 We're so happy to have you all here this morning and thank you for those of you who joined us last evening for the book launch and the reception Welcome back today We want to welcome you to the women and war symposium Welcome to the United States Institute of Peace and for those of you who may be new to The Institute let it suffice to say that USIP our acronym provides the analysis training and tools that prevent conflict and brings an end to conflict while promoting stability and professionalizing the field of peace building Today's event will examine issues of women and war and power and protection in the 21st century Last evening. We launched our book of the same title of which my colleagues Chantal Diyunga Udrat and Helga Hernandez who you will meet later today Are the co-editors? I Want to mention that this book grew out of a transatlantic collaborative effort to highlight innovative approaches toward ensuring greater participation of women at the peace negotiating Tables as we heard from Ambassador Strowman yesterday. It's not enough to have one table. We need to have many tables This is a way that we feel Moving forward that women will make a great difference in the security arena Today we're going to build on those themes and explore the implementation of gender sensitive policies underway in defense diplomacy and development in the afternoon We will explore the vital role of film media and the arts in helping us articulate and Illustrate the many roles women play in war and in peace Over the last several decades USIP has been working on projects related to women peace and security and culminating in the development and establishment of the gender and peace building Center This prioritization Meers the US government's own recognition of the centrality of women to achieving sustainable peace and security Today we know that partnerships matter But we also know that leadership is key And so it's my great privilege to introduce you to our executive vice president Tara Sonenschein who has over many years of her career not only at USIP But in her role at the National Security Council the White House and other places have established her Leadership as one of the women to watch now and in the future Tara will introduce our keynote speaker Tara Sonenschein Good morning and a warm welcome to all of you my deepest thanks to Kathleen Chantal Prio all of the co-authors editors and contributors to this wonderful book I don't know if some of you noticed some statistics that were crawling past you But I want to highlight a few this morning in leading to our opening speaker of 24 peace processes Since 1992 Here is how women were represented Approximately in these 24 peace processes. They were two percent of the signatories three percent of the mediators and five percent of the witnesses and eight percent of the negotiators It's not enough on the peacekeeping side There are currently 1,996 women peacekeeping troops It's almost 2,000 that is out of 82,000 stationed in 17 UN missions around the world That is not enough and So we now look to each other and to our leaders at State and DoD at the UN in countries in the field in conflict zones And we look for ways To make a difference to move from rhetoric to action to move from talking about 1325 to really implementing an action plan and we move to ask of those who do occupy leadership positions to take us to the next step and We are very fortunate that we have with us today a woman who is working to take us to the next step Dr. Kathleen Hicks is deputy under secretary of defense for Strategy plans and forces. It's a pretty big title pretty powerful title She's coming today to join and share in the remarks that under secretary of defense Michelle Florinoy wanted to deliver but the world has kept all of them over at the Pentagon rather busy Kathleen joined the Defense Department from the Center for Strategic and International Studies where she was a senior fellow Among her really outstanding career highlights to me is that she took on director for homeland defense strategic planning and program Integration and I figure if she can even define Such a long title. I bet she was working pretty hard to help us on our homeland defense But she did develop DoD's first ever strategy for homeland defense and civil support She's held a variety of positions in the Pentagon and senior executive service She also holds a PhD in political science from MIT a master's degree from the University of Maryland School of Public Affairs And she comes to us from the wonderful local Mount Holyoke College and a member of the Council on Foreign Relations So I'm delighted this morning that we're going to have the Pentagon perspective on these issues from Dr. Kathleen Hicks Thank you very much for that kind introduction And I'm so pleased to be joining all of you today, especially in the beautiful surroundings of this building I know USIP has been waiting a long time to realize the dream of a facility that meets the same Standards as your world-class research and analysis, and I really congratulate you on achieving that that end I also know that you are expecting under Secretary of Defense Michelle Flournoy And she does send her regrets for not being able to join you as she had planned Alas you are not the first group who has had to settle for me in her place as a matter of fact I feel that I've been doing that since 1995 when I first worked for Michelle I will do my best to try to channel her grace and intellect as I can and for those who know her I'm sure you know what I mean When I learned that I would be joining you today I started to think back on my own