Centre of Excellence Director’s Conference held in Norfolk

Photo By Petty Officer 1st Class Ryan Seelbach | NORFOLK (April 27, 2022) – Representatives and directors from across the globe pose for a photo at the 2022 Centres of Excellence (COE) Directors’ Conference at the Slover Library in Norfolk, April 27th. The COE Directors’ Conference is held to foster interaction between COE directors and representatives from NATO bodies and multinational organizations in order to share collective knowledge and experiences to strengthen the NATO alliance. (U.S. Navy Photo by Mass Communication Specialist 1st Class Ryan Seelbach)  

NORFOLK, VA, UNITED STATES

05.03.2022

Story by Petty Officer 1st Class Ryan Seelbach  

Commander, U.S. 2nd Fleet   

Vice Adm. Daniel Dwyer, Director of the Combined Joint Operations from the Sea (CJOS) Centre of Excellence, hosted 29 Centre of Excellence (CJOS COE) directors and their representatives from various countries to share knowledge, experience and further develop networks between COEs and NATO Allied Transformation Command at Slover Library, April 27 and 28.
The goal of the 2022 Directors’ Conference is to foster interaction between the COE directors and equivalent representatives from NATO bodies and multinational organizations.
Mr. Kenneth Alexander, Norfolk’s mayor, spoke about the relationship and history between the city of Norfolk and NATO commands.
“Norfolk has been the home to NATO for 70 years,” said Alexander. “We have seen the large NATO sign at the Norfolk International Airport, and we are very proud of the designation and would like all of you to know that this is home to NATO and we support NATO.”
The two NATO commands that operate from the Hampton Roads area are Joint Force Command Norfolk and Allied Command Transformation, both located at Naval Support Activity Norfolk. General Philippe Lavigne, NATO Supreme Allied Commander, Transformation, spoke at the conference about the four pillars of cooperation between all NATO COE’s.
“Analysis and lessons learned, doctrine development and standardization, education, training, exercise, and evaluation, and concept development and experimentation. There is, therefore, a direct link between what you do and warfare development, for which ACT is responsible,” Lavigne said. “You also represent hubs, in your respective domains, for the enhancement of Allies and partners’ interoperability, where ACT plays a key role, along with innovation, to ensure that we remain capable of operating together.”
All of the international COE’s work together to share ideas, information and products through multi-domain and cross-domain operations to collectively support the Alliance and global warfare.
Vice Adm. Dwyer also spoke during the conference. He stressed the importance of the abilities of all the COE’s to work together to complete a wide-range of missions across the Atlantic Ocean.
“The U.S. depends on many Atlantic allies and partners to maintain security and stability in the Atlantic, and our ability to interoperate is critical in that journey. CJOS-COE is a bedrock of thought and innovation in the maritime, serving as our interoperability “think tank” for the Atlantic,” said Dwyer.
Dwyer continued about the mission at hand, “each of our COEs play a major role in challenging NATO, conceptually and intellectually, as well as supporting the alliance in maintaining the edge of the rapidly evolving security environment. As independent and individually focused organizations, Centers of Excellence create projects that are diverse and disparate.”
CJOS COE is a pre-eminent, independent, multi-national source of innovative advice and expertise on all aspects of maritime operations, charged with developing and promoting maritime concepts and doctrine in order for NATO, Sponsoring Nations, Allies and other international partners and organizations to optimize the efficient delivery of Maritime Effect.

• Date Taken: 05.03.2022
• Date Posted: 05.03.2022 08:13
• Story ID: 419808
• Location: NORFOLK, VA, US