An Cosantóir the official magazine of the Irish Defence Forces and Reserve Defence Forces.
Issue link: https://digital.jmpublishing.ie/i/32936
22 | In these articles we continue on from last months subject on EU/NATO, from our visit to Brussels in February. S T R AT EGI C R E V I EW BY WESLEY BURKE PHOTOS BY ARMN GREG DORNEY between the Strategic Planning Office in DFHQ, the Security Policy section in the Department of Foreign Affairs, and the International Security and Defence Policy branch in the Department of Defence. It is my job to advise our ambassador DOD REPRESENTATIVE IN BRUSSELS In this article Mr Leo Connolly, the Irish Defence Counsellor to the EU, briefs us on his role... Everything we do here is triangulated between the military representative, the ambassador, and myself. Mirroring this, everything is triangulated back in Dublin on issues that may arise at the Politi- cal and Security Committee (PSC). For example, at the moment the committee is reviewing Operation Atalanta. While the operation has been very successful to date, the pirates are adapting their method of operation and our military personnel wish to address this situa- tion. However, this entails going beyond currently agreed parameters so the PSC has to look at the policy and political implications. Many factors have to be considered: what is the desired out- come? what is the mandate and are we prepared to widen it? what happens if something goes wrong? what implica- tions does it have on our resources? It is simply prudent planning. We also have a watching brief on a number of different areas, such as the Middle East, with a view to possible future operations, and we are kept up to date with developments in these areas by our situation centre (SitCen). After every meeting all of the infor- mation goes back to Dublin and it’s my job to highlight certain issues to help them as they go through the process of examining the risk assessment, political viability, achievability, suitability for our Defence Forces’ makeup, cultural accept- ability, etc, of any proposed decision. If they need any clarification they come back to me. In relation to the funding of opera- tions we favour what is known as ‘costs lie where they fall’, which basically An Cosantóir June .dfmagazine.ie www 2011