On Dec. 13 and 14, Virginia Wesleyan University will send a group of ten students to Norfolk for the annual NATO Chiefs of Transformation conference. The conference is an assembly of high-ranking NATO officials from every NATO member state, including the United States of America, the United Kingdom, Belgium, France, Spain, and Germany.
The officials and participants will discuss the future of global challenges and threats, and the appropriate steps that must be taken in order to deal with them.
New this year, COTC17 will hold round-table discussions on five different topics, each led by a different nation. Future Capability Development will be held by the officer from France. Leadership, Professional Development and Talent Management is going to be held by USA. The United Kingdom will hold the discussion on More Effective Decision Making. More improved and agile Joint Intelligence Surveillance and Reconnaissance (JISR) for future operations is the officer from Spain’s topic, and Future Sustainment will be the discussion led by Germany.
The Wesleyan student team will be tasked with observing panel discussions to get a real impression of the depth and scope of NATO’s work with the issues the world is facing. After observing, the students will communicate their findings with short articles, social media posts, and the like. These pieces of writing will in turn be shared throughout the conference and through NATO’s media outlets.
With such uncertainty in the political world of today, an insight into the types of discussions in which the organization takes part will be incredibly valuable.
Henry Tasker
hltasker@vwu.edu