Course Overview:
The HART-Conflict course prepares the U.S. joint force for supporting, and when necessary, conducting humanitarian assistance before, during, and after combat operations.
Recent conflicts have shown that humanitarian assistance has been central to strategic competition and information operations where states compete to control the narrative. The U.S. Department of War is increasingly focused on hybrid warfare and large scale combat operations against near-peer competitors where the role of humanitarian actors and resulting needs of affected populations are expected to be a complex dimension of the operating environment.
Any future conflict in the Asia-Pacific region has the potential to result in large scale displacement of civilian populations and in worst case scenarios, humanitarian crises not witnessed since World War II.
This course emphasizes enabling humanitarian actor’s access, security, and delivery of assistance throughout all phases of military operations. It also focuses on incorporating humanitarian considerations into military planning and conduct of operations. Without proper attention to humanitarian considerations by military planners and JTF leaders, humanitarian needs will quickly escalate, become more challenging to resolve, and ultimately may undermine military objectives.
Target audience: O3-O6, E6-E9, DoD civilians who in their professional duties are involved in considering the protection of civilian dimensions of a conflict at the tactical, operational, and strategic levels.
Major topics to be covered include:
- Humanitarian Challenges
- Humanitarian Notification Systems
- The Humanitarian Community
- Civil-Military Coordination Mechanisms
- Humanitarian Analysis, Plans, and Security
- Cross-Border and Cross-Line Access
- Case studies on recent major urban operations
- Future scenario analysis of potential contingencies