personal experiences obviously as a woman in the field of national security As I just mentioned I first joined the Department of Defense in the 1990s Back then I was what they called a presidential management intern now called presidential management fellows At that time it was extremely rare at the Pentagon to be in a meeting with another woman civilian or military president It was so noticeable that you would you would call it to mind to think oh my gosh, there's another woman in this meeting Well within my first few months back with the Obama administration in 2009 I was one day in a meeting that was comprised completely of women Six people all women including the military officers in the room And that was the first time and it was quite striking for everyone in the room First time that that had happened in over 15 plus years for me in the defense field That story is really just meant to illustrate a larger point A lot has happened for women in the u.s. Military and security communities since the 1990s It was during that decade that leadership positions for women in the uniformed services and in the defense policy realm really began to open up In 1993 congress passed legislation allowing women to serve on combat ships And the following year the pentagon reversed the risk rule that had barred women from many combat related positions By the end of the 90s women had graduated from every service academy and from other taught military programs What we are seeing now though is I think a wholly new era for women in our armed forces Because of the highly unpredictable and varied nature of today's conflicts In which there's often no clear separation between the front or being behind the lines Women are in combat environments to a greater degree and in greater numbers than ever before in our nation's history Our female engagement and lioness teams have done extraordinary work in afghanistan and in iraq Interacting with local female populations and settings where male troops would have little or no access In these war zones women are also flying fighter jets and helicopter gunships detecting and disarming explosives Operating machine guns aboard humvees and driving and guarding the supply convoys upon which our troops depend At a united states institute a peace event last november the chairman of the joint chiefs of staff mike mullen pointed out the very practical benefits of bringing women into positions of significant military responsibility Indeed chairman mullen said they have given us a competitive advantage He said something else in his speech too quote Today women are rising through our ranks and expanding their influence at an ever-increasing rate Serving magnificently all over the world in all sorts of ways And each time we open new doors to their professional lives. We end up wondering why did it take us so long? end of his quote While women are performing an enormous range of vital jobs and often very dangerous jobs in our uniform services They are also taking on ever more significant roles in defense in the civilian. Excuse me defense ranks Women are the secretary defenses chief chief advisor advisors, excuse me on portfolios ranging from africa To russia and eurasia From homeland defense to the global campaign against weapons of mass destruction From the formulation of strategy to the review of us war plans I think there is a rising awareness within the department of defense in both the civilian and military ranks Of the vital roles that women play in achieving peace and stability throughout the world What's more, I think there is a real determination not to take so long to act on that awareness That is why we are taking steps to advance the principles of un security council resolution 1325 the first resolution passed by the un security council to specifically address the impact of war on women And to emphasize the need to increase the role of women in peace processes In an address to the un security council last october on the 10th anniversary of un scr 1325 Secretary of state clinton said that women's equality is not just a normal issue Excuse me moral issue. It is not just a fairness issue. It is not just a humanitarian issue It is a security issue It is a prosperity issue and a peace issue In that same speech secretary clinton announced that the us would develop a national action plan on women Peace and security to help us act on the four pillars outlined in un scr 1325 The first three of these pillars start with the letter p which i personally like because for those who understand our defense strategy It's formulated around the four p's The three p's in this case are participation prevention and protection For participation ensuring women's active and meaningful participation in all aspects of conflict resolution prevention management Prevention making sure that our conflict prevention activities and strategies reflect the perspectives and interests of the women in a given population and protection Strengthening and amplifying efforts to secure the physical safety economic security and dignity of women and girls The fourth pillar is relief and recovery Promoting women's equal access to aid distribution mechanisms and services Not a p but pretty important In support of this type of agenda the department of defense and state along with usa id Are developing the us national action plan, which is scheduled for release toward the end of this year The overall goal of the us national action plan is to advance international security and sustainable peace By advancing the role of women through our bilateral and multilateral relationships with other governments As