13th CMDR COE Steering Committee (SC) Meeting
Date: (22-10-2025)
The CMDR COE Steering Committee held its 13th meeting. This strategic governing body is responsible for the approval and management of the Centre's Programme of Work and the shared budget.
The Chairperson of the SC, Lieutenant General Mihail Popov, Bulgarian Deputy Chief of Defence, welcomed the five representatives on the Committee: one from Bulgaria as the Framework Nation, and four from the respective Sponsoring Nations – Greece, Hungary, Poland, and Romania. The meeting was also attended by observers from the Embassies of Finland and Japan. Lieutenant General Mihail Popov affirmed that all SC members and CMDR COE staff are dedicated and committed to the further development of the Centre.
The Committee acknowledged the reported activities and the Quality Assurance report for 2025, discussed the Financial Budget, and approved the Programme of Work for next year, based on NATO’s and Sponsoring Nations’ requests for support, as well as CMDR COE operational development requirements.
It was reported that the Centre’s activities and assigned tasks have been successfully completed, and the Centre continues to expand its range of offerings. The courses conducted in the past 12 months attracted considerable attention from experts and institutional representatives within the Crisis Management and Disaster Response Community of Interest, affirming the Centre’s capacity to address both current and emerging global security challenges.
It is also noteworthy that this year the CMDR COE reached another milestone by adding an appointment as Department Head for the Information and Knowledge Management discipline, having upgraded the appointment as Department Head for the Business Continuity Management discipline in 2023.
In accordance with its strategic objectives, the Centre maintains a high level of ambition and has already demonstrated its readiness to enhance NATO’s and Partners’ ability to anticipate, prepare for, prevent, and respond to crises and disasters.
The discussions during the SC meeting were productive and valuable to the shared mission and ongoing development of the CMDR COE, which stands ready and competent to continue advancing its work in support of NATO’s transformation in the domain of crisis management and disaster response.
The hard work, professionalism, and dedication of all CMDR COE staff were highly appreciated by the SC members, as their contribution ensures the quality of products provided by the CMDR COE.
News
Civil-Military Interaction: Disaster Preparation and Response Workshop has been opened and conductedA welcoming speech of the Ambassador of the Federal Republic of Germany, His Excellency Matthias Hoepfner has opened the Civil-Military Interaction: Disaster Preparation and Response Workshop, which is taking place in Sofia, 11-13 February 2014. The event is under the patronage of George C. Marshall European Center for Security Studies and co-hosted with the Crisis Management and Disaster Response Centre of Excellence (CMDR COE). The workshop is attended by representatives from civilian and military structures from 11 countries – Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Germany, Greece , FYROM, Kosovo, Romania , Croatia, Montenegro and USA. In addition on the American side taking part are delegations from the National Guard of the states of Vermont, Maine, Maryland, Minnesota, New Jersey and Tennessee as part of the State Partnership Program.
» read more
The Final Planning Conference of the exercise Saber Guardian 14 has finished successfullyThe Final Planning Conference of the exercise Saber Guardian 14 was held in Sofia last week (3-7 Feb 2014). The CMDR COE experts headed by LtC Orlin Nikolov, head of Capabilities Branch, participated in the workshops of the Contingency Management Planning/Unified Action (CPM/UA) syndicate.
On February 5, 2015, the CPM/UA members met with representatives of several GOs and NGOs. The meeting was arranged by the CMDR COE and co-hosted with the J9 USEUCOM as there were entities as Bulgarian Ministry of Interior, Chief Directorate Fire Safety and Civil Protection, State Agency of National Security, State Agency for Refugees, Bulgarian Academy of Science, Military Medical Academy, Red Cross, Caritas Bulgaria, Gender Research Foundation, Tennessee National Guard, Bulgarian Modeling and Simulation Association (BULSIM). The purpose of the meeting was to present them the scenario and storyline of their engagement into the exercise.
» read more
The initial planning conference for the SEESIM 14 exercise was held in Zagreb, CroatiaThe initial planning conference for the distributed computer assisted exercise South Eastern Europe Simulation Network (SEESIM 14) was held in Zagreb, Croatia. The Republic of Bulgaria is co-organizer and participates actively in the conducting of the exercise together with the Host Nation. Among the participants are also representatives of Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Georgia, Montenegro, Romania, the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia, United States of America and the SEEBRIG.
The exercise is held under the auspices of the Ministers of Defence of the SEE Nations.
» read more
CMDR COE FEBRUARY Forthcoming events- In 3-7 of February experts from the CMDR COE team will take part in the Final Planning Conference of the SABER GUARDIAN ′14 Exercise, organized by the US EUCOM and BGR LANDFORCE.
The purpose of the exercise is to train and educate civilian and military participants in planning and conducting an UN mandated Chapter VII Peace Operation/Crisis Response Operation, based on a Comprehensive Approach, and focusing on co-operation and co-ordination within an unstable environment, involving all stakeholders. The principal exercise focus is the civilian-military cooperation and coordination. The scenario supports exercising a wide range of peace operations functions (e.g. rule of law, humanitarian, etc.). The CMDR COE will contribute to achieving the exercise objectives by providing subject matter expert support in the CMDR area and by organizing distributed point for White cell.
- In 11-13 February 2014 the Civil-Military Interaction: Disaster Preparedness and Response Workshop will take place in Sofia. The workshop is sponsored by the George C. Marshall European Center for Security Studies, the Ministry of Defence of the Republic of Bulgaria and the CMDR COE. The workshop comprises lectures dedicated to NATO and EU Crisis Management, role of military in civil security, risk management, as well as discussions and tabletop exercise.
Internal CMDR COE Seminar on the Crisis in SyriaThe CMDR COE organised an internal seminar which was held on 20.12.2013. The main focus of the seminar was the crisis in Syria. The CMDR COE experts discussed issued related to the chronology of the crisis; the increased influx of refugees to neighbouring countries and Bulgaria; the positions of NATO, the UN and EU; the involvement of international humanitarian organisations etc.
» read more
Visualizing Implications of Climate Change on Military Activities and Relationships was conductedOn 11-12 December 2013, the Crisis Management and Disaster Response Centre of Excellence (CMDR COE) co-hosted together with US European Command (USEUCOM) and the US embassy in Bulgaria the workshop Visualizing Implications of Climate Change on Military Activities and Relationships. The opening remarks were given by the Deputy Minister of Defence of Bulgaria, Mr. Ivan Ivanov, who welcomed the participants and underlined the importance of the topics that the workshop focused on.
» read more
