Dr Kerry Chavez, IWI’s Co-Director of the Air & Space team, addressed a joint conference of the NATO Strategic Direction—South Hub and the NATO-Istanbul Cooperation Initiative Centre in Kuwait. The theme of the conference was, “The Use of Emerging and Disruptive Technologies by Non-State Armed Groups in the Middle East. Dr Chavez joined a distinguished group of subject matter experts from NATO organizations, the United Nations, and military academia. The goal of the conference was to increase mutual understanding of the evolving security landscape in the Middle East and globally. Dr Chavez shared her research and analysis on the challenges posed by the democratization of aerial warfare, evolving terrorist tactics, and the convergence of the traditional military concepts mass and precision.
The NATO Strategic Direction—South Hub is NATO’s focal point for increasing mutual understanding of the regional dynamics of North Africa, the Middle East, the Sahel, Sub-Sahara, and adjacent areas. The South Hub uses a networking approach to analyze challenges and opportunities for cooperation to promote stability and security. During the Wales Summit in 2014, NATO realized that if their neighbors were more stable then NATO would be more secure. Accordingly, the resolved to create a focal point for member states to interact with Africa and the Middle East. In 2018, NATO Strategic Direction—South Hub became fully functional. Since then, the Hub has created a sustainable network of affiliated organizations and NATO entities. That network seeks to integrate regional perspectives into the NATO mindset by providing insights and developing recommendations.
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