well as through engagement with international organizations such as the un and nato But there is also a domestic component to the us national action plan We cannot have an effective conversation abroad on women's participation in security issues Without addressing problems within our own system I will talk a bit more about the domestic aspect of the national action plan a bit later But let me start by addressing how this plan will help our international operations As you know counterinsurgency work has been absolutely essential to our operations in iraq and afghanistan And we believe it is likely continue going to continue to be an important mission for our armed forces In an era of rapidly evolving increasingly globalized threats Over the last decade experience on the ground has taught our military personnel at every level What no amount of academic research ever could have If we are to succeed we must engage with local communities And we cannot hope to do that if we are only considering the interests needs and perspectives of one half of the population We have seen this very starkly as I said in iraq and afghanistan where religious precepts and traditions in some communities Limit the contact local women have with men In these highly traditional societies our female troops can forge relationships And provide assistance to iraqi and afghan women something that would be difficult or impossible for our male troops to do We are very proud of these programs and others that we have already developed to give women's security interests A larger role in the planning and execution of our missions But many of our current efforts are still somewhat ad hoc and the challenge before us now is to make them more systematic To weave them into the dna of our planning and operations While we are still developing the specifics Of what we will take as part of the national action plan I'd like to briefly describe some of the examples of good practices we are considering for incorporation into that plan We are looking closely at our role in training partner nation militaries We take very seriously the idea of building partnership capacity and one very important capacity is the involvement of women in security roles and decision making In afghanistan the ministry of defense advisors or moda program Has assigned two senior officials to help develop long-range strategic plans to better integrate women into the afghan national security forces The afghan ministry of defense's directive 306, which was signed in january 2010 Calls for 10 percent of the afghan national army or ana to be female The directive also emphasizes the need to have women serve in a variety of roles Including at the leadership policy and field operations levels It also mandates an environment within ana that is open to and respectful of service women We have already seen some important progress The ana has nearly 300 women and in september 2010 the first soldiers graduated from its female officer candidate school 29 women completed the formal 20 week training course receiving instruction and mentorship by us and afghan officers For its part the afghan national police set a goal to recruit 5 000 women by 2014 The a&p recruiting command which opened in march 2010 Includes for the first time a female recruiting branch Supported by female advisors from the combined security transition command afghanistan The nato training mission established has established an integration and human rights working group to address issues across the afghan national security force Including efforts to increase the integration of women It is also drafted guidance that directs each component of the training mission to consider gender integration issues in all future actions Furthermore the united states government including dod supports the participation of women at all levels of the reconciliation process Including at national provincial and local levels As secretary clinton has said we believe the potential for sustainable peace will be subverted if women are silenced or marginalized The good examples that we are drawing from the development of the u.s A national plan don't come from just our experiences in afghanistan Our forces elsewhere have also been exercising constructive leadership on these issues The u.s africa command which we refer to as african has formed a gender working group to ensure that all personnel Will incorporate gender related security issues into decision making policy plans programs and missions Anyone who thinks this is just a nod to political correctness or to intellectual fashion Should stop and consider the appalling role that sexual violence and the systemic debasement and marginalization of women has had In some of the wars that we have witnessed worldwide in recent decades This includes in rwanda sudan and the former ugoslavia african's formation of this kind of working group represents a very practical awareness of the Circumstances that may make the difference between war and peace between stability and turmoil african has designed a new training module to address prevention of sexual and gender based violence in the democratic republic of congo A nation scarred by years of internal strife in which violence against women continues to be a deeply destabilizing element of combat This program is based on detailed research of the drc's national experience and was incorporated in a u.s Funded program to train a conglise light infantry battalion This collaboration between african and the state department is part of our effort to encourage the professionalization of the conglise military particularly with regard to human