The EU Facing “Hybrid Threats” Challenges course, Brussels, 14-16 December 2021

The European Security and Defence College (ESDC) had the honour of co-organising the EU Facing “Hybrid Threats” Challenges course together with the French Institute for Higher National Defense Studies (IHEDN).

The course was held successfully in Brussels from 14 to 16 December 2021 with active participation and excellent outcomes. The aim of the course was to prepare military officers and civil servants from EU institutions, relevant agencies and member states to effectively take positions on security policies, strategies and missions/operations. The course dealt with diplomatic, institutional, legal and operational issues related to hybrid threats and security issues at strategic level, enabling participants to form a broad overview of hybrid threat challenges.

 

The first day of the course focused on the definition and nature of the threat and its multidimensionality, with a specific focus on cyberspace, information manipulation and maritime hybridisation.

The second day of the course began with a discussion on the multidimensionality of the threat with a specific focus on space, then continued by highlighting a possible division of labour to counter hybrid threats and concluded with a discussion on the key technological challenges of the threat.

The third and last day of the course focused on emerging security challenges and possible strategies to face hybrid threats.

We would like to thank all the keynote speakers for their excellent contributions and for the very high quality of their speeches and lectures.

The content of the presentations and the extremely relevant topics covering the challenges of current and future hybrid threats triggered thought-provoking and rewarding discussions between the participants and the experts.

We would like to thank all 35 participants for their confidence in the ESDC. We will do our utmost to continue providing high quality training.