Multinational Exercise Aims To Improve Post-Conflict Teamwork
14 February 2006
Stability and reconstruction "experiment" includes eight nations plus NATO
By Vince Crawley
Washington File Staff Writer
Washington -- The State Department and the U.S. military are teaming with seven countries plus NATO for a three-week exercise, beginning in late February, to practice closer cooperation when performing post-conflict stability and reconstruction missions.
More than 800 people will take part in the event, formally called Multinational Experiment 4. Much of the action will be simulated, but the experiment uses Afghanistan as its real-world model for a hypothetical series of events, officials said.
Canada, France, Germany, the United Kingdom and the United States will participate from training facilities in their own countries linked by computer networks. Those countries are NATO nations but plan to participate as a multinational coalition outside the formal NATO structure. In addition, NATO’s headquarters and planning staff will participate in the exercise from a facility in Istanbul, Turkey. And Australia, Finland and Sweden will participate in the United States at the headquarters of the U.S. Joint Forces Command (JFCOM) in Norfolk, Virginia.
The European Union and the United Nations also will join the exercise as observers, said Barbara Stephenson, the director of planning for the State Department’s Office of the Coordinator for Reconstruction and Stabilization.
Stephenson discussed the upcoming exercise during a February 13 roundtable with reporters at the Pentagon. Also participating in the roundtable was U.S. Lieutenant General John R. Wood, the JFCOM deputy commander. Stephenson and Wood said the exercise largely involves headquarters staffs and agency personnel, not on-the-ground troops.
IMPORTANT ROLE FOR STATE DEPARTMENT
The State Department’s reconstruction and stabilization office, headed by Ambassador Carlos Pascual, was created in August 2004 to coordinate the U.S. government’s nonmilitary assets when seeking to prevent or prepare for post-conflict situations, as well as to help stabilize societies in transition from conflict or civil strife.
On December 7, 2005, President Bush issued a new directive making the State Department responsible for leading or coordinating U.S. government involvement in stability and reconstruction of at-risk countries and regions. When the U.S. military also is involved in mission, the State Department is responsible for coordinating with the Defense Department “to ensure harmonization with any planned or ongoing U.S. military operations across the spectrum of conflict,” the White House said in a December 14, 2005, statement. (See related article.)
In the roundtable with reporters February 13, Stephenson and Wood did not discuss specific details of the exercise. But Wood said participants would simulate a deployment of their forces in Afghanistan and would have to deal with any one of “268 hypothetical events.”
Rather than focus on “high-end conventional war,” Wood added, the experiment will simulate operations involving irregular warfare and other security challenges as role-players attempt to foster stability and undertake reconstruction tasks such as helping the local population restore electrical service and agriculture.
Even though the situations might be simulated, key officials are ready to pay attention to any lessons or insights gained by the exercise. The multinational experiment “actually drives real-world change,” Stephenson told reporters. “It’s actually bringing together people to solve real-world problems.”
Other nations bring a wide range of expertise, she said. For example, the United Nations and the European Union have long experience in international police missions and would be able to offer advice on specific situations, such as when it is best to deploy an entire unit of police versus when it is better to hire police by individual contract. In addition, the United States and other governments are seeking cooperation with nongovernmental organizations that specialize in humanitarian aid, emergency assistance and developmental work.
Stephenson also said the State Department is trying to take advantage of the Pentagon’s expertise in making strategic plans. Traditionally, State Department personnel have been “gifted reactors” who excel at dealing with events as they unfold, she said. But the U.S. government’s new focus includes anticipating and either preventing or reducing the effects of regional instability. This, in turn, requires fostering a culture of early collaboration between U.S. government agencies and with partner countries, Stephenson said.
Lessons and insights from the multinational experiment will be shared with NATO members and partners during a NATO meeting in Brussels, Belgium, on May 19, Wood said.
EMPHASIS ON RECONSTRUCTION AND STABILITY OPERATIONS
Reconstruction and stability operations have received increasing emphasis by the U.S. government. Over the past 15 years, the United States has been involved in seven major post-conflict reconstruction and stabilization operations, and contributed significant resources to numerous other missions. The seven major operations have taken place in Somalia, Haiti, Bosnia, Kosovo, Liberia, Afghanistan and Iraq, according to the State Department’s Office for Reconstruction and Stabilization. Along with these major missions, the United States also has played an important role in stabilization and reconstruction operations in Cambodia, Mozambique, El Salvador, Nicaragua, Guatemala, Rwanda, Sierra Leone, Colombia and East Timor, among other countries.
“Successful stabilization and reconstruction are essential to an achievable and sustainable exit strategy for military and peacekeeping forces,” according to a briefing statement from the State Department’s Office for Reconstruction and Stabilization.
Joint Forces Command is the U.S. military headquarters in charge of training deploying forces from the continental United States as well as experimenting with new solutions to global challenges.
The State Department’s main Web site includes a section on the Office of the Coordinator for Reconstruction and Stabilization. Specific information about Multinational Experiment 4 is also available on the U.S. Joint Forces Command Web site.
(The Washington File is a product of the Bureau of International Information Programs, U.S. Department of State. Web site: http://usinfo.state.gov)
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