Executive Education

MIIS Cyber director, Dr. Itamara Lochard, was the only U.S. university instructor among colleagues from the Marshall Center, International Red Cross, U.S. National Guard and other militaries to provide post-conflict stabilization training to an international cadre of nearly 180 cadets and civilian university students at the International Summer Campus. She provided classes on technical tools available in crisis management (humanitarian assistance / disaster relief) efforts. This sixth annual event, sponsored by MIIS partner Mihailo Apostolski Military Academy in Macedonia aimed to train next-generation leaders with inter-cultural awareness, academic and field-exercise skills that will allow them to excel at interoperability needed for regional and international engagements in crisis management. Participants from Bulgaria, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia, Kosovo, Macedonia, Montenegro, Poland, Turkey, the United Kingdom and the United States gathered in Macedonia during 29 June – 9 July 2015.

Summer 2014: MIIS CySec Director Dr. Itamara Lochard conducted the first Executive Education workshop on “Cyberspace Policy and International Affairs” for our partners at Sandia National Labs (SNL) Cooperative Monitoring Center’s International Partnership Building program. Sponsored by the U.S. Department of Energy, the goal of SNL’s pilot cyber executive education was to teach next-generation leaders how international relations intersects with the information age so that they may fold it into national security policies, cyber strategies as well as educational efforts. It was a great example of how cyber issues can be used a platform for cooperation and peace, in this instance for South Asia. The workshop we developed took place in New Mexico, California and Washington, D.C. during the first three weeks of August exposing participants to how U.S. national labs, Silicon Valley, academia, think tanks and the policy world address this critical topic.

10 – 20 June 2014: MIIS Cyber Director Dr. Itamara Lochard joined instructors from various militaries, the Red Cross and the Marshall Center in “Crisis Management” training an international group of 170 cadets and 12 civilian students in Negotino, Macedonia. The MIIS was the only academic institution to take part in conducting the course. In addition, she conducted all the cyberspace segments — a topic that was incorporated for the first time in this five-year effort. The event provided critical exposure for cadets in interoperability, cultural awareness and technical training as they will be “standing shoulder to shoulder” during future international missions. Participants from Bosnia-Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Germany, Kosovo, Macedonia, Montenegro, the United Kingdom and the United States engaged in 10 days of post-conflict / crisis management field exercises mixed with academic peace operations courses. It was sponsored and organized by the Macedonian Military Academy and their Ministry of Defense. Their U.S. National Guard state partner (Vermont) along with representatives from Georgia selected approximately 20 ROTC participants from throughout the United States to ensure a broad exposure to such missions.

5 – 9 May 2014: Director of MIIS Cyber Dr. Itamara Lochard presented on “Terrorists’ Use of Cyber and Technology” and “Countering Terrorists’ Use of Cyber and Technology” at the NATO Center of Excellence Defense Against Terrorism (CoE-DAT) executive education workshop in Ankara, Turkey. Participants included an interdisciplinary mix of representatives in academia, industry, international organizations, NGOs and mid- to senior-level political-military leaders from NATO, Partnership for Peace, Mediterranean Dialogue, Istanbul Cooperative Initiative countries as well as non-NATO member-states.

3 – 9 November 2013: Director of MIIS Cyber Dr. Itamara Lochard conducted an executive education course on “Terrorists’ Use of Cyber for Istanbul Cooperation Initiative and Gulf States” at the NATO Center of Excellence – Defense Against Terrorism (CoE-DAT) in Ankara, Turkey. She created this course for NATO CoE-DAT in 2008 to incorporate policy, legal and technical aspects of this phenomenon. Participants included representatives in academia, industry, international organizations, NGOs and political-military leaders from Gulf states. Dr. Lochard received a coin and certificate from NATO CoE-DAT for her efforts.

23 May 2013 Dr. Itamara Lochard, Director of MIIS CySec, conducted pre-ISAF deployment training on “Patterns of Hybrid Threats” at the NATO Rapid Deployable Corps – Turkey (NRDC-T) in Istanbul, Turkey.

22 May 2013 Dr. Itamara Lochard, Director of MIIS CySec, conducted pre-ISAF deployment training on “The Economic / Corruption Element in Afghanistan” at the NATO Rapid Deployable Corps – Turkey (NRDC-T) in Istanbul, Turkey.