New challenges for the military. But new solutions in military education and training?

Militaries across the world have a problem. The problem is: How do we deal with ‘New’ and ‘Emerging’ security challenges? What does this mean?

For centuries, the role of the military was to deter hostile states, and to be able to engage in conflict with other states using arms, if required by their government’s foreign policy. In other words, military and foreign policy was all about states - countries. The role of the military was clear: it was to defend the state or operate overseas on the instructions of their own civilian administration against the military of an opposing state. But over the last 20 years we have seen the creation of new and emerging security challenges. These new challenges may lead us to re-evaluate the role of states’ militaries in international relations.

‘Non state’ actors including fringe groups and extremists have been able to use cyberspace - the online environment in which we all live and work - to spread their narrative. Terrorists are able to use cyberspace to communicate their propaganda, recruit individuals, and execute their atrocities. They use secure online communications, evading the detection of security services here in Europe and across the world. Sadly, terrorists have utilised cyberspace to devastating effect.