Course Overview:

For over thirty years, the HART-Disasters course has been CFE’s flagship humanitarian assistance course, training an average of 400 in-person and approximately 12,000 via Joint Knowledge Online, military and civilian students each year. The HART-Disasters course prepares United States military commanders and their staffs to respond more effectively during civilian-led humanitarian assistance and foreign disaster response missions. This operational-level training course focuses on applying the military planning and decision–making process to the unique circumstances associated with a Foreign Humanitarian Assistance (FHA) operation in response to a natural guidance from the State Department Bureau of Population, Refugees, and Migration, and generally accepted international norms on humanitarian assistance and civil-military coordination. Case studies, small group practical applications, and role-playing exercises enhance lectures by civilian and military subject matter experts.

Target audience: O3-O6, E6-E9, DoD civilians who in their professional duties may plan for or be called to execute a Foreign Disaster Relief (FDR) mission, or through security cooperation engagements or exercises engage in Humanitarian Assistance and Disaster Response activities.

Participants will understand:

  • The broader context and range of US Foreign Humanitarian Assistance (FHA);
  • Military planning considerations and challenges, and application of the military decision making process for FHA operations;
  • The philosophy, principles, and mechanisms that govern the international humanitarian response to disasters;
  • The roles and relationships of key disaster response stakeholders: the Affected State, the Affected Population, Humanitarian Community, and Assisting States;
  • The collaborative means employed by international humanitarian agencies;
  • The criteria for the use of military assets and the military’s unique supporting role during a foreign disaster response;
  • The internationally recognized principles of civil-military coordination; and
  • The logistics, information sharing, communication synchronization, and public health challenges likely to be faced by military responders during an HA/DR operation

Major topics to be covered include:

  • Framing U.S. Foreign Assistance
  • Natural Disasters
  • U.S. Foreign Humanitarian Assistance Architecture
  • Affected State
  • The International Response Community
  • Assisting States, Foreign Military Assets (FMA)
  • USINDOPACOM FHA CONPLAN
  • Response Logistics
  • Humanitarian Assistance/Disaster Response (HA/DR) Information Sharing
  • Military Planning Considerations and Challenges for FHA Operations
  • Case Studies (such as 2015 Nepal Earthquake- Operation Sahayogi Haat, 2014 Ebola - West Africa - Operation United Assistance, 2010 Haiti Earthquake – Operation Unified Response, etc...)

Course Content Inquiries

Please contact the HART Course Coordination Team to get additional information.
training@cfe-dmha.org