Civil-Military Cooperation Workshop in Support of NATO Deterrence and Defence – CMDR COE again as centre of gravity for important discussions
Date: (14-07-2026)
The Crisis Management and Disaster Response Centre of Excellence hosted the Civil-Military Cooperation Workshop: Civil Planning in Support of the DDA Family of Plans on 7 July 2026 in Sofia, Bulgaria.
The event brought together representatives of Bulgarian institutions, NATO, United States counterparts, EUCOM, the Defense Security Cooperation Agency, the Office of Defense Cooperation Sofia, and the Tennessee National Guard. The workshop focused on an issue of direct strategic relevance: how civil planning can better support Allied deterrence and defence.
In today’s security environment, credible deterrence and defence depend not only on military readiness, but also on the resilience, preparedness, and functionality of the civilian systems that enable military operations. Transport, energy, communications, medical support, civil protection, infrastructure, population movement, and continuity of governance are integral to Allied preparedness and to the effective implementation of national and host-nation responsibilities.
For a front-line Ally such as Bulgaria, this linkage is particularly important. Many of the capabilities required for reinforcement, reception, sustainment, movement, and resilience are civilian in nature. They are owned, operated, regulated, or enabled by civilian authorities, public institutions, private-sector actors, and national coordination mechanisms. Therefore, civil planning in support of deterrence and defence is not a secondary activity but a core requirement for credible Allied preparedness.
Opening the workshop, the Director of CMDR COE, Colonel Orlin Nikolov, emphasised the Centre’s role as a NATO-accredited platform where military and civilian perspectives meet, lessons identified are translated into practical recommendations, and national and Allied approaches are connected. In the context of NATO’s deterrence and defence activities, this role is increasingly relevant. Deterrence is strengthened when Allies are prepared not only to deploy forces, but also to sustain them, protect populations, preserve critical functions, and maintain decision-making under pressure.
The discussions addressed three central questions: how military and civilian planners can communicate routinely and effectively before a crisis; how civilian capabilities can be identified and designated in support of defence requirements; and how military requirements can be translated into terms that civilian institutions can understand, plan for, resource, and execute.
The aim of the workshop was not to create another formal structure or plan, but to contribute to a set of practical, usable, nationally owned principles that Bulgaria can adopt in support of host-nation and national requirements under the DDA Family of Plans.
By hosting the workshop, CMDR COE reaffirmed its commitment to supporting NATO’s deterrence and defence efforts through expertise, cooperation, lessons learned, and practical civil-military engagement.
The strength of the Alliance lies not only in its forces, but also in the ability of nations to act together, prepare together, and connect military requirements with the civilian systems that make deterrence and defence credible.
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