The EU, NATO, local authorities and civil society
Comprehensive approach and shared resilience against shared threats. Responding to grey areas in the Black Sea
26 and 27 October 2023
University Rey Juan Carlos (Spain) | Campus de Vicálvaro, Madrid. Seminario 062
Presentation
This workshop takes an in-depth look at analysing the response to «hybrid threats in the Mediterranean and Black Sea» such as economic zone violations, false flags, and the use of vessels for human trafficking, to name just a few of the most pressing issues. As we see now in Ukraine, these land and sea activities were below the threshold for actual warfare, and many of the actors from NATO are actually apt to operate primarily above that threshold. This is something that Russia has played before 2022 but needs to do successfully from 2014 through 2022.
A strategic implication of the problem is that the more passive allies appear to be and the greater the willingness to maintain international order, the more trust in the alliance, the EU, and the West in general erodes. This is food for all the pseudo-democracies and authoritarian states around the globe, which is troubling. The problem is presented as being unwilling to disrupt liberal values such as trade, the world market, and freedom in this sense. This comes at the expense of defending liberal values under the umbrella of democracy, such as freedom of speech and civil liberties in general.
When we come into conflict, we seem to prefer liberal market values to softer values.
The workshop, to be held on October 26, 2023 at the University Rey Juan Carlos (Spain), will address the ambiguous hybrid elements of actions to tactical representations on the map. Thank you to the collaboration with the Centre of Excellence against Hybrid Threats, a simulation will be developed to represent such scenarios.
Open event – Program
26th of October | Seminar 288 (Departament Building I)
Several international keynote speakers linked with some main European organizations and the countries of reference of the workshop will take part.
Workshop-NATO-23-28
Workshop-NATO-23-29
Workshop-NATO-23-27
Workshop-NATO-23-12
Workshop-NATO-23-7
Workshop-NATO-23-14
Workshop-NATO-23-6
Workshop-NATO-23-20
Workshop-NATO-23-11
Workshop-NATO-23-19
Workshop-NATO-23-13
Workshop-NATO-23-3
Workshop-NATO-23-1
Workshop-NATO-23-21
Workshop-NATO-23-18
Workshop-NATO-23-2
Workshop-NATO-23-22
Workshop-NATO-23-4
Workshop-NATO-23-23
Workshop-NATO-23-17
Workshop-NATO-23-15
Workshop-NATO-23-9
Workshop-NATO-23-8
Workshop-NATO-23-10
Workshop-NATO-23-25
Workshop-NATO-23-5
Workshop-NATO-23-16
Workshop-NATO-23-26
Workshop-NATO-23-24
Workshop-NATO-23-30
Workshop-NATO-23-31
Workshop-NATO-23-32
Workshop-NATO-23-33
Workshop-NATO-23-34
Workshop-NATO-23-37
Workshop-NATO-23-38
Workshop-NATO-23-39
Presentations
Register
Presentation and Opening
- Dr. Rubén Arcos, Associate Professor, University Rey Juan Carlos
- Professor Manuel Gértrudix, Director of the Research Group Ciberimaginario
- Mrs. Paula Redondo Alvarez-Palencia, Programme Officer for Russia and Central Asia, NATO Public Diplomacy Division [online]
- Colonel Sönke Marahrens, Director of the Community of Interest on Strategy & Defence, The European Centre of Excellence for Countering Hybrid Threats
- Dr. Päivi Mattila, EU-HYBNET project coordinator [online]
Panel: Awareness, intelligence, and comprehensive resilience against hybrid threats
Moderator: Dr. Rubén Arcos, Associate Professor, University Rey Juan Carlos
- Mr. Rainer Jungwirth, Joint Research Centre (JRC) of the European Commission (online)
- Dr. Cristina Ivan, “Mihai Viteazul” National Intelligence Academy, Romania. (online)
- Mr. Antonio Notario, Head of the Strategic Planning Unit, Department of National Security, Spain
- Mrs. Marina Alonso, Universität der Bundeswehr München
Coffee Break
Panel: Future of Warfare and new dynamics of conflict
Moderator: Dr. Andrés de Castro, Deputy Director, Instituto Universitario General Gutiérrez Mellado, UNED, Spain
- Håkan Gunneriusson, Mid Sweden University
- Marc Ozawa, Senior Researcher, NATO Defense College, Rome.
- Hanna Linderstal, CEO Earhart Business Protection Agency, Sweden
- Professor Stephan Pickl, Chair for Operations Research, COMTESSA
Lunch Break
Panel: Wargaming, innovation, and resilience
Moderator: Dr. Håkan Gunneriusson, Mid Sweden University
- Vira Ratsiborynska, Visiting Professor, Brussels School of Governance, Belgium.
- Anthony Icayan, Allied Command. Transformation, NATO
- Lieutenant Colonel Ian COMBER, British Army
Wrap-up and fist day closing remarks.
- Rubén Arcos, Associate Professor, University Rey Juan Carlos
- Professor Manuel Gértrudix, Director of the Research Group Ciberimaginario
- Håkan Gunneriusson, Mid Sweden University
- Vira Ratsiborynska, Visiting Professor, Brussels School of Governance, Belgium.