rights practices We are exploring ways to develop this module further So it can be expanded for use with militaries of other african nations And in fact a number of african militaries have requested african's assistance to improve gender integration within their forces In 2009 do d assisted in training a group of nearly 600 Namibian military personnel who were being deployed to a un peacekeeping mission in chad On issues of gender and national security in march 2010 namibia sent its first exclusively female police unit of 31 officers to participate in the african union and united nations peacekeeping mission in darfur Building on these models. We are considering recommending that each combatant command establish an organization Focal point that can advise on how to incorporate gender considerations where appropriate and where needed Into strategies policies plans programs exercises and engagements These structures will help us to systematize our efforts across the four pillars outlined in u and sc r 13 25 Again the priority here is to prepare our forces for the battlefields of the 21st century Battle fields in which public perceptions and community support are increasingly an important part of the terrain We will not be able to navigate the terrain effectively if we don't incorporate these considerations into our thinking and our actions As I mentioned earlier the u.s. National Action Plan isn't just about our operations overseas It also has relevance for how we carry out our work here at home This is crucial to our own effectiveness as an institution to our status as a role model for other nations One component of this is our internal campaign against sexual harassment and violence in our operations worldwide both civilian and military The department of defense like any large institution is not immune From the problems affecting society at large and we've struggled to ensure that all of our military and civilian personnel Work in an environment that is respectful and free of sexual harassment and violence As secretary gates has said sexual assault not only does unconscionable harm to the victim It destabilizes the workplace and threatens national security Sexual assault undermines core values degrades military readiness subverts goodwill and forever changes the lives of victims and their families In 2005 the department of defense established the sexual assault prevention and response program To work hand in hand with the services and the civilian community to develop and implement innovative prevention and response programs We are working to institutionalize prevention strategies in the military community Build a climate of trust to encourage the prompt report of incidents Expand victim care services and improve system accountability We have expanded the sexual assault response coordinator and victim advocate program so that there are now personnel available 24 7 at every military base and installation in the world including iraq and afghanistan The department has further improved victim care efforts with the launch of an anonymous hotline Allowing service members access from anywhere in the world We have hired and trained more investigators prosecutors field instructors and lab examiners As a result of our efforts more victims male as well as female have stepped forward And there has been an increase in the number of court modules of alleged sexual violators The domestic mission of the u.s. National Action Plan will build upon these efforts against sexual harassment and violence But that mission doesn't end there while the u.s. Military is rightly seen as a global leader in the inclusion and promotion of female personnel We still have work to do and the national action plan will help us in this regard Fortunately, we have an impressive track record to build upon I began my remarks today with my experiences beginning almost two decades ago with the u.s. Department of Defense Today we live in a vastly changed world There are still significant hurdles to overcome But there is a powerful momentum for change that I think is irreversible And I believe that we are all up to the challenge and the opportunities ahead of us. Thank you Thank you. Dr. Hicks if those of you who have questions would Signal to us. We will try to get you a microphone I would encourage you to introduce yourselves just identify yourself briefly And try to make your questions a question Or a long statement where your voice goes up at the end. It sounds like a question Hi, I'm India Benjamin with code pink. I wonder about the issue of one out of three women in the military's thing They've been raped or sexually assaulted And then could you comment on all the suffering and agony of women in Iraq and Afghanistan as a result of the u.s. Military invasion of those countries? Thank you Let me take the the first piece first again, we have recognized and and Um see that the growth of reporting of sexual violence as Significant improvement if you will in the sense that we believe many of those acts of violence were ongoing but not reported previously again the the court marshals of Suspected violators have gone up significantly in the last several years So we continue to emphasize the importance of how much more work there is to be done But day by day continue to mainstream the importance of Preventing sexual violence into both our civilian and military components As to the larger question about conflict in women. It's clear that women are off and children are the primary victims of any kind of conflict and as we as a nation look to involve ourselves in conflict prevention activities anywhere Or Any other