Energy Academic Group Partners with NATO and the European Union for COHERENT RESILIENCE 23B

By LtCol Charles B. Lynn, USMC, Ret., Faculty Associate-Research, 
Energy Academic Group

The Energy Academic Group (EAG), in partnership with NATO’s Energy Security Center of Excellence (ENSEC COE) and the European Union’s Joint Research Center (JRC), participated in the COHERENT RESILIENCE 23B (CORE23B) Table Top Exercise from 13-17 November 2023.

Held annually, this year’s CORE exercise took place in Riga, Latvia, and involved participants from over a dozen nations and more than fifty-four organizations across the diplomatic, informational, military, and economic spectrum. The focus of the exercise was to examine likely conventional and hybrid threats to critical energy infrastructure in the Baltic region, particularly those threats emanating from the maritime environment. This focus area was chosen because the Baltic Sea is home to significant surface and subsurface energy infrastructure, some of which has already been threatened or compromised since Russia’s illegal invasion of Ukraine.

During the exercise, participants were organized into four syndicate groups, each representing an area of subject matter expertise. This year’s syndicates were Critical Energy Infrastructure Protection, Strategic Communication, Maritime Law, and Crisis Response. Each syndicate worked through a series of scenarios that posed likely threats to the energy infrastructure in the Baltics and surrounding countries. On the last day of the exercise, the individual syndicates briefed their outcomes to senior leaders and other distinguished visitors. The most significant best practices and lessons learned that come out of the exercise will be included in a final exercise report which can serve as a guide for improving international, national, and regional cooperation in the face of growing threats.

Naval Postgraduate School (NPS) faculty, along with Navy Reservists from the Office of Naval Research and one NPS student, comprised the evaluation teams for the exercise. These teams assessed each syndicate’s work and then worked to compile the final exercise report based off their observations and notes. Evaluation team leaders for CORE 23B included Dr. Victor “Bob” Garza, retired U.S. Army Colonel Mike Davis and Dr. Michael Malley from NPS, as well as Mr. Michael Sullivan from the Department of Homeland Security. This year, NPS also provided a syndicate facilitator, Mr. Daniel O’Connor, from the Federal Emergency Management Office.

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Contact LtCol Charles B. Lynn at
charles.lynn@nps.edu for more information.