NEWPORT R.I. – U.S. Naval War College’s (NWC) Humanitarian Response Program (HRP) and faculty from NWC’s College of Maritime Operational Warfare (CMOW) are set to play a key role in execution of the Humanitarian Assistance and Disaster Relief (HA/DR) portion of U.S. Pacific Fleet’s Exercise “Rim of the Pacific” (RIMPAC) in July 2018.
“Over the past decade, the civilian humanitarian response sector has shown a growing interest in exploring ways to improve civil-military coordination in humanitarian emergencies,” said David Polatty, a CMOW professor and director of NWC's HRP. “During RIMPAC 2016, NWC broke new ground by incorporating leading universities such as Harvard and Lehigh into the exercise, along with key non-governmental organizations and United Nations representatives.
“RIMPAC 2018 promises to provide the most dynamic and realistic HA/DR scenario to date, with nearly two weeks of disaster relief operations to test new concepts and frameworks for coordination.”
RIMPAC is the world’s largest multi-national maritime exercise that occurs every two years on and around the Hawaiian Islands and southern California.
To better prepare for this important exercise, 15 CMOW faculty and 25 NWC students will play leading roles in a 200-plus person humanitarian disaster simulation sponsored by the Harvard Humanitarian Initiative in April.
“This event will provide a unique opportunity to explore the complexities of humanitarian civil-military coordination that occurs during crisis and will further bolster faculty knowledge in advance of this summer’s RIMPAC,” said retired Rear Adm. Michael White, dean of CMOW.