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U.S. Marine Corps and Potomac Institute for Policy Studies Establish Center for Emerging Threats and Opportunities

20 December, 2000

New Center to Provide Problem Solving Support to Military Operational Forces

Arlington, Va. - The U.S. Marine Corps and the Potomac Institute for Policy Studies, a technology policy research institute, today announced the creation of the Center for Emerging Threats and Opportunities, a partnership between the two organizations dedicated to exploring innovative ways to deal with increasingly complex and non-traditional threats to our national security. The center's unique approach aims to facilitate cooperation between the military and other public and private agencies, including the State Department, non-governmental, volunteer, and academic organizations. The objective of the center is to transform its research into operating force capabilities needed by both Marine Corps and joint warfighters for small-scale operations around the world.

Brig. Gen. William Catto, Commanding General of the Marine Corps Warfighting Lab and Vice-Chief of Naval Research, will oversee the Center for Emerging Threats and Opportunities, and retired Marine Corps Col. Gary Anderson will be its executive director. The center will employ experts and scholars to research subjects ranging from non-lethal weapons policy to robotics and homeland defense. Senior advisors include Gen. Al Gray, former commandant of the Marine Corps, and Ambassador Robert Oakley, former ambassador to Zaire, Somalia and Pakistan, and special envoy to Somalia. Jerry Hauer, former director of the Mayor's Office of Emergency Management of New York City, will be a consulting fellow on homeland defense issues.

The Center for Emerging Threats and Opportunities was established at the direction of the Senate Sub-Committee on Emerging Threats and Capabilities out of a growing concern for the wide range of security challenges the U.S. will face in the 21stcentury. Future global challenges will be increasingly complex and less likely to be solved by overwhelming force, requiring timely and effective approaches across the full range of military operations, and including governmental and private civilian inputs.

"As the threat landscape evolves during this time of great uncertainty, our military must continue to evolve and adapt to counter potential challenges," stated Gray, also a member of the board of regents of the Potomac Institute for Policy Studies. "The work of the CETO will provide crucial input to relevant national security policy studies to meet new threats and challenges."

The center has begun work on three separate projects, including In-Port Defense of Shipping, participation in the urban warfare wargame Project Lincolnia, and 11th Marine Corps Expedition Unit (MEU) training.

A special focus of the center's research will be placed on technology in order to identify technology solutions to capability shortfalls. Research, analysis, and assessment will be conducted through a program of workshops, seminars, and simulated wargames, and the results will be submitted to the Marine Corps Combat Development System for potential transformation into operational products.

An ongoing objective will be to support selected operating needs of the forces, including planning, decision, execution, assessment, and training. The center will attempt to solve the problems identified as lessons to be learned from non-traditional military operations conducted since the end of the Cold War. It will also assume responsibility for the Emerald Express Lessons Learned Conferences, the Cultural Intelligence Seminar Series, and the Marine Corps' Operations Other Than War (OOTW) website.

"There are three elements that make the Center for Emerging Threats and Opportunities unique and effective," explained Michael Swetnam, president and chairman of the board of the Potomac Institute. "First is the innovative and thoughtful approach of the Marine Corps in reaching out to academic and other non-governmental organizations for their ideas and support. Second is their emphasis on joint and interagency cooperation. And third is the center's focus on the implementation of their findings. The CETO will have a tangible impact at both policy and operational levels."

The Potomac Institute for Policy Studies is an independent 501(c)(3) not-for-profit policy research institute that provides nonpartisan analysis of technology and technology policy to leaders in government, industry and academia. With a reputation for fierce objectivity, the institute has conducted studies on a wide range of technology and technology policy topics, including defense acquisition reform, dual use technology, space commercialization, cyber-terrorism and biological terrorism.

For more information about the Marine Corps Warfighting Lab's involvement in the Center for Emerging Threats and Opportunities, please contact Tim Jones at 703-784-5099 or jonest@mcwl.quantico.usmc.mil