kind of combat situation that's something we have to take very seriously into account and obviously in case of the united states today We believe that our activities in afghanistan and iraq today are very much Attempting to help protect civilians And build societies that are just for women and children Yes, um over here And then we'll go in the back Good morning, ma'am. My name is beth walley. I'm actually a pmf with the department of the navy right now And I wanted to ask about the recent dakowitz report that was released urging the final hurdles for women in the military And specifically combat specialties be opened And what kind of metrics the defense department would look at to open those last gateways Trying to take the emotion out of the question and whether or not women should be in combat period, but What should they be looking at for women as infantry men or artillery men? I can't answer that Directly, but I will tell you that as part of the u.s. National Action Plan We are looking at parallel efforts ongoing for a comprehensive review of the role of women in the military and opening up combat positions That is a separate effort that is ongoing But we hope to mine it if you will for insights for what should be included in the action plan So I do know there was a significant effort underway in the dakowitz report dakowitz's efforts over the years Generally have have contributed to that. Can you summarize what the report is for those who don't know? I think it was just very well summarized which was And you can correct me if if I have it wrong But my understanding is that the dakowitz report states that the united states military should open up all should should lift any remaining restrictions on Women in combat roles in the united states is there more to it then? Good morning. Thank you for being here. My name is moraine ferrell and i'm with booze allen hamilton working in support of us african And i'm wondering if you could elaborate on some of your examples of our military to military training Where we've done gender integration you spoke about some of the work going on in africa and also the example from afghanistan Are there examples in europe or in asia or other parts of the world where you feel like gender integration is going very well On the mill to mill training. Thank you. Thank you. I think there are examples really Throughout the world the ones i've named probably are the most Striking particularly given the history of the areas in which we're doing this kind of training Um One of the efforts as i mentioned here today is to take examples from all across the different combatant commands and rather than Then kind of walk through those now I think think just to point out that what we'd like to do is get the best practices from each of those and understand Where um their universal and can be applied everywhere and where there are some Specifics to countries or regions that we need to be careful about how we apply But the answer is gender is a piece of what we do looking at gender And population issues In every combatant command. I think african in particular given its role and the way in which the united states have stood up african Is probably at the leading edge Hi, i'm dr. Mary and kusumano love from catholic university of america It's kind of a follow-on to the previous question But we hear from our catholic peace building Folks in the field particularly in places like drc is one of the most pernaceous problems for gender-based violence Comes in reintegration and disarmament immobilization reintegration of former rebel forces And they point out a particular problem a fault point being That we get very different training among The the nato allies among our allied forces on these issues and among un trained troops obviously that's another basket of questions But so my question is in developing this african model for train for mill to mill training What work is being done to try to make sure we're on the same page with the french, british, germans, etc And they report very very different and and very Disturbing trends, uh even among our allies in in hot in terms of how well we're doing that type of work That that that's an excellent point. Thank you for raising it For stabilization and reconstruction issues in general and then just using african African areas an example We have with the stand-up of african Seeing a significant range of activities going on Whether it's ngo whether it's un regional organizations or Ally by ally if you will nato allies in particular Um, so that has been a challenge. I think for all parties to synchronize activities to determine where Where we can develop coherence by complementing one another And I think there's honestly a significant amount of work still to go But it's a very recognized problem that we may be sending different signals that we may be Being inefficient even in our use our use of our resources So it's an area of significant growth I think for everyone who's now kind of descended into that region and others to provide help And to now the question is can we provide help in a smart way collectively? Yes, um before I come down here. I know there was one over here Hi, my name is robert swarr. I'm here with my wife carol who's co-coordinator of a peace studies program at connecticut state university The question I have is kind of a follow-up question to the question. It was asked before and it is The women that are in the lioness position are they being given any combat training today and the reason I asked that is that In felucia they were caught in the middle of some serious firefights And for their own