Course Overview:

For more than thirty years, HART-Disasters, CFE-DM’s flagship training course, has prepared U.S. military commanders and their staffs to plan and execute foreign disaster response operations, training on average 400 personnel through in-person classes and 12,000 personnel through the online course on Joint Knowledge Online each year. Grounded in U.S. Department of War guidance and doctrine, this operational-level course familiarizes participants with the military’s role and unique capabilities, the operational environment, and specific planning considerations to respond to a natural disaster. It also introduces key disaster response stakeholders and civil-military coordination mechanisms. Practical application exercises enhance lectures by civilian and military subject matter experts.

Target audience: O3-O6, WO, E6-E9, and DoW civilians and contractors who may be called to plan or execute a foreign disaster response mission, or who may engage in foreign humanitarian assistance activities in security cooperation engagements or exercises.

Participants will understand:

  • U.S. government and U.S. Department of War authorities, policies, doctrine, and best practices for foreign disaster response.
  • The U.S. military’s role, unique capabilities, and process for employing U.S. military support to U.S. government responses to natural disasters overseas.
  • U.S. military planning considerations and the application of the military planning process for foreign disaster response operations.
  • Roles and relationships of key disaster response stakeholders and mechanisms for civil-military and military-to-military coordination.
  •  Characteristics of natural disasters and the operational environment during a foreign disaster response.

Major topics include:

  • U.S. Government Architecture
  • Military Planning Considerations
  • Operational Environment
  • Response Logistics
  • Strategic Communication
  • Information Sharing
  • International Response Community
  • Response Logistics
  • Civil-Military Coordination
  • Case Studies

Course Inquiries

For more information about the HART-Disasters course, please contact the HART team at
training@cfe-dmha.org