Photo By Enid Wilson | 170818-N-VJ084-005 PENSACOLA, Fla. (Aug. 18, 2017) Students from Naval Education and...... read more read more
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PENSACOLA, Fla. – Twenty-four international students from 17 countries graduated from Naval Education and Training Security Assistance Field Activity International Training Center's (NITC) International Anti-Terrorism and Anti-Piracy (IATP) course Aug. 18 in Pensacola.
The students represented armed services from a number of countries, including Bulgaria, Egypt, Greece, India, Indonesia, Jordan, Kenya, Korea, Malaysia, Oman, Maldives, Mozambique, Philippines, Poland, Thailand, Togo and Tunisia.
“One example of a particular anti-terrorism concept we discussed that interested me is the use of stand-off barriers,” said Marine Lt. Col. Simplitius Adecer of the Philippines . “It is always good to increase the distance between a threat and a target.”
The IATP course began as a three-week program in 2009. Today, NITC offers it three times a year as a five-week course.
Retired Navy Capt. Guy Abbate and retired Marine Col. Dave Barraclough designed the curriculum to feature expert military, government and civilian guest speakers, along with interactive student exercises and case studies. Field trips to airfields, harbors, power plants and potential terrorist target areas provide learning opportunities for students to take back ideas to their own countries to develop programs to limit and prevent terrorism and piracy destruction.
“Over the years, we have expanded the course at the demand of the students,” said Abbate, who has taught international students for more than 25 years. “Our goal is to provide a strategic operational look at risk analysis and how to best use all the resources you have, in the most constructive way, to reduce the terrorism threat.”
Navy Lt. Elissam Trimoa from Togo said the course changed some of the views he had on terrorism.
“I think now I have a better understanding of the propaganda involved with terrorism,” said Trimoa. “We deal a lot with piracy in West Africa, and I am taking back to my country better knowledge on how to better anticipate and be more prepared against terrorist threats.”
Guest speakers covered topics including cyberterrorism, duties of an anti-terrorism officer, investigating and arresting terrorists, maritime domain awareness, terrorism and the media, and U.S. foreign policy. Additionally, the students had an opportunity after class and on weekends to explore Pensacola and its area attractions. Midway through the course the students traveled to Atlanta.
“I really enjoyed visiting the birth home of Martin Luther King, Jr. and the professionalism of the tour at CNN,” said Navy Lt. Cmdr. Ebrahem M. Aboelela from Egypt who said the trip to downtown Atlanta was a highlight for him. He said he would have liked to have had more time speaking with Americans.
According to Abbate, many of the mid-level officers attending the class were in the U.S. for the first time.
Cmdr. Liam Hulin, commander of Naval Special Warfare Basic Training Command, presented a two-hour brief to the students before joining them as the guest speaker at the graduation luncheon.
Hulin’s experiences with anti-terrorism and anti-piracy as a Navy SEAL allowed him to summarize many of the learning points from the course, and he stressed the importance of collaboration and sharing knowledge.
“There are two important aspects here, the formal syllabus and the informal sharing of ideas and learning experiences,” said Hulin. “Your biggest takeaway should be all the conversations that you’ve had with your classmates.”
NITC, as part of the Naval Education and Training Security Assistance Field Activity, provides U.S. Navy training and education in support of the requirements of international friends and allies.
For more information about NITC, visit NETSAFA at https://www.netsafa.navy.mil/.
| Date Taken: | 08.18.2017 |
| Date Posted: | 08.24.2017 15:16 |
| Story ID: | 245867 |
| Location: | PENSACOLA, FLORIDA, US |
| Web Views: | 618 |
| Downloads: | 0 |
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