sake and the sake of the troops around them. They need to know how to react to that kind of situation The answer is yes, absolutely Yes My name is li yang I appreciate the effort to promote the women's But my question is what kind of training do you give in all kind of sectors or segment or Field that you encourage a woman to speak up and a To fulfill a real responsibility as a citizen or as a soldier or as a officer And what kind of leadership the women really provide in in order to promote the reform of our society because that's basically the question especially if a new go back to suffrage And then I think the responsibility they want to have vote is in order to reform our society getting a better progress to promote all the human being all kind of levels or all kind of Our life So my question is really what kind of training do you have because it seems to me Just some number of women is not going to promote because a lot of men can do a lot of good job a lot of good conscience And a lot of women whether you send them to anywhere Is not going to work because they are listen to like somebody Who recommend them to deposition? And it's not going to change your society and now we have a society is in very best shape from local to further or to global So you can see a lot of conflict whether it's in the war in the morality Issues it just doesn't make sense. We just talk on a bag or all kind of conflicts of what The importance we have to make this real change. So what kind of leadership or training you really provide? Not only in terms of employee or potential candidates, but also the leadership themselves. How do you promote? And so if you think whether you can speak up and you see something wrong there And how do you promote the complaint processing or the process? So let let me just jump back to this leadership question And it was asked yesterday Leadership for women to speak up find their voice be promoted move through the ranks What what is do d doing? Concretely to provide that kind of training sure First of all, let me speak to the training and then leadership beyond the training piece of it On the training side again, as I mentioned we're very much focused on the understanding of Sexual harassment sexual discrimination those are all key training modules that belong in all civilian and military Training from the junior most enlisted personnel through officers There's a long way to go on taking what's written down and given in a training module and actualizing it in the workplace And and we all know that And many of us live that So I think the biggest issues from my perspective are about creating those leadership opportunities and the leadership opportunities depend on having the best possible jobs that lead to Promotion open and available to women And I think that's where you will see the most significant change is as those And you've seen that in the past as those Promotion potential positions have been open to women Women have risen steadily in the ranks and that is unfortunately generational in nature in terms of its change It's not a quick fix. I think on the civilian side for dod. We have seen that in a generation Significant number of very senior women Involved now in defense policy making and decisions about peace and war Certainly secretary of state clinton and secretary albright are excellent examples of that on the state department side On the military side, we see that in small numbers and I think again generationally I think that will grow significantly in time Once that happens, again, it's it's helped with the training along the way There's no doubt about it and the shifting culture But I think the most important piece really is making sure that those jobs Are available to women because they're allowed to compete for them based on the on the performance and jobs that they've had in the past Are there some women in the military you see as role models now? I think of our own Board here at the institute of peace. Um admiral rondo who is the president of the national defense university um is a very active Voice and force are there others that you see Coming along that we should watch out for there are there are um in um in the army For instance, there is a four star general officer and i'm sorry. Her name is escape me at the moment a lieutenant general ganey Who is a three star who runs all logistics for? department of defense for the joint staff of the chairman Is an important figure and logistics may sound like it's less important, but honestly in afghanistan It's all about logistics. So that's an incredibly important role that she plays Um as you look across the services you you do see that more and more Um, it's not to the same degree that it is on the civilian side for one thing. There's a difference of scale But there's a clear difference of percentage as well. And I think that's something significant For us to work on Hi, my name is rob debaum an unconventional security advisor and a Author of powerful peace dot net on applied smart power balancing hard and soft power for peacemaking because it's not just about one or the other I'm you remember how you felt when you were first in the military and you're the only woman in the room There's some rows in here without one white chromosome and that's Funny, but it's sad and I said this a few months ago at use of the old facility at our female Females and war forget the exact title but there was another another meeting much smaller about the same topics women in war And there were about 5% of the males in there. My first thought is a shame on us But my second thought is it's cultural. It's it's