WarGAME
27th october (Closed session. Only by invitation) | Room 268 Department Building I
Presentation of the Wargame and rules of engagement
Wargaming – Session 1
Coffee Break
Wargaming – Session 2
Lunch Break
Wargaming – Session 3
Conclusions and way ahead
Closed event
Invited contributors and participants
Simulation depicting such scenarios
Hybrid Threats
Workshop Committee
Rubén Arcos
University Rey Juan Carlos
Dr. Rubén Arcos is a senior lecturer in communication sciences at University Rey Juan Carlos (URJC) in Madrid. He is Program Co-Chair of the Intelligence Studies Section at the International Studies Association (ISA). He is a co-founder and co-director of IntelHub – International Online Intelligence Hub, an international network for the study of intelligence developed in collaboration between the American Public University System (APUS), the University of Leicester in the UK, and URJC.
Arcos is a member of the expert pool on the information of the European Centre of Excellence for Countering Hybrid Threats. Arcos is currently a researcher (information and strategic communication core theme leader) in the EU-HYBNET project – Empowering a Pan-European Network to Counter Hybrid Threats (a five-year-long project funded by the European Commission’s Horizon 2020 Programme) and a member of the research group Ciberimaginario.
His latest books are ‘The Art of Intelligence: More Simulations, Exercises, and Games’ (Rowman & Littlefield Security and Professional Intelligence Education Series, 2019; edited with W. J. Lahneman), and ‘Intelligence Communication in the Digital Era: transforming security, defence and business’ (Palgrave MacMillan, 2015; edited with R. H. Pherson).
Vira Ratsiborynska
Vrije Universiteit Brussels
Dr. Vira Ratsiborynska is a Visiting Professor on international relations and international security at Brussels School of Governance, Vrije University Brussels in Brussels, Belgium. She is also an Associate Director and Chief Academic Officer at Asia Pacific and European Security Innovation Forum and Center of Excellence (APSI CoE); Research analyst/ contractor working in support of the NATO entities, and a Member at the Jean Monnet Centre of Excellence on European Security and Disinformation in Multicultural Societies. Her professional experience includes working in support of international organizations as the European institutions and NATO entities.
Håkan Gunneriusson
Mid Sweden University
2002 I took my PhD in History, Uppsala. In 2005 I applied to be a research fellow at The Swedish Defence University (SEDU) and was chosen for one of the two positions (19 people applied). After 2 years at this position I was promoted, in competition with others, to the job of assistant professor at SEDU.
In the last years I have been a visiting research fellow at the Centre of Conflict, Rule of Law and Society, Bournemouth University, a co-operation which has benefited both parts. I have also been engaged in a range of different NATO contexts due to my work at SEDU: “Counter Hybrid Threat Experiment”, 2011 in Tallinn; The Exploratory Team MSG-ET-043 on Hybrid Warfare Modelling and Simulation, 2016 in Rome; The Workshop for the Strategic Military Partners Conference (SMPC), Izmir 2016. Expert and founding member of the group Regional (Black Sea and Med) expert group for Countering Hybrid threats at the meeting: “Countering Hybrid Threats in the Mediterranean and Black Sea Regions” NATO Maritime Interdiction Operations Centre (NMIOTC), Chania, Greece, 17-19 September 2019. I have also contributed to NATO’s Legal Advisor Web with my publications being used as NATO reference documents (LAWFAS) by SHAPE and as scientific contributor. The Autumn 2018 I was invited as researcher at NATO Defense College, Rome. I also became a Docent in War Studies then. All of these contributed to my publications these past years, a range of articles and a book within the discipline of war studies.
I have the last 3 years been associate professor in political science, Mid-Sweden University. I am Affiliate faculty member at the Institute for Governance & Policy Analysis, University of Canberra.
Manuel Gertrudix
University Rey Juan Carlos
Associate Professor of Digital Communication at the Rey Juan Carlos University, coordinator of the Cyberimaginary research group, and co-editor of the scientific journal Icono14. Specialist in digital communication he has been IP of 8 competitive national and international research projects. He has been Vice Chancellor for Quality, Ethics and Good Governance of the URJC (2018 -2021), Academic Director of the Center for Innovation in Digital Education (2013-2017), Technical Advisor of New Technologies (2003-2007) and Head of Service of distance education of the Ministry of Education (Spain).
Kamil MiKULSKI
University Rey Juan Carlos
Senior OSINT analyst at IN2. PhD student in University Rey Juan Carlos.
CRISTINA ARRIBAS
University Rey Juan Carlos
Cristina Arribas is a PhD student and researcher in the Department of Communication and member of the Ciberimaginario group at the University Rey Juan Carlos. She holds a Bachelor´s Degree in History (Contemporary History), a Bachelor’s Degree East Asian Studies and a Master’s degree in Intelligence Analyst. She has an extensive experience in the field of cybersecurity providing analyst for companies and institutions. Her research interests include among others: disinformation, digital communication and international security.
Extended Committee
Venue
University Rey Juan Carlos
P.º de los Artilleros, 38, 28032 Madrid (SPAIN)
Organizers
Sponsors
Colaborators
This course is sponsored by
NATO’s Public Diplomacy Division
