News Archive - Page 15 of 16 - Hybrid CoE - The European Centre of Excellence for Countering Hybrid Threats

November 27, 2017

Network on Legal Resilience launched

On the 27th of November, Hybrid CoE organised a Seminar on Resilient Legislation, discussing about legal vulnerabilities and resilience. The seminar brought together some 30 participants from different branches of government and embassies of the Centre’s member states. The seminar was the first stage in expanding of our Community of Interest (COI) “Vulnerabilities and Resilience” coordinated by Director Jukka Savolainen. The COI will organise workshops, seminars, tabletop exercises and other useful events reinforcing resilience and shedding light on vulnerabilities. The Community of Interest also aims to generate topics for research, best practices and possible policy proposals and to define the way forward.

The seminar included three presentations and a panel discussion. The first presentation was a case study from Ukraine by Dmytro Zolotukhin, followed by an analysis on law in the era of hybrid threats by Aurel Sari. Improving resilience through what is feasible in terms of law and administrative experience was addressed in the third presentation by Tiina Ferm.

The next step is to give a more concrete shape to the activities to be undertaken over the course of 2018. The meeting confirmed that there is merit in further work on legal vulnerabilities and resilience, but that the subject is potentially unlimited in scope and that, therefore, we need to find ways in which CoE can add value and deliver outputs that are of practical relevance to stakeholders.

Panelist (from left): Dmytro Zolotukhin (Deputy Minister for Information Policy, Ukraine), Tiina Ferm (Councellor in Legal Affairs Ministry of the Interior, Finland), Jukka Savolainen (Director of Hybrid CoE COI “Vulnerabilities and Resilience”) and Aurel Sari (Dr, Director, Exeter Centre for International Law Fellow, Allied Rapid Reaction Corps)

Best practices, exercising and research in focus

Three work streams include (1) sharing best practices; (2) experimentation and exercising, and (3) in-depth research. In 2018, Hybrid CoE will host 1–2 workshops to share best practices on issues, such as:

using the law to resist hostile influence activities
regulating (dual) citizenship and (dual) nationality
legal responses to disinformation
states of emergency/war
the legal framework of the domestic use of military assets outside armed conflict
legal aspects of host nation support.

The experimentation and exercising stream is to test and refine concepts, to shed light on legal vulnerabilities, threats and assets and to explore response mechanisms and procedures. A possible and yet to be defined in-depth research stream is to harness the expertise of a broader community of scholars to gain a deeper understanding of a range of relevant themes and subjects.

November 21, 2017

Hybrid Threats Discussed in North American Capitals

As part of Hybrid CoE’s outreach activities, Chairman of the Steering Board Jori Arvonen and Director Matti Saarelainen visited North American capitals in order to meet parliamentary leaders and government officials, as well as to reach out more broadly to experts on countering hybrid threats. The United States is a participating country of Hybrid CoE, and Canada is an eligible country to join in.

On 17 November in Washington D.C., Director Matti Saarelainen gave a public speech at an event in the Elliot School of International Affairs of the George Washington University. The event was organised in partnership with the Embassy of Finland and EU/NATO institutions.

Jori Arvonen and Matti Saarelainen with Senator Christopher S. Murphy, Senate Foreign Relations Committee, Europe and Regional Security Cooperation Subcommittee, Ranking Member. Credits: Embassy of Finland in Washington.

In this context, Mr Saarelainen introduced the Centre of Excellence as a hub of expertise for countering hybrid threats. He addressed the need to detect hybrid incidents already in a priming phase and to respond with active measures to hybrid activities in an operational phase.

This public event on common responses to shared hybrid threats was also addressed by Mr Ludwig Blaurock from the EU delegation to the USA.

On 20 November in Ottawa, the Chairman of Hybrid CoE’s Steering Board Jori Arvonen addressed the 4th Annual EU-Canada Common Security and Defence Policy Symposium. The CSDP Symposium tackled such security issues as asymmetric and hybrid warfare. At a time when the lines between external and internal security are becoming increasingly blurred, Canada and the EU share the same strategic objectives, said Peteris Ustubs, the EU Ambassador to Canada.

At CSDP2017 Symposium, EU Ambassador Peteris Ustubs and Parliamentary Secretary (to Canada’s Defense Minister) Jean Rioux discussed Euro-Atlantic cooperation in countering hybrid threats with Jori Arvonen.

In this context, Mr Arvonen introduced the Centre of Excellence as a platform for transatlantic cooperation in countering hybrid threats. According to Mr Arvonen, EU-NATO cooperation is to be considered as the strategic context for the Centre of Excellence, the whole of society approach as its strategic content to build our resilience and the network model as its strategic methodology allowing us to share best practises and lessons learned.

