NATO’s 45th Conference of Commandants was held in Warsaw

From 23rd-25th May 2016, the Commandant of the Baltic Defence College, Major General Vitalijus Vaikšnoras; the Acting Dean of the Baltic Defence College, Mr. James Rogers; and the Commandant’s Military Assistant, Major Vilius Zagurskis, attended NATO’s 45th Conference of Commandants, held in the Polish National Defence University in Warsaw.

Organised and overseen by the NATO Defence College in Rome, the Conference of Commandants is held annually to bring together the military and academic leaders of the defence colleges and defence universities of the Euro-Atlantic region. Its primary purpose is to facilitate the exchange of knowledge and best practices for managing and developing NATO’s professional military educational institutions, making them fit for future challenges and threats facing the alliance and the participating allies.

The 45th Conference had the theme ‘Military adaptation of the alliance and strategic communication’. It included multiple presentations, focusing on the challenge of strategic communication and social media and gender issues to modern armed forces, as well as the incorporation of strategic communication, hybrid warfare and cyber warfare into the curriculum at the senior and executive levels of professional military education.