Saideman's Semi-Spew: Summer Institute 2023: This Is Why We CDSN

Did I just turn CDSN into a verb? Sure, why not. We had a tremendous week at our second in-person Summer Institute (see last year's summary here). I am still jazzed after a week of informative presentations from our various speakers, of scheming by our participants in the simulation, of sharp insights from the participants who came from all over the Canadian defence and security community, and of amazing work behind the scenes by our CDSN team.

Group pic after DND briefings

It starts with the participants. The original idea that animated the grant in the first place was to bring together people from military, from the other parts of the government, and from academia (would love to have journalists as well) attend a week-long seminar/workshop/institute/whatever to learn from experts but as/more importantly, learn from each other by seeing the same stuff from different perspectives via the varying lenses of folks in the community. Plus we wanted to facilitate networking that bridge the various divides. And, yeah, it was really sweet to see it come to fruition this week. Last year's cohort was wonderful, but was not nearly as representative of the defence and security community. We still have work to do to include folks from Public Safety, Global Affairs, and other departments.

Our presenters included CDSN co-directors and other Canadian academics, folks from the policy community, CAF officers, American academics, journalists, and a pollster. They brought much experience and insights to our discussions, provoking many questions along the way. Most of the week was at Carleton, but we did foray into downtown one morning to meet with folks at the National Defence Headquarters. There we meet with folks from defence intelligence, the deputy commander of the Royal Canadian Navy, and some of the top officials on the civilian side of the Department of National Defence. With Chatham House rule in effect, I can't say what individuals said, but I can say that most of the folks we met along the way were quite open.

The Valens Simulation ended in tears and dollars? The scenario had disinformation and arctic sovereignty in play with three teams role-playing the US, Canada, and Meta. Meta got huge profits as it continued to spew disinformation, while the US-Canadian relationship was torn asunder as they failed to reach an agreement. Daveed Garenstein-Ross, the head of Valens, had to wake up early and re-write the ending presentation in light of unexpected conflict. This sim had multiple purposes--to use some of the skills over the course of the week, to get a taste of the strengths and limitations of simulations, to provide a more interactive experience, and to create small cross-sectoral teams.

I am very grateful to the HQ team of Melissa, Sherry, Racheal, Carelove, and Ayshia for doing all of the hard work. All I did was make cookies and introduce people and ask some pesky questions along the way. Colonel Cathy Blue, who was our Visiting Defence Fellow for the past year, was so crucial. Her first week with us last year was during the previous Summer Institute, so she gave us great feedback on what worked best and what did not, and then she helped plan this year's SI. More importantly, she is an amazing recruiter, so she helped us reach our goal of a nice mix of policy, military, and academic folks. She couldn't join us for this year's as she has an important job now of Commanding the cadets at the Royal Military College.

If you are interested in the Summer Institute, we will be putting out ads and accepting applications in early 2024, and you can check out more info at our website: https://www.cdsn-rcds.com/summerinstitute

Below are a variety of pictures from the week. Again, Carelove took better ones, but I am quick to upload mine ;)

Once again in the Board of Governors room

Our policy process panel with Kristine Ennis-Heise
of DND, retired man of many jobs Vincent Rigby, and
CDSN Co-Director Alan Okros

Valens introduces the week's simulation with
Libby at their hq and Daveed Garenstein-Ross
in Ottawa

Murray Brewster, Amanda Connolly (on zoom), and
Captain (N) Kelly Williamson on the media and
Canadian defence

My first slide for the panel on Canadian
civil-military relations with Andrea Lane, Risa Brooks,
and myself

Co-director Will Greaves, Michel Roy of CSE,
and Saira Bano of Thompson Rivers
discussing variety of threats facing Canada

Stephanie Carvin zooming from Oshawa talking
intel with ...

Battle Rhythm co-host Artur Wilczynski

Much fun at our midweek Networking Reception

Charlotte and Andrea enjoying the picture taking

Our partner for this event was
Women in International Security-Canada.
WIIS-C is a founding member of the CDSN, and
I greatly enjoyed hanging out with their new team

You know it is a good reception when a large
segment of the group stick around after the event
at the hotel bar.

Grace Scoppio of Royal Military College,
co-director Andrea Charron, and
Conseils de Sécurité host Sarah Myriam Martin-Brûlé
discuss collaborative research