CMDR COE Successfully Conducted Interagency Interaction Seminar

Date: (09-06-2015)

The CMDR COE has carried out its third annual Interagency Interaction Seminar at Boyana Residence, Sofia, Bulgaria in the period 8-9 JUN 2015.

The keynote speakers of the seminar were Mr. Dimitar Kyumyurdzhiev – Deputy Minister of Defence, Mr. Guenter Bretschneider - Head of the CEPOS, IS, NATO HQ, RADM Chris Sadler - Reserve Deputy Director, Maritime Operations U.S. Fleet Forces Command and Col Vassil ROUSSINOV – CMDR COE Director.

The CMDR Interagency Interaction Seminar is an annual event which gathers subject matter experts, researchers and educators, planners and developers, consultants and various actors working in the crisis management and disaster response domain in order to promote a lively debate on these issues. This year, more than 90 representatives of a total of 19 NATO and PfP nations took part in the annual seminar.

Contributions have been sought from people active in any relevant field, and the seminar will be focused on key aspects, such as:

Crisis Management and Disaster Response Policies and Interactions; Future Operations In Urban Environment; Best Practices in CMDR Education and Training.

As the CMDR COE Director Col Vassil Roussinov told in his address to the participants, the recurring keywords in all presentations which serve as a basis for further discussion are: interaction, cooperation and coordination.

The seminar was held in three plenary sessions.

First plenary session: CMDR POLICIES AND INTERACTIONS

Colonel Katarina Štrbac, PhD (MOD Serbia), presented "Redefining the Role of Humanitarian Organizations in Taking Care of Civilians during Emergencies".

Next, a presentation on the Conceptual Model of Information System for Expert Earthquake Risk Estimation for The Bulgarian Territory Using GIS Environment – Building Relevant Data Sets was carried out. The presentation was prepared by a team of experts, namely M. Kouteva, T. Bandrova, S. Marinova, St. Bonchev - University of Architecture, Civil Engineering and Geodesy (UACEG); L. Pashova – National Institute of Geophysics, Geodesy and Geography, Bulgarian Academy of Sciences (NIGGG - BAS); M. Markov – Military Geographic Service, Ministry of Defense (MGS, MD).

Mr. Yordan Georgiev and Mr. Bojan Pavlov from AvioTech Consult Ltd discussed the Terms of Reference for CMDR Legislative Base Amendments.

Second plenary session: BEST PRACTICES IN CMDR EDUCATION AND TRAINING

The second plenary session began with a presentation on the Military Medical Detachment for Emergency Response – Tool for Disaster Medical Education and Interaction prepared by Col Dr Rostislav Kostadinov, MD, PhD, Col (ret) Dr Alexander Dimitrov, MD, PhD.

Prof. Ximena JIMENEZ BS,MA, MSC discussed the Gender Dimension in Crisis Management and Disaster Response.

She was followed by Teresa Encarnação from OCHA/CMCS who delivered her presentation regarding The After Action Review on the Humanitarian-Military/Police Coordination and the Use of Foreign Military Assets in Response to Typhoon Haiyan/Yolanda, Philippines by VTC/Webex.

Mr. Nikolay Tomov from Synergy Horizons Ltd. presented the Advanced Simulation Technologies for CMDR Training. He was followed by Mr. Hans ten Bergen from MASA Group Sciences (IICT-BAS) who elaborated on the Use of Artificial Intelligence in Disaster Risk Reduction.

Mark D. Wahl, PhD, Research Hydraulic Engineer from US Army Engineer Research and Development Center discussed the Technological solutions and software for Risk Assessment.

The next presentation prepared by Phil Beresford-Davis and Jamie Caffrey from IBM concerned the Inter-Agency Incident and Event Management by using IBM Intelligent Operations Center.

Third plenary session: FUTURE OPERATIONS IN URBAN ENVIRONMENT

Wing Commander Gordon PENDLETON (HQ SACT) delivered an update on the Urbanization project, followed by an Update on Strategic Forecast Analysis and Framework for Future Allied Operations given by Mr Mehmet Kinaci from HQ SACT.

Next, Ms Katarína Svitková PhD fellow from Charles University in Prague discussed the role of the Civilian Population in Urban Operations.

Dr Dave Kilcullen delivered a presentation on the Urban littoral followed by a Future littoral brief, both by VTC/Webex.

Ms Debrah Chandler – Cooperative Cyber Defence Centre of Excellence, Estonia presented the Connectivity and Cyber Threats in a Future Urban Environment.

The plenary session was concluded with a presentation on the Resilient Communications & Urgent HF Systems by Rockwell Collins – Mr Jerry Frost.

The event was wrapped up with a closing speech by the seminar Director Col Milen MILKOV, who expressed his gratitude on behalf of CMDR COE for the fruitful discussion and the contribution from the participants. He emphasized that this seminar demonstrated COE's and NATO's commitment in the Crisis Management and Disaster Response domain.