The panel on new hybrid challenges was also addressed by Assistant Professor Stephanie Carvin (Carleton University, Canada), Director General Gregory Smolynec (Department of National Defence, Canada) and Director Gabor Iklody (Crisis Management and Planning Directorate, EEAS).

November 7, 2017

Communities of Interest reaching out in Vilnius

In order to broaden its networks, Hybrid CoE is organising outreach events in its participating countries. The first one was organised on 7 November in Vilnius in cooperation with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Lithuania and the Eastern Europe Studies Centre.

The seminar, gathering together some 80 participants, focused on hybrid influencing in the Baltic Sea region as well as national and institutional (EU, NATO) experiences in countering hybrid threats. The event was opened by Vice-Minister Darius Skusevicius (Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Lithuania), Director Matti Saarelainen (Hybrid CoE) and former chair of the US National Intelligence Council Greg Treverton, who chaired the seminar. The programme included panels with both an academic perspective and a practitioner perspective.

The event was part of the activities of the Community of Interest on Hybrid Influencing (led by the UK), which builds networks of experts dealing with hybrid threats posed by state actors. These networks can share experiences, best practices and lessons learned in an informal way. It is a community where members can test new ideas, challenge orthodoxies and work together to coordinate responses to the challenges posed by Hybrid Threats.

CoE’s Communities of Interest allow the space for multinational and multidisciplinary coordination for defence and resilience. The measure of their success is whether their existence improves the capacity and capability of its members to respond to Hybrid Threats.

October 26, 2017

Hybrid CoE co-hosted Comprehensive Security Training Event

Promoting integrated national responses to hybrid threats was at the core, when the Centre has been planning its first training activities.

Hybrid CoE co-hosted a Comprehensive Security Training Event on 23-27 October in Helsinki with the Finnish Defence Forces. The event was also supported by the Finnish Security Committee and the National Defence University.

The aim of the course was to bring together some 30 experts and officials mainly from European and North American countries to discuss resilience and preparedness in countering hybrid threats. The course focused on introducing the Finnish Comprehensive Security Concept and its implementation by authorities and other security actors.

From CoE’s point of view, the course acted as a pilot course. Hybrid CoE will evaluate the experiences and assess the possibilities to develop a permanent education module on comprehensive security as means to counter hybrid threats and to build resilience. In the future, Hybrid CoE would like the course to introduce and compare different national models of Comprehensive Approach in countering hybrid threats. Sharing best practises and lessons learned is a good basis on which to improve the resilience of our societies.

October 16, 2017

Hybrid CoE organised an EU – NATO workshop on hybrid threats in the Baltic Sea region

Today the Hybrid CoE organised an expert meeting focusing on information exchange and assessment of the hybrid threats and risks in the Baltic Sea region. The Centre organised the workshop in cooperation with the EU and NATO.

The expert meeting was related to an initiative of the Finnish and Swedish Foreign Ministers (6 September). They proposed a role for Hybrid CoE in promoting EU–NATO cooperation in the hybrid risk assessment in the Baltic Sea region. At the inauguration of the Centre, Prime Minister Juha Sipilä considered the workshop to be a good example of how Hybrid CoE can promote the EU–NATO cooperation in enhancing preparedness for hybrid threats. The event is part of the activities of Hybrid CoE’s Vulnerabilities and Resilience Network, which Finland is in charge of.

October 5, 2017

Hybrid CoE Publishes First Strategic Analysis Paper

The first Strategic Analysis paper by Hanna Smith, Research Director at Hybrid CoE, explores power dynamics in the international system and particularly how networks are exploited by weaker powers to pursue their political goals.

The full paper can be accessed here.

As the Official inauguration ceremony, the four speakers signed the Centre’s guest book as first signatories.

October 2, 2017

Hybrid CoE inaugurated

The Official inauguration event of the European Centre of Excellence for Countering Hybrid Threats (Hybrid CoE) took place on 2 October in Helsinki. It gathered some 100 invited guests from the host country and 11 other participating countries of Hybrid CoE. The web-streaming of the Official inauguration event, produced by the Finnish Broadcasting Company YLE, is available at: https://areena.yle.fi/1-4247108

The NATO Secretary General, Mr Jens Stoltenberg and the High Representative of the European Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy/Vice-President of the European Commission, Ms Federica Mogherini addressed the inauguration event. On behalf of the host country of Hybrid CoE, the Official inauguration event was opened by the President of the Republic of Finland Mr Sauli Niinistö and closed by the Prime Minister of Finland Mr Juha Sipilä.

More photos from the Inauguration event are available here:

September 29, 2017

NATO SG, EU HR/VP, Finnish President and Prime Minister will address the Hybrid CoE inauguration event

The Official inauguration event of the European Centre of Excellence for Countering Hybrid Threats (Hybrid CoE) will take place on 2 October in Helsinki.

