The NDU project team – comprised of Hughes, David Gordon
as Senior Concept & Courseware Developer and Christopher
Holshek as Senior Project Development Assistant – is tasked
with reviewing the processes, means and methods for incorporating social science research to address this imperative into
leader development, in collaboration with DoD stakeholders,
and outside educators, researchers, and policy makers.
The project will then identify, develop, and map these pathways
as well as offer plug-and-play modular courseware, based on Impunity. A follow-up to the Convergence book presented at the
PSOTEW, Impunity is designed to serve as a basis for education
and leader development based on case studies taken from recent
interventions such as Iraq and Afghanistan, and lesser known
examples from Sierra Leone, the Philippines, Liberia and Haiti,
among others. The book also introduces its readers to a range of
tools, processes, and methods for dealing with the problem of
illicit power in an international setting.
As part of that process until the end of September, in cooperation with PKSOI and many other partner and stakeholder
organizations, the team has been conducting interviews and
expert consultation meetings, for which the PSOTEW Working Group 3 has served as the first. The workshop:
• Introduced the Minerva Initiative and Impunity-based project to partners and stakeholders to improve partner/stakeholder
understanding;
• Co-identified challenges and best practices in DoD bureaucratic programs and processes for integration of social science
innovations for PME for countering illicit power;
• Co-identified challenges and best practices in rapid development of quality and relevant courseware that leverages social
science innovations for PME for countering illicit power;
• Gathered stakeholder as well as partner recommendations on
both policy and doctrine to improve PME operational effectiveness with reference to this project; and
• Determined the scope and objectives for second expert consultation.
• First and most importantly, they were able to validate the requirement as well as the approaches of both the Minerva-funded project to help PME institutions leverage social science
research and innovations into curriculum designed to help
leaders combat illicit structures, as well as the Impunity book as
a courseware source in support of that effort.
• Second, they established a nascent community of interest and
practice in this endeavor. The quality of substantive inputs and
advice given was impressive – in particular: the idea of using
many entry points to socialize social science approaches in the
PME; persistently engaging institutions and partners with a
clear and consistent message; and, developing and distributing
adaptable, modular plug-and-play courseware.
• Third, they identified a clear way ahead to focus on “operational approach” or design methodology that helps bridge the
gaps to operationalize the methods and the material.
The third outcome in particular teed up the second expert
consultation meeting on the 16th of June at NDU, and consisted of many of the same group members from the PSOTEW
meeting. This meeting reviewed the courseware developed by
David Gordon and shaped the recommendations the project
will provide the Office of the Secretary of Defense on the Minerva Initiative in its final report.
Early confidence in the project is reflected in the willingness of
numerous institutions of military learning and leadership – including the National Defense University, the Joint Forces Staff
College, the Air University, Naval War College, Naval Postgraduate School, the U.S. Army Command and General Staff
College, and the U.S. Army Special Warfare Center & School
– to consider working some of the Impunity-based courseware
into their curricula as early as the upcoming academic/fiscal
year.
Single or bulk copies of Impunity can be ordered by emailing [email protected]. For more on the Minerva-Impunity
project, as well as to download the courseware, which will be
posted no later than September, go to: http://cco.dodlive.mil/
minerva-project/.
Thanks to the active engagement and intense discussion among
over 20 participants among PME institutions and the many and
valued partners and stakeholders outside of DoD, the second
largest of the PSOTEW working groups was able to generate
many outputs, among them:
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