Baltic Defence College in Tartu, Estonia

EAG Faculty Present at the Baltic Defense
College’s Operational Level Energy Security Course

By Larry Walzer, Faculty Associate-Research, Energy Academic Group

From 14 – 18 March 2022, the Naval Postgraduate School’s Energy Academic Group (EAG) partnered with the NATO Energy Security Center of Excellence to support the execution of the Baltic Defense College’s Operational Level Energy Security Course in Tartu, Estonia. The Baltic Defense College is an English-speaking international institution of Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania that provides professional military education at the operational and strategic level for military and civilian leaders of the Baltic states, their allies and partners. This was the fourth iteration of the annual course that the EAG has supported.       

Due to COVID-19, this was the first time since 2019 that the course has been conducted as a resident program. The return to the classroom coincided with the return to a much more effective program, enabled by the face-to-face interaction of the participants from eight countries gathered to discuss shared challenges and highlight best practices during course exercise breakout sessions.       

The aim of the course was to provide participants with knowledge of the importance of energy and energy security in the current geopolitical situation and its influence on military operations. Course student objectives included: interpret NATO’s energy security pillars (energy security awareness, critical energy infrastructure protection, and energy efficiency in military operations); analyze the links between energy and crisis (conflict/hybrid) as well as energy and geopolitics; and analyze energy development and vulnerabilities as part of the new challenges to security and the crosscutting nature of emerging threats in the Baltic Sea region. This year there was much discussion surrounding Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and the relationship of energy. The EAG deputy, Dr. Daniel Nussbaum, and EAG faculty members Dr. Arnie Dupuy and Mr. Lawrence Walzer provided lectures on maritime security, energy in conflict, critical energy infrastructure protection, the terrorist threat to energy infrastructure, and the importance of operational energy and energy security. Mr. Walzer further developed and presented red and blue cell training exercises for participants to conduct during breakout groups, which were monitored by present faculty. Participants included uniformed and government civilian officials from Canada, Estonia, Germany, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, and the United States. For those interested, the course will again be hosted by the Baltic Defense College next year from 20-24 March 2023. The POC is retired USMC Capt. Bill Combes at william.combes@baltdefcol.org.