The Combined Joint Operations from the Sea Centre of Excellence (CJOS COE) is conducting a virtual Maritime Security Regimes round table (MSR RT) Nov. 3-4.
With an international staff representing 13 nations, the CJOS COE is led by Vice Adm. Daniel Dwyer — who is also Commander, U.S. SECOND Fleet and Commander, Joint Forces Command Norfolk — and is one of 27 NATO-accredited COEs, which serve as hubs for innovation and expertise.
The 2021 MSR RT theme is “Challenges and Threats in Global Maritime Security.”
“As the host, CJOS COE aims to enhance knowledge and raise awareness on important issues in maritime security and, by doing so, support and preserve the interests of NATO Allies and partner nations,” said Royal Navy Commodore Thomas Guy, deputy director of CJOS COE.
Guy said the round table will bring maritime security stakeholders — military experts, academics, and representatives of the industry — together to exchange experiences, knowledge, and concerns in the field of Maritime Security. “Their participation and that of the greater community of interest will serve as an enriching forum to advance the achievement of a safer maritime domain within which everyone will be better prepared to face future challenges,” Guy said.
According to Cmdr. Nathaniel Hathaway, the MSR RT project officer, the round table is intended to bring about a better understanding of some of NATO’s most pressing geographical hot spots in terms of maritime security, the issues found there, and the challenges they pose. That includes understanding the most influential actors within those hot spots, their motivations, and how they are affected by the interests and actions of external global actors, as well as the international legal aspects of maritime activity, the intersection of naval activity and commercial shipping, and new more complex threats faced by the international community.
“We want to share awareness across the community of some current at-sea operations, discuss technical and operational challenges, breakthrough technologies, and knowledge gaps to facilitate future research and collaboration across the community, and inform the maritime security community of the spectrum of work accomplished through the MSR RT working groups,” Hathaway said.
“Through a series of expert panels, the MSR RT will delve deeply into several of the most relevant and important issues in Maritime Security,” Hathaway said. “Challenges of the present will go hand in hand with opportunities for the future, as the MSR RT explores how the maritime security community of interest is addressing today’s threats while examining potential for future advantages.”
“We started the MSR roundtable in 2012 as a forum for sharing best practices and mutual education,” Guy said. “At that time, NATO was more focused on maritime security instead of warfighting. Since then, NATO has focused much more on high-end warfare, but there still is a demand signal for global maritime security issues, and we’ve got a good pedigree in facilitating that.”
For more information, visit http://www.cjoscoe.org/?p=2083.