societal. It's it's not a shame so much as a preparation We need to get more men's minds in this game And not look at it as being a touchy-feely kind of a male thing You mentioned incorporation of women in combat roles. I'm a seal retired and we have big big issues with that Obviously gi jane was a was a smack in the face She went to to buds and and met with our commander who said there's never going to be a female seal That comment didn't sit well with the hollywood people. They're making the movie. So we ended up looking like a bunch of barbarians the question is You mentioned coin involving both halves of the population. I'm a coin guy and I a thousand percent agree with that So how do we better integrate? I have one of my best friends is the closest thing to a female seal I know she's done literacy programs for the Iraqi females in Iraq with seals all around her protecting her How can how do we accelerate the engagement of uh of the female side of the society? How do we make sure that coin is really looking at the whole population? And not only that but really at the population in general because we don't do that either We talk about coin, but don't do it so much Thank you. Um I think the I think we've done significant amount already and I know it's it the pace is frustrating but again, I think um You know No one would have wished the conflicts were involved in upon upon us And certainly for the for the for the extent of what they've done To our military to society, etc But if you can find any silver lining, it may be that they have brought crashing forward the need for women To play vital roles The need for them because you simply can't cut off half your intellectual Capital as a nation in bringing women into the discussion of and the execution of combat operations The unique roles as I pointed out that they can play in in populations Um and and on and on So I do think there has been significant progress. There is a long way to go Mainstreaming I think it's the term we would use um gender issues is a huge piece of that and it's not alone Social and otherwise over time to get attention to it from anything from You know combating weapons of mass destruction, which was sort of a niche area at one point Just to take something kind of innocuous and non not really related to society Two issues issues such as race and gender integration They have to get mainstreamed until they're sort of just part of that DNA They're part of how you think about a problem They're not sort of something that you send a group of women off to to review and it's not an issue of having token women in various places It's part of understanding the nature of of conflict the nature of peace and how it's built And the role of various elements of society in that so my view is maybe a little more optimistic Which is that I think we've made a good amount of progress and I I do feel like I will see in my lifetime a significant generational change Um within the military. I think you've seen a lot of that ongoing already I'm not a woman in uniform, so I don't want to speak for women in uniform, but that's my perspective Greg over here Speaking of a man who has taken Greg Hermsmeyer who worked at the Pentagon and has really helped advance these gender and peace building issues How are you going to get more men in this room? Sorry, well, thank you for the introduction I'm not with the delay consulting formerly with the OSD policy. My question for you, Cap, is uh Uh Yeah, I'm encouraged to hear about the sort of grassroots efforts about the african Working group, you know motive program What is OSD policy doing to institutionalize gender mainstreaming and theater campaign planning processes, you know, can't country planning processes and security cooperation activities, especially with the focus on You know security institutions and governance as well as the the training of security units Thank you for that question We have established in this administration An organization specifically oriented toward issues of human rights and international organizations That step in and of itself has been significant for a broad range of related issues One thing that office is doing is It has established a working group and again link to this national action plan as the initial stimulus to get work going To look at exactly that issue. How are we addressing gender and everything from our contingency planning efforts to our campaign plans, etc Again across the swath of do activities But I know you're specifically thinking about how we prepare people for going into combat and how they think through post-conflict stabilization issues and others So that is definitely A key focus area for the working group established and led by policy Again, I think we're at the beginning stages of that and there's I don't want to claim victory But it is a true concrete start that I think people can point to to show we're making some progress Let's take one or two more. Yes Um Three in right there Dr. Hicks, thank you very much. My name is cruelly. Weiss. I'm a A military officer and I'm also a student this year at a war college. It's called the inter-american defense college and um one Of my request to you is when you do draft the national action plan that you also put in there That these issues get addressed at the war college level because the war college level is supposed to be Providing the leader leaders for the future and I can tell you based on my personal experience in the particular war college That I'm in we've devoted only 1.5 hours to this issue this year. Thank you very much Thank you. We'll take one more in the back Hi, my name is