The NATO Secretary General, Mr Jens Stoltenberg and the High Representative of the European Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy/Vice-President of the European Commission, Ms Federica Mogherini will address the inauguration event. The establishment of the Centre has been one of the aims in the Common set of proposals for the implementation of the Joint EU/NATO Declaration (6 December 2016).

On behalf of the host country of Hybrid CoE, the Official inauguration event will be opened by the President of the Republic of Finland Mr Sauli Niinistö and closed by the Prime Minister of Finland Mr Juha Sipilä.

As the Official inauguration ceremony, the four speakers will sign the Centre’s guest book as first signatories.

The Official Inauguration event will gather some 100 invited guests from the host country and 11 other participating countries of Hybrid CoE. The web-streaming of the Official inauguration event, produced by the Finnish Broadcasting Company YLE, will be available at YLE Areena.

During their joint visit, the Secretary General and the High Representative will meet with the President of the Republic and the Prime Minister at Hybrid CoE.

Information on web-streaming

The web-streaming of the inauguration, produced by the Finnish Broadcasting Company YLE will be available at YLE Areena (17.00 – 18.00 Finnish Time)

The web-streaming of the press point, produced by the Finnish Ministry for Foreign Affairs will be available at Twitter: @ulkoministeriö (18.10-18.25 Finnish Time)

Experts: Marina Kaljurand, Eneken Tikk, Mika Kerttunen and Marja Lehto

September 21, 2017

Hybrid CoE co-hosted a Roundtable on Rules-based Cyberspace

Cyber venues are part of hybrid influencing, and handling cyberspace is part of countering hybrid threats. Hybrid CoE co-hosted together with Finnish Ministry of Foreign Affairs an event on 19 September on rules-based international cooperation in cyberspace.

The event gathered together many diplomatic representatives of the participating countries of Hybrid CoE. One key theme of the event was to discuss the recent failure of the UN Group of Governmental Experts (GGE) to produce a consensus report. The second key theme was to present the current regulations and rules of cyberspace.

Estonian and Finnish experts

Ambassador of Cyber Affairs Pia Rantala-Engberg from the Finnish Ministry of Foreign Affairs opened the event and she was followed by presentations from cyber experts. Ambassador Marja Lehto, Senior Expert at the Legal Service of the Finnish MFA spoke about the legal framework of cyberspace and states’ limitations regarding it. Mika Kerttunen, Senior Fellow for Cyber Security, and Eneken Tikk, Director of Studies at the Cyber Policy Institute in Estonia, talked about normative processes in the context of cyber policy and assessed the latest achievements.

Chair of Global Commission on the Stability of Cyberspace and former Foreign Minister of Estonia Marina Kaljurand

Former Foreign Minister addressed next steps

The third presentation was given by Chair of Global Commission on the Stability of Cyberspace and former Foreign Minister of Estonia Marina Kaljurand. Ms Kaljurand focused on reflecting the current situation after the failure of GGE and suggested next steps regarding future policy and actions. After the presentations, a roundtable discussion was held and the participants further shared their knowledge on the discussed matters.

September 15, 2017

Countering Hybrid Threats Seminar in Helsinki

Hybrid CoE organised a Counter Hybrid Threat (CHT) seminar in Helsinki on 11–15 September, co-hosted with the Finnish Defence Forces. The seminar was supported by lectures from European and North American partners as well as from NATO. The seminar gathered some 50 participants of mid-level policy staff and leaders responsible for prevention, crisis management, analysis, planning, information, and communications, representing key organisations.

Conclusions by the group were introduced to governmental leaders like the Permanent Secretaries Mr Peter Stenlund (Ministry for Foreign Affairs), Mr Jukka Juusti (Ministry of Defence) and Ms Päivi Sillanaukee (Ministry of Social Affairs and Health) as well as military representatives like Brigadier General Vesa Virtanen (Finnish Defence Forces) and Capt(Navy) Jukka Savolainen (Hybrid CoE).

Similar national events have been organised also in other countries in the Baltic Sea region. These CHT seminars use an academic approach to bring together nations’ comprehensive approach practitioners (military and non-military) in a guided educational setting to address topics related to their perspective on preventing or countering hybrid threats. The end product of each seminar is a holistic and multi-organisational presentation to appropriate officials on the problem, potential tasks, recommendations and conclusions developed by the group.

Hybrid CoE is planning to organise, in cooperation with its participating countries and NATO, a high north area Counter Hybrid Threats (CHT) regional seminar in the beginning of next year. This would bring together comprehensive approach practitioners from the Nordic countries. It is recognised that each nation in the high north region faces relatively similar hybrid threat challenges. Therefore, much can be gained from coming together to discuss these issues and exploring where multinational regional solutions may be appropriate. Such a regional seminar has already taken place for the Baltic countries.