Welcome the New Year with a new issue Institute’s quarterly newsletter – The ISG Heron – highlighting our work in Security Cooperation and Institutional Capacity Building as well as the people who contribute to this important mission.

In this issue, ISG:

• Celebrates ISG’s Fourth Secretary of Defense Maintenance Award win
• Spotlights the DSCU Presidential Visit to ISG & DRMI
• Reminisces about ISG’s Successful On-Site in Monterey
• Welcomes five new, impressive Regional Advising and Functional Leads
• Delves into how the Royal Jordanian Navy is Securing and Protecting its Maritime Borders
• Highlights ISG’s Support for 2023 Exercise Keris Aman

The U.S. Institute for Security Governance (ISG) made its inaugural visit to Sri Lanka in February 2020, just before the onset of the global pandemic. During this visit, ISG (part of Defense Security Cooperation University) identified the potential for an Institutional Capacity Building (ICB) project in collaboration with the newly established Sri Lankan National Defense College. This project, which ISG was able to support virtually during the COVID-19 period, provided ISG and Sri Lankan counterparts with an opportunity to build trust and rapport, despite pandemic limitations on in-person interaction. ISG also gained a greater appreciation for Sri Lankan defense priorities and strategic decision-making culture – organizational insights that would position ISG to be a more thoughtful and effective partner when travel restrictions were lifted in late 2021.

A team from the Defense Institute of International Legal Studies (DIILS) recently traveled to Senegal to conduct a seminar on Human Rights and the Law of Armed Conflict with members of the Senegalese military.

Recently, at the Pacific Air Chiefs Symposium at Joint Base Pearl Harbor Hickam, Hawaii, ISG Regional Advising Principal for the Indo-Pacific, James Ross, met with the National Air Operations Commander from the Royal Malaysian Air Force (RMAF), Lt. Gen. Datuk Mohd Shahada bin Ismail, to informally discuss the collaborative work that’s taken place between ISG and the RMAF and to explore opportunities for future engagements. The continued participation in these discussions builds upon Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin III and Malaysian Minister of Defense Mohamad Hasan’s June 2023 pledge to strengthen the long-standing bilateral defense relationship.

A mobile training team (MTT) from the Defense Security Cooperation University’s (DSCU) School of Security Cooperation Studies (SSCS) recently traveled to Vilnius, Lithuania to conduct a two-week international partner whole-of-government Security Cooperation and foreign military sales (FMS) training with Lithuanian Ministry of Defense (MoD) and Lithuanian Military Departments personnel.

A team from the Defense Institute of International Legal Studies (DIILS) recently traveled to the Dominican Republic to conduct a seminar on Human Rights and the Law of Armed Conflict with members of the Dominican Republic Army, Navy, and Air Force.