USJFCOM sponsors Eloquent Nugget 06 seminar

A U.S. Joint Forces Command-sponsored Partnership for Peace seminar helps explain and demonstrate relevant aspects of civilian democratic control of the military.

By JOC(SW/AW) Chris Hoffpauir
USJFCOM Public Affairs

(WASHINGTON - June 23, 2006) -- Eloquent Nugget 06 (EN06), a U.S. Joint Forces Command (USJFCOM) -sponsored "in the spirit of Partnership for Peace (PfP)" seminar held here and in New York, concluded June 17.

EN06 was the 12th in the annual Eloquent Nugget series of seminars designed to demonstrate and explain relevant aspects of civilian democratic control of the military, providing an overview of democratic principles and exposing participants to the capabilities required to meet the global security challenges of the 21st century.

PfP is a NATO-led initiative established in 1994. Its 20 members work with the Alliance to coalesce Europe in the wake of Cold War tensions.

"The purpose of the series is to familiarize our partner nations with civilian democratic control of the military. That's the overarching theme of the series. Each year we develop sub-themes that address current or future issues having potential regional and global threats," said Air Force Col. Debra J. Carroll, USJFCOM's Joint Warfighting Center's (JWFC) exercise project officer for EN06. She also serves as a special assistant to the U.S. national military representative to NATO's Allied Command Transformation.

Carroll said that in light of recent natural disasters here and abroad it is important to have functional systems in place to mitigate or quickly respond to the effects of such catastrophic events. The sub-theme for EN 06 was "Examining Civil and Military Dynamics of Coalition Capabilities for Disaster Relief and Crisis Response Operations."

The seminar offered discussions, guest speakers, workshops, site visits and presentations by representatives from the U.S. Departments of State, Defense and Homeland Security, the Federal Emergency Management Agency, the FBI, and regional and state level organizations responsible for combating transnational extremists groups.

"Participating in the program is one venue many countries take toward gaining an invitation to join the Alliance," Carroll said. "For others, it is a way to engage with the United States and other nations in an allied-type environment. Qatar, a non-PfP nation, sent five participants to EN 06. There are nations that have no aspirations to joining NATO, but they still want to maintain close relations with the Alliance."

JWFC works closely with the militaries of countries around the world to develop the ability to work together in a variety of situations.

"USJFCOM has several security cooperation missions," Carroll continued. "One is to support the geographical combatant commanders' security cooperation objectives through PfP events such as EN06. Additionally, the Department of Defense security cooperation guidance tasks USJFCOM with helping to transform the mid- and long-term capabilities of partner countries to ensure interoperability in the future."

Carroll said training with partner nations in events like EN06 helps ensure success when those partners participate in coalition operations.

"The PfP program has been tremendously successful," Carroll said. "In 12 years it's gone from working on squad-level tactics to introducing partners to coalition joint task force operations. Not only have the individual countries achieved a lot, the program itself has gotten much more sophisticated and has raised the bar considerably for PfP countries.

"Participants not only get exposure to some transformational capabilities, but also briefs from former PfP countries that recently joined the Alliance, so they can get a first-hand understanding of some of the challenges they had to meet. The Eloquent Nugget series will continue to promote, strengthen and maintain the trans-Atlantic connection that USJFCOM has with non-NATO countries," Carroll said.