The last weeks at the NDC

For the past couple of weeks the Course Members have been out of the College on a Field Study to some major European capitals. Although this means that we haven't had lectures, this has given me the opportunity to sit in on some very interesting events that have taken place in the College.
I got to listen in on a working group on Cyber Security and the role NATO may play within this area. It was a very interesting and quite scary discussion about how these technological developments have also left us vulnerable to new types of attacks. It also talked about the role of the military in cyber security and the difficulties this may bring as you need very specialized individuals to work on this particular field.

The NDC also hosted a Conference on NATO and EU cooperation in the South (the MENA region). Top experts and high level officials from NATO and the EU came together to discuss many issues around the increased threats to NATO and Europe from the Southern flank and the challenges and advantages of NATO-EU cooperation. More than anything sitting in the room with these people was really inspiring and it made me want to be in their shoes in the future.

That´s me in the right hand corner :)

The discussion during the conference was quite interesting among the most important points raised was the fact that within the EU and NATO, there continues to be a bias towards security in the North (Russia) when it comes to security and defense priorities. This was evident as the debate kept on shifting towards Russia when the purpose of the talks were to discuss the Middle East. It was also quite interesting that Article 3 of the North Atlantic Treaty came up. This refers to the responsibility of each NATO member to build up their own capabilities individuals in order for Article 5, common defense, to work. This is important because a lot of the current debates around NATO and and its importance are based on the principle that countries must contribute to their defense capacity building. Finally, it was really interesting to see how much speculation there is around what the US´s policy towards NATO, Russia, the Middle East and pretty much everything else is. Although there were really high level officials there, it seems that nobody really knows what will happen which is quite nerve racking.

At the end of the conference, I got the opportunity to meet two of the participants. I was really nervous to talk to them, however, I decided to go up to them before I regretted not having said anything. My conversation with them was really inspiring. Getting to listen to people who truly care about the world we  are living in and are trying to make an impact truly makes me want to keep on working harder to someday be in their shoes. I learned a lot from them and I´m excited to see what my path will be.

This couple of weeks at the NDC have been different: a bit more quiet than usual and a lot less familiar faces. Even so, my experiences this week have been some of the best I´ve had and I look forward to the month ahead.