ULM, Germany – On 3 August, 2022 Colonel Sönke Marahrens, the German Director Community of Interest Strategy & Defence at the Helsinki based European Centre of Excellence for countering Hybrid Threats (Hybrid CoE), visited the Joint Support and Enabling Command (JSEC) in Ulm. JSEC's Chief of Staff, Major General Richard Laurijssen, introduced Marahrens as an expert regarding Hybrid Warfare before the Hybrid CoE representative commenced his lectures for JSEC personnel addressing today's hybrid threats and their impact on military operations.
[...] It is essential to permanently educate ourselves to stay on top of changes occurring in operational settings [...]
Colonel Sönke Marahrens, the Director Community of Interest Strategy & Defence at the European Centre of Excellence for countering Hybrid Threats, leads through the hybrid threats lectures at the Joint Support and Enabling Command in Ulm on 3 August, 2022 (Photo: OR-3 Ricarda Hertel)
The operational environment moving from a linear to a more complex framework results in new menaces for Western democracies. Hybrid threats, according to the CoE, extend the previous five military domains Sea, Air, Land, Cyber and Space to 13 societal domains, through which state and non-state actors apply their malign intents with more than 30 different methods. Those multi-domain activities need to be carefully monitored by an extended Force Protection with a Counter Hybrid Threat Protection Cell, capable of providing the necessary awareness in all domains
"It is a great opportunity for the JSEC staff to take part in this hybrid threat lectures. With the need of adapting to constantly changing security environments, it is essential to permanently educate ourselves to stay on top of changes occurring in operational settings. Colonel Marahrens as an expert in the field of hybrid warfare provided excellent value in today's lectures and I am very satisfied with the productive collaboration," Laurijssen emphasized after the event.
Major General Richard Laurijssen (on the left), Joint Support and Enabling Command's Chief of Staff, presents Colonel Sönke Marahrens (on the right), the expert for Hybrid Warfare at the European Centre of Excellence for countering Hybrid Threats, with a certificate of appreciation and typical Ulmer chocolate in gratitude for his conducted lectures
(Photo: OR-3 Ricarda Hertel)
Staff members of the Joint Support and Enabling Command participated in the hybrid threats lectures in Ulm on 3 August, 2022 under the lead of Colonel Sönke Marahrens (first row in the middle), the Director Community of Interest Strategy & Defence at the European Centre of Excellence for countering Hybrid Threats
(Photo: OR-3 Ricarda Hertel)
The Hybrid CoE, which was established in Finland in 2017 as a result of an EU Action Plan, has 31 member states as of 2022 and works as an international, independent and network-based organization. Its mission, to build capabilities to prevent and counter hybrid threats, is also accomplished by providing a forum for strategic discussions, joint trainings and exercises between NATO and the European Union.