Office, and the Broadcasting Board of Governors for discussions with key American policymakers and communication specialists.

The second week of the seminar will examine strategic communications issues in the NESA region. A particular emphasis will be placed on the role of the press and the importance of professional skills and the development of mechanisms to educate the public, encourage transparency, and foster discussion of strategic issues. The participants will be introduced to a number of different channels of communication and resources available to them that may be new to many of them. Site visits will continue this week to include Capitol Hill for talks with congressional staffers and several lobbyists, Voice of America, and Alhora Television.

The third and final week of the seminar will focus on the challenges of globalization as they impact political and economic developments. Among these challenges are global issues of corruption, proliferation, environmental security, disaster management, pandemics, human development, and countering extremist ideologies and violent behavior. The week will include visits to the Pentagon to discuss Information Operations, Psyops, as well as the role of Public Affairs. A central focus of this third week is how to deal with these challenges in the development of effective strategic communications approaches. The session will conclude with a table top exercise where participants will be challenged to apply the knowledge gained in developing a strategic communications plan.

For a schedule and information about how to register, click here.