sarah williamson with the global emergency group and I want to ask about The work that the u.s. Government does preparing foreign militaries for peacekeeping operations in particular And I know that the u.s. Puts a lot of investment into pre-deployment training But I wonder if you can address the performance of those troops once they go into the field And how we track our investment to make sure that Folks in the field do know how to protect women and civilians once they're in theater Thank you, obviously that's a Concern when you have a strategy that relies on Building capacity and others you put a lot of agency into the others and that's an ongoing concern that we have Whenever we look to do training with another nation We do look through human rights vetting issues And again that can include most certainly will include gender related crimes And so it's a significant issue that we take very seriously in terms of who we partner with and how they have performed in the past If we've already partnered with them how have they performed in the past and have they Passed that kind of vetting process I can't comment sort of in a generalized way about how partners have performed in that it obviously varies And as I've already stated in in Africa it's a particular issue Where we've taken it very seriously and have started to apply some very specific gender violence related training To that to those efforts, but it varies, you know across the world We train obviously with our NATO allies where there's significantly less concern about teaching them In areas in which they may be ahead of us On on certain aspects and and obviously it goes all the way down the line in terms of the types of nations with whom we partner So it's quite specific to the nation and it is a very big concern Before we close if you can take one more question we have one of our co authors from the book and I think would be Appropriate for the women in war book to get the last question Thank you. My name is Sanna. I'm under leaning. Um, I was one of the authors Um, so when we were involved in drafting and mobilizing for 1325 There was always a tension between the women's rights approach of saying, you know We're doing this because women should have a right and equal opportunity in all these sectors And frankly those of us who came from the peace Um, so angle of it and it was really the idea behind the women's peace and security agenda Wasn't to make wars safe for women. It wasn't to have women in militaries to make better wars It was that if we bring women into the process Um, we would be helping to make peace better and that we would be promoting the idea of non violent Transformation of conflicts as opposed to violent conflict And what I worry about is that in this discussion and so much of the conversation here is Is about putting women in the military for combat and for continuing war So my question to you is having all these women Elevating through the ranks in the military sector What is what what trends are they able to be transformative in bringing the idea that peace is actually a very hard security issue It's not a soft fuzzy thing that trying to be peace and sustainable peace is actually incredibly difficult Are women are women empowered? Are they even aware of Trying to bring that and infuse it into thinking where is the discussion around peace actually happening as opposed to As I say better war or resolving conflicts through violence Um, I I come from the Department of Defense. So the mission of the Department of Defense is to Prevent wars and again, I've talked about the four peas, you know prevail in the wars we're in today Prevent wars from happening when you can't prevent a war Prepare to be to succeed in winning it And to preserve the quality of the force that we have so from a Department of Defense perspective Um, you know peace is integral to how we look at the future and bringing about peace And I think women are a key piece of that of that Puzzle of that how we bring that together I I'm not going to comment on the relative value of women bringing about peace versus men. That's just not My background in understanding. I I'm I'm sort of trained as a defense strategist. So Peace is a key piece of how I think about the problem But I'm not going to comment on whether I think about it more than my male colleagues think about it I think if you look across the u.s. Government, it is clear that institutions that bring about peace If you will that try to prevent conflict From the state department to usa id and others have tremendously grown the role of women in those institutions over time And and I think if I think that's a very important message that the institutions themselves have grown in importance If you look at this administration the role of usa id for example I think has been tremendously empowered over the last 10 years And I see those as very promising signs for how we as a society think about security and prevention and the value of those things and the Whole even cost benefit analysis if nothing else the pragmatic cost benefit analysis of preventing war versus fighting war I don't think that's the answer you're looking for but I'm I'm not prepared to sit up here and say that I As a woman and and and and more of me as women are going to better position the department of defense to Focus on peace more than it would if we were comprised of fewer women. I think that's hard for me to judge So let me on on this note. We have a very special video. I believe coming up and what I would like to do is thank Dr. Hicks so much for being here and hope that you'll come again. Thank you very much